I Am a Christian

Hello All,

I was browsing through this Spirituality and Philosophy thread, and felt that devout Christians were not strongly enough represented if at all, so I decided to submit my point of view. First of all, let me say that I am not posting this in particular thread to anger anyone, or say that you are wrong, because lets face the reality of it, none of us know. Yet, many of us point our fingers to the next saying, “You are wrong in all of your beliefs, therefore you are ignorant!” Well my friends, it would be ignorant of you to think that all Christians are hardheaded and stubborn to the ideas and beliefs of other cultures or peoples. I myself have the utmost respect for those of you who choose not to believe in my God, of whom I do consider to be Lord and Savior, and yes I do hear him, although not in a literal sense. When my God speaks to me, he is speaking through my subconscious, allowing me to understand the difference between right and wrong. I only know so much as my mind can comprehend, you as well being that we are all only human. Our ideals and beliefs are different because our experiences and attitudes derived from those experiences have led us to conclusions that we believe to be true for our own realities. I know there are some reading my post enraged because I choose to believe in God Almighty, but I am not bothered by you or set off the path I feel is righteous. When trying to understand religion, one must first understand a simple fact, and I call it a fact because neither I nor none of you can provide sufficient evidence proving either side to be a fallacy. The fact is, we are all ignorant, and none of us know what happened when the Earth was born or how our reality came into being. We don’t know this because we were non-existent.

Now let me explain my reasoning for believing in my God, and why I encourage you not to dismay or at least not discriminate against individuals who choose to believe in something that is different from what it is you believe. I believe in God because he gives me hope; hope that mankind is good in his nature, and hope that after death, there is only life. Without hope there is no meaning for me to live life, which is why I believe in God. “How, then,” you might ask, “Could you believe in God without any solid evidence proving his existence?” This is an excellent question, of which I will answer with an excellent reply…Faith. Faith is at the heart of every devout Christian, Muslim, Mormon, Satanists, Scientologists, and even Scientist. Without faith, many things could never be believed in. Let me provide you with a small example. Is there such a thing as heat? Of course there is. Is there such a thing as cold? Actually, no there isn’t. You may find this statement to be ridiculous, let me elaborate. In science, heat can be measured because objects transmit energy, this energy can be measured, even seen with the proper equipment, but cold can not be measured, it is the absence of heat. Absolute zero is the complete absence of heat, thus, it does not exist. Cold is just a word we use to describe the absence of heat. So how can one begin to believe in a concept or idea that does not exist? Faith. Let me take this a step further. Is there such a thing as light? Of course there is. Is there such a thing as darkness? Once again, no there isn’t, it is just the absence of light. Darkness can not be measured therefore does not exist in the terms of which scientists describe. So once again, how can someone believe in the idea of darkness, when darkness can not be seen, and is only the absence of light? Faith. I’m not here to convert you to Christianity, rather to ask that you only leave your minds open to the possibility of a greater being, be it Christianity or otherwise. Rasta’s believe in Jah, and if you are a Rasta please forgive me, and you are more than welcome to correct me because as I said earlier, I am not closed minded and am definitely open for various interpretations of beliefs from all walks of life. Their Jah, in my eyes, is the same God I believe in, although they do not call him by the same name we Christians refer to him as. You see, many religions are cross-connected having various similarities, of which, the greatest is a belief in one God. Rasta’s also believe in positive vibrations, a feeling of joy and happiness to live you life by. I am fascinated with this concept because I myself try to model my own life in this manner

As I said before, I am a devout Christian, but I am not naïve to the fact that none of us know for sure, and I can not stress that point enough. All I have is my faith, and all I need is my God. I believe that the main concern for us here on Earth should be to treat each other the way we want others to treat us, and that good deeds should be the central thesis for all men’s lives. If you are going to reply with negative feedback trying to discourage or discriminate me for my beliefs, or others here who feel the same or slightly different, please save yourself from getting carpel tunnel, I will never stop believing in God, even if it means I one day lose my life because of it. We are all here on this good Earth for one reason, to make the most of it. All I can do is try to live life to the best of my ability all the while trying to learn and grow in the process. Please believe me when I say I do indeed respect you, whoever you are, for your own beliefs, and although I may not agree with you, I will not point my finger in ignorance to tell you that you are wrong. Thank you all for taking the time to read my post, and I would appreciate positive feedback, questions, or point of views, because once again, I’m not here to convert, just to discuss and grow

-THeConnoisseur

 

In my opinion without God there is no right from wrong, he is the way, the truth, and the light!

You are speaking in a matter of opinion, just the opposite opinion that I have. And who said I didn't believe in evolution or the possibility of evolution. The only difference is, in my opinion if evolution exists, God created it.

I apologize, I did not elaborate enough. All of these things you mentioned are indeed very good reasons to live! However, once again none of these would be possible without God. God is love. And before you argue God as being the creator of evil, that goes along with the idea that evil does not exists, it is only the absense of good, or the absense of God!

I appreciate the fact that you are an atheist, and I am in no position to say that you are wrong, but what makes you so right? What "evidence" do you have, minus fossils, to say that you are correct. Is it not true that in the end we are all ignorant to different possibilities of creation?

 

Yes, that is a fossil, when I was a child I was fascinated with archeology. Is there a point to your picture or should I read you mind?

 

Now I didn't call anyone names or say that your belief system, if any, was stupid did I? So why do you find it necesarry to transcend to name-calling? I agree with the fact that fossils have been discovered that are extremely old, nonetheless that doesn't make the bible incorrect, rather, misinterpretted by people like you...

 

I don't know what part of the bible you read where it said slavery was okay, but I have yet to stumble across those verses. May I remind you of the classic story of slaves who Moses freed from Egypt. Furthermore, right and wrong is defined by God, he instills it in every man, woman, and child as a gift, of which should be cherished.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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Science is not fact, may I remind you of a time when the world was flat, obviously science has yet to percieve our world in the way it really is. Scientists have no idea what is possible. Electrons are a prime example. No scientist can tell you why an electron passing through a two slit plate can pass through both slits. This is a fact that scientists have actually discovered, but can not explain. Much of what science is, is based on belief. Saying that science is fact is extremely arrogant and ignorant, as if I were to say that my beliefs were facts, they are one in the same my friend, ideas based on beliefs. I do not deny evolution, rather, I simply believe if it exists, its because God intended it to.

Yes sir, you did hit the nail on the head, I am very much more spiritual than religious. I also agree with your beef with religion, it drives me nuts to see religious fanatics ranting about how every other denomintation or religious practice is wrong, when the reality is we have no idea, we are always searching for answers. Once again, however, I don't think these things are possible without God, not to say I don't think you can experience them even if you do not believe in God. Love and other things, in my opinion, can be experienced without the belief in God, but, and once again this is my opinion, I believe that despite the fact that you do not believe in God, if you are a person who for example experiences love, you are experiencing God, despite your beliefs.

Once again, I think your "evidence" is solely based on a belief structured around some sort of faith. Like I mentioned earlier, scientists are often mistaken at the reality that is around them until much later, not to say that new ideas and concepts can not take root and become truth, but things are always changing. The literal beliefs of the bible I think can drive people away from its contents because the diction is so different than we can percieve it in our time. That being said, I believe that the bible is a source of guidance, of which can be used to base ones life, but once again, people percieve things differently, thus they should live life according to their beliefs.

I would also like to thank you sir for being so mature in your arguements, some replying have been a tad bit childish for such a touchy subject. So in your regards, you have my respect.

 

This is a good question. First of all, I do not limit myself to the idea of God, as I mentioned earlier I am open to all opinions and beliefs, I never said I was right, just that I believed myself to be right, which is good enough for me. I have faith in God because if I am feeling down or crappy, I feel like I can talk to God, and it actually makes me feel better. This may sound crazy to some people, but I'm not hurting anyone in the process so what's wrong with my methods? If by given up to the thing that sets us apaprt from other animals you mean the ability to question and search for answers, I have not. I do search everyday for new and exciting points of view of how our world may be explained, I just have a belief in a higher power, that's all. Nonetheless, I think it is important to believe in something, because if there's no life after death, I don't really see the point of life, even if there is family, love, etc. We'd just be a chapter in a never-ending book, characters defined by a moment instead of an eternity.