Alyson was looking a little distressed, so Lord Jacob decided to try something else. "Tell you what. Let's try a different tack. Answer me this question. Do you consider yourself to be special? Not in the sense of a special human being or anything. Just in the general sense, do you believe you are special; that there is something of significance or consequence to you? Do you believe you have any impact in the world around you?"
"Yes, of course Master Jacob. Of course I think I do."
"Well if you do not believe in the existence of God, then you need to come to grips with the fact that you believe you are nothing more than a chemical reaction; merely a more interesting form of what happens when you combine vinegar and baking soda.
"If you believe that you are nothing more than a chemical reaction, then you have nothing to believe in, because chemical reactions have no control over their reactions. They only respond to their environment, and nothing more.
"We humans still have a lot to learn about many of the chemical reactions that take place around us, but one thing we know for sure is that any one of them, if studied long enough, have predictable results. If you define the environment for the reaction, then you've defined the reaction that takes place. That means that if all of your reactions to your environment are eventually predictable, then there is nothing to point at about you that is really you.
"Ultimately, the question of God's existence has little to do with whether you believe in something external to you, and more about whether you believe in yourself."
Alyson appeared to be deeply considering what Lord Jacob said, when Lady Jennifer said, "All right girls. We still have a lot to cover this evening, so we need to move forward. You are not children anymore, so it is time you start having an adult understanding of your relationship with God, and how our kingdom will help you in this.
"For those of you who have been attending our church, you probably haven't noticed much difference between ours and anyone else's, aside from obvious denominational differences. It's important to remember, as I stated with Marcia and Evellyn, that everything that occurs in that church is very much real. There is just more to our faith than what we put on display there.
"One of the things that we do not put on display there is that we do not view ourselves as just another denomination. Rather than viewing ourselves as just another branch of Christianity, we see ourselves as taking our faith to another level.
"Much of what passes as Christian orthodoxy is really quite childish, in that any child can understand it. We believe that God put us on this Earth for us to advance our relationship with him, so it would follow that our religion must advance beyond what a child can grasp.
"We don't claim that we have some select dogma that you must believe in. Any child can be made to believe in anything. We claim that there are things you must understand, and understanding these things requires a mature mind. So instead of our faith being a different denomination, we view ourselves as a next generation of Christians.
"There are some aspects to our faith that are hidden, and require someone to tell you about them for you to ever know. There are other things that are right out in the open, and you just fail to comprehend them. One such thing that is open, but not explained, is that we don't allow a name for our faith beyond calling ourselves Christians. Even our churches don't have a name on them. There is a sign on the front of them that says 'A Church of a Christian Kingdom / Anyone and Everyone is Welcome.' And some may use what is on the sign to name us, but we don't recognize it.
"Putting a name on a church is about group identity. It's about determining who is and who isn't a member of it. We do not make any judgment calls about who may attend as long as they are there to worship and embrace Jesus Christ. No one who attends ever has to profess any specific belief, as long as they are not there to disrupt our worship, as some have.
"What goes on in our church are the things of our faith that any child can comprehend. And if all you are capable of understanding is what happens in the church, then that's just fine with us. We believe that what goes on there is all you need to live a happy and fulfilling life. If all you wanted to do was come to our church and worship Jesus Christ, that's Ok. 'The more the merrier.'
"A church for us is a place for fellowship. It's where we go to get reconnected with God through worshipping Jesus Christ. This is very critical to us. We believe, as most Christians do, that only through fellowship, or intimate relationships, can we ever know the true nature of God. We see our fellow Christians as 'training wheels,' for the lack of a better term, that guide us to God through Christ."
Lord Jacob interrupted his wife at this point by making a comment to Alyson. "Ally? I firmly believe that most Atheists are so because they have never actually experienced fellowship. They attempt to use reason alone to understand God, but they fail to realize that God is in all of us, and when we gather in fellowship it is much easier to feel the God within us.
"I'll wager that when you said you came to our church a few times you did so as an outsider looking in. You never actually attempted to participate. You were expecting to see something to help you understand what was going on, rather than expecting to feel something. We see God as something to experience, not something that our puny intellect could ever comprehend."
Lady Jennifer continued, "So girls? How are you doing so far? Understanding the concept of why we don't have a name for our church is only a baby step compared to what we are about to get into."
Lady Jennifer looked around, and liked the rapt attention she was getting from everyone. "Good. Let's continue.
"There are many differences between us and what we like to refer to as previous generation Christians, but there are four that stand out the most. Two of them we consider to be significant that previous generation types would deny as significant, and two that we believe are insignificant that previous generation types think are very much so. They are so significant to them that they do not even consider us to be Christians anymore because of them.
"Let's begin with the two we think are significant. The first requires you to think carefully of the words I am about to say. We believe that the God gave us the ability to reason for a reason. We believe that if He wanted robots, that only did as they were told, He would have made us as such.
"When I say this to a previous generation Christian, they like to deny this is a difference, because they want to believe that they use reason to be a Christian, but it is easy to prove them wrong.
"Take for example the story of Abraham who was commanded by God to sacrifice his child. Previous generation Christians use this story as a testament to faith, and because Abraham was willing to do this, God spared him from actually following through with it.
"I don't know about you girls, but anything telling me to kill my child will never convince me it's God. I don't care how many lightening bolts are thrown at me, or how much the ground shakes beneath my feet; I am not going to kill my child because something claiming to be God has commanded me to do it.
"I believe that He gave me the ability to reason, and He expects me to use it.
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/2puxrm/next_generation_christian_kingdom_ch03_marcia