"I'm not a christian, but it feels good to be in The Chapel", Ed Kowalczyk Options

[livebat]

I've just listen again all my bootlegs of Live and right now I'm listen "I Alone" for the concert in the Chapel, date: 2000-03-13.

Just want to share, again, like everyone, how much I miss Ed... If this thread is repetitive, it's because all we are concerned in different ways... Like I said: It's not religions fault, but in a way the people who didn't know what to believe, finds the wrong answer on them.

Want my +Live+ back!!!

[deepenoughtodive]

Steve,
You are completely right, I stated that your beliefs were your opinion. I apologize for that. Your beliefs are just that, your beliefs.

Christianity is exclusive. I believe it is the only way. Therefore, I believe your beliefs are wrong. That is hard to say sometimes but it is part of what we believe. It doesn't make me happy to believe you are wrong. I don't think I'm better than you or smarter than you. Its just what I believe.

This post has been edited by deepenoughtodive: Mar 29 2011, 2:27 pm

[FishOutaWater]

Christianity is exclusive.

Not all Christianity is exclusive. Only some strains of it are. There are plenty of very bright, insightful Christians who see the gospels and panoply of early church documents in the historical, social, literary, linguistic, economic, political, religious, civil context in which they were produced and reach a very logical, non-literal, non-exclusive form of Christianity that really resonates with me. To me, the "truth" lies somewhere within the message of personal transformation and social justice that Jesus and his followers were sharing amidst the violence, and social injustice imposed on an oppressed people in the first century Roman empire ruled by Ceasar.

I have said this many times here and I will say it again. If you have not challenged and tested the beliefs that have been handed to you, by studying in depth other religious traditions, and studying your own Christian documents in a historical, social, economic, religious, Roman context - and think about when and why they were written, by whom and to whom, then you are missing a lot! The gospels were not written by stenographers that were following Jesus around writing every contemporaneous syllable. The gospels cannot be all literally true because they are filled with internal factual inconsitencies and contradictions. The Gospels were written 30 to 90 years after the death of Jesus, based on oral history and traditions, to certain audiences to emphasize certain points, in certain contexts. The context is too rich and deep to discuss at length on a message board. But context is everything.