making sense dude. at least to me ya are. just everybody involved in this forum, keep in mind that i specifically say religion haters. not just people who dislike it or disagree with it. but haters. people who HATE religion with a passion, so therefore hate people involved with it. if you don't fit that description, then it's all good. i just can't stand haters. bashers. anything like that. and dude, my mind is very open, i used to be protestant, then i was atheist, now i'm catholic. my mind is open. yeah i think i'm right and others are wrong, but not in the way you think...if it's part of my religion to think i'm right about it, then what can one say against that without telling me *i'm* wrong then therefore doing what they hate about christians. get my point? i may think you're wrong, but that's just called disagreeing. and i like to take disagreement a step farther and agree to disagree with you. so yeah, i think you're wrong, but that's okay, i accept you for who and what you are and how you believe is a huge part of that. now, in order to go any farther with this, i'm sorry, but i'm going to have to put down exactly what i put in another forum because this is almost the exact same discussion at this point.
But why do you need a religion ? You can be connected to god by yourself without the need of the institution church, you can be christian without the priest, you are a son of god like Christ was, he told you to believe in him, not to go to church every sunday morning.
Websters new world college dictionary. Internationally renowned for clarity, precision, and ease of use. third editon, completely updated: Religion (ri lij en) N. --
holiness, a system of religious beliefs. to bind together.
1) a Belief in a divine or superhuman power or powers to be obeyed and worshipped as the creator(s) and ruler(s) of the universe. b) expression or such a belief in conduct and ritual.
2) ANY (repeat ANY) specific system of belief and worship, often (but not always) involving a code of ethics and a philosophy [the christian religion, the buddhist religion, ect.] b) ANY (repeat again ANY) system of beliefs, practices, ethical values, ect. resembling, suggestive of, or likened to such a system. [humanism as a religion]
3) (this one really doesn't appy to the converstaion) the state or way of life of a person in a monestary or convent.
4) ANY OBJECT OF CONSCIENTIOUS REGARD AND PURSUIT-----*
i think the word religion gets used wrong. people say they don't want to follow a religion with doctrines and rules, but religion doesn't mean just that...it means so much more, just as the word "run" has over 30 meanings and deffinitions in most dictionarys.
so why do i need a religion? well, i could be way off in my reasoning here, but everybody has different opinions. here's mine.
because a religion is a system of beliefs. if there are more than two people who happen to share the same beliefs as i about worship, then why not join with them and worship with them? and if more want to join that's thier choice. totally. now you can bring up history and say people have died because they wouldn't join a religion. but there's no need. i'm aware of the fact that many people have been needlessly slaughtered by horrible religious fanatics. and i, as a christian, would like to (if possible) take the blame completely on myself (since i do associate with the same group of people as those murderers did) and apologize on behalf of my God, (who disdains hate and murder and force feeding of the religion he started) for what his confused and slightly over zealous but well intending children have done. and apologize on behalf of those over zealous children for what they have done. and if i could also take a punishment for them and therefore pay thier debts and make it better, i would without a second thought.
christians have done bad things. but christ and his bride, the Church have never sinned.
the deal with my particular religion is that somebody already thought of my system of beliefs years ago. and other people already joined with them. it's not institutionalized, it's just that they've been "bound together" by choice for thousands of years and happen to all have the same "specific system of belief and worship." but really, some people feel like maybe they were force fed on a religion. but it was just that it's a parents job to raise a kid, and how the parents believe is how they want thier kids to believe because they believe it to be correct and right. (sorry about the run-on sentence there )
and the people of the church, they just were of the notion that the kid believed in the same things as them, so they tried to make sure the kid knew what was considered wrong and right in this particular belief system. they meant well. give them credit for that. but if a person grows up and decides to change. why hold any type of animosity or bitterness in thier heart towards what they once were? they did change successfully right?
so why do i need an institutional church? i don't need it. that's a common mistake when people look at christians. they think we are inslaved, when many of us chose this as freely as others choose other things. i don't need it, as i said, i just choose to go along with the billions (and yes, there's that many catholics, we're the largest religion in the world) of people who agree with me totally about the concept of an all loving and generous creator. i'm not forced to follow dogma and rules, i choose to. God is very very clear about the fact that he gave us free will because he wants us to love him because of our own choice. sometimes man misinterprets that. but just because there are bad people in a church, does that mean you leave it? no! why? because if you are perfect, you have no need to ever go to church. but if you're not perfect. if you happen to be a person who sins and makes mistakes....hospitals are for the imperfect of body, churches are for the imperfect of the soul. nobody is perfect (except me....just kidding).
so yes, i can be connected to god myself. and i am. and since i feel so connected to him, i choose to go to church. now i don't make it every sunday. but i always have the intention. i'm not going to hell for not going to church.
and...(said in a very un-offending tone of voice ) who says i need a priest to be a christian? i don't. no catholic does. priests just happen to be people that love God so much they want to spend thier whole life serving him in every way they can. and priests, they aren't perfect either. they are human too. and God makes it very clear that for every sin they commit against him, they will pay for double what other people would. because people look up to them, and if they mislead (which sometimes they do) then they must pay for that too.
and in my religion, yes i'm a son of God like christ was, but unlike christ, i'm not God. christ was 100% god and 100% man. i am just 100% man.
but uh, also (SERIOUSLY, no offense intended) you are a little misinformed. christ in fact did tell us to go to church. many times. he refers to the church. "when any of you have a dispute, take it to the elders (priest comes from the word priestos meaning elder, also the word presbyter means the same thing) of the church". and when paul was persecuting the christian church, christ said, "paul, why do you persecute me?" also jesus speaks of law. "the law and the prophets were until john; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and every one enters it voilently. but it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the law to become void. (law: sometime, study up on jewish law and how they did thier ceremonies, then watch a catholic mass. you'd be amazed at the similarities.) yes, jesus set up a church on earth, in relationship with the church of heaven. and he wishes us to attend, because the mass is the closest thing to heaven we will get on earth.
and the catholic religion has been around for not just 2002 years...it's been around as long as people have worshipped God, because it's not a replacement for judiaism, it's a fullfillment of their old testament prophecies. so God worshippers (now called christians) have been around since the beginning of time.
just my view on it though. i'm not trying to change anybodies mind here, i just seek to be understood along with billions of other christians who are indeed misunderstood and therefore persecuted. i seek to change no minds because a mind changed against it's will... is of the same opinion still. just remember, notice everything, because it's the small things in life, that hinder God's light.
christianity is a religion of love and peace and tolerance. when anybody doesn't act like that but claims christianity, just think of them as baby christians who have not come to a full understand of thier faith, so just smile and nod when they try to convert you. but keep in mind, it is a big part of our religion to spead the word and information about it, it's just some people confuse "spead" with "force".
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Peace and Love to all!
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