How many are Christian?

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Even if God is real I cant say I like him or would want to follow him at all.

To reiterate: I'm a Danielist.

No, you cannot join.

Available at a local Buddhist Centre near you!

Oh so Holy Atheism.

I agree with those sentiments. I have tried to correct church folks who cast moral judgments on outsiders. It's much harder to do with the bad examples the humanist media finds in this country of 300 million people. Anecdotal evidence. The Third Reich did that with the Jews.

For rigorous evidence that Christian Healing is effective, go to:
http://www.christianhealingmin.org The signs and wonders are still around today. (I have no affiliation with that organization.)

Some of you might say, "If God is loving and all-powerful, why doesn't he do something about the suffering down here? He either isn't loving or he isn't all-powerful -- if he exists at all." Here's my answers:
1. He is absolute justice as well as love. He will recompense us for the suffering we undergo down here. He will also recompense us for the evil we do down here -- as organizations and individuals.
2. He is merciful. That means he postpones the justice. Otherwise, due to our sins and the sins of our ancestors, we wouldn't be here right now.
3. He is merciful. Due to lack of immediate justice, evil people feel safe in continuing their evil. People suffer because of it. But justice will be handed out.
4. He is true to his word. He gave us numerous promises that we can use to escape the evil in our world and have love, joy, peace and calm. But we must reach out and employ those promises for them to do us any good. He didn't have to give us promises at all.
5. He can't give us a carte blanche grace or Satan and his demons would be second in line, demanding the same justice. God and we really don't want them to be justified in their rebellion.
6. He arranged for a loophole in his own justice for us, one that Satan can't fit through. It required a human who never sinned, one who was not doomed because of his ancestors, to die on our behalf. Those humans who are covered by him have their bad karma erased. And since this human died an unrighteous death, God could justly raise him from the dead, never to die again. And those covered by him will also have eternal life. Their bodies will die, but the humans covered by him will be given new bodies that will never die.
7. He will ultimately bring justice to this earth. The human race will go the way of the dinosaurs, the way of the trilobites, the way of the calcium-shelled plankton. Humans will have our own fossilized strata in the rock, until the sun grows and consumes this planet. We who will live forever will see it happen.

I pretty much consider myself to be an atheist. I'm starting to be more open to the possibility of something beyond death though, because of my own personal experience. Although if there is something beyond death, I think there's a scientific explanation for it. I'm not completely convinced yet that the mind is just a construct of the physical brain. It could just be wishful thinking on my part though.

I definitely don't believe in the whole Bible/God/Jesus thing though. I think that if more people took the time to research the history of the Christian church (actually, monotheism as a whole - I single out Christianity because I know the most about it), more people would question what they've been taught to believe in.

I'm a Christian & wouldn't want to be anything else. Just knowing that Lord is there is too get you through tough times is great. Plus, knowing that there is a higher being who has planned your life is good too. At least then your life isn't for nothing.

The theory they have for after death experiences is that the mind starts to fantasize or dream. They ignore the accuracy of the "fantasies" in describing what is going on in the room and in other rooms the person has never been in. Science cannot explain any fifth dimensional, spiritual reality. Christians can use empirical science to derive a theory of a spiritual realm, based upon the evidence of personal experiences like this.

I know. I was taught secular Humanism in public schools as well. I was taught that the proof is so overwhelming for atheism that there is no reason to question it.

However, like so many people, once I got out of school, I started questioning it -- and became a Christian again. There really are holes in the secular Humanist world view. Just don't expect your teachers to give you a balanced perspective.

Actually, I went to Catholic school so I had the exact opposite experience. I started questioning what I had been brought up to believe and started to read about the history of religion, especially the history of Christianity. I came to the conclusion that the various doctrines/beliefs held by organized Christian sects actually came to be as a result of political victories, not "divine revelation".

I think organized religion was created by humans, not a god. Is there a god? I have no idea. I don't see the need for one, but then again I'm always open to changing my mind if I have a good reason to in the future. So far though, I've yet to come across a convincing argument to change my stance.

I'm a Christian and follow the Way as best I can; it brings me peace.

Technically I'm Anglican, sub-set Anglo-Catholic but attend a broad Church.


Michaelmas

There's a book out called The Healing Reawakening by Francis MacNutt which shows the permanent damage Emperor Constantine did to Jesus' church. Before Constantine, the Christians went from house to house with the breaking of bread and prayers. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit were being used. All the new testament literature existed and was in circulation in the Christian community. The world was being changed.

Emperor Constantine (who had persecuted Christians) was engaged in a major battle with Maxentius. Overnight he came up with a plan to hearten the Christian soldiers and the Mithraic soldiers to fight hard. He had them paint an ""X" on their shields with a line going through it. Soldiers of both faiths accepted it as their own. With the victory, he issued the edict of Milan which offered tolerance to all religions and restoration of seized Christian lands. He became pro-Christian. Not Christian, just pro-Christian. He was not baptized until the end of his life.

Emperor Constantine gradually replaced the pagan religions of Rome with the Christian religion, making it the state's religion. In later years, the state used its position to force everyone to be baptized (whether they believed or not) and attend the state churches (which looked a lot like the old pagan temples). New Testament churches were broken up and their members were forced to attend the temples. The gifts of the Holy Spirit were gradually suppressed. Exorcism was gradually suppressed. Still later, the state tried to suppress the Bible, the collection of the Christian writings. The priests were government agents, used to ensure everyone did what was required to prove they were "Christians."

But the Holy Spirit was still alive and well. The Christians who practiced signs and wonders had to hide the fact from the Christians who had sold out to the state. Thus they didn't end up in the history books.

With the protestant reformation, The Roman church model was duplicated by numerous countries. No real difference, functionally. Therefore, no fruit either.

In recent centuries, there is true religious freedom where Christianity has to compete head to head with the other religions. The old, mainline churches which never got over being monopolies, haven't done well. But the newer churches which have gone back to home churches and practicing signs & wonders are multiplying greatly. They are the future. I'm involved in this movement.

Let the dead bury the dead churches. Follow Jesus using the oldest traditions as laid out in the Bible.

Hello, Michaelmas:

I believe in one God, etc.
My background is Anglican Church of Canada, low Church to
broad Church.

I've been interceding for the Anglican church of Canada, using Ed Hird as my source of information for the purpose: http://www3.telus.net/st_simons

They have been under spiritual attack by shamans and witches.