The post was indeed moved to religious. Which, makes it both the place and well, in my humble opinion it is almost always the time.

The promotion of religious beliefs (while they should remain in their designated board) however in of itself is not inappropriate in the slightest. Censorship of one trying to share their beliefs though in a simple statement? THAT is inappropriate!

As a fairly conservative Christian, yes I do take offense to certain beliefs such as Atheism or any of the extremist believers out their within their own respective religions (Christianity included). However I am more offended by the censorship placed upon those people and myself for what we believe.

Disregarding who might be right and who may be wrong, everyone has the equal God given right, and responsibility even, to voice their beliefs. Anyone who does less then that or tries to reinforce silencing those they disagree with are just causing far more harm than good.

While there are those who cut each other down with the words they say, if we silence even those people who speak out of hate, we force them to rot in their own stew of loathing. So rather than hold our tongues, or tell people they need to be saved, or berate them for believing something that we deem foolish, we should at the very least approach them with the viewpoint of wanting to understand them.

You don't need to agree with them. But loving them by showing them respect is the first step towards understanding.

And then on my own personal note, as a believer in Christ, I feel that loving the other person is the best way to bring them closer to Christ. Telling them to pray to Christ if they don't understand him or what he is (the Son of God) then of course they are going to have an adverse, negative reaction!

Or to simply sum up everything I just said, love your neighbor as you love yourself. If you have respect for yourself and your neighbor, you will love them right. So no matter what they believe. Don't scorn them. It will only further drive them away from your viewpoint.

If One wants to know who Jesus is or the sort of character he has, you only need to read three short common gospel accounts.

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John don't take a whole week to read.

*******************************************************************

But, don't count on actually praying to Jesus... Rather, pray to the God who sent him.

Good morning!
Jesus is the answer means he can meet all of our needs needs, spiritual, emotional, physical in nature ect.
Jesus Christ is the Truth, the Way, the Life. Therefore, when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we can start to truly enjoy life and experience joy , peace and fulfillment. As we grow in our faith, through reading the Bible, praying which is talking to God, worshipping Him the more we experience those benefits and other blessings. Being a Christian does not mean all our problems will suddenly disappear and we will never have another one. But it means in the midst of our situations we can have joy, peace because of our faith in Jesus. Also we have hope because We know God has the power to solve all of our problems in His timing. Most importantly, a relationship with Jesus Guarantees eternal life since He died on the cross for our sins to save us from going to hell. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life"

Christ, in terms of the Christian philosophy, is the human ideal. He personifies that which men should strive to emulate. Yet, according to the Christian mythology, he died on the cross not for his own sins but for the sins of the nonideal people. In other words, a man of perfect virtue was sacrificed for men who are vicious and who are expected or supposed to accept that sacrifice. If I were a Christian, nothing could make me more indignant than that: the notion of sacrificing the ideal to the nonideal, or virtue to vice. And it is in the name of that symbol that men are asked to sacrifice themselves for their inferiors. That is precisely how the symbolism is used.

Playboy Interview: Ayn Rand
Playboy, March 1964

http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/religion.html

what is your proposition?

I agree with Conrad...

Christendom in general usually tries to imply that Jesus having died for humanity-in-general has some significance in the actual blood-letting process.

The assumption that somehow it's a fare-trade for the Good Guy to appease God for the sins of the Bad Guy isn't what constitutes the sacrifice.

The sacrifice is while in the act of professing God's will, there was no compromise in Jesus' integrity to do so.

Jesus was determined to advocate God's will even in the face of torture and death.

If You advocate and practice the same integral life of Jesus then You also claim the same hope as he had.

Now, if Jesus didn't stay-the-course, despite his being righteous, then the transcendent-hope would not have been received by anybody whether-or-not they be lost in their own transgressions or not.

While Jesus did endure a physical death on a cross, that event couldn't actually kill him spiritually.

*********************************************

Jesus said, "Do not be fearful of those who can kill the Body, but can not kill the Soul."

he mows my yard, good guy...

I've not given too much thought on this...but quite so. It wasn't that Jesus did it for the sake of mankind per se...but more for the sake of doing the will of God. Man's opportunity for redemption is the by-product of that sacrifice.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The very act of believing requires more than just entertaining-the-thought, though.

******************************

"Faith without works is dead." (Also A Scriptural Quote)

Of course...that goes without saying

Mt 7:21

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Excellent...

And You can plainly see that Jesus differentiates himself from his Heavenly Creator.

I was never the one with that problem...

You're Right... !

The problem lies with those who'd use Jesus as their licence for lawlessness.

******************************

In-short, Jesus isn't a Good-Luck Charm, he's someone to be emulated.

blind faith into something that has never showed itself or even tried to make the world a better place?

no thanks..

Aww...and here I thought you believed in love...

That is true...just that most people want an easy way out.

Therein lies the problem of using religion and belief for personal worldly gains...as well as using it as a scapegoat. Like you said...license for lawlessness...

Jesus as having existed is a well documented event.

Not only in the Bible and the Quran, but also in secular historical writings.

***************************

What's wrong Moe... ?

Jesus hasn't been influential enough in the past two thousand years ?

people can be religious without your permission...

we can test that if you like...

not to much...i never met him...i don't doubt there was someone named Jesus, there are thousands of "jesus's" in Mexico and the US right now...