What does the Christian God want from us?

Then none of us would ever leave the house.

What am I talking about? We would never have gotten around to building houses in the first place. Who has time to advance the race when you can just sit around sucking yourself off all day?

And finally we come full circle, answering the question posed in the title of this thread, "What does the Christian god want from us?"

~Ulrika~

Well, it was a great serious thread for a while. I'm impressed it was able to last so long without fighting.

The fact so many were able to discuss personal beliefs without getting personal is proof it's possible to share deep held opinions without fear from those who dislike the topic.

My responses were completely serious.

That's great. It's wonderful to have a serious thread once in a while

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast,” Ephesians 2:8-9

Thank you, for the interesting bible quote. I fail to see what you are wishing to say with such a quote. Would you care to elaborate on the message you get from this verse?

My questions to you, is why did God give the gift to man? What are you supposed to have faith in? If the Jewish have faith in the same God, then shouldn't they be entitled to the same gift? If it is because Jesus died on the cross, why did Jesus have to die before a gift could be given?

I say many things with my quote.

A third of my response would be based on if you believe the bible is the word of god. Another third would be based on if you felt like the bible was an amazing history book. the other third would be based on the fact that every person should have the right to their beliefs without being badgered for why.

For the record... I suppose I should state that I am not a christian. Though I do believe Jesus was god in human form. I just don't think he was the first way god showed himself to humans.

I agree that everyone should be able to believe what they like, but it is hard to understand a quote without additional comments. I assume you have a reason for selecting this particular quote, but I have no idea what you are trying to communicate. Every quote is open for interpretation. As you have demonstrated in your reply, many different people get many different meanings from the same statement. Quotes are fine and dandy, but it is nice to understand why they were stated in the first place. No communication can occur unless you put some words original to yourself along with the quote as well.

ahh.. Ok.. My quote (which happens to be one of my favorites from the bible).. was a direct response to the original question:

"What does the Christian god want from us"

to which I stated:

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast,” Ephesians 2:8-9

which basically means.. it doesn't matter what actions we do, or don't do, no one can tell us we are bad or good because we do this or that. And that if we do such and such we do not have a relationship with god. Only god could determine that by his grace.

So in a nutshell.. I was responding to the subject line of the thread.

Ok, thanks for the additional information. I understand where you are coming from now. I'll leave it at this, and not hound you with more questions. Have a good night.

*blush* that was easy! I'm always scared to talk religion. hehe..

Have a good night yourself! An extra hour even!

Again I have come late to a thread and have not subjected myself to the endless point counter point in the other 5 million posts but I will add my 2 cents anyway.

I personally don't know your Christian God but I know he doesn't want you to go around killing and slaughtering his Chosen People. Where did it all of a sudden become your God's will that the Jewish people be slaughtered?

If you don't know what I am talking about please take some time to read some history books and I am not not talking about Islam. I am talking about you Christians.

Not mine, but I welcome you to the thread.
Man has a way to moving God's Word to an order that he likes. That does not make it right or moral, and I bet God gets pretty angry about it. I am a Christian, and I do not believe that God would have any of us murdering anyone (especially His chosen people of which I am not one). This is not the same as killing, but that is a thread of its own... If I was to turn a blade to Jews, wouldn't I be destroying the very race of the God I follow?
I make no excuse for what other Christians have done / are doing. Some of the atrocities are beyond reproach. I can only say that Jesus never had a message of hate, He loved those that were spitting on Him at the cross.

Luke 23:33-34 (AMP)
33 And when they came to the place which is called The Skull [Latin: Calvary; Hebrew: Golgotha], there they crucified Him, and [along with] the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.
34 And Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them , for they know not what they do. And they divided His garments and distributed them by casting lots for them.

Hi Susie,

I just want to point out, there are many different Christian denominations that believe and act differently.

I don't think it's fair to lump all "Christians" together, just as I don't think it's fair to lump all Muslims together. If you see someone doing wrong, blame them, not the group to which they belong.

If you see a religion teaching hate, point that out.

Every ancient idolatrous tribal god vengefully and partially supported and protected the tribe which had created him for the purpose. The concept of "his chosen people" is anachronistic, self-serving, dangerous and spiritually bankrupt.

Wrongness of slaughtering is nothing to do with who. If someone proposed a particular group as candidates for this treatment (I missed it) the wrongness of the suggestion is nothing to do with the identity of the group.

Anyone who feels it is more wrong to hurt one group, rather than another, is a part of the very problem they are objecting. All right thinking people should surely seek to eliminate such teachings of inbuilt divine preference from any religion fit to retain influence in our world, unless such preference is limited to actions outside our material world. Promising preference after death is one thing. But claiming advantage here by divine right, either in demanding extra consideration from third parties, or in claiming extra right to abuse others - that is quite another.

I don't know enough comparative religion to know which religions do this, but any that do need a rethink.

Am I the only person who skips over threads that quote the bible?

~Ulrika~

But it is enevitable such quotes will occur in a thread with this title, isn't it, Ulrika - to be fair ? Didn't you expect it ? They believe the bible has something uniquely true to say. Some even believe this about every trivial detail of its wording. Odd, but they believe it.

Personally I think that any dialogue with non-believers could more constructively address itself to the reasonableness of this assumption of specialness.

No real point discussing what it says until we have established some sort of common ground on whether there is any reason to believe it might have significance, and perhaps be more worth reading than any other piece of text.

Quoting to believers is totally different from quoting to non-believers. I'm not quite sure which this thread is trying to include.

The thread title, I suppose, seems to assume that the "christian God" not only exists, but has some sort of relationship with "us".

So I guess it is really meant for believers, and you and I, Ulrika, are intruders.

Quite the contrary Ellie. Maybe you give no credence to comments from believers, but you are never considered an intruder by me (nether is Ulrika). While I don't particularly like the 'silly' posts in between the discussion, it is a necessary 'evil' on public boards.

Personally, I welcome all contentions against my faith, as it can do nothing but make me question my beliefs, morals, and ideas. Which, in turn, can only accelerate my grow. I am not saying that I will take what is said as 'gospel', but I certainly will take a second look at what I base my religion on.

Proverbs 27:17 (AMP)
17 Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend [to show rage or worthy purpose].

If you read my first post that started the thread, you will see more of the original intention of the thread. It doesn't have to remain on that original idea of course, just responding to your assumption this thread was started to assume the christian God exists.

I simply stated my confusion with what I read from the Bible. My main confusion was based around the desire I saw for blood, violence, and possibly food from God. I am not a christian. I invited christians to explain their understandings of what confused me, and I invited others to state the confusions they have when reading the Bible. I meant to start from the standpoint of not assuming truth or invalidness of the text or God. I was simply hoping to meet people on their ground and find out why they believe what they believe. Curiosity more than desire to believe in God, really. That may seem selfish of me, but in reality I'm simply intrigued by all religions, though I believe in none.

But, Kevn - you and Kurgan "lump" all Christians together at your doctrinal and ideological convenience - to make the requisite points about moral grounds and points of view. And then you pull them apart again to respond to criticisms such as Susie's.

Susie's point is a concrete iteration of the one I made earlier - on Christ's "by their fruits" moral measurement and how it applies to Christian behavior and the "higher moral ground" that Christians claim. Neither of you addressed the issue adequately then, and neither of you are addressing the issue adequately now.

Can you?

Seth,

I have not lumped any religions together, especially not Christanity. Please reveiw my posts and verify this fact.

I did respond to your post concerning the "by their fruits" post, and you didn't reply to my reply. If what I said wasn't adequate, why didn't you point that out at that time?

Perhaps you have confused his posts with mine.

You dodged the issue, Kevn. So did Kurgan. As you are both dodging the issue now.

Sorry - the moral measurement is a real problem for Christians, perhaps the worst - and one they have never been able to adequately deal with - witness yours and Kurgan's reactions.