Originally posted by ocu2fan:
I'm curious as to what you mean with this statement.
I would like to reiterate that I'm not trying to generalize my statement to mean that
every born again Christian is the way I described in my discussion of the film, "Jesus Freaks." My concern is that *some* people are substituting "Jesus" for substance abuse or whatever their prior addiction was. Or perhaps they are drowning their sorrows not in alcohol, but in "Jesus," but, like alcohol, they are only shoving their problems under the rug without solving them.
Now you may think, "So what?" And that comes the conundrum: what do you do when your "addiction" is socially acceptable? Not solving this, however, does lead to societal repercussions, namely fanaticism. This is a major problem, historically, with the most recent example being the Taliban, which was pretty much "born again" Islam. What always kills me is how these fanatics are never contented with the status quo--they always demand "more." Usually by "more," it is somehow that we are more "evil" than ever, we aren't "doing enough," we're "all going to hell," or, in the case of St. Augustine (a convert himself), creating a mass philosophical and ritualistic structure to Christianity that didn't exist before his time.
But, perhaps to pose another question, is this really "a true revival and an outpouring of God's Holy Spirit" or Satan's attempt to bastardize Christianity in exploiting an innate human desire for salvation?
To reiterate, I am not saying all "born agains" are this way I described above, but I'm sure many people know at least *someone* who may fit the bill above. I'm trying to be as specific as possible, because I know that blanketing an entire group by behavioral traits is always incorrect, so I hope that no one takes offense. This is an honest ideological exploration on my part.
Melon
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"Oh no...my brains."