posted August 11, 2012 06:24 PM            

"we are right so even though we are exactly like those MONSTERS, we are not monsters"

and yet you think christians wouldn't dream of taking away women's birth control or right to abortion?

posted August 11, 2012 06:26 PM            

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted August 11, 2012 06:48 PM            

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted August 11, 2012 06:54 PM            

God will show everyone the truth at some point.
Onward and Upward

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted August 11, 2012 07:05 PM            

quote:

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For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

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Without excuse for what?

If God's invisible qualities are clearly seen...and I don't see how that could possibly be the case since something that's invisible is not seen whatsoever, by definition...IF everything is clearly seen, then a person would have to be utterly senseless to deny it. And if they are senseless, is that their fault, or are they just defective?

Where does *choice* come into play here?

Did they choose to be defective and not see what is "clearly seen"? Why would anyone do that, first of all, and secondly, if they do manage to succeed in the impossible stunt of not seeing the perfectly visible, why should the punishment be eternal torture?

posted August 11, 2012 07:09 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Faith:
Without excuse for what?

[b]If God's invisible qualities are clearly seen...and I don't see how that could possibly be the case since something that's invisible is not seen whatsoever, by definition...IF everything is clearly seen, then a person would have to be utterly senseless to deny it. And if they are senseless, is that their fault, or are they just defective?

Where does *choice* come into play here?

Did they choose to be defective and not see what is "clearly seen"? Why would anyone do that, first of all, and secondly, if they do manage to succeed in the impossible stunt of not seeing the perfectly visible, why should the punishment be the most extreme form of punishment imaginable?

Nothing here correlates with earthly life. If I try and draw a parallel, it looks something like:

I KNOW that guy definitely saw that the ball was red, there is no possible reason for him thinking it was another color, but he acted like it was some other color! So now he's going to prison forever for it, and good riddance.[/B]

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You can see God in nature. Then, the Bible promises if you seek God with all your heart, you will find Him.
If you call out to Him he will come to you.

One has to try to run from God, as he does pursue people but they always have choice. God sends people to you, as I am being sent right now. God tries to get everyone to find Him, just as he is with you, but you can reject it or accept it. That is the choice. Everyone has the choice that you have right now.

If you are seriously interested, Faith, you need to study the Prophecies.

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted August 11, 2012 07:21 PM            

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posted August 11, 2012 07:39 PM            

christians killing others for their faith is NOT the same thing. christ would NEVER have condoned this attitude. there is no love in slaughtering those who disagree with you! and teaching CHILDREN to think this way would be CRIMINAL in the eyes of a loving god, imo.

these people are not encouraging "being willing to lay down your life". they are teaching the LAYING DOWN OF OTHERS' LIVES.

posted August 11, 2012 07:52 PM            

I have many questions, and I haven't even gotten to questions about things from a few pages back -nods-

I do not have vast amounts of time to post on LL each day, but I am avidly reading and re-reading whats being said by all

posted August 11, 2012 08:28 PM            

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posted August 11, 2012 09:44 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Lei_Kuei:
Some of the things I'm seeing here put forward as a christian perspective are truly astounding...

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Most of the Christians I meet seem to make their actual religion up as they go along.

I had some of my Christian friends over for dinner last night, and I was trying to pinpoint their beliefs, but ended up in a mess of contradictions, with the grand finale being "religion is not important...it's only important that you know Christ."

posted August 11, 2012 10:26 PM            

You want words and intellectual ideas. They are telling you that it is a heart thing, as well as a head thing.

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted August 11, 2012 11:53 PM            

I think if you feel something happening inside of you, and you ascribe words to that feeling, and put a lot of emphasis on those words (ie "It's Jesus, not some generic 'enlightenment'"), then the words are definitely up for scrutiny. You are the one who put the words out there for consumption, and we want to see what we are eating.

posted August 12, 2012 05:09 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Faith:
Hi Ami,

I think if you feel something happening inside of you, and you ascribe words to that feeling, and put a lot of emphasis on those words (ie "It's Jesus, not some generic 'enlightenment'"), then the words are definitely up for scrutiny. You are the one who put the words out there for consumption, and we want to see what we are eating.

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I am fine with sincere questions, not people who I know bait, for the sake of annoying and harassing people. I ignore those people( and people who encourage them) I may give a warning and then ignore, or just ignore but that will happen to Kat.

If others get on here and want to be like Kat, I will ignore them, too.
I don't need to put up with that and I won't.

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted August 12, 2012 05:52 AM            

*edit: I did bump a thread about "what is your religion", will keep looking for one about denominations.

I understand that threads meander at times, but I feel like this has completely gotten away from the original intent of the thread (or at least the original message/topic), and I also feel like it might be more productive to move conversation about different schools of thought to its own thread, as it seems to be a hot topic and one that people might like to talk about, which would warrant it having its own space.

And, again, please, everyone, respect each other. I do want people to feel comfortable here: not a sort of "belch, fart, and not wear pants in public" comfortable (as in, no rules of etiquette or propriety followed), but a sort of gentle, peaceful comfort that comes from a place being 'safe' for all.

I hope that I'm not overstepping my boundaries in asking for this, as that's not my intent, but I do have some concerns, and I simply want to ask that people "keep the volume down" to a reasonable level: that is, have honest and spirited discussions, but not to let them get too carried away or go too far, and to keep the tone courteous. I also want to be very clear that this is not aimed at any one specific person, and I just want to prevent this sub-forum from becoming a war-zone and leading to people avoiding it altogether or else having a lot of hurt feelings, tension, and anger.

I understand that people disagree. That's normal and natural, maybe even healthy. People are never going to have the exact same opinions on everything, and I don't want people to feel like they have to just parrot each other--that would be boring and no one would grow or learn anything! However, I would like to ask that disagreement be expressed in a polite, proper, respectful way.

posted August 12, 2012 09:43 AM            

Interestingly, I don`t see anyone really countering the statement.

God IS Love but we each have a different path in seeking and restoring faith in that love. Rather as a Pagan, Christian, Jew, Atheist et al, we Know a higher power by different names.

The at odds here are how one goes about seeking. Dogma, Doctrine , Mystical or none of these.... we question and seek as we build a path to tomorrow and what the Uni-verse holds for us.

God is love and sometimes that`s just enough. For believers or non believers, Jesus the Christs Teaching of love :

(paraphrased)

"There is a saying, 'Love your friends and hate your enemies.' But I say: Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way you will be acting as true sons/daughters of your Creator. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust too. If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even scoundrels do that much. If you are friendly only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even the heathen do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Creator (Father in heaven) is perfect.

'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.

posted August 12, 2012 10:54 AM            

quote:

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I would like to make the suggestion that we perhaps get back to the original topic--"God is Love"--and maybe that we could start a new thread for discussions of different denominations and schools of thought.

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As a fellow moderator (all be it not of this form) I respectfully disagree. The thread topic is labeled "God is Love" but this is misleading by its juxtaposition with its first post.

quote:

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People will know you are Christians by your love. No one is perfect, but when we are Christians, we have the Holy Spirit inside us. God is pure love. That should show itself, as it flows from the inside out.

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This statement implies that "God is Love" is a Christian phenomenon, there was no mention anywhere of other religious denominations, or non religious points of view. The thread should rightly be called "This is Christian Love".

Based on this understanding and Ami Anne's own willingness to answer questions about this statement. We have hence forth proceeded to seek answers that shed light on whether this statement has validity based on said responses.

If you wish to start a new thread that is all inclusive as regards what people feel about the statement "God is Love", by all means do so, its just too bad that the moderation tools do not allow for the editing of topic titles and thus we could have avoided this unfortunate issue.

posted August 12, 2012 11:33 AM            

quote:

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As a fellow moderator (all be it not of this form) I respectfully disagree. The thread topic is labeled "God is Love" but this is misleading by its juxtaposition with its first post.

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I agree. A threads title has a way of meandering over time but....

yes, the title and opening statement is precisely a "specific" Christian view and paves the way for questioning and presentation of opposing views.

make sense ?

posted August 12, 2012 01:23 PM            

as to GU, jwhop set that up as a baiting arena, so go chastise HIM, not me. i have seen you pointing blaming fingers at several people who were only trying to help you, and it doesn't surprise me that you do it to me too, for engaging in discussion about this topic. yet you encourage jwhop in promulgating a campaign of hate. nice.

YOU invited me to come here and discuss these things. YOU claimed the bible is prophecy and YOU refuse to present any already fulfilled prophesy for examination.

the unexamined life (or faith) is not worth living. so, since you wish it so, i will not engage your closed mind anymore. but this is an open board and if you don't want to hear other folks' ideas and questions maybe you should go hang out on your own blogsite?

sorry folks, that is all! carry on

posted August 12, 2012 01:50 PM            

quote:

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i will not engage your closed mind anymore.

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is that a threat or a promise

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posted August 12, 2012 02:15 PM            

Gnostic Christians, ( yes we follow the Christs Teachings so Christian it is) it is that the patriarchs sitting around the Nicene table editing what they deemed the good of all, they got hurried and sloppy. They left gold nuggets to be followed up by the edited books we know as the The apocrypha: Forgotton Books of Eden, Lost Books of the Bible and modern finds in the Dead Sea scrolls etc..

One slip up was "our"; they edited out the Divine Aspect of God, Sophia , co- creator and feminine aspect of the Godhead leaving behind the obscure our.

Another was the model of two creations of which there were.

The creation of the spirit and it`s divine attributes, the masculine and feminine followed by the physical creation. So two creations and two aspects of God.

The editing left an angry unforgiving God who promoted war and pillage. If we factor in the Divine Feminine and the lost works, we would have a clearer picture of a loving, wise forgiving God and truely see God is Love.

my 2 cents