churchness

[nebulia]

nursery this morning. walked up to church...it's chilly and cloudy, but not too windy. have to go back at 10:45 for practice.

don't read if religion bothers you:

have felt better recently about God. like...here. I believe in Him, but most of the time, he doesn't have a huge impact on my life, at least not overtly. i mean, i'm probably what you would call a loose Christian: I believe in God. I believe Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead.

But.

the Bible? is iffy. People aren't perfect, you know. A lot of the time I wonder if what the Bible says is really so. This is what I think: God is love. If you believe in true love--not necessarily romantic love, but true love, then, in a way, you believe in God, a little bit. God loves everyone, homosexuals, murderers, prostitutes, whatever. God loves them all. i don't know if they truly are condemned as the Bible says, but he loves them. I like to think that if those who the Bible condemns believe in Him, they go to heaven regardless.

Or, as my pastor once said in a youth group discussion of fundamentalism: "And maybe, when we die, and we get to heaven, God will tell us, 'You know those guys who wrote the Bible? Yeah, they were quacks, and there really isn't a hell. It's just a big empty space and I'm turning it into an amusemnet park!'"

I don't know how God created the world. I don't care if he had people evolve or whatever. He did. It's here. I don't care what God does with others. He is just and fair, I know that, and he will make the right decision. All I know is that I believe in him, and I think that's enough. I'm not perfect. I cuss all the time, and I have more moments than not where I'm probably not thinking in a Christ-like manner, but God loves me nonetheless, and I'm glad for that.

Anyway. Theological dscussion over.

So. but usually i feel pretty distanced from God. but recently--and i don't know if it's the fact that i've been reading Christian fiction some (but the good Christian fiction--the ones that are actually realistic--are soooo expensive; worse than manga, really!), or listening to the Newsboys, or just if i'm thinking about it more and trying to cut down on taking God's name in vain, but i've felt a lot closer to Him.

I guess it's a good thing. I like it. it gives me a sense of security.

so. religious discussion over. totally. for real this time.

i've had this story in my head for a while...it's stuck there, and it would be about kaoru's life pre-rk. like an epic character exercise. like from birth to "stop hitokiri battousai!" literally. and i think that's what i really will be working on, along with nanowrimo. so yay.

um. anyway. i have a crapload of homeowrk and a drain to clean out, so i'll go.

quote of the post: "awww! this is the best love story ever!" five minutes later: "waah! this is the worst story ever!" --fizzle, on watching mulan ii (pre-shang falling off the cliff; post-chang falling off the cliff).

nebulia out.

Comments

[la-pia.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh.

You think EXACTLY LIKE I DO ABOUT RELIGION. O.O

I mean, I'm a confirmed Episcopalian, I believe in God, and Jesus, but--everything else? All the picky little rules that everybody else gets so bent out of shape about (e.g. homosexuality)? That really doesn't matter, so much. The Bible says so itself, when Jesus says that the first commandment is to love God, and the second commandment is to love your neighbor. That has to matter more in the end, I think.

I'm so glad I've found somebody else who thinks like this--I thought only my dad and I did. The other people I know tend to be more strict Christians or more on the atheistic/agnostic end.

But really, you could not have put my beliefs any more clearly. I'm so glad! ^_^

[nebulia.livejournal.com]

I'm rather of the belief that the writers of the Bible were men. And I mean that in both the species and the gender. They decided that some things weren't right (even if He is God) and out popped things like Leviticus. Sometimes they got things right...but sometimes they didn't.

I, too, am glad I am not alone in thinking this way. As my two best friends are Mormon and Wiccan, I rarely get to find out what other Christians think.

[la-pia.livejournal.com]

That would make plenty of sense. Also, I've read a fair amount about how the text of the Bible has changed over time, from language to language, manuscript to manuscript. With those kind of errors, a few times things were just changed to fit the views of the writer, like you said, probably wouldn't be noticed, plus just regular, accidental errors. The nitpicky little rules might not even be in the original Bible--but the same overarching theme of love for God and man is. :)

[nebulia.livejournal.com]

*waves hands like a Baptist church* Amen.