i have recently started going to church...
i know, right?!?!
oh, i suppose i should say this next - i am not particularly a fan of church... or even religion itself.
-told ya it was a loaded topic -
so anyways... i'm not real sure why i started going again, it just seemed like what i should do - at the time.
i should also say this, i have nothing against people who are religious or enjoy going to church... i'm just not a fan.
and i know why i'm not... there's more than one reason - two... to be specific:
the first...
a bad experience when i was younger (20's... nothing like a molesting priest or anything like that) - we'll just call it hypocrisy.
and B... there are way too many contradictions in the "instruction manual" aka: the bible
let's start with the first...
i was very involved in the church i was attending at the time (youth group, sunday school, bible school - you get the idea) and when i made what could definitely be considered a sketchy decision... the whole congregation (per the asst. pastor anyways) thought it would be best if i didn't attend anymore, so i quit going.
funny thing though, as the years went by, (as they tend to do)... i would run into various people (members of the aforementioned congregation) who were so saddened and upset that i stopped attending said church. oh, did i mention that some of these same people were specifically mentioned by name as being some of those that preferred i stop attending.
like i said... hypocrisy, plain and simple.
now, onto B... the contradictions -
look up almost any topic and you will find a number of verses that are in favor of it AND ones that prohibit said topic. now i'm not a "gray area" kind of guy... my world is very black or white, right or wrong, do or don't etc,etc,etc.
at this point i probably shouldn't even get into my thoughts on it's historical accuracy, as it wasn't written in "real time" but years and years after the actual events occurred, as told in story form throughout generations.
so there you have it, my most current internal quandary/debate/whatever you want to call it. as always, i am open to opinions, opposing views, questions, concerns or comments.
