harmonicat Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 My name is Jim and live in New Hampshire USA. I'm at the point where I don't want to be a Christian anymore. Every Protestant Christian forum I've been on is full of judgmental, hateful, vicious people who have nothing good to say about anyone, anything, or others in different Christian faiths. All they do is disagree with one another and talk bad about one another even condemning one another. It's to the point to where I'm questioning the validity of Christianity. It has become the most divided religion in the world. I hope I don't encounter the same type of folks here. Thanks for approving me. Jim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobCrompton Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 Hello, Jim. I can very much empathise with you having myself broken free many years ago from an authoritarian and controlling religion, and more recently having tried to give a helping hand to defectors from such religions. I am sure that you will find like minded people here, and I hope that you will feel free to vent as much as you need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romansh Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 (edited) Welcome Jim ... I don't think you'll encounter a problem here. I think I might be the longest lasting member here that might be considered "pushy". And I'm a pussycat really Welcome again. rom Edited January 2, 2023 by romansh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmonicat Posted January 2, 2023 Author Share Posted January 2, 2023 1 hour ago, RobCrompton said: Hello, Jim. I can very much empathise with you having myself broken free many years ago from an authoritarian and controlling religion, and more recently having tried to give a helping hand to defectors from such religions. I am sure that you will find like minded people here, and I hope that you will feel free to vent as much as you need to. I think I did go to your site and you're a former JW, correct? The big issue I have is the attitude of Trinitarianism. I reject the trinity doctrine for so many reasons. I'm basically out of Protestant Christianity - again for so many reasons. Just about every so-called Christian forum on the web is full of posters who falsely accuse one another of all sorts of crazy and inappropriate things. There's no holding a friendly discussion about anything without out it going bad with personal attacks, misquoting others even condemning one another etc. The best ones are, "you believe in another Jesus or another gospel." See you around the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmonicat Posted January 2, 2023 Author Share Posted January 2, 2023 1 hour ago, romansh said: Welcome Jim ... I don't think you'll encounter a problem here. I think I might be the longest lasting member here that might be considered "pushy". And I'm a pussycat really Welcome again. rom I've read some of your post before joining. Yes, and 'welcome' good to be here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulS Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 Welcome Jim, I hope you enjoy the forum here. Lots of members have grown up with or tried on Christianity only to find it doesn't work for them, for lots of different reasons. Of course there are many too who find meaning and purpose in following Christianity. Each to their own I say. Like you, I find it hard to imagine that any supreme being would be prepared to let His children suffer eternal torment, just for getting it wrong in the short blip of a life they have here. That narrative eventually didn't work for me, and when I went down the path of investigating biblical scholarship, I found a lot of Christianity to really be just man made, in my opinion (and the scholarly view it would seem). Yet I do still sometimes ponder IF there is anything else to all this, or not, and so I still participate in the discussion you might say. Cheers Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tariki Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 Religious convictions seem just another form of our tendency to reach after certainties in a very uncertain world. Alas (!) our world is one of becoming and not of being. Seeking certainities, and then claiming we have them, is like claiming we have captured the wind - which of course as the Good Book (!) says, "blows where it will." When our own certainties hit the brick wall of anothers, then we have fireworks - especially when our eternal destiny is thought to be at stake. Yikes! if they are right then I am wrong and all hell can break loose - which often results in our certainties becoming harder, cement, to be defended at all costs. Reaching after certainties is a mugs game. (maybe Romansh would say...."are you certain of that? ") Anyway, a rather short post as I have shorn it of various quotes to support my esteemed thesis - from the letters of Keats and various other Good Books that litter our world. Thank you for bearing with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephM Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 Welcome Jim, You are definitly not alone in your observations concerning the mainstream Christian religion. In my view, there is a peace that awaits the end of our sruggles by the acceptance of our living in a world that is full of uncertainties. May the travels of others here be a blessing to you on your journey. Love in Christ, Joseph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmonicat Posted January 4, 2023 Author Share Posted January 4, 2023 (edited) 14 hours ago, JosephM said: Welcome Jim, You are definitly not alone in your observations concerning the mainstream Christian religion. In my view, there is a peace that awaits the end of our sruggles by the acceptance of our living in a world that is full of uncertainties. May the travels of others here be a blessing to you on your journey. Love in Christ, Joseph Thanks Joseph and everybody who replied. I'm being honest when I say Christians - Trinitarians, Calvinist, and Seventh Day Adventist, have driven me right out of 'Christianity'. I have two cousins who are preachers. One a Pentecostal - the other a Baptist. They don't have anything good to say about me because I reject Trinity and because I'm an amateur eschatologist. They destroy my peace. On every forum it's nearly impossible to have a friendly discussion on anything. Then, when people's views are seriously challenged like trinity, Calvinism, sola scriptura, KJV only, pre-trib, saved by grace, etc., they resort to belittling personal attacks. Then it turns a thread into a disagreeable pile of junk. I'm burned out with trinity debates but do enjoy a good one on eschatology. The problem with others on this topic is the majority of them believe the Catholic Church is an evil cult that produces - the anti-Christ and I adamantly disagree with that. Thanks again for the welcome. I do want to know more about Progressive Christianity. It looks like that's the direction I've been going in the last 5 or so years not even realizing it. Edited January 4, 2023 by harmonicat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tariki Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 Hi Jim, hopefully you will not make the same mistake I have made in the past, that is, trying to argue with such "believers". I have learnt the hard way that it is best to just leave it. As far as eschatology is concerned, this was the one subject that Thomas Merton, the Catholic monk, and the zen man D T Suzuki disagreed on in their dialogue "Wisdom in Emptiness". Suzuki spoke only of an "eschatology of the present moment" while Merton - thought concurring in a certain way - sought to speak of something more, a final consummation of all things in Christ, beyond our current imaginings. I'm more with Suzuki. Anyway, welcome again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdclmn72 Posted May 27, 2023 Share Posted May 27, 2023 I just joined this forum and i can agree with what you have seen over time. I'm not here to argue, I'd rather make friends and get along with others. I hope that your experience here will be peaceful and uplifting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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