yo,

i am a Christian.

if i had to say i was any sort of Christian in particular, i would say im pentecostal, even though i attend a uniting church (i also happen to be an aussie)

am i appalled, horrified, disgusted and threatened? do i want to tie you up to a pole, cover you with gasoline and throw a match on you? do i feel any form of hatred towards you?

the answer is a resounding no!

(however, i am rather curious about the cross spinning around over the flames... it's making me dizzy looking at it...)

recent posts seem to be from catholics (which means that i automatically question the christian-ness of the person in the first place), or from people with wishy-washy spirituality, who didn't really connect with the whole christian thing. there are others, they just seem to be the ones that stick in my mind.

there are certainly many interesting ideas that have been put forward on this site. I would disagree with many of those ideas. I would agree with others.

there are a number of sad stories on this site. from my perspective, that is. the hurt, sadness, pain, wrong behaviour that they have experienced is quite simply, not nice, and, in some cases, blatantly wrong.

can i tell you why I am a christian? if you dont want to know, skip ahead to the next paragraph. i'm a christian because i am convinced that there is at least some form of deity, some kind of force behind the universe. i also believe that the situation that the world is in, is not the originally decided upon situation - there is evil in this world, and it has corrupted this world from its original state. I believe that the deity who created the world would want to restore it, because the way things are, we are unable to come before that deity-figure. I believe that Jesus came and did the dirty work of restoring, however, the final "victory over sin" (i cant think of another way of putting that, sorry) is yet to come (though it is imminent, since, well, it's all been done through Jesus).

you know, some people have claimed that they are now "empowered" because they've left "christianity" (im tempted to not call it christianity because of the fact that it's a world apart from where I am). i've been empowered by becoming a christian. i dont know where those people went to church, but personally, im encouraged to question and to think rationally. and i do - i have questioned my pastor on things he's said a number of times.

oh, hey, i just noticed that warning you have about keeping the Bible away from children due to its violence, obscenity and filth. isnt it great that it describes life in such a raw gritty, almost offensive way? i think so.

have a great day,

-timb.
mailto:timbond@canada-11.com

ps. - if you're wondering, -timb. is i guess my tag, im not trying to hide my real name from you. you may have noticed that it is in my email addy.