Why This Belief?

When imitating something, there must first be the real one.

In Acts, Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit. I believe I have experienced the Holy Spirit manifesting himself in me. He lives inside all of us. It is not activated until you accept Jesus, and start living his way, by his rules, which when done correctly can benefit all of us. It is when it is done incorrectly, that humankind suffers, and then blames religion.
As far as other religions go, I cannot say, and often wonder about it.The way I see it, nothing happens without the will of the father. Or if there is an all-knowing God who made the universe, then he knows just what he is doing, and the other religions serve some sort of purpose. Jesus tells us not to judge or condemn, so if there is other religions, then let it be. I am so confident in what I believe, that I feel no threat from other religions. It's my job to accept them, not condemn them.The only thing I wish to do is, #1: Love God with all my mind, heart, and soul. #2 Love others as I love myself. If whatever I'm doing doesn't follow those 2 rules, then I am not following God. Its funny, the second one for me, can be done better, when you start understanding God's love for us.
The day that I first really felt and noticed the Holy Spirit in me, is either the day I got baptized in the spirit (which Jesus tells us to do) or the day I went crazy. That --coupled with a pretty good understanding of the Bible, has led me to believe what I believe. What’s funny also, is after I had this experience with the Holy Spirit, I was then able to understand the bible, and life more clearly. Living in the Spirit of truth makes it hard to be lied to. But there is always room for more learning.This message has been edited by AdminPhat, 06-05-2005 07:44 AM

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When imitating something, there must first be the real one.

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This does not logically follow.There have been many imitators of Bigfoot, but the original Bigfoot is an admitted fraud. It was a guy in a hairy suit.It may be that there was an authentic original thing for imitators to mimic, but there doesn't have to be.

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The way I see it now, is that nothing happens without the will of the father.

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Ouch.There's a lot of bad stuff that is God's will, then.

I wanna hear about the day that you went crazy!

We have discussed this before. Some say that the Devil was not Gods will. Others quote Isaiah: I have brought up the point that God never actually created Satan. Rather, He created a freewill Lucifer who chose to become Satan. God never created fallen angels as fallen. He never created fallen humanity as fallen. He did create the possibility of disobedience which led to the Fall in both angelic and human realms.

You heard voices and the person you heard them coming from says that they didn't hear anything?This is an non ordinary, perhaps extra ordinary experience for you. I think that you extrapolate that to say it's not natural hence supernatural. But it's your brain that heard this and as voices. There are all kinds of non ordinary brain functions with NATURAL explanations for them.My mother told of being really angry once at all these little people that were running around in her car. Demons? You decide. She got home and had a fever of around 104 and was subsequently hospitalized with pnumonia. When her fever went away so did the visions.I'm not saying you had a fever. But the old explanation of supernatural was made before people knew anything about brain function. Our brains our very complex and occasionally do extrordinary things. Someone like Pat Robertson may or may not hear the Lord talking to them. Whether Pat actually hears voices or not he has discovered that merely claiming this experience is of great benefit to him. People pledge him money over the phone.We all get hunchs and sometimes they are right. It is also possible there are forms of communication that we yet barely understand but our lack of understanding doesn't make them supernatural, just unknown. Like the reports of the elephants that headed for high ground before the sightings of the tsunami.I understand that 2000 years ago supernatural was state of art understanding but I'm getting frustrated that you and others on this forum for emotional reasons cling to the warm fuzzyness of prescientific understanding. I feel the appeal also but what I won't do is limit my thinking and understanding of science to accomodate a desire to believe some tradition that appeals to me. I think one can believe something and realize that we believe it because it appeals to an emotional part of us without thinking that therefore that belief is true.lfen

But there is only one original story, all others are imitations.
Whether or not the original story is true or not, is irrelevant.

That's absolutely right. He gave us the will to choose, so he is to blame for all the good, and all the bad that happens, he created it all.A truth in life is that good things happen out of bad events. It's all in the way we look at things.But, what we think is bad, he thinks is bad, may be entirely different, and beyond our comprehension. It would all have to do with the next life. If you don't even believe in that, then how could you even start to understand why everything happens.Just because you think its bad, doesn't make it bad, in the long run. I am sure that bad things have happened to you, that later explained themselves to you, and you then found out it was for the good. Like a child asking for candy, and the mother slapping him on the wrist. I am sure the child thinks its bad, but the father knows its good for him. But it is beyond the child’s comprehension. The child will maybe even cry, scream, rebel against his parents, etc.All things in life appear to me as relevant. We only need to look to the next thing to see why.

Anyone got time for a testimony?
It actually happen over the span of two weeks. I feel very fortunate, that God not only tapped me on the shoulder several times in my life, but eventually had to just about knock me over, call my name out in an audible voice, and speak to me through several people who I didn't even know.It was after that, I knew what the term born again means. God speaks to you right into your heart, and then you know. But there is no way to prove it. So either I went crazy, or there is a God.It's been over a year and a half, and I continue to witness God's promises in my life, as well as my screw ups and how they affect my walk with the Lord. I have found nothing to contradict what I went through, or explain it away. I continue to be blessed with the presence of the Holy Spirit, through doing his works, and using my gifts to glorify god. I wish to remain humble, if I sound like I am not, I apologize.

I do not think this is correct.This September 2004 Canadian study shows that, prominently, Secular Humanism is not a leading Canadian belief. It does say that the numbers of those "believing religious practice is an important factor in moral and ethical life" is dropping. But 61% remaining does not leave room for Secular Humanism to be the leading belief.Or the 2001 Census results show that "7 out of 10 Canadians identify themselves as either Roman Catholic or Protestant".Sure, there most likely are clusters in Canada where the Secular Humanists out number the Christians, just as these areas probably also exist in the US. But I do not think it's fair to claim that "In Canada the prominent religion is Secular Humanism."

I've seen those numbers but when it comes down to what people actually believe just look at how religion plays out in the politics of this country.
Admitting that you attend church is the equivalent of political suicide.
I will admit though that I shouldn't have used the term secular humanist in that context, but there is a large segment of the population who are biased against people of faith.
Sometimes though when I see the Benny Hinn's of this world being allowed to represent Christianity I can't say that I blame them.

I'm with Stile on this one. I don't think I've ever met anybody who would admit to being a "secular humanist". Well, our provincial Premier is a former United Church minister. Tommy Douglas, a former Premier, was a Baptist minister. We had a Catholic priest in the House of Commons not too long ago. Almost every Prime Minister in living memory has been Catholic, some of them quite devout.Doesn't look suicidal to me.Politicians might not be as loony as in... um... a certain nearby country... but they are definitely openly religious.

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People who think they have all the answers usually don't understand the questions.

You are, of course, right. Admitting to being religious or admitting to not being are not an impediment to election here.However, I think there were some problems for the Reform/Conservatives when it was pointed out that some of their members were fundies.It is an ability to maintain cockamymie ideas like a 6,000 year old earth that is poisonous to a political career in the larger part of the country. (Alberta however, is another story. )

Why is Stephen Harper scary. I don't even know if he goes to church or not but it is the perception that he is Christian that causes him to be tagged as "scary".Recent newspaper reports talked about the fact that there were a dozen or so Christian candidates for the Conservative party, with the obvious inference that one shouldn't support them because they are obviously wacko because of their religious beliefs.I agree that the church shouldn't be mixed up with politics but religious adherents of any faith should be able to run without the ridicule that Conservative Christians face, not necessarily locally but on the national level.Edited to point out that this is right off topic and it's probably my fault that it is and I apologise.This message has been edited by GDR, 06-06-2005 06:57 PM