You know I'm really starting to get sick and tired of people pretending to be a Christian. It's not something you can just "play pretend" on. As I look around, for example, on MySpace like 70% the users have the "Christian - Other" under religion, but when it comes down to it about half of them REALLY DON'T care about it. Here, I'll sum up the average Joe American teen's thoughts on religion:
"I know God's real… I believe in God and Jesus and stuff, I'm just not religious or anything… I'm mean I believe in him & I'm a pretty good person, so I'll get to Heaven."You don't know how many times I hear this, and most of you reading this are just like that. The sad thing is that you actually believe it! "Oh, I don't believe in Hell or the Devil, or even if it does exist I don't think God sends people there, he's supposed to be a loving god. He wouldn't do that"Your right, God doesn't send people to Hell, we choose our path in life thus we choose to take ourselves there.Another thing that quote makes me realize is this: You claim to believe in God, yet you denie what he says. His word clearly says that their IS in fact a HELL. This is the same thing with saying that you can believe that life evolved over millions and billions of years and still believe in God. You CAN'T! You're saying that what he said he did and what he actually did are two different things. God doesn't lie! Although according to your made up religion he does. You see, the so call religion you follow is FAKE, made up and just like the Atheists say, someone just made it up to explain unknown things in a way that makes you happy. You see they ARE RIGHT when they say that your God doesn't exist. Wanna know why, because you made him up! Really, you made up everything you know as to be "God", you've honestly never read the Bible which is the written word of the REAL God. Your God is all in your head, never really there. Alright… I guess what I was trying to do what to separate the REAL believers from the people that claim to believe just because everyone else's doing it. If you don't even know about the religion you claim to follow, don't claim to follow it anymore because you obviously don't already.
lol see? This is a cool place.Let's all be cool and eat ice cream and make games.
also lets shit on the GMCWell, there is a separate religion in my book, it's called "I never actually thought about what my parents brought me up in". People mix that with their own beliefs, or the ones they like.
I believe religions are just a illness. It'll be cured over time. Besides, whos to say that god's name is god? The Bible was translated so many times. Oh well, people can "believe" what they want.
Prove to me that god exists (or any other divine entity), and I'll believe it.
Firstly: Me I'm a Christian and I'll not make any apology for that - just as I don't expect anyone else to apologise for their belief.
Secondly: The mistake most non-Christians make about Christians is that they tend to forget that the person who is now a Christian once believed something else ie. I was once upon a time a staunch evolutionist and was planning on becoming an "evolutionist" archeologist. One day this changed, however I did not suddenly go insane and decide to believe in fairy dust and pixies. You can believe that I did if it gives you comfort, but that did not happen to me. I'm still a logical, sane person. In many ways more than I was before I was a Christian - however this is to do with my past personal life and nothing to do with the discussion that is going on here.Thirdly: Most lay people (ie. those who do not have a degree in science on the subject they are discussing - I do not, my background is history and philosophy) have when they start pushing their evolutionary beliefs is that they tend to brush over what a lot of scientists will begrudgingly admit - there are many holes in the theory and they are finding more every day. Hence the reason why a number of possible replacement theories have been thrown about. These I do know about because I have friends who would are still staunch evolutionists, atheists, sceptics and who on more than one occasion have thrown them at me. Anyway, it has even been said by one researcher in the field of genetics that what they are finding with each discovery is how little they really know. Now this can all be classed as heresay and not evidence as I cannot place the relevant quote before you (not that it would really prove anything even if I could), nor can I place any documents I have read from secular scientists that back up my above claims.Fourthly: Now, and I really hope people can read and understand this before they decide targetting me with their flame throwers (although I don't mind, it's what a "Hat On A Stick" is for), before you can debate the truth or fallacy of evolution you need to have a reasonable understanding of what the follow words (in no particular order) mean:"fact" - usually equated to meaning "the truth". Something that "is" whether or not people believe in it, or can produce evidence of its existence - It just is."evidence" - something that can be produced and waved infront of peoples noses. It exists in a physical form - even if that form is a recording of the occurence."interpretation" - "observation" - here it means, "what a person experiences with their own senses"."theory" - what happens when a persons brain tries to find a peg that fits into the hole they have been presented with. Usually there is a fair amount of forcing and hammering involved.What most people tend to bandy about as "fact" is (almost) always "theory" based upon the "interpretation" of an "observation" of the "evidence". Science itself is based upon theories. Without them there would not be scientific progress. Now the flip side of the coin is that this is also how it works as a Christian (more so for scientists who believe in a Creation than probably the average Christian). We see the same "evidence" as the secular scientist, however we see it with "different eyes" (faith) so our "observations" and "interpretations" lead us to completely different "theories". "Fact" is very different to "faith", which is where a person chooses to believe something. The key word here is "chooses". Faith involves a choice - whether conscious or subconscious - that then influences all our observations, interpretations and theories. There is no such thing as an unbiased observer. Such a phrase is an oxymoron.Faith can grow and it can die, rather like something that lives within. It needs to be tested, it needs to be fed. What you put in, determines very much as to what you get out. Whether you do believe in God, his Son Jesus and Creation, or you think those who believe are off visiting La La Land, or you claim to have no belief either way - all I ask from you in life is never stop asking questions. Don't let your faith remain static as that is no way to live.The debate rages on the same way as it has always done and the question as to whether or not God exists always comes down to faith. The only real question to ask is: What do you choose to believe?I'd like to take this further, but extreme fatigue (I had my treatment today) and my slipping grasp of the english language are starting to become a hindrance. I was even going to try answering some of the questions raised above, but I might leave that for another day. C.S. Lewis, a highly intelligent man, wrote some very interesting articles and books upon this subject but unfortunately he's only remembered by most for his childrens books. One interesting book in particular ("The problem of pain") was given to me because of the various illnesses that I deal with in my daily life, and has helped in understanding (from my faith's point of view) as to why I'm going through what I am.*sigh* I missed a bit, add the following to the above:
"interpretation" - the act of trying to make sense of what has been observed. Often this goes hand-in-hand with "theory".Not quite what I was going to say, but I really am too tired to finish this.Bah, ignore me. I'll just summarize my long post that I made into two lines.
Bible compiled much after Jesus.Thus, Bible has much error.Those two lines summarize my view on Christianity.You know who created the earth, humans, and the universe itself? Tom Cruise. That's right.