2 cents
In my mind, C.S. Lewis had the best take on Christianity. He was himself an atheist but realized through logic that atheism doesn't work. Which is what I have come to believe. I believe in God because I cannot concieve of a universe such as this that came to be without a Supreme Being creating it and governing it. I believe this is Being to be the God of Judeo-Christian tradition because He is the only one that fits the requirements for having created this universe. I believe in Christ because I have felt his power. I believe that the Bible is the word of God, but I also believe that it was written by men of faith, not science. I personally believe no one has anymore authority as a Christian to deem which parts of the Bible are and aren't true. The Bible isn't like Burger King: you can't have it your way. I believe in Hell because of choice (that of other people, not my own choice to believe in it).
Lewis once said that any virtue taken to the extreme can be malproductive. I think this is what happens with fundamentalists, be they Christian or Islam, Jewish or Hindu. I think this is what happens in political parites, right or left. This is how we turn people away from what we have to say.
I've had doubts about my faith many times. Yet I've always come back to the same conclusion. Tolkien said "Not all who wander are lost." I think that God reaches those who want to be reached in his own time. Such is my unasked for two cents. What do I know?
"'There are two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is openend.'"
C.S. Lewis From The Great Divorce (excellent book. I recommend it)
"There are questinos at issue between Christians to which I do not think we have been told the answer. There are some to which I may never know the anser: if I asked them, even in a better world, I might (for all I know) be answered as a far greater questioner was answered: 'What is that to thee? Follow thou Me.'"
C.S. Lewis From Mere Christianity
Lewis once said that any virtue taken to the extreme can be malproductive. I think this is what happens with fundamentalists, be they Christian or Islam, Jewish or Hindu. I think this is what happens in political parites, right or left. This is how we turn people away from what we have to say.
I've had doubts about my faith many times. Yet I've always come back to the same conclusion. Tolkien said "Not all who wander are lost." I think that God reaches those who want to be reached in his own time. Such is my unasked for two cents. What do I know?
"'There are two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is openend.'"
C.S. Lewis From The Great Divorce (excellent book. I recommend it)
"There are questinos at issue between Christians to which I do not think we have been told the answer. There are some to which I may never know the anser: if I asked them, even in a better world, I might (for all I know) be answered as a far greater questioner was answered: 'What is that to thee? Follow thou Me.'"
C.S. Lewis From Mere Christianity