Eightball
Senior Member
- Oct 13, 2004
- 1,359
- 253
- 48
There's a big difference between leaving or being in a religion,
and having a relationship with your Creator, which is what being "born again", or "born from above" is as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, the Jewish Pharisee. Jesus said this was of necessity.
That's what distinguishes Christianity from all the other belief systems of the world......In Christianity, it is God that does the changing of man........not based on man's meritorious works.......but by man's repentant, change of heart, resulting in acknowledgement of his total inability or please a just, and holy Creator. Man must acknowledge that he is totally weak in and of himself to live a just and righteous life before his Creator. Yes, it means man must admit that he sins, and his a sinner. He then must, by and act of faith put his trust in Jesus's saving work on the cross.........Jesus's substitutionary work that justified God's righteous wrath and judgement of sinful mankind. Jesus bridged the impossible canyon between man and God. It was His attoning death, burial, ressurrection and ascension that sealed the deal/answer for man's plight. Man's involvement? To believe from the heart....not a little social nod that Jesus was a good man........but a total realization that Jesus was all and all.......the Alpha and Omega.......beginning and end........the answer in total to man's estrangement with his Creator.
We will and can't go to heaven on the coat tails of our parents or our cultures Christian heritage......It's totally a personal faith/relationship between one man/woman and their Creator.....No amount of prayer, or even martyrdom will do it. No carrying a cross all one's life will do it. These are all feeble, useless works.......Change must come from within.......and only God can do that.
As we have all agreed........man is not evolving into a better, nicer, creature.........that's biblical to the core.
In fact, although this book was a fictional novel, "Lord Of The Flies" really and alarmingly depicted man's true state of being, without restraint, law, or some external control. It will inevitably spiral down the negative path of animal-like out-of-control behaviour. Just look at our present culture, as biblical ideals have been gradually banned from all aspects of public display or honoring? Beastiality, homosexuality, pre-marital sex, all sorts of things have become less taboo.......We are being battered with the mantra of "tolerance" to sin.......like the slowly dieing frog in the slowly heating pot of water. It is insidious and sneeking up on us.........we will all find that we all will be bit in the perverbial "arse" but then it will be too late.
Only God can change a man........Most all the religions of the world want to circumvent God's omnipotent hand in this, and present a man centered means of change for the better.
Afterall, who would know best what this creature, "man" needs than the one who knows him best as the very one who created him......The one that knows the thoughts and intents of all, knows the very cellular make-up of life, the Creator of matter, time, and existence itself.
Without God in man's life.......man naturally drifts into a spiral of self delusion........."I am my own man" "I am the determiner of my fate.".......Awe.....it only takes a nice "hit' of helpless fear to shake up that old...."I'm the boss" of my life mantra. Cancer, loss of a signifcant loved-one, loss of job, reputation, etc.....
Then and only then is there hope that man will finally realize that he has been basing his entire signifcance or identity in life on superficial, things that will rust or be eaten away in time.
God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.......He's also called the Rock. This latter reference means something that lasts.........doesn't dissolve with time. Man needs this in his life. It's that vacuous hole in his soul that he constantly feeds with vain things. Even King Solomon said that the things of life that he strove for were all vanity, vanity, vanity...........He finally discovered in his later years.......that his true riches weren't material, but spiritual in nature.........Solomon returned back to venerating, and worshiping God......Like the Prodigal, he came to his senses.
*
You can come to and leave religions..........but not a relationship with God..........Once you've been "born from above" you'll realize that religions are a dime a dozen, but knowing God on an intimate basis, and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that He knows and loves you without a shadow of a doubt.......is not a religion.........
and having a relationship with your Creator, which is what being "born again", or "born from above" is as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, the Jewish Pharisee. Jesus said this was of necessity.
That's what distinguishes Christianity from all the other belief systems of the world......In Christianity, it is God that does the changing of man........not based on man's meritorious works.......but by man's repentant, change of heart, resulting in acknowledgement of his total inability or please a just, and holy Creator. Man must acknowledge that he is totally weak in and of himself to live a just and righteous life before his Creator. Yes, it means man must admit that he sins, and his a sinner. He then must, by and act of faith put his trust in Jesus's saving work on the cross.........Jesus's substitutionary work that justified God's righteous wrath and judgement of sinful mankind. Jesus bridged the impossible canyon between man and God. It was His attoning death, burial, ressurrection and ascension that sealed the deal/answer for man's plight. Man's involvement? To believe from the heart....not a little social nod that Jesus was a good man........but a total realization that Jesus was all and all.......the Alpha and Omega.......beginning and end........the answer in total to man's estrangement with his Creator.
We will and can't go to heaven on the coat tails of our parents or our cultures Christian heritage......It's totally a personal faith/relationship between one man/woman and their Creator.....No amount of prayer, or even martyrdom will do it. No carrying a cross all one's life will do it. These are all feeble, useless works.......Change must come from within.......and only God can do that.
As we have all agreed........man is not evolving into a better, nicer, creature.........that's biblical to the core.
In fact, although this book was a fictional novel, "Lord Of The Flies" really and alarmingly depicted man's true state of being, without restraint, law, or some external control. It will inevitably spiral down the negative path of animal-like out-of-control behaviour. Just look at our present culture, as biblical ideals have been gradually banned from all aspects of public display or honoring? Beastiality, homosexuality, pre-marital sex, all sorts of things have become less taboo.......We are being battered with the mantra of "tolerance" to sin.......like the slowly dieing frog in the slowly heating pot of water. It is insidious and sneeking up on us.........we will all find that we all will be bit in the perverbial "arse" but then it will be too late.
Only God can change a man........Most all the religions of the world want to circumvent God's omnipotent hand in this, and present a man centered means of change for the better.
Afterall, who would know best what this creature, "man" needs than the one who knows him best as the very one who created him......The one that knows the thoughts and intents of all, knows the very cellular make-up of life, the Creator of matter, time, and existence itself.
Without God in man's life.......man naturally drifts into a spiral of self delusion........."I am my own man" "I am the determiner of my fate.".......Awe.....it only takes a nice "hit' of helpless fear to shake up that old...."I'm the boss" of my life mantra. Cancer, loss of a signifcant loved-one, loss of job, reputation, etc.....
Then and only then is there hope that man will finally realize that he has been basing his entire signifcance or identity in life on superficial, things that will rust or be eaten away in time.
God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.......He's also called the Rock. This latter reference means something that lasts.........doesn't dissolve with time. Man needs this in his life. It's that vacuous hole in his soul that he constantly feeds with vain things. Even King Solomon said that the things of life that he strove for were all vanity, vanity, vanity...........He finally discovered in his later years.......that his true riches weren't material, but spiritual in nature.........Solomon returned back to venerating, and worshiping God......Like the Prodigal, he came to his senses.
*
You can come to and leave religions..........but not a relationship with God..........Once you've been "born from above" you'll realize that religions are a dime a dozen, but knowing God on an intimate basis, and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that He knows and loves you without a shadow of a doubt.......is not a religion.........