Religious Guidance Please - Hello. Many questions.

Hi whatisolve
Firstly no one can help you !!!! this is for you and you alone to sort out ,,, we who are christians have done this for ourselfs and sorted all out in our own minds ,,, this is what you have to do for yourself ,,,, no matter what you do its your walk with God not ours ,,, we have our own walk

so all i have to do now is wish you well in your walk and in finding a path in life that fits you

May God bless you always

BADDOG

OK. Something miraculous.

What do you mean? I thought this was the place for questions.

<-- I can agree with that.

That's a lot of bolding and color for one message. I appreciate the attention to detail.

I guess I'll "walk off".
I hope that the God/spirit/Jesus blesses you also. [/QUOTE]

If one wants to know about the Lord, then reach out to him in prayer and listen for what he is saying to you. He doesn’t speak to us in words, but in thoughts.

Read the Bible. Then you will know more.

What would you believe? A specific sign? You don't want to take a human being's opinion, and I don't blame you. I don't want you to take a human's opinion, either. So what WOULD you believe?

What are thoughts composed of? Images, words, etc. all information which was or is being taken in to the brain through the nervous system by the your sensory systems. You used the verb speak and the term thought. Both of which are acquired through or used by the nervous system.

I've read two versions of the Bible, the King James edition and another of which I don't know the type. I've tried to read the Hebrew texts, but that was too much work (I don't understand hebrew, and it wasn't worth learning.) I've read enough. You can read a book, but these are words on a page, I am interested in how and why people apply the spiritual portions of the bible (not the moral or logical teachings, which are all resonable and very similar to other religious teachings). You can learn good behaviour and how to live well/properly without being spiritual. Spirituality varies amongst religions, that's why I wish to ask the people who "know more" about spirituality (the unwritten aspect of the bible.)
There is no exact way to understand/learn faith, anyone can read the bible.

That's retorical. The use of belief is humourous, because "belief" or faith is the very issue. How far can the mind's ability to believe extend. Where's is the line? What can you believe, be it a God which holds no physical properties, Santa Clause, My Imaginary Friend, Werewolves or anything beyond the realm of typical/natural understanding and verification.

It's not what it would take, it's why, and for what definite proof?

Belief in super-natural characters is unlimited by reality, by definition.

Belief is indeed unbound by reality. Spiritual beings aren't limited by time or space, either. That doesn't mean that they aren't real.

My question wasn't framed as a "what would you believe IN", but rather, "what would it take for you to believe in something you can't see?"

I could sit here and tell you which religion is the "true religion" all day long. Why should you believe a single word I say?

You shouldn't.

So, what would tip the scales to let you settle on the "true religion", in your mind?

I believe the pursuit of being good/righteous and good for/to others, etc. should be the intent of all people, and most religions teach this, however I don't see the point in believing in God or any other character/being/entity as such.

Faith is a gift from GOD , not always knowing but walking blindly by Faith .The holy Spirit guides and the rest is up to you my friend .Try praying before you read the bible and asking GOD for his wisdom understanig and to let your faith grow .I pray for you my friend amen take care

Walking blindly. ^__^

I didn't read all of the posts, so forgive me if I repeat things. I agree with others, that first you will benefit by "knowing" God. When you pray, talk to God just like you would talk to your best friend. God knows everything about you already anyway. Read the bible so that you gain a better understand of who God really is. He wants to know you, love you, and be all things to you. He wants you to know him, love him and trust him with everything.

As far as a church, you really need to find the church that you feel comfortable in. I was raised a catholic but when I went to a catholic church, I was never encouraged to read the bible. As I got older and I started reading the bible, I found a lot of things the catholic church taught that did not line up with what I was reading in the bible. I left the church and just independently studied the bible for many years and I would check out churches from time to time. Some friend's told me about a non-denominational church so I went to it and that's where I felt I fit in.

The teachings were real and from the bible. Sometimes, they would teach about the tough lessons that we don't always want to discuss but need to. Plus, it didn't matter what religious background anyone came from. What mattered was meeting Jesus on a personal level. Knowing what Christianity is really about. There are many religions and in my opinion, I feel that no religion is perfect. Only Jesus is perfect. Some day Jesus will come again and teach us the whole truth again. For now, we do the best we can to seek Him, follow Him and abide by His commandments. The more you read the bible, the moe you will learn about true Christianity. Jesus paved the way for us.

The most important things about Christianity is to accept Jesus as your Lord. Repent and follow Him. Some people believe that their church is the "right" church. You have to find the place where you feel the most comfortable. When you find it, you will know.

Whatislove, as I read a couple of your most recent posts, though I didn't go back far still since it's late, it seems like I'm hearing conflicts. You read the bible but don't know if you believe...if Im right.

Sometimes we read the bible but we don't really study it. This is what I mean. Take the scripture where Jesus approached the fig tree....Matt. 21:19. When you read that, you may wonder why jesus cursed the fig tree. However, if you study and compare it you will see why. When Jesus approached the tree it had leaves and looked good....after when he approached the church, it looked good from a distance also. The tree didn't bare any fruit and the church wasn't baring any good fruit either....study it and you will see more correlations.

We sometimes have to really look and see what Jesus is teaching us. Jesus cursed the fig tree and he cursed the church because they were not bearing any good fruit.

Also, you said walking blindly. I don't walk blindly, I walk by faith. I have faith that what Jesus taught is the truth and it will be the light to my feet that guides me daily so that I don't step off the path and into satan's ditch. I walk by faith knowing that God is love and that I am loved by the beloved. I walk by faith knowing that when I do, my savior will be there for me and I will go to be with God and Jesus at the throne, just as the bible promises me. I walk by faith...knowing that God is my savior, my king and my father. I walk by faith knowing that I am the bride of Christ. I also walk by faith knowing that Jesus died on that cross so that I will be set free from sin and I can go before the throne cleansed and a pure, spotless bride.

Okay, first of all, please watch this video. It will explain a lot to you about WHY you NEED to believe that Christianity is the One True Religion.

It has to do with evil, death and sin. It explains why these things happen and how Christ came to save us from them.


This is an audiobook that I made into a movie, the name of the book is called "Practical Teachings on the Christian Life". It was written by a 7th Century Christian named St Dorotheos of Gaza.

This is a basic outline of the Human Condition, and its Redemption in Christ.

This is the first chapter titled "On Renunciation" because this is what a Christian does, he renounces the world and all of its desires, because he sees nothing in this world worthy of the True Goodness of God. A Christian is somebody who is dead to this world, the world of the evil passions. Ambition, conceit, selfishness, all of these things are the world. A Christian rejects them.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLIYna5X1dM[/video]

Definitely repeated.

I have read the bible. Once purely to understand the writing styles and direct meanings, and the second time was for study. I used my own interpretation and read forums and looked for better understanding when the text was confusing. I downloaded a Hebrew bible and translator to have a better understanding of certain passages from their more original language. (I know it wasn't all originally written in one language, but most of it was. )

As for faith, that's the issue.

Currently, I certainly don't believe in God(s) or the afterlife, etc.
Jesus existed, but all the miracles, divine beings, etc. in both the new and old testament are open to interpretation and which have no grounds in fact, or secondary verification (i.e. oter unassociated writers of texts)


Proposal...

If I were a writer writing about something/someone I believed to be amazing (figuratively or literally), what else would be more convincing or amazing than a miracle or miraculous events? If I believed in God, what better way to prove a super-natural being than super-natural events. Once stories are spread by text or by word, somethings can chang, and in the art of story telling most people can accept that stories are often if not always embellished to draw the attention of others.

We see this in other faiths i.e. Greek Mythology, Hinduism, Aboriginal/Native Faiths etc. etc.

I can agree with most of the events of the bible, but none of the miracles of (esp.) the old and the new testament.

Note: Christianity became much more prevalent amongst people of that time, long after the crusafixtion.

If I can't believe the miracles of the bible...
firstly, because there is no secondary verification of any of them.
secondly, because miracles do not (have not) occured today and been verified
thirdly, because Christianity is just like every other religion in terms of miraculous events and spiritual beings. The cannot be proven or disproven.

If this is what is required to become a religion, I could start my own:
Checklist:
Unverifiable source of inspiration and teachings. (Superman, spoke with me about the overworld.)
Check
Fellowship. (Comic book readers.)
Check
Some rules about good human/civilsed conduct.
"Live as you'd wish others to live amongst you"
Check

There you have it, my new religion.

It needs a name though...
I think I'll call it Marvelism. (Isn't it Marvel-ous? It teaches people to do good things, what could be better?)

It's the only way to eternity in the overworld, because you don't want to end up in the underworld with the Green Goblin and Kryptonium.

To join please give your heart and praise to the overGod, and thanks be to Superman for sharing this info. with us.

(I chose Marvel, because it's recent popularity at the movies.)

New Testament Logic

Prophecy (from old testament)
Jesus fills phrophecy
Jesus claims to be the son of the God from the old testament.
Jesus supposedly preforms miracles
Jesus dies on the cross.
Miracle, he supposedly rises again.

Therefore God exists, based on a singular source of potential heresay. Based on this (I don't care how many adherents a religions has) Marvelism is a realistic alternative to Christianity because there is no way of proving it's not a legimate belief.


As for your information about being a bride of christ, wonderful, but that's irrelevant discussion.

I've read this in the bible already. Why would I need a summary of that?

As for WHY I NEED to believe Christianity? I don't.

As for it being the ONE true religion? That's your/a christian opinion. I asked a Jew the same thing. Guess what he said...
"If you read the Torah, you'll understand."

People do evil and sinful things. Those things don't happen to people, people make them happen.

Essentially you are saying that God exists to save us from ourselves. Therefore we are helpless against sin and evil.

Roadblock: God is something that is not connected to natural preception of the world, therefore how can it help us? (I don't like using HE because God's supposed to be genderless, only Jesus had gender.)

A buddhist and a taoist will tell you the same thing, almost word for word.

I think I should stop posting... thanks for those who answered. Very helpful, but nothing convincing or verifiable.

You arguments could be stated in accordance with many other religions.