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waterlily
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As I get older/wiser hopefully---I have come to really meditate on the meaning of what Christ must have meant when he spoke about his coming to divide families and that he brought a sword. I have been reading alot on this and am seeing that perhaps he was addressing the most fundamental authoritarian issue of all: the family. And how this introduction to our world via family sets the tone for everything else.
Welcome to the forums, waterlily! Boy, can I relate to what you are saying. While I am pretty skeptical of any and all "messiahs" I think it is absolutely crucial to inspect what's left of their "message." Assume he was a person, a particularly caring and helpful person. Assume his message was perverted many times by evil power-hungry people. Don't discount the possibility that his message contradicts the very institutions that "claim" him, for example the stuff about seeking wealth at people's expense, being humble, the hubris of self-proclaimed divinity, i.e. the Pope and the Vatican.
A small warning about the forums -- they frequently are joined by cult-ish people trying to push an agenda. They frequently end up violating the rules and are banned, but until then they can cause a ruckus and grief for a person such as yourself.
The primary goal here is [IMO] un-censor-able free discussion, archived and searchable, and that comes at the expense of troll-ability. I watch most of the stuff go by without comment, but it's valuable to me as a research tool.
Just the other day someone who is very religious and very conservative asked me about Westboro Baptist, based on a single comment I made. I was pleased to provide a link to search these forums, and can only hope that ultimately we can agree that Westboro Baptist does not share any of what sincere conservative Christians call "their values." I mean really, if we can't agree that Westboro goes too far, there isn't any common ground to be had. Fortunately, my lack of belief and other peoples beliefs may find some common ground through understanding the mechanisms of the "Cult."
Cheers!