What is your faith in? A true Chrsitian would say my faith is in God. But why? Is it because he promises to give you eternal life or things. God does say if you love him, trust him, and obey him He will give you what you need. But do we have faith in God only for our selfish satisfaction or are we really trying to please the One who died for us? Today I believe this world is so selfish and needy it will ruin us all. I mean when someone robs it is over money to buy more things. Things are what most people base there life apon. We go to work to buy things. I want this car so I can look cool to other people to get self satisfaction. As children we always say "well everyone has it" I guess that really never changes.
The only thing we need is God, the rest of this material stuff is completely unnecessary. Think about it,what will a Porche do for you when your dead? Do you really help someone out for them or for you? Are you Humanistic? If you answer that question no, you are sadly mistaken. I and everyone else in this world can not help but being somewhat Humanistic. Our goal in this life is to please the Lord. Now this is where I come to the other part of being brainwashed. I have spoken to many people who believe in the Lord, want to obey him , and believe what he says. Then I dug deeper and found out that they don't believe in the Bible. Now in Matthew 4:4 says it is not by bread alone but by everyword that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is God breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in rightiousness. That seems pretty clear to me. Now how can you please the Lord when you don't believe what he says. These people Believe that the Commandments should be obeyed, but they pick and choose what else to obey in the Bible.
I believe this is Worldly brainwashing. When someone steals they get in trouble, when someone murders they go to jail or even get murdered themselves. I would choose to believe these Commandments if I was of the world also. When it comes to Adultry and being gay, these are becoming more eccepted by the world today and we are now looking at gay marriage and way higher divorce rates than ever before. I'm starting to hear I'm gay and I'm a christian. How can that be? When you believe in God you and have a love for him, you will also want to obey him. If you are choosing to live a life of commiting adultery, being gay, stealing, lying, and feeling that this is ok, then you have to ask yourself what your faith is in. If you believe in one thing and not another than how do you even know what you're believing is right? How can you pray for and want to help the people who are doing wrong to come to Jesus when you yourself don't understand that you need to come to him yourself. What is your faith in?
There's too much in one chunk, I really don't want to finish reading it.
The sun is the same in a relative way but your older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to Death. -Pink Floyd
I appreciate the advice, I understand where you're coming from with dying BUT I quess it just comes down to what you care about and what you believe. I believe that if your were on your death bed and you knew what hell was like eternally in pain for the rest of your life, and if your knew what heaven was like painless, carefree, and totally amazing you would be on your half dead knees begging to be God's child. It's not about dying it's about what comes after. Something much worse or something much better. You're on my prayer list.
But don't you see? God is pretty much useless to people until they are dying and they don't feel like taking a chance. God is a crutch.
There is a house in New Orleans they call the Rising Sun.
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy and God I know I'm one. ~The Animals
I know what you mean I find my self using him as a crutch everyday, but because of him I do strive to be better he is what makes me know I will be in a good place. I know how people think I've been there, but I've been through so much in my life that without God I know I wouldn't have made it. So near to death daily for years and then you find why you truly need God and when I did I was instantly saved. I am now just the regular Joe-et and you would have any idea who I was if you saw me on the street.
What I really get a kick out of is ppl saying their a christion witch. It's like whaaaa? It's becomeing more popular all the time. Boggles the mind . . .
Don't get me wrong, I am NOT a x-ion and not just because I want attention or am into the whole fluffy bunny world. I've been studying religion and seeking my path since I was 10 and am now almost 25. So what I am going to say next u may or may not agree with.
I'm not real sure where the christion religion started, but it became most popular when the preaching of fire and brimstone came about. It was like watching Child's Play or Hellraiser to us today. It became a way of controling ppl. (No I'm not going to preach about the burning times - pagan's did the same thing to christions before christions forced us into hideing). This is still vary common today, do this or u go to hell! Thus most ppl turn to God before they die, a practice I greatly disagree with, if u don't live ur life in the way of God - don't suddenly sherk your ways and start kissing God's feet because NOW u wanna go to heaven. o.o
*I* don't believe in the bible, but I do believe in God. Why don't I believe in the bible? Because I believe that man has changed it in little ways over the years. Lost texts and all that. Have u been to Sylvia Brown's webpage? It's a fucking hoot. Man would I love to talk to her, I mean I agree with a lot of things she says . . but how she comes to her conclusions and her reasonings - starting a new religion (well not new new, old name - new ways) is just INSANE. Here is the website if u'd like to check it out http://www.novus.org/home/index.cfm. Can u say power trip bitch? She's also on the Montel William's Show everyweek, pretty popular.
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And one last note. Have u ever heard of the Gnostic's? This religion was around when Jesus was still preaching. I found a webpage once . . long lost by now, that they and jesus being a strong member in their comunity would pratisapate in religious orgies when the priest of their church was taken over by the spirit of God. Each child born from this was the child of God himself, and if the child was unwanted abortion was practiced and they would feast on the fetus was cooked and seasoned before eaten. I so wish I could find something that would either discredit that or back it up . . . wild.
> we are now looking at gay marriage and way higher divorce
> rates than ever before.
Factually incorrect. Divorce rate in the U.S. have been steadily declining since the early to mid-eighties. In fact, Massachusetts (the only state in the U.S. that actually performs same-sex marriages) has the LOWEST rate of divorce of any state in the Union.
> I'm starting to hear I'm gay and I'm a christian.
> How can that be?
Well, the smart-assed answer is that a made-up system of morality can be re-made whenever someone wishes. The less sarcastic response, however, is that the incompatibility of homosexuality and christianity is not something that even the major denominations of christianity agree upon consistently, either today or historically. The modern interpretations of many bible verses that are construed to condemn gay people in a unilateral way have not always been interpreted that way in the church's history (a monumental tangent, to be sure).
> If you are choosing to live a life of commiting adultery,
> being gay, stealing, lying,
Your comparison is both small-mined and offensive. Being gay harms no one. Adultery involves breaking a vow to another person. Being gay does not. Stealing involves taking something from another agaisnt their will. Being gay does not. Lying invloves misrepresenting the truth about some situation. Being gay is only similar if you refuse to be open and honest about who you are.
> What is your faith in?
My faith is in the belief that humans really are good people, deep down. When you strip away all of the fear and ignorance, most people want to love one another and live together in peace. I have faith that one day in the not too distant future, that people will abandon the kind of primitive notions you have expressed, and step into the future unrestrained by the irrationality of religion.
percivale
I'm not sure where you got your source on divorce rates because I'm taking a sociology class right now and we have been discusing the most recent poles on divorce. But anyway. I hope your right but sadly enough the Bible says that earth will be like a hell so as far as people abandoning such acts and so forth will be very unlikely.
My source is The National Center for Health Statistics (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/Default.htm), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/). Specifically, I referred to their collection of Marriage and Divorce Statistics, reported by state, which indicated...
Number of marriages: 2,230,000
Marriage rate: 7.5 per 1,000 total population
Divorce rate: 3.6 per 1,000 population (46 reporting States and D.C.)
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/divorce.htm
As for "the bible," might I suggest that it isn't a very good source for accurate statistics.
percivale
my statistics did not come from the Bible, they came from a annual report which my Sociology teacher printed off this year. And it's wonderful if that pole I saw was wrong. I'm happy if I was wrong. and this is all over being gay. Well I believe they should have the right to get married because of seperation and state but I was saying it's a sin. It's wonderful if the divorce rates have gone down and sometimes divorce is the only answer. I guess you proved your point Bravo
Can you cite the annual report that your teacher used? I would be interested in reading it if it contradicts the NCHS material. As for the "sin" issue, that is a matter of opinion. Unlike statistics, religious opinions cannot be "proved" one way or the other...which of course is why we have separation of church and state to begin with.
percivale