[twoblacknines]

madnak,

what you say makes a lot of sense. I have always been troubled by the belief that humans are something to be despised, and are inherently evil. Sure, there are some twisted, sick [censored] out in the world, who commit horrible atrocities, but I still like to have a faith in man.

I would challenge anyone with the viewpoint that we are born into sin to hold their newborn baby, and feel that their baby deserves to go to hell. My personal idea of God is that he would be saddened by such a thought. The human body is so complex, I would think he would want us to admire his work instead of despise it.

You make good points distinguishing spirituality from religion. I have always gotten hung up on the rules of religion, and this has led to many unanswered questions and a feeling of exasperation.

Perhaps all religions/spirituality are searching for the same thing, and the endless quibbling about what is right or wrong to believe is, in the end, futile.

Also, thank you for this:

"If you trust yourself, then you can find a source of contact with God within yourself. You don't need rules and rituals, you don't need authority or conformity. You can use your own imagination, which represents your true divine nature, as your path to God. And such a God, needless to say, has no need of any hell."