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"The message when I was growing up was that God didn't love me. Funny how it took another to point out to me that God loved me so much he gave his only son so that I might have everlasting life."

Funny how Ive been a southern Baptist all my life and and was repeatedly taught that God loved me and that through his son we have available through faith the gift of eternal life. Are you sure you were listening? oh, speaking of brushing with a broad brush..

I'm happy for you that you're pastor was capable of getting the message across and allowed you to hear God loved you. My pastor didn't and as he's the only pastor I had the opportunity to hear while I was growing up, he's who I had to base my exposure to God on.

Yes, I was listening. I listened when my 4th grade Sunday School teacher told us 'if God hadn't wanted us in outer space, he'd have put us there. I listened when my 5th grade Sunday School teacher told me to try harder where I didn't displease my father and earn a beating every Sunday after church. Trust me, I listened.

If I was painting Southern Baptists with a broad brush I'd have painted my current pastor with that same brush. Yep, I'm still a Baptist and I attend my local Baptist Church. I just don't have the same pastor I had when I was growing up. My pastor now doesn't yell at his congregation nor does he preach hellfire and damnation. He teaches about the love God has for us and about the acceptance Christ has for us if we claim him as our Saviour.