“I’ve hiked a bit of the Christian Seeker’s Trail now and I know that it eventually leads back to the Catholic Church....I grew up around a lot of anti-Catholic animosity for some of my Southern youth and still have some inner obstacles to overcome as I hike the trail back to The Source.”
Oh dear, this is a revoltin’ developm’t. Well, it all fits: departure from the Word leads to doctrines of demons and paying attention to lying spirits.
“Folly is an unruly woman;
she is simple and knows nothing.
She sits at the door of her house,
on a seat at the highest point of the city,
calling out to those who pass by,
who go straight on their way,
“Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
“STOLEN WATER IS SWEET;
FOOD EATEN IN SECRET IS DELICIOUS!”
But little do they know that the dead are there,
that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.”—Proverbs 9
Stolen water is sweet. “Did God really say...?” Food eaten is secret is delicious. “Surely you will not die!”
Well, since you’ve determined to set out on the trail, pardner, it’s only fair to warn you of savage wolves, clouds without rain and the synagogue of Satan!
I told my self to stop talking so much, but it's not listening and you've been patient. As a card I once received said: "I don't usually dump on people, but in your case I'll make an excretion", so here's my smell on things.
I've been watching religious people fight all my life and once, I could step away for some perspective and slightly out of hearing range, I realized I couldn't tell them apart.
Typical family arguments that never get resolved...been there, still do that.
The thing with the Protest camp I get. I grew up just on the other side of the tracks from them and I like them a lot. I don't always understand them, but these are my people.
And I also know how family and relationship issues can sometimes become unresolvable and how sometimes one has to leave or is made to leave.
Been both myself, same as everyone else I'm sure, and when it's time to go, you can't take it all with you, so you only take the most important, "can't live without it" stuff and leave the rest behind.
I don't know all the arguments from back in the day, but I've lived and read about enough situations where a friend or parent or a public servant became like a tyrant, so to speak, and selfishly kept things to themselves, handed out only what was barely enough and locked things down to where it was unbearable to be there another second.
And, I've been booted out of a family that adopted me because I was too much of a rebel without a clue and wouldn't honor nor follow the rules, rituals, traditions and guidelines, most of which were for my own good and protection.
("Son, you don't have bad luck. The reason bad things happen to you is because you're a dumbass.")
So, while I may not know the details, I've lived enough to understand a family split like the Catholic/Protestant breakup, and I also know how some things get left behind.
In this case, the Protestants took what was necessary(!) with them, but even if they later realized some important things might be missing, they're too proud to go back for them, so they do without.
To me, whatever was left behind seems to be important, because look how scattered the beliefs are compared to the other two! Curious.
It's like a buddy of mine used to say about religion: "every one has a piece of the truth" and, as near as I can tell, they sure likes to argue about it.
I hate to argue, but I like hiking and exploring, so I figure it's time to hike the trail to find out what was left behind and to see if I can find anything that might have been accidentally dropped along the way.
The stuff I've found so far makes me want to keep looking and the hunt is much more satisfying for me than arguing.
Heck, I've even found some stuff that says don't argue about the piece of the truth you think you have!
Anyway...thanks for the well wishes and warnings, and for listening!
(And sorry about the excretion)