I grew up atheist for 16 years. I had always kept an open mind towards religion, but never really felt a need to believe in it. My sister started going to a Wednesday night children's program at a church. Eventually, I was dragged into a Christmas Eve service. Scoffing, I reluctantly went, assuming that this was going to be a load of crap, but when I went, I felt something. Something that I've never felt before. I felt a sense of empowerment and a sense of calling. Jesus called upon my soul, just like he did with his disciples. he wanted me to follow him. Now, my life is being lived for Christ. He died on the cross for my sins, and the sins of everyone who believes in him. He was beaten, brutalized, struck with a whip 39 times, made to carry a cross up to the stage of his death. This I believe to be true, and I can never repay him for what he has done. I still have my struggles with Christianity, but I've found this bit of information most useful. Religion is not comprehensible in the human mind, because we cannot comprehend the idea of a perfect and supreme being, a God, but we can believe it in our heart, and that's the idea of faith. Faith is, even though everything rides against me believing in Jesus, I still believe in him because I know that it's true in my heart. I invite my fellow Brothers and sisters of the LORD to talk about how Jesus has helped you in your life. No atheists and no insults please
I learned this stuff at church you should try going to church and learn all the things I am stuff.
Thank you for telling me this for the 5th time.
Let me remind, for the 4th time, that I have gone to church before. I have never heard anything about us already being in Heaven and being sent down to Earth. Everything else you've said I've responded to and you've ignored those responses or just regurgitated baseless teachings.
Nevermind, I remembered that on your first post you stated you were a Mormon.
Which leads me to another question. How do you know that being a Mormon is right, instead of another branch of Christianity? Or Islam or Judaism? Or something that isn't even an Abrahamic religion?
This life is a test that a lot of people are failing we came here because god wanted to see if we would keep the commandments or not.
Your God is "omnipotent" So he already knew how everybody would do when they came back to earth. He also created them that way, just so he could punish them.
I think the point was that God was proving he loved us by sacrificing his son.
It wasn't really a sacrifice, it was just needless torture. A few days later in the story Jesus comes back. (Side note: the first of the four Gospels which the others followed and expanded on didn't include the resurrection. It originally ended with Jesus dead the cross.) If we include this resurrection and flying off into the sky through the cosmos to another some place outside of space called Heaven. God got hi son back and Jesus got eternity in paradise.
You don't think all entirety of torture is bad. Yes 9 hours of torture is bad but compared to all entirety its not even close
Yes eternity of torture is bad as well. But that doesn't make a finite by proxy torture any better or any more needed. Since you seem too be either ignoring or not getting it let me try to make this as clear as possible. GOD DOESN'T HAVE TOO TORTURE ANYONE.
I will agree about one thing there could of been other ways to make or sins forgiven.
Since God could have forgiven without torture that makes the torture of no needless.
One person had to die for all of are sins to be forgiven and it was not when he was on the cross when are sins where forgiven it was in the garden of gethsemane.
No, no one had to die. That' the point being made. Am omnipotent God doesn't need to use brutal methods such as torture and death to forgive someone. If God does require such things that makes him worse than humans who can and do forgive with torturing and killing others.
This life is a test that a lot of people are failing we came here because god wanted to see if we would keep the commandments or not.
A test is a method for the tester (God in this case) to learn how far along the individuals they are instructing have come in a course. God being omniscient would already know the outcome and thus have no need to conduct tests. And this is just the start to the problems of life being a test. Is Life a Test?
[quote]In haven we agreed to come down to earth for a physical body.
Do you have any evidence or scripture to back this claim?[/quote]
This is stemming from the Mormon belief system. Where in the Book of Mormon they get this I don't know, but here is a link so you can double check the answer. Book of Mormon
Nevermind, I remembered that on your first post you stated you were a Mormon.
thx for stating that again. i was busy whit a post but this changes it all. mormon defiantly is 1 of the most idiotic believe of the last 200 year or so.
mormon defiantly is 1 of the most idiotic believe of the last 200 year or so.
Joseph Smith, a known conman who was possibly a pathological lair and began to believe his own lie. He may have also had a genetically handed down mental illness given (I think it was?) his grandmother who claimed to hear spirits talking to her and later, even before forming the Mormon church Joseph also claimed to start hearing these voices. Now for the time he lived in this would have bee considered legitimate. So it's also possible he just tricked himself into thinking this (especially if the pathological lair part is true) rather then another cause for the hallucination.
I have some food for thought questions for theists if anybody's interested. 1. If you accept belief in X god from X religion, but not gods Y or Z from religions Y or Z, what standard of proof/evidence/reason does your religion meet that these other religions do not? In other words, why do you accept the existence of your god but not the gods of other religions. 2. If you believe based on faith without evidence, what reason do you have to accept any proposition as true without evidence? 3. If you believe based on evidence or proof, can that evidence or proof be demonstrated so that those of us who do not believe do not have to take it on faith? 4. If you are a gnostic theist or claim to know that there's a god, what evidence leads to this assertion? If not evidence, then what? Just thought I'd try to spark up the discussion again.
Wasn't Jesus Jewish, if I'm correct?? So if Jesus is Jewish and Christians revere him as a messiah, why aren't the Christians Jewish?? Isn't it some kind of blasphemy or heresy to worship a deity of a religion that's different from the religion you believe in (e.g. Christian worshipping a Jewish person/Messiah). Just thought I'd bring that up
So if Jesus is Jewish and Christians revere him as a messiah, why aren't the Christians Jewish??
Jesus was Jewish, but preached a very radical extention/reformation of it (at least it was considered extreme at the time). Christians follow (or at least claim to follow) those teachings.
Isn't it some kind of blasphemy or heresy to worship a deity of a religion that's different from the religion you believe in
Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe in the same Abrahamic God. Certain aspects (what texts are holy, the personality of that God, what He's done, His laws, His plans, etc) are disputed.
(e.g. Christian worshipping a Jewish person/Messiah).
Jesus isn't worshipped, but his teachings are considered to be the result of divinity. Now, if someone is trinitarian, they're counting Jesus as an extention/form of God, thus still worshipping God, not a man.
