What is a "Chistian" anyway?

jmullaney, would you mind one quick comment from an actual, bonafide Christian before you close the thread? :slight_smile:

As others have said, believing in Jesus is the essence of what is means to be a Christian. However, in today’s American society, we have totally watered down the meaning of the word “believe”. And no I’m not trying to be Bill Clinton here. I know what the definition of “is” is.

When I say I “believe in Jesus”, I don’t mean that I just believe He exists and that He did all that cool stuff in the Bible. It means that I TRUST Him with CONTROL of my life. I BELIEVE He is who He says He is, and that I can trust Him completely. It involves a total change of direction and thought.

jmullaney, I want you to know that Jesus would like to GIVE you a moral compass. You said “I only ask because being an atheist/satanist is kinda lonely sometimes. I know what is good, and have chosen evil, and if there does happen to be a god i’m in big trouble.”
True. So isn’t it worth your while to investigate what Christianity says? You don’t HAVE to STAY in big trouble! God loves you and wants to give you a life full of direction and purpose. I pray that God will draw you to Him jmullaney. Please know this: He will accept you FULLY as you are, even though as you said you have chosen evil. God can give you a totally new heart that chooses good. Just wanted to let you know. :slight_smile:

Well, in My humble opinion, a Christian is someone who believes they have sinned, and that Jesus died on the cross for their sins.
They accept this sacrifice on His part, and live His words.
Denomination does Not make one a christian, any one can be a christian if they love God and their fellow man(sometimes not an easy thing).
Amen…

Couple of notes:

I think (and may be wrong) that the quote “And it harm no one” is actually the credo for Wiccan paganism, not Levay’s Satanism. I don’t think Levay was entirely against harming others…in fact I think he advocates warning people once that they are in your way, then bashing them if they don’t move.

The OPs post seems more like an atheistic “F&*% the world” version of Satanism. Sounds a bit like a mixture of self-loathing and anger, but who am I to say?

Well, they are kinda like Christians, but wih more “r” s.

Well, as I understand it (and I’ll need to break out my copy of the Satanic Bible, Lavey was generally opposed to harming innocents (children and animals most specifically), as well as those who are not harming or hindering you. Gratuitous or malicious violence against another is not a part of his philosophy at all.

Now, if someone is keeping you from exercising your rights, Lavey says by all means use force.

Is it just ME, or do ALL of FriendofGod’s posts READ like WILLIAM SHATNER? :rolleyes:

Esprix

Webster is certainly a recognized authority on the meanings of words. But on the matter of what a Christian is, Jesus might be said to carry authority of at least equal weight.

“By this will all men know you are my disciples, that you love one another.” — Jesus

Ah, but the converse doesn’t exactly hold, does it, Lib? If one is a Christian, one will show love for others. But if one loves others, one is not necessarily Christian.

jmullaney, reading your statement that the life you’ve chosen is a lonely one breaks my heart. I know someone who died a horrible death just so that YOU would never have to be lonely again. The loneliness that you feel is your personal message from God. He IS calling you, or you wouldn’t have even posted your message. God wants to change your life so that you can know what is good and choose it, not just because it’s what God wants, but because you realize that IT WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY! All of God’s laws are not about “Don’t do this because I’m in charge and don’t want you to have any fun!” They’re about “Here’s how you can live a life of joy and contentment (not loneliness) on earth…and HAVE ETERNAL LIFE with me.” I don’t know if you have kids, but having children really helped me understand this concept. Sometimes my kids want to do something, say-play with matches. I could let them do that, after all, matches look really cool when they burn and they have that weird smell, but I KNOW that it will burn their little fingers, so I tell them NO! Not because I don’t want them to have fun, because I love them. God loves us, He tells us no because He knows the consequences of doing anything. Sorry, I didn’t mean to get so long-winded… the main thing I wanted to say was…if you want proof that God exists, you have it: You’re loneliness, even if it’s only sometimes, is God’s way of letting you know that something is missing.

Hey there, felicia. Glad you could join us.

If you’re interested, you might hop over to Christianity and Love thread. Looks like Friend of God is getting a little frustrated and you might be able to help him communicate his thoughs a little better.

You’re evil, andros. Now I’ll have two fundamentalists trying to save my soul from eternal torment. I’m never letting you be my sock-puppet again. :stuck_out_tongue:

Andros

On the contrary, a rose by any other name…

Heh heh heh . . .

Had to through in my two cents. OK. As other’s have said you can’t be an atheist and a satanist. WHY? Because theists believe in the existence of gods or a god. That’s what satanists believe too. So either you are a selfish atheist or you’r a satanist. You can’t be both.

Actually that is what satanists do.
I quote from Glen Benton, lead singer of deicide and commited satanist.

While he doesn’t go around actually practicing evil, he just does what he wants. I can also throw out some quotes from the church of satan, but I can’t find any right now.

For the record I’m a commited atheist and materialist

Let me put in a good word for atheism here. As far as I’m concerned, atheism is the necessary conclusion of a reasoned examination of the world. We are oppressed in this society, so it can seem very lonely, but the internet is a great way to find the atheist/agnostic/freethinker community. Try about.com’s site: http://atheism.about.com/religion/atheism/index.htm?rnk=c1&terms=agnostic or http://www.infidels.org to get you started. They also have links to webrings and other interesting sites. Bottom line, you’re lonely because other people who think like you are too afraid (reasonably so) to discuss their thoughts on the issue in public, not because you need JESUS in your life.

Also, let me point out that atheism does not equate with being immoral. It may surprise some people to find that I am an atheist, but I think that abortion is wrong (except for IUDs and morning-after type pills, or to protect the mother), I recently decided that the death penalty cannot be imposed justly, I am married and take my vows dead seriously, I give to charity, etc.

I have always thought that Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Wiccans, Atheists, everyone, gets their morals from the same source - what makes society work best. We are not that different when you come right down to it.

Just a couple of points to play Dev…well just to play.

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I meander back and forth trying to decide if you meant this quote as pompously as if first seemed to me. The "As far as I am concerned part" is ok with me. It's the "necessary conclusion of a reasoned examination of the world" part that I find like witnessing...or anti-witnessing if you will. I can assure you I have made a reasoned examination of the world and have not come to the same conclusion as you. I have not embraced any organized religions either. But I do believe people who make reasoned examinations of the nature of the world can come to different conclusions. Yours is valid for you, but not for everyone.
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~~~We are oppressed in this society,

Meaning atheists. I don't know about THAT...I mean I would say the fundie religious people sure aren't wild about atheists, but I think the population at large is pretty tolerant, and I would suspect atheists make up a fair segment of the population. I think atheists bring SOME of the ire onto themselves much the way fundie religious folk do...by asserting that their view of the world is correct and everyone else is wrong.

Well. In 1944 and again in 1994, 96 percent of Americans told the Gallup Organization that they believe in God or a universal spirit. So yes atheists are in a distinct minority. We are not a fair segment of the population. And sure the population at large is pretty tolerant, but they can’t seem to understand why we don’t want school prayers. Remember the majority of Texans voted for school prayer, what I would call repression orf atheists.

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I did not know that and stand corrected. I seem to run into a bunch myself.

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~~~And sure the population at large is pretty tolerant, but they can't seem to understand why we don't want school prayers

this brings up an interesting point in light of the recent US Supreme Court ruling. I am not very religious myself and don't pray, and I will admit to feeling....bemused I guess would be the word, when in the presence of those who do pray. Nonetheless, I never thought it to be THAT big of a deal. Usually back in high school when we were having that "moment of silence" I spent the time staring at the blonde girl in the row next to me. Fine by me. How do you, as an atheist, feel about the "moment of silence" thing. Private prayer is implied, but you could just as easily be daydreaming about monkey sex with that selfsame girl. I also tended to look upon the religious convections of others with an almost anthropological eye...I was always kinda curious what other people were up to, what they believed in. So I am kinda curious why so many atheists take things like school prayer so PERSONALLY...I mean I would almost think that atheists would just look upon it as other people being silly/wasting time. I could understand other people from other religions being a bit more upset...but then again this brings me to my curiosity if atheism itself does not become as dogmatic and pugilistic as many religions?

Because it’s not us being subjected to the prayer. It’s our children. I don’t want my kids being forced to pray or being told that they must worship god and they will go to hell if they don’t. I’d rather the subject never came up. By having the moment of silence the schools are creating a religious atmosphere. It’s the same reason I don’t want creationism or the theory that pi=3 taught is schools.

Oldscratch:

I can appreciate that. Every parent has the right to raise their children as they wish. I wonder if the children of atheists will rebel by becoming fundies (and I don’t mean the underwear for two).

;j

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I agree with creationism. What's this pi=3 stuff? I have heard that before but assumed it was just a viscious rumor. Wouldn't toying with something that could be shown to be untrue with a circle and a calculator be rather foolish?