"And no religion, too"

[koshergrl]

To you.

Not to me.

One of us will be right. I know which theory leads to greatness, and it isn't the theory that men are just paltry, dull animals.

 

[uscitizen]

To you.

Not to me.

One of us will be right. I know which theory leads to greatness, and it isn't the theory that men are just paltry, dull animals.

Most of us seem to fall very short of greatness.
Self included.

 

[koshergrl]

Try God and at least you'll get a crown in the afterlife.

 

[koshergrl]

Seriously, being saved gives you a reason to want to soar, and gives you an unattainable perfection to model yourself on.

It's always best to set the bar high.

 

[uscitizen]

I have observed many "saved" people in my lifetime.
Some are real Christians, but most are just religious.

And I still believe that dead is dead, there is no after life and no proof that there is.
Same as there is no proof that we evolved from a spontaneous single cell somewhere.

 

[koshergrl]

Just because there's no proof doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Proof often lags far behind.

And you aren't able to determine if someone is saved or not, which is what I presume you mean by "some" were Christian. We are all imperfect, and some of our imperfections make us very un-Christlike. But salvation exists in the heart, and can take a long time to make it to the surface.

 

[uscitizen]

Preachers are supposed to be saved and called by God. Right?

 

[koshergrl]

Well one hopes.

But we never can know the hearts of men, can we?

 

[Foxfyre]

I know that I didn't invent God because I have experienced God. I do believe humankind invents a lot of the dogma, rites, rituals, liturgy, trappings, pomp, and ceremony that goes into the practice of religion, but I don't think the God I know minds. It is our best efforts to please Him and sometimes we can't figure out any better way that feels right to us.

I think in the end, when we step into the next life, he is going to be pretty unimpressed with our theology, but he will appreciate how hard we try to please Him and live our lives in a way that respects Him.

I thnk He hates how we sometimes use the trappings of religion to criticize and accuse each other. But it is a very big world and He is a very big God able to handle all our idiosyncracies.

And as for all our friends who are so fanatical and/or passionate in their zeal to prove that He doesn't exist? I think that is pretty good proof that something is there or they wouldn't try so hard.

 

[koshergrl]

Amen.

 

[Avatar4321]

Amazing the mental gymnastics "elites" want to go through to pretend that God isn't there and that religion is all false. And yet they fail to do the one thing they need to do to really find out about God: Talk with Him.

They assume that He isn't there. That He can't speak. That anyone who says He can is insane. And yet they don't bother to really try. God is waiting with open arms for every soul to turn to Him and be healed. Our pains are His Pains. Our suffering His. They are imprinted in his hands and feet. We were purchased with His blood.

All we have to do is let go of the pride, let go of the fear, and let go of our pain. Yet, so many people will not. They would rather let their pride blind them, their fear hold them back, their pain embitter them.

This is simply human nature. A consequence of the Fall. The Natural man is and always will be an enemy to God until we put off the natural man and Yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit to become a Saint.

It's funny, everytime I think I know something the Lord shows me how little I truly know about something. Im going to have to ponder alot of this.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

The religious are entitled to believe whatever they wish, and this is not an issue for the most part.

Unfortunately there are a significant number of religious individuals who feel compelled to foist their faith on others in some pathetic need for religious justification – where non-believers can’t be ‘tolerated.’

This type of religious extremism will often manifest itself in efforts to inject religious dogma into secular laws – effecting both the faithful and those free from faith.

Such violations of the Establishment Clause will be fought in the courts; it’s incumbent upon the religious to obey the Constitution and refrain from attempts to codify religious dogma if conflict is to be avoided.

 

[Avatar4321]

The religious are entitled to believe whatever they wish, and this is not an issue for the most part.

Unfortunately there are a significant number of religious individuals who feel compelled to foist their faith on others in some pathetic need for religious justification – where non-believers can’t be ‘tolerated.’

This type of religious extremism will often manifest itself in efforts to inject religious dogma into secular laws – effecting both the faithful and those free from faith.

Such violations of the Establishment Clause will be fought in the courts; it’s incumbent upon the religious to obey the Constitution and refrain from attempts to codify religious dogma if conflict is to be avoided.

Actually, it very much is an issue. If it wasn't an issue it wouldn't have been codified in the Constitution.

Faith isn't the oppressor, government is.

 

[Unkotare]

Well, this liberal believes in God. And no article or scientist or anyone will ever make me lose my faith.

I believe in God.

I don't believe in religion. .

That makes you a half-wit.

 

[Intense]

Preachers are supposed to be saved and called by God. Right?

The fact that there is a supposition here should be answer enough. No?

 

[Avatar4321]

Preachers are supposed to be saved and called by God. Right?

Depends on the faith.

Thought in my experience most people who believe the Bible have no clue what it means to be called of God as Aaron was, mostly because they haven't studied how Aaron was called.

 

[Dr.Drock]

Amazing the mental gymnastics "elites" want to go through to pretend that God isn't there and that religion is all false. And yet they fail to do the one thing they need to do to really find out about God: Talk with Him.

They assume that He isn't there. That He can't speak. That anyone who says He can is insane. And yet they don't bother to really try. God is waiting with open arms for every soul to turn to Him and be healed. Our pains are His Pains. Our suffering His. They are imprinted in his hands and feet. We were purchased with His blood.

All we have to do is let go of the pride, let go of the fear, and let go of our pain. Yet, so many people will not. They would rather let their pride blind them, their fear hold them back, their pain embitter them.

This is simply human nature. A consequence of the Fall. The Natural man is and always will be an enemy to God until we put off the natural man and Yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit to become a Saint.

It's funny, everytime I think I know something the Lord shows me how little I truly know about something. Im going to have to ponder alot of this.

I can assure you pride/fear/pain have nothing to do with me not believing in your god or any of the many other gods man has believed in during our existence.


I don't believe in one because I'm a man of fact, not a man of faith. When a god is backed by facts rather than backed by faith, I'll believe in a god.

 

[koshergrl]

Unfortunately, it will be too late then. God will not make it obvious to any the un-saved until the end of the world.

PS, I'm a woman of fact. And I still have faith, because I recognize the difference between things not existing UNTIL they're proven, and the necessity of looking at the whole picture and making a determination BEFORE proof is discovered.

My whole family is like that. It's why we had a very high infant survival rate in my family several generations back....we hadn't seen the evidence for germs, but we knew there was a connection between clean diapers, clean hands, and clean food, and behaved accordingly. Even though there wasn't official *proof* or scientific data that supported it.

 

[Dr.Drock]

Unfortunately, it will be too late then. God will not make it obvious to any the un-saved until the end of the world.

PS, I'm a woman of fact. And I still have faith, because I recognize the difference between things not existing UNTIL they're proven, and the necessity of looking at the whole picture and making a determination BEFORE proof is discovered.

My whole family is like that. It's why we had a very high infant survival rate in my family several generations back....we hadn't seen the evidence for germs, but we knew there was a connection between clean diapers, clean hands, and clean food, and behaved accordingly. Even though there wasn't official *proof* or scientific data that supported it.

For the sake of discussion I'll assume a god exists, and assume the one that does is the particular one you've chosen to worship.

If your god's first concern with humans isn't their morals, he's not a god I'm overly concerned about spending eternity with.

 

[Unkotare]

I'm a man of fact, not a man of faith.

Then you are half a man.