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Christians

Texmex

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How many posters here, other than myself, are blood-washed, born-again, God-loving Christians?
 
I'm a born again Evangelical Christian.
 
I am as well.
 
I am a Christian.
 
I am Christian...but I am definitely not "Christian". I find most of those who want to scream to the world that they are "Christian" follow very little the actual teachings of Jesus Christ.
 
I actually don't know anybody who screams the word "Christian." Do you?
 
I actually don't know anybody who screams the word "Christian." Do you?

I did yesterday... one of my clients is named Christian and he was doing something silly. :2razz:
 
And I suppose I could say that I overheard my next-door neighbor Christian screaming in the throes of passion.
 
I was born and raised a christian until I was about 22. Saved, baptised, the works. I was a true believer back then. Lost my faith permanently though. But I hear "Once saved, always saved", so I guess I'm covered regardless.
 
Traditionalist Roman Catholic. Not sure if that counts. :shrug:

Some people can have a tendency to be rather picky concerning such definitions. :lol:
 
The OP's operative phrase is "born again," and there definitely are "charismatic Catholics" out there.
 
Mind if I ask what caused you to lose your faith?

I was born and raised a christian until I was about 22. Saved, baptised, the works. I was a true believer back then. Lost my faith permanently though. But I hear "Once saved, always saved", so I guess I'm covered regardless.
 
How many posters here, other than myself, are blood-washed, born-again, God-loving Christians?



Nothing but the blood.
 
You reminded me of this Chris Rice song, Goshin:

 
I was baptized by a fire and brimstone old school country Methodist preacher in a river so freaking cold that I thought I was going to die from hypothermia. That said, I am not a big believer in baptism as it is practiced today.
 
Mind if I ask what caused you to lose your faith?

Yeah, no problem. Since I was about 12 I kept having questions about christianity that had no real answers. I kept seeing major contradictions. I just pushed this down and kept going, telling myself I still believed. I was terrified of even questioning my faith because I didn't want to go to hell. Later after seeing a lot of the world and maturing a lot, I had even more questions. I contacted my old pastors, talked to new ones, on and on, but I always got the same ambiguous answers. At one point I just decided I need to do some exploring of my own. I started reading a lot of books, and I found some that really, really resonated with what I had been thinking since I was 12. The biggest book that shaped that was "Why I Believed", which was written by a former missionary turned atheist. The book is directed at people like me that grew up christians. He goes through and logically refutes most of what I was taught growing up.

I'm not necessarily trying to start a debate about these topics here, but a few of the questions that bothered me so much that I had to leave were:

RabidAlpaca said:
- If god were omnipotent, he has the power to destroy hell and make the punishment for sin far less severe than eternal hellfire. There is no reason that the punishment be that severe. That would be the actions of a sadistic and unforgiving god, which I simply can't believe he is. It is far more likely that hell was invented by man to coerce people into believing. Why was hell never mentioned in the old testament? You'd think that would be pretty important. The only thing that is mentioned is the Hebrew word "sheol", which has no negative connotations, just means afterlife.

- Why is there no tangible evidence of any kind? The only 'evidence' we have is the bible itself. Why would god entrust such important information only to ONE person at a time? We can not verify anything that was said. Our eternal souls are hanging in the balance, and he only gives us a single book that only verifies itself?

- Why is the bible so insanely ambiguous? There are a dozens and dozens of sects within christianity, some with very fundamental disagreements. You'd think god would have made his intentions far more clear.

- If god made me in his image and I'm rational, logical, and compassionate. Why is he not?

- Evolution and historical evidence does not match with the biblical timeline.

- Why would god allow his own chosen people, the Jews, to be slaughtered like cattle by the millions? That's not free-will, that's just horrible.

It all comes down to the fact that I'm a man of science, and I believe in the burden of proof. If I were to tell you there's a flying spaghetti monster, you wouldn't believe me until you saw evidence. This doesn't change simply because I was raised to be christian. I am an atheist, but if I discover any evidence that proves that assumption wrong, I will shift accordingly.
 
I am an Orthodox Christian. Christian, plain and simple, should only imply Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant. Everything else should come with a tag "evangelical christian", "born again Christian" and called them simply "christian" is not quite right.

I am not born-again or anything.

I don't consider most evangelical cults to be actually Christian since most use the Bible as a bashing tool.
 
I am an Orthodox Christian. Christian, plain and simple, should only imply Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant. Everything else should come with a tag "evangelical christian", "born again Christian" and called them simply "christian" is not quite right.
.

I disagree with your idea of "tags" because these are details that distract from the definition of "Christian"--a follower of Jesus Christ.
 
Yeah, no problem. Since I was about 12 I kept having questions about christianity that had no real answers. I kept seeing major contradictions. I just pushed this down and kept going, telling myself I still believed. I was terrified of even questioning my faith because I didn't want to go to hell. Later after seeing a lot of the world and maturing a lot, I had even more questions. I contacted my old pastors, talked to new ones, on and on, but I always got the same ambiguous answers. At one point I just decided I need to do some exploring of my own. I started reading a lot of books, and I found some that really, really resonated with what I had been thinking since I was 12. The biggest book that shaped that was "Why I Believed", which was written by a former missionary turned atheist. The book is directed at people like me that grew up christians. He goes through and logically refutes most of what I was taught growing up.

I'm not necessarily trying to start a debate about these topics here, but a few of the questions that bothered me so much that I had to leave were:



It all comes down to the fact that I'm a man of science, and I believe in the burden of proof. If I were to tell you there's a flying spaghetti monster, you wouldn't believe me until you saw evidence. This doesn't change simply because I was raised to be christian. I am an atheist, but if I discover any evidence that proves that assumption wrong, I will shift accordingly.

Though I consider myself agnostic with Deist leanings, I have to agree with every point you posted, and then some.

Too many things have happened in our history to apply 'benevolent' and 'good' to what most call God, and from the horrors of recent events, I can't say that he is 'in control' either.

I may be right, I may be wrong, but to each their own if it fills a need in them without harming others.
 
I appreciate your lengthy and thoughtful response! I know you said you didn't want to argue, but I can't help but add a few thoughts of my own. After reading the New Testament, I wondered why Jesus would devise a fake personality. I mean, he knew he was going to get crucified, what he preached back then was crazy for an average person to do. At the same time, he wasn't Jim Jones, he preached such a loving message.

God gives us free will, and I don't know of anything more valuable than freedom. If we want to imagine how wonderful things can be and strive for them, why wouldn't there be the horrible alternative at the other end of the spectrum. Sounds fair to me. Btw, I don't think hell is meant for every person who hasn't verbally said they believe in Jesus. I think it's meant for the worst of us....those who make a lifestyle out of being horrible.

I think the Bible is pretty good evidence. The New Testament has several accounts told by Paul, John, Ringo (jk), Mark, Matthew, and Luke. And they all seem to be pretty close to the same story. Don't ask me to explain Noah's Ark, I think stories like that are figurative.

I think Jesus intentions are pretty clear. If you want to go back to Old Testament dietary laws and such, it gets confusing and I think Jesus ended a lot of that.

I think God is logical and compassionate, I just don't think we are. As someone once said, "Hell lives in the hearts and minds of man".

The Old Testament seems to be one story after another of the Jews making mistakes and God punishing them. I think it's all a part of free will, and the maturing of a race. Look at the Jews now, I'd say they're doing pretty darn good! :)

Anyway, thanks again for your comments, and hope you don't mind mine.

Yeah, no problem. Since I was about 12 I kept having questions about christianity that had no real answers. I kept seeing major contradictions. I just pushed this down and kept going, telling myself I still believed. I was terrified of even questioning my faith because I didn't want to go to hell. Later after seeing a lot of the world and maturing a lot, I had even more questions. I contacted my old pastors, talked to new ones, on and on, but I always got the same ambiguous answers. At one point I just decided I need to do some exploring of my own. I started reading a lot of books, and I found some that really, really resonated with what I had been thinking since I was 12. The biggest book that shaped that was "Why I Believed", which was written by a former missionary turned atheist. The book is directed at people like me that grew up christians. He goes through and logically refutes most of what I was taught growing up.

I'm not necessarily trying to start a debate about these topics here, but a few of the questions that bothered me so much that I had to leave were:



It all comes down to the fact that I'm a man of science, and I believe in the burden of proof. If I were to tell you there's a flying spaghetti monster, you wouldn't believe me until you saw evidence. This doesn't change simply because I was raised to be christian. I am an atheist, but if I discover any evidence that proves that assumption wrong, I will shift accordingly.
 
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How many posters here, other than myself, are blood-washed, born-again, God-loving Christians?

I am Presbyterian. I am sprinkled, not dunked. So I am not a real Christian if you are a baptist lol.j/k.
 
What is "blood washed?"
 
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