re: #82 klys

There was a point in my life where I was very Christian. I have a Bible full of underlining from that time period, given to me by a friend who remains very dear to my heart.

Even then, I could not reconcile the notion of a loving God with that of one who could give his creations free will and then consign them to eternal damnation if they didn’t follow his word precisely. I had my ways around thinking about that (mostly involving decidedly non-Christian concepts) but …I can’t pretend I was ever comfortable with that.

I was especially not comfortable with people who evangelized constantly. If your life isn’t a good example of why someone would want to be a Christian, you’re doing it wrong.

You’ll appreciate this quote from George Fox, who founded the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

“Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations wherever you come; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone; whereby in them you may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you.”