Sure I could be wrong about my personal beliefs and faith. Every one
could be wrong..won't know till we die I suppose but in the mean time
no one should be demeaned or belittled for what they choose to have
faith and belief in. I am not damning Christians or anyone else, and in
turn they should have the same respect.

faith doesn't allow for questions is where they want you to be. there is
nothing wrong with questioning what you believe in because it can
actually make it stronger. if i believe in something i'm sure as hell
gonna question it first.

Somoblonde,
I agree with you !!

every one here has a thought or feeling based on an experience with
something from someone in a religon and life. But some of you have
studied the bible and have self knowledge and understanding.

When there is no knowledge and understanding of 'any' topic then people
respond to things with a notion or someone elses experience. Or they ask
questions and state things that are not relevant to the subject mater
just to say someting to be noticed and play the semantic debate game.

If you want to hear and understand with your heart, you will hear with
your ear and understand with your mind.

The bible is not about a debate !! It is about God's Law, the
destruction of Satin and mans savation .

All your doing is trying to prove something to be wrong so you can be
right !! Therefore if your right and have all the answers to everything,
your in control. Sounds self serving to me !

Nothing worse than a condescending christian,.. btu your are right to
lump superstition into it somoblonde .it is all linked.. we float in the
same water...It is not so much personal beliefs that are in question but
blind dumb faith.. Once again.. I can feel the power of god all the
time. I just don't have enough unmitigated balls to put a name on the
truly unameable.. I do not speak for GOD.. adn most certainly neither
do you....You can't label that which is everything..and yopu most
certainly shouldn't pigeonhole it into one absolute faith..WILL

Christianity is based upon something which can neither be seen nor
proven, hence faith. They claim the Bible is the inspired, inerrant word
of God.
I attended church for 30 some years. I did not just occupy a pew, I
was active. I began to read and research on my own. Things are not as
they are made to appear.
Two werses:
Acts 9:7 "And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless,
hearing a voice, but seeing no man (the word s better translated as
"nothing"."
Acts 22:9 "And they that were with me saw inded the light, and were
afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me."
These two verses say exactly the opposite. Only one can be true, but
both can be false. f it is inspired, what does it tell us?

that is exactly how i feel animal. even though i don't believe that the
miracles were how it was stated in the bible i do believe in GOD and his
miracles, i just don't take the bible word for word but rather for the
message. i have had my own experiences and i don't doubt GODS existence
one bit but alot of people like to think i'm confused because i see it a
little differently than they do.

most r weak minded!!!!!

I'll give you a personal example of how ppl get a little too uptight
about taking the Bible word for word. I'm somewhat like you KB 'cept
that I do believe all the histories of the Old Testament to be true..
but not necessarily accurately translated and transcribed.
My mom on the other hand is quite the opposite and one story sticks out
particularily, Jonah and the Whale. My mom would get so irked when it
was referred to as "the whale". She insisted(and she's right), the Bible
does phrase it as, "And God prepared for Jonah a great fish". NOT a
whale...ok fine, but how do we know that in the origianl Aramaic that
when they said "great fish" they weren't really talking about a whale?
At that point in time, maybe all they knew was that a whale was a really
big fishy looking thing so they called it a great fish.
Trying to play semantics with the Bible defeats the entire meaning
behind the story, or history if you like. Just the fact some dude spent
3 days in the stomache of SOME sort of sea animal is a miracle..who
cares what kind it was? It neither adds nor takes away from the point of
the story in any way.
Some people get too hung up on semantics, not just with the Bible but in
every day life.

you got that right. it may not have been a whale either. i don't know
how you feel about this aspect but things have changed since then and
there might have been a large fish that is now extinct. the giant squid
for example is real and they think that there were others like that long
ago. the giant squid being an example and not meant to be the
alternative to a whale.

yep, I know what you mean KB, or maybe, JUST maybe, since God created
everything, he created 1 whatever, specifically for Jonah

My two cents...

I've struggled with and questioned my "faith" for as long as I've been a
Christian... about 27 years. In the Bible, Proverbs tells us not to rely
on our own understanding. The ways and thoughts of God are too huge for
our little minds to comprehend. Yes people, we ALL have little minds in
comparision to a "superior creator". None of us in any lifetime could
design such beauty as we have the privilege to witness in our lifetime.
Call it God, Allah,or a hundred other names... does the name matter as
long as it's used out of respect?

The Bible talks of Jesus being crucified, to die in our place (for the
wages of sin is death). Jesus is "quoted" to say that "I am the truth,
the way, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through Me." Isn't
that really the issue when it comes to "religion" and "faith"? Can we,
as humans, accept the story that God became man so He could die in our
place and by doing so bring us, spiritually, to the feet of our Creator?
Can we accept that if we don't receive this "gift" that we will be
eternally damned? The catch is that there is also God's opposite in the
world! There is someone who DOES NOT want any of us to "go to Heaven"!!
That means that "the devil" will do ANYTHING to make you and I stumble,
fumble, and fall away from God's gift... or is all of this rubbish??
That, my friends, is the paradox... we won't find out with all certainty
until we die - then it'll be too late to do anything about our choices.

I once asked an elder of a church how he could be certain that "our
faith" is right... His answer continues to comfort me. He said, "If
we're right and God is all that the Bible says, we will be at His feet
for eternity. If we're wrong, then what was the harm in the life we led
- loving and caring for everyone and everything around us."

I won't say that there can only be one "religion" (man, I hate that
word!). I believe with all of my heart that there is only one way to be
at God's feet when this planet ceases to exist.
To say that God won't let people perish would be incorrect. God
destroyed entire cities, peoples, and even some of His chosen people in
order to "clean-up" the neighborhood. The God I know is very capable of
turning His back on people who turn their back on Him.

To address the original post of this very touchy subject, it is very
saddening to hear that people allow themselves to become angry and
hostile about their spirituality. No man or woman has the right to
decide for anyone but him or herself where God is concerned. We can
share, we can teach, but we should never condemn or degrade. There is
enough of that in the world already.

Thank you for your time,
rickdobs

people have such a hard time with this because you are dealing with a
subject that has the potential to determan one's eternal state.it is the
ultimate source of fear or happiness,and the extremes of every emotion
we feel.so its a very serious subject and nobody wants to think they
might be making the wrong choice that will result in eternal
consequences.but i must say if you think about the story of jesus he
left no room for error.he hung on a cross and said, forgive them,they
KNOW NOT what they do.so in my mind if a child is raised a muslim or
hindu and knows no other way of salvation then dont you think god
figured all this out before hand.he sent jesus to do what we CAN NOT
do,and thats figure it out.his grace is sufficiant even if your wrong so
it doesnt really matter.thats the most i figured out,but i admitt i
could be wrong but i trust god and i doubt it.

I'm open the idea that I could be wrong, but nobody has given me good
reason to doubt my beliefs.

I don't believe if thern is a God , that this god wanted us to worship
it in the same mannor or the same way. That is why we have such
diversity in the world. No one can possibly commun in to one language of
worship due to the expereiences we all have thoughtout life. we can
share certian expereiences, but most are too different to compare with
one another to have a common belief.

Ghostrecon

I tend to think all or most Bible stories are just mere Metaphors for a
moral story. But of course there are those who must take them literal
because somehow this elevates their belief and so gives them hope when
they feel there is no hope for what ever life throws at them. This gives
them the ability to rise above any turmoil in their life. Think of it as
a placebo affect. If you are convinces that this little pill will cure
all that ales you. You believe it so you wait patiently for the change
and so, when you start to feel good again you think, Oh the pill is
working. So you are convinced that this pill cured you pain. Thus is
true in all myths that have guided civilization thoughtout time.