Agnostics

[alang1216]

What was the form of the message and how did you know it was real and not imagined? (I don't doubt what you wrote, I honestly curious.)

One evening I was in church praying at the beginning of Mass. (I usually went in the morning.)

I have a great imagination, but it works nothing like this. A soundless voice filled my mind with the message, After Church tell the lady who just walked in she should go.

The lady was wearing a hat, and as I said previously, I was taken aback and didn't want to do it. I wasn't imagining anything, but what if something had just gone tragically wrong with my brain? (Didn't feel like it had, but...) Not being Mary who simply accepted her assignment, I elected to emulate Gideon and lay a fleece before the Lord. If the lady took her hat off before communion, I would accept the veracity of what I had been asked to do. (Ladies don't usually remove their hats.)

Sure enough, when it was time for communion the lady got up without removing her hat and was walking toward the end of the pew. Just as she reached the end, she suddenly removed her hat and plopped it on the head of the child in front of her.

After church I gave her the message and her eyes grew huge. "I've been praying over that for over a week!" (She had been wondering if she should or should not go visit her son.)

Great story, I don't doubt it happened but there might be many explanations other than a supernatural one. Doesn't really matter, still a nice story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Meriweather]

Great story, I don't doubt it happened but there might be many explanations other than a supernatural one. Doesn't really matter, still a nice story. Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome. The only other explanation I can think of is an amazing coincidence. I did not know the lady, had never even seen her before because it was the only time I attended Sunday evening Mass at that church.

 

[alang1216]

Great story, I don't doubt it happened but there might be many explanations other than a supernatural one. Doesn't really matter, still a nice story. Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome. The only other explanation I can think of is an amazing coincidence. I did not know the lady, had never even seen her before because it was the only time I attended Sunday evening Mass at that church.

When I was in middle school I went through a whole deck of cards and was able to predict if a card was high or low. I think I only missed the 4 10s. I don't know if it was a message but it freaked me out and I haven't tried it again.

 

[james bond]

When you recognized you're agnostic, did you continue to join community worship, or did you stop going? Why did you choose to either continue to attend church or stop attending church?

Nice thread. I wasn't agnostic, but did stop going to one church. Not all churches and its pastors are the same. It seemed like this church always wanted its members to help it with contributions of money or one's time, but wasn't there for their members when they were in times of need. I can't explain one incident that made me start thinking about it this way, but it was over the course of time and what was said and wasn't said. Maybe the pastor didn't seem very sincere about the things she said.

 

[james bond]

He demands no such thing.

He said "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment" (Matt 22:37-38).

>> Yeah. I have difficulty believing in a God who claims to give me free will, yet demands I only worship him.<<

Have to admit that I never looked at it that way . However, I just don't think what you're saying is true.

 

[BreezeWood]

He demands no such thing.

He said "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment" (Matt 22:37-38).

>> Yeah. I have difficulty believing in a God who claims to give me free will, yet demands I only worship him.<<

Have to admit that I never looked at it that way . However, I just don't think what you're saying is true.

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>> Yeah. I have difficulty believing in a God who claims to give me free will, yet demands I only worship him.<<

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- better yet, you are just not a christian ...

 

[BreezeWood]

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truth is bondage is their idea, the religion of antiquity has nothing to do with worshiping ...

 

[flacaltenn]

He demands no such thing.

He said "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment" (Matt 22:37-38).

>> Yeah. I have difficulty believing in a God who claims to give me free will, yet demands I only worship him.<<

Have to admit that I never looked at it that way . However, I just don't think what you're saying is true.

What is God's competition that He is prohibiting you from? That's the next question.. I know Satan is real trendy out on the West Coast right now.. But Egyptian sun gods are so yesterday.. He's IT..

Or you "roll your own" and tell yourself you're a good person.. Like most atheists do... Secular Humanists worship the mighty wisdom of "men" over deities.. There's a failed marketing program right there..

He doesn't really HAVE competition.. Just a lot of "related" franchises... LOL....

 

[zaangalewa]

I chose to stop when I reached the age of reason.

I chose to stay when I reached the age of reason - what was with 2-3 years as far as I remember.

 

[zaangalewa]

I chose to stop when I reached the age of reason.

Any specific issue for choosing to leave your faith?

Yeah. I have difficulty believing in a God who claims to give me free will, yet demands I only worship him.

"Worship" ... one moment ... what means "worship" ... got it ... You think god likes to be worshiped? Do you worship your father?

 

[zaangalewa]

I chose to stop when I reached the age of reason.

Any specific issue for choosing to leave your faith?

I can wrap my head around the idea of a supreme being, I suppose.

What I can't figure out, though, is how anyone could be so arrogant as to believe that they're "right"

Everyone seems to be so arrogant to believe to be right - otherwise you would not be so arrogant to say this what you say here. ... Or is there something else? ... What about, if the people, which are so arrogant not to be so arrogant like you, are just simple not existing in your culture and your life, because your and your friends arrogance allows them not to exist in your life?

and that they're the ones who've got it figured out...

 

[cnm]

Apart from the faithful. They know they have it right from the off...

My position is not a Christian position. I come from a Less Government position. I am for telling people facts and letting people do as they want.

I suppose that lady believes she's been told facts.

 

[zaangalewa]

I stopped when the preacher said my dad was in hell and suffering for eternity for owning a bar.

Only to make this clear. No one - absolutelly no one - knows what god will decide in case of hell. Perhaps your father will have a lot of fun in heaven. God knows his heart.

Nothing like judging someone for the business they owned. Daddy read the bible every night and was a devout Christian. But I soon realized that those that go to church usually are kind and meek and gentle and helpful only on Sundays. Monday thru Saturday it was more like "up yours. See ya on Sunday".

I also could not get over the fear I had when another preacher insisted I be baptised or I would be stung to death by scorpions..but never die. Just forever pain. I was about 10 years old, give or take.

What an idiot. This men lives not only in a hell on Earth - he is hell on Earth.

Then I discovered native american ways and beliefs and THAT one called to me.

What a luck. I am relieved.

They don't have a particular denomination. They mostly consider all Gods creations...God. As do I.

 

[zaangalewa]

I was agnostic right up until I was 15. An event happened in my life, and I've never looked back
to questioning if there is a God or not. God is good

how does he feel about gays?
unbelievers?
wiccans?
men who shave?
women who have sex outside of marriage?
people who wear clothing made from mixed materials?
plain m+ms v pnut?

Hmm ... my ¿experience, idea, imagination? is to avoid to ask god quesions about others. What about to carry mixed materials and to ask him: "Father, do you love me in this mixed material?" I'm sure he will answer: "Silly child - how do you think I could not love you? I love your more than anything else in the world!"

 

[zaangalewa]

The first one can be a challenge. For example, most of my life I've thought that I'd be fine with whenever God decided my time on earth was up. However, there was about a decade when I was fiercely against this. I wanted to be with my children, my children needed ME. Yes, God still had priority for me as long as I was with my children, which kind of means it was my children who had priority, doesn't it? But other than that, putting God and God's ways first has made life a blessing.

You seem like a nice person. Not much of that around here. The only real issue I have with religion has nothing to do with religion itself. It's about me. I have a medical condition that prevents me from trusting people. It's called Pistanthrophobia, and I've had it all my life. I figure if your going to be religious, you kinda need to be able to trust. I can't.

To be religious means to be rebound in god - not to be rebound in other human beings. You will have situations in your life, where you need to trust in someone else. May god help you in this moments and carry you on his hands.

 

[Hellbilly]

- better yet, you are just not a christian ...

Do you think it matters to God?

 

[JustAGuy1]

None of the Bible pertains to you and me when we consider that we're not Israel.

Ah, but what is Israel's role? It is to be a light to the Gentiles. And as Jesus noted, a light should not be hidden under a bushel basket. We are adopted in to Israel's story and sprout from there.

At any rate, the Bible is not the Gentile's story. It was not written by, to, or about Gentiles (except insofar as we can count the diaspora as Gentile).

Ethnic Israel was nearly always a rebellious and conquered minority, never really growing and prospering, never really honoring God’s directive to be the light for the nations (Is 49:6). Though a few outsiders did join, such as the Queen of Sheba and Queen Helena of Adiabene and others as recorded in Esther 8:17 and recalled in Hebrews 11, Israel alienated herself from her larger communities; by and by, she failed in her directive. And more than that, she allowed the Satan into her temple.

Hence the Messiah, who came only for the house of Israel. He left the work of proselytizing to his disciples. So, yes of course foreigners are free to enter, and that begins to happen as Israel's history comes to a close.

So Paul lied?

 

[JustAGuy1]

and I wondered if it pertained to

I know I discovered that while parts are very pertinent to me and my life--to my astonishment the entire thing was not about me!

None of the Bible pertains to you and me when we consider that we're not Israel. Even if we were descended from one of the tribes, we're still not the temple people before AD 70 when they forfeited their Law. The Bible chronicles ethnic Israel's history, no one else's. It's not our story.

The term Israel does take on a new meaning, however, as the Bible relates ethnic Israel's eschaton, or closure. Israel no longer comes from Abraham or Isaac; it comes from above (Gal 4:26). No one is unclean anymore, as Peter's vision on a rooftop illustrated. So I can't disavow God. In fact, I think He's more real than ever, now that I understand His word.

LOL.

 

[BreezeWood]

- better yet, you are just not a christian ...

Do you think it matters to God?

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Do you think it matters to God?

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from antiquity the objective is triumph, good vs evil for spiritual admission to the Everlasting as a goal set at birth for who cares to try, one or the other in totality they are the judge when accomplished no time or need for worship.

or clean up christianity if they insist they are a religion.

 

[Picaro]

A recommendation to the Peanut Gallery: A short book by F.A. Hayek, and atheist himself, has a very good defense of Christianity and tradition and ther importance, and why they are far more successful than the 'rational constructionists' have been with their 'scientific approach' to social problems; seems they always end up having to rely on mass murders, and like the 'academics' who peddle that fantasy, never admitting they don't know nearly enough to call what they advocate 'rationalism':The Fatal Conceit, and it is one of his best, though I disagree with much of his economic conclusions; 'Social Darwinism' is total crap as an economic theory. Well, unless of course you want criminal extortionists like Biden to win elections, in which case you should be all for it.