Personally I feel like Dad came first just so Mom could watch me squee with delight after possibly freaking out XD (And for some reason I feel Mom is smiling at that).
In truth I don't know why They came in that order, perhaps it's the amount of influence on me, perhaps it's how long They've been there....

Um, you must know a completely different Christianity than I know. The one I know has been full of hatred, exclusion, and intolerance, but that could be because of the denominations I've been exposed to. Being told I'm going to hell, hearing how gays are evil/disgusting/sinful and so forth isn't loving. Believing that non-Christians are unworthy of respect, that it's ok to deny people medical care based on your morals, etc, is not loving and inclusive. It has really been my personal experience that it's not a very nice religion, but YMMV.

Senebty
Senu

Not every denomination is like that. I know someone who is Roman Catholic and she is not anything like the things you describe. I think you have to know that not every Christian is like that, because its painting everyone of a religion with a very, very broad brush. Pagans don't like it when its done to them, so why should we do it back to Christians?

I want you to know I am not in any way attacking you here, its just that not all Christians are like that.

Em hotep, Senu.

I was raised Lutheran where the reaction would be "Oh, you worship the Egyptian Gods...interesting. We're having a pot-luck dinner at the church tonight, why don't you bring a dish, and get to know everyone." All with an eye to returning me to the flock, and possibly setting me up with some nice Christian boy to boot.

Then we moved to the Episcopal church, where it would be "Oh, you're not Christian? Oh. Umm...well...How's your mother been...."

My brother became bible-thumping, born-again fundamental revivalist Christian. His attitude is "You are going to burn in Hell, and if you try to take my boys with you, you'll never see them again," as he peers suspiciously around my house looking for "wierd sh*%."

So it really does differ from group to group, and person to person. It is sad that you met people more like my brother.

Sad for Christianity, I mean. If you had met more Lutherans, you might be attending a pot-luck right now, getting set up with a nice christian boy. What a loss that would have been for KO.

Blessings and love,

Catlin

Oh, I do know a few "followers of Christ" who are very good people, but on the whole, I have had bad experiences with the religion. Generally, I just try to keep myself removed from them for both our sakes, hah.

Hotep

I was raised Roman Catholic, and remained happily Christian until just a couple of years before I applied to the House. I still fondly remember things I read in the New Testament especially, and honestly, some of the words there still resound for me (I particularly like for example when in the Acts, Gamaliel tells the high-ranking temple officials that they should leave it to God to determine who or what is from God).

Anyway, it is indeed sad and unfortunate that the faith of hope, spiritual strength, kindness, compassion, and utter joyful love (as I always interpreted Christianity) is too often practiced with the complete opposite behaviors. But we people are too silly sometimes. When I was a teenager, reading the Bible quite often, I was told by other teenagers of other denominations that I was going to hell for being an idolater. I calmly informed them that I couldn't find anywhere in teh Bible that said they had the monopoly on Jesus, but thanks for sharing *grin*.

All that just fortified my resolve to live the best way I could, and be alert to making the people around me feel stronger and more secure. For me, no longer Christian--only my tools changed (tools being my gods and my particular practice). My resolve never altered. Hopefully my behavior didn't either.

It should never be about the faith or religion--it should be about how I live.

Em Hotep ::henu::

If I may interject here; who is this "we" in reference to? I appreciate that everyone's experiences with those who are not of this religion are different, but during my 13 years as a devout Roman Catholic, I didn't appreciate being contemptuously referred to as "Pagan" by Protestants and I still don't.

I realize that many of the awesome folks here welcome the label and are also Pagan (and some who are just as awesome are also Christian) but it doesn't apply to us all.

"While Kemetic Orthodoxy might be understood to be a "Pagan" religion in the context of the Roman Catholic Church (i.e., a religion not of Christian or Biblical origins), we do not classify ourselves as Pagan as we neither follow the spiritual teachings of the Holy See, nor do our spiritual practices derive from the practices of spiritual groups which do refer to themselves as Pagan or Neo-Pagan today."
http://www.kemet.org/faq/FAQ-03.html

My apologies to those who have endured this discussion before.

I think the important distinction here is not that I know a very different Christianity, but perhaps that I have known very different people. I have met unpleasant Christians, been exposed to hatred from them, but they are not representative of their religion. Human bigotry, human fear, and human hate, are not part of God, Christ, or Christ's message.

I did have a lot of reservations about Christianity. But the genuine Christ-like Christians I have met have made me feel so much more at peace with the faith as a whole. Heck, I know strict Christians (members of the Salvation Army) who don't even believe in hell.

There is a lot of hatred thrown around in the name of Christ. But it's not his doing, so I don't judge the religion by its followers.

I thought this thread was about beloveds....

*nods in agreement with Raheri*

Can we please bring this back on topic? I'm kinda curious on the Beloved line of conversation,there's some interesting stuff to read with this thread. But it's kinda starting to read now like a "let's complain about Christianity" thread. I'm not trying to be mean to anybody at all,but I think this could get into a rather unpleasant tangent,and people's feathers will undoubtedly get ruffled .