DEAR MACHOO

**Part 3 of the same letter***

Also I feel kind of alone because of how I feel about this holiday. It is like people want to shun those like me because they think I am out to destroy God or something. Why do most Christians accept only what their churches say and are afraid to believe other things? How do we know that the churches are teaching the right things and not something completely off the wall with false interpretations of scripture? I think we all need to go get our memories erased and wake up and read the Bible for ourselves and seek truth instead of accepting every idea and tradition that religion teaches us.

- Deeply Concerned

Dear Concerned,

Unless you can speak and read Greek and Hebrew, than I am afraid that you will have to read a translation, or interpretation of scripture like most of us in America (including MACHOO)! Of course you have concordances, lexicons, and all sorts of guides to help you decipher the language behind the translation. Unfortunately, with a book as amazing as the Bible, none of us are free from the struggle to make it say what we want it to. That means we normally focus on one part and ignore another-yuck! We're all guilty of it. Eaten shrimp lately? If so, you may want to see Leviticus. Sinner.

You're right, though, in wanting something pure in your faith, untainted by meaningless religious traditions. You're sincerity in searching meaning in scripture for yourself is also commendable. However, a large populations of Christians also spend hours of personal time searching for God too, and for many of them, their traditions and rituals remind them of why they do what they do. Traditions and holidays, though often misconstrued, have power to remind us of what is truly important to all of us; and behind all the garbage that we pile on is our God who was there all along.

By the way, I had my mind erased yesterday and I feel GREAT!