The Christian Thread

hahhahah....  that must have been quite a moment for him as well .. my father merely took pride in me when I first fired an M-16  and was able to chew Red Man without puking...

congrats Ben 

someone_else wrote: I tend to be a soloist, to turn my back to organized religion, but despite this I go to church about 48 or 49 sundays in a year. Te call to be used as "living stones to build a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:5) urges me to be an active member of a christian community.

I find church attendance (or at least regular fellowship with other believers) highly important because of this:

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." (Hebrews10:23-25)

It is good for Christians to gather together in order to "provoke one another" to good works, and, when necessary (and always with love and gentleness!), help out when another Christian is struggling with sin or some other situation.

I don't know where I'd be without the support and prayers of other Christians.

Equality 7-2521 wrote: I've been Catholic my entire life however I'm in a severe questioning phase right now. My faith in God hasn't changed, but currently I hold a negative opinion of him. Which perhaps is worse than atheism in His eyes. Nice to have a thread like this though. Will definitely be stopping in here.

I went through that myself which led to a break with the Catholic Church ... organized Religion and then God.  As I got older I discovered God in my life again...but have never...will never believe in the notion of Organized Religion.  My faith is my own.. don't need to share it.. nor be told what God wants of me..  if I stray... he'll sure enough tell me in his own way.  I have no doubts as to that hahha. 

I've been Catholic my entire life however I'm in a severe questioning phase right now. My faith in God hasn't changed, but currently I hold a negative opinion of him. Which perhaps is worse than atheism in His eyes.

Nice to have a thread like this though. Will definitely be stopping in here.

Slartibartfast wrote: I don't like sports but I don't feel excluded or divided by the sports threads.

Neat idea, Robert. I'll kick my legs back for now and see what happens.

The T wrote: Oh well... I guess you have the right to create this.... Enjoy. You won't have no debate from me.   I guess this is safer... We'll have to create a proper atheist thread to discuss our views without christian (or religious) people dropping in.....   Yes... it's safer to divide ourselves.   Good luck.

Rob expressed quite clearly what purpose this thread has, there was no word "debate" until the last line, which falls under restrictions.

I promise no comics unless I come across a really good, tasteful, and appropriate one. 

Epignosis wrote: First, faith is not "belief without proof;" the Greek word translated "faith" is pistis, and does not allow for such a definition. The Greek word for grace is charis.  People during biblical times understood faith in God in terms of patronage:

Kudos for acknowledging that the bible was written in Greek (new testament) and of course don't forget Hebrew for the old.  Some things did/do get lost in translation.  For the record, I studied the bible as a teen (prophecy fascinated me the most) , I am not a member of any organized religion, but I firmly believe in doing to others as I would have others do to me.  I do tend to lose respect for those who don't respect my beliefs or lack of. 

Having said that, best of luck with the thread.  I may chime in from time to time with some gems from my studies.


Edited by Slartibartfast - March 17 2009 at 12:28