Bwild: I actually agree that in some respects, we people are a bit like sheep. Clearly some more than others. And I don't see this as a bad thing. Jesus called the people his sheep. But what he meant (and what I mean) is that they need a Shepherd - someone to watch over them. While some of us take pride in our independent spirits, we are all, at least on some level, sheep.

BTW, while some may believe most anything that's taught in church, that's not true for all. In fact, most people I know (and hang with) are not this way. Sure we believe it if we believe it to be the truth, but we don't simply believe it because some guy in the pulpit said it.

I didn't see Christ rise from the dead but I still can believe that it is true. One does not need to be an eyewitness to believe and event is true. And there are well reasoned arguments that support the belief that Christ rose from the dead. Many people through the ages have believed. Some were former atheists. More than one atheist has researched to prove the resurrection a fraud and came away a believer.

I don't think there is just one single reason to believe the Bible to be the Word of God. While it's true that some learn from childhood to believe, there are many than come to believe the Bible is true when they are much older. It may be true that a child believes blindly, for what do they know of reasoned thinking. But this is not true for adults. And when you have learned men and women coming to faith later in life, that is not something that can be explained away by talk of "blind faith." I may have come to faith somewhat "blindly" but it's not what sustains my faith. While I believe in my heart that the Bible is true, I also believe it in my mind. I'm fully convinced that God exists, that the Bible is His revealed Word for us, and that Jesus is His Son, and that Jesus died and rose from the grave. Such beliefs do not conflict with intellectual thought.

I do however believe that many do blindly follow their political leaders. As for me being hard right, not really. I'm definitely a conservative but I have many moderate views.

And everyone is part of some flock. It's like the group of kids at the highschool who all are in rebellion and claim to be "expressing their individuality" and independence. They are their own "unique" man or woman. And this group of kids, they all look, dress, act - the same. They are a flock of sheep just like the rest. They are worse off because they think they are different. But they are not.

If people are like sheep, NO ONE isn't one. They may like to think of themselves as "not a sheep" but the reality of it is, we are all sheep at some level. And I don't think that is a bad thing. It does depend on what exactly I mean by being a sheep.