What do you think of this quote (by an early Christian apologist)?
151787
to allow the flesh to rule in our lives, giving into lust,greed, jealousy, hatred etc, we are held in bondage to sin. when we have overcome these fleshly emotions and actions, we are free, from guilt of sin, we are at peace, we can learn to love without expectations and demands.\nI hope this is what you were looking for.
364192
I find that mildly insulting, since "Just read the Bible for yourself and you'll see" *is* my religious practice.  I use many translations in an attempt to understand the context and meaning of the original words, and take timeout to actually *experience* God in my life as well, through prayer and observation.\n\nPoint 1)\nJesus said "you are not to be called teacher. There is only one Teacher, and all of you are brothers.  Do not call any man here on earth your father. There is only one Father and He is in heaven.  You are not to be called leader. There is only one Leader and He is Christ." \n\nSo if we only have One teacher, and He isn't obviously visible or tangible to everyone, it's going to take a change in our perception to find Him.  Following any leader, any church, any teacher traps us.\n\nPoint 2)\nJesus said "The holy nation (kingdom) of God is not coming in such a way that can be seen with the eyes. It will not be said, 'See, here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For the holy nation of God is in you."\n\nAs we respond to our internal reactions to the scriptures, we will find Christ at work in it.\n\nPoint 3)\nRomans 1:19-20 Paul is saying:\nMen know about God. He has made it plain to them. Men cannot say they do not know about God. From the beginning of the world, men could see what God is like through the things He has made.This shows His power that lasts forever. It shows that He is God.\n\nWe also react to the world around us, but it is the internal reaction which reveals God at work in our hearts.  This works even if you don't read scripture.\n\nPoint 4)\nBut Jesus said, "It must be done, because we must do everything that is right." So then John baptized him.\n\nJesus did things that weren't even necessary for Him to do.  Being baptized for example, was a way for a Gentile (non-Jew) to become "grafted" to Judaism.  So we see Jesus being observant in all the ways a person can be observant.\n\nI try to act in a way that reveals God's presence and love to all people, Jews first, but also Christians, Muslims, Pagans, Wiccans, Hindus, and Native Americans especially, since I am living in their space and I am in part descended from them, Mexicans, Canadians, anyone stigmatized, homosexuals, the handicapped, the homeless, and that really annoying guy at work.\n\nThis brings me to\nMy final Point)\nGod is Love 1 John 4:8,16\n\nIf you learn anything on the way that leads you to act hatefully, you weren't learning that from Jesus.\n\nI'm sorry if you expected more.  I hope you weren't expecting me to point you in a church you never noticed, sitting right there on your corner, with white doves perched on a running fountain.  But fortunately, the religion I'm talking about is open to everyone, and not just the literate, not just the social, not just the convicted, but also the conversational, the solitary, and the skeptical.  You seek God with all your heart and ability and He Himself teaches you.
805808
And so it goes....\n\nLet he who is without sin cast the first stone.......\n\n\nHmmmmm, who said that?
218442
Who's the quote from?\n\nWe are to fish for men/women with the truth of God's Word. When you fish you use bait or a lure. You dangle the bait enticingly and don't beat them over the head with it.\n\nGod and His Word do the cleaning.
52638
The premise of the quote is rooted in the belief that first of all there is a 'truth' to be known.  And knowing that truth and being unhappy because of that truth is better then living under false pre-tense and feeling happy.  ie. having a girlfriend who you know is cheating on you and staying with her. Is better than being happy and not knowing that your girlfriend is cheating on you.\n\nI think the quote takes the possibly to the extreme.  The person who created this quote doesn't necessarily believe that the 'truth' means that someone will be unhappy.  Rather that the 'truth' is the most important thing.
844107
Foremost, quote the book and scripture from which you are referring.  There are a myraid of things that may be wrong with your argument that may not come to light unless you are honest in asking a question.  Honesty in asking includes citing your source.\n\nSecondly, this was a question proposed by Saint Augustine during the Fall of the Roman Empire.\n\nThe real question is - "So, we know the right way to live.  Great!  Why don't we do it?"\n\nThe answer is that we still have sin on our souls.  As sinners, we are given over to minor bouts of gluttony where we wish to eat things that taste good rather that what is best for our body.\n\nIt is not easy for anyone, let alone the whole of the Christain world (read Western Society), to break completely from this sin.\n\nIf you are so enlightened as to what Christains should eat, tell me, how do you purge your soul of minor bouts of gluttony?\n\nIt seems you ask your questions more to discredit Christains than to help them.
771847
Paul SAYS Jesus said this, but it isn't anywhere to be found in the Gospels.  Possibly Jesus never said it, or maybe Paul made it up; Or, possibly, one of the hundreds of "editors" of the bible thought it was a nice sentiment and added it.
293562
"That entire bit about 'knowledge of good and evil' was just a mistranslation somewhere, wasn't it?  Because we chowed down on that fruit thousands of years ago and we're as dumb as we ever were...  Is that why Christ said 'forgive them, they've not got a clue'?"
450353
I do not disagree with your "challenge".  At times I find myself wondering if I am ignoring Jesus' advice in Matthew 7:06 ("Do not cast your pearls before swine").  I think it is okay for a Christian to get a little emotional in their defense of the faith...as long as it doesn't cross the line to an uncontrolled anger.\n\nAre our words falling on deaf ears?  Maybe they are hardened "reprobates" and they only come here to be "a thorn in the side". But maybe, just maybe, deep inside they come to this page because they know that they might be wrong...
88815
This quotation did not come from a bible verse.  Here is the citation and source: http://www.bartleby.com/73/1084.html\n\nAUTHOR:Joseph Gurney Cannon (1836–1926)\nQUOTATION:You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and you can’t change human nature from intelligent self-interest into pure idealism—not in this life; and if you could, what would be left for paradise?\nATTRIBUTION:Representative JOSEPH G. CANNON, maxim quoted in a tribute to Cannon on his retirement, The Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, March 4, 1923.—Congressional Record, March 4, 1923, vol. 64, p. 5714.\n\n  “Uncle Joe” Cannon, who was Speaker of the House 1903–1911, served in the House for 46 years.
177550
The article is interesting, but it seems to have some flaws. It was too long and involved to read carefully, but I skimmed the points it was trying to make. One that jumped out at me was worshipping on Sunday. The article says we do that because the Pope said to. The fact is that the earliest church worshipped on Sunday. Paul says the day doesn't matter, as long as we worship.\n\nAnother problem is that the Bible tells us that once the antichrist comes to power, we only have 7 years left before the end. The catholic church has been around for far longer than 7 years!\n\nThere are more, but I'm a very slow typer, so I'll let it go at two.\n\nI have a big problem with some of the catholic beliefs, but I really don't think this article should be taken seriusly. When I have more time, I am going to look at it more closely, though.
916087
"Let's agree to disagree."\n\nThat's the best political philosophy I know of. I credit Jesus with coming up with that one.\n\n'Love thy enemies.'
830821
There's a passage I got memorized,\n                       seems appropriate for this\n                       situation: Ezekiel 25:17. "The path\n                       of the righteous man is beset on\n                       all sides by the inequities of the\n                       selfish and the tyranny of evil\n                       men.  Blessed is he who, in the\n                       name of charity and good will,\n                       shepherds the weak through the\n                       valley of darkness, for he is truly\n                       his brother's keeper and the finder\n                       of lost children.  And I will\n                       strike down upon thee with great\n                       vengeance and furious anger those\n                       who attempt to poison and destroy\n                       my brothers.  And you will know my\n                       name is the Lord when I lay my\n                       vengeance upon you."\n\nAlthough its a very inaccurate quote if you actually check that passage in a bible.
253291
I have to totally agree with this quote. I have a relative that thinks if you don't go to HIS church (whichever one it is at the time) then you aren't serving God. I believe exactly what the Bible says about having eternal life; and it DON'T say that only the Baptists, or Catholics, or Methodists, or Pentecostals..etc are going to receive this gift of eternal life. God is God and he isn't any of these RELIGIONS...my opinion
1058919
Good stuff how about\n\nThou shalt forgive all sinners, however only in the most patronising way possible\n\nThou shalt threaten 'burning in hell', 'everlasting torment' and 'demons with pitchforks up your bottom' to all sinners in the name of the God of eternal love.\n\nThou shalt not listen, think or form a logical argument
692379
Though I would disagree with the statement as written, what it means is as follows:\n\nDuring a period of church history known as The Protestant Reformation, the Lutheran Church as we know it broke away from The Roman Catholic Church.  A fellow by the name of Martin Luther (not to be confused with the more recent activist Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.) had famously nailed 95 theses to the door of the church.  These theses were intellectual challenges of certain church practices and dogma.  While this may sound like a bold move, in truth there was little all that flamboyant about it.  Church doors in that place and time were also used as community bulletin boards and many people nailed notices and documents to them the way we post bills in urban areas today.  The 95 theses were little more than 95 topics of discussion for debate he'd hoped to bring attention to.  Martin Luther never had the notion of beginning a new form of the Christian religion.\n\nPerhaps the most noteworthy of the questions dealt with the then Roman Catholic Church practice of selling indulgences.  This was a transitive notion that depending on where one was either got enforced as an abuse to a large degree or got used as a quick little means of acceptance.  That's to say that people who paid the church money got absolution for sins from clergy right away, something Roman Catholics believe is necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven.  It was a practice that dated back hundreds of years in different forms and that segregated those who could pay from those who could not as if sin was a matter of barter.  Martin Luther wished to debate the practice, perhaps even eliminate it.\n\nWell, having gone so strictly against church policy, the simple questions turned into a grandiose argument that sent ripples through the Christian world without end.  The church was just too powerful to fight.  Martin Luther received the brunt of the fallout.  However, it wasn't until an almost unrelated incident, years later, when a reigning Pope excommunicated the entire nation of Germany from the church, that the people there rose up and basically said, "Hey, we don't need your church, we can follow the teachings of this guy over here, Martin Luther."  All of a sudden Luther's questions and assertions had followers.  They built their own churches, patterned after what they knew from Roman Catholicism.  They acquired their own clergy and a few practices that differed slightly from RC but ultimately fell in line with what Martin Luther had pointed out.  Though not the Protestant religion, Lutherans had much to do with the protestant movement (Protestant Reformation), a second schism away from the church after the Great Schism had divided the RC church into Eastern and Western centuries earlier..\n\nAttending a Lutheran church ceremony differs little from a Roman Catholic ceremony in the same season.  There are usually fewer images of Christ and saints, prefering a simple cross and a greater focus on the WORD.  Roman Catholics recognize seven practices as sacraments while Lutherans recognize only five.  Many of the songs are exactly the same, but sung to different tunes.  The Lutheran hierarchy goes up to bishops or so while the Roman Catholic hierarchy extends all the way to the Pope.  Lutheran churches tend to be a little smaller.  Roman Catholics traditionally go to Confession in a dark and quiet private booth called a Confessional while Lutherans tend to simply confess all their sins in a single, common sentence during part of the ceremony.  Both believe in pretty much the same versions of Christ's story and both have similar formats of services.  There’s an academic question over transubstantiation, but one of little note to a person practicing neither religion.\n\nIn recent years, post Vatican II, the similarities between the two have gotten even closer to the naked eye.  That's to say that the Roman Catholic Church has extended c
811871
Hello Hugo.. :)\n\nNo..Jesus told us we are to Love our enemies..we are not to repay evil for evil..\n\nIf this was so, then Paul (Saul) would have been killed and not forgiven..for he advocated the killing of hundreds of Christians, before Christ appeared unto him..\n\n\nIn Jesus Most Precious Name..\nWith Love..In Christ.. :)