There is a lot less today, but we still get our money's worth!

And I didn't even mention the money I remember having a catholic teacher who said there was one thing that puzzled her, when she was growing up she was told that if women didn't wear a hat and gloves to church they were being disrespectful to God and would be judged as such. Somehow that rule changed over time. So do all the hatless, gloveless women before get a "get out of purgatory free card" now?

Take a look at the bible. Read every page of it, every word of it and you'll notice some very strong recurring themes. 1. Man tries to over-complicate everything 2. Don't be a dick

Zoomba, you should write a "Bible for Dummies" guide

When you read and prayed, did you pray asking God if He exists and (if so) is the Bible His word? Or did you pray telling God that you believe in Him and that the Bible is His word?

I pray telling God that I believe in him and am keeping my eyes, ears and heart open for his guidance. I don't tend to ask yes or no questions I don't see how telling God the Bible is His word is going to make it so or make it make any more sense. If "seek and you shall find" is true, well, I'm seeking.

The bible is both literal and symbolic. You have to read it in context. I basically use the principle that "if it makes sense, seek no other sense."

A very wise principle.

I usually think of all the "facts" the Bible describes as symbolic, and all the rules the Bible mentions as meant to be understood literally (but with some interpretation).

I follow all the rules, I think, that make sense to me.

Im doing it because that is what he asks and if I follow him and his will for my life...then he will reward me for following him. My salvation is based on following God and acknowleging that I am a sinner and need his forgiveness in my life. If I do that, admit that I am helpless without him...then he will guide me and protect me in my life.

So it's all about YOUR reward. YOUR salvation. It's all about YOU. You're doing it for YOU.

Now do you understand why I found your comment about hearing 'me me me' seemed so hypocritical? Because you're doing the same thing....but because yours is under the banner heading of 'Christianity' and is what you consider to be 'God's will' then it's okay, right?

It's attitudes like that that made my decision to leave the church soooo much easier.

THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD,CREATOR OF ALL THE ENTITIES THAT BE,THIS IS JUST WHAT SATAN THE DEVIL,WANTS THOSE OF YOU 2 DO CONTEST ME AT EVERY LIITLE THING THAT COMES UP..IN GENESIS,THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED,I KNEW ADAM WOULD NOT FALL 4 SATANS' TRICKS..SATAN SAYS 2 ADAM,I CAN DO THIS NTHAT 2 YOU N YOU CAN DO IT 2 ME ALOS,ADAM SAID THAT JUST ISN'T NATURAL..SO I MAKE EVE,ONE DAY EVE IS OUT GALAVANTING IN THE PARK N CROSSES PATHS WITH THE SINISTER ONE,UNBEKNOWEST 2 HER,SO SLICK WILLY SAYS 2 EVE,I CAN THIS N THAT 2 YOU, N YOU CAN DO THIS N THAT 2 ME,OR WE CAN DO THIS ALSO,KNOWING NO BETTER SHE FALLS 4 HIS CUNNING TRICKS,PLUS CURIOUSITY KILLED THE CUNT..SO SATAN FUCKS EVE N IMPREGNATES HER,EVE GOES BACK HOME N SHOWS ADAM THE TRICK SHE LEARNT,YET ADAM DID NOT REALIZE 2 SAY HEY WHERE DID YOU ACQUIRE THIS KNOWLEDGE..ADAM IMPREGNATES EVE,SO EVE HAS TWINS ONE GOOD,N ONE EVIL,LATER IN LIFE THE EVIL ONE CAIN KILLED ABEL THE RIGHTEOUS ONE..SEX WAS THE SIN IN THE GARDEN,NOT THE FRUIT,UNLESS YOU USE THE TERM OF A VIRGIN "POP HER CHERRY,OR THE SHAPE OF THE PENIS WHICH RESEMBLES A FEW DIFFERENT KINDS OF FRUIT..THE CONCEPTION STATEMENT,IN GENESIS IS WHERE IT ALL STARTED..NOW MANY REASONS 4 THE DECEPTIONS,SINCE MY SON ONLY SPOKE OF ONE CHURCH NOT CHURCHES..PRESENTLY,I HAVE 2 SAY THAT 98% OF THE ENTIRE POPULATION,IS THE SEED OF SATAN,FREEWILL N CHOICE IS 4 ALL AS THEY AGE,HOWEVER IT STARTS IN YOUR HEART BE IT ROTTEN OR PURE,WHICH SENDS BLOOD ALL OVER NEXT STOP,YOUR MIND-WHERE YOU WILL EITHER THINK RIGHT OR WRONG,WHICH GOES 2 SPEECH ,IN WHICH YOU WILL SPEAK TRUE OR FALSE,LEADING 2 YOUR ACTIONS,WHICH WILL BE GOOD OR BAD..MY CHRILDEN THIS IS THE STORY OF LIFE IN A NUTSHELL..PREDESTINATION IS A FACT,LONG BATTLES WERE FOUGHT,THE GREAT GULF CHASM WAS ORDERED SO THAT NOONE ANYMORE WILL BE FAKING THE FUNK THINKING THEY CAN FOOL THE 3 OF US N MANAGE 2 GET INTO PARADISE...I ONLY KNOW THOSE WITH A HEART THAT IS GOOD AS GOLD, N NOT SET ON EVIL INTENT CONSTANTLY..MY SON SPOKE OF OTHERS PEOPLES' DAD,INSISTING THAT THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE IN HIS WORDS THAT CAME FROM ABOVE,WAS THAT OF THE DEVILS' CHILDREN,WHEREAS HE WAS THEN N IS STILL NOW A LIAR,THIEF,N A MURDER..NOW THE FAMILY TREE COMES IN,ALONG W/PREDESTINATION...WHO YOU ARE N WHAT YOU ARE WERE MADE KNOWN 2 ME IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM LONG B4 THE GARDEN SCENE...IT ONLY TAKES NOT EVEN 10 MINUTES 2 DETERMINE WHO SOMEONE IS BY THE WAY THAT THEY TALK N ACT,REMEMBER DEFILEMENT COMES FROM WITHIN,SOME ARE BORN WITH IT,SOME EARN IT MOST LIVE IT...WAKE-UP CHILDEN B4 IT IS 2 LATE THESE ARE THE TRUE TEACHINGS I MEANT....THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD,CREATOR OF HEAVEN N EARTH-PARIDISE N THE LAKE OF FIRE..THE SUN,THE MOON,THE STARS,THE UNIVERSE NOW N THAT WHICH IS SOON 2 COME...WILL YOU BE THER WE WILL SEE....L/O/L=LOTS OF LUCK...........

I HAVE 2 SAY THAT 98% OF THE ENTIRE POPULATION,IS THE SEED OF SATAN,

This statement along with your writing style REALLY turns me off but you are entitled to your opinion.

So it's all about YOUR reward. YOUR salvation. It's all about YOU. You're doing it for YOU. Now do you understand why I found your comment about hearing 'me me me' seemed so hypocritical? Because you're doing the same thing....but because yours is under the banner heading of 'Christianity' and is what you consider to be 'God's will' then it's okay, right? It's attitudes like that that made my decision to leave the church soooo much easier.

Aren't you in a relationship with your husband for any "me" reasons? I mean...did you marry him because YOU want a family or YOU want financial or emotional stability or because YOU didn't want to be alone?

I'm in my relationship with Ryan because I love him. I'm also in it because I enjoy companionship with him and I'd like to have a family with him. I have selfish reasons for being in a relationship. I think anyone who doesn't have any "selfish" reasons to do something is your run of the mill doormat.

Of course I have selfish motives for my faith and my behavior. I want to go to Heaven, so I choose to believe that the Christian path to Heaven is the right one. I choose to serve God and others not only because he said to but because it makes ME feel GOOD when I do it.

It's like you expect Christians to be some sort of superhuman with no "self". If Christians spent their whole lives feeding everyone else but never ate anything themselves, there wouldn't be any Christians left out there. God doesn't ask us to completely forego our common sense.

This statement along with your writing style REALLY turns me off but you are entitled to your opinion.

The seed of Satan? I don't know if I'd go that far. But the Bible says that ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But the seed of satan? ANd all in caps? I agree with you Jill.

And that's the reason lots of people are turned off to Christianity--because of the pointing fingers. It's BS.

So do all the hatless, gloveless women before get a "get out of purgatory free card" now?

Sure!  Didn't you get one in your last MonoHoly game?

No. I don't believe the Bible is literal in the slightest. I believe there is a deeper truth there that a lot of people don't see. Reminds me in a way of the old Zen saying that if you see the Buddha on the road then kill him. Or the one about the Wise Sage that points to the moon but the idiot only sees his finger. The Bible (to me) is that finger. I try to use it to see the reality of the Moon.

by shovelheat

That is basically my answer too. I will take that further and say that if you TRUELY believe, then you will:
a) Realize that as a human being and you will to see things your way. As a human there is a tendancy to over-ride what is there to what you think it there at any time. Its called reading comprehension. Its what YOU THINK God is trying to tell you. You can claim you THINK that is what God says and believe or have faith in the meaning, but do not claim to speak for God (and be ready to be wrong... and if you think that makes it hard to make rules out of it...)

Faith is a growing living thing and having an absolute like rules doesn't always work. Guidance is key, rules are more Earth bound. Remember, we aren't suppossed to be so into this plain of existance, so why are we turning the words of God into rules?



If the Bible is so ment to be taken literally, then I think we all better get used to the idea of not making it to Heaven. The whole idea of Jesus is about guidance, remember?

JillUser:

I pray telling God that I believe in him and am keeping my eyes, ears and heart open for his guidance. I don't tend to ask yes or no questions I don't see how telling God the Bible is His word is going to make it so or make it make any more sense. If "seek and you shall find" is true, well, I'm seeking.

Eyes, ears open are good. I didn't mean to say that you should be telling God that the Bible is His word, though. What I'm saying is that you need to accept the Bible as His word and tell him that you know (since He already knows the Bible is his word). Faith is not a matter of question, it's a matter of accepting. God is the only one that knows your heart and mind. I can't tell you what you believe in your heart, but He can. Once He has decided that you have shown that faith, He will make the truth of it known to you, through the Holy Spirit.

Without the spirit, all the intellectual knowledge and hope is meaningless.

I pray for you in your search.

Aren't you in a relationship with your husband for any "me" reasons? I mean...did you marry him because YOU want a family or YOU want financial or emotional stability or because YOU didn't want to be alone?

I was referring to either your or Ryan's comment about the girl in detention - the 'ME ME ME' quote.  I was trying to show whoever left the comment that their Christianity wasn't for altruistic reasons, that there was a whole lot of 'ME ME ME' in that too.

I'm married to my husband for a whole lot of 'me' reasons.  I don't think you can compare a marriage to a relationship with god. If you do, well, that's more than a little creepy.  I can't imagine what sharing a bathroom with god is like, and the sex...oy.  I don't even want to think about it.

It's like you expect Christians to be some sort of superhuman with no "self".

No, I don't expect you to be selfless.  I just don't think you should make disparaging comments about choosing paths that are self absorbed when the path that you've chosen for yourself is a lot about ME too. 

It was Ryan that made the comment, I think.  Unless you've got teenagers coming to you for detention.  And, it sounds like something he'd say.

This statement along with your writing style REALLY turns me off but you are entitled to your opinion.

Well Jill I'm seeing that we do agree from time to time. I have no idea what that was all about. Looks cultish to me.

I also started out Catholic so I think I'm starting to see where you are coming from. I don't believe Christianity has anything to do with Pillar, Pope or Creed but all about what God has done for us. It's not about us in the grand scope of things.....it's all about HIM. I think many get the man-made religions mixed up with Christianity. It's easy to do. It's all Satan. He's the author of chaos. He wants us confused on our way to the cross. He's throwing all kinds of obstacles in our way. Mission accomplished when we turn around to take what seems to be an easier route.

He doesn't care if we go to church. He doesn't care if we do good deeds. What he tries to stop is our connection to God either in reading the word or praying. By praying we talk to God and the other is God talking to us. Satan's job is to cut of communication. Without that we have no power. I look at it like a marine out in the desert cut off from his commander. Without that lifeline he's a dead man. We are all walking dead men without God. That's what Jesus was refering to when he said..."Let the Dead bury the dead."

See I believe we are born physically and then when we come to God and accept what he's done we are born spiritually. There's a saying that goes....born once die twice....born twice die once. I believe that. That's why Jesus said..."You must be born again." We cannot enter the Kingdom of God without being born of the spirit.

I also agree with ParaTed...all that he said...I too will pray for your search.

can anyone tell me what is the book of life??