My Weekly Devotional

[Mendalla]

firstly I am not nore is Christianity selling anything

Sure it is. That's the whole point of being a missionary religion. Selling the faith to others.

All other beliefs do share in hope of some sort, non have a Risen Lord,

non

As for the risen Lord, why do we need one? Many of us live quite happily without believing in one. And a risen Lord is only a source of hope if one believes in it, which is no different from the hope of any other religion.

 

[blackbelt1961]

Sure it is. That's the whole point of being a missionary religion. Selling the faith to others.

no your wrong, Missionaries help the poor as Jesus helped, The message of Jesus offers Hope in a dying evil world. Hope is not a commodity to sell, it is a free gift

As for the risen Lord, why do we need one?

because we are subjective creatures, God offers Himself , physically visible so he can be known , the He is Life/Love/Hope /Eternal

Many of us live quite happily without believing in one.

I have no doubt, Currently anyhow , but the Eternal does not stop at the grave

And a risen Lord is only a source of hope if one believes in it,

Truth stands as Truth even if one believes it exists or not

which is no different from the hope of any other religion.

which is different, all other faiths is about reaching/appeasing the Devine , only Christianity is about the Devine reaching to us, showing us the Truth, the Life and the Way

 

[unsafe]

Mendalla --your quote ----As for the risen Lord, why do we need one? Many of us live quite happily without believing in one

How do you know that --you only know one side ----you have no idea what life and happiness believing in a risen Lord can bring -----

You can't comment on a side you have never experienced ----The Born Again Christ-ian knows both sides and can say which side gives the most happiness in life -----So until you have the experience of both ---you can only speak from your side -----

 

[chansen]

firstly I am not nore is Christianity selling anything , Christianity offers hope for free for all, if that is Truth , then it is truth , regardless if one questions or not. All other beliefs do share in hope of some sort, non have a Risen Lord,

I think Donald Trump would prefer a saviour who wasn't killed.

 

[blackbelt1961]

I think Donald Trump would prefer a saviour who wasn't killed.

you asked him?

 

[chansen]

He likes war heroes who weren't captured, so it stands to reason he likes saviours who manage to avoid getting themselves killed.

 

[blackbelt1961]

He likes war heroes who weren't captured, so it stands to reason he likes saviours who manage to avoid getting themselves killed.

bad reasoning , he prays to this one

 

[Mendalla]

all other faiths is about reaching/appeasing the Devine

Um, no. Buddhism certainly does not fit that description nor does Taoism. Nor does UU'ism, but we're a bit of a weird case since we don't have a set metaphysics.

 

[blackbelt1961]

Um, no. Buddhism certainly does not fit that description nor does Taoism. Nor does UU'ism, but we're a bit of a weird case since we don't have a set metaphysics.

no?

please show me which religion , God comes into mans system as a man and teaches by Act and Deed that God is indeed love? and then offers Hope that death is not the end?

 

[chansen]

bad reasoning , he prays to this one

LMAO

He'll say what Christians want to hear. You guys are useful idiots to him. Christians get abortion restrictions, the official ability to weigh in on politics and lip service to Jesus, and he and other rich dudes get huge tax cuts and environmental regulations eliminated. It's a marriage made in heaven. American Christians will pay more in taxes and health care for fewer services and a shredded social safety net, but they got the president to say "Christ" again and disparage Muslims and atheists, and consider that a win.

These guys do not care about Christians. They care that they make and keep more of their money. Christians are just how they get the votes to do that.

Imagine what will happen when atheists outnumber Christians in America. How long until people like Donald Trump are suddenly anti-religious?

 

[blackbelt1961]

LMAO

He'll say what Christians want to hear. ?

your the first atheist I know who doesn't believe in the spiritual but has ESP

 

[chansen]

Isn't it blindingly obvious to you? The guy who can't recite anything from the bible unless speaking from a script, is suddenly a devout Christian?

Christians are being used. If Donald Trump's granddaughter gets knocked up at 16, or his grandson knocks up a girl at a similar age, that girl is on a private jet heading to Switzerland for a short procedure and will be back in the States in a couple of days. He's not against abortion - he's against paying money to the government, just like he's against paying smaller suppliers what they're owed.

People like you are useful idiots to people like him. You hear what you want to hear, and you're sold. No investigation, no skepticism at all. We see that with the claims you bring here, and you're not close to alone. Your predisposition to believe based on what you want to hear is too common, and it is dangerous to countries because you are part of a voting block that is extremely easy to manipulate. You will immediately want to project that trait onto me, but I'm not the one bringing easily-refuted crap here, and most of the rest of this place knows it.

The problem is, pointing this out only makes people like you retreat further into your bubble. The only way to break this cycle is to get better at teaching critical thinking skills in school, which is why Donald Trump puts people like evangelical nutcase Betsy DeVos in charge of public education. Many Christians and many rich people want the same thing - gullible idiots who will believe anything.

 

[crazyheart]

If it was Hindus or Wiccans who were giving him his base, he would pray to them. lol

 

[GeoFee]

Hi,

firstly I am not nore is Christianity selling anything , Christianity offers hope for free for all, if that is Truth , then it is truth , regardless if one questions or not. All other beliefs do share in hope of some sort, non have a Risen Lord,

Scripture speaks of the fallen church as a harlot. She is in bed with the diverse powers shaping a world of avarice and greed. A world where covetousness is incited to fever pitch. Black Friday being an example. Because of this the people in the land suffer. Every day more are cut off from the social good produced by labour in service to money. Countless millions of children around the world are left destitute while politicians and priests live lives of pride, privilege and prestige.

Look around the land. See the massive temples. Imagine the revenue required to establish and maintain these temples. That revenue being extracted from a gullible multitude convinced that life on earth does not matter to God. What matters is who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. The way of heaven consists in conformity to the preacher's proclamation of salvation. True belief is made evident by commitment to the temple doctrine and economy. Refusal leads to hell.

To me this seems quite contrary to what we find in scripture. The temple of brick and mortar has no future. The future of God is revealed in the human body of Christ. A living human being comprising persons of every tongue, every tribe and every nation. Each called and authorized to make manifest the spiritual gift of God. Some are teachers. Some are administrators. Some are seers and sayers. Each contributing their very best insight and energy to promote the good of all. Each alone, and all together, making manifest the character of God revealed in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.

People fear death. That fear is very often repressed. This leads to neurosis. Better to face fear. I remember an evening many years ago. Was laying on a cot in a small room. I heard footsteps coming from many miles away. They came closer and closer. Soon they were at the door. Then they came up the stairs. Right to the closed door of my room. The figure of death walked through the door. Stopped by the foot of my bed. Giving me the eye. I said, if you are here to take me away I am ready to go. If you are here to frighten me it is of no use. Then death was gone. I slipped deeper into my peaceful sleep.

Death is nothing more or less than the putting off our circumstantial being. Our existential being remains. Those who determine to prefer existential being to circumstantial being will not be disappointed. Should the majority choose this way, the market economy would be devastated. It being dependant on desire directed to the attraction of satisfactions that cannot satisfy. Socrates on pandering is instructive.

Seems to me God may have used Socrates to open a way of healing for a religious and political consciousness focused on external satisfactions to the neglect of internal satisfactions. The former being the domain of money and the latter being the domain of spirit.

I have learned much from the stories about Jesus. I have also learned much from the stories about Socrates, Lao Tzu, Buddha and many others who preferred the way of the spirit to the way of the world. Each leaving a rich legacy available as remedy for our deep human sickness. Not the healing of a magic pill. The healing of a changed life, a new priority and a new commitment. Giving all that is in me to serve the common good and resist the increase of private interest.

George

 

[GeoFee]

Good news?

 

[blackbelt1961]

Isn't it blindingly obvious to you? The guy who can't recite anything from the bible unless speaking from a script, is suddenly a devout Christian?

[FONT=Open Sans, sans-serif]apparently its obvious to you, an atheist who thinks you have to recite the bible to be a christian , secondly, you have no Idea what Trump knows scripturally.

Like all your posts you assume and assume Big Time [/FONT]

 

[blackbelt1961]

Hi,Scripture speaks of the fallen church as a harlot. George

not all the church, that you yourself and I are a part of. The world has and will have many Powers & Principalities, non above my God who's grace is sufficient for me

 

[GeoFee]

Hi,

Unreserved support for this:

The only way to break this cycle is to get better at teaching critical thinking skills in school,

George

 

[chansen]

apparently its obvious to you, an atheist who thinks you have to recite the bible to be a christian ,

Donald Trump couldn't find a bible in a bookshelf full of bibles. I'm more biblically literate than the President of the United States. That doesn't bother you at all. He is known for walking backstage at the Miss America and Miss Teen America pageants while the women and girls are running around half naked...and nothing. He bragged over a hot mic that he could grab attractive women by the pussy. Nothing. Why nothing? He said nice things about Christians and other things Christians wanted to hear.

If I wanted you to like me, I could have that in an instant. It would be so easy.

If Donald Trump wasn't so supportive of Christians in his corner, these things he has done and said would be used against him by Christians as evidence of his moral failings. If Donald Trump came out as an atheist, and I hate to admit that he probably is an atheist, or perhaps thinks he is God, these stories would be held up by Christians as the reason he had to be impeached.

secondly, you have no Idea what Trump knows scripturally.

Like all your posts you assume and assume Big Time

Watch people fall over themselves to agree with you.

 

[blackbelt1961]

Donald Trump couldn't find a bible in a bookshelf full of bibles. I'm more biblically literate than the President of the United States. That doesn't bother you at all. He is known for walking backstage at the Miss America and Miss Teen America pageants while the women and girls are running around half naked...and nothing. He bragged over a hot mic that he could grab attractive women by the pussy. Nothing. Why nothing? He said nice things about Christians and other things Christians wanted to hear.

If I wanted you to like me, I could have that in an instant. It would be so easy.

If Donald Trump wasn't so supportive of Christians in his corner, these things he has done and said would be used against him by Christians as evidence of his moral failings. If Donald Trump came out as an atheist, and I hate to admit that he probably is an atheist, or perhaps thinks he is God, these stories would be held up by Christians as the reason he had to be impeached.



Watch people fall over themselves to agree with you.

dude if you wana start a Trump thread Go ahead