LRR, Perhaps it is inference. It's a feeling that I got when reading your posts. I am not above mistakes, and regret it when I make them. I might add, that I am as much against any sort of state run religion as you are. I make and issue of the Ten Commandments only because this whole flap banning prayer in church, etc. was promulgated by Madeline Murray O'Hair, a well known Atheist. As it turned out, all she was doing was championing a cause that could gain her wealth, which she converted to gold, and was ultimately murdered for it by one of her own converts. I have stated before, and truly believe, that it is not necessary to post the Ten Commandments because, any Christian, or Jew, should already know them by heart. I do wonder why the congress and supreme court of the U.S. begin their sessions with a prayer, and do not allow it at other public functions. A bit of a contradiction in principle, don't you think?
I, most emphatically, am not a member of any evangelical church. I visit different congregations but, do not become a member of any. I have never approached anyone and tried to convert them to Christianity. I have helped those that have expressed, to me, an interest in doing so. I have no truck with those that shout "REPENT" from the street corners, or grab someone's coat sleeve and attempt to badger them into belief. I am, quite often, at odds with evangelicals, and am considered a maverick Christian by some.
I respect your right to "stand outside" any value system that you do not agree with. I don't believe I have ever asked anyone on these threads to become a Christian. I have, merely, expressed my own opinions as formed by certain experiences in my life, and readings of the Bible. Even at that, I have some unanswered questions about some of the early parts of the book of Genesis but, my main focus has been the New Testament.
When I first began posting, I refused to use the word "religion" because it does not, necessarily, refer to Christianity. A religion is a man made set of rules on how to worship a diety, any conceived diety. A group of people could choose a Coke bottle, call it a diety, devise rituals on how to worship it, and have a religion. I use the word now, because it seems to be generally considered to mean the same as a faith.
Don't get me started on most of the TV evangelists, either. My tirade would consume too much internet space. ~H~ |
