"No one comes to the father, but by me" Or is that not there?

BTW a good way to show that baptism was not necessary was when Jesus was crucified. One of thieves next to Jesus asked Jesus to remember him saying "Jesus remember me when you come into your Kingdom" (asking for his forgiveness) and for this Jesus said, "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise" -Luke 23.42
This man was a thief and was never baptized however Jesus told him that he would be in heaven with him that very day. To me, this proves that baptism is unnecessary for salvation.

They get an exception because god loves pork fried rice. If you look in the bible you'll find the "pork fried rice exception" listed right after the "age of exception" (check the index)

Well I have a few more minutes now because my paper isnt due till tommrow. in my opinion which may not be right but I believe this. If you know about Jesus yet dont believe then you will go to hell. But if you dont know yet live a good life and keep to high morals God will have forgiveness for those sins.

Sure, maybe.

I just have a lot of doubts about all these rules and regulations about how souls are sorted in the afterlife.

Thats one Bible. Speaking to a certain group. There are many interpretations of that quote and many believe different things than it says in the Bible. To think that the only way to heaven is through Jesus is chauvanistic.

That is there and also in early part of romans paul says " Faith in Christ is the one and only requierment for everlasting life" around those words. somthing like that.

Than call me Chavenistic.

All the rules and regulations don't matter in the end. Only faith does.

Is that like Calvinistic, only you're a follower of Chaven?

For Bible fans, what do you think about the New Interpreters Study Bible? I bought it after reading some reviews I liked on Amazon but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. It's like reading the Bible with historical cliff notes on every page. I might be able to actually get past more than one book of the Bible with something like this to keep my interest.

HAvent read it yet, I have the NLT and NIV those are my two favorites. NIV being the more accurate one but the NLT being good for understanding somethings I dont always.

No one follows calvin they just hold the same beliefs as him silly:p.

Yeh I too have a problem with purgatory. It seems like it was just made by Catholics to make it seem like the harshness of adhering to the laws of God aren't so harsh. When in fact God is pretty plain in the Bible. Believe in me and follow my rules or go to hell for eternity. There is no in between. Either you make it or you don't. It's much scarier when you think about it like that.

See thats the problem with Christians. They think too highly of themselves. They only accept one belief. They don't accept any other beliefs. Yet God takes many forms. God doesn't only accept believers in Christ. There are many paths to salvation.

Thank goodness you've got a sense of humor. More of that is needed around these parts sometimes. :)

Not to knock Catholics but there have been many times where they have done things for money. Like the wars when they incinuated that you could by salvation with donations wo the church to fund their wars.

I don't know, it seems to me that we're using the Bible as ultimate authority when it suits our purposes, and making up other rules when it doesn't.

That's my main problem.

These are serious subjects but I can read sarcasm and I am a very sarcastic person. God must have a sense of humor too right?

Yet God is a merciful one, he sent his only son to save ALL people.

It is ultimate authority all the time and when I cant find what im looking for in it I look to what would be the best possible explanation.

Catholics aren't the only ones who have done things for money. Christians as a whole have persecuted many and done horrible things in the name of God.

We must be a higher society, most threads would have broken down before the 5th post of religion.

All people are corrupt.

Why does god care if humans believe in him or not? If I was all-powerful I wouldn't waste time caring if people believed in me or not (especially if they were generally good people otherwise). Does god have self-esteem issues?

It's like all the bad things the Bible says aren't important, but the good things are the word of God.

Especially Karl Rove.

Yes he sent his only son sto save all people...all they must do is Believe in Him.

No God created us to have freedom of choice. We ruined the world He created with sin and He lives in a pain free, joy filled world. He has love and compassion that we may escape our bonds with sin and worship Him so we can be with Him.

We are God's sons and daugthers, why wouldn't you care for your son or daugther?

I believe in and love God.

The best examples of God on this Earth are seen in nature, my wife and my four sons.

God is compassionate and forgiving. He is NOT jealous. Jealousy is a human flaw.

God realized that when he created humans he was creating something that was incapable of perfection and to that end we will all likely join him in the afterlife.

Your mission in this life is a simple one. First, enjoy life. It is a grand gift. If you have children, be a good parent. If you are married, be a good spouse. Love your family unconditionally. Be a good neighbor and volunteer selflessly in your community. Respect and exalt in nature.

Realize your imperfections and take responsibility for your actions. But don't feel the need to take responsibility for everyone else's.

LOVE LIFE.

See you in Heaven. :)

Do you know what bad things? Or are u just saying from what youve heard? I sometimes doubt what the Bible says then I remeber if God is all knowing he would make it so the Bible represented Him rightly.

Yes, but Charlie Sheen and Ernest Borgnine did the voiceovers for ADGTH2. Sounds like a mixed message to me...

I believe the Jealous God is a misconception. He is not the kind of jealous we get He just meant He will not be shared with other material things. Either worship him or dont. you cant have the cake and eat it too.

Rules about selling daughters into slavery, buying slaves, working on the sabbath, eating shellfish, stoning people to death...

Those are the kinds of things I'm asking about. We ignore these parts of the bible, but cling to the other parts.

I'd like to believe in an afterlife, but faced with the alternative most people would as well. It's not a very comforting thought to try and imagine death and what that entails - is it the end of this consciousness? Or is there some way in which the thoughts and essences that comprise this consciousness 'live on' in some form?

The rationalist in me says that ideas like Heaven, an afterlife, reincarnation, etc. are concepts that man has created as a comfort to deal with this most difficult of ponderings.

The dreamer in me hopes that there is some way of living on. Of course, I'm still relatively young and vital - ask me again in 60 years if I've had enough...

If God is supremely perfect, how can he create something with imperfections (humanity)? The very definition of perfection is that everything something does is perfect, it cannot create things that have imperfections.

If the answer is free will (as I have often heard) then how could he create free will, which is inherently imperfect?

And why must God exist? If he's God, couldn't he make himself not exist, or is he not capable of doing so, since existence is part of his essence (or perfection)? If he couldn't then he isn't supremely powerful, correct (again part of his essence)? If he doesn't exist, then is he still God? (sorry for not capitalizing he, I just don't feel like making the necessary changes)

That is a good point. I like to interpret this to mean we need to be less self-invloved and materialistic. Materialism is a huge trap and you don't really realize that you are going down that path until you are already well there.

My rule of thumb is that measured moderation is probably the best course when it comes to most things...

I agree. I'd like to believe there is something beyond this, simply because the alternative is so unimaginable that its scary. However, this isn't enough to make be believe, and it is not the right reason for me to believe. I find too many people believe in God out of fear, and that to me is the wrong reason to believe.

ok last post before class. Good Question wigs. The thing is all those things u listed were in dueteronomy(sp?) That book was written to state the rules of their culture at the time and also to restate the Ten commandments.While we take some to heart we do not take others because they are not of our culture. While this can be veiwed as dodging what we dont like. Which all people do to an extent, like justifying their actions(Everyone even Christians have dont this.) But really God has made it clear to obey moral laws as so not to make a fool of yourself and make your religion and God look stupid if you would like I will write a commentary about every single one of those rules because that has been one of my biggest obsticales.

yessir, I still have trouble in being into too much materialism, as in I want a stereo so ill skip mu tithe for this week. But really that money should not control me, But God should. Christians have problems too folks:(. You heard it here first.:p

So if your son or daughter doesn't share your beliefs you think its acceptable to doom them to a life of eternal suffering?

And how can anyone be content in Heaven, knowing that there are souls that are in unendurable suffering for all eternity?

I guess that's kind of my point. We just change old rules, drop rules we don't like, and make up new ones to fit our culture as we see fit. If the Bible was, at one time, truly the word of God, what we have now isn't anymore.

My whole problem with religion is that it's always scrambling to cover every situation. It is always trying to decide who gets into heaven and who doesn't. If you're always changing the rules, doesn't it make the whole game invalid?

I'm glad you're taking the time to answer my questions. The more I learn about how the rules work, the less I believe that anyone knows how the afterlife actually works.

If I were to nail down my beliefs right now, I would say that every single person gets into "heaven". Even the worst people in society.

There are rich people who are content in knowing that there are poor starving throughout the world, so I would say yes.

What is the difference between Catholics, Roman Catholics, Christians, and Protestants? I always thought the first three were the same thing, and Protestants were the same, except they didn't believe Mary was a virgin. Is any of this right?

But isn't this the same place where the rules against homosexuality are outlined? If you can choose ot ignore things because they don't fit your culture, and since you pretty much decide what you want to fit your culture, can't you pretty much follow what you want?

Catholics=Roman Catholics (There are some Orthodox Catholics who I think go with the old Byzantine rules, but those are mainly on the other side of the world)

Protestants are just about any non-Catholic Christians, and are divided into subsets (baptists, lutherans, presbyterians...).

Christians are all of the above.

Catholics are the ones that believe in the virigin birth and that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life. It is her purity that makes the birth of Jesus even more important. The far-right Christians (Bob Jones and the like) call Catholicism a cult because of this and say that they worship Mary and not God... Catholics praise Mary for what she did for the world, but still praise God (and Jesus/Holy Spirit, I'm pretty sure Catholics are the only ones who see all 3 as the exact same)

I totally agree that people believe in God out of fear, its totally the wrong reason. The message of love has been lost somewhat with people and preachers trying to convert by striking fear into people. I personally don't like churches, their like bad goverments. But God exsists. I know for a fact. I wouldn't have received a heart transplant without God on my side. I think some people need to be close to death to understand and find God.

If you ask for forgiveness then you are forgiven of all sins, including original sin.