Christianity?

Question

I have posted a few questions on here and have often been met with the same statement that I must accept Christ as your savior. I was not raised in a religious household and did not go to church on a regular basis. Infact I was raised with quite eclectic beleifs. I have explored Christianity before and did not agree with some of the fundamental beleifs. Yet I'm still told I need to accept Christ as my savior. To me, that is as easy as telling a Christian they need to deny Christ to go to heaven. (I am using this analogy only as demonstration of how it feels for me).

I have often thought that people raised with a religion have it easier because they are taught one thing from the begining and that is their truth. Its like a walking person going up to a person in a wheel chair and saying "I walk. If you only believe you can walk you can! just believe harder!"

What do you think? Should people have more consideration for those of us who struggle and were not born into beleif?

Ahh, after a certain post down below I thought I should clarify. I do believe in God and I believe I have a relationship with him. I just have not prophesed to accept Christ as my savior -- and to my understanding those are two different things.

Thank you for the thoughtful answers so far. I do know that not all Christians are that way - but for the sake of simplicity I made my question slightly more generalized. I have had good experiances with very nice people who were willing to discuss Christianity in an open and loving manner.

Answer 1

•Jesus believed in the same God___ who was believed in__ by Adam, Noah, Ibrahim, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and all the prophets (peace &blessings of the LORD be upon all of them).

According to Jesus, God, the Holy One; is the Saviour of the Whole mankind. God is capable (be God glorified as God is) to relive off every infliction. None of the human beings is saviour beside God. Jesus, himself is also, not a saviour at all. The people who have chosen him as their saviour__ they have denied the Holy One___ who alone is the saviour of Jesus and whole mankind and the act of choosing Jesus as saviour__ is equal to hate the Holy One___ as it is clearly written in the old Testament:-

“I am the Lord your God. Worship no God but Me. Do not make for yourself images of anything in heavens or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship it. Because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me, on their descendants, down to third and fourth generation.”
(Exodus 20:1-5)

Now, ponder over the point that whosoever says that Jesus is God___ Holy Spirit is God___ Mary is God; has he not made an idol beside the One God? While nothing is there in the earth and heavens which could be considered in terms of the One God.

Beware please! A father is a father__ a mother is a mother___ and a son is a son__ and they all are the creatures of God. They cannot be considered as God___ as god is their Creator__ and nothing is like the Lord.

•During his preaching, Jesus had never called himself as God or Son-God. Now, look upon those people who consider Jesus as God or Son-God. They are, baselessly, blaming even those people who were present at the spot and knew that Jesus was not God or son-god. In other words, the people with the belief that Jesus is God or Son-god; are far more enemies of Jesus who tried to crucify him.

•The people who say that Jesus is God or Son-God or in his guise, the Lord descended upon earth because of God’s love for humanity. They are, baselessly, blaming Jesus and the Lord of Jesus, the both.

•Creatures of God are God’s Creatures they can never be considered as God or as the parts of God. Same is the case of Jesus who is a creature and, as such, can not be considered as God or a part of the Creator or the son of Creator.

•Jesus is not a Saviour. He is not capable, even, to save himself from his enemies. How he can be considered “All-Able” to save everyone on the earth. It is the Lord alone__ Who is the All-Able to save every creature of the universe including the mankind__ as the Lord is already saving__ each of them__ without any desolation and defect.

Jesus was born after Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Moses and the numerous other Prophets (peace & blessings of God be upon all of them). If he were the Son-God, then, all of the foregoing Prophets, must have been the believers of Trinity. But the case is not like that at all. None of them was the believer of Trinity, rather, none of them, had, even, heard about the name of Trinity, in their times. Hence, Trinity is nothing else but an invented and artificial concept which has no existence, even, during the time of Jesus. It is, therefore, a rootless concept from all accounts.

Prior to Jesus, the Lord had created Eve, without mother__ and Adam, without mother and father, the both. Afterwards, the Lord created Jesus without father. So the creation of Jesus, without father, is the third instance of the Lord’s all-encompassing creativity___ which is free from all the channels or systems of the birth. Instead, all the channels or systems of the birth are subservient to the all-encompassing and unique creativity of the Lord.

The Lord is, therefore, Holy and the Lord must be believed in, as Holy. To ascribe a son unto the Lord__ is a direct assault on the Lord’s Holiness__ which is an unpardonable crime.


Beware please! A Prophet can never go against his conviction and education. The conviction, as well as the education of Jesus__ was based on the worship of One & Alone God. How he could get himself worshipped__ instead of the Lord?

A true servant of the Lord should therefore, not rely upon any of the aforementioned agencies. Neither upon Satan, nor upon the Disciples, nor upon Clergy, nor upon the people, __ instead he should rely upon the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of the foregoing Prophets.

Jesus, himself says:-

“Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the Prophets. I have not come to do away with them but to make their teachings come true.”
(Matthew 5:17)

Hence, a true servant of the Lord should essentially, lead a pure and pious life. Which must be based on Commandments of the Lord and the teachings of Jesus, Moses, David, Jacob, Ibrahim, Muhammad and all the Prophets. Otherwise he has no privilege to use the title of “the servant of the Lord” as his identity.
Belief in Alone Lord is nowhere seen in the world of Christianity. It stands, replaced by Trinity. Many forms of Polytheism__ are prevailing everywhere__ since the last 2000 years. Even, an ordinary priest is now__ as authoritative as God. He pardons the sins of the confessing-sinners. And he also, declares them as the innocent-ones__ with every right__ to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. After such an authoritative license__ through the easy going process of confession__ the confessors feel no hesitation in committing the sins__ again and again. Because, they know that another confession before the pardoner__ will positively release them__ from the guilt of the new sins. And, as such, the reciprocal practice of confession and sins__ on the part of the confessing-sinners__ remain in progress till the end of their lives.
Torah, Psalms, Gospel and Quran, all the Scriptures are saying that God is One, the Holy One. So whosoever does not believe in One God, he is definitely denying all the Scriptures. Such a person can not be considered as a believer at all.

No Prophet or a righteous-man has ever dared to say that he, himself, should be honoured like God or worshipped like God. Satan, of course, had certainly said to Jesus to worship him in place of God but Jesus had responded in the following way:-

“Go away Satan! The Scripture says: Worship the Lord you God and serve only the Lord.”
(Matthew 4:10)

In the same way, Jesus has responded in his prayer on the cross while uttering the following lines of the Verse No.23:-

“Praise the Lord, you servants of the Lord!
Honour the Lord, you descendants of Jacob!
Worship the Lord, you people of Israel!”

No doubt, it is a matter of simple common-sense that when God is One__ the Lord is One__ the saviour is one__ the Holy and Only One__ then, how his slaves or servants__ can be held as worthy of the honour & service__ which is meant for the Holy One alone. But alas! The people are honouring and serving the slaves and servants__ just like the Lord. Rather, they have chosen them as God & the Lord__ in place of the Holy One. And__ Christians are the pioneers of such ideas. They have straightaway declared Jesus as God & Lord and the Saviour. Rather, they hold Jesus as the sole sovereign of the Day of Judgement, instead of the Lord, the Almighty God, the Holy One.

since Adam to Noah__ Noah to Abraham__ Abraham to David, David to Moses__ Moses to Jesus and Jesus to Muhammad (peace & blessings of God be upon all of them) all the Prophets were slaves or servants of the Lord. And, in their servant-n-master or slave-n-lord based relationship__ all of them had__ all the qualities of servants & slaves definitely. That is why that all of them stood as servants & slaves of the Lord__ throughout their lives__ and obeyed their Lord in the most positive terms.

In the lines:-

“Honour the Lord, you descendants of Jacob!
Worship the Lord, you people of Israel!”

Jesus is advising the descendants of Jacob and the people of Israel to honour and worship the Holy One. The same thing has been advised in Quran after Torah by the Almighty God to whole mankind. It means that God of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon each of them) is One, the Holy One. Who alone, is to be honoured and worshipped ___ by the people of Jesus__ by the people__ of Muhammad__ and by the whole mankind.
True servants of the Lord should, therefore, never be named after their Prophets__ as Abrahamics (the followers of Abraham)__ Jacobeans (the followers of Jacob)___ Christians (the followers of Christ)___ or Muhammadans (the followers of Muhammad). They should be properly named as Muslims___ or the servants of the Lord___ as they have been named in the Bible as well as in Quran. The Bible contains the name of slave/servant while Quran contains the name of Muslim. The literal oneness of the name of slave/servant and Muslim___ does indicate the virtual oneness of belief. The belief of all the Prophets__ was one and the same__ and that was faith and trust in One Alone God.

In short, the present belief of Christianity has no relationship to the teachings of Jesus and the life-style of Jesus. It is, altogether, satanic in nature. Satan is the introducer of Trinity and the Disciples are the preachers of Trinity.

It is very simple to know and judge that when our Creator & the Lord is none but One, the Holy One, then, we should naturally honour and worship none but One, the Holy One.

Jesus has advised to honour & worship the Holy One in commanding terms. Accordingly, the followers of Jesus should honour & worship none but One, the Holy One. Whereas the followers of Jesus (the Christians) are honouring & worshipping Jesus instead of the Holy One. Such a practice on their part is quiet contrary to the demands of Jesus.

The words of Jesus:-

Honour the LORD-----
Worship the LORD-----

Are therefore declaring the practice in question, undesirable rather false which must be given up at once. On the day of Resurrection, the words of Jesus “Honour the Lord”__ “Worship the Lord”__ will definitely pass a decree against this false practice. Then where will stand the so called followers of Jesus? Who are holding Jesus as God & Saviour instead of the Holy One. Who alone, is the God & Saviour of everyone__ since inception to date__and till the last Day or the Day of Resurrection__ rather even after that.

“Worship no god but me! Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship it because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants, down to the third and fourth generations.”
(Exodus 20:3-5)

Answer 2

I'm a Christian and I totally agree with you. Sometimes short-sighted Christians, inexperienced Christians, and Christians that just generally aren't very intelligent will practically try to force their beliefs on you and it really isn't productive, nor is it the right thing to do. If anything, it's more harmful than productive.

I've seen this several times and it really irritates me.

Similarly, some people who tag all Christians as the same are pretty ignorant. Obviously, you are open minded and objective.

Please understand that not all Christians are like this. All Christians are a 'work in progress' and we all make mistakes, just like anyone else.
Regardless, this place is not exactly a good source of mature, understanding Christians, if you haven't already noticed.

I've also noticed that a lot of people (including Christians sometimes) had huge misconceptions of what Christianity is and what the Bible says. I sometimes have no idea where they get the craziness that they come up with.

Nicholas - Admin
http://www.iConfessional.com

Answer 3

Christianity is about individuals trusting Christ to have paid our debts. It is also about trying to be like Him, (which is hard). Christianity is difficult to prove on man's terms as the thing to do, etc. On the other hand, truly looking at some of the other many "religions," Christianity is the only one with a "savior" - debt payer, who raised from the dead & contiues to live today. Christianity is about more than "accepting Christ as your savior." It is having a relationship with Him. To do that, you must talk to & with Him often as well as listen to Him. You need to read His Words to us, read the Bible by starting in the New Testament. Read Mark 1st, next Acts, & then Romans. That will be just a start. Your question about "Should people have more consideration..." my guess is you mean other Christians. Yes they should, but be careful. You likely have times when you are not considerate of people growing up in the church & may be envious or jealous. The measurement is Christ, & we all fail compared to Him. So, cut others some slack as well as yourself. Focus on learning & my gues is if you do so properly, you will in turn help "people" grow in Christ as well. You are on the right track.

Answer 4

I definitely agree with everything you are saying here. I understand. I grew up in a similar household. I wasn't pushed one way or the other--- to believe or not to believe. I think there are alot of Christians who are understanding and respectful about other people's belief's or lack of and I think those are the Christians that are going to help convince the world to believe... however I also think that if you haven't been raised to believe (such as myself) it's your responsibility to read the text and explore the information and find out for yourself how you feel. This is especially true if you're unsure and interested--- which it sounds like you are. I have began recently exploring Christianity and believing. Although I do not go to church and I could never consider myself Catholic. But there is so much more out there... and it's very interesting. Don't let the fanatical, pushy, impatient Christians ruin it for you and the good Christians who ARE willing to help you, teach you and not judge you. Good Luck :)

Answer 5

Thoughtful. Bravo. Keep up the exploration.
a) Check out the fundamental beliefs. A lot of time a lot of ego gets into them for the churches. I only know of believe and be baptised - and I am a pastor of (jmmmm) years. You may also want to check out the Apostles' Creed which is one of the 3 "official" this is what we believe statements from the early church.
b) Most of the believers whom I have been honored to hear have wrestled with the question if they really believe or if it is imposed. They have to come through the same cornfield you are in.
Keep the door open.

Answer 6

If you are truly looking, I can point you in the right direction. Take some time and visit a good bible teaching church. Investigate the claims of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the bible. I can hear what you are saying: people are telling you to accept Christ without telling you why! This is something you might like to discover for yourself. It can be found in the bible....and well worth pursuing to find your answers. Start with the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, that follow Jesus while He was on earth. Then perhaps read Romans....all about why we need to believe in Christ. I wish you the very best in your search.

Cordially,

Answer 7

Carolmerel - Man, that is a long question but it actually has a longer answer - I won't give it all to you... Sorry, but I will try to give you a better understanding.
First of all, YOU ARE RIGHT. That is too easy. Way too easy. What has happened is that a lot of Christians have taken one (1) scripture out of context and placed all of their salvation on one scripture. One that in fact was actually wrote to born again Christians that aleady believed. So ??? Why the confusion. Well in reality you can't blame one person for this mistep, but you can. Any person that would believe a preacher/priest and not dig into the Word of God for a thorough understanding is only looking for something easy. And a preacher/priest that would preach that belief is all it takes is looking for something that is easy as well.
Come on - Think about it. What are the other 5437 pages of the Bible for??? It is just history? NO
Let me explain some very basic things first...
The Old Testament - is just that - Mankinds old covenant with God, that is what it is about - that does not mean that it doesn't matter, because it does - Scripture says that God changes not - in English that means "He don't change!"
But he does give us other opportunities to draw closer to Him.
He made a new plan or New Covenant or you know it as The New Testament.
This New Testament is divided up into four groups.
1) The Gospels - Birth, Life, death and Resurection of Jesus Christ.
2) The Acts - The birth of the new testament church and the acts of the apostles
3) The Epistles - A better title would be letters... This is letters that the apostles wrote to the churches and people that were already saved (i.e. they had already believed)
4) Prophecy - Lest book of the bible, mainly about prophecy, there are other books that tie into this as well.
For history we look at the Gospels - It gives us an insight into the life of Jesus and we see many examples of his desires for us - as He is our example - You know CHRIST-ians...
But for salvation we need to look at Acts.
Why?
Glad you asked... Because Acts is where we see the apostles follow through with the Christ given mandate that was given them to go into all the world... Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Now we see here the commandment of Christ, we see another picture of this same thing in Luke 24...
Luke 24:45-49 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, (46) And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: (47) And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (48) And ye are witnesses of these things. (49) And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
So they took what had been taught them and applied it to start and carry on the church... In Acts.
If you will read Acts 1-2 you will see the beginning of the church. Follow that pattern - It takes more than belief.
Peter with the other 10 disciples (Judas was dead) stood up and preached to the thousands of people that they should Repent, Be baptized in Jesus name and they would recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost (or Spirit, however you want to see it they are one and the same, along with "The Comforter and another few titles..., kind of like me being Daddy, Husband, Employee, etc...Still only one of me.) Now there are two things that you have to do and one that God promises for you...
You have to repent - turn your life around (toward God) and ask forgiveness for the wrong things you have done in the past...
You have to be baptized - In JESUS name - of all of the examples given us in the Bible - Every one was baptized in Jesus name. Acts 4:12 says There is No other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved...
Then He (Jesus, The Holy Ghost, The Holy Spirit or whatever you want to say) will fill your life with his Spirit.
One of the keys to all of this though is what? belief... :) In order to do any of this, you must be 1) willing to believe and 2) willing to obey...
If you want to know more feel free to email me. I think you can... but if you want email me at [e-mail]... There is much much more where this came from. I just hope it helps.
There is more and it is for YOU.

Answer 8

I can see how that would be hard. I was not raised in church, exactly, my parents never took me, but my Grandpa was a preacher. My mom and dad believe in God, and are saved, they just used to have a hard time with the hypocrites in the church. Religious discussions just didn't happen at my house. My mom is in her mid-60's now, and told me recently that she wishes she had taken me.

Yes, many of us need to ease off the judgmental attitudes.

There's a really good song that talks about "if it takes fifteen times to hear about Jesus, for someone to believe, wherever I stand in line, I've got to make a difference, in case it comes down to me...." Many Christians don't want to let another person go by without them knowing how precious they are to God...how much God just wants to be with them.

As far as the most important "fundamental belief", other than the accepting that Christ stood as our "proxy" in punishment, there's really only two other things you need to know (they are basically the new commandments):

Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Not so hard to agree with this line of thinking, unless you just don't believe in God.

May He guide your obviously intelligent mind to the Truth, and allow your heart to accept it.

Bless you
Shiba

PS>>>I don't usually prattle on...sorry. Try this book, it's really informative. "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. He was agnostic, decided to investigate on his own.

Answer 9

Its like Plato's Allagory of the Cave. You are like the person who was able to get up and look around and see that the shadows on the wall are caused by people walking in front of a fire. The people you are talking about (Christians who try to force it down your throat) are the ones who spend their lives only staring at the wall and will believe that the shadows they see are the only reality and that anything else is crazy talk.

But that is not to say that being brainwashed religious doesn't have advantages. Not having to actually think and make decisions for yourself... or seeing the world in black and white/right or wrong terms all the time, without having to handle the millions of shades of gray... and the 'what if's'.... must make life so much easier.

Answer 10

well allot of us Christians were not raised that way. I wasn't. Why do you care? I mean if you don't except the fact that there is a God, then fine. I guess one day you will find out if it's true or not. The question you should ask yourself is, Are you willing to take the chance? what if it is all true?? what if you are on a path that leads to death?I know God is real, I gave it a chance, Now it is clear as day that he is there. How do you get to know someone without meeting them? Is it that you want to live whatever kind of life that you want? whatever just do what you want, but i care about people and I am going to try to lead them to the lord for the rest of my life

Answer 11

It's not always easy for those of us that was raised in church. It can be a very difficult path to walk, we even find ourselves having doubts sometimes, and have weaknesses. Thats whree prayer and Bible study and being friends with other christians can help.