catapult magazine

Hello everyone. I’m new here in *cino. In case yankeehotelfoxtrot is to impersonal my actual name is Scott Vande Kraats.

Onward:
There’s a great many things that I don’t understand. My stance on Christianity and organised religion as a whole is one of them. I know that I try to be a follower of Christ’s words and example, but I don’t know if “Christian” is a handle that I could go by.

It’s not a matter of me not wanting to be a “Christian”, it’s more a matter of what “Christian” means. That is something I’m not clear on. Is Christianity being a part of a church? Is it a mindset? Is it the abandonment of one’s own will? I find so often that the people I go to church with and have gone to school with seem to give up their own independant thought for their beliefs. Some are afraid to explore all that this world has to offer. I don’t mean sex, drugs, rock n’ roll and such, but I mean they are afraid to search for meaning in things other than their own religion. It’s as though they think that if they read up on Buddhism or Islam or anything that’s not Christianity they’ll go straight to hell.

I don’t want to enter into the realm of believing that God is whatever you believe him to be. I believe that God is God. He was, is and ever will be the same, in my mind at least. I’m just fuzzy on what he expects of us. I think I have a grip on it, but I need some opinions. Which is why I find myself here.

Welcome Scott.

That’s one of the reasons I’m here too (My real name is Chris Nonhof.) and keep coming back. As far as your questions, I think they’re the questions you should be asking. I think they’re the questions we all should be asking. I also don’t think that there’s necessarily a simple solution for them.
How’s that for helpful.
One of the things this site is here for, is to give us an opportunity to revel in our own conceptions of what God wants us to do with our lives. This includes how we view ourselves as Christians/followers of Christ/whatever else you want to call it.
I love looking into other religions, not because I want to become a muslim or buddhist, but because they’re fascinating. And every minute I spend reading one of their holy books, is a minute I spend understanding my relationship with the God better. That doesn’t make me close minded and it doesn’t make me too open-minded either (if there is such a thing).
Anyway, welcome. I hope that CINO will be as much a blessing to you as it has been and will continue to be to me.

hey Scott and Norb. I’ve been asking a lot of the same questions lately. I spent last weekend in a forest with a close friend, virtually my only friend outside of my classes, and we talked a lot about Christianity. But I kept asking myself whether or not we were talking about the same Christianity, and what that meant. She believes in God, not necessarily Jesus, not the Bible, but in justice and love. And she thinks that God saved her from her old self (lots of sex drugs and rock n’ roll) and converted her into a new loving person. So now instead of having sex with men, she has sex with women. And all weekend I kept asking myself lots of questions…why these conversations seemed so normal, and yet why I kept wondering why what she said didn’t seem right…and questioning what I think is the “right” Christianity and God. I guess when I think about it now, I’m glad I am asking those questions, even when I feel like I know what the right answers are. It’s definitely given me new insight to people outside of organized religion. So thanks for bringing up questions. I think they’re really important.