Basura

Very astute. I can testify that when I was surrounded by traditional hellfire doctrine, I indeed COULDN'T make myself love God, no matter how hard I tried, in slowly-growing panic. It was an exercise in nausea, futility, and despair. I eventually became a Christian Universalist--i.e. one who does not believe in eternal hell--which ultimately changes a great deal about one's view of God and one's view of fellow humans alike. I say this not to push my beliefs on anyone who is not interested, but to say this piece spoke to me, in a way. You succinctly illustrated why I left many old beliefs, even if I didn't end up in the same place you and most of the people commenting here did.