You get extra points if you can spew Catholic dogma in Latin. That’s big with God. He likes that.
3 Likes
You have me there. I only know Latin prayers.
1 Like
I think Crom is a decent enough deity. Other than that, I don’t discuss religion or politics with too many people; it’s pointless.
2 Likes
Oh yeah?
… Sig or Glock?
4 Likes
I’m going to get off-topic somewhat with this if that’s OK. Being a ‘old’ guy I’ve seen lots of changes in personal interactions over the decades. I was raised to respect all people and to do little things just because it showed respect. Some simple examples, holding a door open and letting others pass ahead of yourself. When you are checking out and arrive at the station at the same time as another you let them go first. Seeing someone trying to accomplish a task and offering another set of hands to help them. Or simply offering your verbal good wishes, even “god bless”. In the last decade I have experienced verbal attacks for such actions as the above ones. I’ve been told "I don’t need you to open the door. I don’t need your F’ing help. etc. Frankly, if someone is so self-centered that they can not appreciate honest good intentions then they are the ones with the real problem and not worth your being concerned.
11 Likes
Thank you for this. It’s spot on.
We are living in the Age of Outrage. One of the many reasons I personally have no use for religion is that many people use religion as an excuse to be outraged, and historically, many people used religion as an excuse to do horrible things to other people under the mantle of “God’s Will.”
Keep opening doors for people…
4 Likes
A lot of the things people hate most about religion are not an actual part of the religion being hated. As a Christian I see this all the time and suffered from it my self. In my day it was the “bible thumper” the old lady in the church using God as some kind of weapon to judge others and condemn them or their actions - One of the most ominously discouraged practices in the very bible that “thumper” is thumping! If one believes the God of the bible, it’s about the last thing you should be doing, and it’s not even a little bit in question. In other words, they only way that “bible thumper” can be doing what they are doing, is in ignorance of what that bible actually says!
Thing is, people are free to say and do what ever they wish, much like we see in the political arena these days, you can claim to be doing things in the name of what ever you think will get people to go along with you, it doesn’t even have to be a real thing.
Anyone is free to claim to be a Christian, anyone is free to consider themselves to be a Christian, it doesn’t mean they are.
I had a huge problem with God, until I found out what God said for himself, instead of going only by what "others " said of God. I found people claiming to represent God to be the most dangerous of all of them.
God is what he is. The way given to know God is to go to his word, for yourself. Anyone who says you should " take their word for it", and who does not refer you back to God’s own word to see for yourself if what they say it is true, should be avoided like the plague.
So far, the things I had against God, like not taking responsibility for the bad that’s allowed to happen, He doesn’t actually duck that responsibility, but to listen to most people advocating faith, you would think otherwise.
If you are not willing to learn and know the truth for yourself, then you will not know the truth. We are all to have a personal relationship with God, not a “go along with the heard” relationship, but a relationship of our own. God is the only one who knows how to talk to you, because he’s the only one who knows you fully. He knows the doubts, questions, and issues you have, and he knows why you have them. You can’t lie to God, and he won’t lie to you, but people will lie to you and mislead you about God in every imaginable way for every imaginable reason.
I think of the question of God this way.
God created me and gave me a choice. I could choose to belong to God, giving my self back to God, in the favored position as that of a child of God, or, I could choose to be my own God, The God of my own life, and the master of my own self. But, if throughout my life I remain steadfastly my own God, and never accept my adoption as a son in a believing faith, then, when I die, I will forever do without God. Having chosen to refuse him during life, the cost is to forever be separated from God and, the family of God I could have adopted into. Death then is the final finish line where, ever after, the choice is done.
God told me, ( in his word ) that the evidence of God was all around me in his creation, ( the world, the universe ), I found I agreed. Things, to me, were too incredibly and wonderfully made, too complex on far too many interconnected and interrelated levels for it all to be an accident. I could sooner believe an apple computer had accidentally been thrown together ( complete with program and keyboard ) than I could that “nature” ( VASTLY more intricate and complicated ) could somehow “accidentally” appear. I am familiar with the interpretations of science that attempt to explain this away, but if you notice, they ALWAYS get back to the point where they simply have no idea, really, where all this originates from. My final example is this. Knowing how a computer works, knowing the rules that govern it, knowing what it’s made of and how it’s program flows through, and is utilized by, the hardware, does not somehow negate the need for someone to have conceived of it, and then made it. In other words, a growing understanding of how God’s creation works, does not somehow eliminate the God who made it, unless of course, you choose to apply interpreted meanings to your findings in support of a desired outcome.
Most of all I have found a faithful truth in God’s word, this when I live in a world ever more dominated by disinformation and lies. And one of the biggest contributors to the horrible things I see people do? - it starts with believing a lie!
I would, and in a way did, reject God when I believed the view of God I got from other people. But when I got to know God for my self, through his own word, THAT was entirely different!
4 Likes
As someone as already said… do NOT trust what people tell you is in the book… read it for yourself…
Something of interest… book of Eph: 4th chapter, 6th verse, last sentence… tells you WHERE God is…
I believe there is another verse in book of mathew but don’t recall where it is just now…
for me this got tied into what science is trying to prove… Dark Matter… very interesting…
seems science believes there is something there in all that darkness…
what we can see and thus measure… is only about 5% of the universe…
they have come to believe there is something there in the remaining 95%…
interesting thought… if God is what they call dark matter or has control of it…
would be easy for such to manipulate and do things with the remaining 5%… ???
OH on another point… God Bless… if ya read what it says… what it really says…
I can see where some would NOT wish to hear it… or have it sent toward them…
tie in… God says vengeance is his… the idea here at least to me is…
here I am thinkin or believin someone has wronged me… intentionally…
I am NOT to seek vengeance…
I am NOT to seek payback… I am to give it ALL to God… AND I am to BLESS them…
the blessing is really saying… Lord IF they truly wronged me intentionally please deal with it…
it allows for the stupids… that actually are just not really very smart and made an error in judgement…
so if they did not and just made a mistake or some such… deal with that also…
God KNOWS what the intent was… cause of where the books says he is…
and will return it… multiplied… good for good… bad for bad…
and you may even find in the end you feel sorry for the one that offended you…
least ways that’s my understanding of such… but again read it for yourself!!!
not saying ya need to believe it or embrace it… but at least you will understand it and what’s in it…
so when someone makes claims you can know it is legit or BS… and call em on it…
and granted we have way too many that look down their noses at others…
and then proclaim how they are better then… NOPE… not even close to what it really says… IMHO…
2 Likes
The problem with saying The Bible Only concept fails to acknowledge the fact that the Bible doesn’t contain a table of contents of which books belong or are excluded in the scriptures. That was determined by an ecumenical council. Also, the Bible doesn’t say to only read the Bible. But it does warn against isolating yourself and interpreting it on u to our own. There are two passages, one in Deuteronomy and Revelations that warn against adding or taking away from scripture. I find a lot of different Christian denominations that do that. Not going to say who. Read the scriptures and learn what the different faiths teach.
History of the Christian faith is often ignored. I think history shows you what Christians believed and practiced as Kesus passed down through His disciples. I grew up rarely going to various different churches as a child. I later went to a Catholic Church because my father instructed me to. I even went to the seminary and learned that there are a lot of hypocrites in leadership. I converted to the Bible only church for 18 years and then got really deep in church history dating all the way from Christ’s death (1ST century) through 2nd, 3rd and 4th century. And then all the way through the Middle Ages. It opened my eyes.
I won’t tell you what to do. But I’ve done it for myself. My wife and three children converted to the ancient church.
2 Likes
Amen brother @DS-1 and I couldn’t have said it any better myself.
1 Like
I am all the evidence I need in the existence of a higher power. After everything I’ve seen, done, & been through the fact that I am:
Alive
Happy
Relatively healthy
Is enough for me to believe.
What I don’t believe is that I need to go to a specific building on a certain day to hear someone else’s interpretation of their own beliefs.
5 Likes
The Sheppard of the Lord will guide you in your ways and lift you up when you are weak. The Sheppard is there to help protect you, not judge you. Judging is Gods job and everyone will be judged. Whether you believe or not.
4 Likes
Amen brother @Todd30 and God bless you.
3 Likes
I thought I was the only person here who still does those things. And, I like you have had people poo-poo me for being polite. Totally baffles me. I understand ignoring or commenting on someone being rude, but for being polite my mind just dosent grasp it.
7 Likes
I will continue to open doors , let others pass in front, offer to help, and heaven forbid smile, say please & thank you. Hopefully you will continue as well and not lower yourself to the “Me-Me-Me, Look at Me. I’m the CENTER of the Universe” anti-social media mind-set now present in society. No reason to abandon your manners that your Grandmothers expected of you.
5 Likes
I will absolutely continue. Even had this discussion with my Mom a few days ago how I now am very conscious to ask people how THEY are doing. Like at a grocery store or other service job the employees are generally young and have low wages. They take a lot of abuse. I go out of my way to be polite, ask about them, wish them a good day, thank them. Same with anybody I meet. It dosent cost a thing and I have been rewarded by some of the best smiles and thank you’s. They do notice and respond (for the most part) to someone considering them. It is a great feeling.
7 Likes
Did the zombies eat him?
1 Like
Was devoured by reality
1 Like
I hold doors open often, for anyone who is behind me. On at least two different occasions, I was screamed at by a woman who found it sexist. There’s one in every crowd, it seems.
3 Likes