19 Feb 09
Originally posted by dystoniacI am not a rabid god-hating atheist. I have never burned a Bible - in fact, I still own two of them. I am a former Christian who struggled with his faith until I realized it had completely evaporated.
Well, thank you for the advise...really. I used to be where you are at it seems. I cannot count the number of Bibles I've shredded and torched; cannot remember the number times that I've screamed at God and how much I hated Him. I used to attend church and scoff at religion. Over time, I could not resist the stirrings in my soul for something meaningfu ...[text shortened]... I don't believe everything anybody tells me. I let God talk to my spirit, and I listen.
Some people might find it depressing to give up their beliefs in God, Heaven, eternal life, etc. - I found it liberating. I believe those things are all illusions, and thus I can find no meaning in them. Instead, there is peace in simply accepting things for what they really are.
19 Feb 09
Originally posted by FMFis it there?
I have no idea what heaven is actually going to be like. I am aware of the Muslim literature and I am aware of Christian literature. No one knows what it's going to be like. But we can agree that it is there, no? So my question is: will I still be able to get to the heaven I was heading for when I was a Catholic if I convert to Islam and continue to serve God as decreed?
you cite literature as evidence.
you mean there are travel brochures?
you got photos?
harps, wings vs. what?
19 Feb 09
Originally posted by dystoniacare we having fun yet?
It will be an eternal death, rife with damnnation, wailing and gnashing of teeth, sorrow, darkness, separation from God for eternity, hellfire, one will see much suffering...read the Bible for a clearer description. My description is general. Remember, this is not my saying...it is from God, the creator of you and me.
God wrote all this down, did he?
How's his penmanship?
19 Feb 09
Originally posted by SwissGambituh oh,
I am not a rabid god-hating atheist. I have never burned a Bible - in fact, I still own two of them. I am a former Christian who struggled with his faith until I realized it had completely evaporated.
Some people might find it depressing to give up their beliefs in God, Heaven, eternal life, etc. - I found it liberating. I believe those things are all ...[text shortened]... no meaning in them. Instead, there is peace in simply accepting things for what they really are.
I'm in much the same place except I seem to have taken a different train to get there.
do we have to form a congregation or something?
19 Feb 09
Originally posted by FMFWhy wait until the end? Go for it, marry her, for life with her will be, in all probability the closest to anything that might count as a meaning for the word "heaven."
Hypothetical scenario.
If I ... could marry the love of my life, a Muslim woman ... would I still have a good chance of going to heaven?
BTW, if you find out there is either a train stop, airport, or other travel destination to an actual place to which that word refers, be sure to send us a post card with the return address, won't you?
At the end of life is death. And as the Bard says, "in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause."
While we may study, develop faith, rationalize all we like, the Bard knew that death was and is "the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns."
So why worry about that of which no human has had or can have knowledge? Why fuss over which set of human-made explanations, predictions, speculations, dogmas, literatures, etc. that purport to tell you what cannot be known other than by one who has made the journey?
Interesting that no such traveler has chosen so far in all of human history to show us their travel photos or share with us stories about their afterlife adventures. Interesting because it seems so out of character for people who were close to me and have passed on not to want to set up the old slide and movie projectors. Even if it turned out, once again, to be just pictures of streets and buildings, or hundreds of miles of film from the transport that took them where they had to go showing only the window sill or the lens cap ... still that might tell me something.
So
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken."
20 Feb 09
Originally posted by black beetleOf course not. There is also the Old Testament, but the New Testament is more relevent to Christians today because it reveals the source of eternal life in the form of Jesus Christ.
And this New Testament of yours is the sole source of the so called "word of God"?
20 Feb 09
Originally posted by black beetleNot necessarily. In the same sense, I am not very familiar with other 'Christian' sects, except Catholocism, which I was raised in until my eyes were oponed when I was 20 years old. I reckon that I would have to say that if other Christian sects are preaching the truth, as long as it is according to the Word of God and reveals the way to salvation through Jesus Christ in New Testament, then they are true.
In addition, do you believe that the hermeneutics of the New Testament are the same for all the top religious personages of the different Christian denominations, who each one of them declares -as it happens with the "eyes only" yours- that solely his denomination is the one that is in accordance with the "real" "Churche of Christ" whilst every other is false?
20 Feb 09
Originally posted by SwissGambitWell, then, I'm happy for you at the present. I know what struggling with faith is like, so I can empathize. I can also see how it can be liberating for you. I only wish you peace, and hopefully one day you will give Jesus another chance because he is always knocking at your heart; you just have to willing to open up.
I am not a rabid god-hating atheist. I have never burned a Bible - in fact, I still own two of them. I am a former Christian who struggled with his faith until I realized it had completely evaporated.
Some people might find it depressing to give up their beliefs in God, Heaven, eternal life, etc. - I found it liberating. I believe those things are all ...[text shortened]... no meaning in them. Instead, there is peace in simply accepting things for what they really are.
20 Feb 09
Originally posted by black beetleI know because God has shown me that my worship of Him is acceptable in His eyes. One must pray that they are in the right church, and God will do the rest. God does speak to the heart, therefore, I have no need to learn about other religious institutions/sects. I would be wasting my time.
If you cannot be more specific regarding this trivial matter, which is a tool of understanding and distinguishing every given religious doctrine related to the Christian religion, how do you know that the specific religious beliefs of yours are in accordance with the so called message of Jesus?
20 Feb 09
Originally posted by SwissGambitHell doesn't have to be a threat if one believes in Jesus Christ.
You were eager enough to argue until you realized you had no answer to the arguments presented.
Funny how the same guy who insisted "[hell] is not a threat!" is now telling us all that we've been warned.
How can you hope to spread any truth from other sources if you cannot even speak without contradicting yourself?
20 Feb 09
Originally posted by FMFYeah, you're right, and that's why I haven't done it again since. Just like a true leftist, you misinterpret truth for hate speech. I bet if I told you that I don't agree with same-sex marriage you would accuse me of being a homophobe, which would be the farthest thing from the truth as I have gay friends. You should apologize to me for calling me a liar. Are you man enough?
Don't be daft. We had this out before. And you admitted it and apologized.