Wow... That's really discouraging. I think the whole "I'm right, you're wrong, and that's the end of it" discourages current as well as "would-be" church-goer's faith.
A long time ago, I read an account of a Christian missionary challenging a Native American shaman to convert. The shaman asked the missionary to explain Christianity. After the missionary gave a summary explanation, the shaman was confused - mainly because the God he worshipped and the God the missionary worshipped sounded like basically the same God. For some reason, this story stuck with me... Maybe because I wish there was more tolerance across religions that are trying to communicate the same basic ideas. I know it's not that simple (nothing ever is), but... Ken Ketsdever wrote: >I think its worse than that. Love your neighbor unless he is gay, belongs to >a different religion, belongs to a different church within the same overall >religion (protestant > Baptist vs. protestant > Methodist), has a different >set of values, (protestant person 1 abortion is a personal choice, protestant >person 2 abortion is murder therefore I can not associate with you) etc... > >Back in my religious days I attended three churches depending on where I was >on Sunday. > >If I was on base at Camp Pendleton - Church of Christ in Oceanside? or near by >(A friend attended and invited me, so it became my local church) >If I was in Los Angeles - Assembly of God in Hawthorne (Church of my childhood >before moving to Sacramento) >If I was Home in Rocklin (Sacramento Area) Community Covenant in Rocklin. >(Church of my teen years) > >Then on the Church leaders found out I was a religious polygamist (in >reference to having multiple churches not wife's, one is enough) attending a >different church each week depending on my location and all hell broke lose. >I was a sinner, there is only one right church and everyone else was going to >hell and I was going with them because I was committed to his church. > >-----Original Message----- >From: Michael T. Tangorre [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 5:38 AM >To: CF-Community >Subject: RE: Wedding Planning Woes > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:156437 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
