Re: BASICS: Science vs. Christianity

Delvieron@aol.com
Fri, 19 Mar 1999 18:47:38 EST

A personal comment on Christianity.

I no longer call myself a Christian. I was a Christian, and interestingly enough it was Bible study in the company of devote Christians which eventually led me to no longer call myself Christian. It was not that these people were blind, or stupid, or oppressive. In fact, it had nothing to do with Christians, but rather with the Bible. I finally found the inconsistencies and the seeming attrocities commited by and for "God" too much to accept. Most of those occurred in the Old Testament, so that is the part that I have the most trouble accepting as the work of what we would in contemporary times refer to as God. My problems with the New Testament were less, but still present. First, the Gospels base their legitimacy in the Old Testament, and Jesus as depicted there seems to echo this view. There are also some comments attributed to Jesus which I find too small to credit to a person of his supposed origin. Now, some apologists might claim some of this was added, or misinterpreted, but then that means that it is impossible to say precisely what the original intent of Jesus was.

Having said that, I would also like to say that my earliest introductions to the memes of Tolerance, Improvement, Immortality, and Goodness were through the New Testament's depiction of Jesus. I feel much of value in me had its origins in the stories of the Man from Galilee. Granted, I have taken that start and continued on my own, found other teachers and mentors as well, but I will always acknowledge where my journey began, and say proudly that the meme complex represented by Jesus of Nazareth has been a great part of my life.

Glen Finney