^^^^^That's how I was raised.
Today - On this day in 1517, the priest and scholar Martin Luther approaches the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nails a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation.

 

 

I go to the First Baptist Church here in Starkville Mississippi. Great place. Our Pastor is a true teacher. Every Sunday, it's like a classroom; everyone in the congregation learning straight out of their Bibles, verse by verse until we are finished with an entire book. Then on to the next one and applying the lessons learned to our lives.

I'm not big on 'religion', but in the last 2 years, my eyes have been opened dramatically. I've been going to church since I was born, but I was missing so much. For those who doubt or speak out against faith, you have no idea what you're missing.

What cleared it up most for me was the book of Ephesians. For by grace we were saved through faith to do good works in his name. We are to put off the 'old' man and live as the 'new' man once we understand what it means to believe. We will never be perfect for we have a sin-nature. We will never be perfect but God wants us to get out of the life of 'living in sin.' Again, we will never be perfect, and because of that we need a redeemer who will forgive our sins when we genuinely ask him to.

It's changed my life. Im not some weirdo either. I work for a steel company, drive and truck and love to fish, and even go out for a beer with my friends often. But the perspective that I view life in now is completely different. It's like putting on a new pair of glasses.

 

Great post Green ! No one will ever know true peace without the Lord.

 

Well sometimes I go to the, "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" and other (very rarely) times I go with my wife to a united baptist.

I often get a good kick out of what they say, but some times what they so is so profoundly stupid I get angry over it.

http://www.venganza.org/





I used to be a christian, and I have been "saved" but once I started reading the bible I found it to be full of hate, death and murder, as well as torture. Among other things like rape and silliness.

 

The Bible full of "hate, etc"? Talk about twisting/misrepresenting the scriptures.

And one cannot, "used to be" a Christian. It sounds like you never really were a believer in the first place.

 

This discussion wont go long here, I posted my opinion and if you want to continue we can do so via PM.

I once believed as strongly as anyone else, I went to church regularly and believed in a higher power, until I read it for what was in it.

Not twisting it, or taking it out of context, reading the book for what it is, and what it said in it.
And looking at other religions and research.

Edit.

You can be a christian, and then change. Maybe you should look up Julia Sweeney's videos, its a good start.

 

Sorry, but I don't take an individual's opinion (in this case Julia Sweeney, an atheist) over what is in the Source.

"Believing in a higher power" and accepting Christ as your personal savior is totally different. Believing in a higher power could be Deism, Environmentalism, Satanism, etc.

 

Frank, where does your source material come from and why would you believe the word of that over another?

Serious question Sir.

 

The Bible is being grossly misrepresented here.

Of those saying it is full of this, or full of that, I challenge you to read it IN CONTEXT and OBJECTIVELY, rather than hearing what someone tells you and being biased towards their position.

The Bible can be interpreted in many, many ways, however all of its contents in some way, shape or form can be applied to current day life. Yes, we don't ride camels around and we don't have 100's of wives (our culture is different in many ways) the ideas of "respect they neighbor", "respect authority", etc are still very applicable.

The other problem is that the Bible was written a long time ago and in many ancient languages. Because of this, modern translations are not necessarily 100% accurate to the original meaning, which is why there are so many debates about interpretations and what is what.

The structure of the Bible is also complex to those who have not studied it extensively. There are two major elements, law and gospel. The law (old testament) and gospel (new testament) are very different from each other. The law was before Christ's time, and so there were many rules and laws for the people to follow to live a Godly life, because at that point they were not saved from their sins. There are alot of customs and rituals in those books that are by and large irrelevant in the gospel, which is when Christ died and saved us from our sins.

So, basically, taking the old testament itself would seem very cruel, and harsh, however, it was through that suffering that the Gospel was made possible. I am by no means a theologian, so don't quote me for everything, but I do understand how the Bible is structured.

Also, for those blaming Christians for being in such a hateful and harsh religion should look at Judism... its basically the old testament, all of the laws and rituals. That is the harsh part.

 

Come on, do you guys want all this flushed from the site ?

 

So, I was not going to reply to this again, but I wanted to leave this here.

No he did not abolish the old laws, he came to fulfill them.



Matthew 5:17
Peter 20-21
Mark.7:9-13



You can not cherry pick, or wish it away. Read it for what it says and you will see what I mean.
No context needed.

All hail FSM!

 

I don't see anything in anyone's posts that is out of line.

 

Calvary Chapel South Bay in Gardena California. We love our Church!

http://www.ccsouthbay.org/

 

Your error is taking what Christ said out of context, which is exactly what the Devil wants you to do. Look at what he said before and after by reading the entire chapter: http://kingjbible.com/matthew/5.htm

Jesus was saying that he is the fulfillment of the commandments/law. It is obvious if you continue reading in chapter 5.

As you said, you cannot cherry pick.