Im Christian, why arent you?

[Mathalamus]

theres a a complete copy of the bible on the internet, i use the New international version. no im not done it. yet.

and white shadow, im not a complete bigot, just closed minded. some times closed minded is better. in the case of japan, their closed mindedness and borders have made their culture endure for thousands of years, now its just a mix of western culture and japanese culture, and plus my girl friends is more closed minded than i am, i actually knwo that payment to the church isnt in fact required.

[Pamela]

pam you may be a christian but you ubviously dont follow it to the letter. sure you might try to be a good person and all but who have you mnade a diffrence in?

How in HELL do you presume to judge how I follow Christanity? You have NO IDEA how I live my life,and I asked QUESTIONS about what should be important to me.
I made no claims,and I made no insults.As for following it to the letter Math...that is one of the most retarded things you have typed.
Do YOU fully understand the Bible and God's plan?
Are you omnicient and KNOW how I live?

If you READ the Bible...you will note it says only 1 was perfect and without sin genius...and the name wasn't Matha.....

[Siris]

i actually knwo that payment to the church isnt in fact required.

There you are wrong again. You ARE supposed to give to god. Churches don't make money for themselves. That is one reason you are in fact required to give.

And I seriously doubt you know anything about Japanese culture. I have been here for a year and still don't understand everything about it.

[Notherly]

Come, tell me why you dont follow Christ and why you people dont believe in G.od.

Come, tell me why you bought into that religion crap?

theres a a complete copy of the bible on the internet, i use the New international version. no im not done it. yet.

and white shadow, im not a complete bigot, just closed minded. some times closed minded is better. in the case of japan, their closed mindedness and borders have made their culture endure for thousands of years, now its just a mix of western culture and japanese culture, and plus my girl friends is more closed minded than i am, i actually knwo that payment to the church isnt in fact required.

Who gave you a computer?

[Nethran]

I don't understand why people can't be civil enough to question without being insulting. Like.. a mature debate? That would be a concept, wouldn't it? Some people on here are capable, some aren't. I understand that Notherly is new and that was his first post, but it isn't nice to go around calling other people's beliefs "crap". I, for one, think it's simple-minded and ignorant to call what you don't believe stupid. There are reasons people believe. It's not always because they were raised to do so. I had a personal experience that caused my faith. I was raised Christian, decided against it when I was a teenager, and then started to believe again around the time I met my wife.

And Siris, I think he was talking more about Tokyo. From what I've read/been told, Okinawa has a more traditional Japanese culture. My Goju Ryu Karate Sensei, Terou Chinen, was from Okinawa, and he gave that impression. But I've never been there, so I dunno.

Anywho, Math, quit presuming you know things about people. You make it harder on yourself and I would one day like to see you accepted in the bzs community and liked by people. It'd make my day. But you have to help yourself to get there.

[Skye]

Who gave you a computer?

When we know the answer, you will

[Mushroom]

i dont believe in something that gives us no proof what so ever of his existance but if we dont believe it we're sentenced to an eternity in hell

and praying is just for people to think they have done something when in reality they have done nothing at all

[Nethran]

Don't underestimate the power of prayer or faith, Mushroom. People do recover faster from injury and disease who have faith in a higher power to help heal them, so you can't say it doesn't do anything.

[Siris]

i dont believe in something that gives us no proof what so ever of his existance but if we dont believe it we're sentenced to an eternity in hell

and praying is just for people to think they have done something when in reality they have done nothing at all

I am completely stunned by the arrogance of the post.

First off, read the bible. Then study history. Then study a bit of science. That should be proof enough. There is proof all around, all you have to do is open your eyes and pay attention.

Secondly, Read the bible and you will see you do not burn in hell for ever. In fact hell doesn't excist yet. The bible says that when New Jerusalem (Also known as Heaven) comes down to Earth and when everyone is judged according to their works fire will rain from the sky. That is hell. Hell will be on Earth right next to Heaven because Satan will round up all the sinners and have them march on heaven. Furthermore, faith is the key to salvation. And to have faith is to love god. And when you love someone you do not want to do them wrong. Proof of that is everywhere. When men and women love each other you don't want to wrong them.

Thirdly, Praying is the method on which we are able to talk to God and show him we love him. There's not much more to say on that so I'll let it go.

[Mathalamus]

ok siris, youve convinced me, i should read the whole bible before i debate.

and my mom gave me this computer

[Pamela]

Well Siris is right on target and *gasp* he READ the Bible and didn't google for his answers.*stares hard at Math*

Most people completely MISS that we will be JUDGED according to our works,but our souls are SAVED by grace and the death of Jesus Christ.
Faith is a powerful thing,and prayer does great things.I am citing this from my OWN life experiences and what I have actually seen and know first hand.

It is each persons responsibility in how they serve God,and the Bible says*Each man worketh out his own salvation*

[Mathalamus]

pam prays? i ddint know. there are so many hypocritical christians i ddint ththink there is any true ones left, besides me and aislinn

[Skye]

I just want to say, that no matter how many people tell me to "read the bible", "read the bible", "read the bible"... it's just not happening. Deal with it.

Okay. Two years ago, the closest friend I ever had was killed in a car accident. Her mother is hyper-religious and the rest of her family are not. This messed her family up terribly. I can still remember seeing her huge, strong dad, a sobbing crying mess, and that breaks my heart. It made me wonder how the hell they are all going to get through it? Like... How would they recover from losing someone so vibrant and special in their life?

Laura's mum had enormous faith in god. Throughout the whole funeral, she barely cried. She composed herself, and said, smiling in the eulogy, that she always believed Laura was too special, or too good to be here on Earth, and that god took her so she could do bigger and better things. And in a way, I understood and perhaps believed her because Laura was SUPER intelligent and SUPER kind-hearted. Something that's pretty rare in people these days.

I guess what I'm getting at, is that faith can do a lot for people. It helped Laura's mum get through the hardest time of her life, and I can assure you that her faith made her cope with the ordeal far better than anyone else did. I dealt with her death head on, no faith. Just cold hard facts, that's the person I am.

As Pam said, faith is a powerful thing. But we all put faith into different things. Some, like myself, choose not to put faith in god, but other things.

I just wish some people [Math] would realise that.

Also, you're in no position to take a stab at Pam, Math. Watch yourself.

[Mathalamus]

see thats what faith does, it makes people feel better. faith is what saved me from anarchy to now, i still have room for improvements but those can wait i ahve better things like GED

i am capable of taking a stab at anyone, be glad i ahve a spine.

[Mushroom]

the bible is full of crap here it says that the earth is flat
Isaiah 11:12
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH. (KJV)

Revelation 7:1
1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. (KJV)

Job 38:13
13 That it might take hold of the ENDS OF THE EARTH, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? (KJV)

Daniel 4:11
11 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the ENDS OF ALL THE EARTH: (KJV)

here it says the earth has pillars
"He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble. (From the NIV Bible, Job 9:6)"

here it says the earth has edges
"that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? (From the NIV Bible, Job 38:13)"
"He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. (From the NIV Bible, Job 37:3)"

IMO religion is for the weak minded.

[Mathalamus]

i dont belive that and neither does my girlfriend. you see we accept SOME science but not all

[Pamela]

@Skye..I completely understand and agree.Thank you for being objective,and know this..God made us all for different purposes...you have found yours not in touting religion..but in setting an example in your life.

@Mushroom...those are metaphors and common terms....the entire Bible was never meant to be interpreted in a strictly litteral sense.

Let me ask you...have you never used those terms yourself in common speech?
If the answer is negative...I challenge that and call you a liar right now and to your face.

[[/sarcasm]]

Don't underestimate the power of prayer or faith, Mushroom. People do recover faster from injury and disease who have faith in a higher power to help heal them, so you can't say it doesn't do anything.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that belief in God and faith correlates directly to them getting better. But it has been shown that people that are less stressful about things (which could come from belief in God, yes) recover from injury and disease faster. But that could also come from people just being really optimistic.

And Mathalamus, if you have to say you are a "true Christian," you aren't one.

[Notherly]

I don't understand why people can't be civil enough to question without being insulting. Like.. a mature debate? That would be a concept, wouldn't it? Some people on here are capable, some aren't. I understand that Notherly is new and that was his first post, but it isn't nice to go around calling other people's beliefs "crap". I, for one, think it's simple-minded and ignorant to call what you don't believe stupid. There are reasons people believe. It's not always because they were raised to do so. I had a personal experience that caused my faith. I was raised Christian, decided against it when I was a teenager, and then started to believe again around the time I met my wife.

And Siris, I think he was talking more about Tokyo. From what I've read/been told, Okinawa has a more traditional Japanese culture. My Goju Ryu Karate Sensei, Terou Chinen, was from Okinawa, and he gave that impression. But I've never been there, so I dunno.

Anywho, Math, quit presuming you know things about people. You make it harder on yourself and I would one day like to see you accepted in the bzs community and liked by people. It'd make my day. But you have to help yourself to get there.

Fair enough.

"I'm Christian, why arent you?"
- Because I feel that religion is not only useless, but it is harmful to mankind. Religion has relinquished countless claims when proven wrong, but maintains belief, and admits that their belief is continued without reason. Religion also needs to stop appropriating everything that is good, like claiming Christianity is open minded. I'll join a religion when I decide that I can't think for myself.

RE: Japan
Its sad. Westernization is sad. The assumed notion is that "more westernized" means "more civilized". It does not.
I have been living in China for 2.5 years.
Each person faced their own troubles and had their own limited options, like you(we) did, of course. Here, people say "You need to read this book to understand China" or "You need to learn about these dynasties before you can understand China's people" - They may be right, but over 2.5 years, I've come to understand that it takes much more than that.

Westernization is sad. I look out my window, and it's like any major city here. They are all western buildings. What happened to the art? The true culture?

As I have been studying Chinese and teaching Engrish, I was surprised at how language can carry much of a culture through the ages.

the bible is full of crap here it says that the earth is flat
Isaiah 11:12
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH. (KJV)

Revelation 7:1
1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. (KJV)

Job 38:13
13 That it might take hold of the ENDS OF THE EARTH, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? (KJV)

Daniel 4:11
11 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the ENDS OF ALL THE EARTH: (KJV)

here it says the earth has pillars
"He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble. (From the NIV Bible, Job 9:6)"

here it says the earth has edges
"that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? (From the NIV Bible, Job 38:13)"
"He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. (From the NIV Bible, Job 37:3)"

IMO religion is for the weak minded.

Almost ripped into you for quoting scripture not realizing that you were mocking it. Any time anyone shoves scripture in your face, ask them if they have read the book of reality (it exceeds their bible by millions of syears and contains nothing but facts)

Now this guy called it crap too, but is providing evidence to support his claim. Well done. It's a losing battle though. You can't win against belligerance. Their response is "god didn't want us to know the Earth was round yet."

I didn't check the pages to see if the OP answered his own question. If he didn't, then I want to know,

"Original poster, why are you Christian?"

math could comeback, and im not being sarcastic. I think we should stop arguing about the triviality of Christianity, cuz' whether we like it or not, it looks like its going to stay (same with every major religion) i vote to start venting and complaining about scientology for obvious reasons.

As long as religion can continue to change every time the bible is challenged, they will always remain.

[Siris]

O really? I believe it says in the bible the earth is round.
Isaiah 40:22 "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in."

Also your quote from Isaiah 11:12 The literal translation of corners is wings and not corners. All the quotes of scripture you have giving is from prophecy or the point of view of the author who probably didn't know if the world was flat or round. It is also as Pam has said. I can say god graps the ends of the earth as very well as say God grabs the earth.


@Mushroom and Notherly. Why are you two even posting. You are not even discussing anything. You are the one who is being belligerent and insulting. Especially for one as new as you notherly should start off like that. That's all I'm going to say on that matter.