Yay, serious topic! this means I can talk about RELIGION!

You don't NEED other people, just like everyone else in the world doesn't NEED family, or friends, or people to hang out with or talk to when things are going extremely well, or when things are going horribly wrong.

The purpose of having friends is to have people who you can have fun with, who will encourage you, and who will help you when you need help, or kick you in the pants when you need someone to correct you.

The purpose of having a relationship with the people in your church is so that they can encourage you in your faith, give you advice about how to live out your faith outside of church, teach you their experiences as you teach them yours, and to give you a kick in the pants when you go too far off base in a way that could harm you, your life, or your faith. Also, it is always an encouragement to know that other people are going through or have gone through the same struggles in their faith and their lives as you, but that they are still pressing on.

The journey of your life is personal, but yet we still share that journey and the pains and joys of it with our friends. Our journey in our relationship with God is personal as well, but many times we still need that encouragement.

If you do not feel a kinship or loving relationship with the people you go to church with, then you will get nothing out of the church experience other than whatever you hear the pastor preach. Many 'Christians' who go to church live this way; they show up, sit in their pews, go through the motions of singing, listen to the sermon, and then leave, feeling that their Christian duty is done.

But church isn't meant to be a place where you listen to someone talk and then you leave and forget about it all until the next week. Church is supposed to be a place where Christians can come together and encourage and learn from eachother, in ways that help them in their lives and relationship with God. The reason there is a pastor and a sermon is because in that case, the pastor, as one who is supposed to have biblical learning and life experience, is teaching from his knowledge to others. In the beginning of the history of the church, church was only defined as a body of people who gathered together to encourage one another and worship God.

Many Christians do decide that they do not need this encouragement. My father for years refused to go to church for a couple of reasons. 1. he didn't like all the hypocrites to be found among Christians, and 2. he felt that going to church and interacting with other people was unnecessary for faith, just as you said above. I believe it is not exactly necessary for faith, but it definitely does help with keeping and growing in your faith. Also, I know you probably do not consider the Bible a text of truth, but Jesus did say that wherever two or more gathered in His name, He would be there, and if you take apart the Greek meanings of His words, He is not saying that He is not there when you are alone, but that He is present in a special way when several are gathered in His name.


Sorry, I know that is an extremely long answer, and that it is not a complete one, but I am not exactly very eloquent, and I wanted to try to cover all of the aspects I could think of in the time I had before my class for as complete of an answer as I could give. I am definitely open to more questions, and I even understand if you have criticism or problems with things I have said. You are obviously welcome to state them, and I will reply as best as I can. I am not a theologian, only a Christian, a human, and a student, so I can only give you the answers based on what I know or have experienced. Then again, I guess no living human is a complete authority on God anyway. ^-^

~Karyn

hmmm, so far I've seen a whole lot of different Christian denominations and one Atheist............ anyone on here (other than me) Agnostic?

my ex bf's sister is agnostic, she says that means "lazy atheist" idk...
so your not alone ^^
but if anything, God loves you.


******************
and to the other thingy about loving the church.
You can love the people in the church because they are your family in Christ. cus we are all brothers and sisters :]

Dee<--->Dee wrote:

my ex bf's sister is agnostic, she says that means "lazy atheist" idk...
so your not alone ^^
but if anything, God loves you.

thanks, that wouldn't be my definition of being agnostic though. to me it's basically questioning both sides, so just in the middle. `````````

An agnostic is some one that chooses not to decide if they believe. Like Tara Alley said, questioning both sides. Often they are waiting for that one arguement or moment that would make them decide one way or the other. Not just any arguement can convince them, they question everything. This is true agnostics; some people are just lazy ________ (insert a denomination here) that claim to be agnostics.

LOL yea.

well like i said to Tara :}
---->God loves you ^__^

im a secular humanist
raised atheist, but you know. i've moral fiber and stuff, despite being a soulless heathen, etc.

Kelsey I love your religion

i aim to please. haha.

I'm an atheist too! I used to be agnostic, but I decided to be atheist after reading several religion topics on Facebook discussion boards. However, I used to go to a Protestant church every Sunday morning. My dad wanted me to go because he found Christianity interesting (even if he doesn't believe in it). Oh, and for around 2 years, I was raised as a Catholic because I was attending a local kindergarten in the Philippines. ^^ I like visiting Buddhist temples though, because the history is really interesting.

Ohh I wanna say sumtin though its random but is about religion..

Ok so my mom doesn't go to church and when I was little I said 'Mom why dont we go to church like my friends?" and she was like were a diffrent religion so I asked "Why dont we have CCD then?" She said the same thing later I asked " Why dont I get a first comminuon?" same awnsers....I went on wondering pondering all the things I was so unsure of then my friend Emily started taking me with her to church every sunday and It was cool but her church wasnt really 'User Friendly' so to speck.... I had never hear the Hymns (sp?)before and never gone to church and they yelled at me because I did not sing.. ^______^
NOT FUN..

Then she started going to a better church and brought me more often than ever before and a while after they began having a youth group. 2 diffrent ones for older kids and the younger kids. We joined... we meet every other sunday at 6:30-8:00 we do a lot of fun things that incorperate religion and its awsome we also once a year do a 'retreat' this is my third year and our first year we went and made orderves for homeless people, last year we went rock climbing and this year were going white water rafting. Well anyway I was telling this story maintly for a reason because I was never baptised and now Im in a comfirmation class which if u dont know Im 'confirming' I want to be christian and its weird because Im really decoding for myself where the other kids were brought into if by ther parents as a baby and I made this deciasion but it makes me feel good knowing I did it my way..

XD

that's a cool story :]
just like this girl i know, raised Muslim, grew up, chose to be christian (after a herd of us girls took her to church multiple times) and she felt great about it being HER choice to be christian lol. well that's cool

Im not religious, but I love religion .. lol

do you read the bible? (just curious)

yes I did.. I had christianity as a subject in school from age 6-10

that's cool. did you believe anything it said?

nope.. I didnt.

not even the do not steal part?
or the noah's ark part...that has been proven by science?

Dee<--->Dee wrote:

not even the do not steal part?
or the noah's ark part...that has been proven by science?

When on earth was Noah's Ark proven by science?
I tried looking for any evidence and I could only find it against.
This is a very good website for why this idea is improbable
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-noahs-ark.html

Dee<--->Dee wrote:

not even the do not steal part?
or the noah's ark part...that has been proven by science?

Well I was brought up with morals and ethics, so of course Ive always known not to steal, but I didnt need the bible for that.
And since when ? Lmao..

I saw it on history channel a while back in nigeria.

i looked it up and this is as far as i got
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1727536

The bible also prophesied that Israel would come back as a nation.
and today Israel exists as a nation. You can't not believe that because it has happened.

also,
Isaiah 20:1 was challenged by critics because they knew of no king named Sargon in lists of Assyrian kings. Now Sargon’s palace has been recovered at Khorsabad, including a wall inscription and a library record endorsing the battle against the Philistine city of Ashdod (mentioned in Isaiah 20:1).
this is a picture of sargon from the excavation:

Well it says: this may be Noah's ark
Honestly if they find out it was Noah's ark I'd still not believe.

And Israel being a nation, I consider that a coinsidence.

The bible also prophesied that Israel would come back as a nation.
and today Israel exists as a nation. You can't not believe that because it has happened.





Israel exists as a nation because people who were educated in the bible were part of the founding of Israel after WWII. They knew of the prophesy, so it became like a self fulfilling prophesy.

ElenaCH wrote:

Well it says: this may be Noah's ark
Honestly if they find out it was Noah's ark I'd still not believe.

And Israel being a nation, I consider that a coinsidence.

that's like saying, if i see my son killing a man, i won't still believe he killed the man, just because, i have always known my son to be good.
you won't accept the noah's ark story, even if it were proven because you have always never believed anything in the bible. how come you didn't say anything about my other bible passage about sargon? hmm?

how about this?
Bible prophecy: Ezekiel 29:15
Prophecy written: Between 593-571 BC
Prophecy fulfilled: Since the time of Ezekiel about 2500 years ago

In Ezekiel 29:15, the prophet says that Egypt would recover from a desolation (perhaps Babylon's attack about 2600 years ago), but that it would never again rule over other nations. Up until the time of Ezekiel, Egypt had been a world power for centuries, dominating many nations, including Israel. But for most of the past 2500 years, Egypt has been controlled by foreign powers, including the Romans, Ottomans and Europeans. Today, Egypt is again an independent nation, and it has always been an impressive nation. But since the time of Ezekiel, it no longer rules over other nations.


can you NOT believe that? :]]]]]]


i don't want to start an argument or anything but my point is, no one, even atheist cannot believe what the bible says, because the bible is very accurate.

Hallo!I´m from Austria...I´m catholic (officially)...but I don´t believe in god...I don´t know many people that go to church...When I was a child my parents went to church with me like 3 times a year, but I always cried and didn´t want to go...I don´t like what "the church" says about gay people...and about contraceptives ... and about sex before you get married...I don´t like that they are so conservative and small-minded...I can´t support that...so I will leave church as soon as possible...and I don´t want to pay church rate anymore...;-)
I accept people who believe in god, when it makes them happy, but I don´t accept when they discriminate against people in the name of god...
greetings from austria, runa