Bible Study

[Blue Frackle]

I found that out too (sometimes the hard way). Part of me wanted to do everything my own way, call my own shots. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn't. I've learned you can hit the gas as hard as you like, but let God steer.
As I get older, I see more of the beauty in the world. Flowers, trees, mountains, rivers, etc. A few hundred feet from my house is a lake, and this summer I've seen my share of spectacular sunsets. Who else could paint such a masterpiece?

 

[mariolover]

The thing about gay people has always fascinated me - so why does God create them just to **** them to eternal suffering? Does the Bible actually say being gay is a sin and you will go to **** for it?

I have a sort of ego thing where I don't want to rely on anything but myself to get me through a tough time, but I must say there is a part of me that definitely believes there is something out there greater than us: yes, this world can be ****** up at times, but it also makes too much sense for everything to just be happenstance.


This was a very good post... this is me entirely.

This thread rocks btw; thank you for brining life to it again. Politics and all that stuff... nah; this is the only stuff I care about, and potentially the only stuff that matters at the end of the day.

No problem

 

[mariolover]

I've asked the same thing about atheists before, but more from the angle that if God knows everything about everyone, and knows what actions and decisions we make long before they're even thoughts in our mind, then why would He bother to create anybody whom He knows will reject/renounce/simply not believe in Him and/or not accept Jesus? In a way, it seems to me to be equivilent to, say, an artist spending a great deal of time crafting a beautiful painting that he knows he's just going to destroy and throw away anyway. Why bother?

The way it's been explained to me is that we all have free will to make our own decisions, and that if we weren't, then God would not be a god, but rather, a dictator.

Still, there are some preachers out there who kind of make the concept of free will a gray area: they say that those who become Christians are pre-destined to do so by God . . . I get what they're trying to say, but to put it like that, really does make it sound like God's unconditional love for all people is, indeed, conditional, and that He picks and chooses who He loves, rather than loving all, like Christianity teaches.

It does, actually. The Bible says that for a man to lay with another man as he would with a woman is an abomination, and although Jesus died for our sins, that doesn't entirely give us a free pass to wilfully engage in sinful acts (which they would consider homosexuality to be). Of course, we all have to answer for our actions when we reach death, so for all intents and purposes, whatever LGBT people do - even if they are Christians themselves - the only ones they have to answer to for that is God . . . but, some preachers will put it bluntly: if gay people don't stop being gay - even if they've accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior - they'll still go to **** for not being repentant of their gayness.

From a fundamentalist's perspective, not everyone who says they are Christian is truly Christian. In order to be a Christian, you have to believe the entire bible and not just parts of it. And like I said, there are many people who call themselves Christians who don't believe the entire bible, like Oprah Winfrey. And I have a friend who says he's both Buddhist and Christian, which kind of sounds like a contradiction if you ask me.

 

[Blue Frackle]

Why doesn't God just make his existence concrete, indisputable and known? Is this all a test or something? Going to heaven is like applying for a job that you're not even sure exists.

The gay thing is such ********: why put other people at a disadvantage for no reason? How do gay people stop being gay? That's like asking a person to stop breathing; you can hide it all you want, but you will always be that. So in other words, Christianity encourages living a lie.

 

[D'Snowth]

Why doesn't God just make his existence concrete, indisputable and known? Is this all a test or something?

That's why Christianity, by definition, isn't so much a religion as it is a faith.

The gay thing is such ********: why put other people at a disadvantage for no reason? How do gay people stop being gay?

Some of them are within the mindset that being gay, or bi, or anything non-heterosexual is a "choice." In other words, they think people choose to be gay, which is just ludicrous . . . I mean, you see the kind of atrocities the LGBT community has to endure just for being who they are . . . if it really was a choice, why would be people even choose to go through such torment?

But at the same time, they're also convinced that the LGBT community is an evil cult that brainwashes people, so maybe they perceive those who "choose to be gay" did so because they were brainwashed? I don't know.

But this is why some people out there actually run actual "gay conversion" clinics, where they try to help gay people go straight (Michelle Bachmmann's husband runs such a clinic, and there's been undercover video footage of some of the stuff that goes on there - it's pathetic). I suppose that's how they feel you can stop gay people from being gay.

 

[Blue Frackle]

Some of them are within the mindset that being gay, or bi, or anything non-heterosexual is a "choice." In other words, they think people choose to be gay, which is just ludicrous . . . I mean, you see the kind of atrocities the LGBT community has to endure just for being who they are . . . if it really was a choice, why would be people even choose to go through such torment?

I work with a guy like this and I want to slap him upside his head; I told him the same thing.

But this is why some people out there actually run actual "gay conversion" clinics, where they try to help gay people go straight (Michelle Bachmmann's husband runs such a clinic, and there's been undercover video footage of some of the stuff that goes on there - it's pathetic). I suppose that's how they feel you can stop gay people from being gay.

Is it more so humorous or torturous?

 

[Old Thunder]

The gay issue is probably the number one reason why I can’t be a Christian. I had a couple epiphanies in Germany and would call myself an agnostic a bit over an atheist, because honestly, I don’t know what happens next and I don’t see how anyone else does either. It’s probably just nothingness but we’ll see.

 

[Flaky Pudding]

Something I've always wondered as a Christian is:What do angels and demons look like? As humans with our limited knowledge we often depict angels as beautiful winged humanoids with halos and demons as little red imps who hold pitchforks whenever we use them in art, music, literature, film, etc.

But does The Bible ever describe what those beings actually look like? The main reason I'm so interested in this is because I was recently discussing Stranger Things with one of my friends and they mentioned that their very religious mother considers that show to be a Christian fantasy story a la The Chronicles of Narnia because the main villain, Demogorgon "looks like a demon". I have no idea where she got such an idea but it definitely made me think.

 

[Flaky Pudding]

On a completely unrelated note, who is that celebrity you sent a .gif of? He looks SO familiar.

 

[D'Snowth]

Something I've always wondered as a Christian is:What do angels and demons look like? As humans with our limited knowledge we often depict angels as beautiful winged humanoids with halos and demons as little red imps who hold pitchforks whenever we use them in art, music, literature, film, etc.

But does The Bible ever describe what those beings actually look like? The main reason I'm so interested in this is because I was recently discussing Stranger Things with one of my friends and they mentioned that their very religious mother considers that show to be a Christian fantasy story a la The Chronicles of Narnia because the main villain, Demogorgon "looks like a demon". I have no idea where she got such an idea but it definitely made me think.

The only things I've ever heard from testimonies from people who have had out-of-body experiences, and went to either Heaven or **** as a result have been really, really vage about it: as you say, angels are often described as beautiful entities, usually exhibiting extremely bright heavenly glows emitting from them, which makes it rather hard to distinguish their faces otherwise. Demons, on the other hand, I've heard them described as the ugliest and most repulsive things you can even imagine, usually with yellow eyes that have slit pupils like cats, and sometimes they even possess a vague reptillian appearance . . . that would coincide with how reptiles are depicted in the Bible, such as Satan himself in snake form in the Garden of Eden.

Speaking of which, I've heard one such story that describes seeing Satan as both beautiful and ugly at the same time: beautiful, in that he was dressed in a very regal fashion, with fancy robes and such, and emitting a purple glow, but also ugly in that despite his regal appearance, you can't face him either. That also coincides with the Biblical tale that when he was Lucifer in Heaven, he was so handsome and good looking that pride and vanity became his undoing, and he was kicked out of Heaven as a result and became Satan.