Religion

[Fall_Child42]

"Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence," Dobson said.

Men peeing.

It's something to be feared.

[BasharOfTheAges]

However, Christians are targeted for discrimination just the same as all the other religions. People are suing the Churches for insane things. We're not allowed to say what we believe. The world is slowly silencing our beliefs.Our youth are being forced to practice other religious rites that we don't believe in, and are punished for not doing so.

This really gets my goat. These Christian businesses are not being discriminated against, they are being punished for breaking laws against discrimination, which exist for a good reason. Christian citizens can express their beliefs whenever they want, and frequently do. Unless someone is taking away your Bible, or stopping you going to church, or forcing you to be gay, or forcing you to have an abortion, your freedom of religion has not been compromised.

THIS! Your rights are for you alone to have - you have no rights to force your faith on others or to force anyone else to conform to your standards. Religious freedom does not extend to forcing things on other people. The second you have the gall to say it does is the second people like me who are completely content to let anyone believe whatever the hell they want with a smile and a wink (much like a parent would allow their 4 year-old to have an imaginary friend) start turning into people like Sukunai to go apeshit and "prove" your entire basis for belief is wrong because they're so damned fed up with the whole charade.

Enough people get this and have realized they can simply hijack the democratic process by having lots of children that they brainwash to mill out the votes to change laws, but i guess that isn't working fast enough, huh?

[CodeZTM]

You're entitled to what you say. Sorry if I came off a little strong. I was just saying that it's never pleasent to be told what you think is wrong.

EDIT: Yes I did realize the irony in what I just said.

[ngsilver]

"Because I could care less to actually read the whole thread and bother getting into arguments about religion (I get enough of that shit with my family) I'm just going to answer the op's question. "

You wasted your time posting if you haven't actually a clue what is being discussed.

You do realize there is this LOVELY quote feature that this forum and many just like it has. You hit quote and it quotes what you want quoted for you. It even is kind enough to let everyone know who it is you are quoting. And to top it all off, you can do it for multiple posts so you don't have to keep double/triple posting. And this wonderful technology is yours to use, FOR FREE, and has been for a very long time. Try it sometime.


This thread's topic is asking about what you believe and what you think about it. Guy didn't ask you to argue or debate. He wanted to know plain and simple what you believe and nothing more. This argument that you are having is by that right off topic and not needed. If you want to argue religion vs science then by all means be my guest, but do it in ANOTHER thread, because this one is not meant for it. There is this thing called topics in a forum, when you stop focusing on the topic at hand you are then off-topic and as such not needed. So why waste my time reading it (despite how hilarious it has been to actually do so) and bother arguing. My opinion is my opinion, your opinion is yours. You have a right to your opinion. I have a right to mine. I see no reason to bother telling you or anyone else otherwise. In fact, telling someone their opinion is wrong is down right stupid in the first place. Opinions are subjective, and beliefs follow into opinions and subjective thought. You can't argue with me and get me to think otherwise, so why should I believe I can do the same to you?

This isn't a fucking debate people. It was a question. You answer honestly if you choose. Who gives a fuck what someone else thinks? Do you really need someone else to think the same way as you in order to make your belief valid?

[guy07]

This argument that you are having is by that right off topic and not needed. If you want to argue religion vs science then by all means be my guest, but do it in ANOTHER thread, because this one is not meant for it.

Domo! Good to see people still read these days, lol.

[guy07]

... RIP Religion.

[JaddziaDax]

I was told that I believe in something called "The Painter's Theory".

O.o

[krzT]

EDIT: Thanks to whoever fixed the thread name

That was actually jasper...she said she couldn't just look at the forum with that misspelled thread anymore. ^^;

I actually never wanted to jump into this thread because I had a feeling it would bring lots of heat and debate. Which is all fine, of course, but I personally try to avoid discussions with potential conflict, so...whatever .

I just wanted to really echo what CC said in his first post. I also believe that Jesus is my Savior and that believing in Him and following God's Word make up the path to Heaven. Like most Christians, I didn't always think this way. Until fairly recently I had a pretty huge issue with the organized church, even though I grew up going to a Christian school. My issue rested a lot with hypocrisy in the Christian community and I ended up getting really hurt (err...or as hurt as you can get when you're in elementary school >__>) by friends who claimed that they walked with JC. There was a lot of serious disillusionment with Christianity and church goers all through my high school years, and I know I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Not trying to give a testimony here, so I'll wrap it up. Come college it occurred to me (rather late I suppose -_-) that of COURSE religion is man-made, man-regulated, and man-organized. But the fact that all humans fall very very short of the perfection line should not stop me from wanting to establish a personal relationship with Jesus anyway. I needed to stop blaming other people for having the same faults that I did, which is something that I still struggle with today (and I'm very open to admitting that). I know that I can't speak for every person who claims to be a Christian, and I can't speak for every Christian person trying to change legislation to suit their personal desires, and I can't speak for every evangelist you've ever met. But I CAN speak for myself, and I know that knowing Jesus and sharing His story with people that I care about brings me great joy.

Being a Christian does not entitle me to judge someone for not believing the same things that I do. It also does not entitle me to force my beliefs on you. It doesn't at ALL entitle me to hate anyone, whether they be gay, straight, atheist, a believer of a different religion, male, female, what have you. But it does give me the responsibility to love the people around me to the best of my ability and to maintain a personal relationship with Jesus. Take that as sugary marshmallow fluff if you want to, but that's how I am trying to live my life and many of the Christians that I know are trying to live theirs.

/goes back into hiding.

[badmartialarts]

I am not an atheist, because they are ruled by beliefs as much as any religious person.

I don't run my life on beliefs, I'll stick with cold impersonal harsh facts.

There is no no known label for those of us that are neither religious, or atheist.

Pretty sure what you go on to describe is nihilism, more or less, so there IS a label. :O

I'm a Christian. Lutheran to be more specific, though a bit more deistic than average Lutheran. Here's a fun Martin Luther quote:

God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly,  but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here [in this world]  we have to sin. This life is not the dwelling place of righteousness,  but, as Peter says,  we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. It is enough that by the riches of God’s glory we have come to know the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world.  No sin will separate us from the Lamb, even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day. Do you think that the purchase price that was paid for the redemption of our sins by so great a Lamb is too small?

[Cyanna]

I was raised Roman Catholic but these days I'm...still Roman Catholic.

I've just found a lot of truth in it through the years and I've had a lot of my own misconceptions about it cleared up as I've been on and off trying to study it on my own (I admit many answers did not come from the pulpit)...but that's another topic in itself. I look at the Bible through it's historical context and as a document inspired by God but not written by Him. I'm a little more picky about the parish I attend than I would have been several years ago since I'm not as trusting of people as I once was. But even if I lost all hope in the human nature of organized religion, I can't just identify as Non-Denominational Christian because I share the same core beliefs as that organized religion over there. For me, there's something bigger to all of it than flawed human nature.

It's not like I never struggle. It's not an easy way to live and I still have a lot to learn.

As far as being devoted, I just do the regular stuff like going to mass on Sundays and praying at night before I sleep and stuff. But I really can't get into like youth groups and stuff. It's pretty ironic how we're supposed to be all about acceptance, yet most of these groups have cliques in them. It's pretty wack if you ask me.

Yeah...I know where you're coming from. I never got into the youth group scene either.