Responding to someone about my faith and other beliefs:
As for my Christianity, I too have been one, all my life, though I was excluded from one church. Raised Methodist, I had issues with the Missionary Baptists later (my first wife’s church) over their treatment of her being assaulted, hatred of science, and racism. Not much of a churchgoer now, though my second wife and I do have faith in a low key way.
I am saved by God’s grace alone, not by works, via his sacrifice through his incorporation as Jesus. In saying that, loving Jesus should inspire us to do good, just as loving your partner should inspire you to be good to them. This has helped me through many things, but I don’t know that every single person is given this path, there may be others, such as Islam or even animism, that God gives to others. One issue leading to my expulsion was my belief that there is some kind of expression of God’s grace even for the “bone in his nose cannibal” who is a wonderful human but never even hears the Gospel.
Another few sticky points for some:
I choose whether there might be a baby by who I sleep with. After that, I’m out of the process, although I would hope to be in on the decision to keep the baby
I have never been gay, but I lived with 2 men with my 11 yo daughter for a while. They are exactly like any other couple. Homosexuality may be a sin [a few folks have questions about that], but I don’t understand it, even after knowing all about it, and if they don’t bother me or my child, God is our judge not me.
Vaccination is needed. I got COVID a while back even after all of the shots, but it was not a bad case. We might all be dead by now without the stick.
Science is a great tool to use to understand Creation, and does not threaten religious faith. The two work together to explain how things work, and then, what we should do with them.
I’m not sure how we were created, but what we’ve learned from science facts is part of the story, with the rest filled in by the truth of God and his way, which we don’t understand the facts of yet, and may never fully.
Facts are what can be proven scientifically. Truth must be chosen to be believed. QED facts are a subset of truth.
Responding to someone about my faith and other beliefs:
As for my Christianity, I too have been one, all my life, though I was excluded from one church. Raised Methodist, I had issues with the Missionary Baptists later (my first wife’s church) over their treatment of her being assaulted, hatred of science, and racism. Not much of a churchgoer now, though my second wife and I do have faith in a low key way.
I am saved by God’s grace alone, not by works, via his sacrifice through his incorporation as Jesus. In saying that, loving Jesus should inspire us to do good, just as loving your partner should inspire you to be good to them. This has helped me through many things, but I don’t know that every single person is given this path, there may be others, such as Islam or even animism, that God gives to others. One issue leading to my expulsion was my belief that there is some kind of expression of God’s grace even for the “bone in his nose cannibal” who is a wonderful human but never even hears the Gospel.
Another few sticky points for some:
I choose whether there might be a baby by who I sleep with. After that, I’m out of the process, although I would hope to be in on the decision to keep the baby
I have never been gay, but I lived with 2 men with my 11 yo daughter for a while. They are exactly like any other couple. Homosexuality may be a sin [a few folks have questions about that], but I don’t understand it, even after knowing all about it, and if they don’t bother me or my child, God is our judge not me.
Vaccination is needed. I got COVID a while back even after all of the shots, but it was not a bad case. We might all be dead by now without the stick.
Science is a great tool to use to understand Creation, and does not threaten religious faith. The two work together to explain how things work, and then, what we should do with them.
I’m not sure how we were created, but what we’ve learned from science facts is part of the story, with the rest filled in by the truth of God and his way, which we don’t understand the facts of yet, and may never fully.
Facts are what can be proven scientifically. Truth must be chosen to be believed. QED facts are a subset of truth.