LightShadow said:
I'll let you know when I go to Heaven and ask Him.
Yet no one who's gone on has returned yet to let us know. Light Shadow, this comment and some others I've read from you seem a little condescending. If someone were to talk to me in that tone I'd be like, "Yeah whatever bud, see ya." It lacks kindness and humility.
Besides, I don't think we go to heaven when we die. I don't think we go to be with God when we die. I believe death is more like sleep. The Old Testament often refers to death as sleep. That or our spirits go somewhere, those belonging to the Lord going to paradise as Jesus told the repentant man on a cross next to Him that the man would be with Jesus that day in paradise.
But it's more than that. The Bible talks about when Jesus returns, the dead in Christ will rise first, then those who are alive belonging to Him will be caught up with those rising from the dead and together go up to meet Jesus in the air and then go to be with the Father. The picture I see being painted is that nobody who has died is yet with God the Father, they are awaiting the second return of Christ to this world to gather all who belong to the Father to then bring them up at once, the Groom Jesus bringing His Bride home. We being the Bride of Christ.
Just felt like adding that in.
NeuroFizz said:
LightShadow said:
As Kirk Cameron says: The Bible is not just a big dusty book that's filled with rules. It is the uncompromising Word of God.
So, all of the other religions of the world are out of luck? Their holy books are just bathroom reading? Do you feel comfortable drawing that conclusion, with your message being convert to my way, or I'll send down some water?
I can't speak for Kirk, I can't speak for LightShadow, just myself. I feel comfortable with the Bible being the uncompromising Word of God. And that's all I'll say in regards to what you asked.
Dawno said:
In reference to that same post, that's exactly the stuff that will get this thread locked. If you can't stick to the OP's intent and you have to talk about things that are related you must refrain from personalizing or coming across as disrespectful of your fellow writers' beliefs and persons. One more shot like that and this thread is done.
Is it fair to lock a thread because of one person's comments? Why not delete the post?
I understand locking a thread if there is a complete breakdown and an all out brawl between posters.
William Haskins said:
religion, in and of itself, is mean-spirited.
William just took on the world!
I echo Pat, people can be mean-spirited, and they can find any reason to be that way.
William Haskins said:
marriage outside of one's faith was, until very recently, frowned upon
Why do you think it is no longer frowned upon? I don't know of any belief that is happy with someone marrying someone of another faith. Christianity is not that way. I've been taught since I became a Christian that you should not marry someone who isn't a Christian.
William Haskins said:
but the very notion of monotheistic religion, and all its denominational permutations, is predicated on being right and everyone else being wrong.
But aren't you saying that you're right and everyone who believes in these things are wrong? In which case, aren't you then condemning something that you yourself are guilty of?
Jean Marie said:
And if we don't begin to learn toleration on some level at some point in time, than we are doomed.
We're doomed whether or not we learn tolerance. Even scientists will tell you this world will eventually die. Of course we're certainly helping it along, namely since the industrial revolution.
***
An argument I have heard from people, especially atheists, is that Christianity, like all other religions, is man-made and all religion and faiths are is a smorgosboard for people to decide what they want to believe in to make them feel better about their lives or to give them a reason to hate other people, etc...
Of course each religion and faith would make the claim that it's not man-made but that it came from God. So if I tried to argue that Christianity is the only faith that is not man-made, I'd get an earful, or eyeful as the case may be, of that.
I did choose to become a Christian when I was 12 years old. I saw who Jesus was, knew that He was the Living Son of God, and said to Him, "I choose you, Jesus."
Why was I so confident in that choice? Because before I was born, Jesus said to me, "I choose you." And He put people in my life to tell me about Him. My mother, my Sunday School teachers, and ultimately the people leading the came I went to. So that when the time was right there was no question in my mind. I chose Him because He first chose me. I love Him because He first loved me. If he had not first chosen me I would have never turned to Him. I'm blown away that He would want me, someone as low as me. It makes no sense to me as to why He loves me as much as He does and how He never gives up on me.
Perhaps people of all other religions will make similar claims, I don't know. But I know that there is no question in my mind. God has proven His existance to me time and time again so that I could no more question His existance than I could question the existance of the two human beings who brought me into this world - my parents.