The concept of religion has been bothering me for a very long time, as many of you know. But I'll try to keep this off my "spiritual struggles" (such as they were) as much as possible. But the questions I have for anyone who feels like answering somewhat relate.

So, one thing I've been told so many times is that God talks to people. I mean, who hasn't heard this? The thing that gets me, though, is that I have never once felt God, talked to God, received an answer to a prayer (at least not in any way that mattered), or anything that would imply that God is there. It's funny because billions of other people in the world say that they feel or talk to God. They can't all be crazy or delusional. But why not me? Even when my faith in God was very strong, I never felt anything like I was told I should.

Next, the concept of the "right" religion. Christianity says that it's the only true religion, right? So does Islam, various sects of Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism, and others), and other religions, including Baha'i. Sorry for not coming up with any actual religion references there. Anyways, so many religions claim to be right. It's drilled into everyone that we must make the right choice or suffer. But just what is that right choice? A Catholic will tell you it's Catholicism. An evangelist will tell you it's his or her religion. A Muslim will tell you it's Islam. And all these religions back up their claims to the title of "one, true religion" with their respective scriptures. They all, in essence, have proof that they're right. They can't all be right, though, since they all differ on rather fundamental aspects of religion. I guess my main question here is: how can I be expected to choose the "right" religion, when they all claim to be right? Can I really be blamed for making the wrong choice when it's not clear which is the right one?

Finally, there's the alleged problem of free will. Apparently I have the ability to choose God or to not choose God. Fair enough. But the problem here is that there is only one "right" choice, like I said in the previous section. Every time I ask someone what that right choice is, they tell me that the Bible says this, or the Qu'ran says that. Right. Why can't God himself tell me? I've prayed and prayed for some sort of answer, yet God sees fit to either ignore me or keep giving me the subtle signs I will never see. One time when I asked God for a sign, I was told by my girlfriend that she had a dream telling her to be the sign. She obviously had no clue what the dream was about, but it seemed to fit with what I had asked. Pretty believable, right? Not for me. Why did God talk to her and not to me? I can't accept what other people say because I can't trust them in matters of my eternal soul (if that's truly what's at stake here). If God really wants me to believe in him, he ought to tell me himself. That's not conflicting with free will, since I'd still have a choice in whether or not I do what he tells me to. But at least I'd be informed.

This little rant probably didn't make much sense in some areas. It's late and I'm pretty tired (and annoyed for various reasons). I want answers, but no one can give them. And that bothers me more than anything.

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Originally posted by orangegoddess021706:
a coin has two sides. what is right for man maybe rightfully wrong for God. Since God is our creator, He wll be the real judge of what is rightfully right and rightfully wrong.

I second the statement

a coin has two sides. what is right for man maybe rightfully wrong for God. Since God is our creator, He wll be the real judge of what is rightfully right and rightfully wrong.

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Yeah, but I'm not the one trying to be a good Christian

All good then

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uh.. isn't your name goddess aswell?

Yeah, but I'm not the one trying to be a good Christian.

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St. Nick and mother Theresa are just a few of the many hero-saints of the Catholics but are they really being acknowledged by God of the Bible or just by the Pope?

You see, that doesn't matter to me at all. All that matters is whether they were good people or not. And they were very, very good people. I don't care about your issues with Catholicism. They were great, selfless, and beautiful people who deserve to be honored and I don't care honors them.

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tese people who make themselves equal rank with God are the ones defying Go's commands.

As Brehon said, calling oneself "father" or "teacher" does not mean one thinks oneself to be on the same level as God. The Catholics think that the Pope is the bridge between God and the rest of the world.

Ironically enough, the Mormons think the same way about their president (prophet, first elder...these guys have many titles).

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tese people who make themselves equal rank with God are the ones defying Go's commands.

I believe the Pope does not equate himself to God. You are mistaken in assuming that, because his title is Father, he is trying to 'take the place of God'. His position is more that of prophet, and he takes on more of that role, making sure that people in the Church behave etc, so in this respect is similar to St.Paul.

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Traditions of man that have no basis in the Bbile

Hang on, how can traditions of man be an abomination of God? Surely, having created man and all that, God must have realised that it is socialogically natural for people to pass on thier teachings and thier experiences to thier children. And hence, customs and traditions. So why would God get angry at something he in effect creates?

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Strange that you'd call yourself a Goddess.... Heathen)

LOL.

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Originally posted by EarthGoddess:
I certainly hope you realize that Catholics wrote the Bible, Orangegoddess. (Strange that you'd call yourself a Goddess.... Heathen) Catholicism was the very first form of Christianity, by the way...

uh.. isn't your name goddess aswell?

I certainly hope you realize that Catholics wrote the Bible, Orangegoddess. (Strange that you'd call yourself a Goddess.... Heathen) Catholicism was the very first form of Christianity, by the way...

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I don't think that the fact that God doesn't want any one else to be called father bears any relevence to the question in hand. The Pope does not acknowledge saints, because God acknowledges them and the Pope just declares it to the masses. He is, after all, the Supreme Pontiff [Bridge between man and God]

- sorry, but if you really what God wants his people to know, you'd follow his command not to call any one in religion Father. tese people who make themselves equal rank with God are the ones defying Go's commands.
How much do you know about the Bible? Traditions of man that have no basis in the Bbile, are considered nothing or worthless, even an abomination to God.

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St. Nick and mother Theresa are just a few of the many hero-saints of the Catholics but are they really being acknowledged by God of the Bible or just by the Pope? FYI, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob doesn’t want anyone to be called a Pope or Father (Matt. 23:9), for there is only one Father which is in heaven.

I don't think that the fact that God doesn't want any one else to be called father bears any relevence to the question in hand. The Pope does not acknowledge saints, because God acknowledges them and the Pope just declares it to the masses. He is, after all, the Supreme Pontiff [Bridge between man and God]

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If you were to take the account written by Luke on the Bible (if you believe in the Bible), there were sheep grazing in the field. If it was indeed winter at that time, why would shepherds let their sheep graze ice and snow??

How much ice and snow do you get around the sea of Galilee? I am no meteorological expert, but I would say that snow and ice is unlikely to be what sheep would have been able to eat at that time.

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Some of us are not just as meticulous when it comes to religion and salvation. They just embrace what is being handed down to them by customs and traditions.

Like the Bible...

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And I was just wondering, why is Christ’s birth date always falls on December 25th but why does Easter Sunday fall on different dates every year? Does that mean that Christ was crucified on different dates?

They're both arbitrary dates. Jesus' birth most likely was sometime in the spring, but December 25 was chosen because it was a pagan winter solstice celebration. The early church figured that the best way to get its religion accepted among the masses was to appropriate traditional holidays.

Easter, on the other hand, falls upon certain dates based upon a lunar calendar, which is similar to the Hebrew calendar. You can read about how the date is computed here.

St. Nick and mother Theresa are just a few of the many hero-saints of the Catholics but are they really being acknowledged by God of the Bible or just by the Pope? FYI, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob doesn’t want anyone to be called a Pope or Father (Matt. 23:9), for there is only one Father which is in heaven.
Some of us are not just as meticulous when it comes to religion and salvation. They just embrace what is being handed down to them by customs and traditions. Some just don’t care at all. Some traditions are just formulated by man like Christmas for example. Christmas is a tradition of a big group (but now has influenced other faiths even though they don’t believe in Jesus Christ because of commercialism and festive atmosphere and of course, gifts). If you were to take the account written by Luke on the Bible (if you believe in the Bible), there were sheep grazing in the field. If it was indeed winter at that time, why would shepherds let their sheep graze ice and snow??
And I was just wondering, why is Christ’s birth date always falls on December 25th but why does Easter Sunday fall on different dates every year? Does that mean that Christ was crucified on different dates?

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Who knows what we might discover in the next 1000 years, or even the next century?

Or the next ten days for that matter, we're always making new discorveries

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so many millions of centuries have passed, yet man , no matter how advanced science and techonology , still havent found a way to create things out of nothing. well as far as wat the Bible says, there wil never be another century to come..and i believe.

You're conveniently ignoring the fact that almost every major scientific advancement has been made within in the past five hundred years. Who knows what we might discover in the next 1000 years, or even the next century? You cannot discount science simply because it is a relative newcomer to this game we call life.

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Where did God come from?

he didn't

he was, is and shall be. For him there is not beginning nor is there an end he just is.

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Originally posted by EarthGoddess:
Because I get presents.

LOL, an excellent reason if ever I saw one.

Oh and nice with the Santa Clause bit.

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well i dont believe in Santa Claus either but adults make their kids believe on that silly man.

Santa Claus, a.k.a. Saint Nikolas, was an actual person who was a PRIEST, who went around on Christmas Eve, giving gifts to poor orphans. Silly man, my butt. You better pray for forgiveness on that one. You just insulted a very christian and Godly man. That's like insulting Mother Thersea.

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if you dont believe in God or Jesus Christ, do you celebrate Christmas? after all, you celebrate coz partly you believe or maybe just wanna get on human traditions though deep inside there is really nothing to celebrate, seriously.

I don't believe what you do and, yes, I celebrate Christmas. Because I get presents.

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Originally posted by orangegoddess021706:

if you dont believe in God or Jesus Christ, do you celebrate Christmas? after all, you celebrate coz partly you believe or maybe just wanna get on human traditions though deep inside there is really nothing to celebrate, seriously.

Yes, in fact, I do celebrate it. I celebrate it as a holiday where people get together and spread a little happiness. Might I point out that it was a pagan midwinter holiday before Christians came along? Personally, I don't really care what the origin of a holiday is. If I like the spirit of it, I'll celebrate it. The same goes for Thanksgiving.

Where do I think I'm going? Nowhere. When you die, your brain shuts down and you're gone. Sorry if that scares you but that's what I believe.

Yet, in those millions of centuries, we've gone from Stone Age to mp3 players. Heck, creating something from nothing doesn't sound that far fetched.

An offshoot question, do you realize how many times religious people have predicted the end of the world? It's hilarious.

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Why should someone turn water into wine? So that people can get drunk? Very moral.

uh, nobody got drunk..when jesus turned water into wine.. read your Bible first before concluding.
well i dont believe in Santa Claus either but adults make their kids believe on that silly man.
if you dont believe in God or Jesus Christ, do you celebrate Christmas? after all, you celebrate coz partly you believe or maybe just wanna get on human traditions though deep inside there is really nothing to celebrate, seriously.

answers are sometimes subjective. you wanna accept it or don't but still there is an answer. it is just sometimes up to the person wat kind of answers is he trying to get. if it does not satisfy him,well ok. well, if it does, then ok too.

God is from the everlasting. whether some may believe or some may dont, anyways, He is still God, whether you accept him or not. Life will still be goin on for those who believe and those who don't , but the question is, after departing from the life here.. where do you think you will be going?

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Besides, who's to say that centuries from now, human knowledge won't advance to the point where we could create trees or planets?

so many millions of centuries have passed, yet man , no matter how advanced science and techonology , still havent found a way to create things out of nothing. well as far as wat the Bible says, there wil never be another century to come..and i believe.