I don't really know how to ask this question, without making people angry, but I do want to know peoples thoughts about it.......

If your a Christian and you find out that everything that you've believed in may all be based on falsness, what could you do?

If you found out that history holds information, that ignorant people like myself have not been intelligent enought to find out about, that goes against everything you've ever been taught or influenced by, how would you deal with it?

Personally, I have learned that much of Christianity is not the way it started out being taught by Jesus or His disciples. I have found out that if the apostle Paul, or any of the disciples, were to come into the future that he/they wouldn't even recognize the Christianity alive today. To me this is sad. And I personally feel numbed by all of this. I don't even know how to react. I don't even know how to talk about it, I just sit in stuned silence and hear others talk about it all.......

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When a man sleeps in his bed, his soul leaves him to soar above, each soul according to its own way.......
The Zohar

Generally speaking, love and compassion is the essence of most religions and many philosophies. One does not have to have all the nitty-gritty on Jesus, Mohammad, or the Buddha, but to just understand that their messages of love, hope, and justice, even though it's sometimes distorted by some of their followers, should give everyone a sense of direction.

In Judaism, one of our greatest sages was Hillel, and when he was asked what Torah was all about, here's his response: "Do not do unto others that which you would not want done unto yourself; all the rest is commentary, now go and study". And in Buddhism, His Holiness the Dalai Lama says that the essence of Buddhism is to teach love and compassion.

Shalom,
Vern

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

ShyLady

Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus who offers a way out of darkness and madness of the world into the world of meaning. What better way to honor this birth then to express honest doubts? So I consider your question not only appropriate but necessary for the celebration. How do we come to experience the truth? We start new and fresh.

If you think sincerely on it for a moment, could it be any other way? The New Testament speaks openly of false prophets and the fact that the world hates Christianity. Is it any wonder then that the world would distort and degenerate the essence of Christianity so that its public face has lost its essential connection to its source.

IMO, now that you've seen this you must admit what attracts you to this tradition and what you need from it. Perhaps you should abandon it.

In my case for example I started out being kicked out of Sunday school. I would ask inappropriate questions. I've always asked inappropriate questions. Initially I was hurt but after a while I had no choice but to cope with attitudes around me I couldn't respect.

It was only after I learned of Christianity and the differences between the Christendom I always knew that I was able to experience both the intellectual and emotional depth to answer my questions and become able to take it seriously.

This was my need. Apparently I had a need to become open to "meaning" that I also underestimated by being psychologically forced to suppress it.

IMO, you've got to admit what you need from a religion. If you need what Christianity offers for you on the inside, in your heart, then you have to chalk up all the distortions you've mentioned on the outside to experience and consider how to begin.

Jacob Needleman had these same doubts and clarifies your question in his book "Lost Christianity." Read it if you need the depth of Christianity. It will help support what you've come to see as well as raise more questions. If you ever want to discuss anything in it with me, feel free to do so either in a thread or in private.

Merry Christimas

Dear shylady,
God knows you heart. Don't worry about religion. If you want to go to church...go : ) If you don't ....don't. When we die, we die alone. What matters is not of this world, what matters is only your relationship to God.

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May your awareness be perfection

Religion is a very personal experience. No one can duplicate your experience. We are all on our own path and everyone is in a different place. One Hundered people can read the Bible and give one hundred different interpretations. The bottom line is, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Follow your own heart and path, stay open and you will be led to where you need to go. Trust in the process. Trust your own ability to figure it all out. Let's look at part of the 23rd Psalm; "The Lord is my shephard I shall not want....."

Some will read that and feel great comfort. They might have a knowing that what they need will be provided. Or they may interpret it, that when they need something they will find the tools within to obtain it.

On the other hand some may rebel and say, no one tells me what to do. What is most important is what it means to you.

It's O.K. to find your own way and to make your own interpretations. At the same time knowing that we grow and mature and we may think or feel differently in the future. As you are walking along your path and come to a stream, drink the water, pick the berries. That will hold you until you find a river.

Trust and listen to yourself.

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InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

I don't even go to church and have the desire to say amen here... ...so I did... ..great how that works...

great posts.....

Hi SL,


It's a difficult question to answer since if everything I've believed were false, then it is good to say that my belief that "some things are true" is also false, hence even contemplating that "everything that I've believed is false" is also false...

If, however, I interpret this question more modestly, such as historical facts claimed by Christianity are false, then I would listen to the wind of my soul, and where I ended up only God knows.


I think that much in the scriptures is not about historical "factualisms," so I have no problem with truths that are obtained by metaphors.


Who are you reading? I would heavily dispute most of these conclusions.

Or should I say God found me. I was from an abusive home, my mom beat up on me and my dad was an alcoholic who never did anything about it. Me and my younger brothers and sisters, whom I had to help care for, all went to church with our grandparents (moms parents). Who would go on the neighborhood busses the local College/church sent into our areas.

They told stories from the bible every sunday on the bus as the bus made more stops on the way to church. And I truely loved it, I loved being in church and went everytime the bus came. Jesus was considered our hero and we thought of him as just that, and He could even save our souls when we died to, so He was much better than an earthly super-hero, He was the ultimate one in true life.

I never could live right, never, even when I begged God to help me to, even when I begged Jesus to help me to stop cussing before God got tired of me. It never happened though, I was still the same little undisciplined child that my family had a way of producing. I never did do anything that I knew to be right, as far as not haveing sex before marriage and not waiting on God to send the right boy/man my way. Although, what the right guy woulda looked like in that neighborhood is anyones guess!!!

Well, I was still in love with Christianity, and even though I wasn't no good, I still tried to be good as I could be. I had gotten saved every week almost and baptised as well. I tried and tried and tried. I knew I wasn't living like I was suposed to. I knew that I wasn't living like Jesus would. And now they always have things that say, 'what would Jesus do?'. I always thought about Jesus and wished He was here to tell me what to do, then I just knew I could obey Him. Even God seemed to be with me at times, but He wouldn't stop me from doing the bad things I couldn't seem to stop myself from doing. I wanted someone who would stop me from doing wrong. Not someone who only beat on me cause I was in her way or because I talked too much to a welfare worker or stranger.

Christianity was there for me. It was my ideal for being a good person. Its what I knew I must do to be accepted by Jesus as loving Him truely. What I knew I had to do for God to be proud of me which is what I always wanted more than anything. When I couldn't do right and when I didn't, I just gave up on myself as a failure that God ought to send away from Him, because I wasn't good enough. I still get these feelings, even these days. However, God always sent me people who would help me to understand that I could be a good persona nd that I wasn't worthless. I could even hear God (not no voice!!!) telling me that I was a good person and that I just needed to learn Discipline. I could feel Jesus pooring out His love on me and telling me He didn't care if I was good or not He still loved me and accepted me. Yeah, christianity was what I needed all of my life that kept me from going insane and crazy enough to hurt myself.

I have been able to stand the truth these days, without getting the attitude of going crazy and closing up my ears to the fact that christianity might not all be based on truth and that it might all be based on paganism as some have come to believe and are letting others know. I take in what feels right or seems right in my head, and reject the things that don't seem right to me. I am open to all kinds of things.

Other religions have fascinated me over the years, and I tried learing about everything I could find out about. I have tried some things that went totally against my beliefs, like wiccan, and witchcraft. I have felt myself being pulled out of the fascination I had for these faiths. I felt God saying to me that those things weren't for me. So I did turn back away from them. I always feel lead by God, and I sometimes wonder if He might stop letting me know someday. If He might test me and leave it up to me to decide if I oughtta be going forward in something I get fascinated by, then I feel scared because I don't have faith in my own ability to do whats right. If Gods not there to help me I'll mess up. I do sometimes know that I need to have faith in myself, but well its slowly developing for me.

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When a man sleeps in his bed, his soul leaves him to soar above, each soul according to its own way.......
The Zohar

Hi SL. Thanks for the heartfelt post.

So often those who praise the Lord are not doing so with hallelujahs from "somebody who has seen the light, it is a cold and broken hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah."

I love that song from Sonny Boy Mick. So often people come away from the scriptures somewhat in a glib fashion where they think that Jesus was so supernatural in his demeanor that it, in my opinion, is to miss out on his humanity. Jesus suffered greatly. He went to Jerusalem in faith, and he was put on a cross.

Our cold and broken hallelujahs come by knowing this crucified man. As the apostle Paul said, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."

I'm not one for a prosperity gospel.

The essence of Christianity is, of course, Christ and His teachings. Much of the "stuff" within many Christian denominations obscures the true values of Christ.

Christ wanted (and wants) us to love on another, to take care of each other. He didn't spend his time proof-texting and supporting conservative politicians. He didn't preach a "prosperity gospel", he didn't picket the funerals of gay people or refuse Communion to those who disagreed with Him--indeed, he offered his body and blood to those whom he knew would betray him.

Christianity has been perverted by so many "followers". I can understand why many get disgusted, disillusioned, and angry. What you must hold onto is Jesus, a man who clothed and fed the poor, healed the sick, forgave the slights of His disciples, and gave His life for humanity. If you strive towards being more like Him and tune out the static of church politics and others' warped interpretations of the Bible, it is hard to see where you can go wrong.