A question to Men of Faith

[Hap]

Originally posted by republic
I'm 26, I've been a Christian for about 10 years now.  The older I get the more frustrating it can be to remain steadfast in the midst of the great multitude of Christians 'in name only' and the general trials of life.

Repub,

Hope this helps.  My whole outlook underwent a drastic revision.  For the better!  I began reading everything I could in Britannica on Christianity, history of, monasticism, etc . . ..  All the history I could find.  
 
Opened up some wonderful doors all of which are licit and orthodox.

[Saxman]

Knowing the actual history as opposed to dogma definitely gives you a new outlook on the "We're the one true church!" interdenominational pissing match.

[Chairboy]

Blackwolf, why would his Christianity preclude researching eastern philosophies?

[Yeager]

15:32-36
====
That is one of the passages that convinced me I could never be a Christian.
Was a rather disappointing epiphany for me as I was in the mood for salvation at the time.  But I instinctively understood that a Lord that wants to stone people to death for gathering firewood is not a Lord I want to associate with.  I rather imagine thats what it must feel like having an abusive father

[VOR]

Heretic! Stone him!

[republic]

Serves me right.

My grandma always told me, never discuss religion or politics in public, it's not polite...  If only I listened to her better....

[Rich46yo]

Even worse most of those Christian wannabes are flying LA-7s. You should be relying on all the scriptures and forgiving others for their weaknesses. Even better you should lead by example, as the Lord did, and be less quick with judgements.

[VOR]

Lead by example. Drown the entire world if they don't do what you want them to do.

[Chairboy]

Rich46yo is right, fly A6Ms more often.  

[Blackwulf]

Eastern mysticism is not Christian.  I was, of course, not refering to the Eastern Orthodox church, but rather Bhudism, Hinduism, etc.  
He was asking for Christian references, and someone had posted that he look to eastern mysticism instead.  I was pointing out that the Christian church has a strong mystical/meditative heritage of it's own.
The eastern religions have been attempting to make (sadly, quite succesfully in some cases) inroads into the Christian church, along with the "new age" (though there is nothing "new" about it) Gnosticism.  The scriptures are very clear in their warnings against such things. None of these attempts are new, the warnings in scripture are there because of the very same thing being attempted in the early church, not only by those outside the church, but also within.
With the scriptures, traditions, and faith handed down to us by the church fathers, we have the fullness of the truth, there is no need to look outside for it.

John Nelson
p/OCB

[KONG1]

Originally posted by Blackwulf
we have the fullness of the truth

“I reject your reality and substitute it for my own.”~Adam Savage

[Blackwulf]

lol Kong!

I see the humor of your retort, and despite as stuffy as my writing style can make me seem, I fully support the right of anyone to believe what they wish, and would hope that I would receive the same in return.
(And my Orthodoxy does come out quite a bit in these sort of discussions I admit.)

John Nelson
p/OCB

[Chairboy]

Originally posted by Blackwulf
Eastern mysticism is not Christian.  I was, of course, not refering to the Eastern Orthodox church, but rather Bhudism, Hinduism, etc.  
He was asking for Christian references, and someone had posted that he look to eastern mysticism instead.  I was pointing out that the Christian church has a strong mystical/meditative heritage of it's own.
The eastern religions have been attempting to make (sadly, quite succesfully in some cases) inroads into the Christian church, along with the "new age" (though there is nothing "new" about it) Gnosticism.  The scriptures are very clear in their warnings against such things. None of these attempts are new, the warnings in scripture are there because of the very same thing being attempted in the early church, not only by those outside the church, but also within.
With the scriptures, traditions, and faith handed down to us by the church fathers, we have the fullness of the truth, there is no need to look outside for it.

John Nelson
p/OCB

Unless I'm mistaken, most of the Christian churches have embraced the practice of encouraging study of other faiths (like Buddhism) so that adherents may better understand their own and find new meaning in their bible.  I've read article by missionaries, for instance, that describe the value that studying some of these other religions gives because, among other things, it equips them to better understand others and dialogue with them in a meaningful way.

I'm troubled by what I perceive to be an exclusionist tone to your message, one that seems to suggest essentially "if it isn't in the bible, it isn't worth knowing".  If that's an oversimplification, I apologize for any unintentional offense, but this seems to be a limiting world view.

[republic]

I generally don't discuss my faith out of respect for others.  (This being my first post concerning it in the 2 years of playing this game.)  If I'm asked, I'll respond but most people, as evident from these replies, have either been scorned by "Christians" or have intense feelings regarding faith of any sort.

I was looking for input for a study I am putting together and I had wrongly assumed there was a higher percentage of people of faith in these forums simply because of the generally higher average age of the typical AH player.

As much as I wish I had the ability to close the topic, and as much as I had hoped it would die quickly...it likely will remain and become an irritating constant reminder to my inbox.

So all I'm unsubscribing the thread, if you have a particular verse you'd like to share, PM me.

[KONG1]

"What if we chose the wrong religion? Each week we just make God madder and madder."~Matt Groening, The Simpsons