• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

Recent content by directory

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    It frustrates me that there's so little practical advice to be given about Christianity

    Unlike Judaism or Islam, Christianity doesn't offer an easy, concrete legalist framework as guidance for the faithful and those who wish to be faithful. The God of Christianity being interested in our emotional and cognitive states rather than our actions, it's very difficult for someone in my...
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    How do I love my enemies?

    I think that Christ's injunction to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you is, in the abstract, one of the most beautiful notions in the Bible. It seems to put the fundamental impulse of Christianity in such wonderful perspective– enough with this mire of terrestrial pettiness...
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    What is the spiritual state of very young people?

    I have heard some Christians say that the very young are innocent– that one does not become complicit in humankind's sinful nature until one is capable of rational decision making, since only then does one begin to "choose" sin. As such, anyone who dies before "the age of reason" dies with a...
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    Can believers intercede on behalf of nonbelievers?

    I was raised Muslim, and read in the Qur'an that one should never pray for nonbelievers, since no member of the faith, no matter how ardent or obedient, could possibly "convince" God to alter the lot of a sinful person. Do Christians hold a similar belief? For example, if a Christian woman...
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    The relationship between earthly preaching and inspiration from the Holy Spirit

    As I understand it, the influence of the Spirit provides the believer with all the faith necessary for salvation, and that there can be no other such source of saving faith. In other words, if the most talented human preacher in the world were to preach to me for every waking minute of the rest...
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    Do many mainstream Christians sympathize with the Westboro Baptist Church and similar organizations?

    One barrier between myself and organized religion, Christianity or otherwise, is the presence of people like Fred Phelps– high-profile sensationalist figures whom I would consider to be bigots appropriating the teachings of their faiths as a justification for their own prejudices. I would...
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    What do Protestants believe about believers who do immoral things?

    If faith is the only condition for salvation, then would an unrepentant murderer who happened to affirm the truth of the Bible be saved? I've heard one Protestant say that belief simply "inoculates" one against bad works– that is, the spiritual influence of Christ causes one to behave well, and...
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    What is a cult?

    I think it's a matter of the degree to which their practices interfere with the members' ability to function in society. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and so forth can live in cities, own houses, hold down jobs, have friends, and all the rest. Members of cults, as they progress...
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    Has Christianity become gentler over the years? If so, how do you feel about that?

    Thanks for the thoughtful answer! I really am quite uneducated on the matter, so I appreciate every morsel of insight on offer. I'll definitely look into that Edwards sermon. I admire him as a writer, so I'd love to see him in a gentler mood :)
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    Here's a weird one: is God male?

    We always use "He," "Him," and "His" when referring to God in the third person, but isn't it strange to think of God having a gender? Has anyone wondered about that before? It seems like idle kid stuff, or pseudo-philosophical navelgazing akin to the old "how many angels can dance on the head...
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    I wish my seeking after God were based on something other than fear of the pains of Hell

    It seems improper of me to found my religious wonderings on a physical desire– on the desire to avoid pain. That's where all this seeking started, really. I'd think of the times I've accidentally burned my finger on the stove or tried to get in the shower when it was too hot, and I'd imagine...
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    Has Christianity become gentler over the years? If so, how do you feel about that?

    As I read about the history of Christianity, I get a picture of a far grimmer religion than I see now. In centuries past, it wasn't the inviting, lovey-dovey (for lack of a better word) institution it is now. The focus seems to have been on God's wrath and unshakable justice, on obligation and...
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    Do Christians look forward to death?

    I want the gift of salvation so badly, but I'm still teaching myself how to ask for it. I pray often. I ask, seek, and knock, and wait patiently to receive the gift, but the time hasn't come yet. In the mean time, what choice do I have but to live in uncertainty?
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    Has anyone here read the Bible in the original Greek and Hebrew?

    If so, do you gain a substantial amount that's lost in translation? Is it worthwhile to take time and learn to read those two languages?
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    Do Christians look forward to death?

    Of course I'm too timid to take a stand. By definition, I live in a state of uncertainty and helpless doubt. I don't know how I'd feel if I felt certain that Christianity was true and that I was bound for Heaven, although I'd certainly anticipate it greatly.