[quote=garysher;181867]That's why it takes a courageous step of faith to be a Christian.


It's a cop out, not courageous. The men of reason and logic were constantly persecuted by the men of faith who were too afraid to see the truth put before them.

Just ask Copernicus and Galileo.

How convenient that bigots and homophobics get to hide behind their 'religion' to explain their hatred.

Christianity isn't the only religion that requires a leap of faith. In fact, I believe that they all require faith, or it isn't religion. What strikes me as an observer is that almost all religions require faith in their doctrine, but attach no significance to the faithful members of a different religion. They consider them to be confused or ingnorant in their beliefs. I also find it unsual that people who can have such faith in a religious belief, have such a hard time extending that faith to the rest of humanity.

Thus, this explains your constant state of CONFUSION. Do you always expect OTHERS to provide the services that need rendered to support your livelihood, even to espouse the ideology that it is the responsibility of someone else to provide you with that INDIVIDUAL quest for the truth? Faith is personal in all its glory from the fact of first finding it....to the quest of self challenging such when and if you do find it. I personally accept the Judeo-Christian faith, simply due to the fact that I did place it to the test, and found it lacking NOTHING. The more I research and place the burden of its requirements to the test....the more I respect its message of truth. For indeed there is NO OTHER faith that can be validated by true science and history that is presented in the faith of the ONE TRUE GOD of Creation.....PROVE IT WRONG, it expects or accepts nothing less than the challenge of REAL LIFE. (R)

What holes are in the Bible? The only holes are in your reasoning. You mock God, Christians, and the Bible, and yet you have no answers for life.The Bible does not say that sex is bad. Show me where, in the Bible, that sex is bad. Man has perverted sex through shameless television and movies. Man has made sex into this religious experience where men and women attempt to find nirvana. Why do you think porno is a billion dollar industry? Its you watching other people having sex. Not perverted?

Also, you forget that Jesus ridiculed the holy men of His day. Jesus was arguementative, scoffing, and contradicting to the Law then perverted by the Pharisees. Man is NEVER to be looked to for spiritual approval. Man in NOT God, nor are Christians better than you. Christians have accepted sacrificial death as an offering for the forgiveness of sin. Christians are not better than nonbelievers, but we are forgiven. WE are SAVED by GRACE through FAITH in Christ Jesus. No more, no less. So, stop using holy mens bad moves or the church as an excuse to find a loop hole in the Bible.
I live by faith. It defines my character, makes me stronger and confident. It also gives me purpose. Nonbelievers scoff God, Christians and the Bible because they want that kind of peace. They look inside and want that inner peace given by God, learned through the Bible, and lived out by believers.

They want it their way but, sadly, it won't happen. We all eventually have to face the fact that we will someday die. We can pretend to be content with this, but deep down we want more.

There you go again, Ralph, touting the superiority of your faith, based on your logic and reasoning. And that's great, FOR YOU. I am saying that people like you, who have to claim that their faith is the only right one, aren't getting the real experiences of your faith. And believe me Ralph, I am not confused. I don't have to defend the actions of men from 2000 years ago in order to legitimise my faith. And Christianity isn't the only faith that expects or accepts nothing less than the challenge of real life, whatever that means. If you really cared about your faith, you would be defending it to the people who are causing it the most harm, those that claim moral superiority, and then commit actions and deeds in direct opposition to that claim. Because I am not an atheist, but I certainly don't align myself with the organisations that have caused the most suffering on the planet, in the name of their God.

The difference between Christianity and all other religions IS faith. All other religions teach that we must earn our way to heaven. In other words, our allowance into heaven is a crap shoot. The Bible tells us specifically that our works are like filthy rags before God.

I've said it before, so I'll say it again. Christians are not perfect, so don't judge God based on our stupid moves. WE ALL SCREW UP. NOONE IS PERFECT. Have faith in God.

And that is my point as well. Faith in God is not the same as faith in a man made organisation claiming the superiority of their dogma and doctrine. And real persons of fatih, do not attempt to control the actions of any one other than themselves. Because they know that each individual has their own lessons to learn at the time that is best for them to learn them.

And other religions have to believe what has been taught to them, and so must also be religions based on faith.

The TRUTH is simply the truth....I merely accept it as such, and NO ONE has proven the writings of the Holy Scriptures that self professes to being divinely inspired and proper to use for ALL Doctrine -- ll Tim 3:16-17, to being anything OTHER than the truth that it represents. You are correct the truth is SUPERIOR in all fashions to opinion and speculation....it is you that continues to espouse that it is not true, in All its presentation, thus giving you the rationalization to pick the parts of it that justifies YOUR CHOICES, and this seems some what pompous from my personal point of view. If the entirety of the Scriptures are wrong....simply prove them to be as such, until such time I shall continue to hold their representative truths as SUPERIOR. ITS THE ONLY LOGICAL THING TO DO....no? (R)

[quote=knowuryder;181869]You're still arguing about arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic??

Typical!