Christians on arbtalk?

[tommer9]

Its the 132 birthday of the JWs this year isnt it? I think they were invented in 1881 werent they Dave?

[skyhuck]

Do they not believe in an afterlife?

 

Nope, they believe in resurrection, they are nearer to what the bible actually says than most other religions, their only problem is that the bible is nonsense, its a real shame .

[skyhuck]

Its the 132 birthday of the JWs this year isnt it? I think they were invented in 1881 werent they Dave?

 

Sort of 1879 I think was the founding of what became the JW's, but 90% of what they now believe is totally different to what they believed back then, they are very good at changing things to suit current times

[Mark J]

I came across this the other day. Seems fitting to put it here.

[Mick Stockbridge]

Is that the Pope that was in the Hitler youth?

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

thought is sin and so on. This I disagree with, I can think what I like, it's how I progress from those thoughts that matters surely. !

 

Interesting point. My mate (married) used to have a saying about other women - "no harm in window shopping, just don't ram raid!" or you could say "I browse but I never buy"... This is a thought becoming action (or not) example and assumes the thought was innocent (not wrong) and guiltless whereas going beyond that would be (of course the whole right and wrong thing is another matter). But there is something that comes between thoughts and actions i.e. the imagination. The imagination is where thoughts are squeezed into form, so I personally think one must be like a hawk over ones' imagination. Ask someone who commited a murder for instance; did you just get up one day and think "yeah, it's a nice day for commiting a couple of murders"? Usually not. Usually, it starts as a little seed that grows and grows in the imagination and then ultimately manifests. So, there are thoughts on both side of the fence and they should be filtered and either developed or destroyed as appropriate.

 

Disobedience to God......

 

The moralising and legalising of the Gospel of Grace is a dull heresy peddled to dissapointed people who are angry because they have not received what they had no good reason to expect.

 

well I guess if you count losing your free will as "nothing" many men have gone to great lengths and even lost thier lives in order to secure thier freedoms, so freedom must be something of value, and to be "god fearing" is not freedom, is it?

 

Oh, but it is!

 

how do you know he loves you?

 

Like when you meet the right man / woman. Boy, you know it!

 

Any religion is based on the belief that you have a soul. If believe you have a soul you need to choose a religion or make up your own ideals. I don't care what people believe so long as they don't try to impose their ideals on others. None of us are going to find out for real until we die, so no point fighting over it

 

The soul is the generic term for the mind, will and emotions. Religion acknowledges these but adds the spirit. Man is flesh, spirit and soul. The flesh eventually dies, the other two?!!! Go and ask a practicing Wican if they are looking forward to Gehena. Nice.

 

Plenty of narcissism here; i.e. the worship of our own intellect. We say if we don't understand it we don't believe it. Then in essence you are your own god.

[RobArb]

“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it’s different. Consider again that dot. That’s here, that’s home, that’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

 

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

 

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

 

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

 

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

 

- Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it’s different. Consider again that dot. That’s here, that’s home, that’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

 

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

 

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

 

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

 

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

 

- Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot

 

good post kiddo:thumbup1:

 

I dunno set you off on a tangent today did we!

[Andy Collins]

I don't see a few questions, in a balanced and open discussion, are unfair to anyone. IMO this has been one of the most interesting discussions to date, which hasn't deteriorated into a slanging match. I don't believe there are right and wrong answers here, as it is down to each individuals personal choice.

One bug bear i have with christianity is why on earth is it every one I meet insists on trying to convert me to their way of thinking? I don't need "saving" and if I do need "saving" I'd prefer my "saviour" to be someone I can at least see.

[Mark Bolam]

I'm Christian.

 

I was christened in a church, married in one, and one day will have my funeral in one.

 

I do go to church occasionally, usually with my parents back home at Christmas, Easter etc., but can hardly say I'm practising.

 

I believe there is something else out there, and some kind of afterlife, just what I personally believe, I have no proof!

 

Forcing religion on people offends me. I think of it more as a personal, private thing. I don't need some huge sandwich board outside a church telling me what to believe in.

 

I would never try and preach to others about what they should or shouldn't believe in.

 

Rich makes a very valid point about not getting wed in a church. It's amazing how many people discover religion for a few weeks when they want to bag the best wedding venue in town!

 

Live your life according to your beliefs, and let others get on with theirs.