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TheCleric

Its a risk im willing to take

Cleric

 

Roy

I think satanists are the ones who worship the "god" that punishes and uses fear to control people. To them truth is whatever they believe it is. They don't know truth even if it's sitting on their face because they believe lies are truth. So to them truth is a lie.
Here are three phrases I came up with 25 years ago. I still believe they are true:
Those who fear evil become it.
Hell is torment and the walls of hell are fear.
You are what you feel.

MisterT

I've been in a lot of discussions with christians about their beliefs, why they believe them, etc. Basically just about every time it comes down to "I believe just in case." Maybe it doesn't come out in those words, but it comes out. Which begs the question, how many "true" christians are out there? If you don't truly have faith, then you dont truly believe. People try to trick themselves into believing because it is socially pushed upon them their whole lives that that's what good moral people do. People have warped the christian beliefs so much to fit the times and their lives all out of a need to feel like they have the answer. Accept your infitesimal role in this universe and take like as you see it, not how you are told to.

anti147

"Remember this; God is not a punisher."

Well, the christian god IS! he is malevolent, egotistical and just downright mean. he cast lucifer out of heaven because he loved god too much. lucifer is tourtured in hell because he can't be with god. hell is god's creation. we are god's children loved SO MUCH by him, each of us. yet a perfect god deems it nessicary to puish some of us by sending us there if we don't confess our sins? wouldn't a perfect god feel empathy? or is the connection severed eternaly?

sticky

MisterT.... what you described reflects the Christian norm nowadays(IMO). I've known and grown up with people that fit this description.

What strikes me as odd about the recent Christians I have met is that none of them fit the Christian norm character. Every single one of them strikes me as intelligent, understanding, and even.... open minded (in all other areas besides religion). I could easily be making false assumptions, but something tells me they (this particular group) are different.

They all have non-Christian friends who "sin" on a regular basis, or who refuse to even listen to anything the bible has to say. They have respect for everyone else around them, regardless of their religous beliefs or lifestyle..... they also acknowledge the fact that you don't have to be Christian to have good morals. One of the bible study leaders also mentioned that one of the best gifts from God was the gift of free will.

It surpised me when one of the members (a sweet, caring, FUNNY girl) took off an outer piece of clothing and exposed two beautifully constructed tatoos(they weren't tatoos of Jesus either!).

I'm toooo stoned to finish this post... finish later

 

BrianClt

I don't believe that Christians are intrinsically 'bad' or 'wrong.' there are obviously some who, because of ego, try to foist their idea of 'the path' onto those who either have no interest or no use for their approach.

100 years ago I think the process of becoming and maintaining one's Christianity was much easier. with limited information it was much easier to accept doctrine without question. these days, as more and more people compare and discuss their personal life experience, it has become increasingly difficult to apply the 'one size must fit all' idea to any religion. we are all unique, we are all ordinary, we are all divine.

even the most vitriolic of christians these days honestly believe they have the world's best interest at heart. they believe the quickest way to nirvana is to get everyone believing in the same direction and everyone working toward that same end. like communism, it looks good on paper. yes it would easier, but apart from being completely implausible (like herding cats, for example), it also, by its very approach, must sacrifice the diversity and uniqueness that encourages growth and evolution.

but letting go of something like one's religious belief system is difficult. if, like for so many, one's belief system is based on phrases like "because the bible says so," or "that's where faith comes in" one's spriitual path is really nothing more than a house of cards. tampering with any of the dogma can cause the entire structure to collapse. of course, it is in the rebuilding that one can find his or her own spriritual path as opposed to the 'paint-by-numbers,' dogmatic approach favored by most organized religion. but the majority of people i've encountered don't want a spiritual path they must carve for themselves, but rather prefer the pre-boxed, pre-fab, one-size-fits all idea they can drive through their local church, mosque or synogogue to get.

its the sedentiary, atrophied members of any religion (or herd or orchard or patch) that seem to cause the most problems...whether christian or wiccan, muslim or Vedic. the staunch inflexibility of having the only answers that matter is what is choking out their own organizations and poluting the organzations of others.

mobudda

My parents were the same way when I was growing up and I feel that I am to this day as you described yourself. I am a nice guy and just trying to live a good life. As Michael Savage once said, and I paraphrase, " If the religous guy does a good deed out of the fear of being punished, the athiest is a better person for doing a good deed because they knew it was the right thing to do."

Watcher

It sounds like you found a good group of believers. I know from personal experience, it wasn't until recently that I woke up. I've always believed, but usually did my own thing. Having grown up in the modern education system, I trusted authority and allowed my mind to be programmed to focus on just the material world. I've been looking at history and trying to trace back to where it began and it's been an amazing journey of discovery.

One of the main people to bring about this blinding was Sir Francis Bacon. He developed the scientific method, which focuses only on those things that can be perceived with the five senses. This was later taken up by Charles Darwin who also only accepted what was perceived with the five senses. Believe it or not, this is all also connected to the founding of New Atlantis, or more commonly known as America. For more on that, here's a video. I've also put together my own research and some other articles on this in what I call the History of the Mystery of Iniquity at work today.

One of the keys that got me to start discerning the spirit realm was simply associating thought as the voice of the spirit realm. Now for some that may be a big DUH, but like I said I read less of the Bible and relied more on my experiences with the five senses. I was taught evolution and very limited perspectives on history. Having the consensus of thousands of highly educated people through history as I was taught it agreeing, I figured who am I to second-guess? Now I never believed evolution and was never shown any evidence. In fact, even Darwin admitted the theory was flawed, but it's still taught as fact because the only alternative is God and there's this perception that science has all the answers. The problem with that idea is that science doesn't cover what we all plainly have experience with that is spiritual, our thought life.

And how much does love weigh? What about joy? What color is it? These are spiritual things that cannot be perceived with the five senses. We all have intimate personal experience with them, yet our focus and beliefs tend to be so wrapped up in the material things and our desires associated to the material that, like in the Matrix, we're blinded to reality by the thoughts and ideas of men who denied what they couldn't perceive. Modern science is starting to break out of this mindset I believe.

Having the perspective I do now, I can see that channelers and the like are doing exactly what I'm doing when the Holy Spirit is speaking to me, they're just listening to thoughts from a different source than God. So how do I know I'm hearing from God? He never goes contrary to the Bible. God said not to channel the dead or other spirits. Why? Because we have no foundation of understanding the source and God knows there is evil that is trying to deceive us, even if we don't believe it because we can't see it. The idea is alluring to those who don't believe in good/bad because there is power in it. Satan offered Christ all the kingdoms of the world if Yeshua would worship him. Christ turned him down, but there is a man who will take that power and rule the earth with it. Revelation 13

At any rate, my personal relationship with God has grown much lately because I've stopped trying to do my own thing and focused on what God wants me to do. In that, He has been teaching me more and more over time and bringing things to remembrance in study. The Bible says God speaks with a still, small voice. That means to hear it, we must quiet the distractions and focus on Yeshua. Just keep in mind that God isn't the only spirit who is able to project thoughts into your mind. We have control over who we listen to and who we reject. It's always been our choice and our responsibility. That's the blessing of free-will...and also its curse.

VANDAM

I am coming with the light i am spreading the light in this thread. God save us.

Buzzby

Actually, what you're doing is making Christians look bad. You're not going to convince anyone of anything by being such a bad example. Being intolerant, ignorant, illiterate, egotistical, and pushy does not make you much of an exemplar for Christianity.

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