Religion & Spirituality - 4 March 2007

2007-03-04 05:58:20 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous

They even thumbs down the answer I gave in response to "does anyone have any prayer requests" because my answer was yes and so very important to me, I can't understand why someone would thumbs down that answer. Who must I have offended so much?

2007-03-04 05:57:28 · 27 answers · asked by June smiles 7

Help!
I am afraid to die, because I might burn eternally in hell, but too afraid to live because I can't seem to stop sinning. I was taught that:

Rock music,
Dancing,
Partying,
Jewelry & makeup,
TV,
Anything except music praising God,
Drinking,
Smoking,
Drugs,
Pre-marital sex,
Any relation other than for lifetime commitment,
Not reading the Bible,
Not praying to & begging God daily,
Not loving God,
Not serving God,
Killing,
Stealing,
Cheating,
Lying,
Having idol Gods,
Lusting (whether acted on or not),

are ALL horrid sins that I will go to hell for, in addition to many, many others.

I have questioned myself many times, asking why I am going to be blamed for sinning, if it is so impossible to be a perfect person who is totally sin free. If it is NOT possible, why am I being blamed then? Shouldn't the blame be on God for designing us to fail?

I am afraid to live, afraid to die. Anyone else feel this way?

2007-03-04 05:55:05 · 20 answers · asked by Anonymous

he was preaching on service to God and how important it was to go to church on Sunday. he said, and i quote "if u have a job that makes it impossible for you to attend church on Sunday, well, God will take care of that little problem". Is this an innocous statement, or is he saying that God would cut out ur money if u didn't show up on Sunday? what's the motive behind this statement?

2007-03-04 05:54:31 · 21 answers · asked by kelleygaither2000 1

What were his 4 very special contributions to Islam, but more than 4 will be appreciated. Thanks, Jazak Allah Khair.

2007-03-04 05:54:17 · 3 answers · asked by Dr.Qutub 7

2007-03-04 05:53:50 · 4 answers · asked by Wondrer 4

2007-03-04 05:51:31 · 13 answers · asked by Eric 2

What were his 4 very special contributions to Islam, but more than 4 will be appreciated. Thanks, Jazak Allah Khair.

2007-03-04 05:51:17 · 3 answers · asked by Dr.Qutub 7

2007-03-04 05:50:52 · 19 answers · asked by manna eater 3

some many of you are too lazy to attend sunday survices, or would much rather sleep in or something?

2007-03-04 05:50:52 · 26 answers · asked by Anonymous

We've been without a pastor for awhile, and our congregation started dwindling. Then, a very conservative element in our congregation sort of took over, which drove even more people away.
We interviewed a pastor, but the conservatives didn't like her because she was gay.
Most of us thought she was great...exactly the type of loving and vibrant personality we needed. The conservatives threatened to leave. They harassed people on the phone every week, they showed up at members homes - they were bullying and awful.
Finally, we'd had enough.
We told them to go if they had to, but we were going to hire this godly and loving woman.
That was two months ago, and things have never been better.
She's really turned things around for us.
I thank God that He sent us this wonderful pastor, and I pray that those bitter people who fought to keep us in darkness are ok

2007-03-04 05:49:30 · 18 answers · asked by like a BOSS 6

I have already seen two answers to questions on here, informing us that 500 poeple saw him after his supposed resurrection, maybe both answers were from the same person but....

Who else claims that anybody other than a few of Jesus's closest cohorts saw him at that time?

Oh and by the way, church people, read your freakin Bible.

2007-03-04 05:49:01 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-03-04 05:47:36 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous

Could I be a star in Star Wars episode 7. Lucas would have to decide to make it first thought. I truly prayed sincerely to the Christian God, Allah, some others, and then Divinity in general. Nothing happened. When was the last time this God guy cleaned his ears?

2007-03-04 05:47:00 · 17 answers · asked by Jedi 4

my friends account,



lately i have been having dreams with my uncle who just died very young unexpectantly ...where i encounter wiht him
my first dream we were drving in the car and he is sitting next to me but i say i thought you were died and he just laughs and seds no
then in another he and hugged me for a long time and whispered that i'm special


please dont answer rudly im not in the mood

2007-03-04 05:45:27 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-03-04 05:44:14 · 22 answers · asked by burlingtony 2

Thank You

2007-03-04 05:43:19 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-03-04 05:41:09 · 36 answers · asked by jay or 2

The Holy Spirit was so powerful today that the Pastor didn't even get to his sermon. Praise the Lord everyone!

2007-03-04 05:40:51 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous

Others say .... they don't like to push their faith on others ... or talk about it. What is your opinion about talking about your faith to others ?????

2007-03-04 05:40:09 · 11 answers · asked by burlingtony 2

I don't want to be a peasant.

2007-03-04 05:38:16 · 12 answers · asked by Jedi 4

In Mark 15:34 it is recorded that; "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Was this a cry for help? Did Jesus feel that God deserted him during the hour of need? If none of this, what was the cry for, and why the question as it was?

2007-03-04 05:36:09 · 26 answers · asked by Anonymous

Matthew 4:8-9 says that Satan offered to give Jesus "all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor", but Jesus refused.

Does this mean that all of these kingdoms belonged to Satan? How is this possible? Can someone please explain?

2007-03-04 05:35:01 · 13 answers · asked by Billybww 4

I find it hard to understand that seemingly rational people believe in god, much less the Bible god.

Let me put the question this way: Can it be that the more thoughtful and educated among them secretly acknowledge that god is false? At least on some level?

(NOTWITHSTANDING THEIR FERVANT AND ADAMANT DECLARATIONS OF BELIEF.)

Any anecdotal evidence to suppport my theory?

2007-03-04 05:32:35 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous

I read this in a book on intuition...and the author was talking about lower energy spirits who might mean more harm than good?

2007-03-04 05:31:36 · 6 answers · asked by ? 6

my dad died last monday and my father in law on the thursday, my dad was burried on friday, and my father in law will be creamated on tuesday any one got a good poem for the tuesday one, he was scottish, and his wife died a couple of years ago, his name was john, his wife was hannah,

2007-03-04 05:28:56 · 5 answers · asked by alanstraughton 3

I know http://www.everythingunderthemoon.com/bookofshadows
I ain't sure if that stuff is real or bad for lord please help as soon as possible!

2007-03-04 05:27:18 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-03-04 05:26:50 · 9 answers · asked by brit 1

*Faith Under Fire
Christian believers executed in North Korea*
'Refusal to worship Kim Jong-il, being caught worshiping God brings harsh
Posted: January 21, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Michael Ireland
Assist News Service
Reports about four Christians being executed for their faith in North
Korea are circulating in the Christian media.
According to Mark Kelly of Baptist Press: "The Democratic People's
Republic of North Korea is well-known as a country where Christians are
persecuted for their faith. Because the government there keeps a tight
lid on communication, however, only rarely does specific information
leak out."
Quoting the World Bible Translation Center's Gary Bishop in a
conversation with Mission Network News, Kelly reports that one man who
worked as an evangelist was executed after being caught with two Korean
New Testaments in his possession.
Bishop says North Korean Christians are becoming increasingly uneasy
about possessing a Bible.
He said: "A man that's known to be an evangelist. He's probably not an
evangelist to anyone other than his family members, but he was caught
with two of our Korean New Testaments in his possession and he was
executed for that."
Kelly writes that Bishop also told Mission Network News: "A woman and
her grandmother were washing clothes when a New Testament fell out of
the woman's clothing. Somebody reported it, and both she and her
grandmother were quickly executed. And an army general who had become a
believer was caught evangelizing men in his unit and was executed by a
fellow officer."
Kelly says Bishop told MNN that despite the oppression – or perhaps
because of it – God seems to be working.
Bishop said: "In response to a very, very oppressive government (and)
human injustices, people are looking for an answer other than their own
government. And, I believe that's awakening the resilience of believers
in North Korea to say, 'We have another answer. There is another way to
believe.'"
MNN reports that thousands of North Korean Christians have been killed
for their faith. Many more are in work camps.
According to Bishop, there's no sign of the persecution easing any.
"What you have is a leader who is proclaiming himself to be god. It's
prescribed that they daily worship him. And, refusal to do that and
being caught worshiping God just brings that kind of governmental
response. And, as best we can tell, the tempo of that is not lessening."
Bishop says it's obvious what that increasing pressure on Christians is
doing to Bible smuggling. "It becomes more and more difficult to get a
person to risk their life to carry those in to North Korea." With rivers
frozen, it's a prefect time to smuggle Bibles into the country.
While persecution continues, World Bible Translation Center has no
intention of stopping the flow of Bibles into the country. "We do need
to begin reprinting and get text ready as God enables people to take
those in."
North Korea: Country in Focus
Population: 22,912,177
Government: Authoritarian Social
Capital: Pyongyang
Type: Restricted Nation
According to the World Fact Book, quoted on the VOM Australia website:
"Following World War II, Korea was split with the northern half coming
under Communist domination and the southern portion becoming Western
oriented. Kim Jong-il has ruled North Korea since his father and the
country's founder, president Kim Il-sung, died in 1994. After decades of
mismanagement, the North relies heavily on international food aid to
feed its population, while continuing to expend resources to maintain an
army of about 1 million. North Korea's long-range missile development
and research into nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and massive
conventional armed forces are of major concern to the international
community. In December 2002, North Korea repudiated a 1994 agreement
that shut down its nuclear reactors and expelled U.N. monitors, further
raising fears it would produce nuclear weapons."
Report from United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Religious freedom remains essentially non-existent in North Korea, where
the government has a policy of actively discriminating against religious
believers, says the USCIRF.
The group states: "The North Korean state severely represses public and
private religious activities. The Commission has received reports that
officials have arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and sometimes executed
North Korean citizens who were found to have ties with overseas
Christian evangelical groups operating across the border in China, as
well as those who engaged in unauthorized religious activities such as
public religious expression and persuasion. Although access to updated
information about North Korea remains limited, by all accounts,
including according to testimony delivered at the Commission's hearing
on North Korea in January 2002, there has not been any improvement in
the conditions for religious freedom in the past year."
In recent years, the USICRF says, the government has formed several
religious organizations that it controls for the purpose of severely
restricting religious activities in the country. For example, the Korean
Buddhist Federation prohibits Buddhist monks from worshiping at North
Korean temples. Most of the remaining temples that have escaped
government destruction since the Korean War are regarded as cultural
relics rather than religious sites.
Similarly, the Korean Christian Federation restricts Christian
activities. Following the reported wholesale destruction of over 1,500
churches during Kim Il-sung's reign (1948-1994), two Protestant churches
and a Roman Catholic church, without a priest, opened in Pyongyang in
1988, even though the absence of a priest for Roman Catholics means that
Mass cannot be celebrated and most sacraments cannot be performed.
Several foreign residents have reported that they regularly attend
services at these churches and that it is clear that whatever public
religious activity exists, such as services at these churches, is staged
for their benefit.
The USICRF reports: "Persons found carrying Bibles in public or
distributing religious literature, or engaging in unauthorized religious
activities such as public religious expression and persuasion are
arrested and imprisoned. There continue to be reports of torture and
execution of religious believers. Although the practice of imprisoning
religious believers is apparently widespread, the State Department has
been unable to document fully the number of religious detainees or
prisoners. According to a press report, an estimated 6,000 Christians
are incarcerated in "Prison No. 15," located in the northern part of the
country.
The Commission learned from testimony at its January 2002 hearing that
prisoners held on the basis of their religious beliefs are treated worse
than other inmates. For example, religious prisoners, especially
Christians, are reportedly given the most dangerous tasks while in
prison. In addition, they are subject to constant abuse from prison
officials in an effort to force them to renounce their faith. When they
refuse, these religious prisoners are often beaten and sometimes
tortured to death."
The organization concludes: "Officials have stratified North Korean
society on the basis of family background and perceived loyalty to the
regime into 51 specific categories. Religious adherents are by
definition relegated to a lower category, receiving fewer privileges and
opportunities, such as education and employment, than others. Persons in
lower categories have reportedly been denied food aid. Thousands of
North Koreans have fled to China in recent years. Refugees who are
either forcibly repatriated or captured after having voluntarily
returned to the DPRK are accused of treason; those found to have had
contacts with South Koreans or Christian missionaries are subjected to
severe punishment, including the death penalty." (United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom, as quoted on VOM
Australia website).

2007-03-04 05:25:16 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous

would you convert in order to save your life? Or would you let them kill you? If someone said that they would put you in jail because of your faith, would you convert or would you let them put you in jail? Just interested what other ppl out there would do.

2007-03-04 05:24:45 · 15 answers · asked by Eryn v 3