God

[Deputy Dog 28]

Can FM expand a bit on what it means to be a Christian. What makes you a could Christian or a true Christian.

BH always kept an eye on your posts, clever lad no two ways of it. However I don't feel you can put up much of an argument on whether there's a god or not debate, you've already ruled the existence of god therefore nout can convince you and all your reasoning will be based on there's no god. Been learbing lots in the interval lol

The FM lad is often ignored, but the question thr lads asked have never been addressed. What basis for right and wrong, define morals, conscience and consciousness. Fraz your to advanced for me lad, can't keep up with info lol

[Born Hunter 17,796]

DD if that's what you believe of me then you fundamentally miss understand atheism and ignosticism. I have not and am not arguing about the existence of God.

 

Why do theists make the assumption that atheists are ignorant and closed minded? That IS NOT atheism! An atheist is no more closed minded than a theist.

[*The*Field*Marshall* 674]

I would have answered you by pm DD, but responding to WILF also, I apologise if you are a RC, I'm not speaking of all RC', but certainly of the church leadership and pope, there's nothing Christian there.

 

Sometimes anything contrary to the truth is really irrelevant, that includes educated opinions and heartfelt convictions.

 

Being a Christian means you have identified yourself with the biblical teachings of Christ and accepted His sacrificial, substitutionary death on a cross, the very reason He came to earth. It doesn't matter how good a person you are, how much you've read the bible, prayed, christened (unbiblical teaching) or even been baptised, gone to church, what ever. A Christian is defined by very basic criteria, yet so many in the church, especially the RC have missed it. Please feel free to message me if you'd like me to draw the difference in the two, I could also point you to some extensive sources of information.

[WILF 47,354]

Well they say you learn something new everyday, I being a pretty basic simple kind if bloke assumed that if you led your life generally along the teachings of Christ then that made you a Christian but obviously not !!

 

FM, I didn't realise the criteria were so strict, I have seen a few who meet all the criteria.......I wouldn't thank you for most of them mate.

I am christened, holy communion and all that jazz......didn't make me a better Christian, a lot of thinking on my own did that matey.

 

Folk can say I am or I am not, it's upto them.......I know what I believe,

 

God looked at the world and it was good.......you bet it was

No churches or badges or sects or crosses of gold about in those days

Edited October 30, 2014 by WILF

[Tiercel 6,986]

It does rather beg the question, what is a Christian? Is there a pronounced stigma attached if you do not go to church at every available opportunity. I hear the term 'a practising Christian' what does that mean? To my mind you either follow Christ or you don't. What I do not get is the need to affirm your beliefs in a place of worship, yet we are told that when you receive Christ he is in your heart. So why the need to go to some place to worship him?

 

TC

Edited October 30, 2014 by tiercel

[WILF 47,354]

Churches are brilliant.......that's normally when your the only one in there I have found

[frazdog 252]

My church is my house tc lol

[Tiercel 6,986]

My church is my house tc lol

Fraz as you know I will never knock anyone's beliefs. Yet there are some Christians who would say that because you do not go to church you are not a practising Christian. My View on it is that, if you live a life by the commandments and are subservient to no one. Then you are living a good life. I do not believe that if some entity has an omnipotent power, that they constantly need that power affirmed by being worshipped and their praises sang at every opportunity.

 

TC

Edited October 30, 2014 by tiercel

[*The*Field*Marshall* 674]

I've got a friend, he loves boxing, always training, sparring and has even participated in unlicensed contests. . He would love to be a Professional Boxer, whilst in theory he has all the credentials of being the genuine article, in reality he isn't.

He needs to be passed by the British boxing board of control and via meeting specific criteria in order to be the genuine article.

 

I wouldn't have the audacity to assume to know what you believe WILF, but when I see people or institutions in practice, I can confidently say, knowing the criteria very well, who and what is Christian.

 

I've no time for sheer ignorance, obtained by lazy individuals who haven't got enough gumption to test the falsity or accuracy of claims, by whichever you can bring yourself to a transcendent encounter with the creator of life.

 

Others don't believe because they feel they are justified by what they think and what they feel. I've no more empathy than for those who feel compassion for unfortunate human beings who have been subject to heartbreaking ordeals. I've got as big an issue with this as well as the next person. . But does the fact that bad things happen rule out the existence of a loving God? No. Quite the opposite - you see when you say something is wrong, you're drawing the contrast from what is right. When you are saying "this is evil" you are identifying yourself with what is good. I've said this before, God cannot give us free choice and still pick up the pieces of our calamities. If there's no God, there is no such thing as good and evil.

I take comfort in knowing that one day I will know the answers to what I don't know now.

 

Evil by biblical definition is sin. The bible says that God is holy and hates sin, that is why in the Old Testament, God is seen as a bit of tyrant and sin was not dealt with. He outlined his stance on sin by reacting to the actions of men, which is documented for us to grasp the reality of a Holy God. Seems disproportionate in our estimation, perhaps but none of us are holy, not one.

 

The life of Jesus was the polar opposite. He was the embodiment of love and when He took the sin of the world (yours and mine) on his shoulders - his death at Calvary - the wrath of God was satisfied. The bible says without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin. . I often wondered why, well I think it says a lot of God's holy character, He does not take pleasure in the shedding of blood, yet his Holy wrath must be satisfied. In the Old Testament they sacrificed animals. Lambs, which temporarily atoned for sin. when Jesus died He atoned for all sin once and for all and that is why He is referred to as the lamb of God. Heavy? Maybe. Heavenly? Absolutely.

[*The*Field*Marshall* 674]

Ps a church is a group of a Christians, not a building. A building known as a church is actually a chapel, or whatever else you want to call it. Don't be in the thinking that everyone who goes to church is a Christian, far from it, I call them chapel folk, God bothers' . . Do what they want in the week and bother God on Sunday haha. Forgive my cynicism.

[mushroom 13,194]

I reckon the Aramaic Christians are the best

[Tiercel 6,986]

Ps a church is a group of a Christians, not a building. A building known as a church is actually a chapel, or whatever else you want to call it. Don't be in the thinking that everyone who goes to church is a Christian, far from it, I call them chapel folk, God bothers' . . Do what they want in the week and bother God on Sunday haha. Forgive my cynicism.

When the county I lived in was dry on a Sunday, you had to knock on the back door to get into a pub. There would be a couple of people in until the chapels closed then the pubs would fill up, with them all in their Sunday best.

 

TC

[tb25 4,627]

Can a man beleave in god and has never classed his self as a Christian ..?..

[smithie 2,443]

beleive what you want tb25, you got that right

 

i dont believe but i reserve the right to change my mind on my death bed just incase

[WILF 47,354]

FM, great reading sir, I hear you loud and clear.

 

Your friend the boxer, he may not have all the skills and finery for other men (who after all only sat down and made themselves "the authority") to "honour him" with the label "boxer"...........but box he does so to me, that's what he is.

 

We will leave that aside for a moment and move along........

 

There's a thing I read once, I like it.......it makes perfect sense to me...........it said:

"God put good and evil in the world in equal amounts, every time you do evil it pushes out a little bit of the good and vice versa"

 

Now I am not well studied enough to know the intricacies of the scripture but the above sums things up nicely in my mind

 

Theologians will tell us what the scripture means and what we should and should not do, these monarchs of the various sects will tell us what they expect of us in order that they may bestowe the accolade of "good and proper Christian" upon us...........they are just men, who the hell do they think they are ? Is my view.

 

If god created everything then indeed he is to be found in everything, if men can only find their faith, spirituality, religion.....call it what you will, in the accolades and awards other men see fit to bestowe on them (such as the title True Christian) then I would suggest they are looking in the wrong places for god and his beauty

 

And so we return to your friend The Boxer, he may be happy with his lot but your paragraph suggests he craves the approval of those who would give it, I would say to your friend.......take comfort in enjoying what you do and the purity that comes from walking your own path, tell them to keep their "titles" for themselves for you need it not......you got yourself this far, continue to find yourself on your own terms.