[mrnoodle]

OnyxCougar, "The Church" is the single greatest impediment to the work of Christ in the world. Why do you think non-believers are so (rightfully) scornful when they talk about Christians? We're mostly too lazy to read the bible for ourselves, try to discover what we think our faith is about, and follow the teachings of Christ in our own lives. Why should we, when a group of people have set themselves up as the "official" mouthpiece of the almighty himself, and will spoonfeed us whatever morsel of spiritual law they think is "appropriate" given current social whims, public policy, and overall level of distaste for "The Church" at any given moment? Hell, that's easy religion there.

Do whatever you want, no matter how despicable. You don't need to actually follow God as long as you got some ash smudged on your head by some child-molesting, moneychanging, politicizing and power-grabbing guy in a dress.

I still can't believe there are people out there who DON'T think God's going to send us all to hell if we don't get our act together.