I was raised Lutheran & miss my Church. Of all the people & places a ts person was or was not welcome, the Church I grew up with was not a structure. The Church was its' people & mine left judgements to God. My Church never turned anyone away or made demands. This is what makes it so hard to let go. My Church states that God always  had all the power & glory all along & accepted all of us irregardless all along. It was up to us if we would accept. I have no answers to offer anyone, I'm just confused & weak.

Any belief system is just that a leap of faith.  One must accept that certain truth are self evident.  Even the religion of science requires that leap.  That certain things are evident and that till proven otherwise is fact.

If you are comfortable with a certain religion then you should stay with that religion till it is proved that is it not correct to you, and you only.


Janet

Ty Janet for respsonding! Cold hard sciene is something that I always accepted, & was never at odds with the Church in which I was raised. What is becoming more difficult now is the realization that although I never dared as a young person, the one place that I could & can go, is the Lutheran Church. Seriously, as I think about my past, I realize that my Church would accept me ts, or otherwise. My Church left all judgment up to God, & anyone that wanted to worship was welcome, always. 

I have heard that the Lutherans and the Methodists are more open.


Janet

Quote from: Janet Lynn on October 11, 2009, 11:30:41 PM
I have heard that the Lutherans and the Methodists are more open.


Janet

Well its almost wierd, I mean southern Babtists agree that pretty much everone who isn't in hell alredy, will end up there if they don't accept their strict & literal interepretation of the Bible. but the Church that I grew up with clearly stated that only God has any power. We as humans offend him when we put our ideas of judgement above his. But what's really important to me, & makes it hard to break away, is that my Church would allow anyone, even before others would. I could have gone to a Lutheran Church in the 1800's literaly, & as long as I was there to worship, I could wear a dress, have a beard, be drunk, & God forbid be ts/tg.     

Every system of thoughts by which you live your life, be it religion, philosophy, atheism, etc, requires faith it. Unless you're omniscient, you have gaps in your knowledge and the only way over the gaps is a leap of faith that what's inside gap won't stop you. When I start my car, I am leaping in faith that someone hasn't wired a bomb; I have no reason to think there is a bomb but there is always the tiniest gap where a car bomb could be; by starting my engine I am leaping over that gap. Leaping those gaps is faith. And how many more gaps in knowledge do religions have than cars?

Check out the church Of Spiritual Humanism. No leaps required

Well that's the rub, whose gonna & how can a human make a case against a group that promotes love umoungst humans? Havean, if it exists, must be a very small place if you can only get in by being part of the right religion.