Aziliz

Ahhh no.. not exactly, all those mentioned above were post Christ and any borrowing for this type of notion would be from these individuals and not from Christ.

Besides i was referring to the religions of today that have more than a handfull of Followers.

Its also very important when you speak of crimes perpetrated in the name of any religion that you consider the teachings of the religion itself.

Unlike the crimes commited in the name of Islam, which went directly inline with the teachings of Mohamed, particularly with the abrogated texts, the crimes in the name of Christianity went dirreclty against the teaching of Christ.

At no place does Jesus ask us to 'Kill the infadel' or any such like.
Christians themselves get critisised for not 'loving the enemy'
What we actually see is a dramatic distortion of what the Christian faith is about.

We have every right to comdem this behavior, and God himself will also deal dramatically with those who distort His word.

Rob, on your last paragraph posted on the 25th, i totally agree with you.

The biggest problem within the Church is that many dont 'work to the out side the change that has occurred on the inside' i can tell you first hand that this is the biggest struggle with every pastor in the church.
It is this very item that prevents most people from believing in Christianity.
Yet having said that it is interesting how so many non-Christians know what they should expect from Christians.
I have personaly said to the congregation that we are all 'personal billboards for Christ' The problem is this 'surrendering' you speak of is a work in progress.
By sincerely asking Christ in to your life gives you salvation, becasue you have repented from non belief.
But with so many distractions placed as obsticles in our lives, many people can and do backslide.

Yet the promises is if you sincerely seek God you will find Him.

Alchemist/Aziliz

Hitler, a devout Christian?? Are you guys OK?

Although Hitler was raised in the Roman Catholic Church and kept his formal ties with the church for his own political ends, he abandoned any pretence of faith at an early age. He described himself as “a total pagan”, and called Christianity “the hardest blow that ever struck humanity”

The British anthropologist Sir Arthur Keith says that Hitler ‘consciously sought to make the practices of Germany conform to the theory of atheistic evolution’

The modern American author Henry Morris writes, ‘In the biological theory of Darwin, Hitler found his most powerful weapon against human values,’

I know many “Christians” who have been in the Church their entire lives but are Christian only in name, ie Nominal Christians.
God, wants us to come to Him willingly, it can’t be forced nor coerced. He didn't make robots the choice is ours, its called ‘Free will’.

Being a Deacon in a Christian church also does not make you a Christian. I have seen many Elders in churches that are not Christians, they have never personally asked Christ in, Jesus said ‘I stand and knock’ its up to you to let Him in. Good works won’t cut it, try as hard as you like.

Christ said that you must be both ‘born of water and the spirit to have eternal life’ That’s a flesh birth and a spiritual birth, we have no choice about our flesh birth, but we do have a choice to be born of the spirit. problem is its so easy that most people disregard it.

Hellothere; its a choice, dont be so hasty to make yours. "The surrest barier to all truth is the uninvestigated presumption you already have it" Edwin Spencer. Dont mean to offend here. presumption kills knowledge

Pericles; I thought my post was quite simple and quite clear. It may not have been what you were alluding to, sorry for that, i just stated that it is not possible to know what a persons real intentions are. Bringing in all your psycobabble wont help you get the point.

Mark was right. C.S. Lewis studied classical languages, philosophy and ancient history. Tolkien converted him to Christianity and they met for regular 'fantasy workshops'. Tolkien studied Classics, Old English, Germanic languages, Welsh and Finnish. Both were well versed in Germanic and Norse religious texts.

The lion is a symbol of Odin/Woden
Odin/Woden was sacrificed to save the world from its sins
The war of winter and summer are a central theme in pagan religion with Spring being the resurrection of life
The As in Aslan is Norse for 'High God'

Any christian who likes Narnia is a closet pagan but just doesn't know it.

Alan Grey says Jesus whips people in the temple, but most biblical scholars believe from the context the whip was used on the animals, not people.

The New Testament claims vengeance belongs to God and not to the individual. In Revelations, Jesus comes with a sword in the second coming but in the meantime pacificism is required.

(Revelations 13:10) "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." (Matthew 26:52) Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Romans 12:14, 19-20 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. {19} Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. {20} Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink . .

The early martyrs of the Christian church died meekly, blessing their persecutors.

Ghandi reminds Mhoram of the true Christian message (even though he was Hindu) - he is more correct than he may imagine. Ghandi kept a picture of Jesus in his office and he modelled his practice of Satya Graha ('nonviolence' or 'passive resistance') on Christ.

Don't make assumptions about a person because they say they are or are not a Christian.

Mark, What are you on about?
If you continue to read your book of Revelations, you will find your 'Lamb' behaves like a 'Lion", so what point are you trying to make?
' And the Kings of the earth,and the great men,and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sittith on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?'
Rev 6 : 15-17

Remember that old saying : out of the mouth of babes. Quite a cluey 9 year old.

Numbat, have you actually done any studies in evolution? I have studied both science and theology and they are not mutually exclusive. Surely God would not create someone as ugly as me - I blame that on science. But the fact that it all had to start somewhere I give credit to something more than science.

As for the point about people subscribing to Christian religions not necessarily being Christians, I couldn't agree more. George Bush goes to Church every week and says he is doing God's work. I cannot think of anything further from the truth.

God bless,
Tubs

tubley: He has - me. numbat