Adekis Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Ladies and Gentlemen. So! I was raised Catholic. I was made to go to mass every week by my parents, and I rarely enjoyed it, finding little divinity in the drawn out reenactment of the Last Supper that is the Eucharist, and despite my liking for most of the Gospel stories and Sermons I found myself with low regard for the world of institutionalized religion. Furthering this set of ideals was my middle school social science and theology teacher, who was a grand example of the kind of person I admired - strong, mostly just, opinionated and focused on social justice- yet seemed very held back by his dogmatic beliefs. Accordingly, my beliefs were changing. I no longer believed Jesus was the "Son of God" and I told my mother so. I stopped going to Church and she stopped making me. Not only that, I became very disillusioned with most of Christianity, hearing story upon story, as I'm sure we all have, about homophobic, sexist and ignorant rich people who act more like Darth Vader ("I find your lack of faith disturbing") than Jesus. I was well on my way to becomming what I call a snarky atheist with nihilist leanings. This was when my father intervened. He wasn't a jerk about it. He just thought if I wasn't going to Church I should spend some time now and then taking a look at alternate religious views. We watched documentaries on Atheism, Christianity, the early Church, Islam, Hinduism, Shinto and other various religions, most of which I found very interesting, especially the alternate takes on Christianity. And then he gave me a book. It was a reconstructive look at Christianity he'd been given by a coworker by John Shelby Spong called A New Christianity for a New World. I loved it. It was amazing. This denial of theism which did not deny God or Jesus was something hirtherto inconcievable to me and I was absolutely enthralled. I spent my high school career as the only "believer in exile" I knew aside from my Dad, and had no complaints. I often felt a bit lonely between my snarky atheist friends and my mostly moderate and reasonable Christian friends. I love my friends, but it seemed there was nowhere that I could find like-minded people. So now I'm just starting college, have no friends up here, and I found this site and decided heck, I could possibly meet some like-minded people. Here's hoping! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glintofpewter Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Wow! What a complete introduction. Welcome. Dutch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulS Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Welcome Adekis, I'm sure you will meet like-minded people here. Like you, as I started to develop my own identity, I too began to move away from the fundy Christian learnings I had been raised on (we're talking 20+ years ago - I'm 44 now). The difference for me was that I had no idea that there was this 'concept' of denying theism without denying God or Jesus. I did become a snarky atheist with nihilist leanings for a while there, until I just got on with life and left any thinking about God behind. For various reasons a couple of years ago, I began to revisit this God thing. I would say that I still don't believe in God, but something continues to attract me to the subject for whatever reason, so I'm happy to continue thinking and learning. And that's where I find this site a treasure trove of research, opinions, reviews and links to further areas of study/consideration. And it is a very safe and respectful environment to participate in. I very much like Spong and people like Marcus Borg and a number of what might be regarded as 'progressive' authors. I have at times wondered who I may have become if such a site like this was known to me when I was 18 and struggling to deal with my fundamentalist upbringing and the conflict it was raising with how I was learning to understand life. I hope you enjoy it here. Cheers Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeW Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Adekis, welcome. George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephM Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Welcome to the community Adekis, And thanks so much for such an interesting and 'down to earth' introduction. So glad to hear the book by Spong moved you so and i hope you will also find the support and mutual communications here beneficial to continue your journey . There is never a need for agreement here on religious doctrine or dogma and you are free to follow that which makes the most sense and seems to work for you. Again welcome, Joseph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Welcome Adekis, I am really impressed with your intro post and your enlightened Father. It really enjoyed reading about yours and his wisdom and openness to things spiritual. You have made a journey that rings bells for me and most people here. The one thing I like about Progressive Christianity is that it does not include the idea that you must believe this or that in order for God to love you or for you to become saved from God's anger etc. Your free to grow in your understanding and to take truth from wherever you find it. This is one of the reasons I love about this site is that it is somewhere one can go that is not dominated by dogma and bible rhetoric and is full of people one can share ones personal and unhindered journey with. It is great to have you join us my friend. Pete 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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