Religion Ask a Christian - Continued in Part 2
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You'll have to ask someone else, I'm not so into murdering/torturing animals.
Personally that sounds like a pretty sick way to get your rocks off, but then I wouldn't be surprised what a Christian would find enjoyable- see I'm not into little boys either.
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I must admit there are times when I have been that wasted over a long weekend, so some dude shacking up with his local squeeze Mary and telling his mates about it 3 days later is probably believable
What about fishing ?
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Fishing seems somewhat more humane to me than shooting something but I don't eat pigs or fish so it's not really a concern for me.
The pigs are feral and a serious pest. Fishing is much worse ... as they say if fish could scream ..
Vdubs
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Thanks, here goes..
1. I had been searching for a few years. Found myself wanting to be with people who appeared to have Christian attributes, but also was critical of their fallibilities, and would be let down.
Was also at the end of many years of Uni study, into a career pathway that I had been working towards, and felt a kind of hollowness. Being with Christians was supposed to help me get closer to God.
One night, after a weird set of events, my partner at the time had made a recommitment, and I could sense she had a real peace about her, and I really wanted that too. I asked her what happened, and she explained that if I really wanted Jesus in my life, that I was convinced I needed Him and was ready to pray to Him, that was all I needed to do. Up until that point, I was waiting for something to happen to me, but I learned I needed to seek him. I did that night, a very simple prayer asking Him to come into my life, that I wanted and needed His help. Whether it was an epiphany, IDK, but there was an incredible lifting of heaviness from me, and the next day, I rode to a mate's place, a marathon running partner who was a Baptist pastor, my age, and when I knocked on his door, he knew and said immediately, you have become a Christian. He knew I had been searching, but a glow that was over me told him. I'll never forget that reaction. After that, our friendship was enhanced, I became a "disciple" of his for some months, we ran 4 marathons together, he married us in NZ.
2. That was a born again experience in 1984, and my faith since then has certainly been tested , even daily, but I am utterly convinced that God is real, that Jesus has changed my life personally and family -wise. The lady that was instrumental in me praying to Him is now my wife. We had been together about a year, and now we have 3 adult kids and some grandkids. Our kids do not share our commitment to Christianity, but they are in our prayers daily. I am a natural skeptic, and was raised a Catholic, and my parents and siblings were less than impressed that "I had found God properly".
3. My mate as said was and is a Baptist pastor. When I converted, I went to his church in Auckland. Our friendship was such that when our church in Melbourne was looking for a pastor, I put his name forward, and ultimately, he was the selection, and was with us for 10 years. He is now still in Melbourne, at a new church as we speak, and we still walk every Tuesday night.
We live very near to the Church we attend, (walking 3 minutes)but I am still habitually late!
In NZ, I was rebaptised, mainly as a public declaration of what had happened to me. It was not a requirement to be a church member, iirc, but was happy to do so.
The Baptist churches I have attended suit my personality. I am not big on demonstrative behaviour. I am comfortable with how they worship, and most importantly for me, I really enjoy the Biblical based teaching. I look forward to the message, and its application to our lives. There are many protestant churches, including Baptist in Melbourne and Australia.
4. I do believe Jesus will come again. I am not sure about Covid-19. There have been previous pandemics. This year is the most bizarre year we have ever lived through, and it has been seriously challenging to us personally and world-wide, and it is evolving. It was during the first lock-down that I started reading and posting in this thread.
Sorry for the verbosity, but real life changing things have happened and continue to do so. Even putting all this out there is a privilege, but I am sure there will be some negative reactions. A PM could have sufficed, but I have nothing to be embarrassed about.
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Hunting for your food is certainly a lot more humane than the factory farming that goes on.
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Thank you for sharing. This is a nice and wholesome story. It sounds like you were searching for some inner peace and soulful nourishment and you found it and your wife was also there and she also found it too and that is a very good thing.
I don't know what Baptists believe specifically but google tells me it is about salvation. This quote I have a question on:
"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned" (Mark something:something).
I assume saved means free entry and table service in the afterlife. What does "be damned" mean? Does this mean "no entry" or is this more like that Dante Inferno type s**t?
Why wouldn't heavenly father, gracious, kind, loving and powerful, not just let all in without complication? It is a confusing and difficult world to navigate at times. It is nice to offer table service and priority entry to some, but what of people who aren't told or don't understand good news first?
Vdubs
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I believe Jesus will not return until ALL people groups have heard the Gospel or have had opportunity to do so..
I have no idea how He will judge, and it's possible those who have died without knowledge of God are judged differently. I certainly hope so.
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Your story adds a deeper background understanding to your posts, and I would be surprised if anyone will pick on you for being open and honest.
But....I have to say that I hate habitually late people who I see as the bane of modern society. They're right up there with Carlton supporters!
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1Corinthians 13 is nice. If god exists, god is love, and that chapter accurately describes love/god, I think we'll be ok. I still think I'm not going to care about anything when I'm dead because I'll be ******* dead (thanks for the material, Jim Jefferies)...but there's nothing wrong with those who enjoy a healthy fantasy life.
"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13
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Simple and true, yet it takes time and effort for such a simple message to break through the fortified walls of deluded thought that have been built up in the mind of an average theist through years of brainwashing during their formative years.
Religious indoctrination of children is a form of child abuse, and will be commonly seen as such in a more enlightened age.
You made feel like I was at 90% of weddings
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I was still a Christian when I got married, and the pastor spoke about wifes obeying their husbands...it makes me cringe now.
My religion is the right religion, of course. Have anyone ever argued otherwise? Spirituality is all but dead.
Vdubs
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Our church is low key. People come in and out, and there is seating at the back for those like me who want to be inconspicuous. I am always on call on Sunday mornings for a team I look after, and need to walk in and out on a phone. That was a better solution for me than actually heading into work on a Sunday morning.But I agree. It is disrespectful in some ways. We live as close to the Church as anyone could be.
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If there's no thread on spirituality, I recommend you start one. I don't see any evidence for a spiritual realm, but I'll read and digest whatever you have to say on the subject.
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I was joking, mate. It's fine.
There is no point though, if you look at other god threads, militant atheists and religious fundamentalists in this thread are different sides of the same coin. I do oppose fundmentalist religious people as it kills the very essence of spirituality, which remains in practice. If spirituality was as simple as 'read a book and find god', then none of it will be necessary. Best is to validate it yourself, i have given you the method to validate it yourself, be your own scientist.
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I'm a militant atheist too. I listened to a Sam Harris podcast that touched on meditation yesterday, and that was interesting.
Point taken though. I have experience with validation, so I'll get back to you with the results.
FYI, the Australian federal government has cut the number of international flights coming in by 50%. I only mention that because of something you asked previously.
Vdubs
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I thought that with the Carlton reference, but it has occurred to me also that it's worth changing.
Right now, our services are on Zoom or Facebook anyway.
Vdubs
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What did he say about husbands dealing with wives, jfi?
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My wife is always fashionably late and I'm someone who takes numbers literally, so it's a point of contention for us.
If your wife is anything like me, and you want her to be happy, be the * on time!
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It was a long time ago so I only remember bits and pieces. He spoke about the responsibility of wives to obey their husbands and the responsibility of husbands to love and sacrifice themselves for their wives. It's all in the new testament, mostly Ephesians.
So it's not as bad for my wife as it first appears. I think I got the shittier end of the deal from that.
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