Scott Coons

I like your article Soma. Clearly you are an intelligent person and you have thought a lot about the nature of sin. I agree with most of your points and do think that people have falsely connected imperfection to sin in some cases. Sometimes punishment (I believe) is directly connected choices that disobey God. These punishments can actually be a blessing because God wants all of us to eventually join him in heaven.

Hello, my name is Maida, I am a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and live in Halifax. Our Halifax group meets once a week in a Silent Meeting for Worship - but it is not really silent. The silence is used for waiting for the spirit and listening to the spirit (or the divine, or god - depending on what name you want to use. I use spirit.) I am very interested in the progress of Christianity among those with open minds and hearts. To me, being a Christian means to be a person who tries to follow the teachings of Jesus, especially the Beatitudes. I do not believe in anything supernatural, but I do believe that there is more to the natural than we fully know about - humanity seems to have a craving for the spiritual - and a seeking for how to live a good life. We are more than physical beings, we are also spiritual beings. But sometimes the cultural materialism is overwhelming. We need to know how to reach our own spirituality and foster the positive parts of ourselves, our families and the groups we are in. Quakers have tried to do this since 1652, and have often had remarkable success.

I look forward to the Progressive Christian conversation.

 

Welcome Maida and what a great introduction.

Thank you for the thoughtful replies, Soma and Joseph M.

My name is Scott and I'm excited to be here. I was born with oculocutaneous albinism (lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair, and eyes). When I was in elementary school, I felt unequal to my classmates. I couldn’t see very well and I used sunblock often. Baseball, football, and reading standard text sized books was hard for me. My childhood was interesting. I carried extra large books to class and playing baseball was alarming. I never knew when a hardball would hit me.

One day I felt particularly frustrated and sad. On the playground, I surrendered myself to God and I prayer for help. I felt a comforting energy in my soul. It seemed like this presence was telling me that life would get better, however, I needed to be patient. From this day on, faith in the Creator and Jesus were my sources of hope. My athletic abilities and eye sight did improve. Today I I am happy and I feel an overall acceptance from my peers. Thank you for reading my post.