What is Your Purpose?

Originally posted by thehumbleone
I'm getting tired of people preaching this tree-hugging Christianity, unfortunately, the world isn't all rainbows and flowers. There is a heaven and Hell, and unfortunately, the majority are going to the latter.
Like Jesus said,

Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to Hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it. Matthew 7: 13-15

Most contradictory post of the day!
P.S. - What is "tree-hugging Christianity"?

[edit on 12-1-2007 by rocknroll]

That is the question that has boggled my mind for quite some time now. I feel that God has something great in store for me, but have no idea what it is.

I wish I knew, but I guess i'll find out eventually,

Originally posted by rocknroll

Originally posted by thehumbleone
I'm getting tired of people preaching this tree-hugging Christianity, unfortunately, the world isn't all rainbows and flowers. There is a heaven and Hell, and unfortunately, the majority are going to the latter.
Like Jesus said,

Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to Hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it. Matthew 7: 13-15

Most contradictory post of the day!
P.S. - What is "tree-hugging Christianity"?

[edit on 12-1-2007 by rocknroll]

I don't know what you mean by most contradictory,

But like I said, unfortunately, most people are going to end up in Hell.

By the way, nice avatar.

[edit on 12-1-2007 by thehumbleone]

You confused me because in the beginning of your post you're coming down on "tree-hugging" Christians. Tree-hugging Christians, meaning one concerned with preserving the Word of God. But then, you stated you believe in Heaven & Hell, and most are going to Hell. Then you back this up with God's word............I'm just confused where you stand, that's all. It's contradictory. No offense.

Oh, now i see, tree hugging Christian means these new-age people who try to put their feel good spin on God's word and ignore anything that has to do with hell, they ignore it as if Jesus never said it.

Sorry for confusing you.

[edit on 12-1-2007 by thehumbleone]

Originally posted by thehumbleone
Oh, now i see, tree hugging Christian means these new-age people who try to put their feel good spin on God's word and ignore anything that has to do with hell, they ignore it as if Jesus never said it.

Sorry for confusing you.

I'm still confused, but that's okay.
Go here for definition of tree hugger:
dictionary.reference.com...
If you apply this term to a Christian it would mean: one concerned with preserving Christianty. Now I know what you were trying to imply, but I think you used the wrong terminology.

People who try to put their feel good spin on God's word, and ignore anything that has to do with Hell as if Jesus never mentioned it. These people are called Ignorant Christians. LOL!
dictionary.reference.com...

From Matthew:
3:10 " … and thrown into the fire."
3:12 " … with unquenchable fire."
5:30 " … than for your whole body to go into hell."
7:19 " … thrown into the fire."
8:12 " … will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
10:28 "Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
13:40 " … burned in the fire … "
13:24 " … into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
13:50 " … and throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
18:8 " … be thrown into eternal fire."
18:9 " … and be thrown into the fire of hell."
22:13 " … and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
ou snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?"
24:51 " … and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
25:30 " … into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
25:41 " … depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
25:46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment … "

Edn: You were assuming that because I only questioned about Christians and Atheists, that I was unaware of the other religions/methods of thought. I haven't denied anyone expression of any sort. If you feel that others need a voice, start a thread for them. My questions involve only these two groups. Besides, I don't really find any other religions worth the pursuit.

Madness: If this thread isn't interesting to you, why did you bother to post?

ConstantlyWondering: I am not limiting anyone responding. I am merely addressing two groups. You should read more carefully.

A general reply to a few of you guys on this thread (I'm not going to itemize verses or do tit-for-tat - for all of our sakes).

When the solution is simple, God is answering.
~Albert Einstein

#1 When you guys read ANY other book besides the bible - do you decide what the outcome is in the middle of the book? Or do you assume halfway through is the same as complete as you seem to do with the bible?

#2 NO doubt it DOES seem one way to roughly half the people and the other way to the rest. This is how I deal with that: I can either vex myself and others with a quagmire of conflicting viewpoints far beyond the description of 'simple'... or I can just TRUST GOD and take Him at His word.

Trust myself vs. trust God

A non-choice.

I choose to trust God. The SAME God who said, through Isaiah, the following:

Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who has told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
~Isaiah 45:21-25

I'm opting for justification by my trust in those very words.

ALL the ends of the earth....EVERY knee and EVERY tongue - not news but something God said all along.

I think it is sadly ironic that you guys feel entitled to bash those of us who actually trust in God to make the seemingly impossible possible (i.e. perform a 'miracle') and then support yourself by insisting that God CANNOT do that which He has VOWED to do. And still don't understand how this kind of thing contributes more to atheism than anything else in the world!

I say God CAN and WILL.

It isn't even a gamble and I'm not hesitant to say it without apology - and so far that I know I have never offended someone else by saying that...
well excluding most christians, that is. :shk: Go figure!

Queen,

Interesting how you didn't emphasize (bold face) that He is "righteous" meaning "does right", when making your point. What about those who oppose His righteouness and do wrong there whole life?

And like you said, He is a "just" god, so what's gonna happen to all those who are "unjust"?

And tell me who is Jesus talking about when he mentions souls being "thrown into the eternal fire"? Nobody. Was He just using scare tactics here? I don't think so. Seriously, can you answer that?

Read the Gospel of Matthew, and read it real well.

Originally posted by rocknroll
Interesting how you didn't emphasize (bold face) that He is "righteous" meaning "does right", when making your point.

Most people don't truly comprehend just what 'righteous' means; I was going for simplicity.

What about those who oppose His righteouness and do wrong there whole life?

God's righteousness, in NO way, depends upon man's righteousness!

Just exactly in the same manner that Christ's faith is not nullifed by a man's lack thereof:

If we believe not, yet he abides faithful: he cannot deny himself.
~2 Timothy 2:13

And like you said, He is a "just" god, so what's gonna happen to all those who are "unjust"?

They will be treated fairly. What that means, exactly, I could not say. I do, however, trust that it will be far better than any of our ideas of 'fair.'

And tell me who is Jesus talking about when he mentions souls being "thrown into the eternal fire"? Nobody. Was He just using scare tactics here? I don't think so. Seriously, can you answer that?

He's talking about the valley of Himmon. And that goes far back into the history of the children of Israel; relating to Moloch and the things they did then. It really isn't on topic and it is very deep - you can easily study about it, though, for yourself.

Also - God is a consuming fire. Spiritual eugenics, basically. But remember what Paul wrote:

Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
~1 Corinthians 3:13-15

Evidently the fire DOES destroy but only that which is not up to par. This is the process which saves the essential soul. And this explains better what Christ was speaking of.

Of course, without a basic and accurate understanding of what the various Hebrew and Greek words, arbitrarily all grouped in one translational category as 'hell', meant to that society in that era, you're going to have trouble making sense of it. By that, I mean you've got to somehow reconcile your own incomplete understanding of the text, on an objective scholastic level, with the fact that God said He would save ALL men and in another place says 'I am not a man that I should lie.' If you stick to saying He won't save all men as He said, himself, He would, then you're trying to promote a God who lies and doesn't keep His word.

How much sense does that make?

Don't you think that God has a more complete understanding than any of us? And so that in a situation where there is contradiction between what we THINK He means and what He outright SAID, it is best to just TRUST His word?

I do. And so I do.

Some people used to call God "liar" (or an enigma of sorts), for saying he is all loving and then sending people to hell. It was all right there in the good book. All those authors during the enlightenment period (of literature) were questioning God big time.

Now some people are calling God "all loving," that he doesn't send people to hell. I think that saying he is all loving is an improvement.

Queenie, I'm just curious, what denomination of faith are you (or were you raised.....or are you gravitating toward)? I've just never heard views like yours before regarding the NT. You're basically saying, "You have to accept me into heaven God, no matter what, no matter what my crimes, I'm coming whether you like it or not.........."
Pretty wild understanding. Not sure I buy it though.


[edit on 14-1-2007 by rocknroll]

Originally posted by rocknroll
Queenie, I'm just curious, what denomination of faith are you (or were you raised.....or are you gravitating toward)?

Not any. The church I was baptized at, and attended as a child (for 18 years) was 'non denominational.'

I don't see the necessity to divide.

I've just never heard views like yours before regarding the NT. You're basically saying, "You have to accept me into heaven God, no matter what, no matter what my crimes, I'm coming whether you like it or not.........."

No, I'm not making any such demands of God or assuming to tell God how to run His show. I'm just going by what He's shown me, in word and spirit.

I don't get into the 'going to heaven' thing any more than 'going to hell,' either.

The Kingdom of Heaven is an altogether different concept; going somewhere 'else' aside from 'the other side' just doesn't make sense nor is it supported in the book.

It is written in Isaiah, also, that God didn't form this world in vain; He formed it to be inhabitated.

His solution for our happy future (as the human race living on the planet) is not to remove the purpose of the Earth as our home or destroy it, OR any of us, for good. If you read carefully in Revelation, it says plainly enough that the world will be made new - not destroyed; and that the 'nations' will be 'healed.'

Pretty wild understanding. Not sure I buy it though.

You don't have to.
God IS pretty unconventional in His ways, though - and His truth is far stranger than any of the fictions we, as mankind, have been imaginative enough to dream up.

His are always infinitely better, though; He blows me away on a daily basis. His ways are not our ways and for that I thank Him everyday!

Like I said before, Jesus said it plain and clear right here, how much more of an explanation do you need Queen?

Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to Hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it. Matthew 7: 13-15

Originally posted by thehumbleone
Like I said before, Jesus said it plain and clear right here, how much more of an explanation do you need Queen?

Who said I was in need of an explanation from Christ?!?

Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to Hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it. Matthew 7: 13-15

Think about this: what if I am the ONLY one on my path? That would be extremely narrow. How many are on your path?

My path IS narrow; far narrower than you judge it to be - not the same thing at all as a narrow mind - that judges without truly seeing or knowing what they judge.

I don't know why you must insist that everything has an esoteric meaning to it,

he said it plain and clear, there are many who travel the path to hell, those who find the path to life are few.

My path IS narrow; far narrower than you judge it to be - not the same thing at all as a narrow mind - that judges without truly seeing or knowing what they judge.

Err, who's judging?

Originally posted by queenannie38

Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to Hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it. Matthew 7: 13-15

Think about this: what if I am the ONLY one on my path? That would be extremely narrow. How many are on your path?

Queenie, you're being selfish here. The universe doesn't revolve around your concept of God, but most Christians do revolve around the concept of Scripture in the Holy Bible. Obviously you do not. Your beliefs blatantly show you have no intention of following what it teaches at all. You have your own cosmic view of it that is quite "strange and twisted" (no offense, but any Christian/Protestant/Catholic or otherwise can see this in your posts). Your explanations are full of psycho-babble rhetoric. You never fully answer any questions at all.

"What if I am the only one on my path" you say.
Read the line that humble quoted. You have to be brain dead not to undertsand this line, seriously. If you do not accept this, then you do not accept the word of God as being true. How can you not understand what this line means? God is saying, there are 2 roads in life, only 2 Queenie: the wide road that many travel (to Hell), and the narrow road that few travel (to Heaven). He doesn't mention the 2 roads and then add, "Oh, and then there's Queenie's road and that is the third option, but she is the only one on that path, no one can touch her, she's coming to me, I can't stop her." LOL!

You're saying everybody's going to heaven. And I'm saying NO, some of us are not going to make the cut. That quote above says it all. What can't your brain understand about that line?

Spin away....

Excellent post rocknroll, I couldn't have said it better.

You have voted rocknroll for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have two more votes this month.

[edit on 14-1-2007 by thehumbleone]

Originally posted by thehumbleone
I don't know why you must insist that everything has an esoteric meaning to it,

I think it's painfully obvious, humble, she's in complete denial and seeing it in a way that she will not have to be held culpable for her wrong doings in life.
This way she alleviates guilt and can do whatever she wants without fear of retribution somewhere along the line.


And Queenie, I am not saying I'm any better than you. I'm not looking down my nose at you. I just think your beliefs, your interpretation is "out there, bizarre, kooky". Crazy stuff.

It's like someone writes the sentence. "That man is evil."
And I say, "Hey Queenie, read the sentence and tell me what it means."
You read it and your explanation is, "The man is accepting, he is all embracing, he has fault, he tries to do good, he is like all of us, life has meaning, all is good."
And I respond, "Huh?"

This is what you sound like. LOL!


[edit on 14-1-2007 by rocknroll]