Godless Heathens

Thanks for your comment. I've been offline with h...

2009-03-08T11:56:00.000-04:00

Thanks for your comment. I've been offline with health issues for a bit, but I need to get back to building this blog! :)

I was embarassed by my charismatic experiences for a long time. After all, I consider myself an intelligent person, I test well on IQ type tests, I hold a job that requires logic. And yet, what I believed was so ILLOGICAL.

I have a friend who says he's been an atheist since he was about five. His blind spot is that he thinks anyone who is religious (especially charismatic) must be unintelligent. Yeah, well, he's never been there in that situation. But that opinion is held by a lot of people.

I figure I know differently because I am an intelligent person, but I was still involved in Christianity and in particular the Charismatic/Word of Faith movement. It is not lack of intelligence, but learning and USING critical thinking skills that is the issue. As Christians, we were taught not to question but to walk by faith. We were not taught critical thinking skills in life, or in school. We didn't know how to think through these issues using logic, and in fact were discouraged from doing so by being told we had a lack of faith if we questioned too much.

It was only after beginning to use those skills that I stopped pushing all those doubts down and started examining them.

So, I figure I might as well admit I was one of those "crazy charismaniacs." Maybe it'll show those other godless heathens that we weren't all idiots - we just needed to learn how to think again. :)

Well I must say I am impressed with your honesty. ...

2009-03-07T21:55:00.000-05:00

Well I must say I am impressed with your honesty. I am way to embarrassed to discuss publicly my charismatic experiences and particularly speaking in tongues. Maybe give me a decade or two...

And I would love to see someone walk into a meeting speaking penn. dutch! Maybe everyone would be amazed because it sounded so much more real than what they were speaking...

That is one of the questions that led me in my sea...

2008-11-30T17:20:00.000-05:00

That is one of the questions that led me in my search of the scriptures and history, and study of the religion I'd been reared up in. I was raised all of my life to be told that anyone who did NOT accept Jesus as Savior, no matter how "good" they seemed to be, or how faithful to God without Jesus - they would go to hell.

I met a rabbi who had been incredibly faithful to God growing up in his Polish village. He prayed several times a day, he served God all his life, and then survived 4 death camps, watching all of his family die there.

So the question in my mind became, "This person serves God all of his life, and then suffers and is tortured for years, to die in a death camp - and then you're telling me that he goes to hell and suffers there forever because he didn't accept Jesus as Messiah?"

That would make God a sadistic bastard. Not really a god I'd ever want to serve. That question itself was the beginning of the end for me as far as religious belief was concerned.

How about a Jew who faithfully serves God without ...

2008-11-30T12:11:00.000-05:00

How about a Jew who faithfully serves God without ever having been taught about Jesus, not even having known that Jesus existed - if you do not even have the option to accept Jesus as the Messiah, do you still go to hell?

Yes, "anonymous" - I have a special place reserved...

2008-10-31T13:08:00.000-04:00

Yes, "anonymous" - I have a special place reserved for me in the hot place. A suite of hot places, I'm sure. Now get to work!

Yeah! Your goin down a road alright: Straight to ...

2008-10-31T11:41:00.000-04:00

Yeah! Your goin down a road alright: Straight to the Hot Place!

God's gonna have to increase the circumference of the Earth just to fit all your evil souls down there to fry!

Wow. I think maybe you should turn on comment mod...

2008-10-30T23:03:00.000-04:00

Wow. I think maybe you should turn on comment moderation if you're gonna go down this road!

Please. Feel free to quote, link to or otherwise pilfer anything you might find on Why? What Have You Heard? that you think is relevant. (Oh! I know... you can show off my photo of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.)

Glad to see you back on the tubez!