In Reply to: Re: Reclaiming our brains ... and our faith posted by Liv on June 14, 2003 at 11:02:41:
What you say is tough to hear but so often the case: where people's innocence and ability to believe has been so violated that it almost keeps you from being able to find your faith ever again. Jesus talked about a millstone waiting for those who hurt the faith of anyone who believes in him. He must've known crap like this would happen and people like Berg would rise.
Even Paul, only about 30 years after Jesus, said he knew that "grievous wolves would rise" and men would take over and "distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them." So if the coming of evil men like Berg and others in history didn't surprise Paul it didn't surprise Jesus either I'm sure. But that leaves us with the question of why God allows evil to happen or more specifically, when we were so sincere and wanting to do good and change the world for the better, why did he allow our lives to be misguided.
Some people who have to have ALL the loose ends tied up say, "Well, we must have been ready cases for being deceived. The devil latched on to sin in our hearts and lured us in by it." No way. I think that's self-deceptive thinking.
"For the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but time and chance happens to them all, like fish caught in an evil net." The long and short of it was that we were conned by religious hucksters. We were decieved by someone with an agenda. People with good and bad motives were drawn in and there are no simple equations we can stuff our lives into to come up with simple answers. Crap happens and more specifically it happened to us.
I don't have to have all my loose ends tied down theologically to know that somehow things can and will make sense. But maybe it's easier for me to say that than for you cause I didn't suffer like you did. Sorry to hear abotu what you've been through.