thread: 2006-09-08 : Salvation, damnation, justification, a la Sydney
On 2006-09-10, Meguey wrote:
Back in 1991, I spent the summer at Vincent's folk's house. I was getting the "missionary talks", because it was the thing to do, plus, I'm always interested in comparative religions. We reached the end of the lessons ( several weeks of them), and they got to the 'now you will convert' part.
Now, I'd read the Bible, I'd read the Book of Mormon, and here sat these two guys slightly younger than myself, sincerly inviting me to set aside my evil, sinful, amoral ways and join the one true faith. I've rarely been so insulted. I flat out do not buy the concept "all the evil in myself". Sure, I occasionally feel rage and envy and lust and jealousy and apathy same as the next person, but I don't see myself as evil. I see myself as human, with a compassionate human's approach to channeling and moderating the aspects of my self that I choose not to feed.
Secondly, it has always seemed to me that, in order for much of Christianity to be appealing, you have to fear death. And I don't mean just regular, ordinary I-don't-want-to-die-yet, basic survival thing, I mean you have to be afraid of dying because of what comes next. I had an *amazing* two hours-long conversation with Sebastian (then aged 8), about why the people in The Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen were so afraid of the angel of death, and why death was so often depicted as being so scarey, and how death and the idea of Hell were combined for so many people throughout history. He didn't get it either.
Lastly, Sydney, what's up with "if you were in the wrong religion"?? If this God is so picky that I need to not only belive the right things but believe them with the right people, that's just weird. And it totally does not jibe with my very real experiences with the Holy.
