can't decide on a religion? choose none and go to heaven anyway?

[ChristIsLord]

i’ve spend the better part of 15 years seeking out a religion but find myself at a point where i have to concede that all of them are manmade and at the core of it too nonsensical to believe the almighty god of the universe ordained any of them.

judaism - i believe is a holdover racist ideology that centers on a persons lineage being the most important factor. at the end of days when the jewish messiah comes we will all bow down and serve the jews. i find this absurd and very antiquated all tribes at one point believed they were the best and would at some point rule over the world. most gave up on this notion and decided that living together is a better option. i respect judaism for its teachings on the oneness of god, but its exclusion of their fellow man i find very unappealing.

islam - well islam is o.k. except for the fact that they can’t even get the arguments against christianity right, i have a hard time believing that god couldn’t even square his argument correctly in a book he authored from cover to cover. that and it is insanely violent throughout the world i really don’t want to involved myself in that madness. and you can run from the verses as much as you would like but all the muslims running around cutting off jews heads and bombing night clubs are getting their justification from the koran.

christianity - where do i start, the trinity makes zero sense, jesus being a godman incarnate makes no sense. so jesus was 100% man and 100% god when only a baby? the almighty god of the universe had to have his tushy wiped? i don’t get it… the eucharist, i have to eat a piece of bread which is really jesus christ who is really the almighty god of the universe? the host is actually 100% god that i am to eat, i eat god. all of the intermixing of nonsense within the religion, santa claus, easter bunnies, yule logs, obviously the religion has been severely corrupted by pagan rights and rituals, and if paganism can invade christianity so much outwardly it’s hard for me to believe it hasn’t corrupted its doctrine. the first christians were not lighting candles and bowing before statues, this was a much later invention. i could go on all day…

o.k. so since that rant is over where does that leave me and the millions like me who believe in god, yet can’t stomach the dogma pushed down by organized religions?

now honestly think for a minute i am a man lost in the wilderness for 31 years and never heard of any of these faiths (yet i can still read and speak no problem for some reason). how would i as a reasonable logical thinking being accept any of them when they are ask you to believe things that are completely nonsensical? where does that leave us? shall we throw our judgment and conscience out the door and accept myths out of fear of hell?

 

[puzzleannie]

you have not stated accurately the teachings of any of these religions so my advice is to continue your study until you do know what these systems believe, hold, teach and practice before making a judgement.

 

[ChristIsLord]

you have not stated accurately the teachings of any of these religions so my advice is to continue your study until you do know what these systems believe, hold, teach and practice before making a judgement.

they are all accurate…

being accurate and politically correct are not mutually exclusive. remember this is a post dealing with my frustration with organized religion so i will focus on the parts i take issue with.

 

[chris_molter]

they are all accurate…

being accurate and politically correct are not mutually exclusive. remember this is a post dealing with my frustration with organized religion so i will focus on the parts i take issue with.

Why bother believing in God at all? If you can’t trust any of these religions to reveal God to mankind, then just be a syncretist or an agnostic and run with it. It’s pretty obvious you’ve decided what to believe or not based on whatever you’ve read and/or experienced and no one here is going to convince you otherwise.

As the old joke goes: Organized Religion? No, I don’t believe in Organized Religion… I’m Catholic

 

[Muslim_Woman]

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

Salaam/ Peace

… can’t decide on a religion? choose none and go to heaven anyway?

nuh. Heavens are for the believers only. So , if u want to go there , you have to accept the Truth. Search more , God Willing , you will find it

 

[planten]

** Instead of ending up as a failure of comprehention, it would be better to take the good things of all religions. I am sure there are some good things in every religion. And leave the things you find bad. There is no need to run away from God.

Mankind consists of body and (special, human) soul. One lives a life as a believer or disbeliever. Eventually, death catches up with every one. That is the moment of truth, the moment to evaluate things.

The next important thing after the belief in God is the accountability of the next life. And the need to do good always to self and others. That will be your good religion till you find some comfort in some heaven. (The above is my reply to the original poster).**

 

[MarcoPolo]

I think I might have to agree with some of the others. It sounds like you are here to demonstrate that you reject Christianity because you can’t accept God Incarnate because to you, that’s “nonsensical.”

But! A very brief case for Christianity is this…someone asked me how they should explain Christianity to an atheist. I said:

*If you are asked why we should believe the Virgin birth, just state from a purely historical-scientific angle, there are many witnesses to the events of salvation history, those early Christians were martyred for their beliefs, they testified to the miracles of Jesus, saw Him die, saw Him alive 3 days later, and had the faith spread to every corner of the earth like no other religion when, according to flippant atheists, they should have been received with laughter, and miracles continue to be performed to this day, there are the saints with scientifically validated stigmata, atheists converted on the spot at Fatima as I understand, etc…etc…

You will likely receive in response a claim trying to demonstrate one of those things as shaky evidence, like martyrs, and how lots of people die for false things…but it’s important that all of your evidence come as a package because nothing else on earth has all of Christianity’s qualities AT ONCE. It is the atheist who then is the one going against the evidence. And that’s from a purely non-spiritual perspective.
*
Your approach should not be “what is a religion I can accept.” That translates to “what is truth that I can accept.” Truth is impervious to anyone’s acceptance or not. Religion requires humility de facto, and one who seeks the truth must submit to it no matter what it is, not the other way around. God bless you in your journey.

 

[rstegeman]

First off, I don’t understand your Nickname, ChristIsLord when you admittedly think of him as absurd. You think that all that makes up Christianity makes no sense, yet you believe in God. From an atheist’s point of view, the idea of God makes no sense either. What has made you believe in God? Belief in God is based purely on faith and it’s the same faith that makes us Catholics believe in the teachings of the Catholic Church. If you believe that God is all powerful, then it’ not much of a stretch that he can be Father, Son and Holy Ghost all at the same time. If he is all powerful, it should be easy to believe that he can do things that we cannot fully comprehend.

As for the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, those are not part of our faith. Granted Santa Claus was originally St. Nicholas, but the concept and image became convoluted and adopted by the secular world. Just because a Christian puts up Santa decorations for Christmas does not mean that he is including him in his Christian celebration. On Christmas and Easter, there are two celebrations for each…the religious celebration which is focused on Christ and Christ alone and then the secular celebration which includes Santa, easter bunny, etc. Reminds me, I had a friend recently ask me for the proper way to display a lighted snowman. He wasn’t sure because he is Jewish. I had to laugh. I never thought I would have to explain to him that Frosty the Snowman is not a Christian thing. He is purely secular and is part of the secular celebration of Christmas (a celebration that many non-Christians celebrate).

 

[Mrschocolate42]

You are in a pickle. The problem with belief in a religion is that it requires both faith and reason. You sound like you have “reasoned” yourself out of believing because you have no faith. Are there certain premises you can say you do “believe”? For example, it sounds like you are willing to say there is a God. You are not willing to say there is an organized religion that God has established to reveal himself to people. So how do you think God reveals himself to us.? What most Judeo-Christian belief is based upon is that we can only know so much about God from our own reason and experience. Without Him ‘revealing’ himself to us we cannot really know him. And of course, even if he reveals himself, if he is God, we cannot truly understand him or we would be His equal (that’s nonsense). This is what mystery means in theological terms. To be a part of a religion is to accept the “mystery” of faith. You will never get there from your purely intellectual approach. Perhaps a writer like C.S. Lewis would help in your Journey. Have you read his book Mere Christianity? The other suggestion I have, and this would take a leap of faith, is for you to pray to God that he guide you to his Truth. May God’s peace be with you on your journey. The fact that you are searching is proof that God is working in your heart to seek him and to find him. Ask for His help to open your heart as well as your mind to His Truth.

 

[ckempston]

ChristIsLord - your analyses and criticisms of each of these religions contains some truth along with some fabrication and some misunderstanding.

I personally went through a couple years of very agnostic, borderline atheist thought in my life, but later saw the futility of maintaining such a position (fyi, I was raised Catholic and became an Evangelical as an adult prior to my faith issues).

Some things that brought me back to Christianity were that atheism/agnosticism are extremely hypocritical in their claims, they always seem to lose ground to historical evidence, they cannot ever answer the question of “why”, or questions of origins, or, for that matter, develop a moral society. Atheists believe in many things that cannot be seen, proven, demonstrated, or otherwise have evidence provided and yet they attack believers for faith in the unseen. They have also consistently jumped to conclusions on the lack of historical evidence, and consistently been proven wrong (e.g. the existence of David, certain Old Testament cities, or even entire kingdoms, such as the Hittites, I believe). Putting aside even the supernatural claims, the evidence corroborating Biblical claims has consistently grown.

Even if you reject “man-made” religion, I would encourage you to not give up your belief in God, even if it amounts to a simple theism or deism such as that of Thomas Paine (“I believe in one God, no more.”) You may also need to approach religion from a new perspective. Remember, just because a Christian, or group of them, claims that the earth is 6000 years old, or that there was a worldwide flood, for which we lack any evidence, doesn’t mean that the whole thing is untrue. It just means that this particular interpretation or understanding may be wrong.

 

[TotallyConfused]

Faith…2 posters mentioned this, and herein lies a difficult situation:

MarcoPolo:
Your approach should not be “what is a religion I can accept.” That translates to “what is truth that I can accept.” Truth is impervious to anyone’s acceptance or not. Religion requires humility de facto, and one who seeks the truth must submit to it no matter what it is, not the other way around.

Mrschocolate42:
The problem with belief in a religion is that it requires both faith and reason. You sound like you have “reasoned” yourself out of believing because you have no faith. Are there certain premises you can say you do “believe”?

Faith is required to step into religion, I agree. Without faith all I have to view religion is intellect. How are we expected to make a decision on religion without faith?
But then, how do we get faith?

You need faith to convert to a religion, and in order to obtain faith, the God of that religion has to grant it to you.

It’s a real conundrum. I know, I am in it. I have been praying for faith or some sort of conversion for quite some time, but I have not been heard, or it’s not been answered, or there is no one to hear me, or something…because I just can’t seem to grasp the faith required to become what I’m seeking to become.

Viewing religion through intellect only is to only see two dimensions of the three…or more realistically speaking, three dimensions when there are supposedly four.

I have tried to factually research Christianity, the religion of my birth, and research and intellect only takes you so far…actually if you are not careful, it can confuse you.

Speaking of this, I want to touch on MarcoPolo’s point on Truth:

Truth is impervious to anyone’s acceptance or not. Religion requires humility de facto, and one who seeks the truth must submit to it no matter what it is, not the other way around.

I fail to see how Truth is visible. The kind of Truth you are talking about is absolute, objective Truth, able to withstand and resist any kind of scrutiny.
Religion is most certainly a subjective truth, one that fails to withstand scrutiny, especially scientific and intellectual scrutiny, unless you have faith…Ah…there’s that word again…faith.
See, without faith, religion is a subjective truth at best.
Objective Truth is something that withstands all…like gravity. No matter who you are, where you are from, a human on earth is subject to gravity. That’s an absolute truth.
If religion was absolute, objectively true, we would all be of that one religion.
The fact that there are so many religions and debates and disagreements and fights and wars over different religions show it’s subjectivity of nature.

My lack of faith prompted me to start researching and searching for the objective truth of Christianity that many people claim to possess, but it’s all subjective.

In order to take the final step to religion, and true conversion, we need to have some sort of communication back from God. He needs to show himself to us. Personally, to convince us to take that next step that rational logic can’t allow you to take.

Without that intervention from God, we can’t enter into it…
I have been searching and praying and begging for that moment for so long, that I have all but given up hope that He’s actually out there…or if he is that he actually cares about me…

 

[survive]

I can’t refute your opinion of Islam, because I don’t know as much about it. But if you spend any time reviewing credible sources of information about Judaism and Christianity, then you are aware you are rejecting religions that basically exist in your mind, not the ones others believe in. Therefore, this is not a reasoned argument you make above, but an emotional one.
If not, then I will help you.
The version of Christianity you rejected is imaginary. The real thing takes many forms, but the “mixing” with tribal legends is part of cultural history anywhere, and these legends have no effect on doctrine in any way. It’s like asking how someone can believe in baseball when they sell soda pop at games and the ads for soda pop contain silly unreal images. Baseball would still exist and be pretty much the same without the soda, and the soda would be the same without the ads, or the ballgame. You don’t have to think a drink will add life and make you part of a generation with a special future to believe there are bases and men swinging bats and pitching. Most of the fans aren’t drinking soda. Most who do, don’t believe the ads. They just happen in the same place. Same with Christianity and the Easter Bunny.
The pagans invented a lot of ways of adapting to various climates. As they converted, they kept whatever didn’t conflict with their new, Christian beliefs. Appreciating seasons and their varied blessings does not conflict with Christian doctrine in any way at all, so no one asked them to stop enjoying the seasons. I believe there is a traditional Jewish holiday in the spring in which people celbrate outdoors in woolen tents. Try that in England or Switzerland.:snowing: So things adapted to the climate. Likewise, the way, say, Epiphany is celebrated might differ between Greenland and Australia; no one minds if people adapt celebrations. It’s not a doctrinal or moral issue.
Your problem with the Incarnation suggests a bad attitude toward nature and life anyway, so maybe seasonality actually turns you off to begin with. Well, that’s emotional and can’t be addressed point-by-point.
I don’t know of any Jews who expect to be served by all Gentiles. I know of prophecies that their enemies (attackers and oppressors) will go through a humbled time in retribution – and it has happened a few times, too. If that tells us anything, it is that there is a god, the OT has the works of His prophets (some of them) and we should believe these prophecies, because they come to pass. That’s a good reason to accept the Messianic prophecies. These are in some cases time-sensitive, and dated for roughly the First Century, place-specific, p(name removed by moderator)ointed to Bethlehem and Nazareth, and the ones a certain man fulfilled include all the ones that 1. He couldn’t have faked, and 2. Required fulfillment in the First Coming. This means that He could not have faked being the Messiah (and could not have gained by doing so anyway), and has left nothing unfulfilled that can’t be done at the End of the World. Thus the most plausible and logical explanation is that Jesus (Ie’ shua) of Nazareth, Son of Miriam (Mary), the wife of (I’ushef) Joseph the carpenter, is the Christ, the Son of God. There is nothing wrong with children, grain and such physical things. God invented them all. He can be all these and more if He wants to.
Be careful with the assumption that all roads lead to the top of the mountain. It’s a rare wilderness hiker who really expects all the trails to go the same place. Some go to an old mine. Some go to a rut. Some go around to where they started. .:yukonjoe:
The road to life is narrow and not everyone finds it.

 

[ChristIsLord]

Without that intervention from God, we can’t enter into it…
I have been searching and praying and begging for that moment for so long, that I have all but given up hope that He’s actually out there…or if he is that he actually cares about me…

a good calvinist would simply say you’re predestined to hell probably, not part of the elect, too bad so sad better luck next time.

i’m not neccessarilly in the same boat as you as my belief in god, one god who is a personal god is unshaken. i pray everyday, i talk to god when frustrated, or happy, i thank god. this is no problem for me. god will never talk back, you will never have that damascus road experience (unless you should be commited). if that’s what you’re waiting for, you will be waiting a long time.

my problem is finding somewhere to hang my hat, it seems no religions really exhibit to me what a religion should be, pure, simple, logical, uncorrupted, sound teaching. i don’t believe god would require us to believe in the most unbelievable things under pain of hellfire for eternity. and the trinity and jesus, and resurrections, and the transubstantiation etc… are very difficult things to believe, practically unbelievable. so if it takes faith (in a religion not in god), why should i thrust my faith towards one or the other? that’s the connundrum folks like you and i have.

judaism and islam would be the frontrunners from their belief in one god, and the purity of their faith, there’s no outside corruption like you see rampant in christianity. you can’t have so much outwardly pagan and expect me to believe that no no really it isn’t corrupted at all. and the beliefs are simply so strange and illogical that not even the top christian scholars can get their heads around them. trinity, transubstantiation, resurrection etc… all “mysteries” sometimes that’s just not good enough to coax people to believe what you tell them.

 

[BrianH]

What churches have you visited? Not read about, visited?
Have you visited a synagogue?

 

[ckempston]

a good calvinist would simply say you’re predestined to hell probably, not part of the elect, too bad so sad better luck next time.

i’m not neccessarilly in the same boat as you as my belief in god, one god who is a personal god is unshaken. i pray everyday, i talk to god when frustrated, or happy, i thank god. this is no problem for me. god will never talk back, you will never have that damascus road experience (unless you should be commited). if that’s what you’re waiting for, you will be waiting a long time.

my problem is finding somewhere to hang my hat, it seems no religions really exhibit to me what a religion should be, pure, simple, logical, uncorrupted, sound teaching. i don’t believe god would require us to believe in the most unbelievable things under pain of hellfire for eternity. and the trinity and jesus, and resurrections, and the transubstantiation etc… are very difficult things to believe, practically unbelievable. so if it takes faith (in a religion not in god), why should i thrust my faith towards one or the other? that’s the connundrum folks like you and i have.

judaism and islam would be the frontrunners from their belief in one god, and the purity of their faith, there’s no outside corruption like you see rampant in christianity. you can’t have so much outwardly pagan and expect me to believe that no no really it isn’t corrupted at all. and the beliefs are simply so strange and illogical that not even the top christian scholars can get their heads around them. trinity, transubstantiation, resurrection etc… all “mysteries” sometimes that’s just not good enough to coax people to believe what you tell them.

Why do I get the feeling that you are not who you claim to be? I wouldn’t put it past an atheist to take a fake name (which, based on your stated positions, your name is totally irrational), and come in here to try to hurt the faith of Christians by throwing doubts around with an obvious (or intentional) lack of understanding and false claims such as “not even top Christian scholars can get their heads around.” I’m sorry, but none of these “mysteries” you present defy explanation (certainly top Christian scholars, and even a good number of laymen, can explain them quite well given the chance).

 

[ChristIsLord]

Why do I get the feeling that you are not who you claim to be? I wouldn’t put it past an atheist to take a fake name (which, based on your stated positions, your name is totally irrational), and come in here to try to hurt the faith of Christians by throwing doubts around with an obvious (or intentional) lack of understanding and false claims such as “not even top Christian scholars can get their heads around.” I’m sorry, but none of these “mysteries” you present defy explanation (certainly top Christian scholars, and even a good number of laymen, can explain them quite well given the chance).

ohh here we go i was wondering how long this would take…

yeah i’m an atheist under cover, the devil made me do it… sorry columbo but these posts are obviously painfully, unapologetically truthful and possibly it touches a portion in your mind you’re uncomfortable with. if that’s the case simply exit the discussion instead of bearing false witness against me.

explain the trinity to me, anyone? without using the words faith or mystery. in all my years as a christian i have never read one decent explanation of the trinity ever. and sorry but transubstantiation is defined simply as a mystery. i believe the catechism describes it as such.

and jews do teach in the messianic age that jews will rule from zion and all truth will come from zion and they will be the priests and the nations of the world will be underneath the jews. this has been explained to me by a rabbi pretty clearly.

my initial post while a bit tongue in cheek was still very accurate.

 

[dzheremi]

So basically you want science to “prove” your religion, and since it can’t, you’re leaving because everything is so “illogical” and “corrupt”? You’ll never have that “road to Damascus” experience, so Christianity must be false?

You are free to leave Christianity and join Islam or Judaism, since they are the “frontrunners”, as you put it, for their “purity”, but it sounds to me like you’re searching for something that has never really been there. The purity of one’s religious practice is up to the individual, but to call certain doctrines “more pure” or “less pure” is pretty ridiculous. Doctrines just are what they are. Obviously the matter of “purity” is not a problem for the vast majority of the world’s Christians, who are unapologetically Trinitarian, so they obviously have no problem “getting it”, and don’t need to be convinced by some sort of scientific testing or proofs you seem to be. The Trinity is not a “purity” issue…it is a form of monotheism itself, particular to Christianity, and if you don’t believe it you could be in the wrong religion. I just wonder what it is you are praying to if you reject all the major religions that are centered around a creator God. What folly it is to say “the Abrahamic religions are not ‘pure’ enough for me, so I will worship God all by myself even as I admit to being confused, since I have a ‘more pure’ conception of God than anyone else ever in the history of the planet!” This is essentially what you are saying, all the while paradoxically admitting to be extremely confused. God is not the author of confusion, right? Well, then, I wonder who it is you are really following…I guess, if you just follow yourself you’re likely to become really confused!

“ChristIsLord”, it saddens me that your search for this mythical “purity” in religion (as though there is no squabbling to be found among the learned men of the Bible, long before many of the doctrines you are objecting to were explicitly articulated; as though there are not competing sects of Judaism and Islam; etc.) has led you to reject the essential purity that can be found in GOD ONLY.

If I wanted your kind of ‘purity’ in religion, I wouldn’t be a part of any of them, honestly. No, MY GOD was incarnated in the person of Jesus Christ on EARTH, with all of its dirt, and wars, and corruption, and whatever else seems “unbefitting” to a God. I do admit that it doesn’t make much sense, but that doesn’t to stop me from praising Him incessantly for violating MY sense of logic for the sake of fallen, dirty, corrupt, evil, worthless human being like you and I.

And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 16:17)

From the lips of Christ into the hearts and minds of man! The only pure one among us lays down the principle, and we seek each day to follow it. You can call it illogical all you want, but it’s better to be a Peter than a Dawkins. I will stake my soul on it.

 

[ckempston]

ohh here we go i was wondering how long this would take…

yeah i’m an atheist under cover, the devil made me do it… sorry columbo but these posts are obviously painfully, unapologetically truthful and possibly it touches a portion in your mind you’re uncomfortable with. if that’s the case simply exit the discussion instead of bearing false witness against me.

“Bearing false witness?” It’s your behavior that is simply irrational which leads me to suggest this. Let’s see:

• Your choice of screenname is simply unexplainable, unless you are here under false pretenses.
• Your analyses of all three religions in your OP do not represent well thought-out positions or researched facts.
• You claim that many clearly, specifically defined doctrines defy explanation, which is patently false.
• You suspected that someone else might suspect you are here under false pretenses.

In light of these, is my suggestion that you may be here under false pretenses all that outlandish? I would think such a thing on the basis of your choice of screenname alone. Along with the other factors, my confidence increases greatly that you’re not who you say you are.

explain the trinity to me, anyone? without using the words faith or mystery. in all my years as a christian i have never read one decent explanation of the trinity ever. and sorry but transubstantiation is defined simply as a mystery. i believe the catechism describes it as such.

Explain the Big Bang or the Cambrian Explosion to me without making any assumptions. Give me a break.

and jews do teach in the messianic age that jews will rule from zion and all truth will come from zion and they will be the priests and the nations of the world will be underneath the jews. this has been explained to me by a rabbi pretty clearly.

my initial post while a bit tongue in cheek was still very accurate.

Maybe you are just a cheeky fellow and I’m way off the mark, but I have my doubts. Assuming there are individuals here that will read your post and think you know what you’re talking about, I felt it necessary to point out the obvious problems with your claims.

 

[PJM]

i’ve spend the better part of 15 years seeking out a religion but find myself at a point where i have to concede that all of them are manmade and at the core of it too nonsensical to believe the almighty god of the universe ordained any of them.

So do you acknowledge a god or God as the creator of the Universe?

If it is not a force that** I choose** to call** God**, than how did the universe began: speciffically; “pre-nouthing.” To “create” means to make out of nouthing right? So where did, how did "something originate? And what / who organized it?

My dear friend in Christ (if I may be so bold?)

Your’s is the BEST post I have ever read on this Forum.

I can reply and expalin all of your concerns, if you really want to know the truth? Today I’ll only share a wee bit, to see if your interested, and if are actually able to communicate?

christianity - where do i start, the trinity makes zero sense,

Good place to start, and your right on the money (almost.) It makes sense to me, but that does not mean that I truly understand it. I can explain what The Trinity is, but not why it is. Neither could any other Catholic scolar in our 2000 year history.

That’s why the practice of our belief’s is call “FAITH.” We are not going to be able to understand with pure human logic, EVERYTHING the RCC holds to be the single - truth.

When your driving around you “have faith” that all the other drives know how to drive and are not drunk right? That is an example of “faith”.

But keep in mind, IF there is a God (I believe that there is) and this God did create the earth, the solar system and all the goodies that relate to them, and just as signifiant, KEEPS THEM and us in existance; then it does not take a great intellect to understand that such a force is “out of our league.” God tells and commom sense confirms that His way’s are not our way’s and His mind does not operate like our mind. Seems to me a reasonable proclaimation.

jesus being a godman incarnate makes no sense. so jesus was 100% man and 100% god when only a baby? the almighty god of the universe had to have his tushy wiped? i don’t get it…

Yep Pertty Awesome right? Why = LOVE!

the eucharist, i have to eat a piece of bread which is really jesus christ who is really the almighty god of the universe? the host is actually 100% god that i am to eat, i eat god.

Have too? NO! Are privledged too, TES IF, and only IF you choose to become an informed, practcing Roman Catholic. GOD never forces anyone to make any decession, which is why my friend you and I are blessed with a intellect and a free-will. No other creatures expect God’s Anges and God Himself are so endowed. Why is that?

all of the intermixing of nonsense within the religion, santa claus, easter bunnies, yule logs, obviously the religion has been severely corrupted by pagan rights and rituals, and if paganism can invade christianity so much outwardly it’s hard for me to believe it hasn’t corrupted its doctrine. the first christians were not lighting candles and bowing before statues, this was a much later invention. i could go on all day…

Your a great deal more right than wrong on these points. Good job:thumbsup:

o.k. so since that rant is over where does that leave me and the millions like me who believe in god, yet can’t stomach the dogma pushed down by organized religions?

It ain’t over until God say’s it’s over! You may not realize it but the very fact that you found this Forum is evidence that there is a God, that this God Loves you, and like every man, women and child, God’s calls us to cooperate (volluntary compliance) to His paln for YOUR and all of us, salvation.

Will everyone do it? Nope. And God woun’t force them. He’ll just provide the opportunity (and the grace ---- a free gift from God to help us make the right decessions) to do what is right. Right for God and right for us.

now honestly think for a minute i am a man lost in the wilderness for 31 years and never heard of any of these faiths (yet i can still read and speak no problem for some reason). how would i as a reasonable logical thinking being accept any of them when they are ask you to believe things that are completely nonsensical? where does that leave us? shall we throw our judgment and conscience out the door and accept myths out of fear of hell?

My dear friend this is, God willing the first of many post between us. Keep asking. That is the first step, there are many more to come if your up to it!

Here’s two things that, at least to me, make sense.

There can only be One Single Truth on any specific topic. So do as you now are, and seek that SINGLE TRUTH. When you find it, don’t ever let it go!

There is no such thing as “luck” (either good or bad), nor is there “just a coiceindence,” nor is there “just a fluke.” Everything is controlled by THE CREATOR, who is and has to be ONLY GOOD.

So anything that happens that is GOOD is from God, and anything else id PERMITTED by this God for our the potential of our personal sactinfication and God’s Glorification.

There are only two forces: Good = God and Bad = Satan, yea, he is real too.

God bless you my friend,let me know if you wish to continue this conversation. I’m not going to force you any more than God would.
You ask and I’ll God willing, explain.

I really enjoyed your post!

PJM m.c.

 

[hamba2han]

For those who are searching for the best way to worship God, then they really should be asking God Himself for guidance because no one living today is authorised to speak on His behalf.

I would suggest that they ask God to guide them while doing the following in the privacy of their own homes:

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It might be better that you face Jerusalem when you do this… but the most important thing is that when you ask guidance from God, it must be done with complete and absolute sincerity in your heart.

Try it for a spell and God-willing, divine guidance will be given to you on choosing the correct religion in order for you to get to Paradise.