Relationship with God

[Unbinilium]

God isn't some sort of celestial vending machine where you put in a prayer and out comes a miracle. There are many people who have had tough lifes but it was their faith in the promise of God and heaven that helped pull them through because for Christians, it's not what's here on Earth that matters most. It is important to remember that you must open your heart to God not the other way around and you must say to Him "Thy will be done" not "My will be done".

Here is a poem I very much like.

Contrary to what some may think, it is my study of science (Physics to be precise) in university that has brought me closer to God in a sense and I've come to a point where I simply can't doubt that God exists: I find the universe far too beautiful that it could possibly be random and created by shear chance. And yes, I do infact believe in evolution and the Big Bang which, by the way, originated from Belgian priest named Georges Lemaitre.

 

[TheSkaFish]

I have a hard time believing in a higher power, but I do want to believe something like that exists.

 

[1000lifetimes]

Here is a poem I very much like.

I want to believe your poem ... I really do but deep down the God I know wouldn't bother creating people if he had to carry them through life them half the time.

God loves people the way people love rice - you love rice as a whole...but how much do you love each individual grain? In other words - god loves us all...but as for you? God was never on your side - you sir/ma'am are on your own.

 

[Legato]

I don't believe in any god, and don't have a problem with those that do (unless they're trying to force their religious beliefs onto me).

 

[edgecrusher]

The more we discover about the the universe, the more I think the following quote is true:

"Our universe is bigger than the gods we invented."

 

[Ero]

I don't know if I believe in a higher power, or not. Frankly, there's no way of knowing whatsoever, and I'm not the kinda guy to follow something on "faith" alone. (Faith as in a belief that is not based on evidential proof) But that's just me.

 

[ladyforsaken]

I don't know if I believe in a higher power, or not. Frankly, there's no way of knowing whatsoever, and I'm not the kinda guy to follow something on "faith" alone. (Faith as in a belief that is not based on evidential proof) But that's just me.

Would nature or how it's created, be evidential proof that there could be a higher power to you?

 

[Legato]

I don't know if I believe in a higher power, or not. Frankly, there's no way of knowing whatsoever, and I'm not the kinda guy to follow something on "faith" alone. (Faith as in a belief that is not based on evidential proof) But that's just me.

Would nature or how it's created, be evidential proof that there could be a higher power to you?

I don't think it can be.

As there's no proof to back it up.

 

[DeadSun]

I don't know if I believe in a higher power, or not. Frankly, there's no way of knowing whatsoever, and I'm not the kinda guy to follow something on "faith" alone. (Faith as in a belief that is not based on evidential proof) But that's just me.

Would nature or how it's created, be evidential proof that there could be a higher power to you?

Doesn't that just disprove any type of higher power? The way all religious texts describe the creation of the world, humanity, and life in general are just nonsensical stories which are proven wrong by current science. So doesn't that prove without a doubt that all religions are just fairy tales people cling to out of sheer desperation and/or because they were brainwashed into believing the absurdities from a young age?

Unless you're not arguing for any specific religious belief, in which case you'd only be arguing for something you've imagined on your own, or maybe just the possibility of something more to life after dying rather than just rotting in the ground?

 

[TheRealCallie]

Doesn't that just disprove any type of higher power? The way all religious texts describe the creation of the world, humanity, and life in general are just nonsensical stories which are proven wrong by current science. So doesn't that prove without a doubt that all religions are just fairy tales people cling to out of sheer desperation and/or because they were brainwashed into believing the absurdities from a young age?

Unless you're not arguing for any specific religious belief, in which case you'd only be arguing for something you've imagined on your own, or maybe just the possibility of something more to life after dying rather than just rotting in the ground?

Just because something is nonsensical to you, doesn't mean it is to everyone. I have a hard time believing that we can know the earth is billions and billions of years old. How can one possibly know that when no one was around? Or because the dinosaur bones are in a specific layer of the earth, we know exactly when they lived? I don't so much buy into that. Just because the Earth functions a certain way today, doesn't mean it did a million years ago.

 

[SophiaGrace]

I am a Christian but I don't really understand how to have a relationship with Christ since people seem to react negatively when I try to have one. :/

 

[Legato]

Doesn't that just disprove any type of higher power? The way all religious texts describe the creation of the world, humanity, and life in general are just nonsensical stories which are proven wrong by current science. So doesn't that prove without a doubt that all religions are just fairy tales people cling to out of sheer desperation and/or because they were brainwashed into believing the absurdities from a young age?

Unless you're not arguing for any specific religious belief, in which case you'd only be arguing for something you've imagined on your own, or maybe just the possibility of something more to life after dying rather than just rotting in the ground?

Just because something is nonsensical to you, doesn't mean it is to everyone. I have a hard time believing that we can know the earth is billions and billions of years old. How can one possibly know that when no one was around? Or because the dinosaur bones are in a specific layer of the earth, we know exactly when they lived? I don't so much buy into that. Just because the Earth functions a certain way today, doesn't mean it did a million years ago.

Avoiding proof and admiring fantasy is beyond insanity

 

[TheRealCallie]

Doesn't that just disprove any type of higher power? The way all religious texts describe the creation of the world, humanity, and life in general are just nonsensical stories which are proven wrong by current science. So doesn't that prove without a doubt that all religions are just fairy tales people cling to out of sheer desperation and/or because they were brainwashed into believing the absurdities from a young age?

Unless you're not arguing for any specific religious belief, in which case you'd only be arguing for something you've imagined on your own, or maybe just the possibility of something more to life after dying rather than just rotting in the ground?

Just because something is nonsensical to you, doesn't mean it is to everyone. I have a hard time believing that we can know the earth is billions and billions of years old. How can one possibly know that when no one was around? Or because the dinosaur bones are in a specific layer of the earth, we know exactly when they lived? I don't so much buy into that. Just because the Earth functions a certain way today, doesn't mean it did a million years ago.

Avoiding proof and admiring fantasy is beyond insanity

Blindly trusting what others call proof from a few billion years ago could also be called insanity.
Also, there's a difference between faith and fantasy.

 

[Legato]

Doesn't that just disprove any type of higher power? The way all religious texts describe the creation of the world, humanity, and life in general are just nonsensical stories which are proven wrong by current science. So doesn't that prove without a doubt that all religions are just fairy tales people cling to out of sheer desperation and/or because they were brainwashed into believing the absurdities from a young age?

Unless you're not arguing for any specific religious belief, in which case you'd only be arguing for something you've imagined on your own, or maybe just the possibility of something more to life after dying rather than just rotting in the ground?

Just because something is nonsensical to you, doesn't mean it is to everyone. I have a hard time believing that we can know the earth is billions and billions of years old. How can one possibly know that when no one was around? Or because the dinosaur bones are in a specific layer of the earth, we know exactly when they lived? I don't so much buy into that. Just because the Earth functions a certain way today, doesn't mean it did a million years ago.

Avoiding proof and admiring fantasy is beyond insanity

Blindly trusting what others call proof from a few billion years ago could also be called insanity.
Also, there's a difference between faith and fantasy.

Comical.

You don't believe in dinos, but do believe in god. (despite there being many religions, all with their own god - yet there's only supposed to be one).

If i'm wrong, then shall i credit God with the creation of murderers, rapists etc?

 

[Mr Seal The Albatros]

I used to be Christian-ish. After learning about the more extreme churches, such as Westboro Baptist, I've somewhat soured my perspective towards it. I don't care what religion anyone has as long as the person does not harm others with it. Since then, I've taken a sort of agnostic approach. I believe anything as a possibility, and stopped worrying about which to believe in.

 

[TheRealCallie]

Never said I didn't believe dinosaurs existed, did I? I just said I have a hard time believing the time line and explanations that the scientists give. Read what I say and stop trying to make it something it's not.
As for what I believe, I don't push what I believe on other people and I certainly don't make fun of what others believe or try to tell them they are stupid for believing it. People are free to believe what they want, that's why there is freedom of religion. One of my best friends is an atheist and we have NO trouble getting along at all. Hell, we even have religious discussions sometimes with neither of us getting upset at the other. It's called having respect for others and their beliefs.
Chances are good that if I believe in God, I also believe in the devil, huh?

 

[Legato]

I used to be Christian-ish. After learning about the more extreme churches, such as Westboro Baptist, I've somewhat soured my perspective towards it. I don't care what religion anyone has as long as the person does not harm others with it. Since then, I've taken a sort of agnostic approach. I believe anything as a possibility, and stopped worrying about which to believe in.

One of the main reasons i stopped believing. Did when I was young, but then I when the majority of wars in the world are over peoples gods, or people blowing themselves up and killing innocent people to be with their "god". It makes me sick.

People can believe what they want, I have no problem with it. But to question why others don't when honeysuckle like that goes on in the world is beyond me.

Rant over

 

[Badjedidude]

Just a friendly reminder that this wasn't intended to be a discussion/debate thread.

 

[VanillaCreme]

Just a friendly reminder that this wasn't intended to be a discussion/debate thread.

I am a Christian but I don't really understand how to have a relationship with Christ since people seem to react negatively when I try to have one. :/

Why would any one respond negatively to you having a faith? Why would you care if someone didn't like it? Sounds like an excuse to me, for you not to make the effort you feel you should.

Chances are good that if I believe in God, I also believe in the devil, huh?

You'd kind of have to, no? The devil is an angel.

 

[Badjedidude]

The devil is an angel.

Common modern mythos holds so, sure. But the early church seems to have regarded Lucifer and Satan as two different entities -- the word used for "Satan," is actually something closer to "the opponent/the adversary," and a lot of early scriptures imply that the god of the bible at times used Satan as a heavenly judge before people are to appear before the throne of god, etc. He's essentially depicted as a heavenly prosecutor that is sort of opposed to (but used by) God.

In fact in some of the earlier Hebrew scriptures, there doesn't seem to be a specific person who is "Satan," it's mostly described as a position which is occupied by different people, nations, entities, etc... at different times who are in opposition to the Jews. If you go back to the early scriptures, Satan is a vague sort of general position of being anti-god.

A lot of the characterization of Satan as being a specific person came later (several hundred years after the days of the apostles) as a response in opposition to other contemporary belief systems -- the imagery of Satan as a goat, corresponding to Pan, etc. Largely the connection between "Lucifer" and "Satan" came about from the fourth-to-sixth centuries AD.

And there are still Coptic christian sects today that revere Lucifer as a saint, believing that he was a fallen angel who later redeemed himself.

I know I said this isn't a discussion thread, but... I just wanted to point that out.