Thank you, Brian. I am sure that your friend appreciates the fact that you accepted his decision, now perhaps you could share faith stories with him to understand what fire he experienced as you did in your own epiphany! Blessings to you brother.

Jerry. To take any scriptural text literally outside of textual critcism is to open the door to fundamentalism. My post has more to do with the wave of christian cultural apathy toward the blatant bigotry demonstrated daily. For example, my family and I attended a inter-faith memorial service for our slain Sikh kindred in my hometown. About 100 attended, half of whom were Sikhs. Had seven people been slaughtered at a Baptist Church nearby, the entire football stadium would have been filled with shouts of conspiracy and perhaps the burning down of a mosque for afters. Yes, that crowd might have been fundamentalists. But my question is, where were the liberal christians at the Sikh memorial? There should have been hundreds if us. But se don't care enough or identify enough with our Muslim/Sikh/ Hindu/ Sufi kin to show up, grieved and apalled.