Re: I'm not a religious man, but......
You know, bayman, I am almost 100% with you on this. The facts are that men put together all the ORGANIZATIONS that sponsor their churches. All the different churches within an organization do not even believe everything that another church of the same org believes. I find that true even in the church I attend. I never have professed to know all of what another organization or church believes et al, but the Bible tells us that we are supposed to watch the fruit that a tree produces and if ti doesn't match what the tree is supposed to grow, then there is a monkey in the woodpile somewhere! How is this supposed to be done? That is very simple...all one has to do is to READ God's Word...even in there He says that if a man desires understanding, to pray, and He will provide it. So, how I do it, is to read and pray that God will help me to understand what I am reading. He does that by showing me more scriptures that align with the other, and there are MANY scriptures that back up all others, or at least I am very confident, since it has worked for me very well over the years. It helps to sit down with someone else and hash out the scriptures and try to get a clearer understanding also. Prayer is the vehicle, though, to understanding!! <br /><br />The bottom line for me, is that the Bible says to come out from the world and be seperate. So, if when I listen to someone tell me about the Bible or their involvement with God, and there is no evident cvhange in their way of living compared to before they came to God, it is pretty difficult to think they understand much about God. I can excuse someone who is brand new to God's Grace, but I know of "Pastors", "Priests" or whatever title is given to them, who blatantly exercise their examples of "Holy living" by drinking alcohol, smoking, swearing, flirting with women, and sundry other things that the Bible tells us are definitely against the teachings of the Bible for Holy living. God demands that we are holy, because He is holy.<br /><br />If you think that the above sounds as if I am judging others in their faith, that is 100% incorrect. I know that there are things that may seem muddy to anybody that studies scripture, but SOME things are so bold and evident that it SHOULD knock peoples eyes wide open when they see it! <br /><br />I do believe that some twist the scriptures to fit what their agenda is, or so that what they do seems to not be sin, or to make it popular to the masses...too many churches think that the numbers on their board out front make them a better church but that is far from truth. Some of the largest and most widely attended churches in any city are just cold stone edifices of beauty but have no real Spirit in them, and when you go, you leave in the same condition as when you arrived. Church is all about Christ, and even more, about souls rededicating themselves to Him. Too many churches do not even offer teh folks a time to bend a knee at an alter and find Him...too often it is just a repeated prayer and then being told, Now you are saved...Hogwash, I say...how can I say that with conviction??? I have been there for too long and too many times!!! And you know what? After the little prayer, I never felt anything different inside, and I always knew that if God were to live in me, then He would make some kind of change in me, because the Bible says that He will make a NEW CREATURE out of us, and that He will save us, not IN our sin, but FROM our sin.<br /><br />But hey, someone is goign to say I am trying to force things down their throat, but whomever feels that way is not out to find God anyway, so I could never reach them anyway. And all I would ever want in life is to be able to lead some sinner who recognizes their need for God to the place where they can feel His love for them, and find His forgiveness for them, so that one day they can look Him in the face and tell Him THANK YOU!!!
(shock). And we live our lives trying to figure out what it's all about. It's magnificant, joyous, horrifying,evil, spell-binding,and mysterious.<br />And to a thinking-man, it SIMPLY CANNOT BE FOR NAUGHT! To simply die,after gaining so much wisdom, after impacting so many, forward to worm food? Many think so. But then, on the water, on a clear,calm,star-filled night, one look up, and you know in your heart of hearts, that there is a God, and he has a purpose for you,and all that is around you. Some people come to grips with the overwhelming majesty of the spiritual rhealm by giving the creator a name. <br />Some folks never do come to grips with it, and live out thier lives as best they can, for "the duration". That is understandable to everyone who has ever pondered the questions we all ask; "Why would he allow for the slaughter of all those people by the NAZIs? "Why do we kill each other?" "Why is there so much suffering here?"<br />All of that rot. And in search for answers, many of us have turned to those who have studied the works of his followers (the Bible), and have gotten the answer to many of those questions. IOW, we end-up in church, listening to a sermon from such a person...But for many other questions, even the most learned pastor will honestly answer, there is no rational answer, only theories. And that is where FAITH comes in....<br />"Don't know how or when, but God will come for me someday,and provide ALL the answers"!<br /><br />JB, keep the faith, bro. God loves ya. You'll be ok as long as you keep talking to him. Strike-up a one-way conversation with him whenever you can. And soon, you find it's a TWO-way conversation. Not with words, but with answers (light bulbs of wisdom going-off and such)...With calmness.<br /><br />Religous beliefs are as varied as there are people. It's when we try to defend those beliefs, that we get flustered.<br />I'll shut up now. I just wanted you to know,you are greatly respected and admired for who you are, by many here with the guts to admit it.
