Christians on arbtalk?

[nick channer]

i'm not religious and never have been... but when my little boy was born at only 28 weeks, nearly 12 weeks premature... and weighing 2lb 12oz's.. and being told he prob wouldnt last the night, i can tell you i believed in god that night... and me and my partner both took comfort in the priest sayin a prayer for him.. several prayers were said [in my head] over the next hours, days, weeks... and whether they were answered or not i dont no.. all i no is my boy is still with us 9 months later and he's not 100% but he's getting there...

[Treecreeper1961]

The problem with religion in general (aside from the obviously enormous leap of faith required to believe even a fraction of the Bible, or any other religion text for that matter) is that it challenges the very foundation of self determinism.

 

I strongly believe that I, do to a greater or lesser extent, have the right to determine my own 'destiny'. The notion of 'God's Plan' is counter to that, and I reject it.

 

It's often argued that Science is in itself a belief system. I have no problem with that at all though - I am happy to believe in extremely clever people who must evidence each theory they tout rather than a 2000 year old text that claims that people can be created from ribs and live for 970 years!

 

Good film to watch is Religulous btw!

 

The trouble with self determinism is it's open to corruption.

[gensetsteve]

I expect there is a few christians but I dont expect any pb's

[Big J]

The trouble with self determinism is it's open to corruption.

 

May I ask you to elaborate?

[Treecreeper1961]

i'm not religious and never have been... but when my little boy was born at only 28 weeks, nearly 12 weeks premature... and weighing 2lb 12oz's.. and being told he prob wouldnt last the night, i can tell you i believed in god that night... and me and my partner both took comfort in the priest sayin a prayer for him.. several prayers were said [in my head] over the next hours, days, weeks... and whether they were answered or not i dont no.. all i no is my boy is still with us 9 months later and he's not 100% but he's getting there...

 

That's great Nick. At times like that we could all take strength from the good in religion.

[Treecreeper1961]

May I ask you to elaborate?

 

It was meant as a joke really but we all need to look beyond ourselves and have a common goal I believe. If we are to evolve beyond the selfish destructive force we are.

Not that you can't achieve that by being the master of your own destiny.

[predator]

middle of the road for me and respect other peoples faiths etc god bless you all though

[Jesse]

I was a Jehovah's Witness for the first 30 years of my life, but at age 30 and with my first child reaching an age where I was going being indoctrinating him, thought I had better do some serious research, this lead to me,my wife and all her family leaving the JW's.

 

How do any of you Christians get you head around all the horrors we see around us, often involving the weakest, innocent, and most venerable in society

I think for those who don't its only when you are at your ABSOLUTE lowest point in your life that to then embrace a belief will turn things around, it worked for me. I now work hard to be a better person but i do still fail miserably, most days:lol: but at least i'm trying.

[Big J]

It was meant as a joke really but we all need to look beyond ourselves and have a common goal I believe. If we are to evolve beyond the selfish destructive force we are.

Not that you can't achieve that by being the master of your own destiny.

 

OK, fair enough!

 

I think that it would be fair enough to say that in order to evolve past the self destructive tendencies that have characterised our species thus far, we need to leave behind divisive and tribal behaviours and rituals, such as religion. Until we do this, we are always going to see difference and default to sectarianism and hatred.

[easy-lift guy]

I was a Jehovah's Witness for the first 30 years of my life, but at age 30 and with my first child reaching an age where I was going being indoctrinating him, thought I had better do some serious research, this lead to me,my wife and all her family leaving the JW's.

 

How do any of you Christians get you head around all the horrors we see around us, often involving the weakest, innocent, and most venerable in society

 

I have faith in myself and my family and my religion. I do the best I can everyday for myself and treat people the way I like to be treated. It is a way of life for me and keeps me sane for the most part. I understand that there are other folks in the world that don't even know me but would be happy to have my life ended due to my belief and faith. I can understand that but will never except it. No one said that life on this planet would be easy, "no pun intended" but I believe were all here to do the best job we can and make each day a little better for our self's and our fellow man/women.

At least that is my plan, and I am sticking to it.

easy-lift guy