Re: Satan dressed as saviour

[Vlad the Impaler]

I used to be totally pro religion and G-d and all that, most of my family is 'hardcore' christens. Recently however, while reading some texts, such as Dante's Divine Comedy and sitting in on some sermons instead of going down to help the children in Sunday school as I usually did, I find myself suddenly questioning if what Christianity alls that its cracked up to be. For example, in Sunday school and through out the children stories and bibles, the basic outline is that if you let G-d into your heart and ask him to forgive your sins you'll be fine and dandy when it's your time. Now, I've seen that if you really love G-d, you will worship him constantly ( that's not bad), do nothing that would anger him or go against his principles, even if they are natural human urges like lust (uhm.. ok I suppose that's not bad) and it is your Christian duty to rally together and bring more people to him (... uh..). If you do not do this, you are not Christian, and shall be sent to hell, or at best purgatory. It almost sounds like a greedy king demanding tax money in order to stay in his city, and this price keeps on increasing as you get older... Ah I'm sorry, I'm rambling. I do not mean to offend anyone, and I have nothing against G-d, that's just my current vuew on things based on what I have seen. I'm currently sitting on the fence.

Ahem,     anyway, there isn't really a way to prove if a person is an actual disciple of G-d or just masquerading as one to help themselves, like someone pretending to be a priest in order to marry couples, when their not. And They only way to really prove to me that someone would actually be the son of G-d would be for him to do something truly amazing, and unexplainable, even more so then it says he did way back when. Turning water into wine, something like that can be done with science, and I seen Chris Angel walk on water on TV the other day. To really impress me, he would have to... I don't know, pick up the empire state building, or win the 649 with just one ticket. 

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

Christianity isn't an easy thing to do.  All Christians (like myself) struggle and fail and wonder if we are doing it right.  That is completely normal.  God doesn't expect prefection, He expects us to trust on Him and His power and not our own.  Remeber the whole meaning of life is to bring glory to God.  Thats what He made us for.  So if you trust in Him with your entire being and always try to glorify Him in everything you do your on the right path.    Hope this helps.

ZRY

[prezhorusin04]

I believe in 'Glory to God', but I don't see why we all have to be going from the same books...

[Thundergod]

so your saying G-D(why dont we just say god anyway ?) made us to "bring him glory" why does that not sound selfless and loving. make god "proud" maybe, follow his path, yea sure. but bring him glory? why look at the past 100 years, how can we be sure he even exists or cares about us at all, we dont. i will give god glory once he gives me a reason to.

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

Big P.,

Christianity, near as I can tell,  is an all or nothing thing.  That means we gotta use the books He gave us.  I know it ain't easy but it will be worth it.


Thundergod,

You are here, alive, and able to live life abudantly.  God has blessed you with a mind and body, freewill and the ability to choose.  I think that's pretty important.  When God gives up on a group of people, which He has done after long suffering, He wipes them out.  eg The Flood, Sodom, Gamorah etc.  If he hadn't been watching over us image how bad the world would be?  There are still people who are willing to do the right thing (God's will) no matter the cost.   If they weren't being supported by the Lord Almighty  no good would have come out of their suffering.   The underground chuches in China, Korea, and eastern island nations are thriving inspite of heavy and sometimes deadly opposition. 

You and I are used to seeing the average American Christian that believes if they toss a few coins in the collection plate, go to church and say a prayer on Sunday that they are a good Christian.   Well, they're wrong.  Christ says to deny thyself, pick up your cross and follow Him.   Not an easy undertaken by any stretch of the imagination. 

God is here and intervening when it suits His plan.   Good luck to you little brother, you're in my prayers.

ZRY

[Thundergod]

i was in a bad mood at the time of that post so forgive me for that. i am Christian it is just that i have my moments where i wanna be more realistic . but really in nature im a good person that follows the main rules(ones given by god not society mind you). its just sometimes you see things and hear things and they are so bad you have to wonder why would anyone plan that. thank you ZRY for your consultation. ill try to watch my manic mood swings, lol.

[jordyn]

I used to be totally pro religion and G-d and all that, most of my family is 'hardcore' christens. Recently however, while reading some texts, such as Dante's Divine Comedy and sitting in on some sermons instead of going down to help the children in Sunday school as I usually did, I find myself suddenly questioning if what Christianity alls that its cracked up to be. For example, in Sunday school and through out the children stories and bibles, the basic outline is that if you let G-d into your heart and ask him to forgive your sins you'll be fine and dandy when it's your time. Now, I've seen that if you really love G-d, you will worship him constantly ( that's not bad), do nothing that would anger him or go against his principles, even if they are natural human urges like lust (uhm.. ok I suppose that's not bad) and it is your Christian duty to rally together and bring more people to him (... uh..). If you do not do this, you are not Christian, and shall be sent to hell, or at best purgatory. It almost sounds like a greedy king demanding tax money in order to stay in his city, and this price keeps on increasing as you get older... Ah I'm sorry, I'm rambling. I do not mean to offend anyone, and I have nothing against G-d, that's just my current vuew on things based on what I have seen. I'm currently sitting on the fence.

Ahem,     anyway, there isn't really a way to prove if a person is an actual disciple of G-d or just masquerading as one to help themselves, like someone pretending to be a priest in order to marry couples, when their not. And They only way to really prove to me that someone would actually be the son of G-d would be for him to do something truly amazing, and unexplainable, even more so then it says he did way back when. Turning water into wine, something like that can be done with science, and I seen Chris Angel walk on water on TV the other day. To really impress me, he would have to... I don't know, pick up the empire state building, or win the 649 with just one ticket. 

welcome to church, established style...

don't let the conveyance of the bible by a man in a robe or other priestly dress ruin your ideas of Gd(so as to not possibly offend a jewish based person who does not use the name of the Lord lightly for religious purposes)and His desire for us.

there was a lot about established chrisitianity that really turned me off and resulted in me spending most of my life a rather fun little witch, but now i realize what i though was fun was really, destructive to my self.  It all started with a challenge to "read the bible", nothing more, no pestering, badgering, preaching, just a simple challenge that helped me understand more about Gd in my life than any of the years i had with catholicism enforced upon me.

with heroes like king david who did amazingly human things, but because he had the tenacity of faith in Gd, he was forgiven absolutely to become one of His most favored heroes, how can anyone question what the Lord will forgive those who look to Him and His Son, rather than men who can speak and went to schools to learn His words, establishing a church...usually associated with a specific denomination and hindered by that organizations rules and regulations for worshipping in their church.

honestly i was amazed to find out the differences between what i was being told for years and what i read with my own heart and mind concerning Gd.  The advice to read your bible was good, come to your own conclusions, it may require you to go out and find another church, another way to accept His grace in your life or other step to refresh your need for Him, personally i now go to a home church, it's a small group of ten to fifteen people(mostly young couples with children) who have a potluck, let the children go play next door and we spend the evening reading, talking and singing, they originally met in a coffee shop, discovered that an attractional model wasn't working and decided to try the homestyle that starts with a small group that branches off into other small groups(cell churches).  I've been busy working on our nights to meet, so i was given a study bible to help if i find others who'd like to come over for an evening of coffee and talk about whatever our hearts feel we should.  They're evangical and tend to be prone for the witnessing, but i'm not that sort however i never have anyone question my christian standing...He has others uses for my talents, even moses needed aaron to do the talking for him. 

there's cowboy churches, industrial churches(motorcyclists, skaters and other non traditional christian sorts meeting in warehouses), home churches, messianic churches, a hundred variations of denominations and even our smallest town has five different churches to choose from.  Don't let one church and one man that may not understand the bible as you feel it should be understood ruin the relationship you have with The Lord, i fear the clergy tend to do more damage than good...it was two average men who inspired me to let Gd back into my heart, and a small group of family based christians that helped me accept Christ as He should apply to a christian, as the bible says one should be. 

as for Gd and His Son show boating on a massive scale; what sort of children come from parents who do everything for them?

[Moloch]

Here here, Jordyn. This is exactly why I try so hard to keep an open mind; even though I personally disagree with about 95% of everything I hear.

EDIT: That pesky spelling.

[jordyn]

Here here, Jordyn. This is exactly why I try so hard to keep an open mind; even though I personally disagree with about 95% of everything I here.

it's amazing, the more i find out about christianity, the more i'm overwhelmed by the many facets it does have...everything from the history of it's orgins, the creation of it into the roman catholic dominance now to the current state of the established churches doing what they can to stay in a position that's no longer needed for people coming to know Gd on their own path.

i feel it's an exciting time to be a christitan, so much is coming to light, the war in the middle east may be depressing, but it's opening up many avenues for archeologists to get in there and discover even more.