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A neighbor kid of ours growing up, Jim, started worshiping a tree, when he was around 14. We of course all made fun of him and ate the food sacrifices he offered to it, such as Ho Hos, Twinkies and King Dongs. We made up a song making fun of him and his tree god, that we sang while he raged and we ate the treats.
People will believe all sorts of weird crap. All religions seem mostly made up to me.
Because of the ridicule we gave him, Jim stopped worshipping the tree, which his dad soon after had cut down. Jim ended up on a nuclear submarine in the Navy, which he later retired from.
Keith
That brings up something that I, as a believing Christian, have a hard time reckoning with.....
Let's say that tonight, before I go to bed, I pray to the Christian God to keep me safe on my drive to work tomorrow. I get up tomorrow, and my drive to work is uneventful. As a Christian, I might say that my prayer worked; God kept me safe on my morning commute.
Now lets say that instead of praying to the Christian God, I pray to a stick I found in the yard. "Oh wise and powerful stick, please keep me safe on my drive to work tomorrow." Again, my drive the next day is uneventful. Did the all-powerful stick God keep me safe, by his own generosity? Of course not. That's ridiculous. Sticks aren't God. But I, at the same time, believe that praying to the God of the Bible kept me safe. And your friend Jim would have felt that the tree he made sacrificing to kept him safe, as well.
What part of it do you have a hard time reckoning with?
Seems odd that a creator who can create a whole world would need to having a testing ground to see if his/her/it creation was worthy of a supernatural reward. I find especially odd that creator would torment those who failed the test because he/she/it made a bad creation. The whole free will thing to put the blame on the flawed creation does not make any more sense. To me.
People are born with mental illnesses. Or develop them from brain injury or childhood abuse. Its not a choice. I wrestled with this a lot when I was a kid. same with young kids dying a slow tortuous death from a horrible cancer or other disease.
We live in a brutal world. Over the millennia we humans have managed to make our lives much better for most of us. Does not change the brutality that never seems to go away. I guess everyone comes up with some way to live with that fact.
Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
That brings up something that I, as a believing Christian, have a hard time reckoning with.....
Let's say that tonight, before I go to bed, I pray to the Christian God to keep me safe on my drive to work tomorrow. I get up tomorrow, and my drive to work is uneventful. As a Christian, I might say that my prayer worked; God kept me safe on my morning commute.
Now lets say that instead of praying to the Christian God, I pray to a stick I found in the yard. "Oh wise and powerful stick, please keep me safe on my drive to work tomorrow." Again, my drive the next day is uneventful. Did the all-powerful stick God keep me safe, by his own generosity? Of course not. That's ridiculous. Sticks aren't God. But I, at the same time, believe that praying to the God of the Bible kept me safe. And your friend Jim would have felt that the tree he made sacrificing to kept him safe, as well.
What part of it do you have a hard time reckoning with?
Praying to a stick or a tree to keep me safe is silly, of course. But I trust an invisible God to keep me safe on my morning commute. If I can pray to a stick, or a tree, or the God of the Bible, or even not pray at all, and get the same results, how do I know that the God of the Bible is really doing anything to keep me safe? After all, praying to a stick worked just as well (in this example).
Seems odd that a creator who can create a whole world would need to having a testing ground to see if his/her/it creation was worthy of a supernatural reward. I find especially odd that creator would torment those who failed the test because he/she/it made a bad creation. The whole free will thing to put the blame on the flawed creation does not make any more sense. To me.
People are born with mental illnesses. Or develop them from brain injury or childhood abuse. Its not a choice. I wrestled with this a lot when I was a kid. same with young kids dying a slow tortuous death from a horrible cancer or other disease.
We live in a brutal world. Over the millennia we humans have managed to make our lives much better for most of us. Does not change the brutality that never seems to go away. I guess everyone comes up with some way to live with that fact.
I once heard a saying....."imagine all the things you would do if you were God. Think about all the starving people you'd feed, all the abused kids you'd save, all the suffering you'd end. Now think about the fact that you worship an all-powerful God that has chosen not to do those things".
Seems odd that a creator who can create a whole world would need to having a testing ground to see if his/her/it creation was worthy of a supernatural reward. I find especially odd that creator would torment those who failed the test because he/she/it made a bad creation. The whole free will thing to put the blame on the flawed creation does not make any more sense. To me.
People are born with mental illnesses. Or develop them from brain injury or childhood abuse. Its not a choice. I wrestled with this a lot when I was a kid. same with young kids dying a slow tortuous death from a horrible cancer or other disease.
We live in a brutal world. Over the millennia we humans have managed to make our lives much better for most of us. Does not change the brutality that never seems to go away. I guess everyone comes up with some way to live with that fact.
If God did everything for us then we'd never do anything for ourselves. This life prepares us for the next life.
I don't believe we are advanced enough to truly understand what God wants. The indisputable fact that God hasn't made it clear to every single person he created, means God, beyond obviously, doesn't care that we know what he wants. If God wanted us to know, we would.
There are some parts of almost every region, that are held in common, that are likely true.
Mormons claim that righteous men (no women) will get their own planet to be a god of and fill it with souls created by relations with righteous women who they are married to in the afterlife.
Hindus believe in reincarnation so souls can keep getting more perfect till they are essentially a god
Christians believe in a place with streets paved with gold and everyone has a huge mansion, no stress no hunger no sin, praising the creator for eternity
I could go on but the commonality is this life is just a test
Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Mormons claim that righteous men (no women) will get their own planet to be a god of and fill it with souls created by relations with righteous women who they are married to in the afterlife.
Hindus believe in reincarnation so souls can keep getting more perfect till they are essentially a god
Christians believe in a place with streets paved with gold and everyone has a huge mansion, no stress no hunger no sin, praising the creator for eternity
I could go on but the commonality is this life is just a test
Hmmm, I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Mormon) and that's not what I believe. I do believe mortality is a very small part of our existence. I believe God love's his children and I believe we can't begin to fully understand, as mortals, what our eternal possibilities are. I'm pretty sure we're not going to be sitting around on clouds playing harps.
Matt Stone and Trey Parker spread some misinformation on Mormons and got some stuff right. If I had to pick a Christian religion on how decent, friendly, happy and helpful it's members are, I would choose Mormonism.
I read the Book of Mormon back in the early nineties, when a good friend of mines brother gave me one, when he returned from Missionary Work in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was barely religious when he left, which is probably why he got sent to Salt Lake. He was highly religious when he returned.
I had 12 many great grandfathers who were disowned by the Quakers for fighting in the Battles of New Garden and Guilford Court House in the Revolutionary War. I had another many great grandfather, who was disowned by the Amish for fighting in those battles. After the War they received land in Ohio. Most settled in Greene County, which was named after our cousin Major General Nathaniel Greene. Most converted to Mormonism.
There was a banking scandal, involving the Mormons in Cleveland and most fled the state and went to Kansas and Missouri. They got along well with the current residents until enough Mormons moved in to win all the elections.
At Hawn's Mill, 17 Mormon men and boys were massacred, when non Mormons decided to drive them from Missouri. As far as I can tell, all 17 victims were relatives of mine. The Mormons I am descended from left their religion and moved back to Ohio. Their other relatives, stayed Mormon and led the vanguard to Utah. I am related to almost the entire early Mormon leadership.
Thanks for sharing Keith. Religion can't be proven right or wrong on a message board. Only in ones heart. And may I add with a lot of study and sincere prayer.
To answer your question foxkidd44, Christianity is the only religion that believes that the Messiah has beat death though living a sinless life. Becoming a living sacrifice for an atonement for our sins. The resurrection from death and the grave and taking our sin to the grave is God's gift of grace and mercy for those that understand that no one is worthy of eternal life without faith in the loving sacrifice that God gave us through Jesus. Man will always imagine God in our own minds. This is probably why we have so many different denominations in Christianity. Other religions are the same its human nature.
500 million Buddhists believe the Buddha lived a sinless life and was reborn after death.
Keith
Sort of Keith, they don't really believe in resurrection but more like a continuation or enlighteninmant. And i understand they don't really have a concept of sin, but they believe in carma or righteous reward or punishment. That's my understanding of Buddhism.
Thanks for sharing Keith. Religion can't be proven right or wrong on a message board. Only in ones heart. And may I add with a lot of study and sincere prayer.
I sincerely appreciate every one’s opinion and greatly appreciated that this discussion has stayed civil. I brought this question up because I was in a group and this very question came up… I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to answer it,,, so I responded with a simple “ I don’t know “ I didn’t know of any other religion,, that prophecied about a messiah, was fulfilled, and is promised to return. My own personal belief,,, is that I wholeheartedly believe that the Bible is indeed the word of GOD.. and in my opinion,,, has stood the test of time.. The teachings from then are just as relevant today,, especially proverbs. I guess you don’t have to be aid Jewish or Christian faith to understand proverbs,,, but man,,, what an amazing book of wisdom
Stand by your principles, Stand by your guns, and victory complete and permanent is sure at last. Abraham Lincoln
Just ask them. . .
