I’m not pitting all Christians, just the ones who make me question my faith. I’ve done a lot to get to where I am in my “relationship with God”, and it isn’t very far. The first translation of the New Testament I read was the NIV…hateful slander comes to mind. I wanted to burn it. I was turned off by anything religious for weeks.
I cooled off, read some scripture from a KJV translation, and went on. I went to several forums to try and expand my understanding. Unfortunately, I found myself at the Rapture Ready site. Very disappointing…hypocrites, morons, extremists. Children in adult’s bodies. I fucking hate them, really. I know it’s not a Christian thing to say, but I can’t express myself in a more pleasing manner. I read about gay bashing, burning in eternal hell fire unless we all accept Jesus…in the breaking news forum, and supporting things that aren’t beneficial to anyone’s cause (advancements in science). Again, I was turned off for weeks.
I went to another board and saw a very long discussion on replacement theology. After reading up on history, I’ve become very sympathetic to Jews, and I need to believe that if a God existed, he has a good reason for allowing what has happened to them over the course of history. I fucking hated those who argued for replacement theology. It just bothered me, deeply.
Today that dumbfuck pilot called non-Christians crazy. There’s no way of spreading the message of love like insulting others! I went to the Rapture Ready site just to confirm my suspicions of them praising it, and sure enough they were. Those motherfuckers were praising him, and one person was waiting for Satan to come along and try to discredit what he did. Well I did, and like so many other messages I posted, no one said anything regarding it. Why? Because they can’t admit when they’re out of their fucking minds. Carley died?! Well maybe it’s a plot to try and push the NASA funding by using their technology to find her kidnapper! I shit you not. Granted, a lot of people on Rapture Ready are level headed, but they don’t post often enough.
I’m sorry for the drawn out rant, but I don’t know what to do. It’s enough to make me cry. Can anyone help me?
Since those people seem to have such a negative emotional effect on you, don’t read what they write. It’ll be nearly impossible for you to change any minds over there so why drive yourself crazy.
Don’t go to that message board anymore? I guess, more generally, people are going to express opinions you disagree with, even your co-religionists, and you shouldn’t let it get to you. There’s a pretty large degree of diversity in Christian beliefs, and you should probably try to find the Christian denomination that you most agree with and makes you most comfortable.
And, while I’m not as knowlegable as I should be about bible translations, I had thought that the NIV was generally considered a good translation. Why didn’t you like it?
I’d advise you to check some other extremist message boards. You will quickly learn that someone’s asshattery is in no way related to their religion of preference. Yes, there are many Christian assholes. There are many Christian non-assholes, and many non-Christian assholes, as well. It helps if you focus on the former.
Try hanging out on the SDMB with Polycarp and Siege, to name just two of the Christians here that this atheist very much admires. Their faith is strong, but never cruel or narrow-minded; they are kind, thoughtful, and compassionate. They don’t treat nonbelievers as targets for conversion or tools of Satan. Their Christianity infuses their writings here with the loving kindness and willingness to learn from other, differing views that I sense in you and your search for faith.
Also, keep looking. There are plenty of Christians in the world that are kind, loving, rational, etc. I haven’t really seen too many messageboards that attract that kind of crowd, unfortunately.
BTW - I haven’t set up a messageboard for it yet, but I run a site called “Christians Who Think” (link in the profile - don’t want to self-pimp too much) where I’m working on defeating this stereotypical notion that all Christians have to think, act, and feel the same way about everything. It wasn’t an accident that God gave us logic and reason. If I get the demand I may add a forum for that on my site soon (we have a pretty good number of open-minded Christians on the main boards there already).
I’m not sure if I can help, but wherever this boat is going, we’re in it together; I’ve had one or two too many close encounters with the ChristBorg of late and I can feel my mind going, Dave, I… can… feel… it.
This is why I don’t hang out at Christian message boards, and I’m even leery of people who wear their Christianity on their sleeve. On the other hand, I have a very strong, negative reaction to Rapture Theology, so there’s no way I’m going anywhere near Rapture Ready! “Lead me not into temptation; I can find it fine on my own!”
Remember, Necro Romancer, the commandment is "Love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. " (Emphasis mine.) To me, that means we’re supposed to used that lump on top of our necks for something in addition to holding hats and hairspray!
What can you do? Settle in here, and remind yourself that Rapture Theology isn’t all that well known outside the U.S.; it seems to be a peculiarly American aberration. I’ll also kick out a couple of lines from “All for the Best” from Godspell which, if memory serves, were sung by Peter and Christ:
And on those notes, I’m going to do a soft-shoe out of here!
CJ
Well, my counsel would be to make yourself happier by abandoning belief in invisible spirits and adopt a rational worldview, but that’s just me.
Oh, well. . .
Find the faith that makes YOU happy and YOU believe to be true. If the Reformation accomplished anything, it taught Western Christendom that people do not need priests, hierarchies or dogma to come to God; they only need faith. Micah 6:8 pretty much says it all,
“You have been told, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you; to do justice, to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
And the people at Rapture Ready are, like most fundies, unconconscious devil worshippers–if you listen to them, Satan is always ready and willing to give people power to do all manner of naughty things (read books, study science, think independently), but God’s power has to be sought and struggled for. Besides, why on earth do you care a toss for the good opinion of a bunch of unwashed, Bible-thuimping, trailer trash?
You can’t win against that kind of mindset found in Rapture Ready or similar groups. Their whole belief system is built around the fact that they have to be right, and that they live their lives as a means to an end. You can’t tear that down without destroying the believer. It’s also a function of personality, and the sooner you can identify those personality traits, the faster you can get away.
From what you’ve posted, Necro Romancer, it sounds to me (feel free to correct me here) like you don’t want dogma. You want reasons and a rational process that leads you to beliefs that are your own, ones that are relevant to your life and needs. You won’t get that from a fundamentalist, dogmatic web site. It takes a lot of patient introspection and rational study. When I took a Bible course in undergrad, the first thing we had to do was read the New Testament as a literary work, and apply lit crit to it. A third of the class walked out in disgust, while the rest of us saw scripture in a way we had never seen it before, and it helped me explain why I believed what I did.
Both Polycarp and seige follow a Christian tradition that has three main parts to it: tradition, scripture and intellect, or the intellectual pursuit of salvation and our relationship with God. That tradition is also not dogmatic, and emphasizes communal worship through Holy Communion, rather than expressing faith in scripture at all costs.
Be patient, stay away from what upsets you, and turn your attention to understanding who you are, and where you need to go. There are a number of us here who are willing to help you find your way on your own path.
I’m mildly concerned here. I know that sometimes one must protect themselves from anything that might be harmful to their faith, but are you also preparing yourself to defend the faith against those who might question it? (I’m trying to bear 1 Peter 3:15 in mind here and keep some sort of grip on Matthew 22:37, although it often feels entirely too tenuous!) For me, anyway, it was impossible to have a relationship with Jesus while constantly trying to protect myself from cracks in the foundation of faith. As trite as it sounds, I had no faith until I tossed it all out the window. (Now I just have very little, but I do my best to remember to keep asking God for a bit more.)
Chalk me up as another curious about this.
Slightly aside, I wonder how replacement theology can be reconciled with God’s nature.
Aside from deleting all links to Rapture Ready, I’m not sure. What other Christian fora have you seen? (I’m going to be up front about my perceptions, however. Every message board has its good and its bad points, Christian boards are no exception.)
[hijack]
Man I already love that rapture ready site. I don’t plan on posting to the boards so I’m not going to start a board war but their timelines are great.
One is about Immorality (where they do a list of immoral acts our country has done) Ironically I find 90% of their list to be positive changes to our country.
Adding my voice of curiosity as to why you would be turned off by the NIV but embrace the KJV. You do know which one is generally considered to be the more faithful (ha!) translation, yes?
I loves me some KJV, but I love it for the majesty of the language. Kinda the same way I love Shakespeare. When I want to know what the heck it really says, it’s NIV all the way.
Intentionally going to a web site that pisses you off strikes me as odd. Want to make your head ache and feel an angry buzzing sound? Log off and whack yourself in the head with a hammer for awhile – same result, less angst.
Fundamentalism of any stripe should be combatted in the bright light of day. But if you think Christians have a lock on negative, oppressive, judgmental theology, you’re dreaming. So I’d just ask you to think about whether your beef is really with Christianity, or whether it’s with fundamentalism. You can indict the latter without indicting the whole of the former. People around here will tell you that you can’t, but believe me, you can.
And I say this with all respect: Questioning your faith is fine, but it should not be something others are causing you to do as an emotional reaction. If you take their stance as being correct – which you implicitly do when you allow it to have such weight that you question your faith over it – then you are giving them far more power than they deserve.
Ditto on not planning to wage war on that board, but I just had to share this tidbit from their immorality timeline:
I suppose it would be moral for a physician to publish notices in the newspaper about who’s HIV-positive so all the True Christians™ could stone them? :rolleyes:
I don’t think much religious or spiritual experience is available on the internet, Chirstian or otherwise. Practicing any religion is, IMO, an active thing and growing spiritually also requires action.
My thanks to everyone who posted. It made me feel a lot better, and I’m at peace. My problem with the NIV is the language. The NIV is paraphrase; a translation that carries the feelings of those who wrote it. I think it’s fine for studying and finding specific events, but I can’t imagine getting away anything from it other than a sour taste in my mouth. In my opinion, the wording is inaccurate, weak, and too blunt.
