The rest of the Story

Apparently, I need to be clearer.  I knew this site was a dangerous move, but here we go:

In this section of my blog, I am NOT telling you what you should believe, and have absolutely NO intention of doing so.  I am telling you what I believe and my wrestlings with that.  I will not be so presumptuous as to tell you what the absolute truth is, or that you're bad and wrong for disagreeing.  I do realize there are other religions and belief systems out there.  This page is for what I believe and the musings here are simply reflections upon struggles I have had, am currently having, or anticipate having, of a becoming Christian with the following assumptions/beliefs/starting points:

1) The God I believe in is the God of the Christian Bible (without the apocrypha).  Jesus the Christ is God's only begotten son, conceived of the Spirit, born of the Virgin, died, descended, and rose again to sit at the Right Hand of the Father.  Your basic Christian beliefs.

2) God spoke to people in the Bible, healed the sick and raised the dead.  I do not take the Bible to be an anomole but an example of how God treats God's children.

3) God is neither male nor female but because of our limits bounded in language, references to God will be gendered.  (It really just sounds better than saying "it" or repeating "God" too much)

4) I am not trying to convert or convince anyone of my beliefs.  I am not trying to preach.  I am simply a theology student with "stuff" to figure out from the things I am learning in these classes and am offering my thoughts in case there are others out there who feel the same.

       a) I'm not sure at all how these writings could be misconstrued as "down the throat" preaching - I am, after all, questioning God and wrestling with my own beliefs.  I don't see how I could possibly, then, be telling anyone ELSE what to believe!

5) I am open to debate about the issues I bring up, and even about the existence of this God with whom I wrestle, but my point is not to change anyone's mind.  That is the Lord's job and not mine.  If it bothers you, don't read it: it's clearly not for you, and I'm ok with that.  I am not going to abandon my writing on this, though.