No no I'm not taking it personally. We don't have the benefit of tone-of-voice over the internet. Besides, I'd forgive you anyway lol.
One point I do want to make is that Jesus was misunderstood to the Nth degree even when He walked this earth. The only way to cut the crap about who says what and who crams what down whos throat, is to read what the guy actually said.
I challenged myself to actually read what Jesus said, and to try to live that way for real. It's not easy. One thing I think biblebangers and anti-biblebangers have wrong is that true followers of Christ are no better or worse than anyone else. It starts with being honest about our faults and things we do that we shouldn't. Then trying to change that and to act in love when our impulses would have us do otherwise. Not easy at all.
For example let me quote one thing Jesus said. "How can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there's a log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brothers eye. "
Aint dat da truf!
very true
quite honestly i avoided this thread at first. why? the stereotypcal car person is "non-religious" ("everyone has a religion, even those who claim to be 'non-religious'. their religion its what they live for/completely devote their lives to"-- my pastor in a sermon) and being a Christian, i never really thought that i would find a thread defending believing in God. i agree with what some other people were saying, i wont shove my beliefs in your face. if you dont agree, ok, if you want to talk about it just ask, im willing to talk about it.
i had a very liberal kid in highschool that me and some friends always debated with. im not much of a debater but i will stand my ground if i have to. half of why he did was to "see what we thought about [insert topic here]"
personally i find it comforting to know that im not alone on here believing in what i do. most other forums ive been on, its nothing to say anything about. if you do, endless threads and hating begin.
ill be the first to admit it, everyone thinks that every Christian is "perfect" and a Bible thumper, but theres no hiding it, we have just as many struggles as everyone else. for me, swearing is one of the bigger things that i stuggle with right now. going into the repair side of the automotive industry only makes it harder for me. one constant ragging that poeple never seem to let down is how im 19 and still a virgin. im sure this will start another whole thing now, but in all honesty i dont understand why its such a big deal. ok so i made a decision for me, i dont press anythign on you as far as what i believe, how you act or what you believe or anything else and thats what you decide to attack? its one of my personal decisions. sure i still want sex but its just a matter of controlling yourself basically. your welcome for controllign the population and spreading of however many stds she has.
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its bothered me for a while
back to topic, another thing my pastor said in a sermon was that more and more scientists are comming to believe in God because there is no possible "natural random happening" to explain creation, because its something that deals with Christianity, thats why nobody hears about it. very atheist people have gone out to try and prove that God doesnt exist, and end up only becoming a believer in God themselves. there is lots of proof that God exists but im sad to say that many people just pass it off as "oh well thats just coincidence".
NOTHING pisses me off more than going to a national park (lets use the badlands in south dakota for example) and hearing the tour guide/park ranger say "over millions [or billions, depending on where you go] of years this land was [sculped/eroded/formed/carved] by [river/water/wind etc] and thats how what you se here today was made." ok so how come when i spit on the hard dry dirt in the badlands, that it changes immedeately? and how come every thing got very noticeably smaller in size over the last 10 years between the 2 times my family took a vacation to there, has changed drastically? weve never posed the question to a tour guide/park ranger person, although i would kinda like to someday
in general, people seem to be more affraid of God than anything else. thats what i think is most likely why people are like "if i ever walked near or into a church id probly burn up" although its a misconception, deep down they know that theyve lived a sinful life and they think that theyve reached a point as to where they cant turn back and repent. EVERYONE is sinful from birth. its a fact of being human. i think that people can be very ignorant and/or just do what others to and say just to "fit in" with main stream american life.
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i in no way intended to offend anyone by anything i said, if i did, let me know so we can talk about it, feel free to pm me if you dont want to post it here.
