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IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
Christianity
- Thread starter Jools
- Start date
All I'll say on the matter is if you're at a party and you want to stop it dead in it's tracks... bring up Politics or Religion. Are their any more polarising subjects than these two?
Maybe there is an afterlife, maybe there is not.
I know of quite a few people who are going to be extremely upset if there isn't one.
As for me, I'll just enjoy the time that I have here on earth. Whatever happens after,
Che Sera!
I know of quite a few people who are going to be extremely upset if there isn't one.
As for me, I'll just enjoy the time that I have here on earth. Whatever happens after,
Che Sera!
I’m of the firm belief that people should be able to practice whatever religion they want, as long as it doesn’t negatively impact on others, and as long as they don’t try and foist it on others. I personally am an atheist. I believe we walk the earth, do the best we can, treat others as we want to be treated, then its over. I personally don’t see any problem with that, people do live on, but only in the memories of those still living. I reckon the human obsession with life after death is based on our ego-centredness. People think they can’t possibly just end because they are the centre of their own universe.
I don’t deny that I hold a lot of values that are known as Christian, like ‘do unto others’, but I believe that those values were formed over centuries by community leaders trying to guide others to do the right thing, not some greying bearded bloke sitting in a cloud. Also, I accept that I might be wrong, if I ever see any evidence of gods existence, I’m willing to consider it on its merits.
As for this thread, and Jayfox’s comment about homosexuality being identified as a sin in the bible, that annoys the hell out of me. The bible says all kinds of strange things are sins. It says things like ‘if your wife runs away, pierce her ear with skewer so if she runs away again people will know she belongs to you’, and ‘if you have a bung eye, gauge it out’. The bible says a lot of weird kooky stuff, so if you adhere to the principle that ‘the bible says so’, you’re in for some strange times. My point is that Christians and Muslims of various pursuasions pick and choose what to abide by in their respective instruction manuals depending on expediency, pragmatism, politics, whatever.
I don’t deny that I hold a lot of values that are known as Christian, like ‘do unto others’, but I believe that those values were formed over centuries by community leaders trying to guide others to do the right thing, not some greying bearded bloke sitting in a cloud. Also, I accept that I might be wrong, if I ever see any evidence of gods existence, I’m willing to consider it on its merits.
As for this thread, and Jayfox’s comment about homosexuality being identified as a sin in the bible, that annoys the hell out of me. The bible says all kinds of strange things are sins. It says things like ‘if your wife runs away, pierce her ear with skewer so if she runs away again people will know she belongs to you’, and ‘if you have a bung eye, gauge it out’. The bible says a lot of weird kooky stuff, so if you adhere to the principle that ‘the bible says so’, you’re in for some strange times. My point is that Christians and Muslims of various pursuasions pick and choose what to abide by in their respective instruction manuals depending on expediency, pragmatism, politics, whatever.
jayfox said:
something that was hammered into me when i used to attend church youth-groups (back in the day) was that the only way to free yourself of sins and be "forgiven" is by going to confession and attending church services...
i'm going straight to hell :-\
rosy said:
Hi Rosy, This is a very common question regarding peoples belief in God, so you are not alone in thinking this way. The way I look at it is this - God created people to have free will, i.e. to make entirely their own decisions in life. IF we want to believe in him we can, if we don't want to we dont have to but there are consequences to whatever decision we make. You will never get a literal "tap on the shoulder" as if God revealed himself in person to everyone, then everyone would believe and 'faith' would have nothing to do with it. He wants us to study it and make this decision ourselves. God doesn't want us to be robots either purely believing something because it is programmed into us, that's why he gave us a free will.
In talking about having never seen evidence that GOd exists an analogy I like to use is this - I have never seen the wind. I have seen the effects of the wind but I have never seen the wind. God is like that in my life. I have seen the absolutely amazing things that he has done in my life and therefore know in my heart that he exists.
rosy said:
I agree Rosy that pedophiles are the scum of the Earth and if it was up to me I would annihilate them. However, if a pedophile was to truly repent and change his ways then God would forgive him. That is the absolutely amazing thing about God's grace. He will forgive us no matter what we have done and all we have to do is ask for it. We are never too far away from God for him to accept us. I also do not believe in paying pennance for sins as Jesus taught us in the New Testament that he had paid the penalty for our sins so it was no longer necessary.
jayfox said:
Those 3 sentences have inspired more crimes against humanity than I have time in my life to write about. "I can do what I want when I want in the name of God, and if crimes are committed in the process then I will beg for God's forgiveness and get it."
Sheesh! :
"Religious people pray they won't go to hell - Spiritual people have been there and don't want to go back!"
Quote from a mentor I once knew
Here is another -
"Religions have man-made-rules whereas spirituality is borne from within and you know deep deep down that it is right for you!"
and another -
"The church should not be a monument or museum to saints - it should be an emergency ward for lost souls!"
The man I refer to died over 5 years ago - during his life he was so at peace with himself that I envied him - his only demeaning feature was the he was a Collingwood supporter......RT
Quote from a mentor I once knew
Here is another -
"Religions have man-made-rules whereas spirituality is borne from within and you know deep deep down that it is right for you!"
and another -
"The church should not be a monument or museum to saints - it should be an emergency ward for lost souls!"
The man I refer to died over 5 years ago - during his life he was so at peace with himself that I envied him - his only demeaning feature was the he was a Collingwood supporter......RT
tigersnake said:
Hi TS, If we just live on the Earth and then die what is the point of life? And why do we mourn for people who commit suicide? If you are correct then they were going to die anyway and have just chosen to speed up the process.
tigersnake said:
These examples are very obscure TS and I would challenge you to find these actual examp0les in the Bible. THere are, however, many unusual occurances and practises contained within the Old Testament of the Bible. They were, though, very common customs of the Jewish people in those days (remember we are talking about hundres to thousands of years B.C.). Jesus came to Earth with new teachings that superseeded most of those old jewish traditions anyway. Hence the reason why they are called the 'Old' and 'New' Testament.
Phantom said:jayfox said:
Those 3 sentences have inspired more crimes against humanity than I have time in my life to write about. "I can do what I want when I want in the name of God, and if crimes are committed in the process then I will beg for God's forgiveness and get it."
Sheesh! :
Then I would suggest Phantom that they are not 'truly' repentant and would not be forgiven. You can not fool God. He knows what is in your heart and will judge accordingly regardless of how many other people you can fool.
Furthermore, Religions get very unfairly judged by an absolute minority of extremists who follow the suggestion that you have stated above. There is no question that numerous disgraceful acts have been done in the name of Christianity or Islam etc. but in my opinion those people have completely missed the teachings of their faith and are after a vehicle for their own agenda.
