Hi Steve,
Sorry about the "oz" thing, sometimes we take our slang for granted. I suppose some in the States might wonder whether I'm the scarecrow, tinman or lion..
I've been reading the material on BT and occasionally emailing Ray for a couple of years now. I began along the Christian path when I was nine years old (25 years ago). I always had a problem with certain doctrines particularly those of the tithing and eternal punishment slant. I attended a Bible College in the mid nineties and even though the lecturers were very open minded, I still wasn't being satisfied to the solidity of the answers I was getting.
Once, the question of what happens when we die came up in class, and myself and a few others in class were suggesting that we could not possibly go straight to Heaven or Hell as that would leave no place for Judgement Day. Looking back it was a little comical; sarcastically proposing to the Dean of the College (who was taking the class) that God would some day sit on the throne and pull people out of Hell to judge them saying (God): "Yep, I was right!" and then returning them to the flames. Simply ludicrous. Anyways I left shortly afterward and began researching the truths of our eternal destiny and was lead by Google to BT.
Having been an indoctrinated Christian for so long I found it hard to shake off the guilt associated with believing in a positive eternal destiny even though my mind could see the truth. It has taken some time but I feel I'm free from that guilt.
Have a nice day
Mark