I am a christian, i and i strongly belive in my lord jesus christ, and i also belive that if you belive in him and except him as your savior, u will go to heaven. and i also believe that he created the world, not the big bang, or that we came from stupid apes.
I went a bit too far with what I said Cen but you gotta admit Christianity places a lot of restrictions upon it's followers and perhaps doesn't emphasize the 'love thy neighbour' stuff as much as it could.
I do, however, stand by my 'if I don't like 'em they can go starve' viewpoint. I try to 'do' charity on a person-by-person basis.
I went a bit too far with what I said Cen but you gotta admit Christianity places a lot of restrictions upon it's followers and perhaps doesn't emphasize the 'love thy neighbour' stuff as much as it could.
I have a tendency to - ignore the Old Testament. Both because it is very restrictive, old, keeps saying "Oh, you can't kill! Oh wait, you can! Oh no, only me, GOD!" but also because I live a place where just saying "Hey, I believe in God" makes people surprised. I am all for Jesus, not so much into all that happened before him.
And yeah, we are humans after all. It is a general instinct to only care about people you either feel committed to, or at least some affinity or general positive emotion.
You can't ignore the old testament without ignoring the new testament - a large chunk of the new testament affirms the things said in the old one. Also, aren't you supposed to take all of the bible into account and not pick and choose the bits you want to believe or the bits that are relevant to you? Unless you're some form of reformed Christian (a bit like a reformed Jew) then I don't see how you can do that.
Personally, I despise mainstream religion and most of the people that follow it like sheeple - if you have to have religion then it should be personal, in your own home and directly with God(s) and not through some gathering or priest at a church, synagogue, mosque or temple. "The path to salvation is not through others but through yourself".
Also, aren't you supposed to take all of the bible into account and not pick and choose the bits you want to believe or the bits that are relevant to you?
Ttly. I just don't. Again, I am more religious than most of my country, so no one really cares as long as I don't try to talk with them about it at all. To most more religious people I am most likely not worth being called a Christian, but I believe in God, the Christian message and that Jesus Christ will come on the last day and judge me. I kinda think that is the most vague definition of Christianity, but it is there.
And not really reformed. Lutheran/protestantic something something. To be honest, considering Religion is only a metascience, it has not been a subject of mine besides at my Confirmation, so I actually have little to argue with besides my opinion and basic knowledge as well as my theories from general science. Which I guess is more than most Christians have. So I am not saying I am right in any way besides from the subjective PoV, and when it comes to religion, I often doubt anyone can be right entirely.
Personally, I despise mainstream religion and most of the people that follow it like sheeple - if you have to have religion then it should be personal, in your own home and directly with God(s) and not through some gathering or priest at a church, synagogue, mosque or temple. "The path to salvation is not through others but through yourself".
This. Though I do enjoy the peace of a church. It has a different feel to it, a different smell. A bit like stepping into another, old world.
I thought that establishments were there to help families learn about said religion, the god(s), and to help reinstate their faith and keep it fortified. I mean, yes, there are priests that inject propaganda at you, but there are better priests than that. Like the young, tall, perty, smooth priests that did sports in high school. Those guys are cool.
I have a tendency to - ignore the Old Testament. Both because it is very restrictive, old, keeps saying "Oh, you can't kill! Oh wait, you can! Oh no, only me, GOD!" but also because I live a place where just saying "Hey, I believe in God" makes people surprised. I am all for Jesus, not so much into all that happened before him.
I have always wondered at how common this practice is within Christianity, even though Jesus himself said "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. Verily I say unto you, Till Heaven and Earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished." Matthew 5:17-18
Sooo, if you believe in Jesus and his teachings you therefore must acknowledge that Jesus himself taught that all law must be upheld, this includes old testament law.
I would have thought the very nature of Christianity was "Hippie" and "Human". As in "I love you all" and "It is human to be human".
While I'm sure there are Christians who do try and follow the religion as "I love you all" there is plenty in there that indicates a very selfish "just us chosen few" mentality. Also on it's "it's human to be human" isn't one of the biggest part of Christianity basically saying "it's sinful just being human"?
Also if your just follow New Testament ideology This is where the going to hell stuff gets kicked into high gear. Also concepts of slavery are still okay and homosexuality is still condemned.
I personally have an open mind. I think that there is a "greater power" but whether that be the Christian God (why doesn't it have a name?) or Buddah or Allah or some other god I don't know. Religions just seem to come and go like extremely long fads don't they?
I personally have an open mind. I think that there is a "greater power" but whether that be the Christian God (why doesn't it have a name?) or Buddah or Allah or some other god I don't know.
Why do you think that there is a "greater power"? Having an open mind doesn't mean just accepting things with no evidence.
It's not confusing if you believe he's the only one.
Dudes name is Yahweh. Actually there is some indication that he isn't the only one but rather stemmed from a pantheon of gods. Yahweh was just the God for one particular group of humans, which had him eventually evolve into a singular deity.
However some have instead taken the pluralization Elohim (the Hebrew pluralized word for god, which appears many times in the Torah aka Old Testament.) as referring to the trinity. However the trinity was a later concept that was brought in as a means to reconcile contradictory accounts of God in both the old and new testament.
Of course in most translations you will find of the Old Testament, this pluralized form will be replaced with the singular word God.
However some have instead taken the pluralization Elohim (the Hebrew pluralized word for god, which appears many times in the Torah aka Old Testament.) as referring to the trinity. However the trinity was a later concept that was brought in as a means to reconcile contradictory accounts of God in both the old and new testament.
Of course in most translations you will find of the Old Testament, this pluralized form will be replaced with the singular word God.
The Church strikes again.
I personally have an open mind. I think that there is a "greater power" but whether that be the Christian God (why doesn't it have a name?) or Buddah or Allah or some other god I don't know. Religions just seem to come and go like extremely long fads don't they?
We really don't know. We can just believe. The chances of Jehovah being the real higher power or Enchiladotuilluptah is the same. The differences are the concepts, the teachings, and the influence.
Here, I'm just going to share this video with you guys, because it's awesome. And here are some common misconceptions that Christians hold concerning atheism. I'd like to clear them up straightaway. 1. Evolutionism does NOT claim that humans evolved from monkeys, okay? We share a common evolutionary ancestor. 2. Christians do not have morals just because God taught them what is right and wrong. If that were so, then obviously the life of an atheist is just one long adulterous crime spree, right? Wrong. Take for example, this study on Christian demographics. Why, according to that study, Christians are most prevalent in the United States. Now, check outthis study on atheist demographics. According to it, Sweden is the country with the most atheists. Now, let's take a look at the crime between Sweden and the U.S. According to this, Sweden has a lower rate of murders with firearms. Now, I'm not saying that Christians are crazy psychotic murderers or that atheists never commit crime. I'm just saying, you know, atheists aren't devoid of morality just because we don't believe in God. 3. Evolutionism does not state that humanity just appeared as it is today. Its very nature suggests that! After life began(and I'm not going to get into how, this is about after that), natural selection and heredity began the process of evolution and that is how all the species on the Earth came to be what they are today. 4. Evolutionism=/=Big Bang. I know that often, atheists will believe simultaneously in evolutionism and the big bang to explain the beginning of the universe, but they are entirely different things. So all I'm asking is that you not bring the big bang into a debate about evolutionism, and vice versa. Now, in a topic like this where almost anything is fair game, that's different. So...yeah. That's pretty much it.
1. Evolutionism does NOT claim that humans evolved from monkeys, okay? We share a common evolutionary ancestor.
Actually we did, just not modern day monkeys.
3. Evolutionism does not state that humanity just appeared as it is today.
Evolution isn't an -ism. This is an archaic term often used by creationists to try and make it seem like a belief system rather then a scientific theory.
I know that often, atheists will believe simultaneously in evolutionism and the big bang to explain the beginning of the universe, but they are entirely different things. So all I'm asking is that you not bring the big bang into a debate about evolutionism, and vice versa.
Usually it's the theist who doesn't have even a basic understanding of these theories that lump them together, not atheists.
