Q and A about what it means to follow Christ

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cipher_nemo wrote:

God, or rather His Son, is my savior. And that has been ever since I became a believer around 2002. So that's 28 years of being agnostic, and more than 14 years of being a Christian.

1.) I don't force my faith on others. I only talk about it if the subject comes up, and if someone is curious, I will share my faith. And if God presents that opportunity for someone who has an open heart, I will reach out to them. I don't initiate that, I let God bring people to me.

2.) I don't take my faith to "lord it over" others. We all have our personal struggles, stories, and background. We all sin, even if not all of us call it "sin". None of us are perfect.

3.) I can and do befriend and love others regardless of their faith or lack of faith.

4.) I do not regularly attend a "church", as my faith is stronger than any man-made construct related to Christianity.

5.) My wife is Catholic, and she's religious, and given my understanding of that "religion" and my dislike for it, I still love her and take her to her church sometimes.

6.) Working for a university, most of the people around me are both liberal and atheist or agnostic. I get along with them just fine, because life is more than who or what you identify with and believe in.

7.) I don't hate people for being gay, bi-sexual, etc., or believing differently than me. I also believe in scientific theory, evolution, etc. Yes, despite what extremists say, you can have faith and still value and appreciate science. I don't rally to inject prayer into schools, or rally against the teaching of evolution.

So please feel free to throw out any condemning viewpoints of what Christians are, as everyone is an individual, and there are probably more like me living in the world than like the stereotypes we build up in our minds. Extreme Christians may call me "luke-warm" and quote Bible passages to condemn me, but in my heart and my spirit I know where my faith is and need not fall victim to extremes, both cult-like Christians and pagan-like atheists.

Why do you dislike Catholics? Did they do something to you?

This is just my opinion and I also don't try to push it down other people's throats.
I am a non believer.

I think there is religion because humans know fairly quickly that they are going to die.
This can't be all there is. Is it?
I was born RC and decided pretty quickly that I didn't like it. They all seem like cults to
me anyway.

I don't think religion is needed for a person to feel whole. Look at the number of religions in the world. Who's to say if one is better than any other.

I like your post and your idea about brick and mortar views.
How about all the people that make a living off of religion. Countless thousands living off the people's beliefs.

Politics and religion. No winners in those debates.

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kobrakhan wrote:

does jesus belief in dinosaurs?

He must He made them. Didn't he?

"what it means to follow Christ" - it depends on age, knowledge and wisdom. Many people thinks I.N.R.I. is Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum , but there are resources (schools) which say I.N.R.I. means "Know thyself". Christ saw himself as gate and who will go through it will find pasture. From my very last understanding/feeling is that if Jesus represents love, than your doing will be motivated by love; if you are motivated by profit, your actions will be equal to profit; and love is considered as highest feeling/state of being human can achieve (some thinks its compassion). Imho there is nothing like "follow Christ" or "follow Love" but Love is guiding you or whatever idea you value most.

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Tribulation wrote:

I'd like to start a Q and A about what it means to follow Christ. For instance:

Q: Why does God let crappy things happen to us. Seriously, my life is a country song.

God is allowing nothing, its human who allows and are responsible. Sentence like that can represent confusion, lack of knowledge or blame etc...

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blubbber wrote:

Q
Why are religious people (of any religion) always so hellbent on shoving their beliefs in everyones face? Is it so hard to just live your life, believe in whatever works for you, without having to impose your view on others?

I think when somebody is in love or just love, he wants to share that feeling. But there are many who wants to belong somewhere and looking for confirmation of their believes are right in surroundings - which I think you are talking about.

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Manocean wrote:

This thread wouldn't have gone the same if the title was:

"Q and A about what it means to follow Allah"

Because people would be afraid of being accused of being islamaphobic

In fact Allah, God, Jehovah, Adonai is same in different language. Nevertheless religion and mind of people can define those words in different ways and whoever say its different, is offended or argue or can even kill, is following religion like soldiers are following orders of generals and not God; unless their God is general.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9k6Mf-FfXQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKplJYWO7DM

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kobrakhan wrote:

does jesus belief in dinosaurs?

...Yes. There is some mention of beasts in the Bible that seem like dinosaurs.

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kobrakhan wrote:

and why is christianity so inclusiv with european pagan heritage but bans awesome and nice stuff like quetzalcoatl? D:

You'll have to be more specific with what you mean by "European pagan heritage".

Is this some kind of a stalker thread? Don't anyone care how poor Jesus feels like being followed all the time? Isn't it like a violation of his privacy?

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fozziex wrote:

Why do you dislike Catholics? Did they do something to you?

I don't dislike Catholics, I married one. I have issues with Catholicism because of their teachings that you must do good deeds in order to be saved. That's teachings by man on top of the Bible. Jesus didn't tell the thief next to him that he better get in some last minute good deeds or go to hell (or purgatory, another Catholic deception).

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fozziex wrote:

I was born RC and decided pretty quickly that I didn't like it. They all seem like cults to me anyway.

Roman Catholic? Yeah, that's what we would call regular Catholicism. The teachings of that church certainly do come across as cult-like. The belief you have in your own heart is more important than the good deeds you do within this life. It's a chicken and the egg debate between Christians and Catholics. Christians believe that faith must come first before you do any "good deeds", because doing good deeds without doing them for God is just going through the motions with little meaning.

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fozziex wrote:

I don't think religion is needed for a person to feel whole. Look at the number of religions in the world. Who's to say if one is better than any other.

Correct. You can feel just fine with yourself regardless of your faith or lack of it. But once you have faith, no matter who you are, if you "lose" that faith, it's a huge burden on you whether you know it or not. You grew up Roman Catholic, but it's very possible you never had the chance to develop that faith. Only you can tell us more on that.

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fozziex wrote:

I like your post and your idea about brick and mortar views. How about all the people that make a living off of religion. Countless thousands living off the people's beliefs. Politics and religion. No winners in those debates.

Thanks, and indeed. Politics is supposed to support religious freedom, separation from church and state. But that separation is for the freedom of the church, not for freedom of the people to never have to hear about the church. The church has every right to evangelize, so long as it doesn't harass the people, trespass, or cause public disruption. In this day and age you have the right pushing more faith into government and the public school system, while the left is trying to use the same separation of church and state to choke the life out of any church. There is a balance in-between where the people can worship freely while at the same time not being thrust into any church, religion, or belief. For example, you can't have a class prayer because students would feel coerced to follow their teacher in a group activity, but you can't punish or single out students and teachers for their own prayers while in the classroom.

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cipher_nemo wrote:

There is a balance in-between where the people can worship freely while at the same time not being thrust into any church, religion, or belief. For example, you can't have a class prayer because students would feel coerced to follow their teacher in a group activity, but you can't punish or single out students and teachers for their own prayers while in the classroom.

I often lack the faith in my fellow men, as a collective, to possess the intelligence to understand nuance, much less put it into practice. Not always, but often.

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kuukkeli wrote:

Is this some kind of a stalker thread? Don't anyone care how poor Jesus feels like being followed all the time? Isn't it like a violation of his privacy?

Thanks for this, I chuckled :)

Something I learned the other day--God is more interested in us loving and pursuing Him than us being perfect.

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Tribulation wrote:

A: God has a larger "top down" view of your life, and knows that the most important thing is for you to rely on Him so you can join Him in heaven. As such, he doesn't prevent some crappy things from happening so that the circumstances will make you call on Him.

I'm reminded of that witty rejoinder to Footprints in the Sand.

"Why were there only one set of footprints, Lord?"
"Because that was where I carried you."
"Into the boxcars, Lord?"