Hey all. I'm a 27 y.o. guy from Melbourne, Australia. I grew up going to both a Catholic and a Baptist church, but the whole family "grew away" from the church in my early teens, and I saw no reason to believe, so I became at various times an atheist but mostly an agnostic. For a while at the end of high school some people tried to evangelise me, and I "played along" for a little while, but I didn't believe it. I'm often described as "(one of) the smartest people I know". I don't claim it to be true, I have no particular reason to believe its true, but you might get an idea of my personality from that...
But I've been thinking about metaphysics and religion over the last couple years, and two weeks ago I realised that I thought the Bible was the Word of God. I already thought it was almost certainly the case that God existed, had created the world for our benefit, and therefore had probably tried to communicate with us.
Since about then, I've been reading the Bible morning and evenings. I've read the whole New Testament, and in the Old Testament I just finished Leviticus this morning.
But because I've come to Christ via the Internet, and because I'm not really good with meeting crowds of new people, I don't have a church. I don't know if anyone can help me about with advice...
I can't believe the Catholic Church's claims about the Pope—I don't see it in the Bible, nor reflected in the behavior of 1st millenium Chrisitianity. And I don't really see anything that justifies the Catholic or Orthodox "universalist" claims: that you have to be a member of their communion to be saved. In fact, I recall a story in the gospels where Jesus basically says belief, not institutional unity, is the important thing (Mark 9:38-9:41). Because of the nature of those communions, I don't think I can join them while rejecting those kinds of claims.
I have no real understanding of what distinguishes all the various protestant groups...
But I've been thinking about metaphysics and religion over the last couple years, and two weeks ago I realised that I thought the Bible was the Word of God. I already thought it was almost certainly the case that God existed, had created the world for our benefit, and therefore had probably tried to communicate with us.
Since about then, I've been reading the Bible morning and evenings. I've read the whole New Testament, and in the Old Testament I just finished Leviticus this morning.
But because I've come to Christ via the Internet, and because I'm not really good with meeting crowds of new people, I don't have a church. I don't know if anyone can help me about with advice...
I can't believe the Catholic Church's claims about the Pope—I don't see it in the Bible, nor reflected in the behavior of 1st millenium Chrisitianity. And I don't really see anything that justifies the Catholic or Orthodox "universalist" claims: that you have to be a member of their communion to be saved. In fact, I recall a story in the gospels where Jesus basically says belief, not institutional unity, is the important thing (Mark 9:38-9:41). Because of the nature of those communions, I don't think I can join them while rejecting those kinds of claims.
I have no real understanding of what distinguishes all the various protestant groups...