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It really wasn't any one thing... just as slow erosion and a book without the answers I needed. One puzzle I kept coming back to is, if there is only one true religion and one path to heaven, why did the god of the bible not reveal it to all mankind from the get-go? Why allow "false" religions to take root over thousands upon thousands of years (done with eerily similar tales and symbols) before adding a game-changer? At some point, I ended up with an old, dog-eared copy of Ethan Allen's book Reason: The Only Oracle of Man (and of course, the abrasive but loveable Thomas Paine) and it was so neat to read the words of people from hundreds of years ago who felt the same way I do.
^^^^^^^ THIS, EVERYBODY!!!!!!! At last, an intelligent question, mainly bcause it is the exact same question I have been asking.
^^^^^^^ THIS, EVERYBODY!!!!!!! At last, an intelligent question, mainly bcause it is the exact same question I have been asking.
for what it is worth, Christ was prophesied as early as Genesis, and i think the argument there is that lucifer can read, too, and would act to produce a counterfeit, which always comes first. I'm not sure i would try to apply this to religion per se, as then one is coerced into trying to pick a winner, so to speak, but then it is pretty easy to find condemnation of religion in the Bible if you look anyway.
Recognizing that a spiritually mature person is one who is aware of their interdependence upon others, seeks to do no harm, and takes responsibility for it when they do--what a Christian understands as "works unto repentance"--are not things that one needs a religion for--in fact, they generally seem to be mutually exclusive--but they do take a certain kind of faith, because one is inevitably going to be put in situations where personal loss of some kind will ensue, in pursuit of harmony, or doing the right thing, or however you might describe it. Who here hates their life? The default human decision is to enrich oneself, not realizing the expense to others, and to seek power to further the aims of the ego.
Christ's message is in direct opposition to this. It isn't about picking the right religion, and this is amply outlined in Scripture. The OT is a record of the Israelites' failure to comprehend that if you disregard yourself for others, it comes back to you--not some distorted how-to. Of course no one is much interested in hating their life, so why be surprised at models that offer people a way to sit on a fence and pretend, in exchange for a little of their cash? Congratulations for figuring out religion, lol, but i mean, you could have read all this for yourself in about a day, if you stuck with red-letter and ignored religious agendas.
It really wasn't any one thing... just as slow erosion and a book without the answers I needed. One puzzle I kept coming back to is, if there is only one true religion and one path to heaven, why did the god of the bible not reveal it to all mankind from the get-go? Why allow "false" religions to take root over thousands upon thousands of years (done with eerily similar tales and symbols) before adding a game-changer? At some point, I ended up with an old, dog-eared copy of Ethan Allen's book Reason: The Only Oracle of Man (and of course, the abrasive but loveable Thomas Paine) and it was so neat to read the words of people from hundreds of years ago who felt the same way I do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte
^^^^^^^ THIS, EVERYBODY!!!!!!! At last, an intelligent question, mainly bcause it is the exact same question I have been asking.
So how are your beliefs now different from what you believed before? For example I know you lost the concept of suffering in hell but do you still believe Jesus is the divine son of God and that he died for our sins and that everything in the gospels is perfectly accurate?
I don't hold onto any beliefs as such that are "you must believe this or you are in error". What i believe about Jesus Christ is, he is the true identity of us all, and the sooner we see that for ourselves and see it in our neighbor, the sooner this world becomes a better place to travel through.
I don't hold onto any beliefs as such that are "you must believe this or you are in error". What i believe about Jesus Christ is, he is the true identity of us all, and the sooner we see that for ourselves and see it in our neighbor, the sooner this world becomes a better place to travel through.
A shame that you, and a few others, don't speak for all Christians.
But I believe you and yours are in the majority and will remain thus, as the primitive, barbaric, Calvinistic-type Christianity dies its well-deserved death.
for what it is worth, Christ was prophesied as early as Genesis, and i think the argument there is that lucifer can read, too, and would act to produce a counterfeit, which always comes first. I'm not sure i would try to apply this to religion per se, as then one is coerced into trying to pick a winner, so to speak, but then it is pretty easy to find condemnation of religion in the Bible if you look anyway.
Although mankind can read and write, his comprehension remains a dim-light.
I don't hold onto any beliefs as such that are "you must believe this or you are in error". What i believe about Jesus Christ is, he is the true identity of us all, and the sooner we see that for ourselves and see it in our neighbor, the sooner this world becomes a better place to travel through.
I take this away from what you say: we have this pretty comprehensive portrait of an individual who the gospels claimed was a very special person. Whether we can prove Jesus actually lived or not becomes immaterial. What IS important are the words that are left for us that are attributed to him. The two best parables in the gospels are the good Samaritan and the prodigal son. Follow just these two parables and you are doing every thing you need to live a meaningful life. The rest is just white noise, including this "Nobody comes to the Father except through me" stuff. If I had had this concept of Christianity from the beginning I might still be one today.
It is sad to see so many have lost their faith, but the Bible predicted this would happen:
"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. " - 1 Timothy 4:1
Yes, Paul did say, "In the end times people will have itching ears" but you have to remember that when Paul said that he thought he was living in the end times. "We shall not all die but WE shall be changed".
1 John 2:23: "Little children, it is the end times."
You do know, I hope that Paul's and John's belief they were in the end times was brought about directly by Jesus' promises he would return visibly in the clouds with angels while they were still alive as per # 5 in my OP.
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