Religion Questions Take II

[daniel3417]

1. Church of Christ (if anyone has stereotypes of the CoC, please lmk so I can put them to rest)

2. We must accept Jesus Christ as the son of God and live faithfully to his commands.

The Church of Christ folks I know are very nice, but beyond judgemental. I know they say they aren't, but when you determine that a person is going to **** because they have not done specifically what you have done is as judgemental as it gets. That's kind of how they are around here.

Can you elaborate on #2? The reason I'm asking this is because I feel like churches get bogged down in the ceremonial aspect of faith which really means nothing. It's all about what you do in your mind and in your heart. Isn't it possible to accept Jesus and his teachings without ever stepping foot inside a physical, man-made church with man-made laws?

[piranhaenter]

Anything worth having is worth working for. I don't see it so much as him giving me so many chances but restricting my access to heaven until I've gotten to the point where I deserve entry.

if god was just going to give us unlimited chances until we get it right, then he might as well just make us get it right in the first place in which case he has taken away free will. You make it sound like 1 life isn't enough to figure it out. We get to choose. If people don't like 1 of the choices, there is only 1 other.

[Rockman]

If humility is such a virtuous trait, why isn't god humble?

If Christians/Jews/Muslims all believe in the same god, than why does believing in Jesus really matter if our relationship is suppose to be with god?

You said this....

2. We must accept Jesus Christ as the son of God and live faithfully to his commands.

Why are we suppose to listen to Jesus commands when Jesus is the son of god?

If god is all knowing, all powerful, and all good then how can you explain the book of Noah? He isn't able to control people, so he decides to kill everyone on earth.

If in the commandments it says you can not false worship idols... then how come there are always images Jesus on the cross, Mary holding baby Jesus, and portraits of Saints? The commandments were given to Moses and the Jews, the Jews never gave god a face, so why can the Christians do so?

I think this one was touched on but... if god loves us all equally why does he deal some people a crappy hand?

How come some gospels of Jesus were rejected from the New Testament?

If you are suppose to Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself then how can there be so any Holy Wars?

[piranhaenter]

I know this wasn't mean for me but I'd like to give it a shot. I won't answer all though.

1. God is humble, he wouldn't have given us free will if he wasn't
2. I don't think he will agree that we all pray to the same god, that was my challenge to him.
3. Jesus is god, based on Catholic view the holy trinity while stated as three seperate entities are actually all god. They are three aspects of the same being. This I questioned in regards to the Hindus, where I wonder if all their different "gods" are similar to the holy trinity except there are just a lot more.
4. Catholics are the one that are most blamed for worshiping the virgin mary but I've never seen once where she was worshiped as god. While Peyton Manning may be the god of all quarterbacks it doesn't mean you can't appreciate Drew Brees.
5. The crappy hand comment came from me, I don't think it is wrong that some are given a crappy hand, it just didn't make sense that they would be denied access to heaven if it was so bad they were never exposed to god.
6. I think looking back to the holy wars is a bit past the time and is a bad argument against religion. You cannot control how man (especially in the past) interprets what he is supposed to do. You can only try to do the right thing now.

If humility is such a virtuous trait, why isn't god humble?

If Christians/Jews/Muslims all believe in the same god, than why does believing in Jesus really matter if our relationship is suppose to be with god?

You said this....



Why are we suppose to listen to Jesus commands when Jesus is the son of god?

If god is all knowing, all powerful, and all good then how can you explain the book of Noah? He isn't able to control people, so he decides to kill everyone on earth.

If in the commandments it says you can not false worship idols... then how come there are always images Jesus on the cross, Mary holding baby Jesus, and portraits of Saints? The commandments were given to Moses and the Jews, the Jews never gave god a face, so why can the Christians do so?

I think this one was touched on but... if god loves us all equally why does he deal some people a crappy hand?

How come some gospels of Jesus were rejected from the New Testament?

If you are suppose to Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself then how can there be so any Holy Wars?

[gatorboymike]

The only ones who get into heaven are those who have accepted Jesus. The applies to those with no religion and those of other religions.
Now, that does not mean that I, or other christians, hate, dislike, or are happy about the thought of non-christians not going to heaven.

Forgive my superhuman ability to see the worst in people, but it seems to me that if you REALLY believed that somebody was on track to go to a horrible place where they'd be tortured forever when they die, you would be clinging frantically to the feet of every passing stranger you saw, hysterically sobbing and begging them to accept Jesus. That is, of course, if you cared about anyone else. Do you not care or do you not really believe?

That delightful sentiment having been said, here's a serious question for you. For someone like you who's been in the church forever, you probably have no concept of what it's like to be an outsider, and are probably wondering why in the world anyone wouldn't ever want to be part of your church. Well, I'm going to tell you how I see it.

Imagine you're standing in the center of an enormous room, with anywhere between a quarter and a half a million people all staring right at you, and each of them is shouting at you to join their religion. All of them claim to be the sole possessors of absolute truth and absolute morality, and that all the others are deceivers and liars. Almost all of them claim that only they can tell you how to get to their equivalent of heaven, and everyone who doesn't agree with them will go to their equivalent of ****. Some of them even say that you not only have to pick the right religion, you have to pick the right sect of the right religion, and there are about 50,000 different people for each of the different sects of Christianity. Yet when you ask any of these hundreds of thousands of people for any proof that their deity or deities exist, or proof that their religion is true and all the others are false, the only things they can offer you are logical fallacies, mindlessly parroted scripture, insults, accusations, threats, bribes, obvious lies, or maybe a quick shot across the jaw. None of them appear to be any more true or any more good than any of the others. Now, because all these people's beliefs are mutually exclusive, they can't all be right. Either only one of them is right, or they're all wrong. Assuming there is only one right one, I have about a .000002% chance of picking the right one. And no matter which one I pick, I'm still going to 499,999 out of the 500,000 possible Hells. So the question is...why should I pick yours?

Oh, and don't say "Because mine is the one true one!" because that's what they all say.

[ensbergcollector]

hey guys-

i will answer everyone when I have time this afternoon, but I wated to answer one person first. gatorboy- very good question, but I wanted to say, as I have said before, I did not become a christian until I was 17 and did not become serious about it until 21. I have said this before you but seem to want to assume that I am a life long christian who knows no different.

[shortking98]

Forgive my superhuman ability to see the worst in people, but it seems to me that if you REALLY believed that somebody was on track to go to a horrible place where they'd be tortured forever when they die, you would be clinging frantically to the feet of every passing stranger you saw, hysterically sobbing and begging them to accept Jesus. That is, of course, if you cared about anyone else. Do you not care or do you not really believe?

That delightful sentiment having been said, here's a serious question for you. For someone like you who's been in the church forever, you probably have no concept of what it's like to be an outsider, and are probably wondering why in the world anyone wouldn't ever want to be part of your church. Well, I'm going to tell you how I see it.

Imagine you're standing in the center of an enormous room, with anywhere between a quarter and a half a million people all staring right at you, and each of them is shouting at you to join their religion. All of them claim to be the sole possessors of absolute truth and absolute morality, and that all the others are deceivers and liars. Almost all of them claim that only they can tell you how to get to their equivalent of heaven, and everyone who doesn't agree with them will go to their equivalent of ****. Some of them even say that you not only have to pick the right religion, you have to pick the right sect of the right religion, and there are about 50,000 different people for each of the different sects of Christianity. Yet when you ask any of these hundreds of thousands of people for any proof that their deity or deities exist, or proof that their religion is true and all the others are false, the only things they can offer you are logical fallacies, mindlessly parroted scripture, insults, accusations, threats, bribes, obvious lies, or maybe a quick shot across the jaw. None of them appear to be any more true or any more good than any of the others. Now, because all these people's beliefs are mutually exclusive, they can't all be right. Either only one of them is right, or they're all wrong. Assuming there is only one right one, I have about a .000002% chance of picking the right one. And no matter which one I pick, I'm still going to 499,999 out of the 500,000 possible Hells. So the question is...why should I pick yours?

Oh, and don't say "Because mine is the one true one!" because that's what they all say.

If you are serious about finding a religion, you should not choose it based on what other people tell you. You should research it on your own and study the Bible or whatever it is you believe is divinely inspired. Then you can come to a conclusion on what the truth is and choose a religion

[ensbergcollector]

The Church of Christ folks I know are very nice, but beyond judgemental. I know they say they aren't, but when you determine that a person is going to **** because they have not done specifically what you have done is as judgemental as it gets. That's kind of how they are around here.

Can you elaborate on #2? The reason I'm asking this is because I feel like churches get bogged down in the ceremonial aspect of faith which really means nothing. It's all about what you do in your mind and in your heart. Isn't it possible to accept Jesus and his teachings without ever stepping foot inside a physical, man-made church with man-made laws?

yeah, church of christ has a bad reputation (that was earned) of being very judgmental and assuming they are the only ones getting into heaven. there are still those that believe that way, but for the record, I do not!

as for #2. the bible does tell us not to stop "meeting together" so I don't think you can go through life without any other christian fellowship. Christianity is supposed to be about relationships with God and with others.

[ensbergcollector]

Anything worth having is worth working for. I don't see it so much as him giving me so many chances but restricting my access to heaven until I've gotten to the point where I deserve entry.

i think this is one of the hardest things for people to grasp. we will never be deserving of it. It is when we accept that, and accept that only through Jesus can we get in, that things begin to make sense.

[ensbergcollector]

If humility is such a virtuous trait, why isn't god humble?

If Christians/Jews/Muslims all believe in the same god, than why does believing in Jesus really matter if our relationship is suppose to be with god?

You said this....



Why are we suppose to listen to Jesus commands when Jesus is the son of god?

If god is all knowing, all powerful, and all good then how can you explain the book of Noah? He isn't able to control people, so he decides to kill everyone on earth.

If in the commandments it says you can not false worship idols... then how come there are always images Jesus on the cross, Mary holding baby Jesus, and portraits of Saints? The commandments were given to Moses and the Jews, the Jews never gave god a face, so why can the Christians do so?

I think this one was touched on but... if god loves us all equally why does he deal some people a crappy hand?

How come some gospels of Jesus were rejected from the New Testament?

If you are suppose to Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself then how can there be so any Holy Wars?

1. depends on your definition of Humble. if using the definition that others are better than ourselves, then no, God isn't humble because there isnt anyone above him. If using "curteously respectful" then yes he is. gave us free will and sent his son, thus placing our needs over his own.

2. because we do not worship the same god. Jesus said "no one comes to the father except through me." therefore, he is either right or wrong. if he is right, then all religions aren't the same.

3. jesus taught and did what the father told him to. so, by following his teachings, we are following God.

4. it wasn't about control. if it was, he would have done it again every 20 years or so. If you read the genesis account, everyone in the entire world had turned to evil with the exception of Noah and his family.

5. As was already said, that is a Catholic practice which I agree with you is against the desires of God.

6. some get a crappy hand because we have free will. I know some people view this as an excuse, but the truth is, we either have no control or full control. once you allow humans full control, sin happens.

7. the gospels that were selected were those that could accurately be attributed to reliable sources. There were many claiming to be written by disciples and others close to Jesus that were not, thus they were rejected.

8. Wars in the name of God or religion are about man, and not God.