To the Theists. Which God(s) you believe in, which you don't and why?

There is no "independent church of God" in which everyone with a desire to know about God would be welcome or could fit in.

this is what Lori is talking about when she says ' I am the Church', each and every one of us is an "independent Church of God" and i do not care what any religico says, each of us has our own specific beliefs that don't fit into ANY denomination, for those of us that do go to church, we just learn to not communicate such to the other church members.
Some atheist think they have to give up their own specific beliefs to believe in God,(conform or goto hell)
God created us to be different from each other,not for a sec do i believe God wants us to act like a bunch of clones!

somewhere in the bible it says that each of us is the church (Lori..do you know which verse it is?)
that makes it an independent church of God..so would you be welcoming? would you attempt to help someone 'fit in'?
 
this is what Lori is talking about when she says ' I am the Church', each and every one of us is an "independent Church of God"

As long as you read the Bible and consider it authoritative in some way, the above is not the case.
 
are you implying that the concept of 'I am the Church' is not in the bible?

No. Just that one cannot be an "independent Church of God" if one adheres to a particular religion. Whatever the degree of that adherence is.

One would be an "independent Church of God" if one would have no ties whatsoever to any existing religion.
As soon as one reads the Bible and considers it authoritative, one is tied to a religion, and is not an "independent Church of God".
 
No. Just that one cannot be an "independent Church of God" if one adheres to a particular religion. Whatever the degree of that adherence is.
if you are saying 'if you are stuck in a religion'....then God is telling you to go some where else...who are you gonna listen to?


One would be an "independent Church of God" if one would have no ties whatsoever to any existing religion.
why?
it is this difference that strengthens a church as a body of ppl(churches) come together in unison.

As soon as one reads the Bible and considers it authoritative,
what authority are you giving it?
there are different levels of authority one can assign to the bible, IE, Guide book,Rule book,etc..

one is tied to a religion,
not a point to stress about as there are so many different variations of what is considered religion as to be pretty much an independent thing anyway..

and is not an "independent Church of God".
see above..
 
I believe in the god who has interacted with me and that's why. I don't believe in any others because they haven't.
 
One would be an "independent Church of God" if one would have no ties whatsoever to any existing religion.

why?

You are denying how things already are (for you).

You are relying on the Bible in some way or another, and you do so at the exlusion of all other religious scriptures.
Thus, you can't be "an independent Church of God".
 
The Bible doesn't mention Christians or Christianity either, but it is culturally understood that they are inextricably connected to the Bible -
yet it does make mention of the word christ ....

You yourself have noted that scripture can only be properly understood only via proper socialization within the disciplic succession.

The Vedic scriptures may not even mention the word "Hindu", but the only ones who claim to have the authoritative disciplic succession for the Vedic scriptures, are Hindus / groups of them. Nobody else.

There is no "independent church of God" in which everyone with a desire to know about God would be welcome or could fit in.
So you think its reasonable to categorize a religious perspective by a mispronunciation of the river Sindu?

Do you also think its fair to categorize Muslims, Jews and Christians as "Jordanists"?
 
#1 Which God(s) you believe in and why?
#2 Which God(s) you don't believe in and why?

Someone invited me to participate here. (To prevent an exhaustive word salad answer for #2, I'll just say the obvious for now that all the other major world religions don't offer the comprehensive/encompassing characteristics that Christianity offers.) I strive to live a Christian life because (in no strict order of importance, and not exhaustive):

  1. I have compared the major world religions and philosophies and find Christianity to be "the one".
  2. Faith is like marriage: once you've found "the one", you're supposed to stop looking; however, I'm not a robotic drone, I'm open-minded.
  3. Honestly, I've lived a Christian life for so long, I'm very comfortable with it and have a deep and settled satisfaction with it. To try to change it would be similar to trying to change my mother tongue.
  4. Frankly, I live in America, and I'm very pleased to live in a society based on Christian principles (eg, no honor killings, no FGM, no feuds, no volcano sacrifices, no strong zodiac influence, etc). Eg, I recently saw this online: What non-Christian country would you live in?
  5. Very personal to me: I'm responsible for my sins, and you're responsible for yours. (See #6 below)
  6. Likewise, if you've read the Bible, then it's up to you (ie, it's not my responsibility to show you your errors or to drag you away from your mentality/lifestyle).
  7. Christ is like a spiritual garbage disposal: Give him all your pains, and let him sort them out.
  8. The Bible says it's a spiritual war, not a physical war. So, where some religions murder infidels, Christians should not (and please don't blame me for the Crusades -- they were wrong, and besides, I wasn't there {Ref #5 above}).
  9. Generally, to me, these must go together: monotheism, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, A+Ω, the one and only, the one above all others, etc. Re the last example here in #9, a native American neighbor told me that his wife has the Bear Spirit and he has the Wolf Spirit and that they contend spiritually, and also, such spirits are pretty much permanent (thus their contention is too). Sad. The same with a neighbor woman believing in the zodiac who told me her sons signs contend with hers (again, forever). Very sad.
 
Cifo -

Have you been a Christian from your childhood on, or have you converted as an adult?
 
So you think its reasonable to categorize a religious perspective by a mispronunciation of the river Sindu?

Do you also think its fair to categorize Muslims, Jews and Christians as "Jordanists"?

You are being obtuse.

And you haven't replied to my post no. 8, where I first brought up issues of circularity and self-referentiality:

1. How do you respond to charges of circularity and self-referentiality?
Namely, it is this particular theology that teaches that the Supreme Personality of Godhead "incorporates any other function attributed to an omnimax god and more"; without subscribing to that theology, you would not see it that way.

2. How do you respond to charges from the Christian or Muslim side?
They hold that you are subscribing to some variation of falsity or the devil's work.


You yourself acknowledge there is a relevant enough issue of religious sectarianism or differentiation, when you use the term "religious perspective" in a way that suggests there are more religious perspectives than just one.

To people who themselves are not members of a religious/spiritual group, the phenomenon of religious differentiation (into various denominations, schools or movements) is relevant. If such a person has an urge to do something about their relationship with God, they are faced with choosing one specific religious tradition over all others.

To an outsider, the prominent impression of the modern religious situation is that there are many different religious/spiritual groups/churches/movements, each one of them claiming to be "the one and only right one" and competing amongst eachother.

You, now, when you are already a member of a particular religious group, may maintain a relaxed, all-encompassing henological perspective, but an outsider (in the modern multi-cultural, multi-religious society) cannot. To an outsider, it is all a matter of choosing "the right religion" amongst mutually exclusive ones. Roman Catholicism might be just as right as a particular branch of Gaudiya Vaisnavism, and so on.

By secular law, citizens have the right to their own religion. But in practice, this helps little or nothing if one has not been born into a particular religion or doesn't have an overwhelming calling for one.
A person may have an urge to work on their relationship with God (whatever that may mean), but in order to do so, they must join a particular religion - and this is where the absurdities of religious choice begin.
 
Cifo -
Have you been a Christian from your childhood on, or have you converted as an adult?

Some of both.
  1. Raised Roman Catholic,
  2. Found it seriously flawed (eg, blind faith (ie, can't ask questions -- or get answers), can't eat meat on Fridays, had three pedophile priests at my church, etc),
  3. Without a Bible or church, essentially lived a Christian lifestyle in early adulthood (eg, no hellraising etc), but I certainly disliked crass, fire-and-brimstone, door-to-door, Bible-thumping evangelists ("Good afternoon, if you're not born again you'll burn in hell!", and I still do,
  4. Did some spiritual perusing and studied other religions and philosophies,
  5. Then reaffirmed my Christian faith (this time, non-denominational Protestant) as a father of young children (which tends to be a classic spiritual juncture in an adult's life).
 
I'll just say the obvious for now that all the other major world religions don't offer the comprehensive/encompassing characteristics that Christianity offers.

So it is your own personal likes and dislikes that have decided whether you will be a Christian or not, and what kind of Christian.

So your decision for Christianity has nothing to do with whether Christianity is objectively the one true religion or not.
 
You are denying how things already are (for you).
i got to this post right after i posted this
it applies..

You are relying on the Bible in some way or another, and you do so at the exlusion of all other religious scriptures.
Thus, you can't be "an independent Church of God".

i do not.(bold) (at least not to my knowledge)
i do not invalidate other religious texts, in fact some of my opinions(and beliefs) are backed up by those other religious texts, i am by no means an expert in other religious texts, but i have heard enough about them to not discount them.

we had this conversation in bible study this morning;(paraphrasing myself)

I learn ALOT more from a dysfunctional(any level) human who is successfully(within reason) dealing with his dysfunctions, than you can from a person who is 'perfect', that doesn't have any dysfunction to struggle with.
IE "what the hell do you know about it? you never experienced it!"

you seem to think to be Christian is to be 'perfect', and i can see why as alot of Christians think the same way, that doesn't make it true. read the bible and see what is says about perfection, see how it could be misconstrued to fit into humanities ideas.
even Christians are human and as such is susceptible to their own humanity as the rest of us.(IOW we are just as messed up as you are)
 
Some of both.
  1. Raised Roman Catholic,
  2. Found it seriously flawed (eg, blind faith (ie, can't ask questions -- or get answers), can't eat meat on Fridays, had three pedophile priests at my church, etc),
  3. Without a Bible or church, essentially lived a Christian lifestyle in early adulthood (eg, no hellraising etc), but I certainly disliked crass, fire-and-brimstone, door-to-door, Bible-thumping evangelists ("Good afternoon, if you're not born again you'll burn in hell!", and I still do,
  4. Did some spiritual perusing and studied other religions and philosophies,
  5. Then reaffirmed my Christian faith (this time, non-denominational Protestant) as a father of young children (which tends to be a classic spiritual juncture in an adult's life).

sounds like me..i started with a Pentecostal church,when i got custody of my daughter..
 
There is only one God , The creator of life . Man have created many religion which probable don't have much to do with God
 
So it is your own personal likes and dislikes that have decided whether you will be a Christian or not, and what kind of Christian.

So your decision for Christianity has nothing to do with whether Christianity is objectively the one true religion or not.

Cutting to the chase, I suppose the short answer is that an objective search for a religion can only result in atheism because an afterlife cannot be proven.
 
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