1. I consider myself a liberal and I have recently reconciled myself with Jesus.
I was not raised in any faith but Eckankar had the strongest influence on me because it was my Grandmother's belief system. I was raised to believe that all faiths are valid...but I had this huge problem with Christianity, so in an effort to remove my own hypocrisy, I began studying Christianity.
I fell into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and this increased my momentum to understand Christianity which uses quite a bit of Egyptian/JudeoChristian symbolism in its rituals and I needed to be comfortable with Christian symbolism in order to effectively do the work. For years Christianity was synonmous with stupid in my mind. The only exposure I got was in history books and on the Sunday morning television all this combined with living in the South synergestically created an extreme revulsion toward it. I discovered a book called "Meditations on the Tarot" written anonymously and approved by several Catholic theologians, which is in my opinion the best Tarot book I have ever read. Then I found Mary Scott's (?) "Rennaissance of the Spirit", Smoley's "Inner Christianity" ,Pagels "Gnostic Gospels" and Jung's "Aion" and slowly my attitudes toward Christianity started warming up considerably. I did a research paper on the Mass (I had never been to one in my entire life up till then) and found attending Mass and studying it very moving....I also did research on the Virgin of Guadalupe that I found very impressive.....
I fell in love with a Presbyterian minister, who I met after praying in the chapel at work (I work at a Hospital)........while I could accept and admire him exactly as he was....I was merely a "project" to be altered.....but the experience made me realize that my "ideal" masculine image is that of Jesus. I wanted a man that was that ethical, loving, and compassionate....and while my minister was not totally these things (he seemed to be stuck in Piaget's preoperational thinking stage; egocentric and centratic) I did realize that I was falling in love with the projection of my own animus. Jesus was at the center of my being. The kingdom of God was within. While I can not hold this realization 24 hours a day....I got enough to radically alter my life...and most especially alter my prejudices toward Christianity. In Astrological terms a woman's spirit is represented by her Sun sign which for me was Pisces.........the symbol of the fishes....the birth of Jesus ushered in the Piscean Age. My personal connection to the Spirit was through recognizing Jesus Christ as my savior...........but certainly in a radically different way than most people thought of it.
2. I live in East Tennessee.
3. I am a medical transcriptionist and going to school full time.......I wanted to go into Unitarian Ministry or Psychology but I have not decided......I thought about Episcopalian as I adore the Mass....but I do not agree with creeds.........I am a non-creedal Christian.....just as comfortable (and often times much much more comfortable) with a Pagan, Hindu, Jew, Buddhist as a Christian.....depending on the Christian.
4. I surfed on to these boards.
5. I am looking for interesting people, informative discussions, and mind blowing experiences.
6. That icon looks like a terrified Muslim woman.
7. Does anybody think that perhaps Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of Moral Development dovetails nicely with Pauls three categories of people? I can not remember the name of the first category but the other two are Psychikos, and Pneumaticos. The Bible is supposedly written for the Psychikos and not the other two.........the first group are little more than animals and are innocent/stupid and won't get it and the last (Pneuamaticos) completely fulfill it by embodying it. You could say transcend it.......they don't need rules anymore. I am not necessarily a Pauline Christian but is anybody out there familiar with these categories?