I think that a lot of people that are Christians need a lot of answers, so Iâm here to help out with them all the answers you have, and I will help to the best of my ability. I hope I can help. : ) -pc123
because of the free will argument which expresses that we are presented with the choice to reject God.
Lets def. try to avoid that discussion...cuz i don't believe in free will and that will make my life all the more confusing...but anyway...
I would have to say that there are two contexts that this exists in. The first being that in a serious discussion lets say I tell an atheist that i believe they will be sent to hell because they have rejected God that i believe is O.K. I don't see how that would be bad... the second would be a comment out of total anger/frustation when the phrase is used to hate. which would be a sin.
i'm still sooo lost as to what your fishing for...makes me even more interested...
eyetwitch said: Lets def. try to avoid that discussion...cuz i don't believe in free will and that will make my life all the more confusing...but anyway...
If you don't believe in free will, then what do you believe in? what else is there?
Lol!! Apparently the whole reformed theology passed right by you...wow ok. I guess i can't avoid it now. The argument exists between Free Will and Predestination. Free Will being that man was given the ability to chooose from God. Predestination being that God planned every thing from the beggining and your "choice" is all part of the plan. (this is technically what i believe in...i am still formulating what it is exactly that i believe as have only in the last year or so really investigated on my own)
Lets def. try to avoid that discussion...cuz i don't believe in free will and that will make my life all the more confusing...but anyway...
That would place you at serious odds with all of traditional interpretations of Christian theology. The bottom line goes "if there is no free-will, there is no point in there being heaven/hell, the choice to accept God or not."
Hence my suggestion: "The issue with this is that heaven and hell appear to have set connotations, as well as a kind of moral judgement associated with it..."
So you will probably have to face the free-will discussion at some point. I'll try to help out- I believe that it's not necessary that you choose one or the other.
The first being that in a serious discussion lets say I tell an atheist that i believe they will be sent to hell because they have rejected God
The atheist will react in either or both the following ways:
1) Say "I don't believe in hell anyway." 2) Get pissed off.
If somebody told me that I was going to Hell, I would be inclined to accuse them of a Pharisean outlook. The reason I asked is because I want to know whether people consider the ramifications of talking about there being a Hell. Speaking of which...
I'm not really fishing for anything in particular. I'm putting various baits on the end of my hook and tossing that in the water to see what I get. You could say I'm looking for a sample space.
This has turned into Strop answering the questions not the guy who started the post, nonetheless i have a question.How come its Mary Jesus' mother who gets all the glory how about Joseph his dad. I know his dad is meant to be God but at the same time he did help carry her ass all the way to Bethlehem and he did sleep in a stable with her. Why does he not get a mentiona anywhere else he seems like a real nice guy.
In my experience with Bible study (yes, non-Christians can attend Bible study, some groups are cool with this!), Joseph's role as documented in the Gospels is actually well mentioned. Specifically discussing the decision he faced when Mary told him: "I'm pregnant!"
Joseph effectively thought this (hammed up slightly):
1) What!? But we didn't...I know we definitely didn't do anything 'together'. Yet. 2) Is she really pregnant? What if she is? What does that mean? Does that mean she actually did it with somebody else? 3) If word of this gets out, what's going to happen to us both!? Our honor would be ruined! I wouldn't be able to show my face around town ever again! She'd probably get stoned to death! Do I want that? 4) I guess not. So what should I do now?
So it was written that he planned to 'divorce her quietly'. But then this happened:
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" â"which means, "God with us."
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV)
And that's currently the most complete record in a single passage that I can find of Joseph's reaction within the Bible. But what it shows is that not only did he stand by his girl, but he was prepared to do all that was right, even if it meant divorce.
That Joseph doesn't get mentioned all that much I guess is a side-effect of playing fiddle, not so much that he wasn't actually important. Then again, there are other parts in the Bible that will always ask you to consider what the importance of being important is.
I'm going to take a wild guess Strop and say that he's talking about the catholic beliefs of mary. Since they believe her to be so incredibly holy&special (though their beliefs differ from person to person so i will refrain from saying something about what they belief as a group).
Woody, according to the Catholic faith, she is the one that bore the Son of God through immaculate conception. Joseph would be the "step-father". Meaning he had nothing to do with it.
Is the Omish faith a part of christianity? If they arn't do you know what they are? I never really got what they were other than the fact that they dislike technology.
Amish are what you would call radical reformed Christians. They just follow extremely unpopular ways of celebrating and worshiping in Christianity. I know they don't have churches, they do their fellowship in their own homes, etc.
