Please Believe

[Ratt Mhule]

sorry misread. But that's even easier to answer. If I knew him then of course I'd let him stay....why wouldn't I? He's not a stranger. I'd know whether or not he was a good person and someone I could trust to be in my home. But I wouldn't turn him away just because he didn't love me.

 

I mean like if you don't know God, why would he let you into his house. Heaven is God's house, not my house. So I need to know him for him to let me in. That's what I'm trying to say.

 

Not people trying to trick others...but people who needed faith back then in order to have answers to the world. Saying "I don't know" can be a scary thing until you come to the realization that you don't have to know everything in order to live this life to it's fullest. And you certainly don't need to substitute a god to give you all the answers.

As to who the writers of the bible are, particularly of the new testament...theories vary. Just because you say "Gospel according to Mark" at the end of scripture readings in church, doesn't mean it was Mark who actually wrote it. There was no authorship noted in the gospels. It was common place to attribute writings to important figures to denote a sense of authority. Some think that these writings were purely passed down by word of mouth since many were illiterate during this time. I'd imagine a lot of the story would have gotten lost in the 30+ years after Jesus' death...not to mention the tons of translations and (church sponsored) revisions over the years. Still, even if Jesus did exist there's no proof that his claims of a messiah or miracles are true. At least not backed up by any other separate sources.

 

Just like some people need faith today for answers to the world. Science cannot explain everything, so we certainly do not know everything. That is one reason why people turn to faith. And just like Parl said, we will all have our questions answered one day. Believer or non-believer.

 

I've heard it before then, but I still think it's a valid rebuttal to the "parent" argument.

I don't think any non-believer would refuse to listen to any tangible evidence brought forth for a god. Saying faith is proof and therefore is the truth, is what we have problems with. With Shawn Watson, you can say you believe in his ability to improve next year. And all we have to do is just wait and see if your belief manifests itself into reality. Then we'll concede that you were right. The problem with the god claim is that so far, no one has been able to bring forth any tangible evidence for most non-believers. Even god's (Jesus') actions in the past are questionable as to if they really did happen. We, however, do have tangible evidence for Shawn Watson's mistakes.

 

This is the frustrating thing about being a Christian, there is no way to prove the existence of God and atheists know that. That's why it is faith. You have to have faith that what you think is correct is indeed correct. The reason Christians try and preach the word is because that is what we believe we are called to do. To help people find the Lord in their life. If that person chooses to brush it off, there is nothing more we can do. It is our job to tell you, it is the Holy Spirits job to convert you, if that makes any sense.

 

So then my question is what changed in your life to make you care more about your faith? What caused you to decide to not only believe...but to believe in the Christian god? And to accept hell as a real place? And why should I believe until this same experience/evidence has been given to me?

 

I can see a person accepting a higher creator based on faith alone. But automatically accepting/choosing a certain dogma based around that god is something else altogether.

 

I grew up Catholic. I was baptised Catholic. I went to a Catholic school from K-8. Going to that Catholic school was extremely boring for me. Church was boring to me. I went to a public high school and was introduced to new things and new people and I stopped going to church. I never stopped believing in God per say. If someone asked me if I believe in God during that time of my life, I would have still said yes. It just wasn't important to me at all. Religion was forced upon me as a kid and you cannot force religion on someone. It makes them bitter towards it. My dad used to fight with me a lot about not going to church and I literally told him if God wants me back, something will happen in my life for me to want to come back.

 

I still feel to this day you cannot force religion on someone, they have to find it themselves. Hence the fact the title of the thread says please believe, not you must believe. Everyone still has that choice to believe or not. Like I said before, it is just my job to tell you about it. And as far as me being called back, you can read some of my other posts in the thread and I mention how I believe God called me back to him.

 

ps. don't think we're attacking you. I personally don't get to have religious discussions with the theists I know. Many feel I'm attacking who they are as a person and I can honestly say I'm not. I have questions just like they do. I find these discussions to be a lot like politics. And you should be able to have an open discussion without anyone getting their feelings hurt

 

Yeah, last night was kind of frustrating with it being like four on one. You would think more Christians would be in the religion forum and have something to say, but I guess not. But then I was like there is no point getting bent out of shape about it. But thanks for telling me that anyways, I appreciate it.