Dear Runner,
To truely understand a chicken you must first be born into the chicken family. A religious person to understand christianity Must be born again into the family of God, Jesus word not mine.

Dear Richie 10,

The basic tenet of Christianity is:

"That you love one another as I have loved you."

Dear Foxy,
Unless the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you you are not a christian at all.God is love and apart from him we do not know love only in him are we able to put aside our diferences and truely love one another. I once tried to give up swearing in my own strength. whenever it appeared in my mouth I rebuked it but with the right conditions it came back. When I confessed and repented to the Holy Spirit I was freed from the Power of bad language .God the Holy Spirit, God on earth since penticost has power over sin and death.Natural man can't know God only those bornagain of the incoruptable seed of the Word of God. This will be very contraversial to some . God said it .I believe it. That settles it for me.

Oliver

In (brief) answer to your very interesting question, initially it was a left-brain decision - my education in and love of natural science, tied together with the discipline in thought required for mathematics and english composition was the beginning of my disenfranchisement with (initially) Christianity. This was followed by an investigation into the other Abrahamic religions which proved as contradictory and inconsistent as Christianity (along with the diversity of opinion within each religion).

My emotional, intuitive feelings took much longer. Therefore my right brain clung to the idea that somewhere there was something greater than the pettiness I saw in humanity. However, the idea of a paternalistic deity did not fit with a right-brain consciousness so eventually my choice was complete. From that point on I have declared myself an atheist although I find the term lacking in depth and breadth of meaning.

Richie

There are as many different definitions of christians as there are christian sects, had you read my posts more thoughtfully you would realises that someone like Foxy best expresses my ideal of the 'christian'.

Runner

Suggest that your attitudes have more in common with Islam (on abortion, homosexuality, women's fertility) than any 'heathen'.

Foxy

You go girl.

Dear Fractelle,
There are many religions but only one truth . Jesus said "I am the way the truth and the light".
God the Father said "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."
God the Holy Spirit confirmed it by raising him from the dead.
All other religions follow a dead mans ideas.
Jesus the christ was conceived by a word from God . ALL OTHER MEN come from the seed of Adam. Christ didn't rot in the grave as our bodies will But rose from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. He sent Gods promise the Holy Spirit to represent
him on earth. To confirm his word with signs and wonders for unbelievers. All in the bible But without the promise it is impossible to comprehend. Christianity is about a change of heart not an intectual walk.

Dear Richie,

Thank You for sharing your beliefs with us on this
Forum. "However faith has passed from the passive and
complete acceptance of a body of truths to the honest
search for total commitment.

The world has become meaning-centered, and the individual
measures the traditional truths in terms of personal value.
They refuse to accept irrelevant sermons, a sterile liturgy,
a passe and speculative theology which explores publicly dry
and distant formulas, a law which does not explain its own
origins. They demand a minister who reaches them in honest
dialogue. They will not be bullied by moralizing which ignores
the true and complex context of modern life..."

You are welcome to your beliefs - and your "truth"
but to each his own.

I do not fear hell because I can't fathom it. I do not seek
heaven because it offers no image I can grasp. I only
struggle to find myself, to love my fellow human beings, and
to hope that in this way I am truly loving God.

Cheers