Announcements...

[chess]

I think that I might have given some people here some wrong impressions in the past. So, I'd just like to clear a few things up.
1. I am a Christian.
2. This means that I believe in one God, who expresses Himself as a Trinity of people - God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
3. This also means that I believe all other gods/godesses/deities-of-any-description are fakes, invented by humans or by Satan to trap people and keep them away from God.
4. In addition, I believe that everyone who isn't a Christian is going to Hell.
5. Understandably, I would really rather all you people didn't go to Hell. Hence, I'm praying for you. And I'm going to keep praying for you. Even if you ask me not to.

So, there we go.

Comments

yes, really. Here you are.

[firinel.livejournal.com]

Took me awhile to write this up. You should be impressed, I'm loathed to put my spiritual beliefs this finely into words. I think sometimes writing things down makes it too hard and fast, and I'm constantly open to growing in that way. I've done it under the same construct that Chess used.

1. I am a Christian by my own definition. That means that I have a personal relationship with God, and Jesus, and come to understand what it means for me to be Christian, and try to make an effort to be a perfect example of that. I will almost always fall short of that, nonetheless God accepts that because She knew of it before I was born, and made preperations for it by sending Jesus to us. This also means that other then some very core beliefs which Christians have in common, I do not believe it is Right to force my definition of what it is for me to be Christian, because other people are not me and therefore will not have the same dialogue with Her as I do.

2. This means that I believe in one God, who expresses Himself as a Trinity of people - God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, to some people, as that is the most relevent form to be represented in for them. I believe that there is biblical refferences to God as a mother (Psalm 131:1-2, http://www.crab.rutgers.edu/~scharme/Bible1.htm has a whole page of refferences, actually) and because we were all created in God's image (Gen 1:26-27) including women, I believe that in Truth God has no sex, and yet every sex. God is both female and male, and yet neither. God is not human and not able to be put into those constraints, God is pure Love, closest to human's souls, and nothing like our flesh which is bound up in gender. Humans have limited perception and find it easier to personify God, though God is no more capable of being personified then The Wind or Trees are. Whatever aspect that you are most comfortable placing on God, be that of a beardy grey old man, or whatever you think of Jesus as physically resemlbing, or a tongue of flame above our head, that is part of your dialogue with God, and may or may not be comparable to my dialogue with God.

3. This also means that I believe all other gods/godesses/deities-of-any-description are different aspects of God which have been manifested to thpse particular people. I believe it is sinful to ever assume that you have The Whole Turth clear to you. The Whole Truth is only ever clear to God. It is true that I think that people who have come to know Jesus have a much easier way of knowing The Whole Truth, a shortcut if you will, provided to us by God, but Christians will still always fall short, and therefore they are incapable of grokking The whole Truth. I'm not sure how to describe this more. Thomas and I recently had a conversation about this, and lifesavers.
He said: if you believe that eating green lifesavers is what gets you to heaven, and it turns out you do...
it doesn't mean you _did_ get to heaven by eating green lifesavers.
just that God had mercy on you, and accepted Jesus in your place as he w
that you do get to heaven.
it's just that God had mercy on you and accepted Jesus in your place, just as he would for a Christian.
me: don't you think that God will do that with ppl that aren't christian?
him: If they haven't... hm. I think it's possible/likely, given what I know of God. I don't say yes because I don't know anywhere he's even mentioned it.
oo, point.
I was thinking maybe Neil would think you meant that eating green lifesavers would be the way you DID get to heaven, rather than (almost) an irrelevancy in the
big scheme of things.
(that's a thought, though. so much church stuff is an irrelevancy in the big scheme of things.)
(My bibilical backing on this can, in part, be found in Luke 23:39-43 and John 1-- verse 9)

Re: yes, really. Here you are.

[passage.livejournal.com]

As you can see this has taken me a long time to reply to. It's something I've given a lot of thought and I'm still only going to approach one of your points (for the record: some of your points I do agree with, what you said about God being above gender: I agree, absolutly. However, It shouldn't be taken that just because I don't challenge a point doesn't mean I concur with it).

The passage in Luke, I'll quote it for those of you who don't know the entire bible off by heart (that'd be me then ...):

'"39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
42Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[6] "
43Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."'

Was this man a non-Christian?
Was he saved by faith in a different God?
A different religion?

It's quite clear from v43 that he was saved, but let's look at what leads up to that:

He challenges the insults hurled at Jesus.
He shows that he fears (and respects) God (and I think we get a strong hint from this that he recognises Jesus as God, at the very least he sees that Jesus is of God (cf v42)).
He realises that he's guilty: sinful and fallen and can't make it on his own.
He realises that Jesus is without sin, and that he is going on to be in glory (v42)
He calls on Jesus, placing his faith in Jesus for Salvation.

That's Christianity folks!

It's not an intellectual faith that this guy has, it's not a mature faith, and it's not an old faith: but it's faith.

He's cried out to Jesus for salvation and through Jesus he gets it!

The things I get from this story are:
God just wants a simple trust: intellect has nothing to do with salvation[1]
If you're on your last breath it's not too late to turn to God: he's still waiting, still wants to have you.[2]

On the John 1v9 ("The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.") section I can't quite see where you're comming from. Especially in juxtaposition with John 1v7("7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.")

Sorry that took so long to come,
Neil

[1] Don't misunderstand me to be saying that we shouldn't be using our intellect in our Faith, we should: because Christian life doesn't consist just of being saved and hanging around looking bored till the next life.

[2] One of my friends asked if you could become a Christian in the next life. I said I wasn't sure, but I wouldn't bank on it because there's no support for such a notion in the bible.

Anyone think there's stuff directly against such a notion?