Reply #35: I went through my born-again Christian phase in high school. [View All]

[gauguin57]

I used to give those little pamphlets to people, telling them all they had to do was pray the little prayer and "accept Jesus as their personal savior," and they'd go to heaven. I felt, at that time, that the Bible compelled me to go out and share something that I thought was wonderful; I was quite high on Jesus at the time (hey, I was a kid), and wanted others to feel the same way. And I surely didn't want my friends going to hell.

I was like one of those freakin' witch-trial judges in "The Crucible."

One day, after a few years of thrice-weekly bible studies and retreats and burning my Ouija board in my parents' backyard grill and hearing people denounce supermarket scanners because the antichrist could perhaps someday use them to put the mark of the Beast on people ... I woke up, and realized what a freakin' SCAM it all is. That neither I nor any one book could have all the answers. That there are a gazillion religions in this world ... that there is one Truth but a gazillion WAYS to that truth ... and that I was being a little self-righteous prig, who was sinful and flawed and human.

I realized that I now felt that being a good person and trying my best to help my friends, my family, my community, my country, my planet -- to make the world God gave us a better place -- THESE were the keys to a good spiritual journey.

And I realized that people who felt they could do whatever they wanted in this world -- lie steal cheat kill warmonger -- as long as they'd said the little prayer were DELUDED and hypocritical.

Ladies and gentlemen, the pResident of the United States!