No Longer A Christian

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monochrome

monochrome

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Turbo said:
:think: Sounds like the same boat, all right.

Did you ever have faith in Christ, monochrome?
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Ah, this is the part where every good Christian who is afraid of eternal damnation will sate his fear by saying "Well, if you left Christianity, or if you left Christ, than you were never saved to begin with!"

I one believed that Jesus Christ was the only entrance to heaven, if that answers your question (which I am sure it will not). I once believed that my faith in Jesus protected me from the hands of the christian devil; that with Jesus by my side I would never come to harm, and that my family would remain strong in the arms of the Lord.

I also believed in Unicorns. I had a nice book on them too.

What I found on my walk with the Lord is that no matter how hard you try, and how well you serve... Let's just say my church had a nice hand in destroying what I had once seen as a perfect family. I don't really hold it against them though, now that every one of us has left that crumbling faith, we are stronger and happier. Our tough times are brighter.

And not fearing hell for premarital masturbatory excursions is nice too.

So anyway, I did belive in Christ. But not no more.

Insert "But He believes in you" line here.

- m -
 
wickwoman

wickwoman

New member
Hi Monochrome.

Your experience is the beginning of facing reality and that's a good thing. Don't rule out anything from here on out. Be totally open to WHATEVER comes. That means, the possibility of taking a dirt nap at the end of your life OR that the Christian God really is real. (Though I certainly doubt it.)

But the issue here is that you are no longer "comfortably numb." You are facing what comes without the filters that your mindset once provided. When you see the sun, you actually see the sun and you don't have to have a whole scenario of what it means. Just look at it. Or, when you feel sad, you just feel sad. It isn't because God is mad at you. Your life is made of happy times, sad times, mediocre times. It's all this that makes up a life. And we don't have to be perfect and holy all the time. We can just be who we are. And that's good enough.

Peace.
 
Aimiel

Aimiel

Well-known member
monochrome said:
What I found on my walk with the Lord is that no matter how hard you try, and how well you serve...
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This is what too many people try to do, they try to become their own savior, placing The Lord beneath their own efforts to be righteous. He grants us His Righteousness. Works is enmity against God, when it is done to try to gain salvation. Those who seek and search for The Lord with their whole heart will find Him. He promised that, and has yet to be proven a liar.
 
Caledvwlch

Caledvwlch

New member
wickwoman said:
How does a heathen such as yourself get such a great rep? You must know people in low places!
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No, I had a couple of good (funny) posts here and there. And one day I found myself in agreement with BillyBob. That paid off fairly well.
 
monochrome

monochrome

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Thanks for the kind words, friends, it's good to feel accepted when you're new, and surrounded on every side by scary Christians. ;)

Aimiel said:
This is what too many people try to do, they try to become their own savior, placing The Lord beneath their own efforts to be righteous. He grants us His Righteousness. Works is enmity against God, when it is done to try to gain salvation. Those who seek and search for The Lord with their whole heart will find Him. He promised that, and has yet to be proven a liar.
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So works has nothing to do with salvation? Wow, would you like the address to my old church? They would love you there. It is this very philosophy that you hammer on now that pushed me, no, liberated me, from the faith. So here's an indirect thank you for showing me the way! I'll have to footnote this with "Not the way to your God but to mine" to avoid the come back I see coming.

- m -
 
wickwoman

wickwoman

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Oh, I find myself agreeing with BB quite often. He's actually quite reasonable except when it comes to politics. A true "good ole boy" as we call them in the south.
 
Caledvwlch

Caledvwlch

New member
wickwoman said:
Oh, I find myself agreeing with BB quite often. He's actually quite reasonable except when it comes to politics. A true "good ole boy" as we call them in the south.
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Tehe. Actually it was politics we were agreeing on. :help:
 
Aimiel

Aimiel

Well-known member
monochrome said:
So works has nothing to do with salvation? Wow, would you like the address to my old church? They would love you there. It is this very philosophy that you hammer on now that pushed me, no, liberated me, from the faith. So here's an indirect thank you for showing me the way! I'll have to footnote this with "Not the way to your God but to mine" to avoid the come back I see coming.
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Are you trying to say that your 'works' are your salvation, or that your church thinks that works lead to salvation? I don't understand what you're saying here.
 
monochrome

monochrome

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Aimiel said:
Are you trying to say that your 'works' are your salvation, or that your church thinks that works lead to salvation? I don't understand what you're saying here.
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I mean that the old church thought Grace was more important than works, and that my actions in this life had nothing to do with going to heaven. They believed that the only thing that could ever get anyone into heaven was the 'Divine Green Card' handed out by God, and only to random people he determined would get it when he bound us all here.

Basically, no matter how hard I try to live a perfect life, free from sin, I'm still going to the christian hell because God is arbitrary in his handing out of said DGC.

Works first in my book, grace only in yours. At least, that's what I gathered from your original post in this topic, so forgive me if I misquote you.

- m -
 
On Fire

On Fire

New member
monochrome said:
I mean that the old church thought Grace was more important than works, and that my actions in this life had nothing to do with going to heaven. They believed that the only thing that could ever get anyone into heaven was the 'Divine Green Card' handed out by God, and only to random people he determined would get it when he bound us all here.

Basically, no matter how hard I try to live a perfect life, free from sin, I'm still going to the christian hell because God is arbitrary in his handing out of said DGC.

Works first in my book, grace only in yours. At least, that's what I gathered from your original post in this topic, so forgive me if I misquote you.

- m -
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Intellectual Faith
Beliefs
Heritage
Weekend
Lip Service

Faith through Works
Jesus +
Ledger and scales
Guilt
Performance

Genuine Faith
Trusts Jesus
Repentant
Grateful
Actions
 
monochrome

monochrome

New member
On Fire said:
Intellectual Faith
Beliefs
Heritage
Weekend
Lip Service

Faith through Works
Jesus +
Ledger and scales
Guilt
Performance

Genuine Faith
Trusts Jesus
Repentant
Grateful
Actions
Click to expand...

Wow, that'd make a nice bookmark. You might want to spice it up with a verb or two. Maybe an adverb, even. Things make my sense in sentances. ;)

What I was trying to say, in a nutshell, is that my old church believed that works meant basically nothing. I find this interesting with how they hammered on "Faith without works is dead" but never really believed it.

So I believe Works without faith is less likly to get you where you want to go, though my emphisis on the latter is not quite what they said it should have been.

New equasion: works/faith ratio = 4/1. Add ice, shake vigorously.

- m -
 
wickwoman

wickwoman

New member
monochrome said:
Wow, that'd make a nice bookmark. You might want to spice it up with a verb or two. Maybe an adverb, even. Things make my sense in sentances. ;)

What I was trying to say, in a nutshell, is that my old church believed that works meant basically nothing. I find this interesting with how they hammered on "Faith without works is dead" but never really believed it.

So I believe Works without faith is less likly to get you where you want to go, though my emphisis on the latter is not quite what they said it should have been.

New equasion: works/faith ratio = 4/1. Add ice, shake vigorously.

- m -
Click to expand...

A very smart Buddhist who posts here named Balder once said something like: interesting how you can do absolutely nothing to earn your way to Heaven but you can certainly earn a first class ticket to Hell for the simple offense of being born. (dramatic license taken)
 
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