Honestly I wish I had faith as strong as yours (speaking to PP 15:28). I used to and I don't know where it went....

I didn't say he was "just" a teacher, but in explaining him to my child I say he was a teacher. A friend of mine did recommend CS Lewis to me so perhaps I will check it out. I agree - this is a great post.

Anonymous wrote:I was raised protestant christian and as I've gotten older I have grown more skeptical. I am now a parent and we do attend church (a very progressive congregation but not UU). I don't tell my daughter anything is "fact" (for example heaven). I just tell her that Jesus was a teacher and that we don't exactly know what happens when you die. She has not yet been baptized because I don't know how I feel about that. I think I may let her decide when she is older.

I am a true believer. I am Catholic. I was an ignorant Christian until I began dating my wife, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. In order to discuss religion with her, I had to educate myself on what my own denomination taught. In educating myself, I became a person that believed not just because I was raised in that denomination, but because the literature I read was powerfully moving, thought provoking and convincing to me.

Regarding what I put in bold. I remember reading something from CS Lewis years ago on this topic. Lewis would forcefully refute what you've said about Jesus being just a teacher. He said something to the effect that it was not possible for Jesus to have been "merely a good and wise religious philosopher" (I'm quoting for emphasis, not becuase those are Lewis' exact words). Lewis reasoned that if Jesus was merely a good and wise teacher then it would have been truly evil for him to have allowed the many thousands of people who were his followers (during his own earthly lifetime) to have believed that he was the messiah, the son of God. That reasoning resonated with me. It is one of multiple reasons why I personally believe in the divinity of Jesus.

Much of this stuff is just "faith" and you have to have some of that to believe. We can't scientifically, or historically prove much of what is in the scriptures, but for people like me, there is enough there to get me that kernel of faith from which I am able to believe the things that are not scientifically provable. I believe much of the old testament is not to be taken literally. I believe the new testament is factually correct in describing the life of Jesus and the early church afterward.

Great topic.

I was raised protestant christian and as I've gotten older I have grown more skeptical. I am now a parent and we do attend church (a very progressive congregation but not UU). I don't tell my daughter anything is "fact" (for example heaven). I just tell her that Jesus was a teacher and that we don't exactly know what happens when you die. She has not yet been baptized because I don't know how I feel about that. I think I may let her decide when she is older.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want a nice church experience and family without the Bible, check out Unitarian Universalism.

+1 We are true beleivers in UU!

UU has but one article of faith, and that is that there is at most one God.

I can understand why people look at the universe and its incomprehensible complexity and think it can't be the result of randomness. But what is the connection between God the creator of the universe and God the teacher of morals, or even more far-fetched, a God who answers our prayer about some football game?

This about sums up my feelings...
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

believers

Anonymous wrote:If you want a nice church experience and family without the Bible, check out Unitarian Universalism.

+1 We are true beleivers in UU!

If you want a nice church experience and family without the Bible, check out Unitarian Universalism.

I was raised Christian and became an atheist because I felt like you, OP. I did not feel like I was experiencing what others in my church were.

I still value my religious background as it adds to my understanding of others and their faith. I just had to be true to myself and what I thought, so I decided to leave. DH is from a non-Christian culture (but is also an atheist).

FWIW, I consider myself a moral person and we're raising DD without religion but with a strong moral and ethical base.

I feel you, OP. Raised Xtian, now agnostic (not raised Catholic, though-- maybe that's why I don't feel guilty?)

I've flirted with 4 different churches since leaving the one I grew up attending. Nice folks have offered invitations, said they'd pray for me, the whole nine yards. I've never been a true believer, though, and am lukewarm about Xtianity. It has never seemed true or real-- similar to reading myths or fairy tales.

I do wonder what it would be like as a believer. I just don't have faith.... and that feels okay, too. I do not believe in hell.

PP here - I'm Catholic so have never been part of a Protestant bible study class. I have friends and relatives who have M Div degrees so they have "studied" Scripture and I've met Protestants who have to look up every passage in a concordia. That's not me. I try to live the Gospel teaching, not have an academic degree in it.

Yes, I truly believe because of my experience with reading the Gospels and living accordingly, not because of a class. Though I have been affected by some classic books, especially Mere Christianity and The Seven Storey Mountain.

I was raised with Christian beliefs but now, as an adult, I find myself lost (not really lost but I'll elaborate later). I think that the only reason I consider myself Christian is because I was "programmed" that way since I was young. If anything, it is guilt and not faith, that for so many years made me consider myself as a christian. I was told that if I did not believe, I will go to hell eternally while all my love ones go to heaven. But as I grew up in my teenage years, I found that going to church was boring so i skipped out. Now as a adult, I'm not sure what to think anymore. A big part of me is now agnostic. sort of a mishmash of all the things I have learnt growing up. But now that I have young kids, I'm questioning what I should do.

A couple of years ago when DW was carrying our 1st child, we joined a church and we enjoyed the experience. What i didn't get so much was all the bible study. Does everyone who goes to church also do the extra bible study group thing? As a 1/2 baked christian, I'll do the sermons/songs/prayers and all but I just don't have this yearning to STUDY the scriptures. That makes me wonder why I even went. Did I go just beacuse I was raised to think that is the correct thing to do? Anyways, I do appreciate the morals of being in a religion (at least this particular religion) which is why I would like my kids to be exposed too. But I am personally quite lost as to what to believe. I know no one can make up my mind for me but I'm hoping for some insight or experience.