Are you Ex's still Christian?

by joel 63 Replies latest jw friends

STRUGGLE

I beleive in Jehovah God and Jesus Christ. I beleive in the Bible.
mommy

Trevor, I used to have a fieplace, I miss it terribly:(
Joel,
There are soooooooo many different forms of religions in this world, if someone finds one they agree with and belief in then more power to them. The beliefs I have basically is love for the creator of myself and other humans. In school when the science teacher taught us The Big Bang theory, I was rolling on the floor laughing! But to some people the theory of creation is hysterical. We don't have a true interpretation of God's word, but I feel he did try to communicate with us.
My belief is to follow my heart and conscience. We may not know where we came from or where we are going but we do control the ride.
wendy
ianao

Hello everyone. Just a quick comment...
I'm starting over from scratch. Reading Sitchin's "Earth Chronicles". Gives a whole new outlook to the creation of our planet and how it got inhabited. It also gives a new perspective on the "nephilim" of the bible and man's relationship with the "gods". I'm not sure how Christ ties in with his theories. Haven't read that far yet. There are 6 books in the "Earth Chronicles" series and two others that are related to his findings. "Genesis Revisited" was very interesting. Kind of a summary of the series.
I guess I'm not a Christian by most people's definition. I have strong moral values and ethics, but like Simon says, you don't have to be Christian to have them.
Be VERY careful TR. You might not like what you find. Also, take what you read with a grain of salt. People like Zechariah Sitchen have interesting theories, but admist them is much scholarly controversy, almost as much as it over the Bible in general.
As for my beliefs. I do not measure things in 'belief' but in understanding. My current understanding of religion is along the same lines with Simon. I too see it as a way to explain the unexplained.
Yes, I do believe that Jehovah is THE Almighty God (ONE God, ONE Person).
I also believe the Bible WAS the inspired word of God.
-ianao
ianao

Hey Simon.
I was trying to correct errors made above when I ran accross this little error after trying to make changes...
Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a01f4'
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Just wanted to let you know.
joel

Larc n others,
Larc wanted me to further expose what I personally believe in this area. Happy to do so...and I'm sure in future responses, I will the opportunity to elaborate on some point.

The Existance of God................I have always had a strong consciousness of my spiritual side...through my conscience and creation speaking to me that it so and manifested in the desire to pray to a Supreme Being.
That being the case...I have studied the subject of the existance of God and how people manifest that in their lives...as a matter of need and interest to me.
This Spiritual side of me...is as real to me...as any part of my physical body.
So who/what was to be the object of my willingness to worship something bigger than myself??
I was lead to the God of the Bible!
So why the God of the Bible??
1. Prophecy--Hundreds of prophecies fulfilled...the skeptic says..."but they were written after the fact." With the Dead Sea Scrolls and other evidence...I believe not. I see a much heaver weight for...rather than against Bibical Prophecy.
2. Science--The Bible makes alot of statements as fact about things that were either not known or were in question at the time written. The skeptic has been doing some serious fault finding on this subject since the Bible was written..and the result!...well I again see the evidence as weighter in favor of the Bible.
3. Miracles--The Bible is full of them...the only way they can be discounted is to deny eyewitness accounts that they happened...sometimes by hundreds of people...did contemporary secular writters of the time presents evidence to discredit those eyewitnesses??...The record is very much lacking that they felt a need to do so.
4. Harmony--you got a Book...written over thousands of years...by many different writters...that has been picked apart by skeptics for hundreds of years...and what do we have...points made...some good points!...but again I see...after all that has been said...the Bible remarkably harmonious!
Hope that helps!
Pax,
joel
peaceloveharmony

well, i'll jump in here with my thoughts on religion, christianity etc.
first off, i am not a christian. i don't believe the bible is inspired. i believe the bible was written so rulers could control their followers. look at the old testament, the isrealites needed something to hold them together, something to lift their spirits--so someone decides it would be a good idea to write down their history into a book and say it was inspired by god--viola! you have the beginning of the bible. this is my interpretation--i don't have anything on hand right now to back this up but in a class i took at the university, the professor (and the books we had for class) believed the first 5 books of the bible where written years after they were said to be written.
i do believe that people can learn from the bible and it does contain useful information on living a good moral life. it does stress selflessness and genorosity and love--all important but to me the bible is no more inspired than my favorite dean koonz novel.
as for being a christian--i think jesus' message is a good one but i can't be a follower of him. for one thing, according to the bible i'm a huge sinner because i live with my boyfriend and we engage in premarital sex aka fornication. i don't feel this is a sin. we are in a commited relationship, in love and we just don't want to get married yet-we see no reason for it. since i feel i'm not sinning and i have no reason to be repentant, wouldn't jesus condemn me?
here is what i do believe in:
I believe in a supreme being who i think of as "the all"
i believe in gods and goddesses
i think the gods and goddesses are our connection to "the all" and "the all's" connection to us.
my main belief system is "AN IT HARM NONE, DO WHAT THOU WILL"
and i believe in karma and that what energy you send out, either negative or positive, will come back to you three times as strong.
i believe that we need to protect the earth
i believe that everyone should strive for higher enlightenment. life should be a journey filled with learning experiences and you should be improving yourself after each experience.
i believe life happens here and now--not after you are dead--that is the afterlife, so while you are alive you should be striving to make it the best possible life for you and for those around you.
i believe in love
i believe in respect
i believe in honesty
here is what i question:
evolution vs creation
i lean more toward evolution but don't know for sure and don't really care--because this is my life here and now and i've got to live it no matter if i was created or if i (meaning humans) have evolved to this state.
this is getting long and i hope i'm making sense:)
one more thing--i have a major beef with christianity. my main problem is that they teach that god is going to come down and destroy the wicked and then everything is going to be a-ok, but i think that is bulls*it. that just allows people to not try and change things. they say, "oh woes me the world is so full of evil and horrible people and things keep getting worse. i can't wait for the day that god takes care of this for me." but i don't think god is going to do that for us. i think we need to do it for ourselves----ENLIGHTENMENT---eventually maybe we will get it right. that is what christianity took from people. the will and the want to make change in the here and now. christianity says rely on god and he'll take care of things for you. well i for one think we need to rely on ourselves. "the all" or as some would call it GOD really does not have time for all our little problems--he is running the universe!
ok i could go on for hours and hours. but i'll stop. i do have one suggestion, a book, it's called "the mists of avalon" and it is by marion zimmer bradley. it is about king arthur and told from the woman's perspective and it talks a great deal about the clash between christianity and the old religion (ie paganism, witchcraft). a good read!
ok--hope i haven't offended too many out there--my non belief in christianity by no way means that i have a problem with individuals who are christian. respect is also something that i believe in. i only have problems with hypocrits!
with love to you all!
harmony
Edited by - peaceloveharmony on 16 January 2001 12:47:17
RedhorseWoman

Well, if I have to fit into a slot, I would have to say I'm Christian. However, I'm probably in the same situation as TW. I'm searching and not locked in to any particular dogma.
I do believe in God and Jesus, and spirituality is a big part of my life. However, there are many other ideologies that hold an appeal for me.
The basic Christian idea is that man is the be-all and end-all of creation. I tend to believe more in the "oneness" of creation, which leans towards the beliefs of Wicca or Shamanism.
Can I be a "Heinz" Christian?
happytobefree

I agree with Peaceloveharmony,
And Girl, if you started a Church, organization, etc. I would go against my beliefs and Join. (on the condition, that I could TRULY be entitled to my opinions.
I do believe in GOD, but the GOD of the Bible is hard to take. For one a God who would chose a people (when we are all his children). And another thing one who does not hold some responsiblity for his wicked creation (Satan). The bible does state man is created in his image, so I reason would all of his creation reflect some of him. I'm a parent and realize WHATEVER bad behavior my child is acting out is somewhat related to what I have taught or allow to be taught to them. But as others have mentioned, I'm in the process of learning and hoping to evolve into a higher state. So I'm ending by saying I'M WHERE I NEED TO BE AT THE TIME (and LOVING it).
And by the way I identify myself as HUMAN, LOVING, GENEROUS (most of the time, BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL, KIND, AND JUST PLAIN AWESOME.
Happy to be Free (Me)
Edited by - happytobefree on 16 January 2001 13:21:7
Simon

scorpion:
The problem is that nearly all prophecy's are so vague and full of images that they are open to all sort of interpretation as to what fulfills them.
The ones that are specific are written after the event...
TR

ianao,
Be VERY careful TR. You might not like what you find. Also, take what you read with a grain of salt. People like Zechariah Sitchen have interesting theories, but admist them is much scholarly controversy, almost as much as it over the Bible in general.
I appreciate what you say. However, Sitchin is an ancient language scholar, not a religious guru. Even if I believed 100% of his theories, it wouldn't change my life one iota. There is no cult or religion to join. I can't personally verify his research, so I don't go around spouting about it. I DO like what I find in his writings so far. I have asked others before about those who oppose Sitchin's theories, but don't know of any as of yet. Maybe you can enlighten me?
I did correspond with C.O. Jonsson about Sitchin once. First he said he didn't know who Sitchin was. Then he remembered that he read a few pages of "The Twelfth Planet" and found it too fantastic to believe. BUT, Jonsson wouldn't or couldn't refute Sitchin because he really doesn't know anything about his theories.
A lot of what Sitchin says has a factual basis that ties in with the O.T. of the bible. I find that very interesting.
TR

Are you Ex's still Christian?

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