Rhester, that is a truly amazing story and an inspiration. Jesus can change a person. I can see you have a lot of faith.
You were into drugs right? Ever do acid by chance? My roommate had a similar revelation after consistent use of acid. He had a feeling of being one with the universe. Definitely not judging or trying to be disrespectful, just curious.
No, but could have taken lots of acid, my wife did acid, my drugs of choice always factored into sex, pot, quades, barbituates, some speed, mostly pot and barbituates with mass doses of alcohol. I never felt one with anything I was a drug dealer, bought my drugs from a certain infamous Texas motorcycle club.
Not strong in faith, weak, loved by Jesus. That's all for me. I have found what I've longed for, my search is over, everything else is icing, even hardship and suffering. I would say Jesus is the most loving person in the universe.
Your type of religious experience and awakening is the part of faith/religion that many unbelievers, including myself, can not comprehend. With faith, if you believe, none of this other debate matters. Good for you.
My biggest problem with this Jesus stuff, is why is it required for us to believe in him in order to be saved/goto heaven? Why is that THE prerequisite instead of doing good things? Someone commited multiple sins, but as long as they confess, they are forgiven versus a athiest commited to living a humble life and giving all his earnings is destined to goto hell? Doesn't sit right with me. It seems as if getting converts to believe then actually doing good deeds is more important, and that is the biggest reason I'm against christianity. As far as Jesus, I think while he really did exist, I think the church and disciples put too much emphasis on "commercializing" Jesus for converts. I do believe they may have embellish certain instances to make the church relavent. Is Jesus/God so vain that they require us to believe in them? If they truly do exist and are truly benevolent beings, I would thinkg practicing their preachings then rather actual beliefs would really be what they want. Why should God care that we believe in him as long as we follow their teachings?
I've thought about this before as I know people with similar stories. Some were religious experiences and others were not. I also know people that have gone the other direction. good people, who inexplicably went down the wrong path. I think guys like you and madmax etc... are just inherently good dudes. Without religion, jesus, the bible etc....you'd probably be pretty swell fellas anyway. I imagine you'd find your peace through some other outlet.
There's a lot of people in this thread who won't be getting chocolate from the Easter bunny in a few weeks.
What you fail to realize is God created man. He loves us and expects us to love and honor him. Look at the 10 commandments and how they are ordered. The first four commandments show that God expects to be respected. How would you feel if your children disrespected you? God wants all the glory for what you do and in return he rewards you. His greatest gift was Jesus. By sending Jesus he made the path to Heaven so easy. It was much harder to get to Heaven before Jesus. So for the facts that God created us and then sent his son who died on a cross, I would say it is not too much to ask to give him a little glory. 1: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.' 2: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' 3: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.' 4: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' 5: 'Honor your father and your mother.' 6: 'You shall not murder.' 7: 'You shall not commit adultery.' 8: 'You shall not steal.' 9: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.' 10: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'
txppratt, if you are interested in Jesus, my advice to you would be to visit some churches. I would suggest to visit some different denominations. Keep in mind that there are some buildings out there that have the name "church" on them but they are not preaching the true gospel. If you find the right church and here the true message then the Holy Spirit will work within you. When that happens you will no longer have any doubts about whether Jesus exist.
Oops a sleep deprived typo. I would add to this to read the Bible. It is a truly amazing book. Not to mention that it is the all time best seller. Good luck txppratt, I will pray for you.
As long as children are born with internal organs outside their bodies, living an eternally unimaginable, agonizing 15 seconds before death, I will never consider there to be a divine creator. If there is, I spite him to hell for it. Surely a superior being could do better than this. "The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference."
Religious logic at its finest. If you hear the "true" message... How about: "If you find the right scientist and hear the true message then the Origin Of Species will work within you. When that happens you will no longer have any doubts about whether Jesus exists." As far as the bible, I tend to think of it like this... "To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries"
Well this is going to sound weird to some people but oh well. I personally believe God requires belief in Him, not for some arbitrary reason, but because He gave and values your free will. And the problem with us is that we are dead spiritually. Once again, if you are not open to their even being a spiritual side to humanity then this is going to sound ridiculous. So, since all the good deeds in the world can't make someone alive, they need life. Which is exactly what Jesus said He was. By believing in Jesus, God gives you life in His Son, as well as the forgiveness of all of your sins. So since you now have life in Christ, you are alive to God, which enables you to go to heaven, as well as express His life here on earth. Unfortunately for the people who try to be good enough for heaven, they cannot be. No matter how good you are, you cannot give yourself life. And for people who would say "Well why doesn't God just give everybody life?" I would respond that it really isn't love if you are forcing the person to bend to your will. Although He does offer everyone life. Once again, this may sound ridiculous to some, but this is an answer IMO to why horrible people who eventually have faith in Jesus will go to heaven while people like Ghandi may not. It's not about good works, but about life.
The problem of evil is by far the best argument against the existence of God, and I'm guessing is why many people do not believe. There are ways to answer the problem, but that is not why I am posting this. I would answer your quote with a question. Why is there so much good? I mean many people live to be upwards of 70 years old, at least in this country, and live somewhat fulfilling lives. Why should we expect this? And also since your quote says that there is no good or evil, why do we commend someone for risking their own lives to save a complete stranger? Shouldn't we chastise them for being irrational? I mean on the view of the quote you posted, selfless deeds that risk your own life aren't good but are inherently stupid. We should try to maximize our own lives, because this is all there is. It makes no difference in the long run if I save someone else. If I die attempting to save them then I'm dead, they'll eventually be dead, and eventually the universe will have suffered through it's heat death. Once again, this in no way answers the problem of evil, but it is kind of the other side to it.
I know that there will be a lot of Christians that disagree with this, but the truth is that the "reward" for being a follower of Jesus (which is more than simple belief) is not that you get to go to heaven instead of going to hell. It is that you get to avoid judgment. If you aren't a follower of Jesus, you will be judged by your works. All we know about judgment is that the standards are set by the Bible, and that God is just. I take that to mean that a person that was once evil can still go to heaven if he turns from evil and follows Jesus. On the other hand, if someone doesn't believe in Jesus is judged to be good by a just God, he or she will be rewarded with eternal life. Caveat: This is my interpretation of a book that can be confusing, so your results may vary. But it's a strongly held opinion that I can support with Scripture references.
Well, no one else has suggested it but what it Jesus was a charismatic, messianic schizophrenic. It's wouldn't be unprecedented.
I dunno about you, but this demand for "glory" seems entirely like a human trait. I highly doubt a truly benevolent and omnipotent being would demand a need for glory, and if you don't believe him, would condemn you to hell. In fact this trait seems almost vain. THink about it. If you were God, and your heart is pure and you are all powerful, what would you care about more? They follow your teachings or they worship you? I dunno about you, but to me it would seem that the message would be the most important aspect. Hell, do you think Mother Teresa did her good deeds for respect? So why is it that the christian doctrine encourages us to live a humble selfless sort of life while God demands that we respect him?
