Lost

i think thats a mature choice. when you grow up you have to read the bible with completely different eyes. people may stray but God is aways there as a shepard gathering his lost sheep!

I have abandoned my faith, in the church, awhile back at 18. I was very curious and the people there really couldn't answer my questions. It was always "You suppose do this, read that, believe this, or you're doing something wrong". I had this urge to be enlightened whenever I went to church, and I always listened, but I couldn't fully understand (like really understand) and there was no one I could really talk to and have "civilized" discussions with. I still believe in a higher power, but I still wonder about things, which is basically part of my personality.

Oh my my... I just had this discussion with a good friend of mine. She cannot understand how I can claim to be Christian and still do some of the things I do.
I'm so glad they are not the one's making the decisions of whether or not I'm accepted into God's fold.
No one really has all the answers and I just have to go with what the Spirit speaks to me in my soul. And yes, the Bible too... not MAN'S interpretation of the words, but what the words themself speak to me.
Religious discussions are exhausting.
Go with your heart.. knock and the door will be opened.

Mmm. I agree that stuffiness of organised religion can be off-putting, as can opinionated (unfortunately often hypocritical) people; the soul seeks and finds!

Buddhism has much to offer, and its moral teachings are very much like those of Christianity. I think God takes many faces around the world.

What's important, I believe, is our own relationship with God. When we turn to Him, He is there for us, in our hearts. All else is insignificant beside that fact.

I think what SoulSurvivor2 said is the best way to approach religion and finding your faith but also life in general. Follow your heart.

OUR HIGHER POWER LOVES US NO MATTER WHO WE ARE OR WHAT WE DO OR HOW LONG WE FALL ASTRAY....BUT EVERY PERSON NEEDS TO FIND THERE OWN NINCH TO BE WITH WHOM THEY CALL THERE GOD....

Of course, one of the ironies of so many apparent Christians is that they do judge other people - despite the very clear warnings from Jesus against it (let he who is without sin throw the first stone/ don't try and remove a splinter from your brother's eye when you have a plank in your own etc).

And that is to leave aside completely the terrible treatment of Christians by other Christians throughout history, from the burning or massacre of "heretics" through to events like the Irish Troubles.

I have never been able to get my brain around people who could purportedly read and understand the teachings of Christ and then go out and behave in exactly the opposite way, but claiming to be carrying out his will.

In some ways it seems to me that people like that are actually worshipping themselves, if that makes any sense... The idea that they are better than others, or have a better interpretation of the message they believe to be true, and the arrogance that leads to that, can actually blind them to the leader they purport to be following, so that they then are following their own whims and actually holding those more dear than the teachings of their teacher. At least that's how it seems sometimes.

You so lucky. My Mum never took me to Church as she thought Catholicism was arrogant, & my Dad didn't seem to care. A Philistine.
I was never given the Choice to know God. I felt so alone for all those years. Until I met a very Special Person. But that's another story.

I'm not a very smart man, but all I can suggest is this: If knowing God helps you, that's great news. :)
If not, then God Loves you.


Kind regards, Roby.