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kathymontana
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1# |
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(Date Posted:02/11/2004 22:00:54)
Reply to : scalawag
Welcome! Glad to have you on board!
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I don't believe in the sorcerers or the preachers. I just believe in you.
-Collective Soul
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featheredserpent
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(Date Posted:02/12/2004 02:22:42)
Reply to : scalawag
Howdy all!I only discovered this forum today, but I already know I'm going to post, so I better let you all know what kind of nut you are dealing with!I'm 35 years old, I've actually walked away from the "church" several years ago, but only within the last year or so have I really been examining how much that upbringing has affected me, and trying to change that which I do not like. I was raised Southern Baptist, so I guess I'm a backslider now. I do believe in god, just his followers I have a problem with. I have become a bit of a universalist - there is no wrong way to eat a reeses. Through Taoism and other sources, especially the writings of Brian McKinley and oddly enough a lot of Bible studyin
Howdy there scalawag.
New here meself. Ditto to the anger! I was relatively recently 'shunned' and it seems that all the anger I feel for the current episode goes way back to my fundy unbringing.
FUCK AM I ANGRY!!!!!!! Double angry. I want to see 'them' splattered and hung up to dry naked with their willies hanging impotently between their legs.
Ahh that feels better. Nuts phew you aint heard nothing yet. I'm in control now and wish you a warm hello!
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I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone.
H. L. Mencken
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Shadowself
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3# |
Registered:
01/16/2004
Time spent:
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(Date Posted:02/12/2004 15:58:30)
Hello Scalawag! Greetings from Walk Away!
Scalawag: Through Taoism and other sources, especially the writings of Brian McKinley and oddly enough a lot of Bible studying, I broke away from the fundie beliefs that were ingrained in me.
I, too, have an interest in Taoism. I'm definately no expert at it yet, but I'm drawn to it because of the harmony and balance Taoism presents.
Scalawag: Now I hold a lot of anger and resentment for the Religious Right and what I see as the lies they spread
You can also sign me up for the Down-with-the-Religious-Right Club. They're way off the far end of the plank!
Scalawag: I do a bit of writing to explore my own beliefs and let out the frustrations I have. You may see some of it about, so you've been warned! 
Exactly what we all do here. Rant and rave all you want. I hope you find aid and support here with the rest of us "backsliders".
I
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A big revelation in my professional training was that humans can learn skills for living and relating. We don"t have to be desperate for a miracle of God to make us decent.--Marlene Winell
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Cyranothe2nd
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(Date Posted:02/13/2004 02:39:35)
Hi and welcome Scalawag.
I was a member of the Baptist church as well, but it called itself "independant, fundamental", whcih really means "crazy and unbalanced".
I understand about the anger, I think we have all experienced it. Hardest thing to get over IMO. Religious Right are fanatics, completely nuts. Can't believe the stuff I used to believe avout gays, abortion, ect because of them and their damned tracts!
Anyway, welcome 
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redzed
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(Date Posted:02/13/2004 04:23:25)
Reply to : scalawag
Through Taoism and other sources, especially the writings of Brian McKinley and oddly enough a lot of Bible studying, I broke away from the fundie beliefs that were ingrained in me.
Now I hold a lot of anger and resentment for the Religious Right and what I see as the lies they spread, especially those I swallowed hook-line-sinker.
Tao is familiar but i've not heard of Brian McKinley, got any links/articles
Nothing odd about bible study freeing from error, i think many of the members here have at one time or another expressed a similar sentiment. For me it was the Gospel according to John, and the contention that all things in the bible must agree(but don't and can't possibly, if taken literally), and the message in John being one of belief in God as all that is necessary. That messge repeated scores of time eventually ate away at the core of legalism i was raised with until i saw that context and punctuation are vital elements of communication. Example: John 3:16 is distorted by xtian orthodox/fundamentalists to say that a belief in Jesus is necessary for salvation, however seems to me that the subject of the verse is god and whoever believes in god will not perish. Paraphrase: "For Spirit so loves humanity, that the Eternal Infinite Mind gave the example/archetype of the only begotten divine child, that whoever believes in Spirit should not perish in a legalistic maze, but have an everlasting life of wonder and achievement". Subtle difference between belief in God/Spirit/Life/Energy, as contrasted to belief in Jesus/law/church.
These thoughts were part of my liberation, belief in the divine element of life and, that it is not necessary, as the 'church' has taught, to declare Jesus name, in fact it's not necessary to do anything at all, it's not even necessary to have known about Jesus. So I was freed from that legalistic way of thinking, thru bible reading, and now comprehend elements of that book to be designed primarily for the rescue of minds locked up by the designs of social control freaks looking to enslave and profit.
Anger is part of the grief cycle. I know i suffered grief for the effects the sda's had on my life, for me, reason, logic, acceptance, compassion, equanamity and loving kindness are the key elements in lifting my mind out of that morass of negativity lodged like a virulent virus in my mind.
Negative feelings and emotions brought about by the guilt - shame game inculcated by the fundamentalist mindset, however, in a strange way, the resentment i felt at being duped, has made me stronger.
In my own experience, the period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life. ...Through a difficult period, you can learn, you can develop inner strength, determination, and courage to face the problem. Who gives you this chance? Your enemy.
- Dalai Lama
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.
- Ambrose Redmoon
ffice ffice" / onload='javascript:showImageWidth(this,600,600)' class='AutoImageWidthTopic' style='cursor:poionter'>
"I have come to the frightening conclusion
that I am the decisive element.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
I possess tremendous power to make
life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration,
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides
whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated,
and a person is humanized or de-humanized.
If we treat people as they are, we make them worse.
If we treat people as they ought to be,
we help them become
what they are capable
of becoming."
?Goethe
Ahhh the joy of freedom!
Peace
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Albert Einstein: "A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe" a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us."
Namaste
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scalawag
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02/10/2004
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(Date Posted:02/14/2004 02:50:29)
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Restless Pilgrim
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7# |
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(Date Posted:02/15/2004 02:33:52)
Scalawag ---
I think you might be interested in John Hick. He put out his theological pluralism hypothesis in a very good book The Fifth Dimension. It is very interesting and draws together the common themes of religions, which he considers are all equally valid, fragmented expressions of the 'transcendant'.
Personally I feel he is a little naive and simplifies each religion a fair bit. I think the hypothesis does definitely hold for Eastern religions, but Christianity and especially the very explicit and definitive Islam are harder to work the hypothesis into. The Koran claims to be a final revelation and Muslims necessarily should believe this whole book in it's entirity as the actual words of the actual God stating what is universally true about the ultimate. The same thing can be said for the New Testament, although it is much easier to be a Christian and accept the instrumental truth of the bible (indeed Hick is this sort of Christian).
I am also unconvinced by his assertion that naturalism, which disregards the supernatural/transcendendant, is hopelessly pessimistic because it has no answer for death and cannot promise the world's poor anything beyond their meagre existence.
However, as you are happy believing in non exclusive God, then I think you would like this read.
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I'm like a bad penny - I always turn up.
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scalawag
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(Date Posted:02/15/2004 04:03:08)
Thanks, I haven't heard of John Hicks, but I'll check him out.
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featheredserpent
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(Date Posted:02/15/2004 06:05:55)
Reply to : scalawag
Brian McKinley's page ishttp://www.elroy.net. Nothing to do with Taoism, by the way He is, in my opinion, an excellent writer. He writes a lot about the religious right, fundamentalism, and seems to have a particular beef with James Dobson and Focus on the Family. His site helped me define what I thought was wrong with the way I was raised to believe, and begin expressing my own issues.Some of my favorite writings by him are:Family Values: a biblical view,Terrorism as a Means of Self-actualization,
Thanks scalawag - just been there, i agree excellent writer. Good stuff I'll share it around.
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I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone.
H. L. Mencken
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He is, in my opinion, an excellent writer. He writes a lot about the religious right, fundamentalism, and seems to have a particular beef with James Dobson and Focus on the Family. His site helped me define what I thought was wrong with the way I was raised to believe, and begin expressing my own issues.