NationStates Jolt Archive

All over this board there are threads that bash our beliefs. I just want to give my fellow believers a place where they can come and chat about our beliefs. I ask that anyone who doesnt share our beliefs, please do not come in here making a post that bash on Christians. If you dont believe in Christ, but have a good question by all means post and i am sure someone will post. Anyone who believes that Jesus Christ died on a cross for our sins is welcome here.

Also lets not get into Protestant vs. Catholic battle here. This is a thread where Christ is the focus, not which denomination is the best

Remember other christians will sharpen you, as iron sharpens iron

Yeah, well good luck with that.

Seriously, I don't think you can stop people posting in your threads.

I know i have no chance of stopping anyone from posting here. I just thought that maybe if i was polite and requested that they wouldnt post their bashing stuff here they would. There is enough christian bashing that goes on here, why cant we just have one thread where christians can talk to one another and our beliefs without fear of everyone who doesnt believe bashing on them

There are many chat-type of forums available for Christians. Although I'm a Christian, I don't believe that attempting to uninvite other folk from giving their 2 cents about a topic is appropriate.

Hmm maybe i didnt think my original post out enough... maybe i should try this again once i have fully thought this out.

I'm all for this.

But not here. Anyone have AIM?

Have fun

i'm not bashing, i'm just going to say what i think as nicely as i can.

i have been around the block and back with christianity. i was so devout, i had entire books of the bible memorized, i went to religious school and read the bible multiple times.. for years. then i lightened up a bit, tried other aspects and views on christianity, and i've just given it up.

i'm now non religious. christianity has hurt me too much, hurt the ones i love too much, and i feel it's been misinterpretted highly over the years. i've gotten to the point where i feel its original and basic beauty has become used and dirty, and used too often for evil instead of internal beauty.

i would love to see the original messages of jesus actually practiced. however, this happens rarely and selectively, and its funny - the people who i feel have been the most practicing of these messages were not christians.

this is just my opinion and my feelings on the issue, speaking from the viewpoint of someone with a lot of experience and education of the religion.

peace and love to yall.

I strive to live how Jesus taught us to live, its an ongoing battle for me.

I'm all for this.

But not here. Anyone have AIM?
Yep...but I could probably set up a chat/forum on my site (I have plenty of space and MySQL databases available) that would be secure enough for chatting about our shared religion without having every atheist in the world showing up to bash us into oblivion.

Everyone let me know if you think this is a good idea. If so, I can have it up and running sometime tomorrow.

Hey man i am all for that, just telegram me the web address
(my nations name is just nighthawk, i dont know where this imported_nighthawk thing came from)

i'm not bashing, i'm just going to say what i think as nicely as i can.

i have been around the block and back with christianity. i was so devout, i had entire books of the bible memorized, i went to religious school and read the bible multiple times.. for years. then i lightened up a bit, tried other aspects and views on christianity, and i've just given it up.

i'm now non religious. christianity has hurt me too much, hurt the ones i love too much, and i feel it's been misinterpretted highly over the years. i've gotten to the point where i feel its original and basic beauty has become used and dirty, and used too often for evil instead of internal beauty.

i would love to see the original messages of jesus actually practiced. however, this happens rarely and selectively, and its funny - the people who i feel have been the most practicing of these messages were not christians.

this is just my opinion and my feelings on the issue, speaking from the viewpoint of someone with a lot of experience and education of the religion.

peace and love to yall.
I understand your delima, but always remember: it's humans that screw things up, not God. Don't blame Him and His true message for the failings and misinterpretations of humans. Even if humans have twisted His message and hurt you, He still loves you.

TG me any time if you want to talk.

Yep...but I could probably set up a chat/forum on my site (I have plenty of space and MySQL databases available) that would be secure enough for chatting about our shared religion without having every atheist in the world showing up to bash us into oblivion.

Everyone let me know if you think this is a good idea. If so, I can have it up and running sometime tomorrow.
(sorry to interupt ... I wont argue I promice) just curious as to what BB software you use and your setup (comp geek) Lol anyways sorry geekyness took over

I understand your delima, but always remember: it's humans that screw things up, not God. Don't blame Him and His true message for the failings and misinterpretations of humans. Even if humans have twisted His message and hurt you, He still loves you.

TG me any time if you want to talk.

how can you prove that god is a man? to try to make god a man is so humanizing, so degrading to such an entity. i strongly believe that god is genderless, and to imply the "he" so strongly kind of bites my arm.

i don't know. i just can't classify myself as a christian when the people who have hurt me most also can call themselves christian. i refuse to be a part of it. to be a christian entails too many things that i refuse to believe.

but for anyone who it works for, whoever is truly brought to a beautiful state of being, closer to their own personal innner harmony through it without hurting others or imposing the belief on others - i am happy for that individual to get closer to the divine and be more at peace. regardless of the path.

(sorry to interupt ... I wont argue I promice) just curious as to what BB software you use and your setup (comp geek) Lol anyways sorry geekyness took over
I like phpBB because of its stability and extensibility, but I found miniBB not long ago, tested it and really like it. I'm deciding on which to use for this project, if people want it. :)

Yep...but I could probably set up a chat/forum on my site (I have plenty of space and MySQL databases available) that would be secure enough for chatting about our shared religion without having every atheist in the world showing up to bash us into oblivion.

Everyone let me know if you think this is a good idea. If so, I can have it up and running sometime tomorrow.

Great idea. I'd like to have atheists out if they're only going to bash us and try to prove that we're wrong. I'd like to discuss my relationship, and others relationships with God without too much interference.

I like phpBB because of its stability and extensibility, but I found miniBB not long ago, tested it and really like it. I'm deciding on which to use for this project, if people want it. :)
PHPBB myself runing on a FreeBSD machine (have you had problems with php5 and the latest phpBB?) I had to drop back to 4 to get it to work

But yeah I run my own forums as well :)

miniBB going to have to remember that

PHPBB myself runing on a FreeBSD machine (have you had problems with php5 and the latest phpBB?) I had to drop back to 4 to get it to work

But yeah I run my own forums as well :)

miniBB going to have to remember that
I haven't had the opportunity to test php5 and phpBB. My host (Hosting Matters) is still on 4.x, but it works just fine on 4.x.

miniBB is pretty awesome. You can DL just the basic software and have it running QUICKLY, and everything else (of which there is a lot) is all addons you can download. VERY customizable.

I haven't had the opportunity to test php5 and phpBB. My host (Hosting Matters) is still on 4.x, but it works just fine on 4.x.

miniBB is pretty awesome. You can DL just the basic software and have it running QUICKLY, and everything else (of which there is a lot) is all addons you can download. VERY customizable.
Yeah I had to roal both back to 4x and it worked fine ... and damn miniBB is not in the ports system which means a build from source by scratch lol damn

Yeah I had to roal both back to 4x and it worked fine ... and damn miniBB is not in the ports system which means a build from source by scratch lol damn
HAHA! I SO hate having to compile from source. I avoid it whenever possible. :)

Great idea. I'd like to have atheists out if they're only going to bash us and try to prove that we're wrong. I'd like to discuss my relationship, and others relationships with God without too much interference.
Well.. I've decided to go ahead and do it and whoever wants to use it, can. :)

I'll post the link when I get it up and running.

Well.. I've decided to go ahead and do it and whoever wants to use it, can. :)

I'll post the link when I get it up and running.

Awesome. I'm excited.

HAHA! I SO hate having to compile from source. I avoid it whenever possible. :)
Supose you use an out of the box like Redhat or something that is fairly easy to find binarys for :) (I got one fedora core up ... on it right now actualy) lol

Lutherans, Methodists, Catholics...aren't you forgetting the Quakers? *raises hand* Got one right here y'know...lol I'm really tired but can't sleep so pretty much just ignore this post.

Like i said a belief in Christ...dont care what you are

Lutherans, Methodists, Catholics...aren't you forgetting the Quakers? *raises hand* Got one right here y'know...lol I'm really tired but can't sleep so pretty much just ignore this post.
I think we're pretty much all welcome. Heck, I'm a non-denominational protestant. :D

Hmm...maybe you should just telegram us the link instead of posting it for all to see....

I think we're pretty much all welcome. Heck, I'm a non-denominational protestant. :D
Hell if ya want I would even throw one up ... I may be atheist but I have nothing against honest discussion lol

The way i am, i may go to a Presbyterian church(baptized Methodist) I go along with the church of the bible and say i am a follower of the Way. Since Christ said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light, no one gets to the Father except through me"

Hell if ya want I would even throw one up ... I may be atheist but I have nothing against honest discussion lol

Heh, I bet a chat room full of us could get you to question your own beliefs, and get you back on track with God. ;)

I know you believe...deep down, you still believe...

Hmm...maybe you should just telegram us the link instead of posting it for all to see....
Nah. It won't be necessary. The site will be password controlled and I'll be keeping a tight leash on trolls. No worries. :)

Heh, I bet a chat room full of us could get you to question your own beliefs, and get you back on track with God. ;)

I know you believe...deep down, you still believe...
No ... I think it is a possiblity but I have faith that if he proves to be true he will truly be all loving and understand me :)
I dont think I will believe in all the littile details about him in the bible but so be it

:) I dont mind discussing though

No ... I think it is a possiblity but I have faith that if he proves to be true he will truly be all loving and understand me :)
I dont think I will believe in all the littile details about him in the bible but so be it

:) I dont mind discussing though

Believe me, he's all loving, and has proven himself in my life. The bible has been misinterpreted; but the concept is still the same. Love the Lord with all your heart, strength, mind and soul, because he loves you enough to send his only son through pain and suffering for our sins.

I retract my mean statement.

So, yeah... Jesus and all that... love thy lord, love thyself, and hate thy homosexual.

Stop.

True Christians hate no one.

That one guy was just too nice for me to attack his religion

Why would you attack someone's religion in the first place?

EDIT: Scratch that. I just found a big bug in the forum software. Going to switch back to phpBB. I'll post the link again tomorrow when it's ready. :headbang:

That one guy was just too nice for me to attack his religion

Why would you attack someone's religion in the first place?
like the inquisition?
Oh, no, I'm doing it again. :(

That one guy was just too nice for me to attack his religion

Why would you attack someone's religion in the first place?
Some common reasons:
Because they tried slamming it down your throat
Because you wish to save their souls (if you have a different flavour of religion)
Because you wish to save their sanity.
Because believing in a little green goblin on your shoulder that created the world is called madness, but when you call this creature God calling it madness is considered an insult.
Because the moral system of a dogmatic religion is often internally inconsistent, incomplete and can not be backed up with arguments other than "it is Gods will".
Related to the previous one: because you disagree vehemently with the religions moral stances on certain issues - to the point where you consider it evil. I personally have this problem with several flavours of Christianity, most notably Catholicism (which people probably noted by now). I also have it with fundamentalists that like to massacre people in their "holy wars" or "Jihads".
Because the religion tries to impose its way of thinking on the state and/or children (through the school system for instance, but also in family life).
Because some of the more vocal religious advocates use falsehoods, fabricated claims and distortions of truth to advocate their views (examples: making up research reports, distorting scientific theories (evolution anyone?), and then attack the distorted version of the theory), saying "if this particular theory is wrong, religion must be right")
Because some followers seem imcapable of logical thinking. Example: "millions of people are Christians - so Christianity must be right, because they cannot all be wrong !". This is nonsense on many levels, but the most obvious one is demonstrated by reversing the fallacy: "billions of people are NOT Christians - so Christians must be wrong"

Should I continue ?

I just thought I'd give my opinion on your post.


i have been around the block and back with christianity. i was so devout, i had entire books of the bible memorized, i went to religious school and read the bible multiple times.. for years. then i lightened up a bit, tried other aspects and views on christianity, and i've just given it up.
While nice and all, memorising the Bible and attending a Christian school is not what Christianity is about. I have only read the Bible once, did not go to a religious school (or remotely close to), yet I could not live without God. Primarily a Christian should focus on his/her relationship with God, and accept Christ as their saviour. The other stuff can make it extremely boring if you haven't got the first part down. Focus on God, and the Bible will get more important as your relationship with Him gets stronger.



i'm now non religious. christianity has hurt me too much, hurt the ones i love too much, and i feel it's been misinterpretted highly over the years. i've gotten to the point where i feel its original and basic beauty has become used and dirty, and used too often for evil instead of internal beauty.
From the first paragraph of your post, if that's what Christianity was to you, memorising the Bible, then I can understand that. But that is not what Christianity should be about.

Unfortunately, however, I agree that is often misinterpreted and used for 'evil'. By Christians who do not know better, by people who have not accepted Christ as their saviour (so not Christians) but still claim to be, and those who are self-seeking. Not all of us are like that, at all.



i would love to see the original messages of jesus actually practiced. however, this happens rarely and selectively, and its funny - the people who i feel have been the most practicing of these messages were not christians.
Hehe, you should come to where I live. It is not rare, or selective. And not all by Christians, but the majority is. :)

Because they tried slamming it down your throat
Far too common, unfortunately. But no Christian I know, or have seen, does that. Forcing people cannot work, though many still try. Blame them, not all of us.


Because you wish to save their souls (if you have a different flavour of religion)
Legitimate reason for Christians, not accepted by most others, however, so really doesn't work. The love of Jesus is a much more effective persuader.


Because you wish to save their sanity.
Never heard that one. :)


Because believing in a little green goblin on your shoulder that created the world is called madness, but when you call this creature God calling it madness is considered an insult.
Hehe, but God is much bigger than a little green goblin. And much more powerful. Hence, much more able to create the world. :)


Because the moral system of a dogmatic religion is often internally inconsistent, incomplete and can not be backed up with arguments other than "it is Gods will".
Yes inconsistent. It is our interpretations of God's will that is flawed, not God or His will.

And that "it is God's will" is a perfectly acceptable statement by a Christian, because that is what we believe. We live for God. It is obviously hard for a non-Christian to understand (or any non-religious person), but that is often all the reasoning we need for something to occur. 'God's will' makes perfect sense to us.

Some common reasons:
Related to the previous one: because you disagree vehemently with the religions moral stances on certain issues - to the point where you consider it evil. I personally have this problem with several flavours of Christianity, most notably Catholicism (which people probably noted by now). I also have it with fundamentalists that like to massacre people in their "holy wars" or "Jihads".Yeah, people have problems like that. Homosexuality, abortion are two such issues. We all have different opinions. And if you disagree with a religion, that is as good a reason as any not to follow it. As you do. If I disagreed with Christianity I would not be a Christian; it just so happens that I do not disagree with it.


Because the religion tries to impose its way of thinking on the state and/or children (through the school system for instance, but also in family life).Christian parents try to bring their children to the Lord. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that as long as the child does it of his/her free will, not forced. I was not forced, but taught. And I accepted, by myself. Some parents are not like this, which is bad on their part. That is not the religion or Christianity, that is bad parenting only.


Because some of the more vocal religious advocates use falsehoods, fabricated claims and distortions of truth to advocate their views (examples: making up research reports, distorting scientific theories (evolution anyone?), and then attack the distorted version of the theory), saying "if this particular theory is wrong, religion must be right") Haven't heard that, but I have heard that other, non-religious people, have done that. Therefore it can be said that it is a trait of humanity as a whole, not selectively Christians. And because Christians are humans too, they often make mistakes. Shame on them for not being perfect. :headbang:


Because some followers seem imcapable of logical thinking. Example: "millions of people are Christians - so Christianity must be right, because they cannot all be wrong !". This is nonsense on many levels, but the most obvious one is demonstrated by reversing the fallacy: "billions of people are NOT Christians - so Christians must be wrong"Heh, I've heard both of those arguments and think they're stupid. I agree, that is illogical.

*giggles* It's like a candy shop, I can't pick which to try first....



Tch. It's like trying to explain things to a kid that's just learned what the words "Prove it!" mean. Flaws? "It's our imperfect interpretation of God's will!" Go ahead, stick your fingers in your ears and hum to yourself. That way you can live in your world, and we can live in ours.

Do you know the best way to avoid the whole Christian-baiting thing? Stretch out the hand of love. I can't be arsed to fight with you guys and in Christ I don't have to, he does the fighting for me. He can and will defeat you in the end. Much love to you my brothers.

*hugs angry non-Christians*

By the way, I'm totally up for a Christian forum. I think our presence on Nation States is quite important. I'd like a space to discuss stuff away from the hustle and bustle of cut and thrust debate.

Stretch out the (white-gloved)hand of love.


Wanna come back to my room and have some jesus juice? *waits for it*


I just couldn't help myself, like shooting fish in a barrel.

Wanna come back to my room and have some jesus juice? *waits for it*


I just couldn't help myself, like shooting fish in a barrel.

Oh dear I am so hurt. How can I possibly survive your vicious taunts with an omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent being on my side? I see now how wrong i am. Please forgive my foolish need for a huge omnipotent being. Forgive my attempt to love people. :p

Alrighty. The site is up and basically running. C'mon over, sign up and don't forget to read the welcome message in the Announcements forum.

http://nschristians.armageddonproject.com/

Bump

Sounds fun. I'll be there.

But everyone should know....It is never ok to attack another's religion. You must teach and discuss in love and friendship. Full out attacks on a person's belief system does not promote understanding, just retaliation :)

Yay, I think I'll go there and invite a fellow Catholic NSer.

And yeah, I agree with all of you. Well obviously not all of you, but… oh, never mind, I've just had a tiring exam and my mind is not working.

Hang on, I've just gone onto the site… should our names be the same as our nations' names? 'Cos I really don't like Liskeinland.

bump

The forums are open. Link is above. :)

I know i have no chance of stopping anyone from posting here. I just thought that maybe if i was polite and requested that they wouldnt post their bashing stuff here they would. There is enough christian bashing that goes on here, why cant we just have one thread where christians can talk to one another and our beliefs without fear of everyone who doesnt believe bashing on them


your right..as soon as i saw the thread i was prepared to rant against you...instead i find a nice, polite request asking me not to..well done

bump

The forums are open. Link is above. :)
Just want to say nice site ... self made theme or imported?

Just want to say nice site ... self made theme or imported?
Imported and customized. It's the "NoseBleed" theme you can DL from phpBB.com, but I edited the header (added new text and the drawing of Jesus) to go with the site theme.

I'll be doing a lot more design mods in the future. Probably do a whole new theme, but I just needed something that wasn't the basic "blah" subSilver theme for the time being. :)

Imported and customized. It's the "NoseBleed" theme you can DL from phpBB.com, but I edited the header (added new text and the drawing of Jesus) to go with the site theme.

I'll be doing a lot more design mods in the future. Probably do a whole new theme, but I just needed something that wasn't the basic "blah" subSilver theme for the time being. :)
Ahhh I do method to madness theme too (modified I hated the quoted text color ... still got more moding to go)
http://geek.upwardthrust.us/phpBB2
Thats what it looks like lol

Ahhh I do method to madness theme too (modified I hated the quoted text color ... still got more moding to go)
http://geek.upwardthrust.us/phpBB2
Thats what it looks like lol
Very nice and clean. I'm more of a minimalist, though. :D

Good job Tex, thanks.

I applaud what you are doing, being an avid lutheran. Its very hard to find places were you can find people who can relate to you on the religious level.

Everyone at my church is old and conformists and I feel like I cant talk to my family about it (even though my dad is a pastor) because im afraid that im going to say something wrong.

I just thought I'd give my opinion on your post.

While nice and all, memorising the Bible and attending a Christian school is not what Christianity is about. I have only read the Bible once, did not go to a religious school (or remotely close to), yet I could not live without God. Primarily a Christian should focus on his/her relationship with God, and accept Christ as their saviour. The other stuff can make it extremely boring if you haven't got the first part down. Focus on God, and the Bible will get more important as your relationship with Him gets stronger.

I was only saying that to show that I'm not some ignoramus who randomly does not like the religion. My relationship with whatever it was was different than just memorizing shit and learnin about it. I had a full relationship, it wasn't some half-witted thing. Trust me. I can't put it into words. But in the end, I feel like I was wrong. And it's okay. That's a personal choice, and personal experience and thought has lead me here that I cannot put into words right now (bit of a rush right now, can't really concentrate)



From the first paragraph of your post, if that's what Christianity was to you, memorizing the Bible, then I can understand that. But that is not what Christianity should be about.
you're right, it's not what xtianity should be about. and in my experience, it wasn't. See my first paragraph.

Unfortunately, however, I agree that is often misinterpreted and used for 'evil'. By Christians who do not know better, by people who have not accepted Christ as their saviour (so not Christians) but still claim to be, and those who are self-seeking. Not all of us are like that, at all.
After a lot of thought, I cannot accept Jesus as a God or saviour. He said beautiful things, much like the teachings of Siddharta. I love the teachings, but I do not believe he was a god. I believe he was a man who was trying to revolutionize Judaism and wake people up to the love and awe of the Divine. He said he was the son of god, but he also said that we were children of god and brothers and sisters of christ. We are on the same level as Jesus, he was just trying to show how close we are and can be to the Divine. I think his followers have very much misinterpretted it over the years. Nowhere did Jesus actually say that he was "dying for our sins". I cannot accept a man to be god, but I can accept that he led a beautiful, sacrificial, revolutionizing and awe-inspiring life.



Hehe, you should come to where I live. It is not rare, or selective. And not all by Christians, but the majority is. :)

I'm quite happy where I live, but thanks.

And as long as I'm saying things in a Christian forum, may I just add two things that are often misconcieved by christians:

1. Buddhists do not worship Buddha
2. Darwin never, ever said that humans came from monkeys. Never in his evolutionary theory.

end.

your right..as soon as i saw the thread i was prepared to rant against you...instead i find a nice, polite request asking me not to..well done


Thank you for respecting my request

*laughs menacingly ha ha ha I'm not christian and I'm posting on this thread oooh I have foiled god again!

To start with I should let you know that I am not a Christian. I was raised to believe in God, but that has fallen by the wayside in my life when I found, to me at least, there is no God.
I was also brought up to respect the beliefs of others whether I agree with them or not. What I do not like about religious groups, whether they are Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu or whatever, are the extremists in those groups that will NOT accept other's beliefs.
If there IS one God, then each person has their own way to worship Him in their heart. I'm sure not all devout Catholics agree with everything that the Pope and Vatican tells them that they should do, and this follows for all religions. (Sikhism does not allow drinking, as is the same for Muslims, but that does not stop many from drinking.)
All I say is believe what you want, but do not force it on others. You can stilll have a good debate on the subject and come out with a better understanding of others.

To start with I should let you know that I am not a Christian. I was raised to believe in God, but that has fallen by the wayside in my life when I found, to me at least, there is no God.
I was also brought up to respect the beliefs of others whether I agree with them or not. What I do not like about religious groups, whether they are Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu or whatever, are the extremists in those groups that will NOT accept other's beliefs.
If there IS one God, then each person has their own way to worship Him in their heart. I'm sure not all devout Catholics agree with everything that the Pope and Vatican tells them that they should do, and this follows for all religions. (Sikhism does not allow drinking, as is the same for Muslims, but that does not stop many from drinking.)
All I say is believe what you want, but do not force it on others. You can stilll have a good debate on the subject and come out with a better understanding of others.

very, very beautifully put. i cannot agree with you more.
:)

All I say is believe what you want, but do not force it on others. You can stilll have a good debate on the subject and come out with a better understanding of others.
Ooooh. The exact sentiment I've been trying to get people to see for so long. You, dear poster, have earned a modest fan this fine day...or night...or whatever it is wherever you are.

And you're right about us Catholics and the Pope, y'know. Well, not all of us, I'm sure.....but until he sets something as Dogmatic Law (and even sometimes afterwards), there's always debate. Personally, I was all about JPII, even though I'm an extreme liberal in the Catholic Church. Benedict, I'm not so sure about....he was a hardcore conservative, even by the late Pope's standards, and that's one of the things about Catholicism that I personally never got into....

I wonder if God's going to feel offended if I take a few years off of church attendance. Probably a bad idea, if I'm entering the convent down the line, but.....we'll see how my priests react to the new Pope's policies.

... secure enough for chatting about our shared religion without having every atheist in the world showing up to bash us into oblivion.

I'm an athiest, I couldn't care less what you believe and I don't christian bash. Most of us are normal people.

When people use religion as an excuse to bash me, then I bash back. But don't think that people will nessecarily christian-bash just for the hell of it, because most of us won't.

ttfn

Tom

Very nice and clean. I'm more of a minimalist, though. :D
I see that ... I just like the style ... ehh lol