Christian Prayer / Bible Study Corner

[offshoreoildude]

This may surprise some of you but I am a hard core, born again Christian - I have been since I was 8 and publicly accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior and redeemer. I'm not one of the emasculated males you see in most churches and I don't believe Christianity should emasculate males. Anyways - moving on....

It occurred to me that members of this forum may have prayer needs or bible verses to share.

To start of with I thought I'd share a thought from CS Lewis - one of the greath Christian authors and apologists. With reference to John 4:16 - "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.". Christians recognize that this verse means only Christ can offer salvation and eternal life. It is the driving force behind our efforts to save others. However many Christians - myself included - often wonder - what happens to those who don't ever hear of Christ?

P94 of "What Christians Believe"

'Here is another thing that used to puzzle me, Is it not frightfully unfair that this new life should be confined to people who have heard of Christ and been able to believe in him? But the truth is God has not told us what His arrangements about the other people are. We do know that no man can be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who know Him can be saved through Him. But in the meantime, if you are worried about the pepel outside, the most unreasonable thing you an do is to remain outside yourself. Christians are Christ's body, the organism through which He works, Every addition to the body enables Him to do more. If you want to help those outside yourself you must add your own little cell to the body of Christ who alone can help them. Cutting off a man's fingers would be an odd way of getting him to do more work.

Another possible explanation is this..... (snip)....But we can guess why he delaying (his return). He wants to give us the chance to join (Christ) freely.'

To sum up; God despises sin, He sent his son in the flesh to save us. Without accepting this gift there is no eternal life for non believers. We have free will and can chose to accept or refuse this gift. We are called to love on another as he has loved us and that is why I chose today to begin this prayer and sharing corner.

I have no special prayer needs at the moment but please feel free to ask myself or others to pray for you. Christians believe in the power of prayer - all things can be asked of God and should it be God's will - will be provided.

Over and out.

[Strong Eagle]

I thought that far too many Christian denominations emasculate females... second class citizens in the world of Christianity.

You are certainly welcome to your beliefs, and while I think there is something larger out there, in line with Buddhist beliefs, the idea of a some sort of big "Sky Daddy", raping a virgin, so he could give birth to himself, so he could kill himself again, all seems a bit nonsensical to me.

[nakatago]

Actually...

I thought that far too many religions emasculate females

In any case, whatever your belief is, that's cool as long as you're not being a dick.

I think that's what turns off many people from the religious.

[Brah]

This may surprise some of you but I am a hard core, born again Christian - I have been since I was 8 and publicly accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior and redeemer.

I've always wondered about those terms or labels - accepted, believer, and a couple of others. I mean, lots of people understand and accept, in the 'agree with' meaning and believe the basic tenets, but that seems a lot different from those who live the life, for lack of a better way of putting it.

To start of with I thought I'd share a thought from CS Lewis - one of the greath Christian authors and apologists.

I really struggled reading his Mere Christianity.

However many Christians - myself included - often wonder - what happens to those who don't ever hear of Christ? ....But we can guess why he delaying (his return). He wants to give us the chance to join (Christ) freely.'

I don't think that addresses those who already died and had not been exposed to Christianity or come to understand it enough to accept it.

And there's that "a" word again....

But my comments are not by any means confrontational, conflicting or sarcastic, in fact I am trying to understand things better.

[Sergei82]

You forgot to say that you are Catholic Christian.
In Orthodox Christians Jesus is the secondary character at all, first of all - God.
And there are others...

[offshoreoildude]

You forgot to say that you are Catholic Christian.
In Orthodox Christians Jesus is the secondary character at all, first of all - God.
And there are others...

I'm protestant actually (Baptist). The denominations in Christianity are confusing to many.

[v4jr4]

I thought that far too many Christian denominations emasculate females... second class citizens in the world of Christianity.

You are certainly welcome to your beliefs, and while I think there is something larger out there, in line with Buddhist beliefs, the idea of a some sort of big "Sky Daddy", raping a virgin, so he could give birth to himself, so he could kill himself again, all seems a bit nonsensical to me.

Reminds me about a friend who told me that I would go to hell if I didn't accept Big Daddy. Too bad Wheaton's law was "annulled" at that time

[nakatago]

From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity)



And that's only a simplified taxonomy of major denominations. From what I remember, groups branch off because they've come to a point where the groups no longer agree on intended meanings.

I bet if Jesus were around today, he wouldn't recognize some of the doctrines some groups are claiming to be from the carpenter's son.

[Sergei82]

Every religious person understands religion in a way that helps him justify whatever he wants to do. In Islam its most vivid.

[morenangpinay]

used to be I had religion.now i prefer to say I have faith.

[x9200]

God is ok, the Church is not ok.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I just follow my own drummer & morals. Being Agnostic has held me in good stead since 1960 when I left the church.

Religion? Yeah, it's a good thing if it make you a better person. That's not because of the flavour of the religion but the teaching of moral and subsequent following of them. I agree, Faith - regardless of the form it takes - is good. Organized Religion is not.

[Brah]

I've actually been looking for a tongue-in-cheek breakdown of the denominations, with some self-effacing humor mixed in with it. Because frankly, as one of them, I'm confused, as that chart helps illustrate.

I can't think of one within Christianity but there are hundreds between say Christianity and Judiasim, many about repressed and promiscuous Catholic girls and un-repressed and promiscuous Jewish girls...

There was one Democrat / Republican version I heard long ago, about the difference between the two being that Republicans go out of the shower to pee.

From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity)

And that's only a simplified taxonomy of major denominations. From what I remember, groups branch off because they've come to a point where the groups no longer agree on intended meanings.

I bet if Jesus were around today, he wouldn't recognize some of the doctrines some groups are claiming to be from the carpenter's son.

[x9200]

I just follow my own drummer & morals. Being Agnostic has held me in good stead since 1960 when I left the church.

Religion? Yeah, it's a good thing if it make you a better person. That's not because of the flavour of the religion but the teaching of moral and subsequent following of them. I agree, Faith - regardless of the form it takes - is good. Organized Religion is not.

I think we had this discussion during the last Eagles gathering and also from the above... Agnosticism does not define whether you have faith or not. It only says there is no way we can determine there is God or not. I guess you can also be religious agnostic. Both atheists and theists could be agnostic. Probably a better term to describe a person who have a faith but does not want to be associated with any religion would be irreligious theist. Hope this helps

[nakatago]

I just follow my own drummer & morals. Being Agnostic has held me in good stead since 1960 when I left the church.

Religion? Yeah, it's a good thing if it make you a better person. That's not because of the flavour of the religion but the teaching of moral and subsequent following of them. I agree, Faith - regardless of the form it takes - is good. Organized Religion is not.

I think we had this discussion during the last Eagles gathering and also from the above... Agnosticism does not define whether you have faith or not. It only says there is no way we can determine there is God or not. I guess you can also be religious agnostic. Both atheists and theists could be agnostic. Probably a better term to describe a person who have a faith but does not want to be associated with any religion would be irreligious theist. Hope this helps

Thomas Jefferson's "faith." It merited its own Wikipedia article! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jef ... d_religion