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What is your biggest motivator or reason that you decided to follow the Christian faith and beliefs?
In other words, what was the first thing that prompted you in the beginning of your journey?
I am searching for basic answers or that which is substantial from your own perspectives, not looking to criticize or object to your experience, nor am I looking for particular doctrines, after you became a Christian. An example: I met someone overseas while in the military, he didn't make it back. We had various discussions, and I ended up with his 1611 King James, as he did not have a family member to whom he wanted it sent.
Obviously, where you are born makes a huge difference. Had I been born in Iran, I would almost certainly be Muslim today. Being raised in Salt Lake City, Utah (headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) by LDS parents, it was only logical that I start out as a Mormon. Mormon children are taught from a very young age that they have a Father in Heaven who loves them. They are taught to be grateful for the many blessings He's given them, and they are taught that He will hear and answer their prayers. There is zero talk of hellfire and damnation. These things are not even part of our theology. So, let's just say that what I learned as a child got me off to a good start. I guess that's what prompted me in the beginning of my journey. (The rest of the story includes why I stayed, but that's not what you asked about.)
I'm not an atheist, I am a deist. I think the evidence is there is a God of some sort but He has divorced Himself from this world and does not intervene in it. That's pretty evident all around us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iwasmadenew
Thanks. Does this God go by any other names? How did you come to belief in this deistic God?
The terminology you use is personal so I assume this is not a New Age ‘cosmic force’ concept of God. Do you believe in an afterlife?
Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte
Come to believe: I was a fundamentalist Christian up until about 2010 or so (joined CD 2008) when someone in here challenged me to investigate my beliefs in Christianity and Jesus. So I did. I found there wasn't any historic evidence about Jesus, Paul or the apostles. I'd long believed as do you probably and as every apologist on YouTube says in their debates that all the apostles were willing to die for their faith in Jesus, yet I could find no mention of the apostles at all in the secular historic record, not even in Acts. This is but the tip of the iceberg of what I discovered in a 3-month investigation around this time.
Cosmic Force: This deist God is definitely not the Christian god. This deist God from all indications---total absence in this world, hunger disease, horrible abuse and deaths of innocent little children of all stripes without any rhyme or reason as well as natural calamities that kill tens of thousands of innocent people at a time, prayers never answered in any demonstrable way--all this convinced me that this God who obviously created us (otherwise how could such a civilization evolve against all odds) shows not the slightest interest in us. All this chaos has been blamed on the devil but nobody has ever seen a devil, not even in NDE's, which I am inclined to take with a grain of salt, even though I have seen some testimony from people who have had "veridical" NDE's (able to recount conversations and actions in the OR and elsewhere while they were completely flatlinned) that has me totally flummoxed. I am on the fence with NDE's. I think there's a strong possibility there is life after death, even though it looks nothing like the Biblical version of judgement and punishment. I think the life review is done for our benefit to show us how we could have done better but I have completely rejected the idea that sinners (there's no such thing) burn eternally in fire if they reject Jesus. No atheist who had a NDE ever said they saw the devil or satan or a fiery pit. That's been proven to be a concept the early church stole from Greek philosophy about scofflaws in Athenian Greece burning forever in the fiery Phlegethon river of Hades mythology which Athenian law officials used to keep the unruly masses from rioting.
That's a thumbnail. Thanks for asking.
A central premise of deism was that the religions of their day were corruptions of an original religion that was pure, natural, simple, and rational. Humanity lost this original religion when it was subsequently corrupted by "priests" who manipulating it for personal gain and for the class interests of the priesthood in general, and thus encrusted with superstitions and "mysteries" – irrational theological doctrines.
They referred to this manipulation of religious doctrine as "priestcraft," an intensely derogatory term.
They (also) declared that laymen were thus kept dependent on the priesthood for information about the requirements for salvation, and baffled by these "mysteries" – giving the priesthood a position of great power, which they worked to maintain and increase. Deists saw it as their mission to strip away "priestcraft" and "mysteries".
Tindal, perhaps the most prominent deist writer, claimed that this was the proper original role of the Christian Church.
Obviously, where you are born makes a huge difference. Had I been born in Iran, I would almost certainly be Muslim today. Being raised in Salt Lake City, Utah (headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) by LDS parents, it was only logical that I start out as a Mormon. Mormon children are taught from a very young age that they have a Father in Heaven who loves them. They are taught to be grateful for the many blessings He's given them, and they are taught that He will hear and answer their prayers. There is zero talk of hellfire and damnation. These things are not even part of our theology. So, let's just say that what I learned as a child got me off to a good start. I guess that's what prompted me in the beginning of my journey. (The rest of the story includes why I stayed, but that's not what you asked about.)
I have always been appreciative of your posts, Jer, and your explanation of your journey is no exception. Wonderful witness! I tend to think that participation in war breeds a more central and serious attitude to theological questions. Depriving others (many, many others) of life tends to focus your mind on the important issues in life sidelining all the trivial and silly carnal ones of youthful exuberance or religious obsession. I don't need to be a Christian so much as my experience designated Jesus's revelation and unambiguous demonstration of the true nature of God as the most valid one of the extant versions. My Synthesis led me to select Christ as the most evolved avatar (Savior) priming a belief in God. My "tuning fork" analogy as the vehicle for providing the cover of His Grace (perfect resonance = Identity with God) for our imperfections fits my Synthesis. Ergo, I follow Christ but NOT necessarily the "precepts and doctrines of men" in Christian dogma.
What is your biggest motivator or reason that you decided to follow the Christian faith and beliefs?
In other words, what was the first thing that prompted you in the beginning of your journey?
I am searching for basic answers or that which is substantial from your own perspectives, not looking to criticize or object to your experience, nor am I looking for particular doctrines, after you became a Christian. An example: I met someone overseas while in the military, he didn't make it back. We had various discussions, and I ended up with his 1611 King James, as he did not have a family member to whom he wanted it sent.
We're sitting on a big rock hurtling thru an endless space with everything working out in favor of supporting our particular life form. THERE is NO WAY its by random chance over time working out this perfectly.
Only a fool thinks this has always been with no designer behind it........so LOGIC dictates a supreme being somewhere. If you look at a Rolex do you think all the parts just gathered at the top of a hill and as it rolled down it came together and at the bottom you have a working watch..............
Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship. Christianity is life. A sinner can be so overwhelmed by the love of God, so that he commits himself to loving this God, who loves him unconditionally.
We're sitting on a big rock hurtling thru an endless space with everything working out in favor of supporting our particular life form. THERE is NO WAY its by random chance over time working out this perfectly.
Only a fool thinks this has always been with no designer behind it........so LOGIC dictates a supreme being somewhere. If you look at a Rolex do you think all the parts just gathered at the top of a hill and as it rolled down it came together and at the bottom you have a working watch..............
How do you feel about theistic evolution? The idea that God used evolution and guided the process to achieve His desired goal.
And by the way, comparing a Rolex to evolution misrepresents how biological evolution works.
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Why do you feel that you need to be a Christian?
