Are there any other Christians out there who are tired of the guilt trip thrust on us by traditional?

Question

Christianity?

I still believe in God (and always will), it's just the characteristics of God I'm wavering on...quantum physics and near-death experiences have had a lot to do with that.

No offense, atheists, but I don't want to hear about how near-death experiences can be explained scientifically. Frankly, I don't believe that crap. There is no doubt in my mind that they are authentic.

Chris, the question is where the question goes (hint--it is directed to Christians).

Jimmie, should I feel guilty about having a sex drive?

Answer 1

I'm not Christian, but I do understand your situation. I will tell you how I believe, and perhaps that will help you come to grips with some of these issues.

With my faith, I have a very strong belief in the co-existence of the divine (in this case, called God) and science. Is it so unbelievable that God would use a scientific method to create a religious experience or a miraculous event? Perhaps these types of sciences are just humans beginning to understand parts of the divine that God wants us to understand. Here's a perfect example, and the "hot topic" on the table:

Is it so impossible to believe that God decided he wanted to create a beautiful, stunning world.. and decided to do it through evolution? Most people acknowledge evolution as a reality, or deny it as a fraud. But I know, as an artist, it isn't just seeing the finished piece of art that delights me. It's the creation of it.. perhaps the "7 days" theory is just something people have come up to be able to turn it into a good story, to be able to teach in your school - if you were God, wouldn't it be so much more fascinating to do things like make the earth first, and watch it's cycles and life slowly develop? Perhaps decide that you want to do something with this species or that species.. and so, it evolves, because your will changes, in subtle, scientific ways, the things around it, so that it must adjust?

I don't think this concept is such a challenging one.. but yet, no one seems to ever bring it up. Science, faith, magic.. I truly believe they all go hand in hand. Perhaps you should give this line of though some consideration.

Good luck in searching for your answers. I know sometimes it can be hard.

Answer 2

I am, more or less, with you on this one. Don't like guilt trips. That said, I don't really blame "traditional" Christianity for this, because there is a lot more to traditional Christian beliefs that this. For that matter, if you took Christianity out of the picture altogether, you would still find many people using the guilt trip as a means of getting you to do what they want you to do. It's socio-cultural. I don't think guilt is really a necessary part of the religious experience, except in the sense that it is a part of human nature regardless. I just ignore it. All that said, I think there are many ways for a person to access God and to have a relationship with the deity that will help them develop their spiritual lives. If you can accomplish that without traditional Christianity, then I think you're in fine shape. Have a good one!

Answer 3

Hold on. Nobody said NDEs don't happen. We've simply figured out how they happen -- not due to anything unnatural or unmeasurable or separate from the person, but rather born in and experienced entirely in the brain. NDEs can be observed in real time and they can even be replicated.

-- On your other point: Can you really be fed up with the guilt trip and still consider yourself a christian? This sounds odd -- after all, the foundational premise of the faith is that everyone is guilty of original sin and we're just d@mned lucky that invisible skydaddy chose to save us instead of consigning us to the eternal punishment we deserve, and if you don't buy into that then you aren't a christian.

I'm just sayin'.

Answer 4

First of all, learn the correct language and go and find the actual doctrine, not the king james or re-written garbage that has been twisted here and there to fit the cultures demands.

The true interpretation even has several versions.

Lets see, The Koran, The Torah, and I am sure a few others that I have not named...because I am not a scholar, allthough I did make friends with a priest that was also in the Army and so was able to travel at length and had been able to see places that they would never allow a woman to enter...I am a regular girl who knows that some of what we are being told is the TRUTH and some is just plain interpretation. Find the truth for yourself, and be very very careful in letting others interpret your truth for you. You have the freedom of choice. ANY time that freedom is pushed down, you are being screwed over. Just remember that. It applies to EVERYTHING. Take Care-Rachel.

Answer 5

Scientists come up with theories and people take it as fact, until its proved wrong. Then they say it was just a theory. I guess I will do the same. I will believe in God until someone proves He doesn't exist. And as far as the "guilt trip" of traditional Christianity, there are some sectors of Christianity that mourn their faith rather than celebrate it. God gives us rules for our own good, not to make us feel guilty. If you stopped believing in God would you stop feeling bad about things you did? No you wouldn't, but you wouldn't be able to blame God for it.

Answer 6

The only guilt trip that you can accept is if you feel you have done wrong, other wise, no religion can make you feel what does not exsist, in your mind, I am a Christian , and I have my faith, but I do not believe in guilt, that only comes from within. The mind when it focuses, on whether you feel guilty about something you have been raised to believe is wrong, or you are being too! critical of yourself or other's .
GET a grip, It has nothing to do with being Chritian, or you're faith ,in you're Lord, it is some issue going on , you have to delete. Put the blame where it belong's.

Answer 7

I'm questioning things about my belief system too. I can't let go of Jesus and his teachings -- there is everlasting Wisdom that is 100 percent truth (IMO), but I think human flaws have damaged the whole package.

I don't think people realize that Jesus came ith a new Coventant that said "GET OVER YOUR LEGALISM and START LOVING EACH OTHER"
He is now the way to the Father. THROUGH HIM. And his words and teachings are the essentialist thing.

And alll the human flaws we see in religion should not mess up our love for Christ. That is the base......that is the core. If we love Christ and His teachings........everything else will flow ......truth will flow.......wisdom too.

Answer 8

you ought to merely ask Jesus to pass into your existence once you have self assurance b/c in case you do not have self assurance your merely asserting a gaggle of words that recommend actual no longer something. So yeah i could be unhappy which you decide on for to no longer pray yet i could admire it and proceed to desire for you that God could paintings on your existence yet i does not attempt to guilt you into it that may no longer what God needs Christians to do, he gave us the choice to stick to him or no longer. i'm sorry the female did that, yet do in case you get the time %. up a Bible and consider some and if any element you will learn extra approximately God and his son, what might desire to it harm.

Answer 9

Guilt is only useful if it convicts you of sin and causes you to repent. Once you have repented God has forgiven you--and forgotten--that sin. He doesn't hold it against you anymore. If you still feel guilty you are actually sinning against God because he has forgiven you of it. It is not longer counted against you as a sin.
The only thing that you need to know is that once you repent then you are obligated to turn from that sin and not do it anymore. Guilt is unnecessary and can cripple you emotionally. God does not want that which is why He does not require you to any longer feel guilty about it.

Answer 10

Do you ever wonder why people who have near death experiences such as "going to hell" need to write books? Why would they want to profit off of something like that? You don't believe that "Crap" because you are ignorant. Everything is explainable if you try to understand. You are already closing your mind to scientific concepts because you are scared of learning the truth. Something not uncommon in Theism.