Ronnie D

Hi there! I like the points you have made! When I said 'God refused to forgive unless a blood sacrifice was made' - I think I was trying to get at the point that in evangelical christian doctrine, god required the sacrifice of jesus death before forgiveness could be given to those who 'accept' this sacrifice. Why could god not just choose to forgive? God could set any requirements he or she chose to. To be honest, as I write this it confuses me! I think it's because it's a set of ideas that was drummed into my mind and which indoctrinated me! It all views god as an supernatural deity in the sky who needed to be pacified in certain ways in order to 'forgive' the world. Forgive the world for actions he or she gave us the capacity to make and knew we would make, as you say. I like your examples of marshmallows! Makes sense to me. I think one of the controlling things in my experience of evangelical christianity was that using one's own mind or logic or intuition was 'evil' or 'sinful' - we were to block out feelings, rationality and any questions about the bible. Brainwashing really. So it's really refreshing to be able to exchange ideas freely with others. Thank you all!

I find this an interesting topic. I used to get the message of Jesus dying for our sins pounded into my head more and more. As a former evangelical, it is liberating that the more I think about this, the more it doesn't make sense. The thing is, it is used in a very manipulative way in evengelical christianity. We are bludgeoned with guilt and convinced we are 'sinners' and then told a very emotionally manipulative story about a sacrifice being made for us. It's easy for many to be sucked in by that. It did me s much damage. I mean, how can it do your self esteem any good to be told that are fundamentally worthless unless you accept this 'sacrifice'. When I started to think about these things recently, it started to fall apart. If one takes the genesis narrative literally, you have to believe in a god who: put temptation in the way; penalised man for a choice he gave him the capaicty to make; chose to banish man from the garden; punished all mankind for something they didn't do; and refused to 'forgive' unless this blood sacrifice was made. That is, as I look at this view, God set up all the parameters, definitions of sin etc with foreknowledge and then requires the world to 'accept' this sacrifice. THis all damaged my heart so much and like others on this post it doesn't make sense. Can our hearts really respond to that which our minds do not understand? I don't think so.....my experience of evangelical christianity is that they expect you to but it requires brainwashing. I don't know alot but I hope I have made a contribution in a respectful way. Warmest wishes all Ronnie (UK)