I don't even know what I believe or what I want to believe.

There are times when I do really want to believe in something. When I was young I did believe and I had a fairly strong faith and did find some comfort in it -- until things got really bad and hard to handle. And I've never been able to replicate that.

Although there have been two times when I felt a strong belief in something as an adult I was manic. I didn't know it then but I realized it later.

Sometimes I just wished I believed in something but I don't.

I grew up in the UCC (my Dad refers to it as the Last Door on the Left). I've ended up in a UU church (It's a church! Where believing what you want is right there in the Principles!), which upsets some bits of my extended family, but is a good fit for me.

Too bad we don't read ancient Aramaic!

Even that wouldn't help considering the number of copies and mistakes in those copies which would result in more confusion!

OT was written in Hebrew. NT was written in Greek, not Aramaic.

Standard joke among liberal quakers and UU: basically the same people, but Quakers like to sit around in silence and UU never shut up.

I do appreciate having grown up in a faith community. Thankfully, that particular flavor wasn't particularly upset when I stood up in meeting (12? 13? I dunno) to share that I didn't believe in god, buddha (we had some buddhists,) Christ or anything, really. And had no issue with me still staying in the community. I wasn't the only one.

(This wouldn't work at a lot of Quaker meetings, but out west, they lean to so open you can fall out.)

I didn't actually quit going to meeting until I went to (a quaker) college. Part of that was, hello? College? I had my community. Part was even liberal granola quaker colleges in North Carolina were a little more god-Christ heavy than I felt at home in. So it wasn't my community anymore.

If Adman and Eve were the only humans and then they had children - who did their children marry?

Just cause the typo is funny!

Also: my floors are clean, I swam a bloody slow 2 miles (1m/lap?! What's up? Actually, I think it is the pool is too warm, I swim faster when it is cool.) and my bistro set is drying from its final lindseed oil slathering before going out on the desk for the season.

I think I'll go buy a pretty pot (since the last broke in a storm) and flowery thing to put on the table tomorrow.

Standard joke among liberal quakers and UU: basically the same people, but Quakers like to sit around in silence and UU never shut up.

I think I may have to visit some Quakers sometime. Assuming they're okay with knitting during said silence.

Just DON'T go to a "programmed" meeting. Those are preacher types.

My meeting in Las Cruces put up with my dad's snoring. (He, even back then, was pretty adamantly anti-religion. But he agreed with their social justice movement, and since he wasn't being preached at... he refused to sit on any committees, though.)

It's all about finding the right meeting.

I see God/ess as the ultimate shoulder to lean/cry on. She can't change what's happening, but the hugs are terrific. It's helped me feel not quite so alone in various dark nights of the soul.