Looking around.
Is it ok to believe in God here?
I was so beat up at the other place in the spiritual section, that I've hesitated to post here.
I just want to say that if there's anybody else who believes in God here also, it would be good to discuss some things sometime.
I'm not here to convert. Not here to force my beliefs on others. Just wanting a little bit of God fellowship.
Now sneaking out quietly.
The Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about
Hmm...i don't believe in a religious God. I'm just a simple ol' Deist, so i guess i can't relate to the whole fellowship thing.chantellabella
Do you follow a religion? Which one? The term/name "God" is used pretty loosely by people these days and i have no idea what/who they're talking about.
I don't belong to any organized religion. But I believe Jesus died for my sins and I believe that there's a God out there who loves me and has my back.
It's just nice sometimes to hear stories about how people relate to God. On the other forum I had a thread called How has God touched your life? It was helpful to hear stories about people's personal experiences of their higher power.
Since I don't go to any church and no longer write on a Christian forum, I feel sometimes that I'm alone in my thoughts about God.
So I was just wondering if there was anybody here who believes in Jesus or God or Allah or even some of the prophets and has some stories about their beliefs or faith in a higher power. Or even a belief in guardian angels.
The Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about
Well i have to so i'm a little confused by your beliefs so maybe you could help me out. You believe in Jesus but aren't Christian? As far as i know (or maybe don't know?) the only way for this to be possible is to believe that Jesus was a mortal man and died for your sins(he believed he was), but is not the son of God. If that's the case i'm sure a lot of people who take the Bible as any historically correct text at all could agree, including myself. That would probably be one of the only things about the Bible i do believe actually, minus the resurrection stuff of course.
I can't say "God" has touched my life any because I don't believe he/she/it intervenes in anything that happens in the universe.
By organized religion, I mean that I do not go to a church nor follow any ordered doctrine as prescribed by a set of people. I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, but I don't like a lot of things people of a certain name follow. In other words, I don't need a definition or group for how I believe. I don't like being put in a box. I have a relationship with God and I believe God came down to earth in the form of Jesus. But I don't want to be pegged a Christian or Agnostic or Atheist because it's those labels that seem to trip up people and cause debate. I want to hear about people's relationship or story about how they met a guardian angel. Or a word they heard and just feel that word was from God. I want to hear about how believing that Jesus died for my sins has freed me from much guilt.
That's what I'm asking here. Nothing more. Some people find that Buddha has helped them. Some may believe in the cosmos. It's just a way to relate to the spiritual part of a human.
The Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about
I believe and I may be alone I don't know that in today's society its harder and harder to profess any sort of faith in God without being labelled a Bible Thumper or someone pushing your religion down someones throat, If people want to hear my testimony or want to hear about my relationship with Jesus and would like one for themselves they can chose on their times when or if they want to ask me about it. With Atheism rising up it sometimes feels to me that we are looked down on. To me my belief in Jesus is a personal conviction. Again I share with people who want to hear me.
Jesus said, “People can’t come to me unless the Father enables them”. -John 6:65
Friends Together Together Forever
There is a miniature war on CHRISTmas here. Rhode Island's Governor wanted to call their tree a
Holiday Tree - PUHLEEZ!
You can be a Christian and not go to a church (denomination and stuff) - although it's a place to worship.
As for being looked down upon, yep - I got BLASTED at the other forum - particularly for Paul's famous I Corinthians 6:9-11. Paul got the treatment, too. Corinth was one them "enlightened" cities where people were just doing all kinds of things *rolleyes*. The man knew Jesus!
Whoever said that passage about "evil becoming good and good becoming evil" wasn't kidding! It's disgusting.
I'm just glad this is a place where people of any religion or belief can (and should) feel comfortable to share.
Diversity is our strength -- it really is!
Blessed be!
That said, I might share mine in the "What Are Your Beliefs" thread. Just gotta work on explaining things. Writing has never been my strength...
I would be really interested to read it and hope you do share. I've read many books on the origin of religions and it's one of my hobbies.........well human behavior is specifically, but belief systems fall right into that. When I first started believing in God, I was curious about why other people believed in their various faiths. So I started reading every religious book I could find, as well as philosophies and even cult behavior. I think it's fascinating to look at the various practices, and their origins.I'm just glad this is a place where people of any religion or belief can (and should) feel comfortable to share.
Diversity is our strength -- it really is!
Blessed be!
That said, I might share mine in the "What Are Your Beliefs" thread. Just gotta work on explaining things. Writing has never been my strength...
JesusChild and Ironman, I think what was happening on the other forum was a misunderstanding and projection. One time, I pm'd a person who had posted in my opinion an offensive meme on one of my spiritual threads. I asked him why he felt the need to make fun of what I said. He said because "religious people do this........ and this..............and make me.....................and have done to me......................." Basically, I was getting his anger toward someone who tried to shove religion down his throat. I told him, "but that wasn't me. You're attacking me. Why not attack those people?" He said because I represent those people.
I thought about his words and tried to understand him. I ended up apologizing to him for even questioning him, because I understood what he was trying to say. When I didn't believe in God, all I saw was God represented in people. I saw people on the streets with signs bashing cultures. I saw big churches and men and women going there every Sunday. I saw preachers on TV making people fall down. And I saw nuns telling me that prostitutes are sinners and will go to hell. So God to me was someone who was judgmental and who only liked one certain type of person. And I definitely wasn't that person.
So I found myself hating God and those people. I was angry because they seemed to have the ticket to heaven and I was being thrown in hell because I needed to prostitute sometimes to eat and have a roof over my head. I figured God and those people didn't want me so I didn't want them. I saw religion and faith as fake, hypocritical and judgmental and I wanted no part of it. I never bothered to actually find out who God was directly.
In the past several years, due to many circumstances, I finally asked God directly. In other words, I tried speaking to God and heard an answer back. It was a soft patient voice I heard and what was said, was strange at first, but ended up being the perfect answer. Then I was able to discern between God and people. People and religions are flawed because mankind is flawed. But I came to know God and understood that it was God I wanted to believe in and not the religions nor the religious people. I did join a church because I needed to learn many things and there were wise people there who had some answers to my questions. But somewhere along the way, I found I no longer needed them. In fact, they were saying things like they wished they could hear God directly also. I could never understand this because (you might think I'm crazy) but I have had some auditory encounters that I truly believe is God. And somehow what I heard was the most perfect thing I needed to do because when I followed what I heard my life got better. I kept telling them, just talk to God and listen. Maybe they just couldn't do the listening part. When I first started listening it was hard and I kept hearing, "don't talk. Just listen." After about the fourth of fifth time of talking and hearing that, I quieted myself down and listened. It became easier.
I ended up leaving that particular church because I eventually started seeing the church people gossip, judge, etc and I decided that the people part of the church wasn't for me.
So I basically understood where this guy was coming from. People can make poor ambassadors for God. I believe God works through people to reach out to others, but at the same time, only if they are truly listening to him.
I think as long as there is humanity, there will be conflict concerning beliefs. A belief system is as personal as fingerprints. It's what makes us all unique. And we have all come from different paths in life that contribute to our faith or lack of faith.
I really choose to celebrate the diversity because I think we need everyone's ideas in life to enrich this world. When we die we will perhaps understand. Maybe it won't even matter at that point. But I know that now that I'm on this earth, the uniqueness of our species is what makes living here so fascinating.
I had to edit this thing at least 6 times. I'm terrible at grammar. I think my thoughts run way faster than my fingers.Writing has never been my strength...
The Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about
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