Christians, A Call To Strength From A Dissenter Of Your Faith

hi Colbe,

i grew up in a Protestant family (father is pastor, church planter/overseas missionary), however lately i am finding myself tending towards the direction of Orthodox Christianity. i think when the Protestants broke off from Catholicism... they might have missed it... in that they should have gone back to the root prior to the split between the East and the West... back home to Orthodoxy. In speaking with Protestant friends though, it is interesting how little awareness/understanding there is of Catholics, much less the Orthodox however.

Well it all depends on God's mercy, not man's effort, isn't that what Paul says? Hopefully when one is depending on mercy, that makes one become a bit more accepting. God knows who are his

blessings,
Peter


reply to post by colbe

You know what really gets me about Christianity? Why would anyone want to worship such an egotistical, angry god? Really. Your God is evil. It's "Do as I command or suffer eternal damnation". That is not a good and loving God, is it? If God is all knowing, why would he condem us to life on this rock knowing he will destroy us ultimately. An all knowing "God" would already know who the sinners would be making our existance pointless.

There is no logic to religion. None whatsoever. deal with it

rvborgh
hi Colbe,

i grew up in a Protestant family (father is pastor, church planter/overseas missionary), however lately i am finding myself tending towards the direction of Orthodox Christianity. i think when the Protestants broke off from Catholicism... they might have missed it... in that they should have gone back to the root prior to the split between the East and the West... back home to Orthodoxy. In speaking with Protestant friends though, it is interesting how little awareness/understanding there is of Catholics, much less the Orthodox however.

Well it all depends on God's mercy, not man's effort, isn't that what Paul says? Hopefully when one is depending on mercy, that makes one become a bit more accepting. God knows who are his

blessings,
Peter


reply to post by colbe

 

Who has been praying for you Peter? Wow! I am teasing, a little. The 'grace' of conversion, oh my Heavens.

I attended once, the Orthodox have a most reverent Mass.

It is a lot, upbringing for Protestants, hearing the negative about the faith is hard to get past. And I recall, in a message from Heaven (private revelation), Our Lord said non-Catholic Christians need the Eucharist.

So true about God's mercy. Our Lord states His greatest attribute is His mercy. And the divine gift
coming for the entire world is a beautiful example of God's mercy and love for His creation.

You sound on your way, skip the Orthodox, go call the Catholic diocese office in your area. Ask them where the Tridentine Mass (Latin Mass) is offered in the dioceses. Call that parish and ask the priest there, tell him you wold like to take instruction in the faith.


I say this because of two beautiful benefits. You will take instruction from a consecrated priest and not
a lay person (the usual) at the RCIA program of most Novus Ordo Mass (New Mass) parishes. AND, it doesn't take as long, the instruction. You can do either though, RCIA if you wish.


prayers for your conversion, how happy I am for you,


colbe


p.s. I say "skip the Orthodox" because Heaven says "soon", God is going to show every soul on the earth
Roman Catholicism is THE faith.

Darkmask
You know what really gets me about Christianity? Why would anyone want to worship such an egotistical, angry god? Really. Your God is evil. It's "Do as I command or suffer eternal damnation". That is not a good and loving God, is it? If God is all knowing, why would he condem us to life on this rock knowing he will destroy us ultimately. An all knowing "God" would already know who the sinners would be making our existance pointless.

There is no logic to religion. None whatsoever. deal with it

I wish I could explain to you how much God loves you and me, all His creation. He loves you more than any created person can. In the Old Covenant men did not have the understanding as we do now with Our Lord revealing more fully who God is...

God is holy and good, all His commands are for our benefit. Our longing in our soul is to know Him and to love Him. Important, He has given everyone the gift of free will, to choose for the good or not. If we weren't free to choose, what would the worth of our love be? Important, mankind needs His help because of our fallen nature. Ask Him in prayer for His GRACE, His help to be good. Promise me, you'll pray every day from now on...even if for only 10 minutes.

A second thing, I don't want to overwhelm you. #2 - With heartfelt repentance, CONFESSION of your sins to God, there it is, prayer and Confession for the life of your soul.

Read below, back in the 30s, God the Father gave a ten page message to a holy sister in Italy named Mother Eugenia. He expresses His love for mankind. It is so beautiful. It has Church approval. I give you an excerpt, God explains His greatest desire.... Believe, then speak to Him (pray). You can speak to Him anytime anywhere.

If I get down, blue, I reread the Father's greatest desire and I am not down anymore.


God bless you,


colbe

+ + +

an excerpt...

Message from God the Father, the Father of All Mankind

July 1, 1932

....The more evil grew, the more My goodness urged Me to communicate with just souls so that they could transmit My commands to those who were creating disorder. Thus, I was sometimes obliged to be strict in order to reprove them; NOT to punish them - that would only have done harm - but to take them away from vice and lead them to their Father and their Creator, Whom they had forgotten and ignored in their ingratitude. Later, evil overwhelmed men’s hearts to such an extent that I was compelled to send calamities upon the world to purify men through suffering, the destruction of their possessions, or even their death. These were the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, man’s wars against man, etc. I have always wished to remain in this world among men. So, during the Flood, I was close to Noah, the only just man then. In the other calamities, also, I always found a just man with whom I could stay and, through him, I lived among the men of that time, and it has always been thus. The world has often been purified of its corruption because of My infinite goodness towards humanity. I continued to choose certain souls in whom I was pleased, because through them I could be happy with My creatures, men.

I promised the world a Messiah. I did all I could to prepare His coming, showing Myself in the figures that represented Him, even thousands of years before His coming! For who is this Messiah? Whence does He come? What will He do on earth? Whom does He represent? The Messiah is God. Who is God? God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Whence does He come? Or rather, who ordered Him to come among men? It was I, His Father, God. Whom is He to represent on earth? His Father, God. What is He to do on earth? He will make the Father, God, known and loved. Did He not say: “Do you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (“Nesciebatis quia in his quae Patris mei sunt oportet me esse?” St. Luke, ch. 2, v. 49). ...

Realize then, o men, that for all eternity I have had but one desire, to make Myself known to men and be loved by them. I wish to stay for ever with them. Do you want an authentic proof of this desire that I have just expressed?

Why did I command Moses to build a tabernacle and the ark of the covenant, if not to come and dwell, as a Father, a brother, a close friend, with My creatures, men? This was My ardent desire. In spite of this, they have forgotten Me and offended Me with countless sins. I gave Moses My commandments to remind them, in spite of everything, of God, their Father, and of His sole wish, to save them. They were supposed to observe the commandments and thereby remember their infinitely good Father, always intent upon their present and eternal salvation. All this was forgotten and men sank into error and fear, considering that the observance of the commandments as I had transmitted them to Moses was too taxing. They made up other laws in accordance with their whims, in order to observe them more easily. Little by little, in the exaggerated fear they had of Me, they forgot Me more and more and heaped outrages upon Me. Yet My love for these men, My children, never quite ceased. When I realized that neither the patriarchs nor the prophets had been able to make Me known and loved by men, I decided to come Myself. But how could I come among them? There was no other way than to come Myself, in the second Person of My divinity. Would men know Me? Would they listen to Me? Nothing in the future was hidden from Me; I Myself answered these two questions: “They will ignore My presence, even though they will be near Me. In My Son they will treat Me cruelly, notwithstanding all the good He will do for them. In My Son they will speak ill of Me, they will crucify Me to bring about My death.” Shall I stop because of this? No, My love for My children, men, is too great. ...

This, then, in brief, is the story of My love until My coming among men through My Son. Most men know of all these events, but they fail to grasp the essential thing: that love was the guiding principle in it all! Yes, it is love. This is what I want to impress upon you. Now this love has been forgotten. I want to remind you of it, so that you can learn to know Me as I am. ....

www.fatherspeaks.net... FATHER´S MESSAGE, book 1, part 1

reply to post by Cuervo


Hey Cuervo,

Not exactly sure what you asking? What's the question if there is one.

Dissenter....interesting term, however I prefer prodigal son.. we (Christians & non-Christians) at one time or another have turned out back or have not kept in touch with our 'deity' as much as He would have like....much like the story of the prodigal son....that is EXACTLY what we're seeing here (in the world)...

Been on ATS for a while, and all i can say is .. the scripture can be argued away .. but, it's what's happened within us that changed us eternally that we'll never go back and even if we do, we still are changed, in our minds .. we know.. but even our conscience can be seared.

even with the things I've experienced in my lifetime, doesn't make sense with that I believe...but, because what happened so drastically 30 years ago...doesn't sway me in my belief, because it's stronger than anything I've experienced, including paranormal/close encounters....

reply to post by Cuervo


I would agree with you but Christians apparently don't believe in the OT or anything concerning it. Hard to question anything when Christians dont even believe their own books.

Basically, Christians think their books are just lies... except for the nice Jesus parts they just so happen to agree with at that particular moment. They can have such a religion... if they think its all lies then great... they can have all of it.

I certainly wont ask even one more question ever again.

OpinionatedB
reply to post by Cuervo

 

I would agree with you but Christians apparently don't believe in the OT or anything concerning it. Hard to question anything when Christians dont even believe their own books.

Basically, Christians think their books are just lies... except for the nice Jesus parts they just so happen to agree with at that particular moment. They can have such a religion... if they think its all lies then great... they can have all of it.

I certainly wont ask even one more question ever again.

edit on 12-12-2013 by OpinionatedB because: (no reason given)

I wish they only looked at the Jesus narrative! It's when they look at the OT and start cherry-picking their favorite hate-memes from it that bothers me.

Christianity is like any other religion; it can be a medicine or a poison, a blessing or a condemnation.

My thread was meant to have them think for themselves and realize they are ultimately the masters of their own spirituality and fully capable of discernment of their own religion. It's too important of a matter to put fully into the hands of other people.

reply to post by OpinionatedB

I would agree with you but Christians apparently don't believe in the OT or anything concerning it. Hard to question anything when Christians dont even believe their own books.

I suppose that it depends on what you mean when you say we don't believe in the Old Testament. I believe in it, I just don't attribute to it the same literal truth that some do. When I read it (yes, I have read it, and am in the process of reading it yet again,) I see the writings of people who are reaching out to God, have some sliver of understanding about him, but who have yet to make that personal connection that would come through Jesus, so they don't always get the facts right.

Do I believe in a literal Adam and Eve? Not really. Do I believe in a worldwide flood? No, though I do believe in a localized flood that might have been seen as being worldwide. Maybe there was a guy who built a boat and his foresight allowed him to save his herds, and that tale grew into Noah. Do I believe that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah? No, but I think that the recorder of that story might have thought those people deserving of destruction and when some natural disaster struck, they attributed it to divine intervention.

I read the Bible holistically, and that allows one to see the overarching nature of God throughout. I don't necessarily "throw out" parts of the Old Testament that disagree with that holistic view, but when there is a direct conflict, that viewpoint suggests that the incident in question needs to be examined more carefully and the reader needs to consider whether this is a real event, something intended as allegory, or something that is nothing more than the imaginings of the author.