before i get started, let it be understood that i am not specifically attacking steve. when i say "you/your" it is just the words that i am thinking at the moment, so please don't anyone take this personally.
i don't have a problem with most of the basic concepts in the bible. i embrace the fact that everyone is free to choose their religious beliefs. what i have a SERIOUS problem with is those christians who think that because i am a celtic shaman priestess, i am "lost" or "need saving" or "don't know what is going on". did you bother to ASK me first? do you even know anything at all about me or how i was raised (in a southern baptist home, whose bedtime stories were bible stories)? i can sit and teach a sunday school class if you ask me (although i would tell you ask someone who won't teach the kids how to ground and center).
i feel there is more out there for me to learn than what christianity alone teaches me. almost every single "christian" holiday we have is a christianized version of ancient pagan celebrations because back when the catholic church was establishing its chokehold on the world, the churches could not get enough butts in the pews due to everyone back then wanting to stick with what they knew. i am not going to keep going on - there is not enough patience among our posters/readers.
read this:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/4792/convert.htm (no i did not write it, but i find it quite thought-provoking) and then get back with me. oh and PLEASE don't try to preach to me or convert me or save me and don't pray for my soul. it's already lost to yahweh, who is, in my opinion, an impetulant child at times.
i have seen christianity through baptists, catholics, methodists, jews, non-denominational, charismatic, and a few other churches that i have visited in my lifetime. i still have many other faiths to explore, but for now, i still choose my god and my goddess.
i am HAPPY with my lifestyle as it is. my spells work exactly like your prayers: i have a specific goal in mind, i go to my altar, light a candle, and make my request of my deity. you go to your altar (church), you kneel and pray to make your request of god. the difference between a spell and a prayer is simply how and who does it. they are both structured the same way. again, enough of the teaching. if you want to know more, ask me offlist.
i at least don't go stand outside of your church and tell you that your religion is wrong because i don't agree with it. i will GLADLY go inside and visit your church so that i can make an informed choice of whether or not i want to continue attending. why won't YOU come to MINE and show me the same respect and courtesy?
how many christians accept the fact that king james had the bible edited (which is why it is called the king james VERSION) during his reign? it has a lot of gaps, contradictory information, and anything that gave women power was deleted out and the original scrolls/texts containing those passages destroyed. go talk to any high school (and above) history teacher and ask them about it. it is basically structured as free-verse poetry, which is why it is organized into book/chapter/verse. where was jesus from age 12 to age 33? why isn't that in the bible ANYWHERE?
i don't believe in paying hard-earned money for my god to bless me. does your mother and your father charge you money for them to love you? no. i don't believe in taking tracts and bibles and going out into the amazon jungle and telling the inhabitants there that they are sinners and going to hell because they don't call their great spirit god/jesus. they don't give a shit.
tell me why, if there was only one adam and one eve, when cain killed abel, he had to be "marked" so that "all would know of his crime". basically, every other person on the planet would have been his siblings (and their progeny....incest....boggles my mind how god allowed it then but not tells you its a sin) and all would know him and what he did anyway!
explain to me why almost every single religion has a creation story, a first couple story, a massive natural disaster story, a miracle/magic worker story and some other similar basic structures.
why were only 5 of moses' 9 books (the first five of the old testament) included in the bible? and since moses was born AFTER adam and eve were created, then how could he POSSIBLY know what happened in the garden of eden?
where IS the garden of eden?
have i created enough questions and food for thought for you?
*stepping off my soapbox and await the flames*
rebs
"I absolutely believe in God. And I hate the fukker." -- riddick -->pitch black
Yeah bringing you another disturbing creation from the mind of one sick animal who can't tell the difference and gets stupified.