From: Steven Durrett 

Jeff -

I know.

That was the initial reason why, 30 years ago last spring, I got up and
quietly walked out of the Wooodside Road United Methodist Church,
repudiating Christianity and the evil decreed by Jehovah.

It was a weekday afternoon. I and many of my friends were in a bible class
in the small chapel at our church, preparing to be rebaptized before the
congregation a few weeks later. A little voice in my head (I'd call it my
conscience, others might say Jehovah was speaking to me) said that for my
baptism to be meaningful, I would finally have to accept that there is no
path to Salvation other than through acceptance of Jesus Christ. I would
have to believe that Jews, Pagans, Buddhists, Wiccans, Hindus, Animists,
Shintoists, Atheists, Taoists, Agnostics, Confucians and all the others
were justly and lovingly damned, no matter how they lived their lives.

Faced with repudiating my deepest beliefs or my religion, the choice was easy.

To short circuit one line of argument, I do not believe that a person is
evil simply because he calls himself a Christian. I judge Christians just
as I judge others: by the way they treat other people.

Steve Durrett




Jeff Shultz - Shultz Infosystems wrote:
>
> On Thu, 06 Jul 2000 13:34:42 -0700, in
3964ED62.3E909D24{at}pacbell.net>, Steven Durrett

> wrote:
>
> >Tony -
> >
> >What about the Buddhist who never harms anyone, devoting his entire life
> >to caring for those in need?
>
> Still doesn't make it.
> --
> Jeff Shultz
http://www.shultzinfosystems.com
>         /"\
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