re is christian a dirty word in article mar athos rutgers edu usceast cs scarolina edu moss cs scarolina edu james moss writes i was brought up christian but i am not christian any longer i also have a bad taste in my mouth over christianity i in my own faith accept and live my life by many if not most of the teachings of christ but i cannot let myself be called a christian beacuse to me too many things are done on the name of christianity that i can not be associated with a question for you can you give me the name of an organization or a philosophy or a political movement etc which has never had anything evil done in its name you re missing a central teaching of christianity man is inherently sinful we are saved through faith by grace knowing that believing that does not make us without sin furthermore not all who consider themselves christians are even those who manage to head their own churches not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven matt i also have a problem with the inconsistancies in the bible and how it seems to me that too many people have edited the original documents to fit their own world views thereby leaving the bible an unbelievable source again what historical documents do you trust do you think hannibal crossed the alps how do you know how do you know for sure what historical documents have stood the scrutiny and the attempts to dis credit it as well as the bible has i don t have dislike of christians except for a few who won t quit witnessing to me no matter how many times i tell them to stop but the christian faith organized religion will never as far as i can see at the moment get my support well it s really a shame you feel this way no one can browbeat you into believing and those who try will probably only succeed in driving you further away you need to ask yourself some difficult questions is there an afterlife and if so does man require salvation to attain it if the answer is yes the next question is how does man attain this salvation can he do it on his own as the eastern religions and certain modern offshoots like the new age movement teach or does he require god s help if the latter in what form does indeed in what form can such help come needless to say this discussion could take a lifetime and for some people it did comprise their life s writings so i am hardly in a position to offer the answers here merely pointers to what to ask few of us manage to have an unshaken faith our entire lives certainly not me the spritual life is a difficult journey if you ve never read a pilgrim s progress i highly recommend this greatest allegory of the english language peace and love in god ess s name james moss now i see by your close that one possible source of trouble for you may be a conflict between your politcal beliefs and your religious upbringing you wrote that i in my own faith accept and live my life by many if not most of the teachings of christ well christ referred to god as my father not my mother and while the maleness of god is not the same as the maleness of those of us humans who possess a y chromosome it does not honor god to refer to him as female purely to be trendy non discriminatory or politically correct this in no way disparages women nor is it my intent to do so by my use of the male pronoun to refer to both men and women english just does not have a decent neuter set of pronouns after all god chose a woman as his only human partner in bringing christ into the human population well i m not about to launch into a detailed discussion of the role of women in christianity at am with only hours of sleep in the last and for that reason i also apologize for any shortcomings in this article i just happened across yours and felt moved to reply i hope i may have given you and anyone else who finds himself in a similar frame of mind something to contemplate karl dussik
