by Whilst I agree with you wholeheartedly, Cali, I was brought up in a religious household, and I'm the only one who is now an atheist. You get to a point of living with religion, but having no belief in God. I broke out of the indoctrination, but still it affects me. I was brought up (to a point) CofE. I am grateful to my father for having insisted no children would be brought up Catholic before he would marry my mother. My Mum is 91 now, but she still believes in Adam and Eve and all that. We don't discuss it! She said she watched The Wonders of The Universe with my Dad, who is 94. She thought it was fantastic and interesting, but she doesn't believe a word of it. It's that sort of indoctrination that is unbreakable. My Dad, on the other hand, has a sort of religion which embraces the more recent scientific discoveries, but does not lose God. My sister, who is a chemistry graduate, has similar beliefs to my father, as far as I can tell, but I know they have discussed their differences.
That's why I say that all believers of any faith have their own special beliefs and their own special relationship with their god. I remember some survey (don't ask me to find it) where believers were asked who was the most likely person they knew who would go to heaven. Most of the respondents said it was themselves. That's because they had their relationship with their god and their lives were being run in the correct way, and that was self-fulfilling.
So, to get back more to the point, everyone seems to have a different idea of The Bible and any other scripture. Their ideas range from taking it all literally, to ignoring it completely. The religious bodies would like to include all Christians under as few categories as possible to keep them together (safety in numbers), but they miss the point that everyone has slightly different beliefs. Their own god is a personal god. Even Mick, who seems to get his ideas of what his god is from philosophers of the past, has his own idea and personal god. That's why God is a god of the head, a god of one's own imagination. And when you realise that it is the case, and that there is no evidence for a god, you either reject god as existing, or you try to justify your belief by believing in the metaphysical realm. Some go to great extremes to justify it, whereas others go to great extremes to try to reject the metaphysical claims.
One thing I do know (rather than the above waffle) is that, while it's interesting to hear other people's point of view, the people that change late in life are as rare as hen's teeth. I only know of one here, for example.
OK, so the above is just a small dump of my thoughts. It's not meant to be a literary work of art open to critique. But I do like to discuss these things from time to time, rather than just stare open-mouthed at what some people do believe!
