I am a believer in Christ.

Dazzling, that's exactly what I mean... I'm just extremely long winded!

Redangel

"if you follow God's Plan and not something that was set up by human
beings and get a true understanding of the
Bible for yourself, you won't get sucked into 'religious' confines... "

Right on girl!

Depends how you define the word. In the King James version of the Bible
the word means Christlike. In an extreme point of view one might think
of a follower as lion food. When you look at the verse, "Take up your
cross and follow me" it is easy to see the martyrdom of the faith. But
when you look at the verse, "Peace, peace I come not to bring peace but
a sword" one can start to see the contradictions. I think the song,
"Onward Christian Soldiers" aptly defines Holy War. "Onward Christian
soldiers, onward as to war, with the cross of Jesus, going on before."

RedAngel wrote:
“I'm a follower of Christ... But I don't have a denomination...”

Yeah really. If all a person needs to be to be a Christian is to follow
the teachings of Christ, then I’m a Christian too. But I already led
my life that way anyhow, so I’m not completely sure who’s following
whom.

I don’t associated with any churches or religions because from my point
of view they teach a lot of bad stuff and have displayed a gross
misunderstanding of the message of Jesus. They seem to think of Christ
as some kind of free ticket into heaven.

But like you suggest, there are a lot of different denominations. Were
Jim Jones and David Koresh Christians? They certainly believed they
were, and so did their followers.

But if being a Christian means to belong to a church then no way. I’m
definitely not a Christian and will never become one (not even to save
my soul!) I’d rather just perish thank you.

Not at all what I meant, I'm just too longwinded to get it all in one
post. What I mean is that I believe in Christ, I follow his teachings,
as well as the other teachings in the Bible. I live my life according
to what I believe to be God's intended plan for life. After all isn't
'religion' what you interpret it to be anyway? It's a personal thing,
it's not something you share or can even explain to someone else. My
belief is shaped by the things I've been through, the things I've
learned, and what I've discovered for myself. So when it comes to those
folks that have taken the lives of and proclaimed to be in the name of
Christ... I mean what can you really say? I can't say I'd hate to be a
Christian because of what some people have misunderstood. When the
people downed the towers, they did it in the name of Allah. But are all
Muslims that way? Not at all. Some people just misinterpret their
purpose... that's how I look at it. And again, that's just me...

When Allah and God can settle their differences then maybe the rest of
us can live in peace.

Our attitudes toward one another have nothing to do with who we worship.
It has everything to do with forgetting that we're all a part of
humanity. Blaming religious differences for our problems is just a way
of avoiding the bigger picture... and

Abra~ Hun you didn't read my second post huh?

Angel wrote:
“Blaming religious differences for our problems is just a way of
avoiding the bigger picture”

I think there’s a big difference between ‘blaming them’ and recognizing
their potential for creating an atmosphere of bigotry, intolerance, or
even hatred.

I’m not against all churches. I know there are some really nice
churches that have good preachers and good congregations. But there
are others that have preachers who have agendas and congregations that
are easily riled up into being ‘used’ for those agendas.

This is why I prefer not to be associated with organized religions.

Also, you mentioned doing your own thing:

Angel wrote:
“After all isn't 'religion' what you interpret it to be anyway? It's a
personal thing, it's not something you share or can even explain to
someone else. My belief is shaped by the things I've been through, the
things I've learned, and what I've discovered for myself.”

I totally agree with you. I believe that this is the way it should be.
And many churches do allow for this kind of freedom. But some others do
not. Some demand that the word of God should be followed, and they
claim to know what that word is. So they push it onto their
congregations.

But you’re right, churches should be more liberal. Some are, some
aren’t. I avoid the issue altogether by simply avoiding the churches
altogether and then it becomes a non-issue.

..

Rainbow>

Allah and God and YHWY are all the same. Babel has confused you.

The problem lies not with That-Which-Is Iam.

The problem lies with the Religions-Which-Use-His-Name to enrich
themselves or place themselves upon the high places as though they are
Him. When they begin their inevitable descent as Yahwea/Allah/God
breaths truth upon them and makes them low our whole reality will be
sundered.

Another reason I do not belong to a crutch.

I mean Church.

You all keep your faith. It will be what brings you peace.

I am a Yahwists. I believe in using the true name as give by our
creator and commanded to use. Yahweh and Yahshua. Father and Son with
the son through the father has did all creation as he was commanded. He
came in the Authority of Yahweh and was known as Yahweh in the OT. I
also believe that the OT laws which some say are 613 commands. I do not
know or care how many. I do know that Paul went into the Temple in Acts
21 to show the Jews he did not teach against the law. $ men who had an
Nazorite vow on them came and needed to go into the temple and sacrafice
for 7 days and shave thier heads to complete the vow. (likw samson) He
was attached because the Jews accused him of defiling the Temple for
taking greeks/gentiles in. He then appeal to ceasur as a Roman citizen.
This is how/why he ended up in rome. During the journey Paul got upset
because he missed a feast he was commanded to keep at jerusalem. Now as
far as Allah goes it is true that Isaac was not the 1st born of Abraham
but he was of the promice that Yahweh said he would have a son from a
barren women. Allah if you just look at it is a play on words from
Yahweh. The Arabs claim Abrahams 1st born had the promice and fighting
has went on ever since. But look at a map of the middle east and how
many cities end in yah? Just like the prophets names end in yah.. ie
Isa-yah,zecher-yah, zephen-yah, and in the NT mathews hebrew name ends
in yah and john the baptists name was Yahchonan meaning Yahs beloved.
Forgetting about these names having Yahweh's name in them and saying we
can call him anything we want is dangeroius .This is truth that can not
be denied the scriptures show it plainly. Yet as humans we choose to be
like the Tower of babel (even this name claims spiritship an avatar) We
have increased so much in knowledge (as daniel fortold) that we do not
need Yahweh. So we decide what is right and what is wrong. Bringing to
pass in this age as the prophet Isayah foretold. They will make evil
good and good will be evil. Watch Tv or read newspapers and I bet you
all can see Isayah's prophecy comming true. Miles

Adventure, I agree. I think God has many names. Coming from Cherokee
descent I believe in the Great Spirit. When I went into treatment for
alcohol and drug addiction I was very confused more so than I am now. I
was working with an old preacher last night who has dementia. I have
learned from the nursing college that he who argues with a fool is a
fool. Last night the old preacher was determined he was right and I was
wrong. He goes through these episodes that are like a loop. He thought
he was in front of the urinal. I was determined not to argue this time.
I looked at it as the customer is always right. He is a paying customer.
So I said just go ahead, John. He whoops it out and pisses all over
himself, his sock and everything. He then decides he want to go for a
walk so I am holding his hand after he pissed all over the floor
watching him track the floor in piss. I figured what the hell. He is
happy. It does take that long to take the towels to clean up the
mess.

I am a Christian

I am not a Christian, which I am sure is not a shocker to anyone. I do
have the highest respect for all people & their convictions, whether it
be religious or otherwise.