Faith is waning in America? I dissent

Discussion in 'Faith and Religion' started by OldDude49, Apr 7, 2017.


  1. OldDude49

    OldDude49 Just n old guy

    In his own words... worth a read IMHO... he has a lot more to say...


    "My wife was agnostic. Then one day, through the influence of a friend and a church, she met Jesus. The first word to come into my mind: divorce. As portrayed in The Case for Christ, the forthcoming movie based on our story, I set out to disprove her beliefs and rescue her from the cult of Christianity.

    Oops. After nearly two years, the scales tipped. Having encountered the persuasive evidence for Christianity, I concluded it would have required more faith to maintain my atheism than to become a believer.

    I ended up taking a 60 percent pay cut to leave my journalism career and become a pastor. For 30 years now, I’ve watched the world from the vantage point of a pulpit. What’s the view from there?"

    Faith is waning in America? I dissent
     
  2. chimo

    chimo the few, the proud, the jarhead monkey crowd

    My faith in God is just fine, thanks. My faith in government, not so much.
     
  3. snake6264

    snake6264 Combat flip flop douchebag

    I think that Faith is still strong in the majority of Americans however the faith in organized Religion is zero. They all have been guilty of abuse and or just being money hungry. Faith does not have a dollar value. The church no matter what faith should be concerned first with your soul first and your wallet second
     
    Seepalaces, duane, Ura-Ki and 3 others like this.
  4. OldDude49

    OldDude49 Just n old guy

    you are not alone...
     
  5. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    BINGO! My wife is Russian Orthodox and practices her religion quite faithfully. I was also baptized Russian Orthodox about 6-10 years ago mostly to make her and her old mother happy. I have a strong faith in God but zero faith in religion. I am in constant battle with wife's priest whenever he is at the house because he insists they are connected. I disagree. He is a really nice guy, smart, from Moldova, but I just don't believe in religion anymore. I consider the bible to be a book filled with good examples, sort of a reference book on how one should live their life but not a factual non-fiction. Frankly, I think religion has got it all wrong about God but I admit that is my personal opinion that could be wrong and I fault no one that follows any religion, on the contrary, I think it is noble endeavor but...not for me. Anyway, I find it interesting that I am not alone in this opinion because in all honesty, I thought I was.
     
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  6. duane

    duane Monkey+++

    I agree, I believe that there is a God, that the Bible and Christ have a lot to teach me, and that most organized religions start out well, like governments and most other organizations and then morph into something more interested in spreading their power and control than their original goals.
     
    Bandit99 likes this.
  7. Seepalaces

    Seepalaces Monkey+++

    Churches are full of hypocrites, like me. One of the first tenets of Christianity is that all humans are sinners. I can witness that even though we're a giant conglomeration of sinners, we figure out how to rub elbows together and get along while helping others. Yes, there has been great evil done in the name of the church, but there has been great evil done in the name of nearly everything (See Mao, Stalin, and Kim Jong Un for further). If we're going to say we won't participate in anything or with anyone who has every been guilty of abuse or being money hungry, I hope you're an introvert because you're going to have a lot of alone time ahead of you.
     
    Yard Dart likes this.
  8. OldDude49

    OldDude49 Just n old guy

    On the Bible... odd thing... the dead sea scrolls (very old mind you) say the same thing as the KJV...

    here is a little on that...

    thinkin many have bought into the twisted stuff that the media and school indoctrination types have put out.

    Question exactly where in the Bible does it say we are the only being in the universe?

    I have heard for years that the Bible says that... yet I can not find it and have asked others that know way more then I where it is...

    they have NOT found it either... so if any of you can point it out... please do... book chapter and verse please...

    and near as I've been able to discover... it does in fact say there are other beings...

    as to the truth of it all... biggest problem I see is so few learn what it actually says... it is after all an instruction book for life IIRC...

    before and after death it would seem...

    booze? well... it does say not to tempt a brother or sister that is addicted to it...

    also says we are to enjoy it and even says there are times when we are SUPPOSED to drink it...

    Also...

    Been thinkin on something for a time now. Found a verse that seems to support what I've been thinkin on. It could be called a theory I suppose but I am not a researcher or scientist so?

    I am not saying or claiming this is fact! I am saying this is something that I think is worthy of consideration and thought and discussion. I request that my poor communications skills be forgiven in advance. I find this somewhat difficult to put into words. When I think on it all I see so many things that seem to connect and my mind goes off on tangents.

    Ephesians 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

    Thinkin we tie this in with the God particle that science says there is a belief that it may exist but seem unable, at this time, to find or prove.

    The God particle claim says it is very small and is all through and between everything and stretches all through everything, everywhere. There you have the through all and in all.

    Now all this got me to thinkin on so many things. Well first off, for me, It seems to explain a lot. If God is the actual particles or is similar to those particles but has full control of those particles. This would explain many other verses. Kinda like a big puzzle suddenly coming together. So many in fact that I would have trouble listing em all. Might be easier to reread the Bible with the above view point in mind? Don't change it any... just kinda puts it all in a new or different light?

    Here is a thought. Says ya can't hide anything from God. Well if God is within or through as those particles then how could ya? Knows all and see all. Well if God is all through and in then?
     
    Seepalaces likes this.
  9. Lone Gunman

    Lone Gunman Draw Varmint!

    As with mathematical realities, sometimes it is necessary ‘to extrapolate’ certain of the more abstruse spiritual truths from Sacred Scripture. The spiritual wisdom you’re looking for here is one such truth. What did Jesus repeatedly say throughout His ministry? ‘Let he who hath the ears to hear, hear! * Why? Because, when it comes to spiritual truth(s), most men are neither able to see nor do they hear.

    This is the reason ‘Why ’ I have always thought that any man who says, ‘There is no God. ’ is correct! For that man there is, indeed, no God! Here, I’ll ‘extrapolate’ this one for you; perhaps it will help:

    He is not The God of the dead, but The God of the living: Ye, therefore, do greatly err.’ ( ~ Mark 12:27)

    Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.’ ‘For in the resurrection** they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

    But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, ‘ I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?' God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.’ ( ~ Matthew 22:29-32)

    Let not your heart be troubled: Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.

    In My Father's house there are many mansions:’ ‘If it were not so, I would have told you.’ ‘I go to prepare a place for you; and, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also; and whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. *** ( ~ John 14:1-2)

    In answer to your second question: Intellect (including human intellect) is neither bound by physical space, nor confined to physical matter. Men only imagine that they are.

    The Truth is that we are, all, precise individual aspects of the same concomitant universal thought — Individual aspects which are, at the present time, out of sync with the greater universal mind which has conceived them. Understand?

    * Matthew 11:15, Matthew 13:9 & 34, Mark 4:9, & Luke 8:8, 14:35.

    **
    In order to cogently answer this question the listener must know to which type of resurrection Christ is referring; for there are several.

    *** The ‘way ’ Christ goes is the way of mortal death. The question, then, devolves to: First, what is the correct nature of ‘death ’; and, second, to ‘where’ does Christ go? Biblically speaking the questioner is left with two pertinent clues: One, ‘He is The God of the living ’; and, two, ‘In My Father’s house there are many mansions.

    Look! If He is ‘The God of the living ’ then He could NOT have created a ‘dead universe ’ — Understand?

    Furthermore, if Christ passed through mortal death and returned again into carnal being then, indubitably, He has been restored from mortal death and remains alive. Christ, also, has personal access for Himself to God’s ‘other mansions ’. Those same ‘mansions ’ to which He has promised entrée to those who, both, accept and believe in those spiritual truths which He, on the one hand, physically fulfilled and, on the other hand, carefully taught.

    Oh, yeah! In answer to the original question, 'Is faith waning in America? ' Yes, it most definitely is. In fact horribly so!
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2017
    Seepalaces and BTPost like this.
  10. Bishop

    Bishop Monkey+++

    I believe in myself
     
  11. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    God is always present with you.... you either accept that or you do not....He will wait for you till you are ready.
     
    BTPost likes this.
  12. chelloveck

    chelloveck Diabolus Causidicus

    Which god?......there are....just so many of them?....It's a theistic crap shoot:eek: What if the wrong one is chosen? :cautious: And so many different ever afters....many of them simply terrible....and some supposedly pretty awesome....It's some how,very comforting,to know that god is with me,even when I'm on the toilet, wiping my nether region...that kind of intimacy is just so, very rare. :love:
     
  13. oldman11

    oldman11 Monkey+++

    Chelloveck I believe you know the right God ,there is only one.
     
  14. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    "Yes, there has been great evil done in the name of the church, but there has been great evil done in the name of nearly everything..."
    Yes, but those things are not, were not, religions that supposedly practice what they preach, what is in the bible. And, when push comes to shove most religions are simply the same as those 'things.' That is the problem. So, while I would not trust Mao or Stalin or those any of those things I also cannot/will not trust or believe in religions because they say one thing and do another as shown throughout history and actually daily, mostly to protect themselves and to accumulate power and wealth. And, why do I need to have religion to worship God? Why do I have to do things in their fashion like Confession which Russian Orthodox practices in order to worship God? I don't. I don't need religions but religions need me. I am not saying they are a bad thing because like any organizations there are some benefits to belonging to them: companionship, projects, meeting people... My wife enjoys her church tremendously. But, needed for me to worship God? And, with their track record? No thanks...
     
  15. chelloveck

    chelloveck Diabolus Causidicus

    That is evidently what you believe...but why you, and others believe that, may not be particularly convincing....certainly, the sacred texts that I have read don't seem to be very convincing, indeed, they seem to have the opposite affect of making me question the truth claims of each of the world's main monotheist religions. If there truly is only one Omni god...his/her/its communication skills suck badly.

    Almost every monotheist religious sect believes that their god (or at least their interpretation of their god) is the one true god....polytheists of course have no objections to believing in more than one god...and to pantheists...god is all...and all is god...but the evidence offered by each sect seems pretty scant, and tends to rely on believing their particular truth claims simply accepted "on faith".

    As time marches on, Western nations are trending more and more to secularism, with traditional mainstream Christian sects losing conservative parishioners to more evangelical sects, and losing many at a somewhat faster rate, to the nones...(including atheists and agnostics...and baseball / football depending on season). The good news for theists is that Allah's flock is growing ( a little faster than they are killing each off, unfortunately)...so, there's that I suppose....some kind of a win for people of faith, rather than those damned skeptical atheists. :(
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2017
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