Re: [OT] Good, evil and religion [WAS] Re: A way to compile 3rd party modules into deb system?

[judd@wadsworth.org]

On 10 May, Roberto C. Sánchez wrote:

> On Thu, May 10, 2007 at 12:25:43PM -0400, judd@wadsworth.org wrote:

>> 
>> I agree with you on this.  My point was that some American
>> evangelical churches put a lot of emphasis on each person having a
>> specific, identifiable conversion event in their life, which I don't
>> feel is soundly based in scripture.  I wasn't sure if your use of
>> the term "rebirth" referred to this type of event or the more general
>> usage.
>> 
> I see what you are saying.  I generally believe that "born again"
> experience should generally be a significant moment in a person's life.
> However, I don't think it is always some sort of "light shining from
> heaven, angels signing" type of experience.  In my case, it came on
> gradually over a period of weeks.  But I can identify a definite
> before and after.  I think that is "sufficient", so to speak.  More
> importantly, however, is whether you feel that you are right with God
> in your conversion experience.  That is, when God judges you will you
> be certain that you *have* at some time in your life accepted Jesus
> Christ?
> 

The reason that I mentioned it is that I have some friends who grew up
in churches where everyone was expected to come forward at some time
(usually as a teenager) and make a proclamation about their own "rebirth
experience" in front of the congregation.  Somehow it was not acceptable
to be born into a Christian family and gradually mature in your faith.
There was enormous peer pressure to conform to this model, and several
teens just made up stories to get it over with.  It is this emphasis on
some sort of a personal transcendental experience ('light shining from 
heaven', as you state), that I object to.

-Chris 

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|   Christopher Judd, Ph. D.                      judd@wadsworth.org   |
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