I am not sure how to ask this question. I certainly don't want to step on any toes. So here I go.
I often come across fundementalist Christians living here in the states of the USA. I live in North Carolina which is part of the Bible belt. I was raised Lutheran but don't practice Lutheranism as I was taught. I just have had too many questions concerning Christianity as it has been taught to me. So my spirituality has evolved as I have read from scientific literature, eastern religious thought, and other spiritual teachers. My beliefs are drawn from many schools of thought and I adhere to nothing with strongly as I believe that growth spiritually is an evolutionary process and it is good for me to remain an open and thinking person. I do however believe strongly in God but I don't anthropomorphize God. God for me is creation itself. God is in everything and we are all part of God. God is simply a word to describe the creative process of the world but that is not all. God is love and I see God as a loving act of creation. We can all tap into this force for lack of a better "word.'
I do not believe in the fundamentalist concept of hell. I cannot see that a loving creator would send any of its creation to be damned for all eternity for eternal punishment. I accept things like reincaration as a plausible explaination for the evolution of the human spirit so that those who are not connected to that creative force of love called God have the opportunity to evolve further in there quest for union with the Creator. Of course, like any other belief, this cannot be proved, but it seems to me to be a more resourseful belief that is not based in fear. What bothers me about a lot of Christian belief systems, particularly fundementalists beliefs is that they are based in fear and use fear to capture those who are less questioning into there fold. The concept of a punitive God who punishes those who do not believe a certain set of mandates just doesn't sit right with me. Having a religion that says that if one doesn't believe is therefore not "saved" and will incur the wrath of God just doesn't make sense.
Living in the south, and having the "beliefs" that I do, makes it hard to respond to fundamentalists since I allow flexiblity and change in my thinking and beliefs as I grow and gain new information and insight. In a fundamentalist view, this makes me wishy washy or not committed or whatever they may think. Of course mostly it makes me not a real Christian in their eyes. I am not threatened by this as I am comfortable with my viewpoint and the fact that it changes over time. I do not have the "knowledge" of the Bible as some Fundementalists and cannot quote scripture as man can even though I know that this "knowledge" that they have comes from a very often literal interpretation and in my view is based on their on limited knowledge as well. For example, I could read a book and memorize everything in it and draw certain conclusions but without other information my interpretation of what I have memorized and claim to know would be quite limited and very possibly wrong and out of context.
However, for the purposes of debate and responding to Fundamentalist attacks, I would like to be armed with intelligent responses to those attacks. So my question is, does anyone know of any books or websites or other material that a thinking person could use to address intelligently many of the main concepts that so many Fundamentalists use to justify there beliefs and positions?
Thank you for any and all reponses and support.
I often come across fundementalist Christians living here in the states of the USA. I live in North Carolina which is part of the Bible belt. I was raised Lutheran but don't practice Lutheranism as I was taught. I just have had too many questions concerning Christianity as it has been taught to me. So my spirituality has evolved as I have read from scientific literature, eastern religious thought, and other spiritual teachers. My beliefs are drawn from many schools of thought and I adhere to nothing with strongly as I believe that growth spiritually is an evolutionary process and it is good for me to remain an open and thinking person. I do however believe strongly in God but I don't anthropomorphize God. God for me is creation itself. God is in everything and we are all part of God. God is simply a word to describe the creative process of the world but that is not all. God is love and I see God as a loving act of creation. We can all tap into this force for lack of a better "word.'
I do not believe in the fundamentalist concept of hell. I cannot see that a loving creator would send any of its creation to be damned for all eternity for eternal punishment. I accept things like reincaration as a plausible explaination for the evolution of the human spirit so that those who are not connected to that creative force of love called God have the opportunity to evolve further in there quest for union with the Creator. Of course, like any other belief, this cannot be proved, but it seems to me to be a more resourseful belief that is not based in fear. What bothers me about a lot of Christian belief systems, particularly fundementalists beliefs is that they are based in fear and use fear to capture those who are less questioning into there fold. The concept of a punitive God who punishes those who do not believe a certain set of mandates just doesn't sit right with me. Having a religion that says that if one doesn't believe is therefore not "saved" and will incur the wrath of God just doesn't make sense.
Living in the south, and having the "beliefs" that I do, makes it hard to respond to fundamentalists since I allow flexiblity and change in my thinking and beliefs as I grow and gain new information and insight. In a fundamentalist view, this makes me wishy washy or not committed or whatever they may think. Of course mostly it makes me not a real Christian in their eyes. I am not threatened by this as I am comfortable with my viewpoint and the fact that it changes over time. I do not have the "knowledge" of the Bible as some Fundementalists and cannot quote scripture as man can even though I know that this "knowledge" that they have comes from a very often literal interpretation and in my view is based on their on limited knowledge as well. For example, I could read a book and memorize everything in it and draw certain conclusions but without other information my interpretation of what I have memorized and claim to know would be quite limited and very possibly wrong and out of context.
However, for the purposes of debate and responding to Fundamentalist attacks, I would like to be armed with intelligent responses to those attacks. So my question is, does anyone know of any books or websites or other material that a thinking person could use to address intelligently many of the main concepts that so many Fundamentalists use to justify there beliefs and positions?
Thank you for any and all reponses and support.
