Die Commie Pinkos! ........ [creationism v. evolution]

[refractor]

[James S]

[sandmann]

Now that is the kind of organized religion we need. I think most religions have lost the forest in the trees, so to speak. They're so caught up in whether or not you believe in Jesus or the Ark or Genesis, and not whether you believe. I think it's a vestige of Christianity's human beginnings; they needed some reason for people to convert, so they started the mother of all PR campaigns: join this faith or burn in hell for eternity. That's pretty convincing advertising.

It's too bad. I wish more devout Christians (and for that matter, devout Jews and Muslims) had it figured out like Moose does.

Oh well, I don't think it's anything that will ever change. By nature, humans need to belong to something exclusive -- religion is just another club in which we compete for status. Instead of "I'm richer than you" in the clubhouse, it's "I'm more devout than you" in the church.

[vince_mad]

Hi,
I can't completely agree with that,
you're right when you say that churches should encourage people to live a good life, love every single human being and promote peace and to be honest I think that it is what they're doing (most of them at least).

God's love for every single one of us is infinite so I think that every single believer (at least) should be looking for a way to love God in return. And the way to love Him is trying to do what pleases Him, and for christians (I don't know for others) the way to know what pleases God is to study the Bible and pray.
The answer is quite easy: "Love one another as I have loved you". But what does that mean exactly, what do I have to do in my every day life?

I don't have the right to say that JCL is wrong for believing the Bible is 100% accurate because I think he is honestly trying to love God the best he can.
I don't see it his way but I might be wrong and I trust God only to tell me when I'm wrong in faith matters, others can say that they disagree but not that I'm wrong.

To me churches are important because they provide guidelines and support in our search of God.

Before I converted I used to say that I believed in a sort of divine power, that wasn't very active or interested in our human lives, I believed that there's no point in going to church because you can pray at home (don't get me wrong, you can and should pray at home!) and so on...

The result was that though believing in God (or so I thought) my life was in nothing different than the life of an atheist, I didn't pray even if I could do it everywhere and whenever I wanted. In fact I was living as if God didn't existed (this is my personal experience, I'm not trying to flame anyone).

So I come to the question, how can you say that you believe in God if you act as if he doesn't exist?

I believe that faith is something that changes your life, otherwise your faith is nothing but an intellectual and/or social concept.

Faith is a gift of God and he never refuses it, all we have to do is ask, sincerely and honestly.

Vincent.

[sandmann]

[Caesar]

[sandmann]

[jcl945]

[Brig]

[Cameron]

[vince_mad]

[RICoder]

[James S]

[Caesar]

[Brig]