Our God is AWESOME!! Isnt he. Loved the story Roberta....amazing. God Bless!!

It is a wonderful story, and one that was wonderful to share, as well. Thank you!

And yes, our God is AWESOME!

God bless you brother!

Well, perhaps I've already been 'saved' then for the bulk of my life since very early childhood then. I just never attributed it to a specific demigod evidently.

I've never felt a need for 'guidance' as I've never felt 'lost'.

So I already have that, and have always had it.

I don't feel unloved at all. On the contrary I feel quite loved, and I mean that in a very abstract and general sense. I feel 'loved' when I am totally alone. I think if I was the very last person on planet Earth I would still feel 'loved'.

Where that feeling comes from I cannot say, but I've always felt loved my entire life.

So I already have that and have always had it.

Hope? Wouldn't I need to be desperate about something before I could even entertain a concept of 'hope'?

Hope for what? I don't even have a fear of death. So I don't even feel a need to have a 'hope' of life after death. I actually innately feel that I'm immortal and I always have had that innate feeling. So I don't even have any desperation associated with dying.

Joy and light? A better way to live?

Well, like I say, in your case, having been incarcerated and addicted to drugs I can see where you were not in a situation of joy and light and you clearly needed a better way to live.

But I don't see how any of that applies to me. I'm not saying that my life couldn't potentially be better in some ways. I'm sure that better finances wouldn't hurt, but I'm not exactly financially destitute either.

Other than miraculously presenting me with a truly compatible best-friend and loving partner, I'm not sure what else God could do for me in this life. And that's the one thing that I have indeed requested from God for over a half a century. If he finally came through with it at this point in my life I'd really feel far more inclined to ask him what took him so long, rather than proclaiming that a miracle had suddenly occurred.

About the only thing that a God could offer me at this point in my life is indeed paradise in an afterlife. And as far as I'm concerned, that's probably already taken care of. According to the Christian gospel of Jesus it already is taken care of.

Well arent you special sister?

God Bless you!

Exactly!

And I sincerely hope that you don't take offense from my posts and my thoughts and feelings on this topic.

One thing you need to understand is that there do most certainly exist very nasty people who use Christianity as an excuse to spread hatred toward gays, and rejection of scientific knowledge such as the knowledge of evolution, and they preach that creationism should be taught in schools with every bit as much credibility as science.

So there is a lot of political negativity associated with the proselytizing of Christianity, including religious bigotries held out and actually JUDGED against others who have not "confessed" that Jesus is Lord, etc.

So there is a lot of "negative" Christianity out. You need to be aware of this when you jump into a religious forum proclaiming that you have been "saved" but Jesus.

You are (perhaps unknowingly) providing fodder for religious zealots and fundamentalists who use the religion in very negative ways to support religious bigotries and other negative political agendas.

It's an extremely unfortunate situations for the "innocent Christians" who would prefer to share a far different "picture" of Jesus.

So please recognize why there can sometimes be great opposition to these kind of religious claims.



I would hate to see you backing these radical fundies just because of your love of Jesus. That would truly be a sad thing indeed.

I thought that in God's eyes are all special?

I guess that must be a denominational interpretation.

So far, YOU are the most negative Christian, I have encountered, anywhere, and at anytime.

In what way?

Have I not said that it is great that your life has been changed for the better?

What is it that you feel I have said to you that is so negative?

Perhaps it is a misunderstanding on your part?

Or perhaps you were reading some of my posts that were addressed to negative proselytizers of the religion?

You'll have to take those with a grain of salt, because those negative proselytizers have been quite derogatory toward everyone and anyone who refuse to accept their own personal, and often quite negative and bigoted interpretations, of scriptures.

So please don't be going by that.

What have I said to you that you feel has been so negative?

Or are you just used to people simply responding with "Praise Jesus! She's been saved!"

I would never do that, because if you are a nice person worthy of salvation I TRUST that a righteous God would indeed "save" you as a matter of routine. There's really nothing to get excited about.

On the contrary, I would be totally absorbed with the sadness of those whom God did not feel were worthy of being 'saved'.

I most certainly hope that this would be the exception and not the rule.

Although, in all fairness, if we accept the biblical scriptures to be the trustworthy "Word of God", then we have no choice but to recognize that the scriptures have Jesus himself proclaiming that the path to eternal life is straight, and the gate is narrow and FEW will make it into the kingdom of God.

So overall, if we are to trust these words attributed to Jesus to be trustworthy, then there is far more to be sad about than to rejoice over.

Unfortunately.

~~~~~

But the way, if that sounds dismal, allow me to try to cheer things up a bit by offering that I do not believe that the writings of the New Testament can be trusted to be the verbatim word of any God.

Therefore I personally have no reason to feel so glum.

I trust in a God who "saves" everyone without exception. Of course, clearly that has nothing to do with Hebrew scriptures, since their God clearly ends up condemning the vast majority of people and only FEW are saved (assuming that what is written in the scriptures and attributed to Jesus can be trusted to be true as written).

By the way, I'm not a sister. I'm a brother.

who have i sinned against? saved from what? i trust you think that you've been saved and yet i'd bet that i've lived every bit the decent life that you have never intentionally harming anyone. so how have you been saved from anything that i haven't? you simply ask that your mistakes be absolved?

when i ponder this question, i often think about a german concentration camp guard at auschwitiz in 1944. he's a devout christian, attends church with his loving family each sunday and donates his share when the collection plate is passed. on this day he is leading jews, among whom is a family, mother, father, daughter, son, into the gas chamber. now here is where it gets confusing to me, the nazi, if he asks forgiveness for his sins after the war, will enjoy raising his children, playing with his grand children and otherwise basking in the warmth we call life. and when that ends he'll ascend to heaven where he'll meet his loved ones. the jewish family on the other hand, not believing precisely as the german that jesus is the son of god, will burn in hell for eternity. that's just sick man.

and yet i don't consider a god or higher power and have never found myself in a jail cell.

quite so. the rub comes when such personal interpretations lead to such atrocities as the crusades, the inquisition, the salem witch trials, the murder of family practice physicians and this jihad we must all endure today.

James 2:14-17

14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

15If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

16And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

While I'm glad you found God and are happy where you are, do take care to understand that God can be found outside of a church just as much as He can be found inside of it. God is much bigger than to be limited to one place or belief system.

All the best to you though in any case.

Truly.

It's great that various religious beliefs have helped people turn their lives around. That part is certainly a positive aspect of religion. Although, I can't help but believe that these same people would have turned their lives around even in a secular world. They would have simply recognized that it was indeed their own choice and doing.

But I agree, when these jealous god religions become the fodder for crusades and even 'negative evangelism' that takes the form of attempting to convince people that some jealous god will hate them or condemn them if they fail to cower down to the negative interpretations of ignorant religious fundamentalist, then any "good" that might have come out of these religions is quickly overshadowed by the hatred of religious bigotries.

The Abrhamic religions have turned against themselves because of their foundational jealous god. This forces them to become institutions of religious bigotry.

So now we have Judaism, Islam, Catholicism, and the rebel Protestants all hating each other in the name of their jealous gods.

And of course, not only do they hate each other, but they view all other religions and atheism as being their enemies as well.

But they do hate each other far more passionately, and the reason they hate each other so much is because they are each threatening each other with a different interpretation of their jealous God.

~~~~~

I'm glad for those who have been inspired to turn their lives around for the better.

I am not glad that such events are often the source of religious bigotry toward others who do not acknowledge these jealous gods.

in another forum you tossed out the notion that because my daughter was not here to portray her thoughts, my relating an experience i had with her was moot. here and throughout these forums you continue to quote scripture, the authors of which are even farther removed from these forums than my daughter is. your bible means nothing more to me, likely less, than my accounting of my daughter's beliefs mean to you. at least i related a personal experience. you relate nothing with scripture as far as i'm concerned. i have to wonder if you've ever been able to express a cognitive thought of your own without scripture to support your conclusions. can you do that cowboy? can you argue your position without refering to scripture as you've suggested i should argue mine without refering to my daughter??? hmmmmmmmmm???? give it a shot. take on my german concentration camp guard analogy using your own thoughts without the use of any scripture whatsoever. tell me where i'm wrong in my last sentence in which i say, "that's just sick, man."

Ummmmmmmmmm, o.k.

Where did I say that I thought God was only found in a church?

I have church everyday, and night at home, so why did you just assume that I thought that?

You mentioned your desire to attend church 6 times in your opening post testimony. So even though you may not have intended it, it certainly comes across in your testimony that it is the church that is the focal point of your belief.

I said that because you seem to have put all your faith into God being one way and one way only, but it doesn't have to be that way that's all. God is not so limited that there aren't other paths with which we can reach it. Again if this way works for you that's fine, but just understand it isn't the only way.

I personally see no value at all in Cowboy's constantly negative interpretations of ancient dogma. His type of proselytizing is precisely the kind of proselytizing that gives Christianity the worst possible face.

He won't even permit anyone to portray a truly loving Jesus. That would be blaspheme against his theme of using Jesus to support religious bigotry.