I fear religion as my savior Jesus was always getting on His on people the jews for there religion. Being a Christian is more being in the family of God through Jesus. I think religion will get people into trouble eternally speaking than any thing. Im a Christian and my bragging is on Jesus and what He has done for me.
I'm a biblical Christian first and foremost. My most important belief and principle is that the Bible is the Word of God, that it says what God wishes to be said, that it reveals His will to us, and that any alteration of it, and any addition to it, or subtraction from it, is error.
That being said, for me to attend any church in our area, must mean that I would have to compromise on the above principle, partaking and participating in things I know are not only unscriptural, but sometimes, downright antiscriptural.
Paul was used of God to found and establish the Church in Corinth. But Paul had gone through terrible persecutions just prior to coming to Corinth, and was fearful the same would happen there. So God encouraged Paul....
"Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city" Acts 18: 9-10.
I'm no Paul, but I am one of those 'much people' in this area.
The question,"What religion are you?" is possibly the most loaded and difficult to answer question of all. And the failure to answer isn't a result of embarrassment, but rather, of the conviction that your answer, depending up the one asking, will most likely be taken entirely out of context, and twisted to mean something other than what you want to say.
Take your religion for instance. For many, the claim to being Lutheran, is a claim to lukewarmness, lack of biblical integrity, and most often characterized by members sleeping in the pews during worship service.
To say you're Protestant is to say your are anti-catholic. To say you're catholic is to admit that you don't, and won't, read your bible...that you pray to dead saints who cannot see, nor hear, nor communicate, and certainly cannot intercede with God for you.
To say you're Pentecostal is to admit a lower social status, and possibly smaller intellect, with an over-emphasis on emotion. To say you're a member of the Church of Christ is to say you believe you must be baptized to be saved, while claiming to be a baptist is to uphold the error of 'once saved, always saved'.
To admit to being a member of the Methodist religion is to admit you'll stand upon and for nothing, and would ordain a homosexual goat to the ministry if it satisfied the public's mind of the moment.
To claim to be a Mormon is to uphold bigamy, even though that has long since been put aside by those misguided folks, who do sing mighty prettily. To make a claim to any religion with mid-eastern or eastern pretensions is to make a claim to terrorist leanings.
In short, not a good question....it shouldn't surprise you to find so few people willing to open themselves up to derision, downputting, and aggravation.
Just my opinion though. But I will maintain my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ regardless of how another views my 'religion'.
I am an American military veteran, who, after doing my duty for 10 years, in defending all the other Americans' First Amendment rights, is exercsing my own. Having said that, here is your answer: I am an ordained Pagan Priest. I was the local point-of-contact for my U.S. Senator, during the time that we military veteran Pagans were in litigation with the V.A., for a religious symbol to be recognized, in 2007.
I fear religion as my savior Jesus was always getting on His on people the jews for there religion. Being a Christian is more being in the family of God through Jesus. I think religion will get people into trouble eternally speaking than any thing. Im a Christian and my bragging is on Jesus and what He has done for me.
I'm catholic, and am proud to be in the fold of God's Church....to me it is not hard to answer for I do not proclaim as the one and only, but rather one of many in the the way the belief of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost....
I am an ordained Pagan Priest, through the Universal Life Church. I stated I am 'Pagan'.
I am NOT a 'Satanist', which we see as 'the other half of the coin of 'christian'. Why? The Abrahamic faiths support the belief of 'ha-satan', "The Accuser", as well as 'the redeeming kinsman'. I am not a follower of the Abrahamic faiths.
We believe in personal responsibility, without a 'Geraldine' saying, 'Da Devil made me Do It!', or 'running to the horns of the altar for redemption'. You made the mess, you clean it up, and take your lumps.
We believe that every action, resembles the one stone thrown into the pond, creating all those nice ripples, and those ripples are the 'effect' of your stone 'cause', whether the effect is good or bad.
I choose not to be 'one of those tree huggers'. I've seen the ripples of others who were. Folks have to work for their families, to have enough to eat, and towns deserve to be left alone to thrive.
I serve the Goddess. This Earth is all we have, HOWEVER, I am NOT an 'Earth First, Human last' person. We eat what the Earth provides. Whether it is rooted, seeded, horned, hooved, in fir, feather or scale, it is there for us to eat. I believe that we need to revere that thought. The Goddess Artemis is known as the Goddess of the Hunt. The Kachina gods are the gods of the fields, that bring us grain and corn. Again, they bring it to us. They want us to have the bounty of the fields, not put it off limits with no use, or refusal to others to use them.
Tomorrow, (May 1), is the traditional celebration of Beltane, the marriage of the God and the Goddess, which will mean a bounty of plenty again, as the fields grow, the fruits and flora seeded, the blossoms become buds, and through the Summer turn to the grain and fruits and vegetables of Fall.
I was baptized a Catholic but chose to be a non believer when I grew up and came to senses. Unlike those who are vocal about not to be tied in any religion, I am not bashing any one of them as I think it would be unfair.
It is just that I think that it would be better to go as I sail and fear nothing but what is to limit you from doing everything. Not really the ideal thing to grow with but still something good to live by, for me at least.
You're right. It doesn't matter if we get along or not...but in life, and in death, it most certainly does matter where we are with God, whether we get along with God or not.
You know why religion is such a miasma of dissent, schism and downright hostility between many of those who claim to know God?
It is because we admit no absolute, no objective truth, no something that cannot be altered, can't be added to, or subtracted from or diminished, something on which everything regarding the sons of men can stand firm, and know of a truth, that it is the truth.
We've done that to some degree with the Constitution of the United States, something the conservatives claim should remain unchanged, absolute, and that cannot be altered. And yet, it is also something the liberals call a 'living document' and can, and should (according to those liberals), be changed at the whim of the people in part or whole (or at least, at the whim of the liberals). And so, even the bedrock of this society, the foundation stone that was set to be the unmoveable corner stone by the founding fathers, has become the highly moveable tool of the rip off artists known as politicians, of those who seek power for the sake of power, who live off the hard work of anyone...themselves excepted of course.
Here's a fact. Whenever you make your absolute, your objective absolute, the wind and ways of pop culture, you're in a heap of trouble.
So the founding fathers might not have been true Christians in every sense of the word, but they at least had the good sense to make the constitution an absolute. Which of course, succeeding generations have corrupted to almost total ineffectiveness.
Well Sir, the same is true of the Bible. It is God's Word, and according to that same Word, is the absolute, the objective, by which we try everything related to scriptural or spiritual matters.
One of the most important, and fundamental of tools used for building a house straight and true, is the plumb-bob, or 'plumbline' as the scripture terms it.
"Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them anymore" Amos 7:7-8.
That plumbline is the Word of God, and even more specifically, the New Testament (What did God say to Peter, James and John, on the mount of transfiguration? He said, "This is my beloved Son. HEAR HIM"...not 'hear' Moses, not 'hear' the prophets, but HEAR HIM.)
And even judgment will be meted out according, not to what we think, nor to what our denomination or church tells us, but by the plumbline...
"Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plumbline". Isa 28:17.
But we, religion that is, attempt to change the plumbline, the absolute objective by adding to it, subtracting from it, altering it in ways that suit us, whether that be pop culture, denominational fiat, papal foolishness...
"What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it" Deut 12:32.
And what are we above all most expert at doing? Adding to the Word, subtracting from or diminishing the Word, making it insofar as possible, ineffective. Unfortunately, all of that work in order to alter the Word, will come to nought at judgment, where we'll be judged, each of us, personally, by the Plumbline of His Word.
But my word man! We are, for the most part, probably 99.99 percent of people, simply too lazy to even read the Bible for ourselves. So that we have no absolute, no objective, no truth, nothing on which to anchor ourselves, our lives, our thoughts or beliefs.
The enemy of all that is good and righteous has no fear of the man, woman, boy or girl, who spends the vast majority of their free time watching television, playing video games, talking on cell phones, ad infinitum.
But that same enemy quavers before the righteous, those who actually arise from the bed or couch, and actually read God's Word, who pray, and help the poor and widows, who are good neighbors, who in the final analysis, believe and call upon name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God forbid, but should the end come tomorrow, should the Word of God be true, this current generation (I call it the "Entertain me NOW!" generation) is hell-bent on a fast moving train toward lots of slow walking and sad talking.
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"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good." -George Washington
heaven isn't filled with religious people, it's filled with Self righteous sheeple .
fixed it for you...
if folks with self righteous attitudes are examples of what it takes to secure a place in "heaven" and these folks think they are somehow more enlightened or better than others because they think their imaginary friend is better someone else's, or that the way they commune with their imaginary friend is the only "right" way... then perhaps this "heaven" isn't a really all its cracked up to be eh?
I live by the golden rule - it's as simple as that... it's all you really need.
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" so simple and yet so difficult for folks to grasp.
what does it mean?
I take it to mean the following:
don't intentionally do harm to other people, don't take their things, Do lend assistance to those in need when one can, Do let those that one doesn't really care for do their own thing if it doesn't really effect you instead of trying to teach them the "error" of their ways, Do Stand up to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
It's a simple way to live, and it works...
and at the end of it all... I expect no reward of life everlasting for my good deeds, or punishment of endless hell fire for so called "sins" I have committed. I do not fear the end of my life and thus I need no comfort that "if I'm good I get to live forever". I need no crutch of religion to know what is right and what is wrong, Logic dictates one must try and always do the right thing... just because it's the right thing to do... not because God says so, but because it just IS the right thing to do.
on another note...
I mean really... must some of you copy and paste page long biblical verse into posts?
it smacks of hubris to me. be humble, read your book, and have your faith if it brings you some comfort. No need to regurgitate 2000 year old rhetoric out of context to the rest of the community to show how righteous you are... In fact I think the Book of Matthew has a thing or two to say about doing things of a religious nature in public just to be seen by others doing them... Perhaps page long posts of biblical verse on public message boards may fit in that particular category?
Going from memory so I may not get it quite right, but Jesus is reported to have said something along the lines of, "Love the Lord God with all your heart, mind and soul, and your neighbor as yourself; this is the sum of the law and the prophets."
As most know, someone just had to ask him, "but who is my neighbor?"
I mention this because I believe a Christian has no problem getting along just fine with anyone making a genuine effort to follow the Golden Rule. Christian or not, we all lose our way from time to time, of course, but the path isn't usually hard to see, to those who want it.
"I mention this because I believe a Christian has no problem getting along just fine with anyone making a genuine effort to follow the Golden Rule. Christian or not, we all lose our way from time to time, of course, but the path isn't usually hard to see, to those who want it."
Peter evidently agrees with you, at least to a point,
"The Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him...." Acts 10:34-35
need to know
A little known fact !
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