Recently, I've been trying to differentiate between the beliefs I've had instilled in me from a very young age about Jesus and God and what I truly believe now, as a young adult. The biggest questions are, do I believe that Jesus was the son of God and that he died for our sins? The child in me believes this wholeheartedly, knows it, even. However, my adult brain struggles with the concept in anything other than a symbolic way.

I seek comfort in Jesus as a personification of God's love and eternal goodness. I believe that Jesus stands for all that is good and kind in the world. There's no doubt in my mind that he died on the cross for the sake of all that is good and our realization of what that truly means and that his life was spent preaching love and kindness. But is he our saviour because he died for us on that cross? Ugh, these are the questions that keep me awake at night.

If we followed his teachings to the 't' and led our lives the way he led his, we would all be very good, decent and honest people, at least outwardly. That would, of course, cleanse us of our sins to some extent. But atonement? I just don't know. Would anyone else care to share what conclusions they've come to about this? I'm asking with a truly open mind, so please feel free to say exactly what you want. Huge questions, I know, but if there's a forum to hear a variety of opinions, I feel this is it ;-)

In love and friendship, as always,

David