I “asked Jesus to be my personal saviour” et al, read the Bible, prayed, went to various churches … it was a legitimate part of my spiritual search. But I’ve got to say, it did not work for me. I never felt Christ’s presence truly and experientially, and the Bible has way too many contradictions to work for me. I have the utmost respect for those who feel a spiritual call and answer it…But I think it is private, personal and individual, between oneself and one’s Higher Power. If you take it beyond the personal and private, you too easily end up with the Crusaders, those who perpetrated the Inquisition, and the Islamics who bombed the WTT, and so on.
I know some Christians who, to me, live their faith in a way which looks gorgeous and righteous and consistent and shining … others who seem such a web of contradictions, hatred, judgement and blindness. One friend, married to a minister, daughter of missionaries, has worked for social justice, peace (inner and outer) all her life is so distressed lately: “The Right-Wing Christians are giving us all a bad name!”
