by Floyd Smoots » Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:16 am
I can't feel YOUR pain. As you well know, my easily(?) managed personal pain only derives from being left by two wives, both of whom I dearly loved, for another man. That, and discovering during the past decade plus, that just about every bit of "history" (mystery?) that I was taught in public school and college has been nothing but a self-serving LIE by the PTB<br><br> But the Absolute Worst, in my worldview, has been the discovery of tortured, tormented souls like yourself, who were so horribly abused by those people who you should have been able to trust the most. That, and learning that clergical, faux-priestly, (ungodly) authority figures that we have ALL been conditioned to respect the most, have (seemingly) seen to it that for you, and far, far too many of your sisters (and brothers) are mentally cut off from the Bible, and all that the real Jesus has to offer. Even if, from your point of view, it's all only available (the love, care, comfort, healing, perfection-of-self) on "the other side".<br><br>I hate the fact that you, and others, have been so unfairly conditioned. I know that there are PLENTY of readers/posters here that truly believe that I have been pre-conditioned to believe in that old Bible myth crap. Trust me in this, at least. I went to a Southern Baptist founded, supposed Bible believing college, Chowan College in Murfreesboro, NC in 1966.<br><br>It was founded as a "ladies' school of religious studies in 1848, exactly 100 years before I was born. Now, get THIS: We HAD to attend "chapel service" twice-a-week. We HAD to take two required courses, Religion 101 and Religion 102. During these courses, we were taught (way back in '66) to debunk and disparage the "miracles" recounted in the Bible. Now, I ask you, in light of what we all here at R.I. know today, is THAT any way to run a Bible-based institution of higher learning?<br><br>Besides the beginnings of learning how to think for myself, here's what I "learned" at dear old Chowan College:<br><br>1. Beer is my friend. I never drank before being "housed" with a teenaged alcoholic roommate. He made sure that I learned how to drink, and his lessons have stayed with me for Forty Years, even unto this rambling post right here, right now!<br><br>2. God is a Hebrew myth. When you die, you probably (might?) get to go and join the "Oversoul", basically the Star Wars "force", an agglomeration of "all the souls that ever lived', but, you're no longer an individual, oh NO, you're now a happily adjusted part of the "group (or hive) mind". Does the following quote ring a bell? "We Are The BORG! Resistance Is Futile! YOU WILL Be Assimilated!"<br><br>I share this insight with you because, for a few short years in my earlier life, I bought into the CRAP behind "Door Number Two", as mentioned above. Later on, I decided to do my own research into "Life, The Universe, and Everything". I checked out sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and New Age pyramid power, yes, even Eastern Philosophies. My "rigorous conclusion", even way back at the age of about 25, was this. I believe the Bible is true. I believe God IS. I believe in His Son, the savior of mankind. I believe I'm going to Heaven, not because I, in any way at all, deserve it, or have earned it on my own, but because the Hell-Bound Price that Holy God demands for our disobedient sins (yes, even my drinking & smoking) have been paid for by the One in Whom I put my faith.<br><br>But, when I think of those of you out there in Hell-On-Earth who have been trained to totally dis-believe, due to your hellish non-childhoods and conditioning, I have no fingers to point at all, only tears to shed, over and over........<br><br>God bless you, and all who have walked where you were forced to tread. Really wish ezboard had a good icon for crying one's eyes out.........<br><br>Vaya con Dios, <br>Alexander<br> <p></p><i></i>