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I attended a UU church for a year. Nothing but chaos and confusion there. When anything goes, then everything goes.

Interesting opinion Dave.. Suits me quite well actually.. I guess it is all just what floats our boat on a spiritual level. Since you finally found your way into the Christian part of this forum.. why not use it as an opportunity to tell us a little bit about yourself. What drew you to Christianity? Have you always been a Christian? How does Fundamental Christianity differ from say Catholicism?

Love and Light..

I will indeed post my testimony on here if you like. It will have to be later though, I have chores to do. Blessings.

O.K.
I gave my life to Christ when I was twelve years old. I was sincere but we moved so I went unmentored. At 13 my father was killed in a small aircraft accident. At 15 my sister died of congestive heart failure. To say I was angry at God was an understatement. I walked away from God an angry young man and rebellious. I became a very bad sinner. Although, I never became an alcoholic, I drank heavily. I slept around a lot. I had affairs with married women. I lived with women. I eventually was married and divorced three times. About five years ago, I got fired from a high paying job due to someone else's negligence. I lost my house ( I had just gone through my third divorce) my van, my motorcycle, my credit, and my self-respect.
During this time I got a letter in the mail from my first love, Tracy. We were very much in love as teenagers but her parents moved her halfway across the country and we lost touch ( another loss I was angry at God about). She told me in this letter about Jesus Christ and how her life had been ruined by her behavior and redeemed by God. I went to see her and lo and behold she still was very much in love with me. I always was with her. I never stopped loving her. We started seeing each other.
One day we went to see the movie "Signs" with Mel Gibson. This movie turned out to be a "sign" for me. God spoke to me through that movie. In the film, Mel Gibson plays a man who has lost his faith due to the death of his wife. ( very similar to me) He is challenged to rely on his faith during a crisis ( like me). In the end, he regains his faith because he saw signs and miracles all around him. He just needed to open his heart to them. At that moment I realized that was happening to me also. God brought me back my "first love" in Tracy because He wanted me back with my "first love" Jesus Christ. After the movie, I gave my life back to Christ. Tracy and I have been married five years now. I got my job back with full back-pay. God redeemed me and my children. He spoke to my ex-wife and she is now my new sister-in-Christ so my sister is back too. My step-father and I have a new relationship so I have my father back too. I have been restored. Jesus did all that. He did that because I finally chose to hear Him in my heart. I have been listening ever since.

Hi Dave..

Your story made me cry. Even though I might not follow the same faith as you do.. I am so very happy that you have the spiritual support that you do in your life. It makes a huge difference.

I hope you understand that I am not anti Christian.. In fact, some of my closest friends are Christians and I love them dearly.. and they love me. Faith can get people through a whole lot of circumstances... and I see that with them.

If what you are doing works for you, makes you happy and fills your life with joy, who am I to say that it is wrong for you in any way? Keep the faith Dave...lol.. You don't need me to tell you that... But also know that I will still disagree with some of the things that you say.. that is part of MY faith.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your story with us.

Love and Light...

Spirituality,
I want you to understand that those who stand with God also stand with those who are not Christian. We love our neighbors as we love ourselves. I am to regard you as my sister and love you as such. I may disagree with you too but love is our first command. I take that very seriously. I have suffered loss in my life but I learned that life is about loss in many respects. Someday, when I die, I will lose it all. The only thing I will have is my love for God and my love for others. Those, I am allowed to take with me. I came into this world with only love and I will leave it with only love. So, I want as much of it as my heart can carry. Is that greedy?lol

I think many people are confused by the 'Love thy neighbour' bit, too...
I am not suggesting for one moment that this is the case here, please understand, but those who are taught the concept of Loving others as we do ourselves, are apt to be confused, because they equate the emotion of 'Loving' with the concept of also being obliged to 'Like' someone...
And nothing could be further form the truth...

To 'Love thy neighbour' means to hold their lives and well-being, their emotions, feelings and rights with as much respect and value as you do your own (I'm using the term 'you' in the generic sense, as opposed to the specific sense, here....)
But liking someone is a whole different kettle of fish. Naturally, it would be a wonderful and maybe perfect world if we could wholeheartedly 'Like' someone, as well as 'loving' them. But life isn't like that.
to cite a classic example, and with reference to that which I know, The Dalai Lama is Loving and Compassionate towards the Chinese Government, and holds those responsible in high and loving esteem. But, using his own words, he 'wouldn't have tea with them'....!
And so it is with those around us.
Our Compassion and Love should be limitless and unconditional. But there should be a bit of common sense thrown in...there's no point being an idiot about it....!
When someone indicates to us that their intentions are not skilful, and maybe generally accepted to be questionable and of an ulterior selfish motive, their light may dim in our eyes, and we might feel personally disappointed with the view available to us....But even within their own agenda, there is Pain and Suffering. And that's where the Love comes in....

Developing and cultivating this type of Love is so good for us, that our heart may burst with the Joy of it.
And Dave, if your heart bursts with 'overload', then it's all worthwhile, and not greedy one bit....

Sorry 'bout that...just thought I'd put it in.

Loving your neighbor means telling him the truth and doing no harm to him. You don't have to agree with him or like him but you do him no harm.

Once again, we are in agreement, my friend....that, in far more many words, is what I am saying.....!

Hi Again.. Count me in as a third. I have a revelation yesterday during a group discussion at church. The topic was Religious Pluralism.. lol.. a topic that you would only find in a U.U. Church.

But, as we discussed how various religions were different, but how they had a thread of common belief that ran through all of them, I realized that Religious Pluralism means that you look at the ESSENCE of each religion and not the DOGMA. So, when you really get down to the core of many religions out there.. the main core value is "harm none." And, that includes Wiccan belief.

Love and Light..