I don't know how i feel about this, but if the cHristian religion is true, then you either go to heaven or hell. That scares me out of my wits. How long is eternity? How do I know if I'm good enough for the higher power up there? I mean, what if I did something wrong. Does anyone else ever feel like this?
I mean, what is "God?" Why not Mother Nature? Why do we give these things names? Please reply with insight if you are just as clueless as me.

I read it, decided I would respond later, and then being the scatter-brained person I am, forgot. Heh. However, it is a very good theory.

Oh...okay then.

I read it. I just didn't respond.

Now that I've responded, no one has read it.

Wow...I'm being requested. Mmkay, this is going to be the sorta short version because I have band practice in little more than an hour plus I must eat before then.

I think you guys have heard this from me before, though.

So my idea is that if you are a Christian and follow the principles of the religion, believe in God, and so on and so forth then you will go to Heaven.

If you are a Muslim and follow the principles of Islam, believe in Allah, and so on and so forth then you will reach...whatever Heaven is for Muslims.

If you are a Hindu and follow the principles of Hinduism and so on and so forth then you will reach...whatever Heaven is for Hindus.

If you are atheist or agnostic and you are a good, kinda, decent, moral person by society's general terms then whatever you believe will happen to you when you die, will (I am under the impression that most atheists believe they will just die so there's one example).

Do you see where this is going?

See, I personally believe in the Christian God. I believe there is no other God, yadda, yadda, yadda. But I also hold to the belief that good, kind, decent, moral people shouldn't burn in Hell or whatever for all eternity simply because they've never heard of Jesus Christ. That's just wrong and unfair.

And this doesn't make me less of a Christian. I never said that I believe people of other religions are saved and I didn't say that there is more than one God. In layman's terms: What you think will happen to you when you die, will. Unless you're a horrible, snotty, mean, despicable, etc. kind of person all your life. Then I think you will either be forced to stay on Earth, reincarnated into like a turd, or into Hell, if such a place exists.

...this is sorta based on alternate realities but I can't even explain that part of it.

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Christianity does not preach that ****. people do.

A religion is defined by the people that follow it though.

just because you dont follow the "shut your mind and exclude" banwagon of christianity does not mean that you are not christian.

Christianity does not preach that ****. people do.

Um, Worth, I want to say you aren't a Christian.

Ok, now tell us.

I'm sure some people would love to hear it, Worth.

I would go into another long post describing why decent people really have nothing to worry about in the long run but I'll save it until I have someone who wants to say I'm not a Christian.

People are the problem. Morality is not used in our world, and it should. Things exist. We can touch them. No matter what the movie What the Bleep do we Know says, things are there. It is an objective truth. I dont need proof to know it is real. Religion, however, needs more than that. It needs faith, with facts to support it. People think differently when it comes to this because they just dont know what to think, or how to believe. We know we are here, but how? You could say, "My opinion is as good as anybody else's," but hear me out. Some people know more objective truths than others. People do more research and listen more than others. Sometimes we say we like or dislike something just by hearing others say they do or dont. Why? We dont really know if that is true. The media tells teens what is good and bad. That's because we are always searching for answers that we dont have to find ourselves, and religion doesnt give us that. We dont have enough facts, so we dont belive. But i can tell you that we are here, and how we got there is only on the facts of the Bible and ruins. The rest is only faith.

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You are so informed on this being that you can claim that these are not accurate?

You are so informed that you can claim they are? I don't claim to be anything other than an agnostic. You speak with conviction that God is the Supreme Being, and he is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, implying that you know for sure that he is. But I say you can't possibly know that. No one can. So I say they're only names. One must be able to see, touch, feel to describe.

Perhaps another one of my famous analogies will work here:

Trying to apply names and human characteristics to God is like trying to apply a color and texture to air. It can't be done.

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Originally posted by Baber:
You are so informed on this being that you can claim that these are not accurate? If the indescribable can't be described then YOU can't deside which descriptions are accurate you are not in position to.

If your sister is your aunt and your mother marries your uncle, you'd be your own grandpa. Yay X-Files.

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That's why "Supreme Being" and "Alpha and Omega" are mere names, not accurate descriptions.

You are so informed on this being that you can claim that these are not accurate? If the indescribable can't be described then YOU can't deside which descriptions are accurate you are not in position to.

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He exists outside of this realm where we are bound to time

This statement right here should tell you that it's impossible to apply human characteristics to this Supreme Being. You can't describe the indescribable. That's why "Supreme Being" and "Alpha and Omega" are mere names, not accurate descriptions.

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well, religion is man made. Jesus just gave pointers on how to use it. Religion is hard to understand and often contradicts itself, but when have we always understood man's ideas? what i dont understand is how God said that he didnt come in the New Testament to change the Old Testament. Well, now he's teaching to forgive and love while in the Old one it was an eye for an eye...

First off the Bible doesn't contradict itself.

Jesus coming and "changing the old testament" is not a change at all it is a fulfilment of it.

God has this covenant or um agreement so to speak. It requires that sacrifice be made for sin. In the old testament it was the sacrifices made at the tabernacle and then the temple. But the old testament also talks about the Messiah who would be the ultimate sacrifice in Isaiah 53.

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

This Chapter is fulfilled precisely in Jesus Christ(Christ is the Greek translation of Messiah). So there is no more need for the old testament sacrifices to cover their sin for a year. Christ did it once and for all.

As for the eye for an eye thing, that was regarding the government or justice system that had to be in place to punish people when they did something against thier nieghbor.

Christ was talking about holding whatever they did against them and using it as a reason to do something back or not love them. It says in Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The fact that we describe God as a "He", as humanlike, and as a being capable of thought shows us that such an image of God is extremely improbable.

He = a patriarchial society that would generally consider a dominant being to be male, even if said being would naturally not have chromosomes or reproductive organs

Humanlike = an anthropocentric society that would want to give a human face to a supreme being to make itself feel more important, i.e. "Look at us! We're modeled after the creator of everything! We must be really special!"

Self-Aware - those who do not realize that thought is a function of the brain and thus is biological wouldn't assume that an intangible being would be incapable of it

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God is the Supreme Being. The Alpha and the Omega, He is the beginning and the end.


Those are names, nothing more.

Actually they define God in pretty keen detail.

Supreme Being = He is above all, more powerful than all, and all are in turn subject to him in the end.

Alpha and Omega/Beginning and End = He exists outside of this realm where we are bound to time, he was before it and will be after it is gone.

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God is the Supreme Being. The Alpha and the Omega, He is the beginning and the end.

Those are names, nothing more.