Believing in God

[Der_Trihs]

Paragraphs, please. Paragraphs make a post much easier to read.

@terrim

I respect all religion because in one way or another we all believe that one main God created us all.

Wrong. Some religions have no gods.

@terrim

it just means that every person has their own beliefs and no one is right or wrong. I don’t think Athiests are wrong either, they just prefer to think of the big bang theory because their minds are more scientific. Some people prefer science and some prefer higher beings. No one is right or wrong. It’s what we chose to believe in.

:rolleyes: Reality is not a matter of opinion; some people are right, and some are wrong. And given all the mutual contradictions between religions, that vast majority of religious beliefs must be wrong.

@terrim

Bottom line is this…Religion no matter what type it is teaches all of us to respect one another, love one another, be kind to one another and help your fellow man.

Or to kill, slaughter, tyrannize and enslave them.

@terrim

So no matter what you believe or what God you believe in we all have the same values and moral codes. From the day we are born we are taught to respect others…so why is this such an issue with Religion?

Because it isn’t true. We are not all told to respect each other, we don’t all have the same moral code, and religion most certainly isn’t universally teaching those qualities. On the contrary, there are believers everywhere spreading hatred and bigotry.

@terrim

We may have different religiouse beliefs and different cultures but in a strange funny way we all believe in the same thing…Humanity.

No, hatred and disdain for humanity is a common feature of religion. We’re all sinful, unclean monsters to many believers.

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

@terrim

I was born Catholic and raised Christian. Not much of a diffrence there but a few more holidays or a few more prayer serviouses (not fond of the kneeling standing thing) I have now been Wiccan for over 15 years. I don’t disagree with Christian or Catholic religion, I don’t think one religion is better than the other.

Catholicism is Christian.

[fumster]

@terrim

I was born Catholic and raised Christian. … I have now been Wiccan for over 15 years. … Being Wiccan I worship the Goodess of the moon and her consort the sun, but we also believe that there is a higher God who has created us all including the sun and the moon. We thank mother earth for providing us with food to eat and water to drink, we give our thanks to the moon and sun for helping things grow for mother earth…

God help us.

[Bryan_Ekers]

@terrim

Being Wiccan I worship the Goodess of the moon and her consort the sun, but we also believe that there is a higher God who has created us all including the sun and the moon. We thank mother earth for providing us with food to eat and water to drink, we give our thanks to the moon and sun for helping things grow for mother earth…

Well, assuming this is serious, my follow-up questions are simple:

1. Do you want “mother earth provides” taught alongside photosynthesis, agriculture and irrigation in the classroom?

2. Would you vote for a political candidate at any level of government who said that the goals of question 1 were a priority?

I’ve no objection to your belief system. I just don’t want it potentially interfering with my life.

[spiirit]

@obbn

Hello All,
I guess I much have too much time on my hands because it leads me to think critically on things such as God. I was raised a Catholic and I do believe that there is a God. What disturbs me is that when I try to think of the existence of God in a reasonable light I sometimes question what I believe. Of course it bothers me that I question my faith, but I guess that is what humans with a brain do.
So, my latest thought (and stay with me here) today was that Jesus Christ spread the word of God, there were miracles performed and that is basically what “convinced” the people in this region to belive in God and christianity. (Yes, I may have my facts confused a bit, I am just sketching broad strokes here).
So, the people who knew Jesus and witnessed the miracles certainly have a reason to believe. My question is: If God exist and wants all humans to know and believe in him why was Jesus confined to a single geographical point on earth. The Native Americans and the native Africans would know nothing of Jesus until they were told of his existence by Europeans colonizing their lands. So, in order to believe they had to take a second hand account and believe what they are being told. Why wouldn’t God send (for the lack of a better word) a representative to different localations across the Earth so all humans at one point in time would have had first hand knowledge? Becuase he didn’t, the majority of the World has to take the word of others that this is true and not a made up story.
I hope that I have made some sense in what I am trying to get across. I truly do believe that there is a God, but sometimes my thinking side convices me that our Christian God is no different than the Sun or Moon Gods of the early, less civalized cultures. It makes me very torn inside. Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.

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Saviours-

You must read the bible again… you missed something and I have found that every word is vey important to prevent confusion.

In this case see KJV 1611 version: I am sorry but these latter day’s see so many new issues of the word of God it has become most cumbersone to isolate exact scripture as remembered. I must quote as I remember it thusly- Two of the original disciples returning from theit mission of spreading the gospel reported to the Christ “Master, we met another who was teaching the same as we, and we forbade him”, whereupon the Lord said “Forbid him not, for whosever is with us cannot be against us”.

This is a tid-bit as there are many such in the Bible and easy to be passed over. At any rate, there is reference to at least one other “outside source” of the same gospel being preached in another area. Now, this information is not entered into the scriptures by chance… it has a message to all that other messengers were out there at the same time. I have found that the scriptures when well learned, do not leave a single stone unturned when it comes to a supposed confusion… it is always only that the reader is lacking in past diligence of their studies.

It has been my experience that the Bible must be read cover to cover at least three times. 1st. is grade school, 2nd is College,3rd. is University (by the Holy Spirit). We are not spoon-fed the finer points but must put forth the effort at learning with a true heart and an earnest desire.

Tom W.

[monavis]

@kanicbird

This statement is false, God verifies His word directly.
Would you not agree that writing is a creative act? I hope so. I offer the following:

This would mean that all writings are created through Jesus. And the reason for this statement:
Evey book is of God, and every other piece of writings, everything on the internet, every scribble everything is His and nothing was created without Him.

That is your belief and you are entitled to it ,but it is not FACT! All the writers were human,so your belief is in what a human wrote, said was God’s word, or inspired by God. Of course if the Psalmist was correct then every one is God, and God can be contradictory.

By your reasoning, I am also speaking for God, so God can disagree with Him self?

[monavis]

@spiirit

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Saviours-

You must read the bible again… you missed something and I have found that every word is vey important to prevent confusion.

In this case see KJV 1611 version: I am sorry but these latter day’s see so many new issues of the word of God it has become most cumbersone to isolate exact scripture as remembered. I must quote as I remember it thusly- Two of the original disciples returning from theit mission of spreading the gospel reported to the Christ “Master, we met another who was teaching the same as we, and we forbade him”, whereupon the Lord said “Forbid him not, for whosever is with us cannot be against us”.

This is a tid-bit as there are many such in the Bible and easy to be passed over. At any rate, there is reference to at least one other “outside source” of the same gospel being preached in another area. Now, this information is not entered into the scriptures by chance… it has a message to all that other messengers were out there at the same time. I have found that the scriptures when well learned, do not leave a single stone unturned when it comes to a supposed confusion… it is always only that the reader is lacking in past diligence of their studies.

It has been my experience that the Bible must be read cover to cover at least three times. 1st. is grade school, 2nd is College,3rd. is University (by the Holy Spirit). We are not spoon-fed the finer points but must put forth the effort at learning with a true heart and an earnest desire.

Tom W.

Over the years I have read the Bible cover to cover at least 24 times,then I started to think about what I read, and realized it was contradictory from one author to another; saw many things that were not, or could not be true. Then I realized that what I was reading was not of God but of humans.
It is a matter of what one desires or feel they need to get through life, some use their faith for good, some for selfish reasons, some for evil. It is a tool used for what ever the believer want to use it for!