Before you start:

 

 

 

1) it is your option to read this or not

 

2) if at any time you do not like where this post is going, you have no obligation to finish reading it

 

3) These are my opinions. You are welcome, infact encouraged, to agree or disagree with me.

 

4) I am not an expert on this. I am a Christian, I believe all this is true. But I do not have a PhD in Theology

 

5) if you post a reply, please, please, finish reading this post.

 

6) respect me, and I will respect you. I aslo expect that every one else will respect each other.

 

 

 

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There are several religion topics on this thread. I think most of you are familiar with what the "Bible" and who "Jesus" and "God" is and are. But, lets start from the beginning.

 

 

 

God is the creator of this world. The creator of whole universe. He was around before the world. He was around before time. He created time, and because of that, was here before time. He created everything, hence he was here before everything.

 

 

 

God is a trinity, meaning he has three forms, yet all three forms are the same being. The Father, who is most oftenly meant when the name "God" is used, the Son, who is God's son, yet the Son is still part of God, being one of the three beings, and the last is the Holy Spirit, who lives inside of me, all Christians, and works in you and I, whether you are a Christian or not.

 

 

 

So Jesus is the Son of God, yet remember, he is still fully God. While on earth, he was fully God and fully man. Call it a divine mystery or whatever you want, but that is what I believe.

 

 

 

The Bible is the word of God. God gave us commandments to go and make disciples of the nations, and gave us the Bible as a tool. The Bible is holy, and not to be altered in any way. It is the word of God.

 

 

 

Heaven and Hell are also talked about a lot. In short, heaven will be a wonderfull place. Think of all the joys of this world, multiply them by 10, and that will still be a small taste of heaven. Heaven will be "a new heaven and a new earth". This world will be the same, just much better. No pain, no suffering, no death. And it will last forever. Anything you have ever wanted to do, you will be able to do in heaven.

 

 

 

Hell is the oposite. I often imagine hell as a massive red fire ball, with me suspended in the middle. My hands and feet are bound, I am stripped naked. Imagine your worst thirst ever... square it. Then square it again. and again. No matter how much pain you feel, it gets worse the next second. And it never ends.

 

 

 

Hell is not a "dirty" place where you get drunk, play cards, and do other "dirty" stuff. It is pure misery.

 

 

 

Sin should also be defined. We are all sinners. Now, you do not just sin when you lie. You sin in everything you do. Why? Becuase of the first man and the first woman God created. God created us to live with him, be perfect, and enjoy him forever. But, when man fell, we were forever seperated from God. This was God's plan too - man's fall did not cause havoc in God's plan. God is always in control, and will forever be in control. You can read about the fall in the Bible - look in the book of Genesis, chapter 3. It may be a good idea to read chapters 1 and 2 also (very beginning of the Bible, it gives the creation story) to get an idea of what is going on.

 

 

 

So why do we sin in everything we do? Because when man fell, every desendant after him was doomed to an eternity in hell. In everything we do, we sin. This is often called "sin nature". There is much more to it, but this will have to suffice for now.

 

 

 

Those are the very basics. Now what is Christianity, really?

 

 

 

Are we a group of people, trying to find out what happened, how we got here? No.

 

 

 

Are we a group of "good people", trying to show the rest of the world how good we are? No.

 

 

 

Are we our own sub-culture? Are we a lifestyle, like a diet? No.

 

 

 

What are we?

 

We are just like you. We are sinners, we have the same problems as you... lust, sexual temptations, hate, envy, greed, pride, you name it. Yet there is something different. We have God. He came to save us by dieing on the cross, sacrificing his life for us, and all we do is trust in him, accept his mercy and grace. We also try to follow his commands. Since we are still sinners, is is not possible to follow every single one, every single time. But we strive to follow him. We do not strive for good works. We were saved by grace alone, not through works. That in itself is a comfort to me, I do not have to be perfect to go to heaven, all I have to do is trust in him.

 

 

 

We are not a group of Bible-thumping goody-goody-pants. We are not the moral police patrol. We do not try to set ourselves apart from the world. We are called to be in the world, yet not of the world.

 

 

 

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That is what I believe, and only the beginning. I have no clue how many words I've typed in this post, but I did it not to preach to you guys, but to tell you what we are. I'm sure that some of you reading this who are Christians are thinking, "the heck is he talking about? I don't think that!". Well, first, this is what I believe, not you. Second, please, if you think that, challenge what I said. Not so I can prove you wrong, but so that you and I may become more knowledgable.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! Please, post your thoughts, questions, anything! I didn't write this to get bumped to page 50 in 10 days, but if it does, so be it. ;-)

 

 

 

Oh, p.s., I wouldnt be suprised if the forum bleeped some of this out. If it did, I'll try to fix it. (no, I was not cussing) :-P

Well thank you for this. I am not a Christian and I doubt I will ever convert. However one of my favorite things to do is learn more about Christianity and other religions. I'm glad there are people like you who are willing to discuss religion with an open mind and not try and shove it down other people's throats. So thank you for being willing to discussion. The world needs more people like you! :D

There is already a topic about this.

One religion topic spawns enough debate on its own, two of them just makes forums scary :!: Feel free to copy and paste your topic to the already existing "Do You Believe in God" thread.