How to become a Christian?

[Red Sky at Morning]

Using the power of Jiminy Cricket, I created my own instruction book. What do you think a conscience is for? You don't need a book to tell you what's right or wrong. It's built-in THAT'S what's God given, not some book.

Perhaps to creator of Jiminy Cricket also authored a book?

 

[Daze]

I feel the laws of nature dictate our punishment. We reap what we sow regardless of our beliefs.

Its ironic, i feel we will reap what we sow because of our beliefs.

For example a man who gives millions in charity will have nothing to show for it on judgement day if he rejected God.



The verse is speaking to disbelievers, polytheists and so on. People who reject what God has sent down will have nothing to benefit from on judgement day.

Honestly it stands to reason. When you can't even say thank you to the One who has literally given you everything.
How can you expect anything good in return?

 

[Alanantic]

Perhaps to creator of Jiminy Cricket also authored a book?

I waited til the movie came out.

 

[Alanantic]

Its ironic, i feel we will reap what we sow because of our beliefs.

For example a man who gives millions in charity will have nothing to show for it on judgement day if he rejected God.

View attachment 89164

The verse is speaking to disbelievers, polytheists and so on. People who reject what God has sent down will have nothing to benefit from on judgement day.

Honestly it stands to reason. When you can't even say thank you to the One who has literally given you everything.
How can you expect anything good in return?

Sounds like a priest wrote that, or an Iman. I'm pretty sure God wouldn't say such a thing.

 

[Daze]

Sounds like a priest wrote that, or an Iman. I'm pretty sure God wouldn't say such a thing.

You don't? Imagine if you gave me $1000 a week... For say 50 years. I never bothered to thank you and told all my friends that money was from my effort, my intelligence. My abilities.

Now imagine we agreed to meet 55 years later so you could give me an even bigger reward. What will you do if i actually showed up?

Like i said, it stands to reason that God will reject those who rejected him..
but if you're expecting a reward?? i guess i can fabricate some land deed for ocean front property in Arizona that i could sell you.
Interested?

 

[Daze]

...

Interesting, isn't it? An atheist and a Muslim debating in a thread titled "How to become a Christian".

 

[Alanantic]

Interesting, isn't it? An atheist and a Muslim debating in a thread titled "How to become a Christian".

"oh, the irownee!", as Bugs Bunny would say. But, I'm not an atheist. My God's Everything. The Ghost in the Machine is also the machine and every ghost within it.

"I have said, ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. -- Psalms 82:6

 

[Daze]

Its iron E, as in behold the



Ya, I'm not gonna defend the Bible. Too many man made edits in it today.


You'll find truth in the end Alan, we all will.

Sadly, no one gets to come back to make changes. A future premonition?... perhaps.

 

[Alanantic]

Its iron E, as in behold the

View attachment 89167

Ya, I'm not gonna defend the Bible. Too many man made edits in it today.


You'll find truth in the end Alan, we all will.

Sadly, no one gets to come back to make changes. A future premonition?... perhaps.

I'm pretty sure the soul comes back until it wakes up. Life is but a dream.

 

[Daze]

I'm pretty sure the soul comes back until it wakes up. Life is but a dream.

Interesting, as when we sleep our soul goes to God. If he keeps it then we die in our sleep.
Everyday you wake up, your soul has come back.

The soul itself never loses consciousness. Like it or not, its eternal. You will see who comes to your funeral.


If you mean this worldly life is a delusion, i agree completely.

And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion? (3:185 Quran)

 

[Alanantic]

Interesting, as when we sleep our soul goes to God. If he keeps it then we die in our sleep.
Everyday you wake up, your soul has come back.

The soul itself never loses consciousness. Like it or not, its eternal. You will see who comes to your funeral.


If you mean this worldly life is a delusion, i agree completely.

And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion? (3:185 Quran)

I saved your quote! Twice in my life, for a few moments, I've seen thru the "delusion" I saw Life as God's Dream, and I became a lucid character in it. I've been trying to recapture those experiences ever since.

"This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief." ~ Rumi

"Do not pay undue attention to the passing scenes of life. You are the immortal self (consciousness) living only temporarily in a dream that is sometimes (imagined) to be a nightmare. That is the higher philosophy (and truth) of the mystics." -- Yogananda

All bodies are just instruments. All bodies are only temporary. They have birth. They have death. The indweller of the body is permanent. That is the Atma(Soul), the one Self. That is you. That is the real you. You are the immortal Self, not the body. – Sai Baba

 

[Tyln93]

Christianism = Paganism!!!
Christianity is thinly disguised paganism.
Have you ever asked yourself what a Christmas tree or Easter eggs have to do with Jesus? Absolutely nothing. They are pagan symbols celebrating the solstice.
He's Not God!!! He's Prophet!!!
Jesus never died on cross!!!
He was taken unto Heavens by one mighty in power(God)!!!
Christians fabricated traditions of Jesus dying for our sins makes no sense!!!
Jesus was not God, nor did he claim to be God!!!
During his lifetime, Jesus himself didn't call himself God and didn't consider himself God!!!
At a later point, his followers began to assign attributes to him that were semi-divine like angel!!!

 

[phipps]

Christian Growth.

Christian growth is the experience of allowing Jesus Christ to work in our lives through the Holy Spirit and restore in us the image we were designed for—God’s image of selfless, other-centered love.

See, Jesus chose to die for us to save us from the ultimate consequence of sin: death (Romans 5:6-8).

But He does more too! He gives us a new life in Him (Romans 6:3). A life that releases us from burdens that dominated and oppressed us before. A life of Christlikeness.

But that new life will look different for each individual, depending on the person’s background. We each go through a unique experience of growth in the Christian life (2 Peter 3:18).

 

[phipps]

What is the experience of Christian growth?

Christian growth, or spiritual growth, is a process that begins when we choose to accept Christ and live our lives as His followers. Through the Holy Spirit, He restores us, step by step, to what He originally designed us to be—people who reflect His character of other-centered love.

The Scriptures teach that we were originally made in the image of God:

“God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).

God, at His very core, is love (1 John 4:18), a self-sacrificing and selfless love (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). That is His image.

Unfortunately, that image in humans has been corrupted by sin.

So the idea of the “new birth” (John 3:3) is that, through the power of God, we are being recreated—remade into what we were before sin entered.

 

[phipps]

How do we grow in our Christian experience?

The power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us transforms us from who we used to be into new creatures in Christ—but not without our permission. Through a daily surrender, willingly giving ourselves to God, we allow Him to show us our areas of growth and then cooperate with Him to follow His Word in those areas of our lives.

Paul makes it clear that it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

In Greek, the word regeneration means “born again.” And renewing means “to be new again.”

New, again? Yes, just like Adam and Eve were before they sinned!

But how does this happen?

It’s a process that begins when we come to Christ, receive His forgiveness for our sins, and cooperate with His Spirit to help us obey His will.

He begins working in us, as it says in Philippians 2:12: "It is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

God is the only one who can change us. Our role is to remain connected to Him moment by moment (John 15:4) and allow Him to work in us.

The Bible puts it this way: “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

As we spend time contemplating who He is, He is renewing our minds, and we’re becoming more like Him (2 Corinthians 3:18).

But Satan is still hard at work. He constantly tempts us to place our own self interest above God and others and to break our connection with God.

At this point, we need to cling close to Christ and pray that He “delivers us from the evil one” (Luke 11:4).

If we keep our eyes fixed on Him and remember His love for us that led Him to die for us, He will preserve us (Jude 24-25). Looking unto Jesus, we are safe from temptation.

And even when we do give in to temptation, the Bible is clear: Jesus forgives!

The Bible says: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

But as we’re seeing, this process doesn’t happen overnight.

 

[phipps]

How long does the process of Christian growth take?

The process of Christian growth doesn’t have an exact timetable. It’s an experience of a lifetime. So we shouldn’t become discouraged if we feel we’re not moving along fast enough. God has promised to complete the work He has started in us (Philippians 1:6).

Jesus once told a parable to illustrate the growth process of His followers: “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head" (Mark 4:26-28).

You wouldn’t expect a corn seed to produce an ear of corn without going through its stages of growth.

The perfect little seedling matures into a full-grown plant as the gardener cultivates the soil, weeds around the plant, waters it, and provides it with nutrients.

Similarly, growing Christians go through stages of growth that look different for each individual—because we all have different backgrounds and areas that need development. Someone raised in a Christian family may have a different journey than someone who has experienced a complete turnaround later in life.

But regardless of where people are in their journeys, some common elements help in that maturation process.

 

[phipps]

How to grow in Christ in practical ways.

Christian growth is about deepening our relationship with Christ and learning to love Him more each day. And that can’t happen without our willingness and cooperation.

Just like a relationship requires nurturing, growing our walk with God requires the same: getting to know Him, communicating with Him, spending time doing things He would do, and more.

 

[Alanantic]

Christianism = Paganism!!!
Christianity is thinly disguised paganism.
Have you ever asked yourself what a Christmas tree or Easter eggs have to do with Jesus? Absolutely nothing. They are pagan symbols celebrating the solstice.
He's Not God!!! He's Prophet!!!
Jesus never died on cross!!!
He was taken unto Heavens by one mighty in power(God)!!!
Christians fabricated traditions of Jesus dying for our sins makes no sense!!!
Jesus was not God, nor did he claim to be God!!!
During his lifetime, Jesus himself didn't call himself God and didn't consider himself God!!!
At a later point, his followers began to assign attributes to him that were semi-divine like angel!!!

View attachment 89188

We all know people believe what they want to believe, ourselves included... You say Paganism like it's a bad thing.

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

Christianism = Paganism!!!
Christianity is thinly disguised paganism.
Have you ever asked yourself what a Christmas tree or Easter eggs have to do with Jesus? Absolutely nothing. They are pagan symbols celebrating the solstice.
He's Not God!!! He's Prophet!!!
Jesus never died on cross!!!
He was taken unto Heavens by one mighty in power(God)!!!
Christians fabricated traditions of Jesus dying for our sins makes no sense!!!
Jesus was not God, nor did he claim to be God!!!
During his lifetime, Jesus himself didn't call himself God and didn't consider himself God!!!
At a later point, his followers began to assign attributes to him that were semi-divine like angel!!!

View attachment 89188

So your basic idea is that because Catholicism merged paganism with Christianity that through that process, Christianity becomes paganism? I’m not sure your logic is sound.

 

[Tyln93]

We all know people believe what they want to believe, ourselves included... You say Paganism like it's a bad thing.

Paganism = Bad and Useless!!!