I found this group poking around.
And like to say Hi. I'm evangelical, Assembly of God after being raised Lutheran. After college, Lutheranism was pretty boring and AoG was really what I was looking for. My family is really involved in the church, and we love the people and pastor there.
I'm as liberal as they come, and I'm pretty smart about the bible as well. I remember back in college, some non-christian faiths wanted a room to be able to pray or conduct services in. A room, where us Christians had an entire BUILDING as a church. The RW fundies were up in arms, to the point of knocking doors in the dorms to get a petition signed to stop it. The person who knocked on my door had their foundations shaken. They had a bunch of bible verses that supported their position, but I threw several out that challenged them, to which they had no answer.
It hurts me to see some RW fundies call this a christian nation and ignore what Christ taught. WWJD? He'd heal the sick, clothe the poor, and feed the hungry. It seems that many of the RW have forgotten Jesus did that, and dutifully ignore it to sacrifice at the altars of greed and hatred.
One of the most important passages of the bible to me is the Sermon on the Mount. In those two chapters, Jesus lays out how you can live a righteous life. The next is Matthew 22:36-40.
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
If people would heed the teachings of Jesus more, instead of using the bible as a weapon against those they hate, then the world would be a much better place.
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I think if we all began with Matthew 22:36-40, life for all would be much improved.
