Comments on: Geoff Surratt: I'm through with Christianity http://apathyonline.net/2009/04/09/geoff-surratt-im-through-with-christianity/ Just trying to live consistently Mon, 04 Mar 2013 01:17:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: admin http://apathyonline.net/2009/04/09/geoff-surratt-im-through-with-christianity/#comment-28 admin Sun, 12 Jul 2009 12:23:10 +0000 http://localhost/?p=13#comment-28 Thank you for your comments. :)

I guess going to church for you is now more of a ministry than it was before. :) I have a different view of how churches should operate, one greatly influenced by the book "Love God with All your Mind," which everyone should read. I don't think God intended for the church to operate as it now does, with local dictators acting as mini-Gods (even though most are benevolent). There should be more than one pastor, but I'd prefer a local church service that acted as a fellowship.

Never read atlas shrugged… may later.

]]> By: jlaramee http://apathyonline.net/2009/04/09/geoff-surratt-im-through-with-christianity/#comment-27 jlaramee Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:00:00 +0000 http://localhost/?p=13#comment-27 Christianity: I opted out, then opted back in
Another great post! I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who has felt tortured by both the increasing difficulty in communicating any meaning at all in public discourse, in general, and the screwed up meaning of the word Christian/Christianity, in particular.

I'm not sure what to suggest, for something to call "statist Christians"– first of all, they run the gamut from hard-core worshippers of the socialistic state (liberal Christians), to "yeah, the secular government does a lot of really bad stuff, but the bible says it was instituted by God" types (conservative Christians). I almost think it's best not to label them, because it hurts me to think of yet another "us/them" division within Christianity.

I totally agree with the approach of asking the questioner what they mean by their question (i.e. "are you a Christian?"). People need to be shaken out of their stupor, need to be made to start *thinking* about the meanings of the words they say and hear. Speaking of that– have you read Atlas Shrugged? I am finding that to be an extremely edifying effort (I'm actually listening to it, not reading it, per se), because it does a lot of hard-nosed examination of a lot of the tripe that was passing as public discourse, back in the 50s, and which has only gotten worse since then.

And without going into the whole saga, I left Christianity, in writing (!) back in the fall of 1996, only to come back in late 2000 to the very same church that I had resigned from, and was reinstated as a member in 2001. Why did I come back? Two reasons come to mind: 1) I had come to believe (finally!) that I could be a member of a Christian church while having deep doubts about core Christian doctrines, and 2) Christianity is my "people"– I just couldn't bear to keep staying away. I love the people too much– they are my heart, and I wasn't successful in my attempt to replace them with some other community.

And now, I see it as one of my life goals, to help these good-hearted people see the light, about the darkness all around us.

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