thanks for the reply! we are a bit divergent but not by much. i was raised catholic and by thirteen I had this thought to the sacrement of confession: "why do i need to tell my sins to a priest who talks with god on my behalf and in turn tells me how many prayers i have to say to absolve my sins, since god is everyehere?"

that started a 36 year study in religion and philosophy and the summation of my belief. I realize that my belief requires "faith" and "faith" is not based on concrete logic of any sort. people should look up the definition of faith to understand it's usage.

i consider myself a follower of jesus christ because i dig what the man said and did. i want to be just as loving as he was in human form.

i study christ from the biblical view (my spiritual view) and from the concept of "the search of the historical christ", which is based in fact and logical reasoning. i also study the history of the social cultures of the persons and people that wrote the different books included in the king james version. I also compare the luthern and catholic biblical versions. i've study the translations of the books as they were interpreted and rewritten throughout the ages. I do not believe in the literal understanding of the old testement, but i do believe in the "word" or concept of the philosophy of jesus in the new testament.

I also study the gnostic and agnostic concepts as well as a thorough reading of as much of the apocrypha that i can get my hands on. i still have so much to learn.

so i know i cannot truly defend my belief that christ was the son of god in any logical fashion. i simply believe and try a live from his example.

so we diverge in our beliefs but in know way have we disrespected each other by communicating. i think that is a good thing.