Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!!RULES." From: PDBROYLES@OWUCOMCN (The Golden Rule: He who has all the Gold makes the rules.) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia Subject: (no subject given) Message-ID: Date: 7 Feb 90 18:22:00 GMT Sender: Practical Christian Life Reply-To: Practical Christian Life Lines: 34 Approved: NETNEWS@PSUVM Gateway Original_To: CHRISTIA As anyone who knew me a few years ago could vouch, I was one of the most conservative closeminded Christians you ever met. Had I joined this list then, I would have been on the "holier than thou" bandwagon where everything Christ said was true. I blindly accepted Christianity as the ONLY way and said that ALL other religions are doomed to hell. My primary source for this position was the Bible and my claim to knowing Jesus Christ personally, sounds familiar? (if it does, it's because it fits 3/4ths of this list!) Anyway, I criticized and prayed for anybody who was not a bonified born again Christian, and I was headed for Seminary after college. Well, needless to say, I've had an eye opener over the past 3 years. No longer does Christianity hold that key inerring position that it once held in my life. In fact, while I'll never condemn the religion or my experiences associated with it, I must say that I know of NO other religion that claims to be based on Love where hatred is so rampant through its ranks. I don't care where you go, but Christians throughtout the world are high on themselves. They take the view that the *BIBLE* says they are saved and everyone esle is condemned to Hell, so by logical deduction Christians must be inherently better. I KNOW that not all Christians are like this, but I think enough of the responses to this message will verify this claim. I'm sorry, I have rejected Christianity because it is filled with hypocrits and is full of hatred for ones fellow human beings (I do not however reject Christ, but the supposed religion built up around his name I cannot accept!) THe other day I was watching a movie, "Angel Heart," (a very good and VERY intense movie---especially the MORE times you see it) Anyway, in the movie, Luicifer is sitting in a Christian Church talking to a a private detective Satan has hired to search out a man who sold his soul to the Devil. (I can see it now, people are going to condemn my even watching this movie without having seen it themselves!) Anyway, Satan is talking to the man and says, "You know what they say about religion?...that there is just enough religion in this world to cause man to hate oneanother, but there is not enough to cause him to love his neighbor!" How true it is, and I am sure that Satan is just basking in the Hatred that stinches the Christian Church today! I eagerly await replies to this message. Paul