A Bible School Principal with a double Phd. writes this sentence in his book: "I am not too much of a Spritual
830805
He might get his PhDs in cooking or manicuring :)
1166860
Someone how believes in a higher power but does believe that higher power is God.
714148
God is capitalized. That sounds a little narrow  minded
590650
I am a creature of a day. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God. I want to know one thing: the way to heaven. God himself has condescended to teach me the way. He has written it down in a book. Oh, give me that book! At any price give me the book of God. Let me be a man of one book.--John Wesley\n\nIt is clear that there must be difficulties for us in a revelation such as the Bible. If someone were to hand me a book that was as simple to me as the multiplication table, and say, 'This is the Word of God. In it He has revealed His whole will and wisdom,' I would shake my head and say, 'I cannot believe it; that is too easy to be a perfect revelation of infinite wisdom.' There must be, in any complete revelation of God's mind and will and character and being, things hard for the beginner to understand; and the wisest and best of us are but beginners. --R.A. Torrey\n\nThe Bible is a harp with a thousand strings. Play on one to the exclusion of its relationship to the others, and you will develop discord. Play on all of them, keeping them in their places in the divine scale, and you will hear heavenly music all the time. --William P. White
276427
"When the student is ready, the teacher appears."\n\nI think that you recognized and prized this girl's perspective (for want of a better word) because her values reflected, or helped you identify, your own. \n\nThere's a lot to be said for calm reflective evaluation rather than snap judgements.\n\nYou were lucky to have been exposed to this wise person when you were.\n\nCompassion seems to be a prominent theme in all the major religions. It seems to me that fanactics and politicians twist the doctrines and the scriptures to suit their own devices. They are not representative of the "religion" as a whole. \n\nI could go on and on, but I won't :-))\n\nI, personally, enjoy your bright, open-minded outlook as reflected in your posts here. You seem (to me, for what it is worth) to be a true "seeker."
928885
The Bible doesn't mention a lot of stuff that is real, because it spends a lot of time mentioning things that are not.
980188
their are more Christians and less practicing Christians
837870
Dear Moehog21:\n\nI am a Christian, non-denominational, very spiritually-oriented person. (Not occult.)  I have studied 21 years of spirituality.  \n\nI, too, have felt the frustrations of having learned of things that are not well-known or accepted in our Society.  First, I am glad you are in the R&S Forum.  We need, very much, to speak with others who HAVE learned many of the same things, and to help put before many others the mind-expanding concepts and thoughts about our souls or spirit-minds.\n\nI think the Master felt His frustrations, also.  He called the Sanhedrin members vipers ,  the Pharisees of His era hypocrites, and the commerce of the money changers and others inside the Temple as defilers of His Father's House.\n\nHe did NOT refer to the soul or spirit-mind within them; but to the human Intellect which was unwilling to truly Know of the Father.\n\nWhen our brothers have a willingness to explore and ADD to what they already know and, then, integrate what is of value to them - we feel peaceful.  Because, each of us has something to offer and we want to outflow that information to our brothers.  It's about the physical earth plane being a school, a Great Place of Learning that at some point of Eternity we will have learned enough to be Returned to our positions within our Creator.\n\nThe brothers and sisters who dig their "heels" in and go the opposite direction of enlightenment, I believe, do not wish to go as far into the Presence of the Creator as those taking in spiritual thought.  There are fears.  Some souls are not ready for the Great Journey at the present moment.  Others feel they would not know if they are taking in the words of demon thinking and will find themselves in the blackness of demon activity. The Bible alone is safe, to them.  Fear has much to do with it.  \n\nSo, we feel lonely and bereft without our brothers and sisters joining us in spiritual knowledge (exploration of our God and of our holy Self!).  After all, the more we learn of soul/spirit - the more we feel the One-ness of our Self's which is what God Created.  One-ness, Whole-ness, the One-Mind.  But, the Intellect of humans desires it's individuality, it's unique personality, it's specialness in how it expresses itself.  \n\nIntimacy is of the Mind :  The soul/spirit-mind that God Created as a One-ness and that channels Thought that proceeds from God to His Children, (His One Child) and from His Child (us) to Him - both directions.  Intimacy is not of the body.  In our Ultimate Reality, we exist as part OF God, but not God, inside His essence and embrace.  We own Mind and Thought.  His Ecstacy travels out from Him through the entire Kingdom that we are.  We understand that intimacy is of Mind.\n\nHere, in the world of the physical,  so little intimacy exists as we attempt to experience the exchange of thoughts through Intellect to Intellect. The soul or spirit beyond the Intellect is often denied. Thus, we may feel empty.  We can never HAVE here, in the physical, what we have learned of about our Home and Eternity.  It can not be substituted for - in the physical world, successfully.  \n\nAlthough there are many great Teachers to learn from like:  Socrates, Plato, Confuscious, Buddha, etc., I have learned from Jesus and the Holy Spirit outside of the Bible.  As that Relationship with the Master has grown, I have come to learn that He and the Holy Spirit are like "appointed Friends."  They will give to us what our brothers can not.  Their Presence can become quite strongly felt.  We can learn to hear the recognizable voice of Jesus teaching us - in our Minds - when we ask questions of Him.  The more time spent in the experiences of Them, the less lonely we feel.  We CAN reach a state of being - so filled up with Their teachings and having integrated those teachings so well within our Minds, that the loneliness disappears all together.  \n\nWe must not ever feel we have "arrived" at
963793
The main focus will be PC.  God forbid someone should write what they believe is the truth if it by any chance may be offending to those who don't believe in the Bible!
588817
i live by my own atheist-bible, i'll quote it here. it's actually the long version of ur dalai lama-quote, i guess:\n\n"I do not drive too fast, even if i don't agree with the rules. I give too much change back to the girl behind the counter in the supermarket. When i find a wallet on the street, i return it to the owner without expecting a reward ,because the relief on your face is worth more to me than money. In a bar i'll talk to you, when you are standing alone. I will never jugde or disrespect you on your looks, not even on your charactre. \n\nAnd i do that without any God telling me to do that\n\nI give to charity, i seperate my garbage for a better environment. I rather put on an extra sweater, than to put up the heater. I never throw my chewing-gum on the street. Every week i buy the paper from a homeless person. I will help and support you if you're attacked by drunken guys on the street, i'll avoid the fight, but i'll never leave you alone. I help the old lady cross the street, i'll bring the crying lost little girl back to her mother.\n\nAnd i do that without any God telling me to do that\n\nI know no rules, except my own thoughts. After thinking everything through, i have to conclude that there must be 'something' to make this all happen. I've looked around and inspite of all the misery, the poorness, the crime, the hate, i don't see humans as sinners, but as people with choices. I don't think that i will be lost if i do not meditate on a mountain or pray under a cross. I don't even believe that the guy who blows himself up between a group of schoolkids will burn eternally. \n\nAnd i think that without any God telling me to think that\n\nEvery person has something good inside. Sometimes on the surface, sometimes deep hidden inside. I hope that the God they all talk about, is not the guy with the beard sitting on a cloud. The God i have faith in, is just a metaphore. A feeling. A sence of all the goodness inside the people. Nothing more than that. And more clear: nothing less than that. The goodness in our heart is the most important thing we have. My God has an extra 'O'...Good. \n\nAnd i am good, without any God telling me that\n\nGood has no need for symbols. No cross, no boring books, no big fat guy, no cow, no buildings with colored glass windows. Good is everywhere and is eternal. There is no need to pray for something good, because it will always be there. There is also no need to pray to end something bad, because the bad will also always be there. Sure there are bad people. These people are to dumb to understand the good. Goodness, kindness can relieve you. Badness only creates more badness. We can never beat the badness. A bad guy with a gun can only be beaten by a good guy with a gun. But a good guy doesn't use a gun.\n\nAnd even if the Good will always loose, I'll always try to be Good.\n\nEverything has its time, and its place. In our sadness, in our anger, in our happyness, in our love we can see our humanity. These things make us to be the people we are, they shape us, they teach us, they make us really feel. And in every deep misery, there is always a hidden hope, cause we all know anything can always be done differently. This earth is our playground, to feel, to laugh, to cry, to love and to live.\n\nAnd i live. And that's good."
1125087
much of the bible is exaggerated and not meant to be taken literally
883391
someone who is not christian
179654
I say that I'm a Spiritual person as I am filled with the Holy Spirit.  I wish that my life and actions were more in line with being a Spiritual person, but God isn't finished with me yet.  I just hope He gets me progressing a little more! :)
562873
I'm predominantly atheist.
1139574
"Frost: Do you believe in the Sermon on the Mount?\n\nGates: I don't. I'm not somebody who goes to church on a regular basis.  The specific elements of Christianity are not something I'm a huge believer in.  There's a lot of merit in the moral aspects of religion.  I think it can have a very, very positive impact.\n\nFrost: I sometimes say to people, do you believe there is a god, or do you know there is a god? And, you'd say you don't know?\n\nGates: In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid."\n\nHe seems a little agnostic.
1167127
Yes.. ^^ during my first two years in highschool I'll admit that I have forgotten God, but now since my third year in highschool(i'm in Phil. We have 4 years of secondary level here... ^^)\nI can say that i'm more close to God and I learned more about his greatness and about his sacrfices. I can say that now I have a deeper faith on him. ^^
608640
Spiritual but not necessarily religious.