I believe in the soul of man being eternal. Because of this I believe these are the best threads in D&D Since we all die, if there is an eternity awaiting nothing is more important than the truth. I question my own faith often and humbly because of this. If there is one thing we should all end our life with is the truth about God, Jesus and eternity. Whichever side, the atheist, the church attender, the agnostic, the who cares, the pastor, the commited and the hater... we all will face death. It is nice what religion does for us in this short life we live, but Paul said if that is all there is then Christians should be the most miserable people.
yeah well if some other god that sends people to hell is the true god and it isn't jesus, you're just as ****ed as atheists like me are.
The fact is religion has a very poor record when it comes to the truth, so why should we beleive what they say about entirely unknowable concepts like God and eternity?
Bingo. That doesn't lessen the importance of the issue of death. 10 out of 10 people die. See you on the other side.
I could care less about religion I was talking about truth. And specifically in regards to God and Jesus. Religion is mans making. Truth is well, truth. You have to believe something. If there is a God and you ask Him to reveal Himself, He is a big boy, I think He can take care of that kind of request. What you are seeking has alot to do with what you find.
I think rhester answered your question perfectly. It's not my job to give you any spiritual experiences. It's also not to explain or justify to you my personal relationship with God. I can share with you the truth that I have personally found, which I have done already. If you care to find out if God really exists, you could always just ask Him. You might be surprised if you take it seriously.
I think the practing Mormons that I've seen show such things like gntleness, goodness, self-control, etc. but given what we know aobut the early history of Joseph Smith and others, it's hard for me to say that the early "prophets" were anything but good. I don't want to start posting stuff from mormonism.com(?) but I'm sure you're well educated on the quesitons about Joseph Smith and the other "prophets"
“Our leading minds kept insisting that if you can’t prove it, you can’t believe it, but then kept stepping their way past their own criteria. From anthropology’s infamous Leakey family, who kept claiming they found the missing link – only to have another sibling discredit them – to Stephen Hawking, who made science the new philosophy, science keeps trying to answer more than it can prove. Science can’t even begin to touch the most important question to us, which, of course, is why. Knowing how it happened is fascinating, but knowing why it happened is essential. You can live without knowing how it happened, but when you can’t figure out why, it’s absolutely maddening.” “The world will get better when we get better. With all the progress we’ve made since the Enlightenment, we’ve got to be honest with ourselves and admit that we’re not getting better, which is one reason we’re quickly losing our confidence in science. There was a time when science was our promise of a better world. We would outgrow our worst primal instincts. This, in part, was the hope of the Enlightenment, that we would educate and elevate ourselves out of violence. We were the masters of progress, and one day we would no longer hate each other, abuse the powerless, instigate wars, or in any way be inhumane. Science was a promise of progress. We had outgrown God. We no longer needed him to make us good. WE could not only be good without God, but through our achievements, we could actually make ourselves better. Then there was Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even if we found ourselves standing on the winning side, something in our gut told us that we were all losers in this. Science wasn’t creating a better world for us, but a more dangerous one. It seems as if we can improve on everything except ourselves. If science and God are enemies, how come we tend to blame God even for what science corrupts? Even Einstein acknowledged the problem was within us: “The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking. The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.” --Erwin McManus, Soul Cravings
I always kind of looked at this issue like the way Jews view Christains in a sense. Taking a part of the bible, then expanding on it esentially....
I hear ya. I have too. Except...the NT points back to the OT for correlation. The early church is pointing back to OT prophecy to say, "hey...this is the Messiah we've been waiting for!!" I don't see that from the Book of Mormon. I also come to this as well..Paul says that there are all sorts of things being preached about Christ early on...all sorts of things he disagrees with. But he says, "in the end, at least Christ crucified is being preached." The truth is, I don't have a monopoly on truth.
Maybe this from Phillipians- It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice.
It's also really poorly written. I was just taking a cheap shot at Caboose. I haven't read The Historical Jesus, but I'll put it on my list.
Hey DarkHorse – Thanks for the good responses and enlightenments. I can agree with some of your points and I think most disagreements are things that I call “pre-trib/post trib” ideas: whether you believe He’s coming before or after tribulation is not going to matter. One group will be “right” and the other group “wrong” but it won’t change your address. But one thing I think will… In your example of lawn care payback…If you believe in grace through Jesus Christ but you are working to pay him back, aren't your really just an overpaid lawn care guy/girl? IMO, ANY works toward salvation negates grace. It’s 100% or nothing. I think we should tell the world and I’m not against works at all. Works have their rewards in the now and the later. But I don’t see how you can be saved by grace and have to work ANY to pay Him back. Isn’t the $25 insulting for what He paid?
