The Sarge--And I thought I was the only one, along with pbxguy, possibly. Everything in your post is so patently obvious I cannot understand why so few of us figured it out. Eventually we questioned the walk and found it lacking, and that is great. Now we wonder why it took so long to employ the logic required to dismiss those contradictory and irrational beliefs. Oh, the kingdom, the kingdom! Walk erect into it! Healings and other miracles, speaking in jibberish, prophecies, words from god, blessing with palms, cursing with thumbs, the anointing, the enemy, warfare, auras, Babylon, speaking things into existence, singing in the spirit, the cloud of witnesses, submitting to ministry, on and on. All of it false, but associated with some good feelings we could not part with easily. Some left because they were not treated well, or because the leaders crossed a line so ridiculous it could not be rationalized a moment longer. But for those who left because we questioned and rejected the beliefs themselves, good for us, I say. That is the best reason in my book, to realize the whole thing did not make sense and act accordingly. But nonsensical beliefs are hardly limited to the walk, and it behooves us to continue to question. Traditional Christian beliefs are every bit as contradictory and nonsensical as the walk. Heaven and hell, a deity that has a punitive interest in every single facet of our lives, the trinity, original sin and salvation, faith, angels, virgin birth, resurrection, revelations, the entire old testament--come on. Not only do they not make sense, but they handily coincide with an historical hierarchy controlling ignorant people through fear and reward. The cult called the walk merely imitated the cult called Christianity, which imitated the cult of Judaism. We were not all that original after all. It is smart to question everything and to require evidence for extraordinary claims. The religious cult one has gone to is not necessarily more accurate than the cult one has left.
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