Why believe in Christianity???

[A window to the soul]

Then do you relate to how your thoughts may make others feel?

I don't recall sharing my thoughts with you.

 

[Lark]

That's not correct for me. And my Christian belief system comes from the Bible.

EDIT: I don't think Calvinists or Mormons or any other man made variation of Christianity is going to hell, even though they think I am.

By what do you mean man made? Solo scripture is heretical but it doesnt even really make logical sense, at least not to me.

The bible came out of tradition which preceeded it and there has been a tradition since, it makes much more sense to ground a faith in tradition than a book which is its byproduct. Jesus was a believer in the oral tradition and tradition itself, otherwise he would have spent his time on earth writing a book instead.

I dont believe you're going to hell, in fact its impossible to know that and it does something to the heart or mind of anyone who wishes that sort of thing or believes it. If hell exists as anything other than a harrowing process in which the last vestiges of this life and ungodliness are dispensed with then it is a condition endorsed by those in it, the keys to hell being on the inside, it was created afterall by the turning away from and betrayal of God. Which in itself is telling, God could have annihilated all opposition and fated them to oblivion, instead he gave them a kingdom to live in forever. Not exactly victors justice as practiced by humankind.

 

[UniqueMixture]

I don't recall sharing my thoughts with you.

I assumed when you answered "Yes." To my previous set of questions that you were answeing for both questions. Sorry if I misinterpreted you.

 

[Lark]

Then do you relate to how your thoughts may make others feel?



What if each person reflects a face of god? What if god is not perfect?

It would depend on what you mean as perfect, do you think humans are good guides or have an idea of what perfection is that is objective? After all we're not innately or ordinarily in full possession of the facts, not even following research and careful consideration usually.

I do think that we are all made in God's image, I also believe that it is important to remember that God in the earliest Hebrew texts is often defined in a negative or other sense, it is taboo to describe positive attributes of God and instead God is refered to as what he is not, he is not Baal, he is not the Golden Calf, he is not any graven image or idol carved by man.

 

[Lark]

Aye, and I wondered if they do that out of fear of losing their beliefs if they would question it. Like they are brainwashed into believing theyre is no choice but never made the choice to believe themselves. They will keep on shunning anyone from any other belief in order to reaffirm their own to themselves.

I've thought that too sometimes, on the other hand I've met people who are definitely on an ego trip and buzzed that they are favoured and other damned.

 

[Thalassa]

Because you believe it is right and good to evangelize the entire earth to stop believing in any "wrong" or "inferior" heathen pagan religion that suggests there are goddesses as well as gods, or that the force of the universe is a balance between feminine and masculine energy. Because you want to stop all social programs that don't punish women for being unmarried and not subject to a man.

Because your parents said so.

 

[UniqueMixture]

It would depend on what you mean as perfect, do you think humans are good guides or have an idea of what perfection is that is objective? After all we're not innately or ordinarily in full possession of the facts, not even following research and careful consideration usually.

I do think that we are all made in God's image, I also believe that it is important to remember that God in the earliest Hebrew texts is often defined in a negative or other sense, it is taboo to describe positive attributes of God and instead God is refered to as what he is not, he is not Baal, he is not the Golden Calf, he is not any graven image or idol carved by man.

Perhaps god is loving, but not omniscient or omnipotent. Perhaps god is "learning alongside with us" if you will.

 

[Thalassa]

On a serious note Id like to say that though I am not one, I do believe Catholics are the only real Christians because they adore Mary as mother of God, bringing a balance of masculine and feminine, and they tend to believe in the actual teachings of Jesus ... You know, like take care of the poor and the sick and the dying.

And despite their shady past due to culture, you don't see many Catholics setting fire to gay people, either.

 

[Sniffles]

*On second thought*

 

[The Great One]

I understand. This happens among Christians too. I was cornered by a couple of Calvinists at a meetup group last week. It turned sour when they scoffed and called me Arminian. I had no idea what a Calvinist or an Arminian was. When they told me, I realized they were scoffing at me because they thought I was going to hell. Terrible. I don't do that.

These are the kind of Christians that make the real believers look bad.

 

[swordpath]

These are the kind of Christians that make the real believers look bad.

Yeah, fuck those people.

 

[The Great One]

Yeah, fuck those people.

I think that people have this dirty image of Christians as like these people that knock on doors, and yell out, "repent or you will burn in hell!" I am certainly not one of these people.

 

[swordpath]

I think that people have this dirty image of Christians as like these people that knock on doors, and yell out, "repent or you will burn in hell!" I am certainly not one of these people.

Those people are the easy ones to remember, and the one's that don't get into people's crap you won't hear about... so it's no surprise really. My whole family are devout Christian, but they're not the retarded kind.

 

[The Great One]

Those people are the easy ones to remember, and the one's that don't get into people's crap you won't hear about... so it's no surprise really. My whole family are devout Christian, but they're not the retarded kind.

Sadly my ISFJ father seems to be one of those "fire and brimstone" types of Christians.

 

[swordpath]

ISFJ - "fire and brimstone" types of Christians.

That's not too surprising either

 

[The Great One]

That's not too surprising either

Why is it not too surprising?

 

[swordpath]

Why is it not too surprising?

SJ :/

(I'm an SJ so I can say that)

 

[Mole]

The Suspension of Disbelief

It's not a question of belief, it is a question of the suspension of disbelief.

This is why religions love children. It is because children are highly imaginative and love to have their disbelief suspended, from the Tooth Fairy to Santa Clause.

So almost all children in the world, with the exception of a small number in the West, learn their religion at their mother's knee. Even the Jesuits say, "Give me a child to the age of seven, and I will give you the man".

And our disbelief is suspended when our cognitive faculities are suspended. That is why believers are often arational, while atheists are invariably hyper rational.

Religion, art, music and falling in love, all require the suspension of disbelief.

And of all the animals, we are the only one that can suspend our disbelief.

 

[Thalassa]

Go Victor!

Also, how did this forum end up with so many promiscuous Christians?

 

[Thalassa]

Go Victor!

Also, how did this forum end up with so many promiscuous Christians?