I too was raised in such a faith, one which does not teach evolution and engages in a relentless prooftexting exercise. It is for the evolution-accepting cafeteria Christians, who pick and choose what in their faith and its scriptures may be taken literally vs. what is allegory, that my remarks are addressed.

@p-nullifidian Have you some disagreement with cafeteria style? I used to hold such in contempt, but have since had a change of heart.

Oh I just remembered. There were animals in Eden therefore, according to Hebrew Scripture, animals would have souls.

"I didn't come up with any of these ideas, its just good, old fashioned, fairly standard mysticism."
Sure is, but when 'fairly standard mysticism' is merged into doctrine, as was done by Paul, this kluge becomes a dangerous set of ideas, in practice.

@p-nullifidian I basically agree with you. Poor Paul though. He only wrote about 6 of the letters attributed to him. Most of the trouble with today's Christianity come from the other letters. The bible would be better if it came with disclaimers. It would really be helpful if the New Testament writers had attributed their allegories to the Old Testament stories they rewrote.

@Seminarian Romans is considered a Pauline epistle and is where much, if not most, of Paul's core theology is argued.

@p-nullifidian Yes, I do not have many issues with Romans. Considering, Paul probably attended a Greek Stoic school in Tarsus and therefore probably maintained some Stoic ideas i have to agree with most of what he says. Of course, that doesn't mean I agree with the traditional Christian interpretation.

29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.

 Sounds OK to me.
Oh as far as the anti-gay material, I believe that refers to the traditional Greek/Roman practice of older males taking teen boyfriends.  The Didache written later supports my claim.  

@Seminarian "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." Romans 5:19 (NIV)

The core theology of Paul which I found revolting is the notion (in opposition to Ezekiel 18:20) that the guilt of one may be passed on to his heirs and that this supposed guilt could, by some magical means, transferred to one individual, who then must die. Three immoral outrages of Christianity that I can never abide involve inherited guilt, its transfer to a sacrificial lamb, and that it required the debauching of a teenage virgin to produce a halfbreed god-man to be the sacrifice!

@p-nullifidian I don't blame you for not abiding that interpretation (which i know is the traditional interpretation). You could also read it as the disobedience of one man caused many to follow false teaching. Further, the correct teaching of one man caused many followers to be made righteous. I do realize that I am a heretic in the eyes of Fundy Christians, but given that I agree with you about Traditional Christianities moral outrages,. I am proud to be a heretic. By the way, I don't remember Paul mentioning a virgin birth. I'm pretty sure he didn't, because he never heard the story. I'm sure that story was added later to conform to a misinterpreted messianic prediction from the Hebrew Scriptures. I believe that the four gospels are nearly entirely allegorical and further the original Christians (Jews) would nave easily recognized them as such. I got that idea from Bishop John Shelby Spong. Finally, If you believe (as I do) that we are all spiritual beings temporarily inhabiting physical bodies then we are all half man/ half God, just like Jesus. Of course that would mean that our material bodies are always sacrificed eventually in order to eliminate our sin (seperation). Note: Sin was originally an archery term that described the distance from the center.

@Seminarian Ah, Bishop Spong, the heretic! Were I to have heard of him earlier, perhaps his '12 Points of Reform' would have acted as a cold splash of water on my face, instead of being 'too little, too late.' Imagine the doctrinaire believer being confronted with Spong's first point of reform: "Theism, as a way of defining God, is dead. So most theological God-talk is today meaningless. A new way to speak of God must be found." I have seen no convincing evidence that demonstrates we are "spiritual beings temporarily inhabiting physical bodies."

@p-nullifidian No there is no scientific evidence, at least that I know of. Its just a choice to believe or not. If belief improves one's life then they should believe. If it doesn't then they shouldn't. My Seminary teaches that God is a Principle that underlies universal(or divine) laws. We take this idea and try to use it as a basis for belief. Then we use study and our imagination to expand this idea into practical use. I find that Humanism is a worthwhile area of study, for example, along with Quantum and Relativity theories etc.