Russ, this kind of "answering with a question" debate is futile. Either you believe God is commanding people forever not to sit on a chair after a menstruating woman has sat on it, or you don't. I don't know your view on whether you personally do that or not because you have evaded answering it.

I don't know what my spiritual beliefs are right now. I'm going through a difficult time, really battling with depression. Nothing much makes sense any more. I have been a Christian all my adult life, but I don't know if I still am. Ultimately, I think I always will be. But everyone needs to find a way to touch the divine. A lot of Christians I've met have been inconsistent and hypocritical, and you have admitted that you've had the same problem.

But it is important to not base our beliefs on the behaviour of other people, or to feel bullied into a certain belief, or to have a closed mind. I need time to work out my faith, and I need to do it alone. I am very disillusioned with Christianity. Of all the churches in the world, I can't find one that teaches the God I have always believed in (Catholic and Orthodox come closest). The disregard for God's creation, to begin with, is very disheartening as is the divorce rate and the willingness to abort their own children for the sake of sex by going on hormonal contraceptives. I am so disillusioned. Where is the love? Where is the acceptance? Where is the forgiveness?

But, basically, I think my problem is not with Christianity, but with the way some people live it. I do believe in God, I do believe we can touch the divine through nature, and I think I still believe in Jesus. I just am saddened at what Christ's church has become, what is justified, the hunger for power, the belittling of women.