Im talking about the Gospels, not the Old Testament.

I agree a lot of death has come in the name of Christianity. I dont know the reasons why that happened, I can only speak of what I understand. I could write out all that has befallen me in pursuit of this simple idea that we are to take care of one another, it is unbelievable and would appear impossible and you probably would blame it on unhealthy living or Satan or mental illness or any number of things, but I know what I know has happened and I know its not a chemical imbalance. Because I have had these things happen to me I have been terribly confused for years and have had immense pain in my life and physical being. I am now returning to religion because its where this began, and I cant just accept a diagnosis from a doctor to explain a matter of faith.

You have the heart at the right place at least. My suggestion, check out philosophies, not religions, Bhuddism and Taoism, for example. They can help you understand life and harmony and they teach about respect, compassion, empathy, understanding. Taoism is more religion like, as it speaks of the Tao (the way or the path) that links everything together. But christianity is based on persecution of people that are different, homosexuals being the number one example, the other being...unbelievers, where as Taoism and Bhuddism is all about acceptance. There's no wrath of god or fear of Satan to force people in line.

It's a spiritual and physical way of life about peace, balance and harmony. You are what you are and not every questions can be answered. If you decide to stick to Christianity, what matters is that you remain a good person.

I believe Jesus was his own person. I don't believe he was God or the son of God. I wouldn't be surprised were Jesus alive in front of me right now that he would tell me he never claimed to be divinity, but instead it was written against his will that he was.. IE a fabrication edited in by later generations.

The way I see it, all of us are sons and daughters of God and all of us are part of "God". I believe God is a higher source, source that eventually flowed into our dimension and became what everything is. NO ONE should know what God is.. because God is simply the miracle of creation, and the source of all creation is something very far beyond reach in very high dimensions.

I believe our souls are reborn every time to learn and achieve a pre-planned lesson or to work off some karmic debt in order to ascend in another life to higher dimensions, to eventually be closer to the "Source".

I didn't make any of that up as I've been taught it and many people see it the same way too.

I have a strong and shared opinion of who "God" in the Bible really was. And he certainly was no divine being.. but I won't get into it as most people refuse to hear it.

Again, all I can say is, as a Christian it is my duty to care about the hungry and the naked and the sick and the imprisoned- I can make it as complicated as I want to I guess, but the fact remains that since I believe in Jesus and what he said, I cant deny this simple lesson.

Bottom line, there's no answer. Nothing to prove or disprove anything, there's only our own ego, and we can be so convinced that we're right that we become blind and we can hurt others. I'm a big fan of philosophies like I posted previously, but I'm guilty of my own ego too and I can come off strong when it comes to the God portrayed in the Bible. What I know is that no one can claim to understand it, or to hold the truth, that is again our own ego speaking.

That's excellent. There are remarkably few Christians who would even do one of those things. If you can do that, its wonderful, more than I could ever do that's for sure. As long as you don't give any of your money to the church, and don't feel pressured to attend their services, I think its just fine.

And trust me, the church doesn't need your money. Their quite possibly the richest institution in the world and run by people who care more about controlling people than enlightening them..

Yeah.. I could agree. In the end I think we could only rely on our intuition to choose what to believe in.

IMO intuition is really important. And by that I mean is that if you read a certain message, and you feel yourself "vibrating positively" with it, the message has value in it. If you vibrate negatively reading something, it may not have been written by someone with your best interest at heart.

the road to hell is paved with the best intentions

That always ticked me off. Pope's gotta be the biggest hypocrite of the world. They have so, so, so, so much money...and they do nothing to help the poor with it.

I like this quote, because it leaves out the most important part. The road to hell is paved with the best intentions but the worst decisions. That should be the proper way to say it. Because you can also say that the road to heaven is paved with the best intentions.