In Reply to: Re: Yes, there's more posted by a Christian on March 06, 2005 at 21:01:01:
I find your explanation quite puzzling, as I also do the immersion you mention. Correct me if I am wrong but based on your words I understand the christianity you favor is one of observe, analyze and think about it. Once you get convinced that there must be something in that, then you embrace it. It seems to me void of spiritual connection to a greater power that goes beyond what little rules and arguments one could concoct.
On the other hand, you dismiss my 'interesting' experience as something that came about due to peer pressure while not realizing how the opinions and arguments of the community one is in can also shape one's conclusion. If all one hears is nazi propaganda, as well as its supportive arguments and counterarguments with no much critical thinking beyond the box, one will end up adopting such propaganda.
In your version, you give the individual the credit that intellect alone will bring in the correct conclusion. The assumption is that the individual possess the intellectual tools to reach those conclusions. Again I ask, where is the spiritual connection with a spiritual God?
Finally, your explanation of my acquisition of faith gives all the credit to the family and perhaps even to my lack of critical thinking. This is a terrible combination and its logical result is my adoption of the family's doctrines. You failed to see the miraculous intervention of a God who in spite of the family doctrines showed me His Majesty and drop on me the gift of faith. Is it a gift? I don't know but considering how many people I witness and tell me that they would like to believe yet they don't, I wonder.
Perhaps you know something they don't and I don't. One thing I am sure, God in our minds and life is not the product of an intellectual exercise but rather of immersing one's self in the world of His Words (not the family's). I would even go further to include in this all churches, or so-called christian churches.
What I am talking about is reading our Bible and upon finding verses that say DO THIS and DON'T DO THAT, we do one and don't do the other. Period. That's what I did and faith came in. One can use the intellect to study rules all they long, faith is something well beyond the intellect.