Hey Gumby Catholic and Baptist huh? lol..Seems your blessed..kind of like the best of both worlds imo and explains your complexity alot..our parents do influence us for life whether people want to admit to that or not. Thanks for being earnest in wanting to keep this civil also..I enjoy debates but not disrespect so if I offend or cross a line that really bothers you please let me know okay? The Bible is a great start but not sure if we will debate it much..I agree with you on the Fact/fiction part to a degree..I believe the words have been tampered with by MAN..numerous changes have been made..such as not referring to darkness as being associated with evil,ie..being as it became pc to associate it with people of brown,black etc heritage as being evil..though I do read my Bible everyday..I prefer the Old Testament...but you have to understand that even though this is 2006 I come from the "old school" to a degree. For example..with todays youth being allowed freedom much more than my generation and I see it as leading to an immoral society..but there is hypocrisy in most churches that I also believe turn todays youth away from the truth about what Church and Bible study should really be about..in my upbringing we didn't question authority/parents..we did not question our elders..or the Bible..but I was blessed that I had parents that were total opposites and my Mother taught me about unconditional love where as my Father was a good Daddy but he was very emotionally distant and lived by the Bibles word as law..You said in one of your post that you notice Christians can't or won't defend their religion..did you ever think that maybe some of us are not accustomed to defending our religion/beliefs..key word defend..Where I come from that is one of the MAIN points of compatability for us to even date and marry..that is our "core" our beliefs and practices..so of course we are not used to that..not speaking for all just many of us here. I believe that the 10 commandments should be the "rule book' in Christianity..but I also believe in my Bible..I just learned to summarize it..as we all know it IS contradictory at times..but to me it is Gods word..if man would leave it alone..my opinion...my favorite 2 are Matthew and Revelation..how do you feel about those 2? Have to go ice my petits..could use some help