Quote:

Author Anne Rice has had a religious conversion: She's no longer a Christian. "In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control," the author wrote on her Facebook page. "In the name of... Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen." Rice, 68, is best known for Interview With a Vampire and other gothic novels. Raised as a Catholic, she had rejected the church early in her life but renewed her faith in recent years and in 2008 released the memoir Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession. In a phone interview, Rice said she had been having doubts for the past two to three years. She was troubled by the child abuse scandals in the church, and the church's defensive reaction, and by the ex-communication of Sister Margaret McBride, a nun and hospital administrator who had approved an abortion for a woman whose life was in danger. "I believed for a long time that the differences, the quarrels among Christians didn't matter a lot for the individual, that you live your life and stay out of it. "But then I began to realise that it wasn't an easy thing to do," said Rice, speaking from her home near Palm Springs, California. "I came to the conclusion that if I didn't make this declaration, I was going to lose my mind." Rice said she is a Democrat who supports the historic health care legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama and believes gay marriage inevitably will be permitted throughout the country. Although no longer part of any denomination, she remains a believer and continues to read theology and post Biblical passages on her Facebook page. She has no immediate plans to write about her leaving the church and will continue with her metaphysical fiction series, Songs of the Seraphim. Rice will not be taking up vampires again, but she said she is a big fan of the HBO series True Blood, enjoyed the first two Twilight movies (she has yet to read any of the Stephenie Meyer novels) and is interested in seeing her most famous character, the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, return to the screen. "We're in talks about it," she said. "But then we've always been in talks about it. Hope springs eternal in California."

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/anne-rice-renounces-her-christianity-refusing-to-be-antigay-20100803-11492.html

Sounds like she just can't make up her mind what to believe....sad that she needs to be told, rather than making up her own mind.

"In the name of... Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen."

How that works, while she remains a believer is a bit hard to understand. She is a christian who doesn't like organised christianity?

There are many Bible believing and God fearing people who refuse to participate in organised religion (and for many different reasons).

The woman in the above article appears to be one such person.

lisa, yes.

this woman appears to have quite a struggle on her hands.


Quote:

So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."      But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?"      "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."      But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."

genesis 32:24-30

Sprintcyclist wrote on Aug 7^th, 2010 at 7:50pm:

lisa, yes. this woman appears to have quite a struggle on her hands. Quote: So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."      But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?"      "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."      But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." genesis 32:24-30

Crikey, I had to read that several times before I decided it must be predominantly a celebration of homosexuality...

All other possible interpretations leave far too much to the imagination...

::)

Sprintcyclist wrote on Aug 7^th, 2010 at 7:50pm:

lisa, yes. this woman appears to have quite a struggle on her hands. Quote: So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."      But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?"      "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."      But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." genesis 32:24-30

Ahhh yes .. a very intriguing and appropriately recalled passage of Scripture.

Many of us have had such a struggle Sprint .. and have lived to tell the tale.

Our individual spiritual journeys can be arduous at the best of times.

I have much respect for those (like my grandmothers and mother) .. who have remained strong in faith no matter what they've seen/heard and endured.

Sprint, I've posted elsewhere on this forum regarding my disillusionment with the hypocrisy of organised religion and as a result, I no longer attend any church service of any type.

Having said that .. I refuse to throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak .. so yes .. I still believe and have faith in God.

For some .. God does exist, for others God doesn't .. but for people like me .. he had better exist (coz I've got a million questions I would like to ask him one day).

Lisa Jones wrote on Aug 7^th, 2010 at 8:16pm:

[quote author=sprintcyclist link=1280898765/0#4 date=1281174647] Having said that .. I refuse to throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak .. so yes .. I still believe and have faith in God.

People who have faith in God do not throw away baby. I must warn you - it is forbidden to throw baby out. You must keep the baby after you make soup or potion. You have been warned - there is many law in this country against using baby for the food. Kindly practice your witchcraft in a poor country.

ROFLMAO! Too funny!

Hey .. thanks for the laughs Karnal!

lisa -  any organised religion and a spirital life may be light-years seperated
That's waht jesus said/lived anyway. Or what i interpereted.

feel free to open your own thread on 'random questions" here
"Ask and you will recieve."

Thanks Sprint :)

You sound like a decent human being.

Regards Lisa

Gee that's amazingly coincidental that I was just a couple of hours ago watching an episode of "True Blood" and discussing the basal rules for vampires and such.
The discussion led me to bring up a situation where an anally logical friend once jacked up against different rules being employed for dealing with vampires after he'd read Anne Rices' "Interview With a Vampire".

..There are no rules when dealing with fictional supernatural forces are there? Apparently there are.

If a basic framework of what a vampire is is not adhered to, then it must be labelled as something else.
Nowonder Anne Rice is driving herself nuts. Religions are a one in the same made up fantasy. The basic framework is accepted that God's will is "good" (subjective of course). When that framework is broken down and God's will is bad then it becomes an entirely different fantasy in need of a new label....maybe "Allah" or something.