Opinions and conclusions about Religion and God.

Purple is right. The explaination does not make sense at all.And it doesn't matter what 1 Corth. says. That is just a book written by a man, translated by man. This whole 'Spiritual discerned' nonsense is just a 'pat on the back' for people to justify themselves to themselves.There is nothing 'spiritual' about that.

I don't consider the 'Crusader for Christ' to be a good source for an organisation (having had personal experiance with their attempt to try to convert me when I was in college).Why should I accept that their founder would be a reliable source for anything?

And how do you know that is would not be? Perhaps, it is just a hope, and a comfort for the survivors.Funerals are not for benefit of the deceased, but rather to comfort those people who are left behind. IMO, part of the rituals are to try to reinforced the beliefs of the survivors, because when someone passes away, that is often when the doubts of the survivors surface and can cause them to 'stray'.For me, the rituals of the RCC, (or any religion) is meaningless. For others, it gives comfort. It all depends on what you are used to and expect.

And you believe the andedotes?I have personal experiance with the 'Campus Crusaders for Christ' that make me view that entire organisation as very untrustworthy.Why should I view it's founder as 'trustworthy'?

Yes, let us drop Bill Bright from the discussion. After all, it isn't just the tactics of one or two misguided invididuals, but it is the M.O. of the entire organization I am objecting too, and it continues to this day.

Of course, you found the god you were looking for in the bible. Every one that looks for 'God' in the bible and finds it finds a different god. I know many christians who 'found' a god in the bible that is totally different than the one that you seem to believe in. That is known as a 'self fullfilling prophecy' in some respects. You found what you expected, just as they found what they expected.While Larni couldn't make it up.. you could. You made up the god you wanted to find, and you found it. Just as countless others have before you.That is why many Muslims believe in the Koran. The god they expect is in that set of books. That is why there are so many devote Mormons. They found the god (or something) in the Book of the Mormon.The same thing with Hindu's and the vedas.

You are missing my point.My point is that the 'god' you were found was the god you expected. Just like the god other people found (that is mutually exclusive iwth your viewpoitn) was the one they found (in what ever scripture they were looking for).That shows your finding the god you are looking for no big deal. It is just using the holy books to reinforce what you already believed in.

That sounds like a Just wait Till Your Father Gets Home Threat.But ma, you said he went for milk when I was just a baby, and never came back..

Funny thing about that.There are many places in the New Testament that talk about BY THEIR WORKS. Doesn't say a thing about 'faith alone'. That 'alone' was added by Martin Luthor. When it was pointed out that it the bible didn't say 'BY faith alone', he retorted' It should have.Yet, the sheep and the goats are seperated by their works.And, of course, the Gospel of James is very specific about that.

Well, that is CARM's arguement.Of course, they are starting with a certain viewpoint.If I look at Jame's writing alone, I do not get the message that Carm says it says.It just goes to show that CARM's basic premise that the bible does not contradict itself is wrong.The Gospel of James has a much more Jewish attitude towards faith and work the Romans. That , actually, gives credulance to the theory that Paul was NOT actually a pharasee.