oh thats cool, so youll go kill a hooker, smoke a blunt, cheat on your wife with your neighbor then go covet your neighbors goods? that sounds like THE LIFE.
Not quite. There's a difference between salvation and obeying the law. You are commanded by God to be saved by believing on Christ. You're also commanded to obey the laws and authorities God has appointed over you. But if you fail to obey the laws, or even to break the commandments of the Lord God Himself it doesn't affect your salvation.
I defend most Christians from slaughter by rationalists as I consider both sides to be innocently deluded, but I cannot but say that this is level 5 idiocy. "Commanded by God". Based on a book. This is robiticism and the blindest, stupidests of faith. Flying Spaghetti Monster indeed. I find it within my heart to accept those who are alleged to a Religion if their basis is that the religion makes sense, but "Commanded to believe in Christ" even I cannot but say is absolute idiocy and complete lack of ones use of intelligence. What command, where command. All there is is a damned book, whos source and nature and authenticity is highly debatable. Other religions like Islam have similar stories, are founded by people who fulfilled similar prophecies as Christ, and claimed similar things. What makes one the true commandment of God and not the other? Pure idiocy of the hundredth order.
I COMMAND YOU TO SMOKE A BOWL... does that make me reputable enough? or do i have to publish this, along with a laundry list of other children's fables, and sell/market it to 1+ billion for you to follow my commandment?
no not at all dude, i thought it was funny.. and i was high at the time. you live your life, and ill live mine
I was posting my opinion of you, not of God. You seem to lack basic comprehension skills. Perhaps your God forgot to command the skills unto you.
For a small number of people, and the time I get to spend with them. They are worth every hardship. I find hope in the idea that I might do the same for them.
I understand what you mean. You should however understand that on the subject of religion 99.9% of people on this forum are dumb as fuck when it comes to religion. You will probably now be banned, not for being a christian. Instead for saying that others image of christianity is wrong and not what you believe as a christian. Nobody here seems to understand that christianity has many different sect, the biggest ones being protestant, catholic and orthodoxy. This misunderstanding is then multiplied on the world stage. All you can look forward to here is being banned for your rational talk, you use to defend your beliefs, after people such as Androgenicx tell you your beliefs are wrong. My reason for living? To make myself happy, which for me is believeing in God and protecting my family. Word of advice to people: Just because your understanding of religion is different than what you heard about it, doesnt mean its wrong. Infact if your agnostic or aethiest, you probably have no mental capacity what so ever to understand where the person is coming from. Because of your blindness to the other side.
I did not attack his belief. Sure, having the opinion that his belief is nonsensical is obviously saying that I think his belief is wrong - one side will always tell the other that in any kind of debate/argument. Thats the nature of such a thing. If he said "I am commanded by God" I would have no bite in my tongue, but he says "You are commanded by God", based on absolutely nothing, and that does put a bite in my tongue, I stand by the bite. That is not him believing in something, that is him very bluntly and blandly saying that we are bound to his belief whether we like it or not. Rational talk? Are you on something, you must be hallucinating. What rational talk, where in his post? "You are commanded by God". Yes, indeed, incredibly rational, incredibly well defended belief. Not only is he not defending his belief rationally, he is indicating that we are bound to his belief whether we like it or not. You are talking as much BS as him. So you already know because people are disagreeing with religion that they are agnostic or atheists, when nobody ever said anything? Who's blind to the other side now? I am a cosmotheist, as are many people on this site. Your post is full of crap.
For the OP I understand, I respect every persons individual religion even if it's not what I agree with. As for my reasons for living. I don't know, all the reasons I have had are gone, or on the way out the door. To me religion is a safety blanket people rely on, sometimes as justification for acts already committed, or a reason to live/a reason to do good (or bad, everyone can justify what they do as righteous really, it's all a matter of perspective). The truth is I envy those with a sense of spirituality, sometimes found through religion or otherwise. Cause it feels like I have none.
Don't mind being banned. More important to speak the truth than to worry about if the people I tell want to hear it or not.
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" - Mark 1:14-15 That looks pretty much like a command to me. It says "Repent and believe the good news!" It doesn't say "If you think it's something you'd like to do.", or "If you find time to work it into your busy schedule. And no it's not me telling you that you have to believe what I believe. It's me exposing you to a reality of the Bible. Take it or leave it is entirely up to you. Just remember you're still going to have to answer for your choice no matter what your personal belief is. I've already shown where you are commanded by God. There's others like: The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. - Deuteronomy 26:16 But the point isn't to say that you, Androgenicx specifically, are commanded by God. It's to say that all humanity is commanded by God to believe on Christ for our salvation. What's your objection to that? For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead." - Acts 17:23-31
If you can't see the utter idiocy and blindness of quoting a book as "The reality of the Bible" and the words in a book as "God commanding you", you have no place in a rational or even sub-rational discussion, let alone in a kindergarten playpen amongst psychologically stable children. Keep quoting scripture all you want, that is not a rational argument of any kind, nobody with half an iota of intelligence will eat this kind of rubbish up nor even look at it. If you repeatedly use this as evidence to back yourself up and call it "rational", you need to have your head examined. I have tried to see and found it within myself to realize that many Christians who still propagate this kind of stuff and when asked for evidence of any kind or a rational argument of any kind, have simply grown up inside this book and are therefore truly unable to; it is so ingrained into them that there is a severe psychological barrier that makes them unable to question and realize that The Bible is just a book, written by a human, and as such is a source of knowledge that you could use like any other book, and in no way qualifies as the manifested "word of God". They have grown up within the reality of the book so deeply, that they are unable to differentiate between reality around them and what they think is unquestionably real as the Bible - their very existential reality is caught up in the book. I have seen and felt for so many of them, that when told over and over that the Bible is simply a book like the billions others that have been written in human history, they look innocently confused and unable to even grasp the concept that quoting the Bible is not a suitable discussion when attempting to discuss their religion with outside people. "Who said so?" "The Bible says so!", "Who says the Bible is the word of God", "The Bible itself says it is the word of God", "Cant you see the self-contained loop of entrapment in that?", "But the Bible says so!". It is a perfectly valid reference within the Christian community, and they have grown up with it all their lives and as such it is ingrained beyond displacement that the Bible is the word of God, and they cannot find themselves outside of this concept, simply because it would tear the very foundation of their existence painfully. I understand and feel for such people, they are victims of brainwashing by their Christian community and Church - they had not choice in the matter but to have their right to freedom of discovery denied and their brains washed completely with this doctrine. But when someone like you, who claims allegiance to any form of rationality, is obviously not the completely unexposed Christian, comes to a forum known for its intelligent contributions and discussions, and then behaves higher and mightier then defends himself by quoting scripture as an as all and end all, I cannot find it in myself to do anything but feel like giving you a swift kick in the ass to get out and stop wasting internet space and pollute this sanctum of discussion with pointless, baseless drivel. On a forum meant for intelligent discussion such as this, it is trolling.
Are you incapable of discussion and need to resort entirely to personal attacks? Is that what your "cosmotheism" has taught you? My work here is done with you. I've exposed you to the truth and now I leave it in God's hands if he chooses to save you or not.
What discussion? All you have done is defended someone elses claim that "God commands you" as rational, which it was not in the first place, and then defended yourself with quotes from a book. What discussion? There's no discussion here, just you quoting a book. Where are your words? Where is the rationale for the words from the book from your side, and where is the rationale for these words from this book being worth anything more than the words from the latest Harry Potter book? I do apologize for the personal attack. But either put up or stop posing like you are putting anything of any value up. The personal attack is a retort to your personal imposition in the nature of your words. There would be no personal attack if either you posted your beliefs in reference to yourself and not in a holier than thou impository manner "I have exposed you to the truth now it is in Gods hands", "You are commanded by God", nor if there was a shred of rational discussion from your side. Your posts are still useless.
For some reason you are refusing to put 2 and 2 together. Not that you are too stupid, but that you refuse to do so. Let's start with this. For the sake of discussion if there is a God can we agree that by default He, She, or It (whichever you prefer) would have to be supreme? Over and above anything and everything else by simple virtue of being God. Not due to some galactic arm wrestling contest, but just because that entity is God. Can we agree that if God exists, God is supreme?