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but almost all of the religious groups that i;ve attended before have envelopes like the Born Agains and the Catholics wherein the donation bag is being passed or collected by the "usher' or watever you call them.

I think those are more to support upkeep of the church buildings more than anything. Although I do suppose certain denominations of Christianity will tell you it's your duty.

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Anyways, if you are seeking for the Truth or God.. coz Jesus Christ is the TRUTH , the Way and the Life.. seek for Jesus Christ and He will give you the rest.

But how do you know? You could tell me what you think the truth is until the sun goes nova and I won't believe you unless you've got some proof. Everyone tells me what they think the truth is. But does anyone really know? I know of quite a few "truths," all of them contradicting.

without works, faith is nothing as wat is said in James 2:26
wat do you believe in God?
how well do you know God?wat does He want from Us? have you asked yourself that? i did. because to beliv is to accept and to accept is to understand. wat about God did you believe, accept and understand? that he is the creator, that he sent his only begotten Son blah blah.. that you just belive on him and youre 'saved'? saved from wat? i believe that we have been tricked by the false Christs or the fake pastors.. they shouldnt even call themselves pastora, pope or reverend or ministers.. God doesnt like that uh,uh!
so if you see there's something wrong or not ideally perfect in a religion (coz there are thousands and thousands of them), look for another.. that is perfect.. not the one that you think is right for you.. wat may be right for you might be wrong for God.
two different point of views bt the most important factor is God. wat pleases God? if he is pleased by wat you are doing.. he will make himself thru to you.. maybe not now.. maybe it will take time.. but it will be worth - waiting for.
i dont regard our Bro. Soriano our presiding minister as God, please don't think of that. We belive that he understands wat the Bible is. there are so many commandments of God that are now being ommited by these false Christs.. and easy way in the group means and easy way to destruction. does any body here knows Benny Hinn? well, my boss has been receiving mails from him, and i guess my boss is "active" in participating on his requests. i pity my boss coz from wat i see.. i can't see love in my boss.. racial discrimination is in his heart.. if God is truly in your heart.. that should disappear. And he has all the cares of this world, the luxury.. the money which he can donate to teh needy instead of giving to Benny Hinn.. and
one more thing , offering and pledges and money donations are scams . the apostles did not take anything (money or donations) from the Gentiles 3John 1:7 or that is not a brethren yet so as the offering would be pure. Do you see God's point here? how would you know that the money that somebody offered is from a robbery or lottery winning? God wants his works to be pure. on our church, that is observed. when you come in to our locale or chapter, you wouldnt see envelopes on your seats.. there is even a banner reminding that our church doesnt accept donations or money or offering that are from the visitors. but almost all of the religious groups that i;ve attended before have envelopes like the Born Agains and the Catholics wherein the donation bag is being passed or collected by the "usher' or watever you call them.

in this world there will always fakes and an original. even false Christs, religions, even fake faiths.
we may know wat "pray" is .. but how should it be done in the first place.. Maybe God wants you in a certain position that would show respect for him.. standing AND praying in front of the television for the whole world to see are not in his list (Matt 6:5)
God wants his way. his way on how a man or woman of God should look or behave. how he wants us to pray. (not in repetitions like the rosary or some religions that have chanting). Anyways, if you are seeking for the Truth or God.. coz Jesus Christ is the TRUTH , the Way and the Life.. seek for Jesus Christ and He will give you the rest.
God's secrets are unknown to ordinary man.. as wat our Prayer Meeting's Topic last night. but some of his secrets are revealed to those whom He chose.
are you the chosen one? how will you know? the Bible tells us the answers. The Bible is the word of God.. any questions you would like to know are there.. plain and simple.. it's just a matter of using it.. like guns and money.. those who use is lawfully and those who jst spend their killing and shopping sprees...
if you know wat or who or wat makes of God.. read the Bible.. but not anybody will be able to understand.. its not a simple storybook i tell ya.. you must be guided by one person who knows how to analyze the Super Book.

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Originally posted by Trisscar:
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I want the truth
you got a lot of questions there that i myself have had that before.. but are now resolved and being solved..Thank God for our Bro. Soriano
Every body wants the truth and every body deserves the TRUTH!!! but some dislike it, and they are the so called children of God who backed out, who chickend out as wat GOd said it.

if you dont mind, we Members of the Church of God International have a website that have some of your answers if you wanna know the site, of course. well you may like it or don't but as the saying goes You can't please every body. ppl dont like God too coz they dont understand understanding Hiim.

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Of course, you could think that the "right" answers are ones I won't accept. I just don't get how the overwhelming majority of humanity finds religion believable while I don't. Maybe I'm just one of the few people who doesn't think he needs it. I feel fine thinking I'm not part of something big. I've got humanism to give me a purpose. And that does make me happy, so I guess that's all I need.

At the risk of people getting offended and pissed off at me(as usual)...maybe lots of people simply result to religion because they do need it, they can't deal with not knowing, it gives them answers and "security" in some sense. whatever works. Human's question thing's(like you've already stated somewhere in another thread I think), and we like to get answers, so maybe God is just another answer we've made up, as a way to explain things, because we can't accept not having the answer. I don't know. I personally cannot believe in any sort of God. But if I did it would certainly not be the God anyone on here keeps on portraying, it just seems too "human".

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So if you truly wish to hear a direct answer from Him then actively pursue it!

I have. I've done this time and again to no avail. I've opened myself up completely, but never have I gotten anything. In fact, one time I distinctly remember feeling nothing, a tangible nothing, if you know what I mean. It was slightly depressing.

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I think the right religion is whichever is the right one for you.

I think this too, and it's a nice thing to think, but I still have no idea if it's right or not. For all I know, the right thing to do is yell at atheists and tell gays they're going to hell. Essentially, I will never know until it's too late. I don't mean to sound defeatist here, but it's really annoying when people tell me conflicting things and expect me to know what to believe. While I'd like to think that God (if he exists) is forgiving and doesn't care what religion I am, I don't know for sure. He could very well be the god of fire and brimstone we all hear about on TBN. There could be a pantheon of gods, all jealous because I don't believe in them. Or there simply might not be a god at all. And then I'd feel silly for believing in something that doesn't exist. As I've said many times, faith just isn't enough for me.

Eh, I guess I'm just being difficult. No one can give me the answers I want because those answers are impossible to give. Of course, you could think that the "right" answers are ones I won't accept. I just don't get how the overwhelming majority of humanity finds religion believable while I don't. Maybe I'm just one of the few people who doesn't think he needs it. I feel fine thinking I'm not part of something big. I've got humanism to give me a purpose. And that does make me happy, so I guess that's all I need.

Worth: Lets put it this way. It obvious that me and you have differing opinions on Religion in general. When I said that I am not seeking eternal life it was because I had been a Christain and basically I got to the point with God that I didn't want him to give me eterenal life because through him I had it, what I wanted from him was the truth and understanding and you have no way to know how strong my faith was at the time so can't judge. I did beleive in God for eternal life and yet he never let me come to the point of understanding or showed me the truths and needed to know.

And plus as A Christian i beleived that if I prayed that God would help me through the trials i was facing. I didn't want him to fix things, I wanted direction on how to fix it. Being thrown into a situation where you lose everything, you parents love, you churches support, you siblings respect your friends - with no fault of your own is really hard. I held on for a long time and I really tried but God gave me nothing, no help, I had to do everything on my own.

Now at this moment you will probably say that God made me strong enough to get through and that was him helping me. But you'd be wrong - concidering I dug myslef into a bigger hole and I'm even more screwed. Wasn't till after and i looked back at my situation did I realize God had abandoned me. So I gave up my faith.

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Originally posted by clpo13:
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.

Well, I don't think they mean He physically talks to them...and if they do then they are either lying or that is a miracle within itself. But God talks to us in various ways, someitmes ways in which we don't even know it's Him. Has a friend ever convinced you to take a different action then you intended and it turned out to be a great choice - possibly even a life-altering choice? Then that could be God talking to you! There are tons of examples like that.

You say that you have never received an answer to prayer in a way that mattered. But how do you know what matters and what doesn't? If you have received an answer and you feel it doesn't matter then first of all, it is still and answer and second of all, it does matter whether you can see that it does or not...it will matter eventually or, at the very least, you will see how it matters in the afterlife.

Also, it is often said that God is clear to those who seek Him out. (Or something along those lines.) So if you truly wish to hear a direct answer from Him then actively pursue it!

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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?

I think you know my views on this but here it goes again. This is where I differ from the typical Christian viewpoint:

I think the right religion is whichever is the right one for you. In a nutshell, if you believe in God and that Jesus is the Savior and you attempt to be the best Christian you can be, then you will go to Heaven when you die. If you believe in God but not Jesus (aka Judaism) then you will not have everlasting life but simply perish. If you follow everything Buddhist then you will end up in their version of Heaven. If you're Atheist then you just die.

That's the short version but, basically, I believe that the right religion is whatever is right for you and as long as you have some sort of belief system wherein you have good morals and try to do what is universally right (don't kill anyone or rob anyone, etc.) then you will end up where you desire.

I'll have to think on that last section of yours. But I think my first two answers kind of go together to answer it.

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I wanted him to help fix things.

Though I cannot speak as though I am God, I would have to say...that is not God's job. He is not here to "fix things." That is your job. If you can't fix them then make the best of them. It's part of God's plan. [I beleive it is, anyway].

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The thing is I'm not looking for eternal life. I'm looking for a God who understands, a God who can explain things, solve mysteries that confound me. I want the truth, nothing washed down or secretive.

Everything will be explained to you in due time. Mysteries will be solved in due time. If you aren't looking for eternal life then you need to look for another God. The point in Christianity, the point in believing in God is to achieve eternal life. Then you will understand what you don't. Then you will know the truths you seek.

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Nothing that I have to do a million tasks to obtain.

Faith, not works. You are not asked to do a million tasks to obtain God's love, to obtain everlasting life.

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Then another thing can I actually trust God. I mean I did for years I trusted him with my life and he turned his back on me. I served him with all my heart, didn't doubt him for a second I was your classic little christian girl who did everything in her power to avoid breaking a commandment. And he gave me nothing but silence as soon as I needed him.

I've always heard that loving God meant having a relationship with him, that you had to put things into it for it to work. So I did, I ran a youthgroup gave my everything to him and yet as soon as I needed HIM he disappeared and I was left with nothing.

I just have given up hope I guess.

I don't know your situation so I cannot give a specific response. But God does not turn his back on people. He is always there for those who believe in Him and seek Him out. You may not be able to see it, you may not recognize Him when he is there to help you. But He is always there. Never give up hope.

Alright I totally know where you're comming from. I really don't get God either, I mean I honestly tried, I gave him my all - I wanted answers - I wanted thing explained - I wanted him to help fix things. But he gave me nothing. I had all the faith in the world I honestly beleived that he would answer me and yet he never did.

So I gave up on the Christian God and moved on to see other things, and I've ran into the same problems everywhere I go. I run into "religion" the acts, practices and traditions of a group of people - and these don't answer my questions.

The thing is I'm not looking for eternal life. I'm looking for a God who understands, a God who can explain things, solve mysteries that confound me. I want the truth, nothing washed down or secretive. Nothing that I have to do a million tasks to obtain. If God is really out there if he really cares my theory is he'll show himself and that maybe I just haven't found him yet.

Ask and you shall recieve seek and you will find ask and the door shall be opened. I know the words and yet I doubt them because I have asked I have seeked and I have knocked and I've got nothing but silence.

Then another thing can I actually trust God. I mean I did for years I trusted him with my life and he turned his back on me. I served him with all my heart, didn't doubt him for a second I was your classic little christian girl who did everything in her power to avoid breaking a commandment. And he gave me nothing but silence as soon as I needed him.

I've always heard that loving God meant having a relationship with him, that you had to put things into it for it to work. So I did, I ran a youthgroup gave my everything to him and yet as soon as I needed HIM he disappeared and I was left with nothing.

I just have given up hope I guess.