Topic: What are your religious views?

I'm an atheist. I don't believe in any myths, supernatural powers, or gods, and I ain't afraid of no ghost.

As my sig will tell you, I'm a very firm believer in luck and nothing more. I guess that makes me a superstitious atheist?

Wow this got lots of posts. Anyways, I'm a follower of Christ

A) In answer to the thread, I am a Bible-believing, born-again, Christian. I am a conservative fundamentalist and believe that scripture is God-breathed and infallible (in the original languages.) I am unwavering in my faith and my beliefs and I do believe that the Bible can be proven in a number of different ways...it does not require "blind faith" to be a Christian.

B) If anyone wants an outlet for debate, this is a great place to do it:

http://www.rr-bb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8

They require you to be a member and abide by the rules of the board, but if you are willing to do so, you will find a large number of Christians that will lovingly and competently debate you on anything from Christianity to the existence of God to the Bible to Evolution/Creation.

Wow there are a lot of different beliefs in NL. I found this thread very interesting. If I have one word of advice that Ive found in my short 27 yrs on Earth is that no matter what your beliefs are just have some principles that you live your life on. Have values in your life, no matter what they are, just have something substantial to stand on. For me is Christianity, for some its different. My values and principles and beliefs pull me through a lot of crap ( i have an incurable brain disorder but you would never know it if I didn't tell you and you know me) and having my values really really help.

Who said your brain disorder is 'incurable'? Anyway, values like being obedient to your parents out of love and respect for them, being faithful to your wife, caring for other's well-being, not murdering, etc, come from the Biblical worldview that God has made us for His glory, and to live the way He designed us to, even in this fallen world, and presently mortal bodies. Someone here mentioned that he believes we are nothing but animals and any restraints to commit evil are there only because of 'society' or religion (he must really be referring to God's moral code for life). But with that mindset, what's to stop me from committing murder then? Or any number of insane things? We are not born sinners, but we have a fallen nature until we accept God's gift, and are then feeding either the nature which is evil, self-serving, and antagonistic to God, or we are feeding and growing the nature (new heart) given to us by God which is in conflict with the other. Choose, this day, whom you will serve.

I find the argument that we have good morals because of the bible to be a bit of a weak case. What about things like a woman being a man's property? Then there is the encouragement of slaves; murdering those who do not agree with your way of life; and quite a few other things that no person who follows the Biblical message pays any mind to.

Sure, there is a LOT of good stuff in the bible, but it is not why people are good and lead wholesome lives; if we took the bible literally, we would not be a nice bunch. Therefore society has decided which morals are appropriate to follow, and which ones should be ignored. This decision cannot have been affected by the Bible, because it has never changed. The only thing that has made some of the Bible's messages wrong (in terms of being bad/evil) is the perception of morals in our society.

there's also the fact that non-christian peoples also came up with morals and codes of law all on their own that were/are totally viable. they (the different moral values) may seem strange to us because we were not raised in the same manner or environment, but that doesn't automatically make them any more or less 'bad' or 'wrong' in and of themselves.

I rather find it exciting how we've been treading on such thin ice for so long and this forum's survived. haha! it's great.
Personally, I tend to believe everything in the Bible, though I wouldn't call myself a "Christian" because i don't "have Jesus in my heart" or whatever. I've just grown up being taught this stuff my whole life, so it's hard for me to "believe" it rather than just accept it. Still, I see the impact "God" has in others' lives and whether it's real or not, the fact is that religion and believing in something does give people hope, and makes everyone a better person I think. I'm probably more of an agnostic than anything, because I don't really know what I believe. As far as how we got here, I think the story laid out in Genesis is true but I believe it in a more figurative way. I think God probably set things in motion, and as others have said, I also believe in micro-evolution, not macro-evolution.

I always think its interesting when people go on about how they have the one "true faith" in the world. And then you ask them how long they have had this "true faith" and they say their whole life and their parents had the same "true faith" their whole life also and the same for their grandparents and so forth.

The point is religion seems to be largely inherited from our parents and in some cases the nation you live in. So I wish everyone would mellow out and realize that life is complex and the roll of the cosmic dice are somewhat random.

99% of the time we accept the religion our parents choose for us when we are babies for the rest of our life.

We do not have those morals because of the Bible itself, but because of the fact that God does exist, but He has revealed Himself in such a way to various people in history and He gave them inspiration to chronicle His involvement with man to reveal His ultimate plan to us. There are acts recorded in the Bible that are morally bankrupt (without God, the Maker, giving laws of life though, how can someone tell me what or what not to do? Should I obey them, and their mind... or God? Rhetorical question...), but that does not mean God condones such things, and of course, it is revealed in the books that He does not.

A man does possess a woman, if she is his wife. The grammar indicates such. His, Hers. Indicating ownership... (need more?) And a real woman does want to be possessed by a real man. Not in a slave like fashion, of course. If you loved your woman as much as you love yourself, would you really want another man taking her? Or her leaving? God's moral code is there for our benefit, not detriment. If people lived by this, the world would be far more pleasant. Of course, it all starts in the heart, and purposing in your heart to remain faithful.

Please refer to the scripture that encourages slaves. Many things have been brought against the Bible by skeptics and haters alike, but have been found empty and without validation. Show me the scriptures that condone murdering those not in agreement with the Creator? Because the killings that took place in the OT against the nations surrounding Israel were committing insane evils against themselves (their children included), and God wanted Israel to settle in the land He promised Abraham. But of course there were those nations that wanted to annihilate the Israelites, but God wanted Israel to go to the land without fighting if need be. Of course, that didn't happen, even though certain peoples were entreated to just let them pass through a foreigners land to get to their own destination. If the people wanted to destroy Israel at the time, they were also fighting against God's will. They lost.

The German Nazi regime also decided which moralilty to follow. They murdered Jews for just being Jews, and Christians were also murdered by them for believing in Jesus as their personal saviour. The point is, there are different societies, and each gets its order (or disorder) from somewhere. Headhunters have been transformed into peaceful, good natured people by the message of the gospel of Jesus. There are many, many examples.

The God revealed in the Bible has also never changed. Neither does His moral law. No matter if men want to follow it or not, they know He is eternal and truly real, but that knowledge can be suppressed like a traumatic event in one's life can be and usually is suppressed.

When I was a pre-teen I would have disagreement with my parents if I thought something was not in accordance with what the Bible had to say. But it is true that the way we are brought up (having respect for elders, etc), has a massive effect on the rest of our lives, for most people. For the most part of my life, I have believed what the Bible has said to be true, also diagreeing with most, if not all denominations on various pet doctrines or theories that I have found to be incorrrect.

I was born and raised Methodist Christian, but like grenworthshero, I had a hard time actually believing what I knew. This changed when I went to a non-denominational Bible-beleiving church with a friend one day, and I've been going there ever since, finally a true born-again follower of Christ.

Nathan obivously knows what he's talking about, and I back his statements up fully, save for the Miriam slip in his first post (shoulda been Mary). Kizzi has also said some real truths.

Here's something to think about: Look at current events and politics world-wide. Which religion is under the most persecution, and having its rights attacked at every turn? Christianity. You're not even allowed to pray in school anymore, but people of any other relgion can do whatever they like uninhibited. This is, to me at least, a clear attack of Satan.

I prefer they keep all religion out of schools. I think if you want to pray on your own, fine, but I'd rather not have people be made to observe religion if they choose not to.

They don't want people to pray on their own anymore either, though. But they ARE setting up "mock Jahads" in some schools, which is apparantely some sort of Muslim thing. So I agree with you, Corbie, but that's not actually how it works.

Well I don't agree with stopping people from observing their own religious customs. Anywhere. So if that's happening it's a real shame.

Thanks for backing my statements Stuffgamer1, the English name Mary is the transliteration of the Greek name Maria or Mariam, which comes from the Hebrew name Miriam.
Kizzi is cool.

You are right. And its going to get worse until you know when... but no need to worry. Don't focus on the bad stuff, but on Jesus, that's the best advice I can give.

I have my morals because they are what I think are right. We have morals (and laws) as a society because we realised that they are needed for us to survive.

"Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ." (Ephesians 6:5)

"Slaves are to be submissive to their masters in everything, and to be well-pleasing, not talking back ." (Titus 2:9)

"Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the cruel. " (1 Peter 2:18)

Moses says: "Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." (Numbers 31:17)

“Wives submit to your husbands, as is fitting to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:18)

"If any man takes a wife, and goes in on her, and detests her, and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, 'I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin..." (Deuteronomy 22:13,14)

"But if ... evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones..." (Deuteronomy 22:20,21)

Wasn't Hitler Catholic? He took the message a bit too extreme IIRC.

I'd say that my life as an Atheist is a lot better than my life as a confirmed Christian was - the process works both ways. Religion can oppress people and alienate them from their families if they don't accept what their parents have accepted. I'm not saying religion is bad, but I am just saying your argument works both ways here.

Also, I'd like to point out that the idea of heaven is great and I would love the thing to be real. But I don't believe it is - just because something is nice and comforting doesn't mean it is true. For me, I became an atheist when I realised that I just followed the religion because I was scared if I was wrong. Now, I lead exactly the same life, just without saying I believe in a God.

Corbie, Christians have only wanted to be able to have the freedom to pray in schools as well as anywhere they want to. We don't want to force anyone to do the same if they don't want to... what would the point be? It would only be mockful, actually.
There are some that just don't ever want other students to see the Christian's example. They want us to keep quiet and not to disturb their 'peace' with our non-harmful prayers. That reminds me, I remember reading about a school recently which had the graduates voluntarily recite the Lord's prayer example, against the school board's rule, to the applause of the parents and others in the audience... (brings a smile). I mean, come on, a little girl was not even allowed to say the name 'Jesus' in class. And in yet another reported case in the US, for favourite book-sharing time, a student brought in the Bible, but was not allowed to have it as a valid show and tell book, just because it was the Bible. The US has been turned upside down ever since the banning of prayer in school. Look at the statistics, from before that time, the worst thing you might hear happening in the schools, was a student chewing gum in class, or something like that. Now, that's nothing at all, chewing gum has been replaced by smoking pot in the toilets, and even rape. How low do you want to go?
And most people here in Australia don't even know the real gospel anymore. In the public (society), the Bible has become a slander word. Jesus' name a swear word, and the word, god, just something one exclaims when upset. That is why Christians should have all the support of policy makers when it comes to speaking against what Jesus was against. And speaking for, what He was for.

@Nathan: I didn't know that about the name Mary. That's okay, then. Amen to your second responce in that same post, as well.

@Nanaki: First off, the stuff from Numbers and Deuteronomy you quoted isn't meant to apply to us anymore. It's from the OLD Testament, pre-Christ. The stuff about slaves, if taken in context, is shown to tell people how to deal with the circumstances they found themselves in at the time, and NOT to condone slavery as a way of life. And there is a correct state of marriage according to God's word that puts the man as the head of the household, with his wife for love and support. There's nothing wrong with this, and even the strongest feminists in my church respect this fact.