I will take a look at these. I’ve vehemently trashed evangelicalism, it was bad then when I was one and it’s atrocious now, crusades, slavery, KKK time periods may be the only periods of time when a branch of Christianity was worse. It’s absolutely that awful right now.
I have not trashed the more traditional, liturgical and more progressive christian philosophies. I’ve taken a more deist approach. Additionally, what I think doesn’t matter, what is the truth will remain the truth and I know I am not immortal and that is fine. I have a deep reverence and respect for the Earth and believe I am a part of it not above it. I believe the earth is a reflection of the divine and if I am not respectful and in reverence to the physical world I am denigrating the truth. If I face my creator free from my earthly body one day so be it, but I do not require it to acknowledge my subservient position on the Earth. How I treat people is part and parcel with the respect the physical world demands. It’s less about a belief in a personal relationship and transactional sanctification and more about deep reverence and acknowledgment that I am temporal and subordinate to laws (be kind, be respectful) the violation of which are an anathema to “god”. While I have not forsaken any past transactional moments I may have had, I have steered clear of continuing a path of personal faith possibly in reaction to my past, my unique circumstances and my family of origin. I must believe in perfect mercy and justice if I am to believe in any form of a perfect god in which case I am prepared to meet this mysterious, ethereal and gender non-conforming deity (read your bible folks) with reverence, awe and respect.
so when I have my dark nights, I do not have a personal faith to lean on, I only have the understanding that we all go through these times, making my obligation to respect the Earth and to be kind to all of its inhabitants that much more resolute.
that’s pretty much all I got.