<p>There's nothing to feel for since I don't agree with the whole Jewish culture concept. I agree with you that Jews have sticked together and all, but how are they really any different than the Mormons of today? I mean obviously there are extreme differences in beliefs and the obvious fact that Jews have been around much longer, but you have to see the similarity. Both are persecuted groups that "stick together"(even though Jews are now more assimilated into society than many years ago where they were forced to live outside of this and that city etc).</p>
<p>That whole thought creeps me out that someone can not believe in Judaism and yet "still be Jewish". Makes no sense since being Jewish revolves around believing in the religion. </p>
<p>What makes you(assuming you are Ashkenazi) all that similar to a Sephardic Jew besides your religion? Nothing really. It seems quite cultish to me.</p>
<p>""all of the good things in the Bible"..."[are] to convert people and to help them live a moral life." Am I reading this correctly? If so, this would be interpreted to mean that I need to undergo a conversion in order to be saved? Wouldn't this also kinda mean that you need to belive in Jesus or you can't lead a moral life? "</p>
<p>Once again it depends on how you look at it. I am a Christian, but as I stated earlier I pick and choose what I want to believe. I do not believe people will go to hell if they don't believe in Jesus for one simple reason:</p>
<p>according to Christianity we are ALL God's children. So what about those people that lived in Asia or the America's or in Africa around the time of Jesus? Does that mean that all of those people (God's CHILDREN) are going to hell? And sensible and intelligent person would argue otherwise. </p>
<p>Now that I have said that, I am treading on really sketchy ground. What defines Christianity to me then? Well, as one person has already said, "I am still looking for enlightenment." :)</p>
<p>Blink, if you are picking and choosing things you like from the Bible, you are negating it's importance. If parts of it are fallable and therefore not God's word, the whole thing is meaningless in the sense of divine truth. That type of logic is where people get off going on and on about how god hates gay people but somehow forget that shellfish is banned in the bible as well.</p>
<p>as for my personal beliefs-- I'll asnwer those later-- going to bed early tonight :)</p>
<p>but I have a friend who's going to major in pastorial studies-- he's a member of the Assembies of God Church, so he follows the bible pretty much exactly. I asked him about the whole homosexual issue. Here is an abridged version of what he said:</p>
<p>It is immoral for anyone to have any sort of sexual interaction before marriage. Sexual interaction is included to mean kissing or anything "worse". Marriage is the spiritual union between a man and a woman, and once married, they are allowed to partake in sexual interaction. It is a sin to do so beforehand. As gays cannot marry, then they can never have any sort of sexual interaction without it being a sin. However, the act of BEING gay is not the issue, its acting upon that orientation that is. So he doesn't hate gay people, he simply disapproves of their way of life.</p>
<p>Apparently there's a story about Sodom and Gimorah or something-- states marriage is between a male and a female... look into that if you feel the urge.</p>
<p>I am going to have to disagree. To blindly take a book and believe in everthing is just stupid. I take my religion and make sense out of it. I don't let people who have NO WAY to prove what they are saying tell me what to do or believe in. If you think this is wrong well I feel sorry for you. THAT type of thinking is why we have atrocities committed in the name of religion. </p>
<p>As for the meaningness of the Bible, most of what I find questionable lies in the Old Testament. If any Christian believe more in the Old over the New, well...they are a lost cause I guess. </p>
<p>I take Christianity for what it is, a MAN-made religion. It is bound to have faults, like everything else man does.</p>
<p>I also read in The God Delusion about a study which found that those who knew they were being prayed for experienced more medical complications (hmmm, basis for a lawsuit? jk). The study also found that there was no significant difference between those who weren't prayed for and those who were prayed for but didn't know. Some Christians would then justify this development as God choosing not to put his power to work because he knew it would be studied in this way. /eyeroll</p>
<p>and yes... I agree that Mormons are not all that different from Jews in that they have a culture as well as a religion stemming off of that religion. However, yeah, Mormons kinda do believe in Joseph Smithwho claimed to have carried heavy gold plates around for many miles which were later taken by God... that and he was known for telling tall tales... So in that respect, as well as the extreme persection of the Jews (please provide evidence of some mass slaughter etc. if you want to accurately compare Judaism's hardships and those of Mormonism), Jews largely digress form the Mormon culture.</p>
<p>And on reincarnation-- if you looked above you would see that I said I identified more with the Buddhist belief system, which alligns with the concept of reincarnation.</p>
<p>And a cult is a minority group that contrasts majority opinion and that seeks to indoctrinate its members by repetitive chanting to quash any semblance of individuality. I don't see how any religion (except Christianity with 33% of the world's population) could not be considered a cult...</p>
<p>If you call yourself someone with Buddhist beliefs, why do you feel the need to start out saying "I am a reform Jew". They are not at all the same thing.</p>
<p>That is the weakest argument of god doesn't hate gay people. I mean really, it says it really clearly that "god" thinks of it as immoral in both the NT and OT.</p>
<p>Blink, if it's man made, why would you believe in it? Everything man-made has flaws, so if you don't believe Christianity is from GOD why would you call yourself a Christian? I swear, people confuse the hell out of me.</p>
<p>Back to Robotab, no doubt the Jews have had it harder than the Mormons. You aren't getting it, or you do but are trying to change the subject. I'm not saying Mormons and Jews are the same thing, I'm saying they are similar in the way that their "cultures" are both cultish.</p>
<p>You are right in the literal definition sense, but in the sense that there isn't anything different between a cult and religion except that the religion has grown to a lot of people(started as a cult).</p>
<p>Put an intelligent person without a knowledge basis in these subjects with a scientist and a priest. Who would sound more rediculous?</p>
<p>"The way to faith is to shut the eye of reason."</p>
<p>And those who pick and choose what they want to believe; those who take a literally and b metaphorically. Stop it; its just an attempt to ration predisposed beliefs. Its like you always thought people had 6 fingers because everyone in your town happen to have. The Bible is the word of God, so all of it should be taken if you take any of it. "But nooo, he meant this and that...." it was written in the vernacular to teach lessons as clearly as possible.</p>
<p>The first step to neglecting religion is to understand that its OK not to know something. Interestingly enough, the abilty to say "I don't know" is also a sign of wisdom/intelligence.</p>
<p>And the remarkable thing about the scientific community is, that if God were proven, then they would believe in Him.</p>
<p>Reformed Christian. My stance about preaching, I'd love to share my faith but I usually don't bother because I also hate when people force their belief on me unless they ask first. This includes atheists who always claim they are right and you're wrong. </p>
<p>I hate all the sweeping generalizations about Christians i.e stupid, overzealous, narrow-minded, and stuff like that. I'm a Christian but I don't hate gay people, I like science, evolution, etc. I also despise many atheists who belittle people who have faith in some deities, which often happens on the net.</p>
<p>Seriously, what the hell is a reformed Christian? You believe in evolution, ok so that makes a lot of the bible null and void. That's fine, but why do you believe that Jesus is god and not The Great Bumba?</p>
<p>I said I like evolution because it offer the best explanation to the origin of species so far. But that does not mean it is the truth. If you have some sense of faith at all, you would also belief this "thing" called miracle or supernatural power. This can never be explained by science so I take evolution for the best answer so far.</p>
<p>...wow...NO religion is from God. They are all from some person who said they bring the word of God, or some higher power. </p>
<p>Asking why would I believe in something man-made is like asking if you believe in a Television. And for clarification, Christianity isn't from God, it's from some man named Jesus Christ with loyal followers that wrote the Gospels after he died. </p>
<p>People believe in stuff becuase they have thought about things and yearn for something more. How did everything come to be? I don't know. But you know what, it seems really stupid to believe that everything in this world and outside of it came about due to some random explosion brought about by ...randomness! Hence the religion. Me being born into Christianity is why I "am" a Christian. Me being an intelligent individual (at least I like to think I am :)) is why I question what I am taught and formulate my own ideas. And that is where I stand today. It doesn't seem stupid or ignorant at all.</p>
<p>Lol. That's what you throw at me. Miracles? Come on it should be pretty obvious that I don't believe in miracles. If you want to list some though I'm always up for hearing some.</p>
<p>WOW. Then what the hell are you doing. Look man, I agree with you on pretty much everything you said. If you don't believe Jesus was the son of god, what is the point? Why not just be someone who believes in a greater power that is not a Christian?</p>
<p>I'm a rational Christian who believes in evolution, too. Recognizing scientific evidence for evolution does not make anything in the bible "null and void." Ever notice how the 7 "days" of creation follow the same pattern as evolution? Why would god, whose power in infinite, be limited to 24-hour earth days in which to fill the world with life. To me, it is clearly a metaphor. God set a process in motion that led to the eventual evolution of all the species we know today. The Big Bang is fine with me, but where did the original material COME from?</p>
<p>"Those who recieved prayer or prayed themselves were something like 67% more likely to die from illnesses that could go either way (cite prestigious U acclaimed proffessor | I'm too lazy to find it [how biblical (!) of me])."</p>
<p>I'd like to see that study! I actually read of a double blind study where they proved that prayer had significant influence on healing those with illnesses.</p>
<p>As you can see, I'm christian. I'm not up in your face about it, but I certainly don't roll over when other people are attacking it. I'm pro-life, pro-god, think the government doesn't have a job in stopping gays from a civil union, and also am a scholastic (believe that religion and science can be reconciled). I also believe that morality can exist without religion (like in Aristotle's nichomachean ethics), but that it is more clearly defined within the context of religion. </p>
<p>And the remarkable thing about God is that God can't be proven. </p>
<p>Oh, and evolution and Christianity aren't necessarily at odds. I spoke to this very well respected christian minister who believed in evolution because in the bible the word translated "day" doesn't necessarily mean 24 hours, but can mean a indefinite span of time. Thus, God could have been the force behind the big bang (what scientists don't know yet), and let nature (which he created) take its course.</p>
<p>NO I believe it is the words of many men over many years...</p>
<p>"And the remarkable thing about the scientific community is, that if God were proven, then they would believe in Him"</p>
<p>...and this just blows the lid off. Pretty much ALL of mathematics hasn't even been proven. It's all theories. So are you saying the scientific community doesn't believe in math?<br>
I'm not mandating or telling people they are wrong, I'm saying what I believe in, nothing more. For people to come on here and say they don't believe in God and then tell me I am wrong based on the arguements that have been tossed about is pretty pathetic. Athiests can't, that's CAN NOT, disprove or prove anthing. Neither can religious folk. The point of this thread was to voice what you believe in. Say it and should up.</p>
<p>Oh man. I love this. Let's look for little context clues in the bible and a word here and there to make obvious reality become part of my religious beliefs!</p>
<p>It's obvious that people on here aren't idiots. I don't want to make it seem like you people are idiots at all, because you aren't(most anyway).</p>
<p>I just have one question to all of you: Why are you a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc? If the answer is born into it, did you ever study any other religion with the possibility of it being right? If not, why not? If so, do you not see complete contradicitons and arrogance in thinking that your one religion is right out of thousands of religions in this world?</p>