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#1
10-10-2005, 04:44 PM
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Re: How I Became a Christian (LONG)
Alot of people had moments of epiphany in the presense of David Koresh, Jim Jones, and Charles Manson. It may be good enough for the individual, but is that enough to convince others that they were Messianic? Obviously not. But when you talk about Jesus or some established religion changing your life, people dont give it a second thought. I do. Hearing someone base their believe system on a warm, peachy feeling they had while rock-bottom does absolutely nothing to sway my opinion.
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#2
10-10-2005, 04:58 PM
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Re: How I Became a Christian (LONG)
[ QUOTE ]
Hearing someone base their believe system on a warm, peachy feeling they had while rock-bottom does absolutely nothing to sway my opinion. [/ QUOTE ] There's nothing wrong with that feeling. But we don't base our life commitment on a feeling. Feelings come and go. The Word of God abides forever. It is that which forms the basis of our commitment. That's why the 3 you mention should be rejected. None of them preached or taught according to Scripture. Paul said "If anyone preaches a Gospel contrary to what I have preached, let him be accursed".
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#3
10-10-2005, 05:09 PM
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Re: How I Became a Christian (LONG)
[ QUOTE ]
[ There's nothing wrong with that feeling. But we don't base our life commitment on a feeling. [/ QUOTE ] But people DO. People stayed for years with them, and even gave their lives up in the end for them. You are right, none of them preached or taught according to your interpretation of Scripture, but they had a large following that felt just as strongly and were just as devoted and commited as you. Obviously The Word is not the only thing that can cause euphoric feeling and long term commitment.
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#4
10-10-2005, 05:34 PM
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Re: How I Became a Christian (LONG)
[ QUOTE ]
But people DO. People stayed for years with them, and even gave their lives up in the end for them. [/ QUOTE ] If you're referring to the cultists, that kind of makes my point. To be more clear, we should not base our life commitment on an emotion. Those who do will probably not remain as Christians. The feelings are valid but should not be the basis.
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#5
10-10-2005, 05:09 PM
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Re: How I Became a Christian (LONG)
[ QUOTE ]
Paul said "If anyone preaches a Gospel contrary to what I have preached, let him be accursed". [/ QUOTE ] Paul ... now there's a great model of a man to live by.
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#6
10-10-2005, 07:11 PM
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Re: How I Became a Christian (LONG)
[ QUOTE ]
Hearing someone base their believe system on a warm, peachy feeling they had while rock-bottom does absolutely nothing to sway my opinion. [/ QUOTE ] This definately hit the over on the amount of time before I got this response. Nice job. The title of my post was "How I Became a Christian", not how I stay one.
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#7
10-10-2005, 07:46 PM
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Re: How I Became a Christian (LONG)
I'm just saying its nothing new, unique or interesting to me. I could start a thread about how I became a drug addict because I snorted some smack and it felt really good. It wouldn't be that much of a revelation to anyone though. Simpsons did it.
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#8
10-11-2005, 11:55 AM
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Re: How I Became a Christian (LONG)
Jeff,
Many people like you come to Christ because their lives are in disarray. These people are usually the "best" christians in the church for a while because they find that their new faith in God helps them to wash away their previous problems. You may find yourself volunteering in a homeless shelter, hospital outreach, mission trips, all very good stuff. The problem with all of this is that you have freely accepted Christ without going through the "fear and trembling" salvation process that the Bible discusses. What happens as a result is that your emotional connection to the religion will grow weak and you may grow tired of the whole christianity thing. Most humans are total pieces of crap and you may look around and realize that the people that you looked up to as good christian role models are not such good people after all. Why am I saying all of this? Because I want you to understand that in order to really commit yourself to Christ in a long-lasting way you must think, yes think, about what being a chrisitan means to you so that when you get tired of the religious game and the fancy sermons that generate million dollar salaries for these guys you see on tv, you will have a grounding that helps you overcome these human obstacles in religion. Get a firm grounding in the Bible and understand the core message of Christ. Believe in christianity because it is the only logical religion and because of what Jesus did and why he came to earth. You learn these things from the bible and by thinking deeply about what you want your life to be, you dont learn them by jumping onto the relgious fad or the church game. Oh yeah, and don't listen to a bunch of smart people like David Sk. They are simply brainiacs who are religiously and spiritually lazy and are using their strong minds to come up with reasons why they should sleep in sunday morning. Indy
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#9
10-11-2005, 12:32 PM
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Re: How I Became a Christian (LONG)
[ QUOTE ]
Oh yeah, and don't listen to a bunch of smart people like David Sk. They are simply brainiacs who are religiously and spiritually lazy and are using their strong minds to come up with reasons why they should sleep in sunday morning. Indy [/ QUOTE ] What you've said here is the thing that frustrates me most as a non-believer. If you think any of the atheists/agnostics in here are "lazy" and don't believe because we aren't willing to put in time or effort, you either haven't read any of what we say, or you are an idiot.
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