pamjane

okay. thanks, ted, for explaining your comment more. i'm sorry to have come back at you with the tone i used.

does not exist. i'm sorry? you deny that the historical acts i mentioned ever happened?

Hi Mo' Welcome! Actually, I think the antipathy comes not from a misunderstanding of islam, but more from being blown up and kidnapped by it's followers. Thus, perhaps a modern day version of the proverb could read as such: "Man is the enemy of what blows him up, cuts off his head, or kidnaps him" Perhaps you have a point, though. Maybe there is a bit of misunderstanding out there. Y' see, we keep hearing that islam is a peaceful religion, but what we see in practice, at least by the leaders of the countries which are adherents to islam, is quite a different story altogether. So, in that sense, I don't quite understand it. Perhaps you could explain where I am misunderstanding things? Have a blessed day! t. whoa, buddy! let's not forget the bloody history of christendom. (quoted from here). that sounds pretty familiar. the religion we are identified with has a pretty nasty history: Crusades, the Inquisition, Catholic vs. Protestant wars/violence, 'Christian' Hitler's terror and the Holocaust, the Salem witch trials.

sylvan3, I read about the experiment in How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God by Michael Shermer. I'm not able to post the name of the book the experiment is documented in, but it's written by S.A. Vyse.

Lepaca and sylvan3, i understand how questions and Biblical contradictions can lead to an unbelief in God, but is there anything that makes you wonder sometimes that you may be wrong or that you may change your mind about God (maybe not even the Muslim-Judeo-Christian type God, but a Creator/Supreme Being in general)? sylvan3... i'll PM you the name of the book i'm reading. for some reason, i'm not able to put the title in a post.

for some reason i'm not able to post the response i want to post.

i don't mean to get off topic in my own thread, but whatever. that we find order, patterns, and beauty in the world does not necessarily mean that there is a creator. perhaps humans are naturally, through evolution, pattern-seeking creatures and that's why we have the illusion of the world being a creation. our minds find patterns in random places: the "man" in the moon, lincoln's head as a potato chip, the virgin mary in the clouds. i recently read of a test where two groups of people played a video game without any instructions being given. when someone from the first group performed a certain action in the game, he was awarded points. the folks in the second group were awarded points arbitrarily. when asked if there was a pattern as to how they earned points, most of the people in the first group correctly identified the pattern. most of the people in the second group, although there was no pattern as to how they earned points, came up with some sort of pattern to attribute their awarded points to. so maybe we've just evolved into a species that would find a pattern or meaning within any environment we were in. just a thought.

i just wanted to let you know that i'm not ignoring your post; i am, however, choosing to not answer those questions in this thread. i'm just interested in seeing what kinds of things cause nonchristians to doubt their unbelief. i'm sure some folks here would be happy to answer your questions if you create another topic for them.

mmm... very nice. i agree with this. also, for me, i can understand how we might evolve a sense of morality for the sake of forming human societies. however, if our sense of "right" and "wrong" has been evolved, then why would we continually have an inner war between being loving, kind, honest, brave, unselfish and being the opposite of all that society esteems?

I guess "what troubles you" isn't really what I'm asking. This is in response to emeraldgirl's topic about what questions and/or doubts Christians have about God, Christianity, or the Bible. I'm interested to see what questions, doubts, or thoughts non-Christians might have that direct them toward a belief in the God of the Bible. I hope that makes sense. to rephrase: What thoughts, if any, sometimes creep into your head that make you reconsider whether the Biblical God is true?

I first accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was in 7th grade, but I very rarely attended church. I began an intimate, personal relationship with God in fall 2001 during my freshman year of college. For 4-1/2 years I centered my life around Christ and devoted myself to knowing and loving him and the Church. Until March I even seriously considered going into fulltime ministry. I've probably only read about 1/2-3/5 of the entire Bible. A few things that I've found progressively troubling with the God of the Bible: **I know the depths of the darkness of my heart and the depravity of my mind. If I am a created being, then my Creator must be even more evil than me to have created my evilness. I understand the idea of free will, and that God created us good and we choose to do evil. But this does not negate the fact that God must have created this evil that we are free to choose. **How do I know I can trust the modern Protestant version of the Bible? There have been so many versions of what was considered canon at the time, not to mention dozens of other gospels, hundreds of other epistles, and many different revelations that never made the canon cut. This is coupled with the disparity of scripture that other posters have mentioned. If there are some mistakes (and possibly some intentional changes of events or words) in scripture, then how could we possibly trust that what we consider "God-breathed" scripture today is God's true word. **Radical Muslims have got me thinking about how our fathers of faith have killed and waged war in the name of our God. I'm not talking about the Crusades or the Inquisition or the KKK, which can all be attributed to people misunderstanding or grossly perverting the message of the Bible. I'm talking about the Old Testament heroes who heard messages straight from God. Today, radical Muslims genuinely believed that they are hearing from God and accomplishing his will by sacrificing their lives to bring justice to what they see as godless and tyrannical nations. Is there really much difference between the faith of Joshua or David and the faith of Ziad or Ahmed?

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (galatians 2:20-21)

cats, you have a very valid point, and you've shown me some things i need to think and pray about. thanks.

well, i don't have a family yet, but... when i DO have a family ( ) i already know of a tradition i want to start. i'd like for us to go out each year, and have each family member choose a new ornament for the tree. each person can choose either something that brings back a memory of the previous year, or just one that they like a lot. also, a really nice tradition i'd like to have is reading the christmas story aloud on christmas morning, and then praying together as a family before we open gifts.

that sounds like a great idea! the apostle paul saw celibacy as a gift from God, "I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am." (1 Corinthians 7:7-8) simon, amen!