This post goes to prove my point, amigo. Sorry about your experience...it has obviously left a painful mark in your life. But it isn't what most evangelicals practice. I said you base your claims on stuff that has little to nothing to do with most evangelicals...or their way of thinking. You just admit that your claims are based on your experiences at TWO churches. I have also been a baptist all my life...I'm 38 now. I haven't experienced any such thing...although I have friends who have. Like I said in my previous post...the worst enemies of faith are those that hide behind an ALLEGED faith...sounds like what you've experienced to me.
It's one thing to CLAIM Christianity...another entirely to be a Christian. I have seen polls where as much as 85% of America claims Christianity...but all some of them have is religion. Christianity isn't about religion.
correct. i wonder how the bible writers could have possibly anticipated that the crazy things they were claiming would ever be ridiculed. bible must be true i guess. when i write stories about cosmic zombies saving the world by killing themselves, i usually expect quiet reverence and immediate assimilation into the cult i am starting.
Does TF have a flag function that reminds me to read this thread when I haven't been drinkin'? I hope so, because it looks fascinating, but I'm just not up to the challenge tonight.
So I start a religion called the "Order of Deadly Serious Moo Cows", and at the very start predict that in the future my cult will be laughed at and ridiculed. Time passes. My cult gets laughed at and ridiculed. Wow! I must have divine guidance, because my amazing powers predicted that this would all happen. Sorry, but if group pushing a crazy idea doesn't want to be scoffed at and ridiculed, it should provide some evidence to back it's claims. Seeing as nobody will ever be able to produce any sort of evidence whatsoever, I guess it's just part of the territory.
First of all, I mean absolutely NO disrespect to your Grandfather. I presume that that is his picture under your byline "RIPPappaw---US NAVY comt.vet. But, if there is no "living God" there can be no eternal life. If that is so, then your Grandfather simply lived his life and it is all is over now. No resting. No existing. You will never see him again. HOWEVER, if he is at rest, he must be with the Father, relaxing, seeing past friends and relatives, and whorshipping the Lord. This is what I picture many of my relatives doing now. To be truthful with you, I have some relatives who I doubt I will ever see again. But that is not up to me to judge. It is impossible for me to know their heart or to know their relationship to God. I can only hope that they were closer to being in the will of God than their lives gave testimony to.:thumb: Of course, that is just my opinion. Yeah, Martin....based on my faith.
I said earlier that a church can bring a person to Christ as well as send them away. Your post is a perfect example of this. This is my problem with the "religion" where people become involved. I also think people become over-protective especially parents. Another example is Harry Potter, Star Wars, ET, etc. I use to and sometimes like to watch the comedy show Bewitched from the sixties. Some churches go overboard on this kind of stuff, it is magic and what martin believes in.:yelwink2: I don't believe in magic, I don't believe in religion of churches, I believe in the relationship that I have with Christ. Its kinda like the trinity, father, son and holy ghost as 3 different people. Guess what, imho the father, son and holy ghost is one person. I am a father, son and I have a spirit for example. I let my kids watch Harry Potter or what some churches wouldn't recommend. I let my kids be kids and I am not going to take away fun things kids like. When they become of age we will talk about these kinds of things and we will be able to discuss the world of magic which is make belief compared to real life. There is a difference between movies, fiction and fact sometimes I think that religion mixes all of these together. These are all just various examples, the religions and churches of today drive people away for various reasons.
