Believing in God, But Not Literally

Yup.'Taint what you say, 'tis what you do.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

It all depends on who they are and what they do. They can be pretty normal Christians, very bad Christians or evil Christians.None of us do enough, but as shown in Matthew 25, not a whole lot is expected. But then there are very evil Christians that do great harm. The worst IMHO are those that are leaders in the Christian Church, the Pat Roberstons, Oral Roberts, Jim Bakkers, Jerry Falwells, Jimmy Swaggarts, Gene Scotts, Bob Larsons, Robert Tiltons and other similar CHRISTIANS. Such folk make an abomnation of Christian Theology by preaching behavior that that is anti-Christ.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Still not at all sure what you're asking. That's not all that unuaual, I'm old and slow. What is a symbolic belief? Is it "I believe but not really?" Can one conciously hold onto a belief in something one doesn't believe in?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

If you follow many of the discussions here you'll notice some pretty vast differences of opinion on what constitutes a Christian life and just what Christianity means. I have one vision of Christianity and I can assure you, it is not all that popular a point of view among the majority of Christians here at EvC (or some other boards as well).Many people seem to see Christianity as a "Get out of Hell" card, a trump that can be played to forgive a multitude of errors. They believe therfore they are saved. If they slip up, doesn't matter. They can say the magic word and down comes the duck (a reference for the Old Farts among us. Anyone remember the name of that Program?).Others seem to see Christianity as a grand pageant. It's Floods and Miracles and Treks and Waters Parting and Plagues and Killing all the First Borns and Walls Falling Down. It's a ringside seat the day the Great Ass Whumping begins; free beer and hot dogs to boot. It's being on the winning team and sitting in the Grandstand with great "We're # 1" fingers held aloft.On the other hand, I believe in a quieter Christianity. It's one filled with little things. It's one where you help reach the cans on the top shelf, where you stop to help a turtle cross the road or even to simply admire the spring flowers. It's a collection of small things. It's seldom dramatic and hopefully unnoticed. It's laughter and tears and a small, whispering voice instead or the strident trumpet call.But it also recognizes that we are simply human, not supernatural. We screw up regularly. We don't behave as we should. We do fail. We do commit sins of commission and even more often, sins of ommission. Yet, if we are trying to live a Christian life, tomorrow we try to do a little better.That's all. Try. No expectation of success, do only that which you can.That's all we can do in this life. If we can motivate one child, encourage one other person, help a few along the way even if in only the smallest manner, then we have done what we could.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion