Why are you a Christian (or Why not) ?

Sure, humans need guidance. That is why they have parents, organizations, teachers, and governments. As for g-ds, I haven't seen any g-ds giving guidence. I have seen guidance backed by the threat/treat of eternity supported by the notion of whims of g-ds. But this is created by man (even the devoutly religious acknowledge that thier books were written by the hand of man.)

So, most likely, the positive leadership (and sometimes negative!) often attributed to g-ds really comes from man. And in an age of science and reason, there is no need to deny personal faith, but I don't think it's as necessary for guidance at this point in place and time as it once was.
We still fear death, but are prosperous and have children. We don't go hungry, we get a pretty good amount of sleep, and live very comfortable lives (historically speaking - and I'm talking about America/GB here.) We have answers available when we have questions - answers that come from logic instead of myth. It is a very good and prosperous age, and one full of secular ways to navigate our world. Note: "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman is a good book.

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I used to consider my self to be a spiritual person. I still believe in a creator but I've never followed mainstream religion. My parents only sent us to Sunday School to get a free baby sitter. I tried going to Community Church for a while in my early Twenties, then I even got hooked on Wicca for a short time. Of course, that phase was just for a girl. Smile

Then I checked out Scientology. That's not for me either...

Ever since 9/11 and observing how much Christians and muslims are taking their religions to the extreme I've been turned off of religion all together. I see so much chaos in the world today and it all seems to stem from religion, I want nothing to do with it. I don't think that God, if he exists would want it that way.

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Why am i a Christian

I heard my masters voice. I always felt God. I always knew I have a relationship with God. But then in my mid-teens, as I was being witnessed to, a renewal came over me and I realized this is the Son of God, Jesus and I started to read the Bible. I realized Jesus was the one sent by God. The Holy Spirit has continuously been with me with thoughts that are not my own and wisdom I have no idea where it came from.
I am not a part of a church. I do not consider myself part of any religion, but I definately know I have a relationship with God and now Jesus is the intercessor to the Father on my behalf.
Praise Jesus

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Ruach -

how do you talk with g-d, or how do you know it is g-d/Jesus? I have heard others say this, but have not experienced it myself. I have no idea what such a feeling or knowledge would be like. Please share.

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Miller wrote:

Turner_727 wrote:
Oh, Catholics are baptized, all right. But since they're not 'born again' the other Christians don't think they'll make it to heaven.
[/b]

What's the evidence that anyone "makes" it to Heaven?

That's a pretty good point, Miller.

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O' portal,
nothing a person can say to explain is ever good enough. But I will only give my personal account, ok.

It is abundantly clear when you have very very very subtle thoughts that you know are not your own. They are words from an outside source that you have not studied or learned or heard about. Sometimes I have found scripture to back up those thoughts which act as a witness of where the words came from=Holy Spirit. (The active force of God who guides and teaches and comforts.) I felt the HS before I learned about who it was in scripture.

So that is a lifetime of hearing GOd. It is quite simple to explain. It is apparently so real that those who explain it leave the listener wondering because they consider God should be speaking in a "different way".
Gods Word does not go out in vanity. What he speaks is done.

Against ALL odds, I would listen to the HS and in Gods time, things come to pass. Why do I know it was God telling me, because he told me what would come, not precisely, exactly what would come at times, but, more in the line of.......... [quote]I have this in control [/quote]

Jesus, God and the HS all testify to the truth of the other 2.
I have saved my own life listening to the HS/God. I listened and I was delivered from the situation within 10 minutes.

His knowledge is higher than my own and that is how I know when it is God.
Smile

Especially when I pray about a subject and find the answer within days and scripture backs up what I have been told mentally.

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In other words, the voices in your head come from God?

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http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:MuzcWRFQ8vQJ:biblia.com/spirit/spirit-dove10.jpg

PEACE to you wilso

I think i have better voices in my head than you do. :wink:

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Don't have voices in my head, but thanks for thinking of me!!!

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The voices keep me company when I'm lonely. Very Happy

No, seriously. All the more power to ya, Ruach.

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I was raised Jewish, and I have a general dislike of the whole christian ideology involving following, obediance, forgiveness and the like. People like to compare christianity and judaism, but they are two profoundly different religions on ideological grounds.

Anyway, christianity and judaism both have an incredible amount of mythology associated with them that I find is a lot more interesting to look at from the outside rather than from within the religion.

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Child of the Light wrote:

My thoughts on God are as followed:

As to the knowledge of God, there are 2 courses that must be followed:

1.)Claim to know God by the sole light of reason
2.)Or admit that one cannot know him by reason, but that men need instructors.

Now he who rejects the first statement may not reject another man's reason without admitting thereby the necessity of guidance.

Child, you usually think much more clearly than this.

Your claim here is so absurdly self-serving -- I am truly surprised you attempted to pass it off as logic.

Using the "logic" you used here, I could easily posit:

As to the knowledge of God, there are 2 courses that must be followed:

1) Acknowledge that you do not know if there even is a God, or

2) Allow fear of punishment from the mythological gods to cause you to pretend there is a God -- and then pretend the God has given you a private revelation of its existence.

It is all abject nonsense -- and I am suprised you seem to think otherwise.

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My wife kinda was under number 2. She thought she should give the kids a chance to decide for themselves. But her primary reason for going was, "What if I'm wrong? I can handle hell for myself, but I don't want to condemn my kids because I didn't go to church." A very parental statement.

Then, we had an event that caused her to reconsider her beliefs on God. Or a god. Now she doesn't understand how something like that could happen. I won't go into detail as to what happened, but it thoroughly destroy any faith in a higher power.

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Frank Apisa wrote:

Child, you usually think much more clearly than this.

Your claim here is so absurdly self-serving -- I am truly surprised you attempted to pass it off as logic.

Using the "logic" you used here, I could easily posit:

As to the knowledge of God, there are 2 courses that must be followed:

1) Acknowledge that you do not know if there even is a God, or

2) Allow fear of punishment from the mythological gods to cause you to pretend there is a God -- and then pretend the God has given you a private revelation of its existence.

It is all abject nonsense -- and I am suprised you seem to think otherwise.

Yeah, I was trying to make God a positive thing though....I wasn't focusing on the hypocrisy and whatnot.....But I guess I still got faced. Embarrassed

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Considering your avatar -- I guess you are gonna get faced a lot.

Great avatar.

And mostly excellent posts.

Just happened to notice this one -- and thought I'd have a say.

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Frank Apisa wrote:

Considering your avatar -- I guess you are gonna get faced a lot.

Great avatar.

And mostly excellent posts.

Just happened to notice this one -- and thought I'd have a say.

I appreciate it, I learned something very useful about God.

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Quote:

he purpose, my friend, is to be here now in the best way possible. To love, to bring love, to be loved. To bring peace, if not to the world, then to the ones who love you and whom you love, if not for every day, for today. Stand up for truth. Stand up for Justice. Work hard to change the world to the limits of your powers. Be present in the lives of those around you, love them all deeply, be full of wonder, curiosity and joy and when you are gone there will be a memory of you imprinted forever on every human you have touched.

Most of your cited purposes are quite noble goals and are shared by the Christian faith. I guess my problem with these as the sole purpose of life is: what about the people that live short lives full of suffering, with no one who seems to love them and no voice in their circumstances? Kind of sucks to be them, eh? What is their purpose in life? Christianity at least offers them hope for the future and encouragement in the knowledge that God himself is not unacquainted with suffering. Christianity doesn't guarantee an easier life--only that we will be given the grace to face life with peace and joy.
I know many people view Christianity as a crutch/sign of weakness; I would say that is exactly true. It is acknowledging that we as humans are weak and imperfect and allowing God to be our strength and to perfect us. That is where many people seem to have a problem with religion--religion requires that they acknowledge that their own wisdom/character may be fallible and that they may actually have a need for something or someone beyond their own intellect and strength. It is no coincidence that human pride is listed as one of the seven "deadly" sins.

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Ruach wrote:

Quote:

It is abundantly clear when you have very very very subtle thoughts that you know are not your own. They are words from an outside source that you have not studied or learned or heard about.

If you hear it in your head, it's your head that's talking, not something beyond you. It's you. Your brain is a pretty complex pile of electrified mush that's evolved over the past one hundred and ten million years, occasionally we are not aware of how much we know until our own mind reveals itself. It could be the solution to a chess problem, it could be the relationship of y sub null to tangent X, it could be the answer to the question of which path to take to get down a mountain in a snowstorm.
Sometimes it feels instinctive, it just may be, sometimes it feels as if a power we don't know is speaking, but that's the power of ourselves that we don't know yet.
It's okay to take credit for your own wisdom. That ten minute solution to your problem was your doing, your thinking, your actions. Once you realize that you can exist freely without the purported guidance of a supernatural being you're free to use your mind and your heart and your soul. Of course, from then on if you fail at something or something doesn't happen, you won't be able to say 'It wasn't God's will.' because it will be you yourself and your will that has failed. It's wonderful being responsible for one's own destiny, you ought to try it.

Joe

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I don't believe in the Christian God but what say you guys to this?

A girl found out about my Godlessness, and she said something to this sort:

God will not just let you go through life without presenting you with a choice. He came to me one night.....I was crying myself, the way I usually did, and he came to me.....It was great, it was like a huge man hugged me, but it didn't hurt...it felt great.....and then he spoke to me and said "it's going to be ok"

Was she just lying or what?

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Why are you a Christian (or Why not) ?

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