Something someone said
"All it would take for me to be drawn to study Christianity and the Bible more deeply is for me to meet just one person who could influence me strongly enough to do so."
Something to ponder upon.
Something to ponder upon.
Labels: God, somethingsomeonesaid, thinkingoutloud
posted by may at 8:51 PM
16 Comments:
interesting... i went to a Christian school for 6 years, and came out a cynic.
well, yeah.. precisely my point. more often than not a lifestyle speaks a louder and better testimony than just mere words or sermons. because a person's lifestyle should be a reflection of what he/she believes in. and that is where a lot of us fall short, i think.. that said, the genuineness of a religion/faith shouldn't be judged conclusively based on the lives of a handful of its followers/believers merely.
so how do you know which religion is 'right'? i say the best way is to seek and to study for yourself.
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" - Jeremiah 29:13
Even if so, that person's particular lifestyle choices may not be a result of his/her faith but something that is a part of that person's ingrained character. That said, note that spirituality and high morality can exist without religion.
i totally agree with ian,
ive seen christians who go to church every sunday, who are bigger dicks than me ( which is quite bad )
...and vice versa, genuinely nice people who arent christians.
maybe its truly difficult to follow the teachings of christianity in these modern times esp with all the distractions and temptations, but i believe at the end of the day, it all boils down to nuffing else but faith.
yeah i definitely agree that high moral awareness can exist without religion though im not sure how spirituality can because to me, spirituality is tied in with religion (well, a belief in a supreme being at any rate) - correct me if i am wrong? i probably have the wrong understanding of the word 'spirituality'.. lol.
about christians who are (...)<-- fill in with preferred choice of word, going back to what i said earlier - surely you have to allow that they are not representative of the whole body of christian believers? also, professing a faith is one thing, actually living out that faith is another. then again, who am i to judge? lol.
anonymous: faith in who/what?
Let me rephrase that, spirituality can exist without "organized" religion. You don't need to be associated to an organization and labeled a 'muslim', 'christian', 'jew' etc to believe in a higher power. To a certain extent, it does make it easier because of the constant religious gatherings and there are others who follow the same doctrines as you. Then again, spirituality is not about social gatherings but rather your own connection with a higher power.
Haha, Ian and his philosophy; never fail to impress me.
It's funny that a simple post like this can create such a fuss. For those who have something against the concept of religion or whatsoever, have you ever ask yourself if religion in general brings more good or bad?
Everybody is free to comment what they want to say but I would say, judge nobody but your ownself because everybody acts according to their self interest whether he/she realize it or not.
faith in god/religion etc...
funny, i had this conversation during my ny reunion dinner... about whether religion brings more good or bad. i dont remember what we concluded as i was quite intoxicated, but i do know that i dont want to go there again...
lets talk about sumfing more interesting, like how big my guns are... =P
chongka: yeah... haha i really wasn't expecting this to turn into a full-blown discussion on religion and spirituality! in fact the topic of discussion right now is moving away from the essence of what i originally wrote about in my post, lol.
i also agree with you, Anonymous, that it boils down to faith at the end of the day. as a christian, i believe that good works do not earn me salvation, only a true and personal relationship with God does.
"i also agree with you, Anonymous, that it boils down to faith at the end of the day. as a christian, i believe that good works do not earn me salvation, only a true and personal relationship with God does."
I think you should rephrase that. Shouldn't it be, "I don't believe that SOLELY doing good works will earn me salvation". Otherwise in that context, Christianity would have lost all its moral relevance. What you wrote is exactly what the suicide bombers believe in. Once religion loses its moral backbone, and places more importance on 'salvation' and the afterlife, you get loads of people doing evil, evil things.
I m sorry if I have offended anyone in this post. You know I love you, May.. =P
ouch! hehe
what i really meant was that the reason i do good works is NOT so that i get to go to heaven, rather the reason i do it is because i love my God and He commands me to do so; and herein lies the so-called 'moral backbone'. that's really all i was trying to say. hehe.
about the suicide bombers part- i dont see how my statement (as you quoted) directly implies that christianity 'condones' such acts. i did NOT say 'it is okay for me to do bad things for the sake of religion'.
yeah i know u still love me ian... everybody loves may! (= teeheeeee
I m not saying that Christianity condones such acts. What I am trying to do is try to get you to think about what goes through the minds of these people when they are compelled to execute such extreme actions. Islam does not condone such acts but in the militant fundamentalist's mind, the desire for a good afterlife, 'salvation' has over-ridden the moral fabric that is ingrained in human beings from birth.
For you, you believe that God commands you to do good works. But 'good works' is subjective. So subjective in fact that for some militants, it may mean protecting their own country, people etc to the extent that they are willing to use any methods neccessary.
The importance of this cannot be overstated. It is always far too easy for us to think of these people as evil savages, remote from what we are. But in essence, we are all human, the same. The difference is the environment we were brought up in.
You are different from these people because you were brought up in an environment with little adversity. They were brought up in environments where economic sanctions have been placed on their country meaning no medicine, no financial aid, no essential resources.
My point is that, religious belief and the associated 'salvation' should not override or be of more importance than moral strength, respect for life and common sense.
yeah...i even proposed to her... LOL
shoudlnt remind her of it before her head expands too much...
see ya at ny dinner =P
a topic like religion is always certain to spark a debate. and that's probably because it is one of the fundamental aspects of what sets humans apart from the other species. as christian like to say, everyone has a God-shaped space in their hearts...haha, before anyone hurls their violent objections, let me just say that 'God' may mean diff things to diff people. at the same time, most people do have this curiosity about a Higher Being, so-called.
people who profess a religion may not be a 'nice' a those who don't but the important thing is, do you see in them any improvement from before? i think in most cae, there would be. and i know christians do come across as hypocrites many a time, but that's just because we have an amazing guidebook called the Bible which writes so clearly how God wants His children to behave. We have 'right' and 'wrong' spelt out, to put it simply, and we'd like ourelves and all others to follow it. But we're only human after all. That's precisely why Jesus came to die on the cross in our place because God relistically knows that not even His believers can do all that is expected of them. And as one of them, I apologise for anything that we might have done to make anyone doubt christianity.
but you know, we are not the one "christianity" refers to. Look at the word itelf--it centers on Christ! i guess my main message is, look at the teachings before anything else because at the end, as Ian said, it Is about you yourself making a connection with God (or not)
ooh Ian, i owe you pictures! thanks for coming out to meet us once again... =)
Hello May! And Sook Meng! =)))
Goodness gracious, I'm sure I would have gotten a MIGRAINE if I made myself read EVERY WORD in this thread. You girls are DEEP.
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