Does interacting with you and Lute count?How would you know...when was the last time you listened to a sermon?
Are You Sinning Enough?
- Thread starter What Would Jesus Do?
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Does interacting with you and Lute count?
Sure although we may not be the best representatives. Lol
Do you have a personal religion? If so, could you describe it for us?
I have several.
What are yours?
Do you think life after death would be a good thing? Bad thing?
Well anyone who believes in an afterlife is at the very least…religion adjacent
i don't believe i can describe it coherently but i will concede that i have watched every movie and episode of star wars and i find elements of the jedi religion appealing
Jesus teaches you that? Or somebody in the church teaches you?
The gospel, and the Holy Spirit within me.
I have one religion that's relevant to the Golden Rule (since that came up earlier). I call it the "Everyone is Everyone" religion. God is not mentioned, but you can imagine Him pulling the strings to make it work if you wish.
It's very straightforward. Everyone is reborn as everyone else over the course of eternity. So if you are nice to someone, in a future life you will be the person you were nice to. Whereas if you walk by a starving person without helping, in a future life you will be that starving person who gets ignored. Or if you torture someone, in a future life you will be the one being tortured.
Think about it, If everyone believed in that religion, we would all treat each other a lot better.
My other religions are a little harder to explain, but one of them does involve a god-like being.
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The philosophy/religion in Wheel of Time is pretty interesting, as well.i don't believe i can describe it coherently but i will concede that i have watched every movie and episode of star wars and i find elements of the jedi religion appealing
It doesn't matter. The rapture has already happened and he's not letting in anyone else.
Believing to be saved, meaning to get to Heaven, is perfectly acceptable...after all, the Gospel means "Good News."
The good news is that God created us to live in bliss with Him forever.
Jesus says in the Gospels we should "build up treasures in Heaven."
Keep Your Focus on Building Treasures in Heaven
This pandemic shutdown is, if nothing else, a time for us to hit the “reset button” in our lives. As money and livelihoods are slipping away and diminishing, we remember that everything in this world is fleeting. As Ecclesiastes says, all is vanity! Our tenuous existence is a reminder that we...
But here's the thing: You can't make yourself believe something you don't actually believe. And if you already believe, you won't need to pretend to believe in order to trick God into letting you into heaven.
And, seriously, if you believe in God, do you honestly think He will be fooled by that trick?
I mean God is better than Santa, and even Santa knows whether you're bad or good. So don't you think God will know who's sincere or faking it?
It's true that you can't make yourself believe in something but you don't believe but one can take action. One can pray for faith and try to LIVE like Mother Teresa, as best as one can.
Actions matter. How we live matters.
It's not about "tricking" God. The Bible says that God wants all people saved. That's why we were created, to partake in infinite bliss with God forever.
Rejecting that is nuts! IMHO.
Bible Gateway passage: 1 Timothy 2:4-6 - Easy-to-Read Version
God wants everyone to be saved and to fully understand the truth. There is only one God, and there is only one way that people can reach God. That way is through Christ Jesus, who as a man gave himself to pay for everyone to be free. This is the message that was given to us at just the right time.
FIFYIt's true that you can't make yourself believe in something but you don't believe but one can take action. One can pray for faith and try to LIVE like Mother Teresa, as best as one can.
Actions matter. How we live matters.
It's not about "tricking" God. The Bible says that God wants all people saved. That's why we were created, to partake in infinite bliss with God forever.
Believing any of this is nuts! IMHO
Bible Gateway passage: 1 Timothy 2:4-6 - Easy-to-Read Version
God wants everyone to be saved and to fully understand the truth. There is only one God, and there is only one way that people can reach God. That way is through Christ Jesus, who as a man gave himself to pay for everyone to be free. This is the message that was given to us at just the right time.www.biblegateway.com
It fascinates me how many people reject eternal life...they don't want it.
Life is short, eternity is long, brah.
Yes.
But one can try to be good without praying for faith or hoping for a return on your investment. I admire people like this even more.
It blows my mind that people actually believe in life after death! It’s preposterous.It fascinates me how many people reject eternal life...they don't want it.
Life is short, eternity is long, brah.
It makes sense, right?
We're all going to find out in a few decades.
80 years is closer to 1 second than eternity.
There are literally thousands of accounts of people near death leaving their dying body and looking down at themselves from above.
I watched my mom weighing 75 pounds and unable to lift her head for weeks, sit up right in her bed, extend her arms and reach upwards for the sky upon her death.
I’m sure you can find an article suggesting it’s all electrical impulses and involuntary muscle movements… like they know.
How do you explain it?
Have you heard if former atheist Professor Howard Storm's near death experience?
It's my favorite.
That's the basis for my earlier syllogistic argument. IF God wants us to believe, he knows what it takes for us to come around and he can easily provide what's needed.
Try this thought experiment....
A being appears to you and claims to be the real, true God. BUT he isn't the Abrahamic God and he denies the divinity of Jesus.
Naturally, you are skeptical. Right? So your first question might be "How do I know you are the real, true God?"
My argument is that the real true God will be able to answer that to your complete satisfaction. Because he will know what it takes for you to believe, and he will be able to provide that proof.
So . . . if God really does want us all to be saved, and if being saved requires faith, and if God can easily prove himself to everyone's satisfaction, then why are there non-believers?
To me, there are only a few possible resolutions to this conundrum. The main ones are:
1. God doesn't exist;
OR
2. Being saved doesn't require faith;
OR
3. God doesn't really care if we are all saved.
Free will is my answer to that. God won't force people to be saved.
Atheists don't want to be saved so God respects their free will.
Here's a 4 minute video:
No, it doesn’t make any sense at all. Every other living organism on earth dies and becomes nutrients for new organisms.
You know the circle of life.
That makes sense.
This is a great read. It's a novel, not a scientific or religious tome, but it asks most of the right questions about near death experiences. It will make you think . . . and it's fun.
Here's the Amazon blurb
One of those rare, unforgettable novels that are as chilling as they are insightful, as thought-provoking as they are terrifying, award-winning author Connie Willis's Passage is an astonishing blend of relentless suspense and cutting-edge science unlike anything you've ever read before.
It is the electrifying story of a psychologist who has devoted her life to tracking death. But when she volunteers for a research project that simulates the near-death experience, she will either solve life's greatest mystery -- or fall victim to its greatest terror.
At Mercy General Hospital, Dr. Joanna Lander will soon be paged -- not to save a life, but to interview a patient just back from the dead. A psychologist specializing in near-death experiences, Joanna has spent two years recording the experiences of those who have been declared clinically dead and lived to tell about it.
It's research on the fringes of ordinary science, but Joanna is about to get a boost from an unexpected quarter. A new doctor has arrived at Mercy General, one with the power to give Joanna the chance to get as close to death as anyone can.
A brilliant young neurologist, Dr. Richard Wright has come up with a way to manufacture the near-death experience using a psychoactive drug. Dr. Wright is convinced that the NDE is a survival mechanism and that if only doctors understood how it worked, they could someday delay the dying process, or maybe even reverse it. He can use the expertise of a psychologist of Joanna Lander's standing to lend credibility to his study.
But he soon needs Joanna for more than just her reputation. When his key volunteer suddenly drops out of the study, Joanna finds herself offering to become Richard's next subject. After all, who better than she, a trained psychologist, to document the experience?
Her first NDE is as fascinating as she imagined it would be -- so astounding that she knows she must go back, if only to find out why this place is so hauntingly familiar. But each time Joanna goes under, her sense of dread begins to grow, because part of her already knows why the experience is so familiar, and why she has every reason to be afraid....
And just when you think you know where she is going, Willis throws in the biggest surprise of all -- a shattering scenario that will keep you feverishly reading until the final climactic page is turned.
That's a cop out.
You invent a god.
You impute to him that he wants us to be saved.
When it's pointed out that he could easily make sure everyone is saved, you make up excuses.
Plus, of course atheists do want to be saved. They just don't think that divine salvation is a real thing. But if it is a real thing, and God can show us that, then we'd be on board. I mean why wouldn't we? It's supposed to be a really good thing, right?
Jesus isn't invented.
Atheists don't want to be saved, at least the ones I've engaged with. They say Heaven would be "boring" so they reject it. I've heard that dozens of times.
Why not ask God to reveal Himself to you? Pray for faith. Try it for 6 months and you will know.
(No atheist has taken me up on this offer because they don't want faith.)
Only dogs?
If you are a cat lover, and there are no cats, how can that be heaven?
Will the animals in heaven fight with each other?
How about nature lovers who love wild animals. Sounds like the wilds and their flora and fauna will all have to be there.
If some critters are in and others aren't, what's the cutoff?
Faith and belief are not the same thing. Some might even say they are contradictory.
Atheists try to be rational. If God is real, atheists will want to know that. Why wouldn't they?
Jesus the man was probably a real person. Jesus the divine being is invented.
True. I've heard some atheists say silly things in the throes of debating these issues. But when serious they want to know the truth and they correctly ask for convincing evidence.
If you want to know, try the prayer I recommended for 6 months. Be patient. See how you feel.
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