Are there ANY Christians on RIU?

[mindphuk]

...and yet we're asked to describe that God - sometimes we can't. Does that rend discussion futile? I don't see why it would. Some people are flighty and some people are in danger of painting everything around them stark white.

Yes, it renders any meaningful discussion futile.

The problem with discussing something for which you cannot give any definitions is that it allows for moving the goalposts much too easy. Which, IMO, is the reason people like you want to leave the boundaries vague and undefined. If you can't define it you don't have to defend it.

How can I discuss something for which you haven't even explained to me exactly what we are discussing? How can you discuss something if you cannot even explain what it is you want to discuss?

 

[GanjaGod420000]

Hu-rah! Glad to hear this one...

Born again hard baby... I like the open minded i get when i hit the pipe then the Word. Very eye opening. Pastor father isnt impressed, but he likes the idea that I read God's Word daily. Weed has opened my heart up to the Lord in ways that 35 years of attending church never did. Its all about personal relationship with the Lord. Not what you wear, where you worship ect ect. Love your God with all your heart, love your neighbour more than yourself. The rest is window dressing.

 

[eye exaggerate]

Yes, it renders any meaningful discussion futile.

The problem with discussing something for which you cannot give any definitions is that it allows for moving the goalposts much too easy. Which, IMO, is the reason people like you want to leave the boundaries vague and undefined. If you can't define it you don't have to defend it.

How can I discuss something for which you haven't even explained to me exactly what we are discussing? How can you discuss something if you cannot even explain what it is you want to discuss?

...people 'like me' do not want to leave open boundaries. What we're discussing is not a science you can touch. So, you're right, it's futile to discuss with people who have to have a material reference.

 

[GanjaGod420000]

I'll second that one, too...

I know God is real because I am alive.

 

[GanjaGod420000]

Right with ya... It just pisses me off, after I read 1,000+ anti-God posts, and I finally nut up and wanna snap necks... I know it is a bad example, but sometimes we gotta buck up a lil and stand up for our beliefs...

amen brother i cant bash anyone for their beleifs but somtimes people on here do take it to far with the whole god bashing thing buts its ok like i said i dont take it personal its just ignorent somtimes how much people can be so one minded i beleive but im not forcing my beleifes on other people

 

[Zaehet Strife]

You THINK god is real because you have the ability to THINK...

"Don't tell me how to think!"

I don't have to, you let others do it for you. I say, why not come up with an original idea, something YOU made up, rather than fallow an idea that your parents told you a long ass time ago.

Wouldn't it be much cooler to think that were all hooked up to machines in the future and when we die here....we just wake up and we get to pick whatever kind of existence we want to pick next? I mean dude, it took me all but like 10 seconds to think up that one, im sure if you guys put your minds to it, you can think up one that is waaaaaaaaay more cool than the ideas you have been borrowing from other people. The least you could do is be like, "yea, your borrowed idea sounds nice and all... but my idea is way more fuckin cool than that because im the one who actually made it up!"

 

[brotherjericho]

Fairly certain that if you're a Christian, AND you're on RIU, you're going to hell. . . . . . if you believe in Christianity. .... . . interesting. I've got no hate for you though. Just don't push it on me. Keep it green. Keep it happy.

Dude, did you miss that whole scene with Moses and the burning bush? What do you think the bush was?

 

[Doer]

I think, therefore I am.....I think

 

[kevin]

I've been fighting with faith for years and I believe common sense has finally over taken any thoughts of there really being any kind of god. Here's a couple of questions for my christian friends.
My cousin is having part of her leg amputated this morning because of diabetes and her parents are asking the family to lift them up in prayer. If prayer worked why didn't god cure her before it got this far? Another one for you. after you die, how could you be enjoying treasures in heaven when you know family and friends are burning in hell? Please enlighten me.

 

[carl.burnette]

The problem most people have is their confusing religion with God. HE made the golden rule. Are you going to hell if you smoke weed? If you think it's bad & you do it than yes. IF God hasn't given you that conviction that I believe your fine.

The chief priest used to sacrifice to cover the known & unknown sins of the people. This was things like for example you didn't know that the egg flipper was used to turn bacon before you used it to flip your egg. You're in sin because of it, but you had no idea so the sacrifice covered those sins. Jesus was the final sacrifice for known & unknown sins. If you've never heard the word of God, you still have that conscience. HOws does that jungle tribe that have no civilization or laws know that its unlawful to kill your neighbor?

I believe God's will is written in everyones heart & becoming a Christian is opening that part up & giving GOd control of your life through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus.

Yes, positive thinking, the secret, various other activities seem like they are in God's will, but its the end game that counts. Any monkey can get in a car & hit the gas. It will go forward. Just not where you want it to end up. I look at Gods word that way.

You can visualize things & they will come true, speak it & it will happen, all that sort of thing, but if its not in God's plan for you the end game is gonna suck.

Anyways, GOds loves you & so do I. Jesus is the way to ensure eternal salvation as God's word says. Besides, if Im wrong, the worst thing I've done is spent my life beliveiving that a great God is watching over me & taking me where he will. If I'm right, unbelievers are fucked.

Better safe than sorry
ps. THe instant I am convinced or the Lord convinces me that weed is a sin, than I'm off it. BUt that hasnt happened yet. I look at the fruits of the spirit. Since smoking weed & reading the bible I've grown closer to him daily. That's not to say that getting all dopped up & drooling on the couch is the plan. Its more a splif to open my heart & head up to the Lords word & plan for my life.

God Bless & All that good stuff

Later.

 

[merkzilla]

When I was younger, I was a basher. After a while when all I saw were bashers I quietly went to the other side of the debate.

I'm not christian/religious/spiritual, not an atheist nor an agnostic at this point. Pondering unanswerable questions too long is a quick trip to schizophrenia. Religion helps some people feel better about their situations, or the circumstances of their life. Faith for some is hope that if they continue being a good person, things will be sorted later down the road. I really don't feel there's much a point in knocking people over for it. As far as zealots and people who act downright irrational, they exist in any group or segment of society. I'm not bothered by it.

 

[jessy koons]

The problem most people have is their confusing religion with God. HE made the golden rule. Are you going to hell if you smoke weed? If you think it's bad & you do it than yes. IF God hasn't given you that conviction that I believe your fine.

The chief priest used to sacrifice to cover the known & unknown sins of the people. This was things like for example you didn't know that the egg flipper was used to turn bacon before you used it to flip your egg. You're in sin because of it, but you had no idea so the sacrifice covered those sins. Jesus was the final sacrifice for known & unknown sins. If you've never heard the word of God, you still have that conscience. HOws does that jungle tribe that have no civilization or laws know that its unlawful to kill your neighbor?

I believe God's will is written in everyones heart & becoming a Christian is opening that part up & giving GOd control of your life through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus.

Yes, positive thinking, the secret, various other activities seem like they are in God's will, but its the end game that counts. Any monkey can get in a car & hit the gas. It will go forward. Just not where you want it to end up. I look at Gods word that way.

You can visualize things & they will come true, speak it & it will happen, all that sort of thing, but if its not in God's plan for you the end game is gonna suck.

Anyways, GOds loves you & so do I. Jesus is the way to ensure eternal salvation as God's word says. Besides, if Im wrong, the worst thing I've done is spent my life beliveiving that a great God is watching over me & taking me where he will. If I'm right, unbelievers are fucked.

Better safe than sorry
ps. THe instant I am convinced or the Lord convinces me that weed is a sin, than I'm off it. BUt that hasnt happened yet. I look at the fruits of the spirit. Since smoking weed & reading the bible I've grown closer to him daily. That's not to say that getting all dopped up & drooling on the couch is the plan. Its more a splif to open my heart & head up to the Lords word & plan for my life.

God Bless & All that good stuff

Later.

What a huge pile of childish blather this is. You should be ashamed for offering these paltry beliefs as consequential.

 

[Doer]

I think the answer might be more frightening. We had to invent time and now time is our master. It doesn't exist, yet it rules our existence. I'm not going to re-tread my ideas on Now. They are in other posts. Let's just agree that when we die, time collapses for us.

We know the mind is subject to vast and apparently limitless time dilations. Asleep or awake. What if we make our heaven and we make our hell? It's quite common to hear reports about "my entire life flashed in front of me." More incredible time dilation. "Time stood still while the accident happen." On an on, we live in elastic preception, and to make sense of that, we invented time.

We also know the brain releases all it's dopamine, and other chemicals at death which can make a pleasure dream or mixed with fear can make a hellish dream. What if, with the proper knowledge and training, that last micosecond of death dream can be Eternity, thru time dilation?

 

[carl.burnette]

??? I don't understand your point. Why would you judge my beliefs? Am I not staunch enough? You want strict? I don't get your point.

OH well. ITs ok.. I wont lose any sleep over it. I wasn't trying to start an argument. Just stating my opinion. If you disagree that's ok. I have no issues at all.

Enjoy the buds of the day & I hope you find what your looking for in life & I hope you will experience what I have. If not, that's ok too.

Grumble grumble. Bitching about someone's beliefs is like complaining that they like chocolate ice-cream, because you don't like it. You don't have to eat it. Everyone can have whatever type of ice cream they want. We'll all find out at the end what the best kind was.

Good luck

 

[Heisenberg]

I think the answer might be more frightening. We had to invent time and now time is our master. It doesn't exist, yet it rules our existence. I'm not going to re-tread my ideas on Now. They are in other posts. Let's just agree that when we die, time collapses for us.

We know the mind is subject to vast and apparently limitless time dilations. Asleep or awake. What if we make our heaven and we make our hell? It's quite common to hear reports about "my entire life flashed in front of me." More incredible time dilation. "Time stood still while the accident happen." On an on, we live in elastic preception, and to make sense of that, we invented time.

We also know the brain releases all it's dopamine, and other chemicals at death which can make a pleasure dream or mixed with fear can make a hellish dream. What if, with the proper knowledge and training, that last micosecond of death dream can be Eternity, thru time dilation?

Very interesting philosophical argument for the existence of heaven/hell. I shall enjoy pondering this.

 

[Doer]

The big mistake is confusing WORD. Just go back to the history of what that means, and you will see it shoehorned into
the Bible in the proper context. We just simply have it wrong these days.

"The WORD made flesh." Gushy emotion. Attributing deity. Deity is a made up concept. To say Jesus was the WORD is devotion.
Not words in a book. The book didn't exist. It is a compendium edited and produced by a single man for the Emperor Constantine.

Christians today worship a book. It's idolatry. The WORD, refers to all vibration of the entire "reality." The concept is in all creeds
thru all times. God's breath. The utterance of GOD. The Tao. The WORD is not a political/social manfesto called the B I B L E. Not a secret conversation with a TV minister. (such is claimed, with sickening frequency)

EDIT: I also need to inject some science here. Quantum String Theory. The Harmony of the Spheres. Grand Unified Theory.
The Greeks were sure, as was Albert E., there is a Constant. The Greeks called it the 5th Element. Earth Air Fire Water Aether.

All these concepts refer to WORD, in my opinion.

 

[jessy koons]

??? I don't understand your point. Why would you judge my beliefs? Am I not staunch enough? You want strict? I don't get your point.

OH well. ITs ok.. I wont lose any sleep over it. I wasn't trying to start an argument. Just stating my opinion. If you disagree that's ok. I have no issues at all.

Enjoy the buds of the day & I hope you find what your looking for in life & I hope you will experience what I have. If not, that's ok too.

Grumble grumble. Bitching about someone's beliefs is like complaining that they like chocolate ice-cream, because you don't like it. You don't have to eat it. Everyone can have whatever type of ice cream they want. We'll all find out at the end what the best kind was.

Good luck

Of course I'm judging your beliefs because they are so far outside what an adult, rational mind is capable of believing in. Do you really believe that sacrifice, i.e. death to some innocent creature, is really a cure for 'unknown sins'? Do you really believe that jesus is some type of umbrella insurance sacrifice meant to cover our collective asses against a quick trip to hell for unknowingly committing a sin du jour.

I like chocolate ice cream a lot but what you're offering is asphalt ice cream: from a distance it looks kind of like ice cream but when you get up close, you can see clearly that it is inedible and probably poisonous.

 

[carl.burnette]

Wow.. Im the judgmental Christian. I'm the one that's supposed to judge YOUR beliefs as crazy Some people believe praying while focusing on a crystal will work, some people believe that mother nature is the way to go. I wouldn't judge any of them. I will certainly judge my own heart & motives, but not theirs.

OK. Here's a situation. We have been able to send out & receive radio waves for about 100 years (give or take) so, to accurately measure anything in space, the most we can say in absolute terms is that something is 50 or less light years away. (50 years to hit the thing, 50 years for it to bounce back) anything other than that is faith based.

You can argue doppler effect & triangulation all you like, but look at the sounds barrier. & my numbers are approximates so don't jump on me. Just read for now.

It takes say 100 horse power to get to 699 miles an hour. Logic & what not says that to get to 700 miles an hour would take 6.99 more hp to reach 700 MPH (the sound barrier). In actuality, it took several hundred more HP to break the sound barrier.

All our scientific "proofs" are simply faith based on what is perceived as logic. Maybe once your reach past the planets you can fly faster than light, maybe it all warps, who the hell knows. We will never know until we're there. until we made it past the sound barrier (700 mps approx) we were quite wrong.

If you don't like my beliefs, that's ok. I have no problem with it. I wont argue right or wrong. That's between God & yourself or myself. Its very personal & I would never insult someone's beliefs. I may argue as to why "I' believe something, but that's about it. If you want to worship purple squirrels that sing kumbiyah all the power to you.

That's the true freedom that worshipping the Lord provides. & I'm a big fan

Burning books, forcing as certain clothing style or food restrictions & forcing your religion on someone is COMPLETELY NOT the kind of Christian I'm talking about. Jesus hung out with the scum of the age then. Prostitutes & tax collectors. He said he came for the sick not the healthy. That's the kind of Jesus I want in my life & that's what I got.

I know you think I'm a nut & that's ok but I sincerely hope that you find the peace that I've gotten from Christ. It's free & if you don't like it or it doesn't work for you, fuck it. Drop him like a hot potato. But don't knock it till you try it He might surprise you, in a good way.

Good luck.

Of course I'm judging your beliefs because they are so far outside what an adult, rational mind is capable of believing in. Do you really believe that sacrifice, i.e. death to some innocent creature, is really a cure for 'unknown sins'? Do you really believe that jesus is some type of umbrella insurance sacrifice meant to cover our collective asses against a quick trip to hell for unknowingly committing a sin du jour.

I like chocolate ice cream a lot but what you're offering is asphalt ice cream: from a distance it looks kind of like ice cream but when you get up close, you can see clearly that it is inedible and probably poisonous.

 

[carl.burnette]

Adult rational mind.. when did we get those? Is it rational to eat more than you burn & complain that your fat? Is it rational to spend more than you earn & then wonder why your broke?? There are many things we do that are not of an "adult rational mind" I don't think that really comes in to any sort of calculation really. Rational to create a bomb that not only destroys the enemy, but the lands too making them useless. Can't even enjoy the spoils of the war because the lands are glowing for 500 years.

Believing in some form of higher power is probably one of the most "rational minded" things we can do. There isn't a nation. people,. race or group that doesn't worship something. It's in our DNA so there must be something to it.

Or the other option is that the 1-2% of the world that denies any form of deity is correct.

That could be too. BUt I like the odds better on the faith side.

Of course I'm judging your beliefs because they are so far outside what an adult, rational mind is capable of believing in. Do you really believe that sacrifice, i.e. death to some innocent creature, is really a cure for 'unknown sins'? Do you really believe that jesus is some type of umbrella insurance sacrifice meant to cover our collective asses against a quick trip to hell for unknowingly committing a sin du jour.

I like chocolate ice cream a lot but what you're offering is asphalt ice cream: from a distance it looks kind of like ice cream but when you get up close, you can see clearly that it is inedible and probably poisonous.

 

[Nitegazer]

I've been fighting with faith for years and I believe common sense has finally over taken any thoughts of there really being any kind of god. Here's a couple of questions for my christian friends.
My cousin is having part of her leg amputated this morning because of diabetes and her parents are asking the family to lift them up in prayer. If prayer worked why didn't god cure her before it got this far? Another one for you. after you die, how could you be enjoying treasures in heaven when you know family and friends are burning in hell? Please enlighten me.

Kevin,

I think this quote from an interview between Dan Rather and Mother Teresa in 1998 speaks to this.

Dan Rather: What do you say to God when you pray?
Mother Teresa: I listen.
Dan Rather: Well, what does God have to say?
Mother Teresa: He listens.

The point is that prayer isn't a magic spell, prayer changes the one who prays.

Regarding hell (as in a place of damnation)-- one need not believe in it to be a Christian. Most of the damnation stuff was from Paul.