Then, as an older teenager, nope because I thought the Satanic overtones of heavy metal music were cool.
Then, in my early twenties I found leftist politics attractive.
Now in my mid-thirties, I am a conservative.
I’m following a well-worn and unoriginal path, and before I know it I’ll be muttering at passers-by to “git orf of mah propertee”.
Seriously, no. Christianity has not shown me anything better than the same weak “just trust us, or you’ll go to hell” case that all other religions offer (including, I must add, atheism - in the atheists’ case, just replace “going to hell” with “we will treat you as an intellectual doorstop and look down on you”)
Like several others that have answered, I’m Catholic. We don’t use the phrase, “I’m saved”. We are raised in the Faith and practice it throughout our lives. Idle Thoughts, you’ve been asked if that qualifies, but you haven’t answered. What is your opinion?
I believe Jesus of Nazareth existed. It is possible he was a charismatic conman and charlatan, though it is likely he was in fact a nice guy. I do not believe he was the son of God though.
Oh yes, and I’m quite open about the existence of a creator. Just not some guy in the desert 2k years ago. Why come to our planet? Why there? Why then?
I was raised Catholic, and honestly the whole “accepting Jesus Christ as your Saviour” and “being saved” thing has always left me a bit befuddled.
Have I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour? Have I accepted oxygen as my respiratory gas? Have I accepted the Earth as my planet?
I was baptized. I was confirmed. I go to Church every Christmas and Easter, and whenever my mother asks me to. I’ve never spoken in tongues or had holy seizures or any Bizarro things like that.
Nope. Was baptised and grew up Lutheran. Got confirmed too. Like with the Catholics, there wasn’t much of a push to “accept Jesus as your savior,” at least not in so many words. As I recall, the most we were encouraged to do was “build a personal relationship” with him (whatever that means). In that attempt, I prayed a bunch (kind of like leaving a message on a celestial answering machine) but never heard back from God or Jesus or even the Holy Spirit (and you’d think with all three of them on the job, someone would answer). That kind of dampened my enthusiasm, to say the least (we won’t even talk about my abandonment issues over that one).
I did, however, in a last-ditch attempt to generate some sort of religious experience, go through the Mormon ritual questions, “Is the Book of Mormon true?” and “Is Joseph Smith a prophet?” Having sent out my query into the ether, I settled back to wait for a “burning in my breast.” None being forthcoming, I got baptized (again) anyway in an attempted leap of faith. Well, that didn’t work either.
End result: I’m agnostic towards “god” and more than a little tired of the encouragement by his followers to “find” him (whatever that means).
I’m Catholic, and I attended a Catholic school through the fifth grade. I transferred to a public school in rural North Carolina in the sixth grade. One day during gym class, one of my classmates announced that she “got saved last night.” I had never heard of such a thing, and I responded “Saved from what?” Some of my classmates never treated me the same after that, even though I had honestly never heard the phrase before.
I’ve really never considered the “saved” question myself. I was always taught that salvation came from the way you lived your life - living by God’s word - rather than running around proclaiming that you have accepted Jesus as your Savior.
Sorry, I haven’t really answered any questions in here that have the potential to start a debate, which is not what I want or intended. Maybe a debate wouldn’t start. But from what I’ve read around here, it’s very easy to get one started. I always feel like I have to walk on eggshells.
But to answer yours, no. I was raised as Catholic too, and then got involved with a Baptist church. Most there were Christian, though. However, I think that Baptist may be a “department” of Christianism.
It was there I got saved and learned all the steps and ways of God, Salvation, etc.
These days I don’t go to church, or read the bible. I’m not religious in any way really…at least I don’t show it. And I certainly don’t ever witness to anyone. However, I do know the info on it…at least, the info I was taught and read about, the way the baptist church preached it. One of these things (and please, for the love of GOD, pardon the pun, don’t let this turn into a debate) was that you cannot be “saved” just by good works alone.
But hey, that’s just what I believe. YMMV greatly.
I completely agree, Lib, and may I thank you for saying it, for the both of us.
I suggested to Freyr a couple of years ago, and never got a chance to discuss it further, that perhaps the “piss-poor answers” were in fact good answers that he misinterpreted based on cultural preconceptions. For example, “Persevere,” one such answer which sticks with me, being not “keep trying to be something you’re not,” but “be the best you that you can, and keep loving as I would.”
God doesn’t exist, and Jesus, though he probably lived, has no magic power to save us from damnation (which doesn’t exist except in the existentialist sense of all life on earth being hell) or to usher us into heaven (which doesn’t exist at all). Even if God were to exist he would not deserve my worship.
No, he didn’t have two forms of ID. Not even in Gods do we trust.
The worst part about most religions are the people. So I learned what I could of what was offered of everything out there, and ended up with a resounding no in answer to your question, more than half this life ago.
There’s only one Person Who knows that (or maybe Three now; the One who said so claimed He didn’t when He was knocking around Palestine, but may have gotten filled in on the details since the Ascension).
There was a very wise Catholic saint who, when asked that question, said, “I have been saved, I am being saved, and I hope someday to be saved.”
Grew up in a liberal Protestant Church. Never really bought it, but went through confirmation at 13 because I didn’t have the guts to stand up to my parents. Have been a self-proclaimed atheist since about 15.
I’d also add that I don’t care for the way you rephrased the question. On preview, I see that Poly’s already pointed out why. Phrasing it that way sounds smug and self-righteous. From the rest of your posts, it doesn’t sound as though that’s your intention, but you should be aware of the implications of your phrasing.
The whole concept of “accepting” Jesus and thus being “saved” from something (what? hell?) is so unbelievably bizarre to me. And I just can’t wrap my brain around the concept that he could have “died for our sins.” How does that work, exactly? It was 2000 years before I actually committed any sins. I don’t get it.
I don’t mean to be snarky. I just really don’t understand it at all.
And I like Jesus! I see him as a great teacher and a wise man, and I feel that we all would be a lot better off if people would spend more time living according to his lessons and less time pasting “Jesus Loves You” bumper stickers on their cars.
I remember when I was young and going to parochial school we used to take these little quizzes in religion classes and I got whipped for my answer to “Why did Jesus die” which I guess was “for our sins” but in red crayon I laboriously wrote out “beats me, my dad says he had a death wish or something.” I was also whipped mercilessly for my answer to the questions on the Virgin Birth and that was about the time when my parents realised that if you send your heathen Hindu children to a parochial school WITH corporal punishment then making bawdy religion jokes was prolly not a good idea.
My boyfriend pretended to accept Jesus Christ as his savior, though, because he got locked into a basement until he said he did. (His mom didn’t let him go back to that summer camp after that)
As for the OP, count me in with the Catholics who are a little perplexed by the concept of “being saved.” That terminology just isn’t used. Attend Mass, don’t eat meat on Fridays, go to confession, but you’re still pretty much gonna end up in Hell.
No. I have not accepted J.C. as my savior. And I wish he and his old man would stop trying to test Me with their little games that show Me how helpless I am in their colossal toy universe. It’s really pissing Me off. If they throw me too much more, Jesus will find himself in need of a savior!
I always feel like I have to walk on eggshells.