Boys, cut the crap and let's have a meaningful, thought-provoking thread!

On topic, I personally understand "religion" to be the way we worship our beliefs. For instance, I used to say "I can be a Christian without being religious." i.e. not going to church every Sunday doesn't condem me to hell (although my minister wanted me to believe it would). It seems to me that "religion" is where a lot of people get hung up and experience alot of guilt. No one is perfect (God).

Its hard for me to accept all of the tennants of any one religion.

They can't all be right.

 

I'm not sure you really mean "worship our beliefs." Maybe you mean "worship the God they believe in." That makes sense and is probably what you mean.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Garyj
[B]A minister who does not believe in God?

 

Some of us have one (John 10:10).

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by xviper
[B]
For some reason, I got the impression from some of your other posts that you were a "man of the cloth".

 

I remember a post where you said where you worked but I've never seen one where you actually come out and say what it is you really do. You don't necessarily have to be a "minister" or the like to work where you work (or do you?)
signed, bewildered.

 

He obviously meant "tenants" and his comment was intended to convey that he has no vacancy. Try the motel down the street.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by xviper
[B]
I remember a post where you said where you worked but I've never seen one where you actually come out and say what it is you really do.

 

Thanks for setting my posts straight guys! It takes a lot of "tennacity" to post on this thread.



I left the Christian faith after doing four years of intense biblical study. There are a huge differences between the Old and New Testaments but the thing that really caused me to leave the faith was my study of the intertestament period. When you see how Alexander the Great "blended" the cultures, beliefs, and religions of the Greeks and Middle East, you see that the messianic prophesies of the Old Testament were blended with the concepts of Satan, devils, heaven, miracles (defined as God's intervention in the natural order of nature) prevalent in the Middle East. The disciples of Jesus (whose mission was to re-establish the nation of Israel even at the expense of Gentiles) had a very difficult time figuring out how the man Jesus fit into the "blended" beliefs of the time. The only way to make sense of it was to establish the concept of a war between good and evil with man caught in the middle and Jesus being God himself!

Living in an age where science and the prevalence of historical knowledge has explained and proven so many things contrary to virtually all faiths is certainly the greatest challenge to man's understanding of his place in the cosmos!

I only know that I cannot save myself.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Garyj
[B]

I am one of four pastors of a medium-large church in Southern California.