This may not be a thread for Christians or for those wobbling in their faith in Christianity.


Seriously. Years ago when I was contemplating Christianity, and thinking some of the doctrines through and doing a little research, I was all ready to give up on Christianity.

The Garden of Eden story reminded me of the Greek myth of Pandora opening the box and letting out all the evil and suffering into the world. Eve eats the apple and wham bam, that is the reason for all the evil and suffering in our world. In both societies where those stories originated, the woman gets blamed for all the evil that we experience today.

I had a hard time dealing with the doctrine of original sin. This doctrine especially bothered me when I had children. To think that an innocent child is born sinful to me ...it is sinful to even think that.

So all the people in the world are born with sin nature, with rebellion in their hearts, as being a displeasure to God, that we all need saving because of what two people did in a garden thousands of years ago??

Not fair. I don't buy it.

I sat in church and had to confess I was a sinner, in thought word and deed every day I offended my God.

Well whose stinking fault is that anyway?? I didn't make the world, I didn't create the garden, I didn't make the dang stupid rules. I didn't let Satan loose on a couple of people that didn't know good from evil (sooooooooooo how could they make the right decision if they didn't know good from evil???? hmmmm? can someone explain that? How does a just God expect anyone to make the right decision without knowing good from bad? Oh that's right, all they had to do was obey? Obey. Put a tree that is beautiful in the middle of the garden and say don't touch it. Yeah, not too mean, unjust and just plain wrong).

Yeah, so while I was rejected the tenets like that from Christianity along comes Mormonism with a much better view on that garden scene. It was supposed to happen.

*rolls my eyes*

It doesn't matter, all theories I have heard just doesn't cut the mustard to explain all the suffering, all the pain, all the abuse, all the crapola that has gone on in this world for ever.

Freedom of will, choice, fall of man, man's disobedience that affected a whole world that didn't even exist at the so called time Adam and Eve ate the apple...or fruit or mango or whatever, it just doesn't cut the mustard that everyone since Adam and Eve has had to pay for what they did.

Then I find out, original sin is not a doctrine that existed in Judaism. Nope. It was introduced by that Paul aka Apostle then was expounded on by a second century bishop. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin

So no, it was the other way round for me. I thought Mormonism would do what it said would do and fill in the holes in Christian theology. It didn't. It just created more holes by mixing their own doctrine in with it. The LDS church just does a linguistic gymnastic on the doctrine of the fall but basically stick to the same 'the whole world suffers because of it.'http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Original_Sin

Oi vei.

The point is I did it backwards. Now where do I go? Don't worry I am taking Stray Mutt's advice and I am working through this then forgetting it and if there are any answers, they'll come sliding through.

I came to Mormonism from Existentialism. Yes, I was a confirmed atheist.

However, I came upon several very unhappy atheists. I struggled with my own terror of death. I tried to find solace in rolling the rock up the hill.

I read Kafka, Sartre, Camus, Nietzsche. I brooded and wrote journals and poetry and stories and brooded some more.

But I also read Soren Kierkegaard...a Christian who understood what I was struggling with. He advocated the "leap of faith". It was something I had not done.

As fate would have it, about that time I met a Mormon girl. You know what happened next. Between hormones and philosophical rationalizations, I ended up in the midst of the Latter Day Saints.

And they cherry pick a few that are "correct."

It's not surprising that someone who is questioning their own religion to fall into the Mormon "doctrine" trap that they "have ALL the truth" whereas everyone else only has "pieces."

I bought into that crap too.

I've never considered someone would grow disillusioned with Christianity and turn to Mormonism. One thing I've been thinking of lately is if God created people (which supposedly Christians believe, not just Adam and Eve), then why are we considered sinful? To me that's like saying God creates or makes mistakes. I witnessed a baby being baptised and I thought how could a baby have any sin unless God willfully placed it on her by allowing her to be born. That is crazy making. Not that I believe anything about God, but some people make themselves crazy with trying to justify having a religion. Or so it seems to me.

Well there's that and the fact that most Christian religions that I ran into think that if you don't believe in Jesus, you are going to hell.

That doesn't account for the millions or hundreds of thousands of people who never heard of Jesus, long before Jesus was even born and then those who did not live close enough to the area to here about Jesus.

So all those people are destined for hell if you weren't lucky enough to be born in the middle east and had the opportunity to hear of Jesus.

No one is ever good enough, according to Christianity, to go to heaven without Jesus. Believe in Jesus or go to hell. So Christianity assigned hundreds of thousand to people to hell.

Then the Christian religions I ran into never really spoke of what happens in Heaven. I was told that I wouldn't know my loved ones, family, in Heaven. What kind of Heaven would it be if I never ran into or recognized a loved one?

So you see why someone can turn off of Christianity if they start thinking about it in practical terms. With the sealing of families forever (until you think that through) Mormonism seemed good. With the different kingdoms, many people not going to hell you can see why Mormonism seemed good at the onset.

It never made the slightest bit of sense to me.

I always took the Garden of Eden story to be a myth. I think that it talks about the human transition to self-awareness. I also think that the Garden of Eden may reflect a dim ancestral memory of the African rainforest.

AND

it's always the woman's fault!

there is no need for a savior

nothing to die for

no fear generated of ingrained evil

nothing to sell

no way to make a profit

only the proof from thousands of years of evolution that cooperation and peace succeeds better than selfishness and war.

Maher said it best this week, "Wherever women are excluded, shit goes downhill--the football world, the Vatican...."

We can include Islam and Mormonism in Maher's categories.

Anagrammy

Yes, we need religion...

Anagrammy