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Your Religion or Spirituality

Discussion in 'Religion and Spirituality' started by DevilFin13, Apr 3, 2008.

  1. DevilFin13

    DevilFin13 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I thought it might be fun/interesting to have a thread for everyone to explain what religion they belong to or what type of spirituality you have. Or you can just comment on the generalities of those two things. I'll start off.

    I was raised Catholic. My mom and her side of the family was Catholic and my dad was pretty much nothing (meaning didn't go to church and wasn't outwardly spiritual). I went to Catholic school from K-12. My high school was an all boys school, which was not cool. Towards the end of high school I began to find church useless and repetitive. Going off to college meant I wasn't pressured into going by my family.

    So as of now I don't consider myself a Catholic. I hesitate to even call myself a Christian, mostly because I don't like all of the church related stuff. I think the basic message of Jesus is great. Treat others well. And just try to be a good person. Very simple stuff. I just find anything but his teachings to be unneccesary.

    I'm guided as much by philosophy as I am Jesus. I really enjoyed talking philosophy (basic stuff, social/political, law) classes in college. I'm kind of a mutt in that area. I find a lot of different things appealing.

    Another reason I don't really consider myself a Christian is because I'm very much into politics. I find myself very drawn to guys like James Madison and other founding fathers who were deists. They really shaped my view of the world and our nation. So I'm pretty firm in my belief that religion and our gov't shouldn't mix because of the groundwork they layed.

    So to recap I'm basically a Deist, even though that term may be outdated. I'll stop rambling and get into specifics later.
     
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  2. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    I'm a stone cold Atheist.

    I don't believe in God. Or the devil, or angels, spirits, souls, afterlife, numerology, astrology, the healing power of crystals, fate, destiny, faith, or anything considered spiritual.

    I'm not an Atheist, because I hate religion or religious people. I don't. The woman I'm marrying this Saturday is a non-denominational Christian. I am an Atheist, because it makes as much sense to me as whatever religion makes sense to believers.
     
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  3. Vendigo

    Vendigo German Gigolo Club Member

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    Doesn't that make you a believer as well? After all, you believe God doesn't exist. You don't know. From a purely rational point of view, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense either, if you allow me to play the devil's advocate for a minute. Like a Christian, you believe in something you can't rationally deduce.

    As for me, I'm a stone cold agnostic. I don't know if a God exists or not. The question, for me, simply bears no relevance whatsoever as long as it can't be answered anyway.
     
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  4. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    Not really. Philosophically yes. But philosophy allows for anything. Which is really more what you're talking about. And that makes you a "believer", because in essence, you're willing to believe anything. Agnostics are generally on the fence.

    I know it to be fact, there is no god. To me there is belief and there is fact. Sometimes the 2 are the same. Most times, they're not. Inside my brain, there is no opposing camps made up of facts on one side and beliefs on the other. There is not one shred of evidence of a god. There is more scientific evidence for Big Foot than god. When it comes to Big Foot, I'm Agnostic. I don't think there is one, but it wouldn't surprise me if there is. (This is why I chose my words carefully, in my original post. I didn't want to get flamed, I just wanted to write what the thread was about.)
     
  5. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    I never understood that from Athiests. That is like saying, "I know for a fact that there is no strings" or "I know for a fact aliens do not exist" or even "I know for a fact earth was populated by aliens".

    All those statements are exactly the same. There is belief and there is fact. However fact can only be used for things that are well factual. Belief is used for things that are unable to be proven. It is impossible to prove there is no God, so Athiesm is a belief. It is simple logic.
     
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  6. NJFINSFAN1

    NJFINSFAN1 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    I was raised Catholic and still go to church every week, although I go because of my wife and children more than me. While I believe, I'm not a big believer in the fact that you must go to church every week to be a good Catholic. In fact I really don't think you need to go to church at all to be a good Catholic.

    But my wife does and has an uncle who is a priest and 2 aunts that are nuns. So to me its not worth the fight, so I just go.

    I do believe in God, but not so sure I believe everything from the bible.
     
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  7. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Fallable Christian here, I rely on the Bible for insight and wisdom, believe in the birth death and resurrection.

    No complaints about other faiths, as long as they don't try to decapitate me while I post.

    I think the Deism idea is fascinating, when practiced correctly, which is to say "There is a God, but your path is not my path to get there, so let's just get along meanwhile".

    I have a passion for actual history, not the made up stuff, 51 of the original signors of the Declaration of Independence were Christians in one form or another, but many were also Masons as well.

    Neat stuff.
     
  8. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    Myself I was raised Baha'i, well kind of. I was raished Baha'i like many people are raised Christians in which the family members said they are christians and sometimes do christian things. Still as a faith I did like Baha'i much better than Christianity, mostly because it just seemed much less angry and persecutive. One of their beliefs that really made sense to me and felt right was that god sent down many manifestations or direct reflections of god to send down his message. Moses, Zoraster, Jesus, Mohammed to name a few. I think that has helped my natural instinctual belief that it is really all the same.

    Now people would probably just think I am a new aged hippie. Most of my beliefs seem pretty "new age".
     
  9. DevilFin13

    DevilFin13 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Good stuff fellas. Thanks for sharing.

    On the God issue I kind of go back and forth. I'm kind of skeptical because you can't prove it one way or another. But I was raised in a way that it was just a forgone conclusion there was one that it just gets ingrained in you. Though as I mentioned earlier, the philosophical approach of saying just the fact that you believe so strongly in something makes it exist in some way (credit to South Park for expounding that theory) is interesting.

    In the end I don't think it really matters. Believe what you want to believe as long as you try to be a good person. I think your actions should count more than what you think.
     
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  10. HardKoreXXX

    HardKoreXXX Insensitive to the Touch

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    Im pretty harcore atheist as well. My parents never discussed religion when I was growing up. I came to the conclsuion there was no God at age 9, around the same time I learned there was no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny.

    This is meant in no way to demean any of you for believeing in God, Im simply stating I felt there was a correlation between these figures as a child. It was only as I delved into my teens I found out how seriously people take religion.

    Ive never understood why people kill and die over something that isnt even tangible (to me anyways). This is probably in part why Ive never questioned my faith or lack there of, I simply cannot relate to any of the causes religious people rally around.
     
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  11. Rick 1966

    Rick 1966 Professional Hipshooter

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    I am an agnostic. For those who think agnostic means "undecided' or "sitting on the fence," let me just clear up before we have to go through that: agnostic means that you believe that the existence or nonexistence of any sort of supreme being is not just unknown but inherently unknowable due to the nature of the physical universe and the nature of human cognition. In fact, I am like the old joke, a militant agnostic: I don't know and YOU don't know either! :D
    I was raised a fundamentalist, Bible-believing, independent, evangelical Baptist: my dad was a preacher, in fact. Everyone else in my family is at least nominally a believer, including my wife, who is Catholic.
    Even though I am agnostic and most certainly disbelieve in the idea that any human religion contains any facts whatsoever about the existence, wants, demands or nature of any suppositional God, I am not anti-religion. I think that religion is a necessary social institution: if it weren't, it would no longer exist or be so popular. I have no problem with people believing whatever they want about God, nor do I have a problem with having a Christmas creche in the town square...in fact, I have a big problem with a people who have problems with it. They strike me as intolerant and insecure, people who aren't satisfied with being secure in their own beliefs, they have to downgrade the beliefs of others to make themselves feel better.
     
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  12. quelonio

    quelonio Season Ticket Holder

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    I looove religion, I really do, as a intellectual pursuit not as a belief system. I just spent last week listening to podcasts where they interviewed people as to different interpretations of the resurrection that conbined historical and semiotic interpretations with the literal writings of the bible. And well also listening to what exactly black liberation teology is.

    I used to consider myself a buddhist, but there is a problem with that. That in itself is against being a buddhist (at least a zen one) because it enhances your idea of self and does not allow yourself to transcend self. So I figured it was best to say that I find Buddhism utterly interesting, that I do believe in our inherent suffering and I do believe in meditation and that meditation is the road to enlightment. But unfortunately I do not belong to a buddhist tradition, I belong to a judeo christian tradition. THerefore my idea of the role of God in my life tends to be more akin to the Judeo Christian idea of god in my life, than to the Buddhist idea of it.

    In other words... I believe in God. I don't believe that Jesus was his son, I do believe he was an interesting character, I do not believe he was resurrected. Although I do believe in the interpretation I just heard of his resurrection being more of a symbol of a break between two religious groups, not a literal resurrection. I do believe in Karma, but I don't believe in reincarnation, I don't believe in being a vegetarian (me likes meat a lot) and I don't believe in the afterlife of any kind.

    But I find reading about it utterly fascinating.
     
  13. The Rev

    The Rev Totus Tuus Staff Member Administrator Luxury Box Club Member

    I'm Roman Catholic by choice. I am a practicing Roman Catholic. I am strong believer in the power of faith and the love of God. I believe our lives are full of choices which determine our faith on an everyday basis. I love our Lord. Call me naive or simplistic but it works for me. :wink2:
     
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  14. guatemalanfan

    guatemalanfan Junior Member

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    Roman Catholic here. I even went to a Catholic school :lol: (that was an Opus dei school)
     
  15. quelonio

    quelonio Season Ticket Holder

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    I went to a Marist school, in my town it was either nuns, Marists or Salesians... my mom decided the marists where the least hard core about religion and well let me go.
     
  16. The Rev

    The Rev Totus Tuus Staff Member Administrator Luxury Box Club Member

    I hear Marists schools are very good. :yes:
     
  17. Pagan

    Pagan Metal & a Mustang

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    You all know me....you know how I make a livin'..... :tongue:

    I believe all religions are good religions...taken in moderation. Once followers of any faith start believing that theirs is the only way, and make it a point to try and hammer that point into people of differing beliefs, then IMO it ceases to become a religion and becomes an annoyance.

    Believe what you believe. Worship who you worship. But remember that religion is a personal decision that should be come to on one's own....NOT from being coerced.
     
  18. SCall13

    SCall13 ThePhins QB

    I'm non-denominational. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe that the words of the bible are the inspired words of God and that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh manifested before man. I believe that Christ lived and died to save man from their sins and give them the opportunity to accept the gift of salvation through him - who took our sins upon himself to save us. Some choose to accept this, some don't. I choose to accept it. I believe in prayer and that prayer changes things. I believe in faith. If you have faith in God and believe his word, nothing can stand before you.

    I'm strongly against denominations because I believe that denominations 1) Puts a barrier between brotherhood. 2) Organize and develop creeds and false doctrine. I believe that God wants all men and women in one mind and in one accord with HIS word. I don't believe that when we get to heaven, we will be seperated into sections: Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostal, etc. There is only one way in - and that is through Jesus Christ. That is what I believe.
     
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  19. quelonio

    quelonio Season Ticket Holder

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    They are supposed to be good. And to their credit I did go from small town Jacona Michoacan, to one of the best high schools in the state, to the National University and from there to NYU. So they must not have screwed me around so bad.
     
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  20. BB Ocho

    BB Ocho Season Ticket Holder

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    Christian (attending a Presbyterian church now). Believe that all the evidence we have points to God through Jesus.
     
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  21. Dolphan7

    Dolphan7 Member

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    I am a born again evengelical Christian. I attend a non-denominational church. I believe that there is an absolute moral standard given by God, who is the only being that can command a moral absolute on mankind. I believe in the core tenets of Christianity as outlined in the bible, which I believe to be the word of God who inspired Godly men to write it. I believe Jesus is the son of God and died for our sins so that we can be reconnected to God. I believe salvation is through Jesus, alone.

    I used to be a staunch atheist for 30 years. Didn't believe in God or anything of a spiritual nature. I laughed at christians. I didn't get it. I bought into the world view of evolution and there is no God, we are here by accident.

    So I have made quite a transition from there to here.

    Thanks for the thread topic.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2008
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  22. inFINSible

    inFINSible Bad ministrator

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    My relationship with my god is personal yet, at the same time I share my god with everyone. We are all vessels of the same omnipotent power. We all contain god inside us, I have no idea what why or where god comes from, I just know that I have inside of me, available to me at any time I choose to use them, the abilities to think and act in a godlike manner. We all have this ability. When you reflect, pray, meditate, wear sacred underwear, practice The Secret or whatever you do to seek answers, they invariably come from deep inside ourselves. That, to me is gods way of communicating with us.

    Since god is inside me, no one knows my struggles and pains better, because god feels what I feel. That being the case, my god knows I try my best to get through every day always trying to be the best person I can be. God also knows I slip, and he knows how I punish myself for slipping just he knows that I am a good person, we all are, because we are all god. I don't have to reassure god that I believe in god, god knows that

    I only use the word god out of convenience. Power of Good is kinda bulky. i believe that god is essentually the power of goodness, love, and acceptance that is inside all of us and that comforts me because it means that as long as my struggle to to be godlike on the outside is honestly in tune with what I know is godlike on the inside, then my god will lovingly accept me back into the universal power from whence we all came, when my time on this plane is over.
     
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  23. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    my thoughts on god are very similar
     
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  24. Sethdaddy8

    Sethdaddy8 Well-Known Member

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    I was born and raised Roman Catholic. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't an agnostic theist in my heart. Faith is all important in religion, but I can't deny the cold feeling of the unknown. Something I've been kind of struggling with the past few years. I embrace Catholicism still, after-all its something that is deep rooted throughout mine and my wife's family history. We both embrace our families and traditions. I certainly don't agree with all of it though.
    I try to be a good person, do right by others, be generous where I can. If I ever am judged, that will have to do I suppose. And I like the comparisons of Santa Claus to God, and their common lack of existence. Its funny though, Santa Claus is based on truth and a being who did exist. He's evolved into a form where simple children can understand. Kinda like the big scary guy with the gray beard who sits on his throne in the sky. People tend to like having the picture painted for them, not unlike children. If there is a God, and I do believe there is, it is certainly beyond any cynical notion I could conjure up.
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2008
  25. gafinfan

    gafinfan gunner Club Member

    I put little if any stock in organized religion. I was raised and baptized as a Methodist but I’ve seen to many bad things done in the name of religion to hold to anything they say. The Navy gave me a great education which included being able to study different faiths. I truly believe it when Jesus says “my father’s house of many mansions”. My soul is God in me and Jesus is my path. That doesn’t mean that there are no other ways to God but the path I follow is the one Jesus taught me. I believe we were given free will for a purpose and that is to seek the truth. I believe and know that God is love; a love that we have no way of understanding because to understand God’s kind of love we have to be in his presence. An idea of his love is allowing his son to die for us or for us it is a solder giving up his life to save another. We may see it and agree that it is special but unless we live it there is no way to truly understand or comprehend that all forgiving/embracing love that is God’s alone. Nothing happens by chance; there is meaning in everything you do and/or that happens to you.

    You see, to me, it doesn’t matter what you believe or don’t believe God is still there and he still loves you. We are all his children and his love is all surrounding. If you are a parent and your child does something bad, like taking a life, would you stop loving that child? I would hate what my child did but I could not stop loving that child anymore than I could stop breathing.
     
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  26. BB Ocho

    BB Ocho Season Ticket Holder

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    John 10:25-27 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

    John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
     
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  27. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    Reading three lines out of a chapter it seems like it is obvious what he is saying. Reading the entire chapter is far less obvious
     
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  28. inFINSible

    inFINSible Bad ministrator

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    This is one of my main beefs with your religion.

    My step-father is a jehovahs witness. I have known this man as my step father for 30 of my 41 years. He is devout in his beliefs. He is heavily involved with his church....and i say this with a clear mind that my opinion is unbiased by our relationship but, he is also the nicest, kindest, most giving, turn-the-other-cheek man that I have ever EVER had the pleasure to know. He is the embodiment of all that is good.

    If your religion is the truth, and would deny a soul like my stepfather entry into heaven because he didn't follow the same path as everyone else, it would be an exclusionary religion that I would want to be a part of anyway.
     
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  29. BB Ocho

    BB Ocho Season Ticket Holder

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    Truth is rather exclusive.

    The Bible is clear in it's teaching that all men are sinners, and our justification before God isn't on the basis of our own righteous deeds. We are created in the image of God and that image is broken and our relationship to God is severed by our sin. God sent his Son to be broken for us, and by that sacrifice we are reconciled to God. Our broken visage of the Glory of God is redeemed by the blood of Christ.
     
  30. BB Ocho

    BB Ocho Season Ticket Holder

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    I don't think the problem is whether Jesus is being clear in what he is saying, rather in our desire to submit ourselves to his words.
     
  31. inFINSible

    inFINSible Bad ministrator

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    Quoting the questionable document to support your argument is akin to saying " It's true because I say it's true." and I'm sorry but, that didn't fly when i was 7, and it hasn't grown wings since.
     
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  32. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    There isn't a problem. Reading his words is like reading words of someone trying to explain red to someone who is blind.
     
  33. BB Ocho

    BB Ocho Season Ticket Holder

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    John 9:35-41 Jesus heard that they had cast him out [the pharisee council judging the blind man whom Jesus healed] , and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you." He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.
    Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains.

    You are judging by a standard that you cannot justify. The structure that you have built is on the shifting sands of your subjective opinions.
     
  34. quelonio

    quelonio Season Ticket Holder

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    why that is harsh... I can justify it though. You are quoting John, John was written 100 years after the fact. And I can tell you, in this era of 24 hours news it is pretty obvious that we can't get things that happened 24 hours ago right, most people seem to be quite able to get those things really wrong. So you expect me to believe that a man is going to get jesus' life and sayings down pat 100 years after Jesus' time? You expect me to believe that the word of mouth that was what reached him had not disturbed the text itself?

    In other words you are justifiying it through personal belief... period. Subjective personal belief adscribed to a ancient book that was written a century after the facts it depicts, take into mind also that even if you where to tell me that thiese men that wrote it 100 years later where inspired by god, you have no proof for that except subjective proof. And you yourself seem to be willing to disprove that.

    In other words, live and let live.
     
  35. Pagan

    Pagan Metal & a Mustang

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    Strap in kids....here we go again! :lol:
     
  36. NJFINSFAN1

    NJFINSFAN1 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    OLPH????
     
  37. Dolphan7

    Dolphan7 Member

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  38. Dolphan7

    Dolphan7 Member

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    :sidelol:

    I am sorry but I just thought it funny that you question the time the Book of John was written, and it's authority - by saying that too much time has elapsed to get it right....


    yet.....and here is the funy part.......you claim, 2000 years later, that you have it right!

    Oh the irony!
     
  39. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    I do not think you understand irony
     
  40. dolphindebby

    dolphindebby Season Ticket Holder Luxury Box

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    I am a Christian. I know that Jesus is my saviour and that God is His father.
    I don't argue religion or Christianity with any one, nor try to push my beliefs on them.
    The church I attend is full of all kinds of people, some good, some not so good. But, we're all sinners and to me church is where we need to be to learn.
    I'm fortunate to have a good Bible teaching Pastor.
    I do believe the Bible is the Word of God, written through His chosen ones, to teach us.
    I've always said that I'd rather live my life worshiping the Lord and taking to heart His word, than taking a chance on the alternative.
    He gave all of us "free will" to do as we choose, I choose to follow Him and be the best that I can be.
    I sin and fall short daily, but I rest in the assurance that He will love me unconditionally.
    Thanks guys, I love the opportunity to express my beliefs.
     
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