Christians are always telling me we don't have to know everything, we need to take some things on faith, and that faith is not logical. I go along with that.

1. I don't need to know how the universe came into existence, whether God exists, or what happens when we die.

2. I have faith--I trust--that if the merciful, just God of the Bible exists and there is an afterlife, if I live life to the fullest with a focus on the here and now, God will admit me to heaven when I die.

3. That kind of reasoning does not correspond with orthodox Christian doctrine but then again, faith is not logical and I have perfect confidence--faith--that I'm right. I am dead serious about this; I am staking my eternal welfare on it.

Thus, I think I am in agreement on three main philosophical points with fundamentalist Christians. Strangely, they do not accept my arguments at all. They want me to accept their DOCTRINES! The principles, it seems, work only one-way--THEIR way.

For conscientious truth-lovers, wouldn't there be some pretty significant ethical implications to go with that? I mean, here we've got people who spout all these principles, but when all's said and done, the principles apply only when they are pushing their own agendas. Isn't that a bit suspicious for people who claim to love and seek Truth above all else???

I think that they love their own agendas above all else. If you could absolutely prove to the fundy that their version of faith and truth is incorrect, they would either 1) be crushed, and become depressed or 2) stuff their doubts under their hats and refuse to believe you. I sometimes wonder if Jesus himself appeared and gave them the low down, the fundies would turn him away (after all, Jesus did look like a hippy liberal type).

And they look an awful lot like the Scribes and Pharisees type. At least, they do when I think of charges like "You strain at a gnat and swallow a camel" and compare that with people who condemn homosexual activity in a committed relationship but cover up pedophilia and rape by clergymen. "You polish the outside of the cup and platter but inside they are full of extortion and excess." "You are like whited sepulchers; on the outside you look beautiful and well-kept but inside you are full of dead bones and filth." That's me paraphrasing parts of Matt. 23:24, 25, and 27.

Indeed. I had always compared the way Jesus described the Pharisees with the fundamentalists of my childhood church. When grown, I went to an evangelical church for this reason, thinking them different (how wrong I was on this!). They were just a lighter version of the Pharisees.