Any knowledgable Christians here?

[Modelworks]

I was raised as a baptist, southern baptist at that.
For me it was always hard to understand the way the church taught things.
It made no sense.

What I learned as I got older and started studying other religions is that you have to put yourself in that time and place for whatever you are reading. If you try to use your current mindset to think about something written 2000 years ago,your going to walk away confused.
Add to that the influence of the various churches and governments over the centuries and it can make religion very daunting.

I finally think I have come away with a very strong relationship with God that really does not follow any established religion.
Its one where I believe he exist and one where I think he really does want what is best for us.
I just don't believe he does things like miracles but instead tries to guide us.
I think God is like a father looking over his family , wanting whats best for them, but the child is grown and on their own now and all he can do is offer advice from time to time, or maybe a shoulder to cry on when times are tough.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: QurazyQuisp

Originally posted by: JDub02

Originally posted by: Kasper4christ
Interesting, that seems to be one of those 'inconvenient truths' that so many people end up glazing over. "God wants the best, if you're not getting it, somethings wrong." Try teaching that to 3rd world countries.. <sigh> I know its not a direct quote, don't take it as one.

Personally, I rather enjoy Mars Hill, and their primary preaching pastor Mark Driscoll. They're goin through a rather interesting series on Doctrine, check it out if your curious.

Prosperity doesn't necessarily mean monetary wealth. And just because poverty exists doesn't mean that God endorses and is responsible for it.

I don't care so much about the rest of that article, but rather the video at the top. HE STUMBLES when asked if Jews, Muslims, Hindus and so on are going to go to hell. If he truly believed in Christian fundamentals he'd respond with something along these lines: Jesus tells us that we are not to condemn, however, Jesus says "I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me."

Further, the whole do good things issue that Joel seems so set on... Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith?and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God?not by works, so that no one can boast." I'm not saying that we shouldn't do good things, but our relationship with God, our salvation is not hinged on it.

Though Religiously/Doctrinally accurate, it is generally used as an excuse to reject the teachings of Jesus. Peoplle want to do the least possible in order to achieve "Salvation", Jesus had a much more bolder idea.

 

[djheater]

I was raised Disciples of Christ in the south surrounded by a baptist and evangelical culture. I found that the compassion that, as a child, I understood to be Christ's teachings, were not necessarily the teachings of the religion of Chrisitanity. In spiritual seeking I found that Buddhist and Taoist texts echoed things I had come to understand through Christianity, and this made me seriously reevaluate my religion.

I found that my faith was entirely seperate from my religion. I found echoes of my faith, my personal understanding and dialog with God, in all the religions and faiths I investigated. I came to believe that religious identification was irrelevant and if pressed, I will say I'm a Unitarian Universlist. In short I don't really doubt the existence of a higher power, but I've come to believe it is hubris to attempt to explain it at any level.

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: QurazyQuisp
Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith?and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God?not by works, so that no one can boast."

I changed the bolding to emphasize this part -- note its presence and its semantic impact. So that no one can boast -- that, being a reason should be something to consider. In this view, the problem with doing good is not the doing of good, but rather the getting caught up in it -- not necessarily in just boasts, but rather the internal thought "I did a really good thing" -- such thoughts are termed binding. The spirituality of Jesus is not a trivial matter. It's very subtle and profound, and those who simplify it to a nominal cultism are among its greatest enemies IMO.

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: djheater
...

Bravo, and thanks for your post, and also for the speech your signature takes us to. However, I suspect that the proper application of Krishnamurti's principles in reference to him would be to reject him as a teacher.

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: E equals MC2
I don't really care for those small details. I'm questioning the very fundamentals of Christianity which no one sufficiently answered and gave me the run-around answers. And this is with genuine effort by talking to my church pastor (who holds PhD in Harvard if that means anything to you), countless nights of discussion with fellow good-willing yet knowledge-lacking Christian friends & family. That in result really turned me away..

So how far ahead have you come now? Were you not also making the mistake of confusing religion with faith or God? God is beyond any religion, so far beyond as to make the comparison ludicrous. To rely on religion as the only support for faith is similarly ludicrous.

It is possible to have faith, specifically faith in God and Jesus, without the moral objections which can arise if you limit the beliefs to certain interpretative Christian doctrines. If you're serious about this, I think you should look quite a bit farther out and in, and pay attention to that in you raising these concerns. Christianity has gotten itself hung up on the notion of faith, such that it finds it dangerous to consider that some of its doctrine may not be as it fervently tries to believe. This is understandable, but not valid. Faith has to be real, and internal, not mere swallowing of dogma while holding your nose hoping to eventually get better and get some great reward.

Many here might object to me talking about Christianity, as I contest some of its doctrine, and were is not for some of Jesus' gentle words, would probably have told me so more plainly already, and you've apparently left out of consideration in your questions all who similarly diverge from formal Christianity. But note the difference between faith and religion again. I personally don't have a problem with the issues you raised in my own faith, which I find consistent with the Christianity of Jesus as far as it goes, so I also say, drink deeply the faith in Jesus, and don't get hung up on the nastier parts of the doctrine, which are no more than a limited view from a religion stretched as far as it can go in trying to contain God.

God is not limited to a single religion, people, culture, or region, etc.. If you've come so far in your faith, you should be able to make the simple leap to this point. Reconciling religions is not easy, but people have been doing that, here and there, from the beginning. In our time, we're fortunate to be able to more easily access other religions, and those of varied faiths, to strengthen, inform, and correct and reconcile our own faith. This is the best time ever for such efforts, and they do not go unrewarded. But it must be internal.

Cheers.