Thomas Pain had this to say:

              I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant, nor by any church that I know of.  My own mind is my own church.

              If I may lend a thought here, Mr. Pain?  Your own mind should be better understanding the mind of God.

       He went on to say that he felt all these churches appear to be human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind and monopolize power and profit. 

I must admit that I have thought the same thing many times.  I pray to God for answers and rely on him to send the answers.

       Mr. Pain went on to say: “I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; but it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself.  Infidelity does not consist in believing or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.

       It is ironic that I find myself agreeing with some of what he says but I do believe he didn’t look far enough into this thing we call faith.

       While looking for some answers I ran across another quote.  This one from the author C.S. Lewis:

              Christianity simply does not make sense until you have faced these sorts of facts.  Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness.  It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need forgiveness.”

       To answer Mr. Lewis, I simply go to that book we Christians call the Bible and even more powerful, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.

       “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

       Did you note the fact that we need to be aware of our need for forgiveness?  Another scripture points out, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Jesus was quoted as challenging some scribes.  He said,

       “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone…For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ.  Frankly I believe the word does have something to say about this.  If we think we are perfect than we had better think again.

       Any way, this is what I believe.

God bless us, one and all.