Hi Uncle & Ros: Buried deep down in Tina's post Uncle asked whether I was an Atheist and Ros noted that she thought I was a Liberal Christian. I have been going through an evolution in my life, but I will try to give a good snapshot of where I am at now. I may yet change one way or another:
1. I still believe in God. Even though science demonstrates that a number of common beliefs from the Bible, held mostly by Christians, to be in error, I find it difficult to believe that our entire existence is pure chance development. It is too complex and interconnected to be a sole product of evolution. BUT ... I could be wrong.
2. I believe that the Bible is seriously flawed in anything that may be considered 'sceintific' and that much of it is allergorical type of myth. I believe that the Bible has historical errors as well. But, it contains some good and some wisdom. I agree with the position that the Bible 'may' contain inspiration from God, but that the Bible itself is not inspired.
3. Jesus Christ is the strong suit for me. He was a visionary for his time, and would be today as well. It is not so much that I have faith in Jesus Christ (although I do) but it is Jesus Christ who gives me faith and hope. I believe that today, Jesus Christ would be on the Internet nailing many religions, not the least of which would be the Jehovah's Witnesses, as being hypocritical frauds.
4. I am not sure I can be called a 'Liberal' Christian, because I am not sure what that is. I have no membership in any organized religion, and believe that anything Christian is a matter of what each individual is. I do not judge those who are members of churches. But, I believe that Christianity is something more than a church. And, I cannot submit, ever again, to any organized system. BRCI is about as far as I can go.
5. If I change my position about God or Christ, it would be toward 'Agnosticism'. I find that a less arrogant position to take, because there is so much we all don't know, that to assume there is no God, is as arrogant as saying that Earth is the only planet in the universe with life.
6. Given all the above, I do seriously question God, his wisdom, his love, his justice, his power, his motives, his plans, his purpose, and his very person. I find that putting the human race through over 6,000 years (if you accept Biblical timelines) or many hundreds of thousands of years of HELL for a piece of damn fruit eaten by two ignorant idiots in the Garden of Eden is stretching things just a bit. There is, therefore, something very wrong with the whole picture.
7. Atheist? No. Agnostic? Not yet. Believer, to some degree on my own terms. Hope? Absolutely, but not hoping to get a reward, as that seem rather self-serving. Rather, I hope for some answers, and thus give God the benefit of the doubt, and hope that the Devil does not exist.
Question: Do any of you think it is possible that it was the Devil that set-up Adam & Eve with the Tree rule, and it was GOD who was trying to get Adam & Eve to think for themselves and not just obey out of blind acceptance, but make a choice? And that it was really Satan that labeled God as a snake because he did not want humans to become independant? Think about it?
No, I am not going crazy, just wondering if maybe the whole Garden incident is political "spin" by the Devil, including the invention of religions. And that aside from creating life, God has taken a back seat and really inspired nothing ... and merely tried to get humans to think for themselves. - Amazing