There are a lot of beliefs that held me back before I gave up agnosticism, and they were firmly tied to religion. I never did see a convincing argument that there was a more "biblically sound" interpretation that just happened to agree with everything that I ended up believing instead, and being straightjacketed with the artificial constraint would've been bizarre and artificial to me. I really don't see how you can believe that the Bible really does document the actions of God and still make decisions about things without needless baggage. And if I think it's needless baggage, then I'll say so if the topic comes up.
I didn't appreciate the baggage of guilt and hellfire growing up, and I don't appreciate people loading their kids with it now. Telling kids that they're probably *not* going to be set ablaze burning bush-style forever and ever amen if they don't fall down and submit to Jesus is... a somewhat more humane form of "evangelism" that I'm ready to get behind, within some limits of tact.
I don't hate conventional evangelists because they believe something and want other people to believe it. I hate them because what they believe is fucking awful.
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chiming
Re: I wish this was true, because it's very well stated.
Date: 2011-03-15 05:12 am (UTC)From:I didn't appreciate the baggage of guilt and hellfire growing up, and I don't appreciate people loading their kids with it now. Telling kids that they're probably *not* going to be set ablaze burning bush-style forever and ever amen if they don't fall down and submit to Jesus is... a somewhat more humane form of "evangelism" that I'm ready to get behind, within some limits of tact.
I don't hate conventional evangelists because they believe something and want other people to believe it. I hate them because what they believe is fucking awful.