Christianity Defined

[ChrisL]

You know, the wars, starvation and most of the suffering in this world ISN'T caused by God, it's caused by man having free will and choosing to exercise that free will by taking power, money and sex from others against their will.

It's not God that causes suffering, it's mankind.

In the case of disease and sickness? Many times it is caused by us doing things to ourselves, like smoking, drinking too much, etc., and sickness results from our free will exercise in indulging ourselves.

Does God exist? I like to believe so, because there are many strange things that have happened in my life, and I can't attribute them to anything other than God, and His watching over me, and guiding me through various choices.

One example..........................When I was 16, I got tired of living with the foster family that I'd been placed with, because they were using the checks from the foster program to finance their new house and other things, so I ran away to go talk to my case worker in Helena. After I contacted him, he said that I had to go back to Missoula, or else pay rent to stay at the runaway home.

I didn't have the cash to stay, so I reluctantly agreed to go back (even though I really didn't want to), and, as luck would have it, the bus was running early and I just barely missed it. I called my case worker back and told him I'd missed the bus, and he told me to stay at the station until I could catch the next one to Missoula.

Well............still didn't want to go back, so I asked the ticket agent how much a bus to Chicago would cost (don't know why, just the first place that jumped into my mind), and he said 300.00. Well, I only had about 30 bucks, and I asked when the next bus was leaving and where it was going. He said it was going to Great Falls (where my Grandparents lived), and the cost was 25.00.

I bought a ticket and ended up in Great Falls. Well, my Grandparents were 11 miles outside of there in another town called Vaughn, and so I started walking. About midnight, I came by the truck stop on the edge of town, and since I still had 5 bucks, I stopped in and got something to eat. As I was leaving, I got halfway across the parking lot and a VW beetle pulled up next to me and asked if I needed a ride. I asked where they were going, and they said Missoula, but were willing to drop me anywhere along the way. I told them Vaughn was just fine, and got out when we arrived, slept in the schoolyard that night (by this time it was around 1:00 am), and knocked on my Grandparent's door at 7:00 am, and was taken back in, where I spent my Senior year and then joined the Navy.

Now.............I really didn't want to go back to the foster family, but was told that I had to, and it just happened that I showed up at the right time to catch a bus to Great Falls, because they only ran once a day. I also found it interesting that the ONLY people to offer me a ride were people going to Missoula (where my foster family was), and that was kind of like God telling me that I had a choice, and He gave me a couple of places where I could have changed my mind.

That's only one example, there are many others. I believe that when extreme coincidences happen to me, that's God answering my questions, and asking which way I want to go.

Coincidences are how God shows me that He's listening.

According to religions, you are not to use birth control. It is up to God whether or not you have a child. Therefore, God is making these people in Africa have child after child after child, who eventually starve to death, which is a horrible slow and painful death. Do you really think that God would help you catch a ride??? Good grief. This is just one of MANY things that disgust me.

According to WHICH religion? Buddhist? Hindu? Christian? Can you cite verses from the Bible that say that birth control is against God?

No, it's not God who is making those people have child after child, it's the dogma that they are following that says such.

As far as pissing all over my experiences? Go right ahead, if it makes you feel better, but that is just one example of where God (or Higher Power) was watching out for me, there are many others.

Why would God watch over me and not someone else? Dunno.........might wanna try asking Him.

Because there IS no God watching out for you. Duh. Those ARE coincidences that happen to everyone on occasion. Stop being delusional and thinking that it makes you more "special" than anyone else. You are not.

Christians aren't more special -- It is God's will that ALL be saved!

Please. Give me a break. You guys constantly go back and forth between saying that God helps you, speaks to you, you feel him, whatever, blah-blah-blah . . . to God doesn't get involved in people's problems or the slaughter of thousands of innocent people, or the starvation of millions of innocent children. The whole concept is beyond ridiculous, IMO.

 

[Taz]

Christianity is the religion where the god hides from people and won't come out and play.

 

[ChrisL]

Putting your "god" or "gods" (who knows what some people believe?) ahead of your fellow human beings, to me, is kind of a problem. That is just one of the problems in this world. At one time, religious beliefs may have served a purpose, but nowadays they are obsolete and they are unrealistic and ridiculous given the things we know that they obviously did NOT know about when the Bible was written and would naturally (like countless others before them) blame it on a god or gods when things went wrong. I'm sorry, but there is just nothing logical about a belief in a supernatural God to me. It's not much different than believing in ghosts or Santa Claus, IMO. It blows my mind that otherwise reasonable people could belief in such things. *SMH* Good grief!

 

[ABikerSailor]

You have your beliefs, and are allowed to have them.

Please afford others that right as well ChrisL.

"I'd much rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out I was wrong, than to live my life as if there wasn't a God and die to find out He exists".

 

[LOki]