Converting to Christianity reading suggestions

[donadumaurier]

Specifically Orthodoxy, but open to any and all suggestions. I was raised in an atheist family and always felt there was something missing, but was never particularly attracted to Christianity until I discovered Orthodoxy. I'm now trying to develop my understanding of Christianity as an adult and don't want to keep asking stupid questions

My advice is to read up on what orthodox christians believe, you may find there are more welcoming branches of christian churches- like CofE...

Is you are willing to put your name to the belief that homosexuality is 100% a lifestyle choice that should be condemned despite all the ongoing research to the contrary. If you feel ok with completely disregarding the mountains of evidence for evolution in favour of the theory of creation- that boasts no reliable evidence other than what is written in the bible.

By all means- turn to orthodoxy, but based on a 'feeling'- I bloody wouldn't!

donadumaurier your posts are so interesting. You sound as if you have given your position a lot of consideration, which I respect enormously.
Interesting that you are considering only christian flavours of faiths though- is there a reason for that?

In fact it is possible to pursue a spiritual path without a god.

I would suggest a step back to consider all paths.

Of course I don't mind you asking

I wouldn't say that I follow any 'strand' of Christianity. I follow Jesus. I believe that He is the son of God, I believe He died and rose again and I believe that as Christians we should live like Him. Loving people, being patient and kind and generous but not drippy and weak. Jesus was never pathetic. He drew massive crowds and He is inundated with invites and people clamouring to be near Him, people don't do that to bossy, boring preachy types. He was quick witted (see some of His chats with the Pharisees) and smart but never condescending or discriminatory. He treated women as equals which was revolutionary in His day. He had Mary sit at His feet in front of a crowd (at that time only men could sit at the feet of a rabbi, it was a place of privilege and trust). Also after the resurrection the first people He told was women (at that time women weren't allowed to even go into a court of law let alone give envidence as they were too 'unreliable').

So any discrimination, condescension, sneeriness or superiority is not Jesus like at all.

Read 'I Heard The Owl Call My Name'. Get to the heart of it.

I describe myself as "respectful agnostic" and subscribe to no religion. I am as offended by the likes of Dawkins with their unsubtle dogmatism as Christians are.

I am respectful of all religions except those which preach violence, belittle women (Christianity is just beginning to crawl out of this pit), advocate chopping bits of perfect new babies, instill guilt and fear (I have several ex-Catholic friends!) etc. etc.

Christianity as it is practiced in rural England here is a benign force as far as I can see and fulfills a mostly social function and occasionally inspires charitable acts.

The answers to the "big questions" are not, and I believe never will be, available to us. So my creed is "kindness whenever you can" and that is enough for me.

I hope OP that you will find some way of filling the missing hole in your life; but do please steer clear of cult religions - they seem to promise so much, but are empty of substance.

Christianity as it is practiced in rural England here is a benign force as far as I can

How cream tea.

OP I wish you well on your personal spiritual journey and hope that wherever it takes you, you find that which you feel you are missing.

Ollie, I have found that those who wish to convert and condemn people who believe differently to be remarkably similar. They both tend to display a lack of awareness and sense of irony, be they believers or atheists.

It's possibly worth pointing out that this has been part of a longer process. Orthodoxy isn't the only religion, Christian or otherwise, that I have considered, it's just the only one that's made enough sense to me to consider in greater depth. On the gay rights issue, I know plenty of orthodox Christians who attend church and equally believe in gay rights just as I know plenty of Catholics, Muslims etc. I don't think orthodox churches are behind in having not caught onto that on a higher level. C of E has never appealed to me for the reasons already stated. I personally see it as too far removed from the roots of Christian faith. I don't know if I will convert to orthodoxy, it's something I need to explore in a lot more depth before I come to that kind of conclusion. I want to understand it all a lot better before I start making that decision. But right now it's something I'm very open to.

When I say something missing, what I think I mean is that I never bought the God doesn't exist thing, but I never really related to the religion I was exposed to, either. I'm not sure that makes an awful lot of sense.

If you google "introduction to Orthodox Christianity" you may find some of the results helpful. I only know one OC, she belongs to the Antiochian(sp?) church. Have you any specific Orthodox church in mind?

Donadumaurier just going back to book suggestions, a writer who I really rate, and who is an Orthodox Christian, is David Bentley Hart. Some of his stuff is highly academic theology full of technical language, but his The Story of Christianity and Atheist Delusions: the Christian Revolution and its Fashionable Enemies are very worth reading.

I think Williams's Tokens of Trust is a brilliant, lucid book - and one that meant a lot to me in my own journey towards faith. His more recent Being Christian and Being Disciples are also excellent.

Finally the book I would recommend more than any other is Stephen Cottrell's How to Pray. In the end faith isn't about signing up to a series of propositions, it's about opening yourself up to God, and that is about what you do not what you sign up to. Starting to pray is such an important step on anyone's exploration of faith, and this book is really helpful. It's good for any beginner at prayer - and for any expert too.

lumpy* you have carved out a good path for yourself there, you sound like the christian version of me actually

Dione I I have too and I have to agree with you there.

blossom
Is it ok if I disagree with you completely?
Particularly this bit:
I am respectful of all religions except those which preach violence, belittle women (Christianity is just beginning to crawl out of this pit), advocate chopping bits of perfect new babies, instill guilt and fear (I have several ex-Catholic friends!)

Based on this statement alone in sorry to have to tell you- you do not respect any religion!

And this:
I am as offended by the likes of Dawkins with their unsubtle dogmatism as Christians are.

Your use of the word 'dogma' is incorrect in this context.
A dogma is a belief or system of beliefs presented by an authority as true. Dawkins never once said there is no god- because we can not reliably test his existence. He has said on many occasions it's highly unlikely there is a god. He urges everyone to look at evidence for things like evolution, but is style of debate is to challenge harmful religious dogma.
Watch some debates involving Dawkins and the others I mentioned upthread.

And also- dont feel you have to be offended on behalf of people of faith by Dawkins' views. There are many christians who do not find him offensive at all.

I personality think religious beliefs should absolutely not have special status and everything should be open to discussion. As an atheist I have been asked many times 'then what is the meaning of life?' 'what happens when you die?' And the ever popular- "without the bible, where do you get your morality?!

Dawkins sets out to be offensive Blossom, please don't give him the pleasure.

Some of his stuff is highly academic theology full of technical language, but his The Story of Christianity and Atheist Delusions: the Christian Revolution and its Fashionable Enemies are very worth reading.

Dont be fooled by the big words in this book- it's exactly what it says on the tin 'highly academic theology full of technical language' there is absolutely nothing convincing at all about his argument. Only a believer would nod along with it.

Dawkins sets out to be offensive Blossom, please don't give him the pleasure

What evidence have you got for that?

ollieplimsolls have you read Hart's 'The Aesthetics of Christian Truth', then?

Ollie, his bit on Catholicism and canibalism was lifted from a Rev. Ian Paisley sermon in the 1980s and serves no purpose other than to demonise and offend those who believe differently to the original author and his subsequent plagerist.

Same unpleasant words, spoken for the same unpleasant reason by a different unpleasant misogynist, dogmatic man.

"the beauty of the infinite"? Yes I've read it, much more enjoyable than some of his other stuff but its still pure theology. Has the same 'moist' tone as the others. All written in my opinion based on the presupposition that god actually exists...

Dione
You started well but quickly fell to pieces with this:
Same unpleasant words, spoken for the same unpleasant reason by a different unpleasant misogynist, dogmatic man.

What bit do you object to Ollie?

Ollie You'll pardon me if I don't believe you, since I've no evidence to support your claims.

Anyway I'm not really interested in the debate. I just popped in to recommend some books after I was mentioned upthread. OP if you're still around, let us know how you get on.

Hahaha! Ok Niminy dammit you really put me in my place there!...sorry did you get a bit carried away with dbh's insistence that all atheists are wrong because they are just thinking about it the wrong way, or haven't thought enough?? Believe it or not, atheists read from both sides we can actually find new theories of the existence of god compelling. Have you read any Dawkins, Harris or Hitchens?

Dione- well 'dogmatic' for one, for reasons I explained upthread.

Dogmatic
Adjective
Characterised by or given to the expression of opinions very strongly or positively as if they were facts.

Unfortunately RD does indeed have this tendency. His statement that stranger rape is more traumatic than date rape is an example of this.

Oh goodness me. If you have read/ listened to any Dawkins I can debate with you further, but I'm not interested if you have only read the side you support.

I'm sorry but if a 'tendency' to present his ideas 'strongly or positively as if there were facts' make him a bad person, then there are many, many bad people of faith out there! Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist, he presents plenty of facts.

And as for his statement- it's exactly that, a statement, its up to you if you want to believe it or not... but to be offended by it?
I know the quote on this well, he commented on this because he was inappropriately touched by a priest when he was at school, as were other boys what a surprise that is he was trying to put the trauma of his experience into context.
He made the distinction between a violent rape with a gun to your head, and a date rape attack where you 'might not even remember it'
In my opinion- yes maybe a sweeping generalisation that ignores the relativity of each victim's experience.

But you just disagree with it, its not a fact.

I'm going to pull out now, because I feel hijacking the thread like this is not good for the op. But id happily debate on here if a debate thread exists.