Isn't it just a point of view?

ClosetoChrist said:

My mom n dad taught me that most churches are pretty much the same. And I read about all this stuff here and wonder if anbody agrees with anything?

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It might not look like it, but we actually agree on most things. Or at least we agree on what's most important. Somebody already mentioned the Nicene Creed; that pretty much sums up the big stuff. Anytime you get a bunch of like-minded people together, they're going to start disagreeing. Poetry fans will disagree on who's the best poet, sports buffs will disagree on who's the best athlete and congress critters will disagree on pretty much everything, but each group has a set of core beliefs that are more important than their disagreements.

I had a professor once who said theology consists of peanuts, shells and arsenic. It's important to get all the peanuts you can because all the nutrition is there. And avoid the arsenic because it's dangerous (possibly deadly) stuff. Shells you can take or leave. They're not likely to do you much harm or good.

To varying degrees, we're mostly quibbling about the shells.

Eek! It sent twice! Sorry about that, see my response below ClosetoChrist. Silly thing, I wonder why that happened?

Hi ClosetoChrist,

I like you 'cause you write so I can sort of understand.

Thanks, I try to write like I what I am - simple. There's no point in complexing stuff such that others can't understand the point that you are trying to make. If at any time you ever want me to go into great depth or explain something better, don't heistate to ask - I'd only be all to happy!

My pap was a methdist preacher n he told me stories from the bible n stuff. He was really nice and I cried when he died. Mom says he's gonna be in heaven waiting for us so i guess I feel better.

Sorry for your loss. My grandparents on my mum's side are also preachers, except they were Salvation Army ministers (now retired). I'm so lucky that I have them, and it will be very hard for me to say goodbye. I probably wouldn't show my face to the world for a few days after. Let's just hope that its quite a while away though! It's interesting, I'm listening to a band called "Mercyme" from their "Undone" CD. One of the songs that they sing is called "Homesick", it's a lovely song - one of my faviourites - that talks about death and how it affects those left. A few of the last lines says:

In Christ there are no goodbyes
In Christ there is no end
So I'll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again.

How true those words are. Your mum is right - he's up there now waiting to see you again in the presence of God in a perfect place, isn't that good to know? Recently one of my previous leaders of my local church was what we call "Promoted to Glory" and I know that he's up there now with our LORD - I hope that he's enjoying it now!

Thers no book called Paul in my bible n so im not sure. 'cause the bible names are funny. Do you go to methdist church? Dad says there libral n I asked a lady what that meant n she said its like democrats so Im not sure what it means.

No, there is no book called Paul in the Bible (I use the NIV version - New International Version). If such a book does exist (which I think it might), it's most likely found in the Catholic Bible as they have a few extra books written by other Saints such as Paul than us protestants ("protestant" is just the fancy name for all Christians who are not "Catholic" as we have very different beliefs about the importance of Mary (the mother of Jesus) and the saints and angels). In my opinion, there is no Biblical evidence for people praying to a sinful creature like Mary or any of the other Saints as they are all dead and rotting in their respective graves (that's not to discredit the bravery of the Saints works to which I truely respect and take my hat off to). I believe that the only persons that we are supposed to pray to is our triune God (that is, God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son - Jesus).

No, I don't go to a methodist church (there's nothig wrong with them or their teachings); I go to the Salvation Army pretty much because it's the church that my parents and grandparents go to. Liberal hey? "Liberal" is another term that shares the same meaning as "free". Consider the Statue of Liberty - it is actually a statue of freedom. I think your liberal churches are mainly those who are fairly "free" on their theological views, such as gay marriage, sex before marriage, gay priests, and so on. Most churches are not so leanient (or soft) on such issues because the Bible does not support people taking a "free" view on such issues as homosexuality (as it says that homosexuality is immoral). I think this is right but it never hurts to check... Do we have anyone who would consider themselves to be "liberal" here that can help me out in defining "liberal" in the context of theological views and churches?

When the lady responded that it was like the democrats, I think she was referring to politics. In Australia we have several major political parties: Liberal Party (mainly represents the rich), Labour Party (who mainly represent the workers union and middle-low socio-economic people), the Democrats (who knows who they represent!?) and the National Party (who mainly represent regional - that is, country towns away from the major cities - locations and people. In Austraila we sometimes call regional areas the "bush" or outback).

God Bless,
Delta One.

ClosetoChrist said:

So whats them 1 n 0 thingys on the bottom of yur thingy?

So all the chrches is just a point of view like I said? I wonder how come people still haf to argue.

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The 1 and 0 are binary
If you go to
http://www.roubaixinteractive.com/PlayGround/Binary_Conversion/Binary_to_Text.asp

and copy and paste my signature you should get "and the word became flesh and dwelt amoung us"

People just see things differently, they do about everything, but God knows all the answers.