John 3:16...For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotton, that for who ever believeth in him, shall not perish but have everlasting last.

Do you belive?

Without a dought!

I believe that when I didn't believe...I wasn't interested in the outcome of most anything. I never thought about the what if's. I just did it.
I believe that when I didn't believe...I was lost and looking for something and never found it. I was restless, nervous, hopeless, and devil-may-care.

It was after I came to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, and that He must be something to behold, that I became a constructive and caring, lover of life. Having feelings of compassion and hope and receiving the ability to maintain a simple yet open mind to faith.

And....if someone proves that neither is real..(and I do not think that will happen) I will have lost nothing. I will have just became a better person for the experience. But, if it is all as real as I believe, then I will find out if it was enough.

Kat

with all my heart!!

Yes i believe that Old & New Testament the Bible ia an amazing book written exactly for you when you read it
God Bless.
bonnie

No not in the least. But if you feel it in your heart and it makes you a better person, eager for equality among all people and concerned about the health and welbeing of every person, than you just keep believing.

But if there is hate, fear, bigotry, or prejudice that is in any way based on what you believe - than leave it behind, it's a cancer to your heart and a black death to your mind.

Without a doubt!!!

Yes Maam!

Well said Di. I expect no less from you. You see...that WAS the person I was. Now...not so much. Coming to my belief was my salvation from myself. It is a good thing for me.
Hugs lady.
Kay

absolutely

AWE Kat, you are such a shining star. There's nothing in your heart that is black or deadly. hug back to ya.

Amen

!!! i most certainly do believe !!!

amen..
yes..
thank you jesus....

bumping this up to the top

Of course I don’t believe it considering the full extent of the doctrine it came from.

However, if God himself came to me and told me that it is true, I would simply decline the offer. (politely of course).

No need to provoke God’s wrath. I’m just not interested in his so-called gift. The price is far more than I am willing to pay. I’ll gladly and freely choose death if this is in fact the true nature of God. I simply have no desire of serving this God for all of eternity in accordance with the fine print that accompanies his offer of eternal life. I would graciously accept the alternative choice of death.

That would be my choice if this God is real. I simply have no interest in playing the games he has in store. I’m just not interested, just like I’m not interested in playing bridge, for example.

Personally I don’t believe that God is like this at all, so its all moot to me. But just for the sake of humoring the tale, my free will choice would be death if I had to make it.

“Thanks, but no thanks”, this would be my response to the biblical God. (said with the most gracious sincerity)

He offered, I declined. No need for anyone to get in a huff about it. The whole idea is that it's supposed to be our choice. So I freely make my choice to decline his offer. It’s as simple as that.

As For Me and My House...

we shall serve the Lord...

i would rather die

believing in Jesus Christ as my Lord & Savior

and find out that He was not the Omnipotent One


than to die unbelieving


finding out that He really is


the Way the Truth and The Absolute Life


that is how strongly I believe & have faith that He is God

What is believing? This is an old cry Just Believe. Believing means alot. Anyone can say the words. So what is really believing? Blessings....Miles

i do.

As far as I’m concerned you are exactly right Miles.

Believing is really not a matter of choice. I can’t believe in the story because the story makes no sense to me. In order for me to claim to believe it I would need to lie to myself as well as lie to God.

You can’t just say that you believe something. If you don’t genuinely understand it then it’s meaningless. It would be like someone comes to your door and says, “If you believe the number 7 is a lucky number you’ll be granted everlasting life”. So people are running around claiming to believe that the number 7 is lucky just so they’ll get the prize that is offered for claiming to believe it.

Belief, is really not a matter of choice. I’ve studied the scriptures that make these claims and find them to be self-inconsistent to the point where they are utterly unbelievable. They simply make no sense. Like I say, I would have to lie to myself as well as to God to pretend to believe it.

It’s not a matter of choice. (unless I want to choose to lie under the pretense that this will place me in favor with God).

I have no choice but to tell the truth. And the truth is that the story is so incredulous and self-contradictory that in order to believe it I would have to also believe that there is no such things as reason, and that God is entirely unreasonable.

All for what? So I can be granted a promise of eternal life spent in servitude to this same unreasonable God that is portrayed in the biblical stories?

Like I say, if these unreasonable stories should happen to be true, I would decline the offer anyway. I’d rather die than live under the servitude of an unreasonable God who has clearly changed his persona several times over the course of the story. This God is not only unreasonable (according to the stories) but he is also unpredictable and therefore untrustworthy (according to the stories).

So, in all honesty I can't say that I believe them. But even if I could, I would decline the offer to spend eternity in the servitude of this unreasonable God anyway.

At least I’m given that choice! And I’ll freely take it should this unreasonable unstable God happen to be for real! I’ll humble bow to it for having given me the freedom to bow out of its insane games as it ‘un-creates’ me. And that will be that.

That is precisely what I would choose should these stories happen to be true. No need for emotion. I’m not passing judgment on the God, I’m just not interested in playing its games based on the behavior it has already exhibited in the doctrine that supposedly describes what this God is like.

I’ve read the history. And having been educated as to what I can expect, I knowingly choose to decline this deity's offer for eternal life.

End of story. Put the book back on the shelf. Where’s the next fantasy? Maybe I’ll choose to play with a differnet God instead.

Yes, some of us have heard this
a hundred times Abra, if we've heard it once...
You let us know how you feel
& what you think every time...

and those of us who do believe,
do the same thing...

so we are even ...


I feel bad for you that
<in my opinion>
you don't seem to know what to believe in...
and you keep searching...

it is extremely exhausting & painful

But, when you decide what and Who to believe in ,
please start a new thread & let us know about it ,
and we will come by and wish you so very well.

I truly mean that with all my heart
& long may you run, Dear James