| As a protestant Christian, one of my problems with religion itself is the issue Aychamo stated: Religious folk get high and mighty, and condemn people who disagree with them.
This is upsetting not only because it makes them and their religion look like shit, but also because their behavior reflects on me.
I suppose on many issues I'm one of the more liberal christians out there, and that I believe many believers of many sects of religions different from my own (catholics etc) are, indeed, heaven bound.
Like anything else(EQ guilds for example), there are differing flavors of churches and beliefs. Few people will agree on all religious beliefs, and churches generally have somewhat ordered beliefs(their doctrines) that clear up a lot of loose ends(trinity, apocalypse etc) Furthermore most churches have a feel of 'how things get done', often set by the generally few leaders, and followed by the congregation.
Naturally on such a high level(religious level) it is HIGHLY offensive if you experience a church whose beliefs on life so highly disagree with yours, then try to shove their beliefs down your throat. While my cognitions demand I 'accept' their attempts as valid but inappropriate attempts as witnessing, I am sometimes ashamed of such attempts.
Ashamed of them, perhaps, but never ashamed of my religion.
The bible and christianity is suprisingly very open to interpretation, so it is very easy to make your own conclusions, and argue with someone who has had a docterate in christian theology for decades, and end up 'agreeing to disagree'. Simply because the Bible can be vague at times.
Simply, try and research different religions, islam, buddhism, or christianity if you want. That's my only advice, besides keeping as open a mind as you would hope a religious person would =) |