Hi everyone, Many of you have seen me around here in P&R defending Christianity. I haven't been in this area in a while, but i wanted to share a change that i have gone through. I was a member of a house church, where we believed the bible to be completely true without question. We believed Gods commandments as they were written. I have studied the bible and found it to be a work of genius. But i have also found that most Christians do not follow it as it is written. The bible says that no man should be called rabbi, father, etc... Yet the catholic priest are all called Father. As a matter of fact Catholics seem to be the ones that are furthest from the biblical church. Yet they were the ones that decided what scriptures were holy and what were not. This brings me to a problem. How can we trust,that one of the most corrupt religious groups ever, would know what was truly inspired. (sorry if i offend, read your bible and you will see how far off Catholicism is to a biblical church) I have lost faith, not in God, but in man, not in Jesus, but in a book. How or why should i trust that this book is true, when the ones that produced it in its current state, follow it the least. My current belief is as follows: God created all living things He played with us a while, then he moved on. I believe he may peek in from time to time, but that he does not control all things all the time. As far as heaven and hell, i dont know. I have one question. If God cares so much, if God is all seeing and all knowing, if God can do anything, why does he not participate physically in our lives? If he loves us, where is he today? How many of you are fathers or mothers? If you could prevent your son from going down a deadly path wouldn't you stop him. Our father who art in heaven does not, he lets his son enter the pathway to death. How is this love? Some will say he has to learn a lesson. Really? So Gods power has limits then. He can create galaxies, people and even instincts but he cant change your mind. I have asked God to talk to me, yet I'm ignored. I have asked God for a sign, yet I'm ignored. If there is a hell, than i do know one thing, I wont be alone. Why should my friend burn and not me To all of those who i have argued with, I apologize. Even as i argued with you i had doubts, just didnt want to admit them. I hope some day God does show him self. But until he does, i will have to settle with the fact that. I JUST DONT KNOW....
If god meddled daily in people's lives, he would be severely devalued and moreover some people would even hate him for it. Hence he lets people guide their own destinies instead of controlling them like puppets. Moreover if he helps one person all the time, who's not to say that he is hurting another person by it. If he helps Mark woo and marry Lisa, who was also loved dearly by John. Won't it be partiality? Won't John be heartbroken? Is it not robbing peter to pay paul? God helps in subtle and gentle ways. He isn't the storm, but the gentle breeze. He isn't the ocean, but the glass of water in such things. Some questions you will have to answer yourself. Some things you will have to discover by yourself. Maybe god's silence has more meaning more than him showing you signs or talking to you. You'll have to think and find out yourself. P.S watch the movie "Bruce Almighty".
If God really wanted people to take him seriously, why not show himself. Its like head games, why must we rely on a blind faith. Ive tried really hard to convince myself that i was a child of God. Search P&R for my username, and you will find nothing but me defending the bible, and the faith. I'm just willing to admit that after all of the faith, and after all of the obedience, after all the defending Ive done, for this God, I'm still here alone, and he could care less. Sure...when i do wrong i feel bad about it, but is this God? or a natural feeling of remorse that everyone feels. Is it God, or a conscience? Everyone has a conscience. If God cares, why does he continue to allow me or others to be torn apart? Would you allow your child to be tortured if you could stop it? You say if he helps one he hurts another, are you saying God is incapable of helping all? Does god have limits to his power? Ive seen Bruce Almighty, and find it to be quite the mockery of true Christianity
have to agree. Why doesn't god respond? Why doesn't your imaginary friend respond? Why in fact, make the universe at all? It was just chance due to fluctuations in quantum gravity.
I think maybe you have to look at it from the perspective of Gods time as opposed to human time. For example the Jews waited endlessly for the Messiah to come, and many gave up hope that he would not come, but the prophecies of the Messiah were fulfilled right on time when Jesus came. Now when we look back at this, it makes perfect sense that Jesus came at the time he did, for it fits in accordance with the Old Testament. However, for the generations preceding Jesus, it would seem the Messiah would never come. It is the same with God. Now it may seem that two thouands of years is a great length of time(since Jesus came), but from the perspective of God it is but a grain of sand. We are living in the times of the Gentiles because the Jewish nation rejected Governance by God. But the kingdom of God that Jesus preached will come, even though it may *seem* to be sometimes delaying
God is whatever you want him/her to be. Religion is an act of faith and nothing more or less. The bible itself was compiled from a larger groups of stories and books. It was decided what to include or not to include by a group of men. Your questioning of God is normal and the more you read and study about it, the more you will doubt. Is there a God or not? Who knows for sure. However, if having faith gets you through life, there is no harm in that. Just do not blindly follow some guy on a pulpit who tells you what to believe. That makes you a sheep of man not a sheep of any God.
God helps me become a better person. I try to do his will, and not ask him to fulfill my personal wishes and desires. We all have hardships in our lives, and with God in my life, it's easier for me to manage them.
I'm reminded of W.C. Fields. An American comedian who passed away in 1946. He was an ardent atheist. It was said that on his death bed, he asked for Bible. When asked why, he quickly shot back with "I'm looking for loopholes!"
Not a Christian myself but I hate to see someone have a dark night of the soul. Here is something from one of those books removed by the council of Nicaea. http://users.misericordia.edu//davies/thomas/Trans.htm 34 Jesus said, "If a blind person leads a bind person, both of them will fall into a hole." I was talking to a Christian friend about my heathen beliefs and he asked me if I believed in sin. I do. I believe it is not something so cut and dry you can list it in a book for all to follow blindly though. I believe in a natural response to those things that are wrong for you. I believe you will know by your conscience what is right and what is not. Of course this means you have to learn to listen to your conscience and come to terms with your own limitations and face the parts of yourself that draw you to things that are wrong for you. Most people have no interest in that sort of thing, but if you believe the doctrine of a divine spark then you are connected to divinity and can find spiritual connection within yourself. It is easy to over complicate spiritual matters. It is easy to hand off your self determinism to concepts like the Will of God and God's Grace. It is easy to think of the world as a place where if you obey, and do right, and if you sacrifice and tithe, then you will be rewarded for your effort and obedience. The problem of course, is that you obey what you have been told by humans. There is no push for you to think for yourself but the opposite. You must have faith. You must suspend all that you know about reality and life and accept that you are inherently flawed, for me that is too much. I believe we are all the Sons and Daughters of a Grand Architect, and that nature and the universe are constantly pointing out the right way to live and exist for our own good. We fight that. We build bigger machines and buildings and distractions every day to remove us from nature. We draw separations between each other both physical and mental even though we are all connected by common needs and a shared environment. Keep looking at Christianity. Find the reasons for the holidays, discover the origins of the names of God and go read a good translation of the Gilgamesh epic. Google how the apostles died and check out historical studies of who actually wrote the books of the New Testament, it is debatable if Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John are the write names for those books. Read and listen to everything and don't believe any of it until you research it yourself. http://users.misericordia.edu//davies/thomas/Trans.htm 3 Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and it is outside you.
If he helped everyone out he wouldn't have enough time to play chess with his good friend michael moore. anyway id say there is no god.
I have noticed that nobody questions or thinks about god when things are going well. When everything goes wrong, they question the existence and merit of god. The fact is no god will solve your problems. You have to solve them yourself. You do 95% and god does 5%. The faithful suffer and the atheists suffer. They suffer not because of or because of the lack of god, but through their own follies.
let put it the other way around. If i said a thousands time " there is a God", will it change your mind? no matter how many times you said, there is no God, will you think people (that believe in God) will accept that? Feel free the believe there is no God, let other free to believe that there is a God.
Believing in god is faith, it makes people stronger and feel better with themself. However some ppl take it too serious and try to brainwash other people.
The reason people question God only in times of bad, is because we can not fathom how a loving God, who has power to do anything he wants, allows it to happen. Someone the other day told me that my conscience was God speaking to me. Everyone has a conscience. Your conscience acts on things you were taught. You are not born knowing right from wrong, you are taught it. When you are born, if you were capable, there is nothing you wouldn't try. For example look at babies. By the time their walking, their hands are everywhere, on grandmas candles, in the trash, on a hot stove. We learn whats wrong. Our conscience is our mind reminding us what we were previously taught. Many people (including myself at one time) claim that their change in life style was proof of Gods work. I was on a bad road for a while. I was doing drugs, drinking more than i should, sleeping with lots of women, then i met my future wife, i slowed down, and started going to church, again... Yes my life began to change...But why? Because i was attending a church that required it. The church i went to held the brethren accountable for their actions. Which is biblical to those that thinks its a bit extreme. I was practicing what i was being taught, i was trusting, and faithful. I was being taught to do only good. While i was being a good Christian, I felt like a prisoner. I felt. Nailed to a moral cross, perhaps this is what its like to imitate Christ. All i can say is this, scripture says Gods commands are not burdensome, I can tell you right now, thats not true.
I really like the way a guy by the name of Mark Driscoll teaches the bible. He has free online videos of some of his sermons at http://www.marshillchurch.org. I would encourage you to just watch the series on Ruth he did about a year ago. I would be curious to know if you agree with him or not. He talks a lot about how God is love, but he is also just. The book of Ruth also is a tiny short story about how God has a proverbial hand in our day to day lives. A lot of the time we just don't realize it. As for the bible itself, even scholars disagree all the time on its authenticity. However, what can't be debated is that the bible has held firm is the test of times. It has been heavily scrutinized and still holds strong. For example, read what the Smithsonian, one of the most respected museums in the world had to say about the bible: "much of the Bible, in particular the historical books of the old testament, are as accurate historical documents as any that we have from antiquity and are in fact more accurate than many of the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, or Greek histories. These Biblical records can be and are used as are other ancient documents in archeological work. For the most part, historical events described took place and the peoples cited really existed."
Unlike what they tell you, you don't have to do and follow everything commanded in the bible to be a good god fearing man. Besides the bible was written ages ago and it needs revision to update it to modern needs and times despite what people may feel. Nothing is so sacred that it can't be changed. You may look at the intention and hidden meaning rather than the words, but not all people can fathom riddles and words whose meaning has been long lost. Tell me honestly that the bible is current and up to date. What if the neighbour's house is up for sale. Shall you desire it? What if the neighbour is a murderer and an evil man and he is torturing his good wife. Is it wrong if you desire her and want her to be free from his evil clutches? What about the ox and the donkey and stuff. Rules have exceptions, plain and simple. Feel free to change what you don't like in your life. It's your life and you are in control. Faith doesn't have to override your logic, necessities, dreams and humanity. P.S The short answer turned into a long rant. Theology is fun