Religeons in ironworks

[The Hierophant]

Originally posted by Cloudbringer: The conclusion my friends and I came to is that you can call yourself anything, but it's what you do and how you do it that paints the real picture. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Pre-frickin'-cisely!
Now go to Rome and tell that to the pontifex maximus....err, sorry, the 'Pope'

[Cloudbringer]

Originally posted by The Hierophant: quote: Originally posted by Cloudbringer: The conclusion my friends and I came to is that you can call yourself anything, but it's what you do and how you do it that paints the real picture. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Pre-frickin'-cisely!
Now go to Rome and tell that to the pontifex maximus....err, sorry, the 'Pope' [/QUOTE]Uh, sure...but you do realize that not all Christians are Catholic, right? Catholicism is under the Christian rubric, but not all of us Christians are Roman Catholics. I'm Episcopalian, btw, part of the Anglican Communion.

[slicer15]

I voted Christian...but I've strayed...I haven't prayed in a while, I'm just off the path. I know I am totally off course, and I'm getting slowly worse. Last year, I would have said a practicing Christian. Now, I let so many things get in the way...argh...I feel so bad, especially since I can't honour the commitment I made to Him.

[Cloudbringer]

slicer15, I truly believe all good Christians go through that experience at least once in their lives. I think it's human nature to slip and even to doubt. But I also think that sometimes you just have to hit rock bottom before you can start the upward climb again....and in my case I can say that happened and now I go to church on Sundays to remind myself of all the wonderful reasons why I should pray and follow Christ's teachings. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I usually feel pretty good when I come out of the service and it energizes the whole week for me. Conversely, when I wasn't going or at least not regularly, I kept finding excuses not to go and it went on for weeks, but I never felt very good about my Sundays no matter how hard I tried to compensate...just wasn't the same.

[Sir Taliesin]

Slicer, I know what you mean. I quit going for about 15 years, but over the last two years, my spirituality was reborn and we has a family started reqularly attending church again. We have even started Sunday School (something I've never done as an adult) and we are enjoying the social aspect immensily! We are very fortunate that we have a WONDERFUL Minister that truely enjoys teaching and also a great Sunday School Class Leader! It's marvelous when you find dedicated people willing to lead and instruct!!! I have found it quite refreshing and it's really changed my life for the better!

I strongly encourage you to go back to church. You might even try a new church. Sometimes you just need a change of sceniary. In the mean time you might try a special book called The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren. We are currently studying it as our Sunday School Lesson.

BTW, here is the link to this book!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...roduct-details


[ 05-06-2003, 03:19 PM: Message edited by: Sir Taliesin ]

[slicer15]

Wow, thanks a lot for the encouragement! It is greatly appreciated, thank you very much!

I haven't stopped going to church, I just stopped following, if you know what I mean. I am looking forward to going on a trip with my church group to the Isle of Wight, at the Crusader Centre, I think its called. Its a great place, and you can truly feel God's presence there when everyone gathers in worship. I need that to re-commit myself and experience God again. Unfortunatey, we only go in the summer, so its a long way off. I have to make an effort I think, to re-commt myself before then. I know what it feels like to be saved, and boy, do I miss that fulfillness that you feel. Something is definitely missing, but He always accepts me again, no matter what I've done. That always brings a lump to my throat, for I know I hurt God by doing wrong, yet He is always there to turn to...that is just so amazing...

[Aelia Jusa]

Originally posted by WillowIX: quote: Originally posted by Vaskez: You just contradicted yourself then. You can't be a Christian and an atheist. A Christian believes that there is a God and Jesus died for their sins and they have commited their lives to God. An Atheist believes there is no God.

I know I did silly! [img]tongue.gif[/img] That´s the whole point in a religious debate. So if Christian believes that, what does everyone else believe? [img]tongue.gif[/img] [/QUOTE]Actually as far as what the Catholic priests and nuns told my parents, since I've been baptised into the Catholic church, I am a Catholic, even though I don't believe in God or practice religion in any denomination. And I'll always be a Catholic, no matter what I do or believe. I thought that's what Willow was referring to with her post, though obviously not

My own religious beliefs coincide totally with Groj's actually. Great explanation! Religion is just in no way a part of my life and I'm not committed to not believing so much that I'd label myself athiest or agnostic or anything. I don't question other people's beliefs nor care what they are, and if anyone comes round to give me a Watchtower, I send them politely on their way

[Cloudbringer]

Originally posted by slicer15: Wow, thanks a lot for the encouragement! It is greatly appreciated, thank you very much! I haven't stopped going to church, I just stopped following, if you know what I mean. I am looking forward to going on a trip with my church group to the Isle of Wight, at the Crusader Centre, I think its called. Its a great place, and you can truly feel God's presence there when everyone gathers in worship. I need that to re-commit myself and experience God again. Unfortunatey, we only go in the summer, so its a long way off. I have to make an effort I think, to re-commt myself before then. I know what it feels like to be saved, and boy, do I miss that fulfillness that you feel. Something is definitely missing, but He always accepts me again, no matter what I've done. That always brings a lump to my throat, for I know I hurt God by doing wrong, yet He is always there to turn to...that is just so amazing...

That sounds like a great idea, slicer! I know what gave me a shot in the arm, spiritually, was taking the Alpha course at another parish. It's a 'back to basics' series of video lectures in conjunction with small group discussions and it really got me thinking, praying and feeling much better about my growth spiritually and my relationship with God.

Sir T! I'm really happy for you! Whoo! Even Sunday School? Wow! That's fantastic!!! God Bless you and your family!

[Zero Alpha]

Hey 'Bruce' i voted for your religeon :> i thought you closed it down though? anyways back to reality...

[Bruce The Aussie]

Originally posted by Zero Alpha: Hey 'Bruce' i voted for your religeon :> i thought you closed it down though? anyways back to reality...

James! i thought you stopped posting here. anyway as i've said to you hundreds of times, i left my religeon becuase the higher powers of the church (aka me) were becoming too corrupt. so even though i left the 'staying put' (its not really a religeos movement, as its for lazy people) its still going. just very quitly without anyone knowing it.

a suprising amount of amish people i see. interesting [img]smile.gif[/img]
also i thought there would be more non-belivers then christians for some reason. guess i was wrong [img]tongue.gif[/img]