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Would becoming a Christian have any huge effect on my lifestyle?

VAL0R

Banned
OP, yes, becoming a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ will radically change your life. Of course you can become a so-called "Christian", believe the basic doctrines, live in mortal sin and still lose your soul. St. James said in scripture (I paraphrase), 'What good is faith without works? Even the demons believe!' A call to Christ is a call to holiness, to "work out your salvation in fear and trembling" before holy God. To "store up treasure in heaven" as Jesus says. It is by serving Christ through the obedience of a faithful and virtuous life that we acquire a "weight of glory" in paradise, where God Himself is our reward.
 
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Nester99

Member
Vicarious redemption seems unfulfilling.

If another person can act in a way to right the wrongs (sins) I have committed, can they really be my wrongs? My moral failures can only be corrected by me.
 

appaws

Banned
Vicarious redemption seems unfulfilling.

If another person can act in a way to right the wrongs (sins) I have committed, can they really be my wrongs? My moral failures can only be corrected by me.

I actually see what you are saying, especially since that was an objection I carried when I was a Deist.

On a cosmic scale, I don't claim that I can understand things that giant and I leave it up to faith. Whatever moral system IS....it is foundationally beyond my ability to judge or come to opposite conclusions from God.

On a human level, Christ and the Church have given me sacramental mechanisms to deal with my own personal sin and redemption, and I just accept those as they are given to me.
 

VAL0R

Banned
Vicarious redemption seems unfulfilling.

If another person can act in a way to right the wrongs (sins) I have committed, can they really be my wrongs? My moral failures can only be corrected by me.

Christ doesn't transform your evil works into good ones. He intercedes on your behalf, purchasing the forgiveness from God for all your evil works, with his blood. Theologians say, I believe, that God could have ordered salvation history in a different way, but chose to punish sin with death because of how greatly it offends his holiness.

Think of a pauper who owed a king a million dollars which the pauper could never pay and who would be thrown into debtor's prison for his debt. Then a wealthy Lord sees the pauper's miserable condition and out of love and mercy, steps in and pays the entire debt from the his own fortune. I think the pauper would find that immensely fulfilling, in the same way I find Christ paying my sin debt to the Father, immensely fulfilling.
 

highrider

Banned
There is definitely a level of social acceptance and a ready made social group in Christian church or organizations. As far as the actual teachings, I find the worship of celestial dieties a ridiculous practice that should have been abandoned as we gained greater scientific understanding of the universe. But do what works for you, there’s nothing wrong with having invisible friends.

Edit: I don’t know why that printed in all bold 🤔
 
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DonJimbo

Member
If youre an Atheist getting christian will give you peace
If youre a Muslim you will get banned and cursed and executed
 

AlphaMale

Member
Some of the moral code of Christianity pretty much align with what any decent human being believes in. Ex: Don't kill or steal

The only thing that I see that separates a Christian and a non-believer is the belief of Jesus Christ. However, besides that is there anything that I should be aware of?

Ask yourself... what's your position on:

-- gays and the LBGT community?
-- are you pro-choice or anti-abortion?
-- do you believe in climate change?
-- are you big on the 2nd amendment?
-- do you currently lean towards more Democratic or Republican values?

All the above will be questioned/challenged, so see where you currently stand now. This will give you an idea how smooth your transition is gonna be.
 
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Bolivar687

Banned
Ask yourself... what's your position on:

-- gays and the LBGT community?
-- are you pro-choice or anti-abortion?
-- do you believe in climate change?
-- are you big on the 2nd amendment?
-- do you currently lean towards more Democratic or Republican values?

All the above will be questioned/challenged, so see where you currently stand now. This will give you an idea how smooth your transition is gonna be.

Surely you must recognize that not only do different denominations look at these issues in disparate ways and with very multi-faceted approaches, but also that many denominations will never wade into politics at all. You could go to mass every week for the entirety of your life at some of the largest mainstream denominations and never once hear about the second amendment.

I don't know if you're trying to imply what I think you are but I'm sure you're aware Pope Francis has devoted much of his ministry advocating for environmental responsibility.
 

appaws

Banned
Ask yourself... what's your position on:

-- gays and the LBGT community?
-- are you pro-choice or anti-abortion?
-- do you believe in climate change?
-- are you big on the 2nd amendment?
-- do you currently lean towards more Democratic or Republican values?

All the above will be questioned/challenged, so see where you currently stand now. This will give you an idea how smooth your transition is gonna be.

Even very orthodox Christian teachings take no position on 3 out of the 5.
 

VAL0R

Banned
Ask yourself... what's your position on:

-- gays and the LBGT community?
-- are you pro-choice or anti-abortion?
-- do you believe in climate change?
-- are you big on the 2nd amendment?
-- do you currently lean towards more Democratic or Republican values?

All the above will be questioned/challenged, so see where you currently stand now. This will give you an idea how smooth your transition is gonna be.

The Catholic Church's views of "gays" as you say, is that they are human beings made in the image of God, having as part of their nature the dignity and worth that all humans have inherently. However, same-sex attraction is disordered and unnatural and not in accord with the revealed will of God for his people. So a person could have a same-sex attraction that they do not consent to or act on, remaining celibate, and not sin. But to willingly engage in homosexual acts, like all sexual acts outside of marriage, is sin and offensive to God. And of course the Church has always maintained, according to the words of Christ, that marriage between one man and one woman.

So Catholics are compelled to treat people with same-sex attraction with love and dignity, at the same time recognizing that engaging in homosexual acts is serious sin. That's not hateful.
 
There is definitely a level of social acceptance and a ready made social group in Christian church or organizations. As far as the actual teachings, I find the worship of celestial dieties a ridiculous practice that should have been abandoned as we gained greater scientific understanding of the universe. But do what works for you, there’s nothing wrong with having invisible friends.

Edit: I don’t know why that printed in all bold 🤔

For the most part scientists have an understanding of literally nothing when it comes to the heavens. I like to equate it to someone knowing what’s in the home down the street from them without ever entering it and only viewing it with a pair of binoculars yet somehow knowing how many spoons are in the kitchen drawer, how many pairs of jeans are in the closets, what the thread count of the sheets are on the beds and what material the tablecloth is made of. It’s all BS theories and guesses unless you actually enter the home for yourself yet we take it as fact. It’s not. Your faith in science is no different than someone’s faith in a deity.
 
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VAL0R

Banned
There is definitely a level of social acceptance and a ready made social group in Christian church or organizations. As far as the actual teachings, I find the worship of celestial dieties a ridiculous practice that should have been abandoned as we gained greater scientific understanding of the universe. But do what works for you, there’s nothing wrong with having invisible friends.

Edit: I don’t know why that printed in all bold 🤔

That increased knowledge of the universe should logically cause a decreased faith in God is just an atheistic assumption. I believe that the more secrets we unlock of God's creation, the more we will see His hand in it. For example, my understanding is that prior to the big bang theory (proposed by a French Catholic priest), the scientific consensus was that the universe was eternal. All of space-time exploding into reality seemed too much like a divine creation account and a number of atheistic scientists of the day rejected it.
 
That increased knowledge of the universe should logically cause a decreased faith in God is just an atheistic assumption. I believe that the more secrets we unlock of God's creation, the more we will see His hand in it. For example, my understanding is that prior to the big bang theory (proposed by a French Catholic priest), the scientific consensus was that the universe was eternal. All of space-time exploding into reality seemed too much like a divine creation account and a number of atheistic scientists of the day rejected it.

Read 2 peter 3:5-6, Proverbs 8:26-30, and Job 9:6-9. The Bible is very clear on how creation actually took place but do you think science would ever explore the thought of a world created by water? No. The odd thing is all of these theories now paraded around as fact have only been around for a couple hundred years if that. The truth of creation and the heavens have been around for thousands yet people for the most part will put their belief in man.
 
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JimboJones

Member
Shite religion, full of bullshit, done more to divide people here than anything, just enjoy chilling with the people.
But if you really do believe you need their version of nonsense then do whatever makes you happy.

I grew up Catholic and personally had enough of it by the time I was 16, it just didn't add anything of value to my life apart from having to go listen to some dude try and tell me how to live my life.

Unfortunately you can still get caught up in sectarian nonsense here even if you don't believe in it anymore.😐
 

WaterAstro

Member
It depends what kind of Christian because there are a lot of sects.

Also, a lot of Christians just wear it like a name tag and don't actually be Christians.
 

highrider

Banned
Read 2 peter 3:5-6, Proverbs 8:26-30, and Job 9:6-9. The Bible is very clear on how creation actually took place but do you think science would ever explore the thought of a world created by water? No. The odd thing is all of these theories now paraded around as fact have only been around for a couple hundred years if that. The truth of creation and the heavens have been around for thousands yet people for the most part will put their belief in man.

The Bible was written and rewritten many times, by men.
 

highrider

Banned
That increased knowledge of the universe should logically cause a decreased faith in God is just an atheistic assumption. I believe that the more secrets we unlock of God's creation, the more we will see His hand in it. For example, my understanding is that prior to the big bang theory (proposed by a French Catholic priest), the scientific consensus was that the universe was eternal. All of space-time exploding into reality seemed too much like a divine creation account and a number of atheistic scientists of the day rejected it.

No, an atheistic assumption isn’t based on facts. People see what they want to see, again I have no problem with religion, do you, but they can’t seem to do that. They need to constantly add followers, I understand, it’s a business.

It’s also ok to not have the answer. Part of the human condition is self discovery. But I think that’s scary to a lot of people, the idea that we are just random organisms evolving. It’s so much easier just to have ready made answers for everything.
 
It’s so weird that it’s always Christianity that gets shit on. Buddhism? Buddha is so cool! The Mahabharata? EPIC! The Quran? Let’s celebrate Ramadan together and fast! I’m new to Christianity! SHITE RELIGION. 🙄 That alone should tell you something. Christ said we’d be hated.
 
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WaterAstro

Member
It’s so weird that it’s always Christianity that gets shit on. Buddhism? Buddha is so cool! The Mahabharata? EPIC! The Quran? Let’s celebrate Ramadan together and fast! I’m new to Christianity! SHITE RELIGION. 🙄 That alone should tell you something. Christ said we’d be hated.
Well, I'm not sure Muslim is exactly scott free since people unfairly link it with terrorism.

I find Buddhism to be pretty lame. I watched a few videos from various famous monks, and their "words of wisdom" is so passive, that it might as well not be religion because they're not really teaching anything. It's like there's no right or wrong. Just do what makes you happy, or something like that. That's my take from those conferences I watched.
 

Croatoan

They/Them A-10 Warthog
He definitely cares. Actions can go far beyond what we’re capable of understanding. Everything effects everything. Although God can do ANYTHING, would you rather be someone that makes His work more difficult or would you rather be a blessing to Him as He is to us? We all stumble but there is scripture that actually talks about being hostile toward God.
Oh I am not hostile. It wouldn't bother me if he didn't care, that's sorta what pantheism is about.
 
It’s so weird that it’s always Christianity that gets shit on. Buddhism? Buddha is so cool! The Mahabharata? EPIC! The Quran? Let’s celebrate Ramadan together and fast! I’m new to Christianity! SHITE RELIGION. 🙄 That alone should tell you something. Christ said we’d be hated.

I don't think that's it. There's a cultural pendulum to all movements. Christianity has held the helm of spiritual (even cultural) power in the West for a long while. Life is never static, and all things that gain power/influence will face resistance (and destruction), sooner or later.

Going by your train of thought - that those who are disliked/despised must possess something good/special - Scientologists must be legit! :p Mormons have also been hated - and still are (by many), along with many more examples, both in and out of the mainstream.
 

NahaNago

Member
It should have a massive effect on your life but it is all a matter of how much you put in to being a Christian. Lots of church on Sunday , sometimes Wednesday, prayer groups, lots of community events, helping out fellow brothers and sisters, and your own personal walk with God is what I think goes with becoming a Christian. Now only the last one is actually needed but when the church gets its hooks into you this tends to be what happens.
 
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I don’t think it’s necessary to go to church every Sunday forever. If you’re new to Christianity it’s kinda like school. You should be going to learn about Christ, His Father, and the scriptures left for us and how to apply them to life. Unless you’re involved in the church, you should eventually be able to go as you please and do most of your studies on your own or with other like minded Christians. Being led by the spirit doesn’t come from sitting in the pews every week. Do that long enough and you’ll start hearing the same sermons year after year.
 

WaterAstro

Member
I don’t think it’s necessary to go to church every Sunday forever. If you’re new to Christianity it’s kinda like school. You should be going to learn about Christ, His Father, and the scriptures left for us and how to apply them to life. Unless you’re involved in the church, you should eventually be able to go as you please and do most of your studies on your own or with other like minded Christians. Being led by the spirit doesn’t come from sitting in the pews every week. Do that long enough and you’ll start hearing the same sermons year after year.
Well, if it's the Christian religion I think he's getting involved with, it's more about just believing and feeling Christ through the community. The church is a congregation of such people, and it feels more spiritual when you see others be the same with you. Much less about the actual sermons, I think.
 
You can be with one or two other Christians and call it church. That’s fellowship. The church of today is nothing like the “church” of Christ time. There were the outer courts where people congregated, the inner courts I believe, but all the way inside was the holy of holies where only a clean high priest could enter to be with the spirit of God.

I don’t believe God dwells in any of these churches today as there is no “holy of holies” for Him in them as usually it’s a building that anyone and everyone has access to. Now I’d say the Holy Spirit can be present as that’s how truth in scripture can be revealed and there lies the beginning of knowing God and His Son. That doesn’t necessarily need to happen in a church though. Christ and his disciples went anywhere they could. It wasn’t one spot.

There is a reason why the sacrament of confession exists, and there is no limit to the number of times you can go...because we need it.

You don’t have to confess sins to some man sitting in a box. You can confess sins to those who you fellowship with.
 
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appaws

Banned
You can be with one or two other Christians and call it church. That’s fellowship. The church of today is nothing like the “church” of Christ time. There were the outer courts where people congregated, the inner courts I believe, but all the way inside was the holy of holies where only a clean high priest could enter to be with the spirit of God.

I don’t believe God dwells in any of these churches today as there is no “holy of holies” for Him in them as usually it’s a building that anyone and everyone has access to. Now I’d say the Holy Spirit can be present as that’s how truth in scripture can be revealed and there lies the beginning of knowing God and His Son. That doesn’t necessarily need to happen in a church though. Christ and his disciples went anywhere they could. It wasn’t one spot.



You don’t have to confess sins to some man sitting in a box. You can confess sins to those who you fellowship with.

I disagree, of course. But no need rearguing the reformation on gaf.
 
It keeps coming to me that the great falling away would be caused by those not knowing or understanding who Christ is. If you don’t know who he is then how do you get to his Father? Many are being led astray and kept in the dark. You’d be arguing what you’ve been taught. Not what scripture states.
 
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I've actually had serious interest in becoming a scientologist, but I don't know who to talk to about it because I feel people will shame me, and I live on roughly $600 a month and I barely get by as is
 

i_am_ben

running_here_and_there
I think its important to realise that with any religion you can get powerful feelings of "togetherness", but its equally important to realise that the feeling of "togetherness" is conditional upon certain beliefs and behaviour. You need to decide if what they want you to believe is worth the trade-off.

Additionally, when you are new to churches or other religious groups, the feeling of "togetherness" is at its peak. However, overtime this same love and affection can be withheld (even weaponised) to subtly direct you in ways you never would have acted.

And remember, for some people religion is like a powerful drug so you should act with a bit of caution.
 
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Estellex

Member
I think its important to realise that with any religion you can get powerful feelings of "togetherness", but its equally important to realise that the feeling of "togetherness" is conditional upon certain beliefs and behaviour. You need to decide if what they want you to believe is worth the trade-off.

Additionally, when you are new to churches or other religious groups, the feeling of "togetherness" is at its peak. However, overtime this same love and affection can be withheld (even weaponised) to subtly direct you in ways you never would have acted.

And remember, for some people religion is like a powerful drug so you should act with a bit of caution.


Can you elaborate more on this?
 

KevinKeene

Banned
As a Christian, I didn't know it comes with a specific lifestyle. Oh wait, it doesn't, thank you, secularization :)
 
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Barsinister

Banned
When the Lord puts his finger on your heart, it will change you. Think of it this way: You are not choosing God, He's choosing you.
 

VAL0R

Banned
It keeps coming to me that the great falling away would be caused by those not knowing or understanding who Christ is. If you don’t know who he is then how do you get to his Father? Many are being led astray and kept in the dark. You’d be arguing what you’ve been taught. Not what scripture states.
The scriptures that were given to you from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, you mean? Rome decided which books would be in the biblical canon. They compiled what you call "your" New Testament. There was, of course debate on which books would make the scriptural canon, but Mother Church through her bishops and a council decided and so all it has been settled for all time, for all men everywere.

Martin Luther considered removing some of the books from the NT, exactly because he mistrusted the Church. Did you know that he called James an "epistle of straw" (meaning "worthless")? My guess is he didn't like how James 2:24 reads, "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone," which just flies in the face of Luther's theology. So much for "Sola Fide!", eh? So, I guess you are fortunate that your Protestant forefathers didn't throw out other holy books when they purged the Old Testament of the deuterocanonicals that had been read in the churches all over the world for over a thousand years. Did you know that we have ancient writings from a disciple of John who became a great Church leader, Polycarp, and he quotes from the very deuterocanonicals that Luther removed. Did Luther know more then John's own disciples?

It's crazy how many theological disputes the Catholic Church has settled on her own authority (given by Christ) and the Protestants just assume she was right. Why? The NT canon of scripture, why just assume the Church got it right (Luther didn't). Why assume the Church got it right when she teaches the hypostatic union, the two natures of Christ in one person? Why assume the Church got it right when she declared God a Trinity of one God in three co-equal persons? Where does the bible clearly and explicitly teach any of that? There are a hundred other heresies the Church had long since settled before the first Protestant was ever born, and Protestants just assume the Church and her councils were correct on basically all of it. Thank God. If Protestantism had formed earlier who knows what other heresies they would have swallowed up before the Church destroyed them.
 

VAL0R

Banned
As a Christian, I didn't know it comes with a specific lifestyle. Oh wait, it doesn't, thank you, secularization :)

It's pretty clear that the Christian tradition has a long established moral code received from the teachings of Christ and the apostles and the scriptures and the Magisterium of the Church. Call this a "lifestyle" if you like.
 

Graven

Member
You're getting some bad advice so far in this thread.

Yes, it will change everything about your life. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Being a Christian isn't about following rules - the reason Jesus died in the first place was because he knew you wouldn't be able to follow the rules - but it is about a daily journey of killing sin and becoming more like Christ. Paul said in Romans 6:11, "Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

Being a Christian means you believe that Jesus is the son of God, and you believe that he took the punishment you deserved for all of the things you do wrong. Knowing that truth, you will not want to willfully sin, because doing so means you're grabbing a hammer and bashing the nails into the man who's being murdered on your account. Imagine your best friend, or your father, in the electric chair because of a crime you committed. He willingly put himself in that chair so you could live even though you committed the crime and he is innocent. Do you walk in and flip the switch and laugh while he dies looking you in the eyes? That would be insanity.

Flavel said it this way in the 1600s, through this fictitious conversation between Christ and God:
  • God: “My son, here is a company of poor miserable souls, that have utterly undone themselves, and now lie open to my justice! Justice demands satisfaction for them, or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them: What shall be done for these souls?”
  • Christ: “O my Father, such is my love to, and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their Surety; bring in all thy bills, that I may see what they owe thee; Lord, bring them all in, that there may be no after-reckonings with them; at my hand shalt thou require it. I will rather choose to suffer thy wrath than they should suffer it: upon me, my Father, upon me be all their debt.”
  • God: “But, my Son, if thou undertake for them, thou must reckon to pay the last mite, expect no abatements; if I spare them, I will not spare thee.”
  • Christ: “Content, Father, let it be so; charge it all upon me, I am able to discharge it: and though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches, empty all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake it.”
You deserved death and Christ took it on your behalf. You (and everyone for that matter) were created to worship him because (1) He's owed that because he is God and even beyond that, (2) He took on the form of man and subjected himself to torture and death because he loves you and wanted you to avoid the eternal punishment you rightly and justly deserve - not only for all the bad things you've done, but also for the fact that you're not worshiping him every second of every day, like he deserves.

Being a Christian means you'll spend the rest of your life trying to worship him, and be more like him. This means reading the Bible, praying, and doing whatever you can to become more like Jesus and to worship God. Not because you're supposed to, but because you want to. And if you believe that Jesus took your place on that cross, then you'll want to. And when you screw up - and you will every day - you can rest assured that your debts have already been paid. You'll pick your cross back up, and redouble your efforts to do better for the man who paid those debts and the God that sent him to do it.

Phenomenal post, i'm always glad when i see people who truly understand the meaning of following Christ and by extension being a christian.

Being christian is an everlasting process of mortification of yourself, it's not about rituals for the sake of it, it's a tough journey that will demand commitment with all your heart. I was a "christian" for many years, but i only truly understood what it was all about years later unfortunately, but, here we are.

If you wanna do this right TC, dive in with faith, perseverance, heart and soul, because it's not easy. I'm not telling you to be a fanatic, but, approach it with seriousness and reponsability because the Lord likes(and demand) that we give our best, and He has what is best for you.
 
The scriptures that were given to you from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, you mean? Rome decided which books would be in the biblical canon. They compiled what you call "your" New Testament. There was, of course debate on which books would make the scriptural canon, but Mother Church through her bishops and a council decided and so all it has been settled for all time, for all men everywere.

Martin Luther considered removing some of the books from the NT, exactly because he mistrusted the Church. Did you know that he called James an "epistle of straw" (meaning "worthless")? My guess is he didn't like how James 2:24 reads, "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone," which just flies in the face of Luther's theology. So much for "Sola Fide!", eh? So, I guess you are fortunate that your Protestant forefathers didn't throw out other holy books when they purged the Old Testament of the deuterocanonicals that had been read in the churches all over the world for over a thousand years. Did you know that we have ancient writings from a disciple of John who became a great Church leader, Polycarp, and he quotes from the very deuterocanonicals that Luther removed. Did Luther know more then John's own disciples?

It's crazy how many theological disputes the Catholic Church has settled on her own authority (given by Christ) and the Protestants just assume she was right. Why? The NT canon of scripture, why just assume the Church got it right (Luther didn't). Why assume the Church got it right when she teaches the hypostatic union, the two natures of Christ in one person? Why assume the Church got it right when she declared God a Trinity of one God in three co-equal persons? Where does the bible clearly and explicitly teach any of that? There are a hundred other heresies the Church had long since settled before the first Protestant was ever born, and Protestants just assume the Church and her councils were correct on basically all of it. Thank God. If Protestantism had formed earlier who knows what other heresies they would have swallowed up before the Church destroyed them.

Actual conversation! Good man. 😊 I don’t believe Rome should have removed anything. I think that falls under the scripture where it says something about taking the keys to knowledge and hindering those who were trying to obtain it. I’d also say you have to consider other “fruit” beared by Rome. Removing books, changing the sabbath, giving sainthood and allowing saints to be prayed to, the pope himself is called “father” when he should be a brother among us not a lord over us. Christ is my King and His Father is my God as far as I’m concerned. Which brings me to another thing. The trinity. You hear the story of Arius which took place around the same period of the council? He tried to tell the church that the trinity was three separate entities. Which is true.

God is at the head, Christ is His Son, and the spirit is the counselor. They called him a heretic and chopped his head off and now teach the world that it’s God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit which is incorrect. Christ himself sits at the right hand of God and has had that position since before earth began and only left it to come here yet was still the hand of the Father as he does the will of the Father. The Holy Spirit was present at the baptism of Christ and so was the Father as He spoke this is my son in who I am well pleased and he’s also here now as Christ said he’d send him to lead us in truth.

The Catholic Church also has pretty much put Mary above Christ himself in titling her the “mother of God”. It’s nonsense and anyone who actually reads the Bible for themselves would not only figure all this out but would also be awaken to the fact that books were removed. I think this may have been old pagan Rome being a wolf in sheeps clothing and purposely leading people from God as the only way to God is through the Son. If you have an incorrect teaching of the son and never bother doing your own due diligence then where does that leave people? You mention another church as a “her”. I’m not understanding that unless you’re referring to the bride of Christ. 🤔
 
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appaws

Banned
Actual conversation! Good man. 😊 I don’t believe Rome should have removed anything. I think that falls under the scripture where it says something about taking the keys to knowledge and hindering those who were trying to obtain it. I’d also say you have to consider other “fruit” beared by Rome. Removing books, changing the sabbath, giving sainthood and allowing saints to be prayed to, the pope himself is called “father” when he should be a brother among us not a lord over us. Christ is my King and His Father is my God as far as I’m concerned. Which brings me to another thing. The trinity. You hear the story of Arius which took place around the same period of the council? He tried to tell the church that the trinity was three separate entities. Which is true.

God is at the head, Christ is His Son, and the spirit is the counselor. They called him a heretic and chopped his head off and now teach the world that it’s God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit which is incorrect. Christ himself sits at the right hand of God and has had that position since before earth began and only left it to come here yet was still the hand of the Father as he does the will of the Father. The Holy Spirit was present at the baptism of Christ and so was the Father as He spoke this is my son in who I am well pleased and he’s also here now as Christ said he’d send him to lead us in truth.

The Catholic Church also has pretty much put Mary above Christ himself in titling her the “mother of God”. It’s nonsense and anyone who actually reads the Bible for themselves would not only figure all this out but would also be awaken to the fact that books were removed. I think this may have been old pagan Rome being a wolf in sheeps clothing and purposely leading people from God as the only way to God is through the Son. If you have an incorrect teaching of the son and never bother doing your own due diligence then where does that leave people? You mention another church as a “her”. I’m not understanding that unless you’re referring to the bride of Christ. 🤔

A lot of misunderstanding here, with all due respect. Rome didn't "remove" anything. There were thousands of gospels circulating at that time, and a canon had to be chosen. They chose books based on correct doctrine and apostolic authorship, guided by the Holy Spirit. Protestants have developed this weird bible fetishism where the imagine proto-Jesus handing out books. It's a false image. Jesus created the Church and put St. Peter in charge...the church chose the canon and gave us the Bible.

St. Paul admonished Christians to let none of the apostolic teachings slip away, and he did that at a time before the bible existed. He was talking about tradition as handed down from the Apostles, men who walked with Christ.

Saints are not prayed to in the way that God is. You may not know it, but you are going after a Protestant caricature of Catholicism and not the real thing. We ask saints to pray for US.

Nobody puts Mary above Christ. That's a falsehood. She was without sin and bore Christ within her...but she was human and nobody denies that.
 
Would you want someone praying to you? And more importantly, the Catholic Church doesn’t even know who Christ is or even worse possibly purposely try to misguide people. The image of Christ they’ve created looks nothing like him. You now have millions of people wearing jewelry with him hanging on a cross which would make him an idol. He would have never wanted that. And again they call him God. He’s the SON of God. Read Hebrews 5:11-14. Christ was even given a place BY GOD HIMSELF. God didn’t give HIMSELF a place nor did Christ call out to himself on the cross. Pretty much every piece of scripture where the two are mentioned is as a relationship between Father and son yet Rome has somehow twisted it to be one entity. That makes no sense. The one verse you’re hit with as a child right off the bat is John 3:16. If it were anything other than that then it would have said so. And please don’t give me the cop of “allegory” or “but it’s been translated many times”. No one gets to the Father but through the Son. You do also realize that God is everlasting? He can’t die. Christ would have never died if he were God himself and sins would have never been redeemed.
 
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Would going to church and their events be easier places to meet people? End of last year my girlfriend went to prison, and the girl I got with after died in a car wreck running from the cops so i got clean its been a couple of months and I'm looking for anything something new. Its like real hard to meet people staying out of motels and that scene. I have been to church before but idk how to talk to people there. I think I'm depressed gaf I've even considered scientology cuz their YouTube video seemed so helpful
 

appaws

Banned
Would you want someone praying to you? And more importantly, the Catholic Church doesn’t even know who Christ is or even worse possibly purposely try to misguide people. The image of Christ they’ve created looks nothing like him. You now have millions of people wearing jewelry with him hanging on a cross which would make him an idol. He would have never wanted that. And again they call him God. He’s the SON of God. Read Hebrews 5:11-14. Christ was even given a place BY GOD HIMSELF. God didn’t give HIMSELF a place nor did Christ call out to himself on the cross. Pretty much every piece of scripture where the two are mentioned is as a relationship between Father and son yet Rome has somehow twisted it to be one entity. That makes no sense. The one verse you’re hit with as a child right off the bat is John 3:16. If it were anything other than that then it would have said so. And please don’t give me the cop of “allegory” or “but it’s been translated many times”. No one gets to the Father but through the Son. You do also realize that God is everlasting? He can’t die. Christ would have never died if he were God himself and sins would have never been redeemed.

I'm really unsure of where you are coming from here...? What you are saying does not seem like any sort of orthodox Protestant I have ever heard. Your objections to trinitarianism seem unusual? Are you from a smaller, more unorthodox sect? Perhaps a Jehovah's Witness? (No offense intended, I'm genuinely curious.) The reason I say that is because I think most Protestants have no problem with Catholic doctrine on the Trinity, and would readily admit that they took it wholesale and without much modification.

If I'm right, we can just drop it because we would be taking the thread way off course. I think an examination of the extremely problematic nature of the NWT version of the scriptures would be better in another thread.
 
I was raised baptist. I really don’t align myself with any denomination at this point because although most churches won’t say it, they’re still pretty much in line with rome without being Catholic Churches. I believe Christ is the son of God and not God himself. I believe that he did the perfect will of God while here as he was sent to do just that so that we may live today. I believe that the sabbath is Saturday and not Sunday. I believe that Easter and Christmas have nothing to do with Christ but everything to do with old pagan rituals that should have been abandoned if the church was truly doing as it should in worshipping and being obedient to the Father of Christ. I believe that Christ’s true name is Yeshua as there are no J’s in the Hebrew language and our mouths are capable of pronouncing Christ’s name just fine without any changes. I believe it’s 100% impossible for anyone to read the Bible ON THEIR OWN and come away saying that Christ was God. That’s man’s teaching. I believe the Holy Spirit is here now just as Christ said he would sent him and he is leading us to truth in all things pertaining to the kingdom of heaven.
 

appaws

Banned
I was raised baptist. I really don’t align myself with any denomination at this point because although most churches won’t say it, they’re still pretty much in line with rome without being Catholic Churches. I believe Christ is the son of God and not God himself. I believe that he did the perfect will of God while here as he was sent to do just that so that we may live today. I believe that the sabbath is Saturday and not Sunday. I believe that Easter and Christmas have nothing to do with Christ but everything to do with old pagan rituals that should have been abandoned if the church was truly doing as it should in worshipping and being obedient to the Father of Christ. I believe that Christ’s true name is Yeshua as there are no J’s in the Hebrew language and our mouths are capable of pronouncing Christ’s name just fine without any changes. I believe it’s 100% impossible for anyone to read the Bible ON THEIR OWN and come away saying that Christ was God. That’s man’s teaching. I believe the Holy Spirit is here now just as Christ said he would sent him and he is leading us to truth in all things pertaining to the kingdom of heaven.

I'm not an expert, but you sound like a Jehovah's Witness. I think they focus heavily on the idea that Christ was not divine. Are you reading an NWT version of the Bible? Be aware that scholars of Hebrew and Greek, Protestant, Catholic, and non-believer alike, find that translation to be extremely poor.
 
Not a Jehovah’s Witness. Jehovah would be incorrect well as again there are no Js in Hebrew. Jehovah translates to something completely ungodly like mighty destroyer or something. As far as translations go I switch between KJV, NKJV, NIV and the GNTD for some of the extra books. I’ve even gone outside of that and now include jasher and Enoch as they are quoted and referenced in the Bible themselves. I think some of the gnostic scriptures such as the gospel of Thomas and dialogue of the Saviour are supposed to be included as well. Did you know the book of revelations was going to be “left out” as well? Revelations 12 specifically speaks of the birth of the spirit of Christ before creation. He was born of a woman and taken up to God. Given a scepter of iron that is mentioned two or 3 other times in scripture. Twice by Christ himself saying he was given the scepter by HIS FATHER.
 
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Just be aware that being a Christian doesn't immediately get you into all the clubs with welcome arms. As you can see in this very thread, the seething hatred between Catholicism and Protestantism is alive and well, numerous sects love to shit on Mormonism, etc.; there's an almost endless chaos over even the most minor differences in interpretation of scripture.

It's perfectly reasonable to join to find some kind of social infrastructure, just be cognizant that some of your closest enemies will be your 'neighbors in faith'
 
I don’t see it as seething hatred. I married into a catholic family. Are we not here to spread the gospel as well? If I’m wrong, I need to be led to truth. If someone else is wrong, I need to lead that person to truth. I ask questions and explain my views wherever I can.
 
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