What do you believe?

Getting to know more about a specific belief

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OnceConvinced
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What do you believe?

Post #1

Post by OnceConvinced »

One of the difficult things about debating on a site such as this is trying to keep track of who believes what. Sometimes you can be arguing a point with say a Christian, only to find out that person has a different opinion to what you assumed. Eg Debating the concept of eternal suffering in Hell and finding out the Christian you debated with doesn’t believe Hell is eternal suffering.

I thought it would be handy to create a questionnaire that we can all answer (not just Christians all though it mainly revolves around biblical philosophies) that tells everyone our stance on certain issues. I’m hoping it might be a database we can refer to, to jog our memories of a person’s particular stance. I know I enjoy doing surveys like this, so perhaps there are others here too. It may be that people don’t want to do it, it may be that only a few will even bother, but I thought I’d try it out anyway.

The idea is to answer the questions with very basic answers. Hopefully one word answers, but no more than a sentence. (I have given sample answers, but you aren’t limited to those). No need to back up your views with scripture or anything. The idea of this thread is not to debate issues but just to allow people to know where each of us stands. Some of the questions do assume there is a God, but an atheist should still be able to answer them eg if the question is “Is God omniscient� then you can answer “no� based on the fact you don’t believe in God. Or you can answer based on what you believe God would be according to your observations.

Feel free to skip any questions you don’t want to answer or just can’t answer.

1. Do you believe in God? Yes/No/Uncertain Who?
2. Do you blame God for what’s wrong in your life and in this world? Yes/no? How can I blame something I don’t believe in?
3. The only way to God is through Jesus Christ yes/no/Unsure/Not relevant to me
4. Christianity is a religion Yes/No
5. Christianity is a relationship with God Yes/No
6. Catholics are Christian Yes/No
7. Believing in Christ is a choice Yes/No/You can’t choose to believe something, you either do or you don’t believe.
8. The Bible is… The infallible word of God/Inspired by God/Man’s beliefs about God
9. It requires the holy spirit to understand scripture. Yes/No
10. There are contradictions in the bible Yes/No
11. The gospels are eye witness accounts Yes/no/It’s all heresay
12. The creation story is literal history Yes/No
13. Noah’s Ark and the great flood is a true story Yes/No
It was a local flood Yes/No
It covered the entire world Yes/No
14. God is omniscient (knows everything there is to know including future events) Yes/No
15. God is omnipotent (all powerful) Yes/No
16. God is omnipresent (everywhere) Yes/No/If he chooses to be
17. God is loving Yes/No
18. God is just Yes/No
19. God is merciful Yes/No
20. God is perfect Yes/No
21. God answers prayer Yes/No/Some times
22. God protects his followers Yes/No/Some times
23. God requires works rather than faith Yes/No
24. God violates freewill yes/no/some times
25. God always keeps his promises: Yes/No
26. God sins (based on the bible definition of what sin is) Yes/No
27. Morals: Come from God/Come as a result of evolution
28. Miracles do happen these days Yes/No
29. Hell is… Eternal suffering/Death by fire/the Grave/On Earth
30. God created Hell Yes/No
31. God created Satan Yes/No
32. Young children and babies will go to hell if they are not saved Yes/No
33. People who have never heard the gospel will go to Hell Yes/No
34. Suffering is: God testing us/A result of Satan’s activities/Adam and Eve’s fault/A result of evolution
35. The earth is: around 6-7000 years old/Millions of years old
36. God used evolution to create life Yes/No/Evolution has no intelligence behind it.
37. Sin = Evil things that people do/Actions God hates/ Actions religious leaders hate/Human nature
38. Homosexuality is a sin Yes/No
39. Atheists are evil Yes/No
40. Salvation = Once saved always saved/Requires actions to maintain/There is no such thing
41. You must be baptized to be saved: Yes/No/Unsure
42. Ex Christians were: Never true Christians to begin with/Were Christians but deconverted for some reason
43. Rank in order of importance: Faith, Knowledge, Critical thinking, Belief, Hope
44. What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit = (describe in one or two sentences if possible)
45. What does it take to consider yourself a true Christian? (Try to keep your answer as brief as possible)
Last edited by OnceConvinced on Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Society and its morals evolve and will continue to evolve. The bible however remains the same and just requires more and more apologetics and claims of "metaphors" and "symbolism" to justify it.

Prayer is like rubbing an old bottle and hoping that a genie will pop out and grant you three wishes.

There is much about this world that is mind boggling and impressive, but I see no need whatsoever to put it down to magical super powered beings.


Check out my website: Recker's World

Tidus
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Re: What do you believe?

Post #81

Post by Tidus »

McCulloch wrote:
Baz wrote: Just a thought following your review, how about finding somebody, possibly somebody like yourself that from time to time has a moment or two to spare and has been around the site for a bit to make up a revised list of questions, like this one but with the intention of being revisited periodically by us all to see what, if any, changes we go through in our views on religion.
I think it would be better if less Christian centred and with some why do I think that stuff.
Perhaps collaboration would be required to make something relevant and possibly useful in some way to all site users.

Any takers?
This is, after all, debating Christianity and religion, so the questions probably should be somewhat related to Christianity. I think that one of the reasons for this list was to help keep straight the vast variety of positions held by debaters on theological issues all being labeled as Christian.

The new proposed set of would serve another different need. To perhaps demonstrate the effect of debating. Have opinions and beliefs been affected by debate?

I'll start:
God's existence, select the statement which best describes your belief about God:
  1. I know and am certain that there is a God and He is the God described in the Christian Bible.
  2. I believe that there is a God and the Bible probably provides the most accurate description of Him.
  3. I hope that there is a God and think that it is possible that He inspired the writers of the Bible.
  4. I think that there is a God, but the Christians are not correct about all that they teach about Him.
  5. I am not sure about anything regarding the god. What do you mean when you use the term God?
  6. I do not believe that there is a God.
  7. I believe that there is no God.
  8. I am sure that there is no God.
The Afterlife, select the statement which best describes your belief about the afterlife:
  1. Death is the end.
  2. I think that there is a possibility that death is not the end.
  3. Death is the end for some, but for others, there will be an eternal reward.
  4. I prefer not to think about it; it is a matter for God not for us.
  5. Eternal torment awaits the unbelievers and unrepentant. God will reward the faithful.
  6. Everyone will be eternally blessed by God.
The Bible, select the statement which best describes your belief about the Bible:
  1. The Bible was literally inspired by God. Every word in the original manuscripts was chosen by God.
  2. The writers of the Bible wrote of what they knew and were essentially honest and true, writing from their own experiences.
  3. The Bible is a collection of stories and teachings about God, revealing the deeper truths about human nature and about God without being necessarily literally true.
  4. The Bible is the writings of the ancients about their understanding of God and this world. While there are some profound teachings contained in it, it has been superseded.
  5. The Bible is a dangerous and evil collection of superstitions; continued reverence of it will impede human progress.
1.G
2.A
3.D

mwtech
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Post #82

Post by mwtech »

1. Do you believe in God? I don't believe in any God and I don't think it is likely that there is one, but I recognize the possibility that the might be a God we don't know about

2. Do you blame God for what’s wrong in your life and in this world? I think the belief in God has caused a lot of problems in the world, but no I don't think an actua; God is responsible.

3. The only way to God is through Jesus Christ. According to the Bible, yes.

4. Christianity is a religion Yes

5. Christianity is a relationship with God. No, but I think some people believe it so strongly that they actually think they feel God as a real presence. I never did when I was a christian. He was always just an idea whose rules I followed.

6. Catholics are Christian. No, according to the Bible, you are a Christian if you follow Christ. Catholics as I know them do not.

7. Believing in Christ is a choice. Of course. You may not have much influence over what you choose to believe, but you can seek out knowledge to make tht belief harder or easier.

8. The Bible is…A collection of writings by humans who either thought God existed and were mistaken, or wanted people to believe in God so they could have power over the people.

9. It requires the holy spirit to understand scripture. No. Because I don't believe in God, it removes the view of the bible as something mystical and divine and mysterious. I think the authors had a single intention that they were trying to convey to the readers and with some study into the language of their time it's relatively easy to figure out what was meant to be literal and metaphorical.

10. There are contradictions in the bible. Many

11. The gospels are eye witness accounts. It is possible that Jesus was real and thees people actually knew him, but these accounts are not the truth.

12. The creation story is literal history. No

13. Noah’s Ark and the great flood is a true story. I think it is a myth based around a possible true, less extravagant event.

It was a local flood. I actually think, biblically speaking, that the writers did intend it to mean a local flood.

It covered the entire world. Not at all possible

14. God is omniscient. The bible seems contradictory on this matter

15. God is omnipotent. again, there are contradiction

16. God is omnipresent. more contradiction.

17. God is loving. Conditionally

18. God is just. Not my definition of the word, but if God makes the rules then whatever he says is just is just.

19. God is merciful. To some.

20. God is perfect. Not as I see him, but if he was real, he would have to be. He sets the standard for perfection.

21. God answers prayer. No

22. God protects his followers. No, the Bible is clear in that it is a privilege to be persecuted for religion's sake.

23. God requires works rather than faith. The bible indicates that both are required. Faith is meaningless without works. Works won't get you to heaven without faith.

24. God violates freewill. He did in the bible

25. God always keeps his promises: He can't/ He isn't real and has never made a promise

26. God sins (based on the bible definition of what sin is). God cannot sin. Even if he did the same thing as a human and the human sinned, god can't sin, because sin is by definition, displeasing God and going against his will.

27. Morals: are a result of evolution

28. Miracles do happen these days. No

29. Hell is…Not real, but the Hell of the Bible is eternal suffering in a smelly firepit.

30. God created Hell. The bible never says explicitly that I know of, But if he created all things, Hell is probably included. Or it is just the natural balance to Heaven

31. God created Satan. God says he created all things good and evil, so maybe, or again, maybe just the natural balance to good.

32. Young children and babies will go to hell if they are not saved. No, you can't be held held accountable for sin until you realize what sin is.

33. People who have never heard the gospel will go to Hell. Acoording to the Bible, yes

34. Suffering is: Just something that happens. It's just how it is.

35. The earth is: I don't know. More likely than not, it is very old.

36. God used evolution to create life. I don't know. Maybe there was *a* God who jump started life or maybe it was a natural event.

37. Sin = a word people use for whaat they consider to be wrong.

38. Homosexuality is a sin. According to me, no. According to the Bible, yes.

39. Atheists are evil. No

40. Salvation = According to the bible, you have to follow all of the rules in the New testament to go to heaven

41. You must be baptized to be saved: Yes

42. Ex Christians were: Used to believe in God and now they don't.

43. Rank in order of importance: Knowledge, Critical thinking, Belief, Hope, faith.

44. What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit = It isn't real.

45. What does it take to consider yourself a true Christian? According to the Bible, a Christian is a follower of Christ, who does his commandments. You don't have to be perfect, but you have to repent when you mess up and try your best not to.

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Post #83

Post by tam »

1. Do you believe in God?
Yes.
2. Do you blame God for what’s wrong in your life and in this world?
No.
3. The only way to God is through Jesus Christ?
Through Christ, yes.
4. Christianity is a religion
Yes.
5. Christianity is a relationship with God
No, I don't think so. But it might depend upon how a person defines Christianity.
6. Catholics are Christian
Refrain.
7. Believing in Christ is a choice
Perhaps. But no one comes to the Son unless the Father draws Him. One can choose not to come though.
F
8. The Bible is…
A collection of many different books, some inspired, some not; and testifying to THE Word of God: Christ.
9. It requires the holy spirit to understand scripture.
At least some of it, yes.
10. There are contradictions in the bible
Some yes.
11. The gospels are eye witness accounts
Some are, yes. Some are based on eye witness accounts.
12. The creation story is literal history
The story is true, but not necessarily literal.
13. Noah’s Ark and the great flood is a true story
Yes.
It was a local flood
Not only.
It covered the entire world
Yes.
14. God is omniscient (knows everything there is to know including future events)
Refrain, due to possible biases associated with the word and even the explanation.
15. God is omnipotent (all powerful)
See fourteen.
16. God is omnipresent (everywhere)
See fifteen ; )
17. God is loving
Yes
18. God is just
Yes
19. God is merciful
Yes
20. God is perfect
Yes.
21. God answers prayer
Yes, but not all prayers.
22. God protects his followers
Yes, but Christ told us that we would have trials and tribulations in this world, and so we will.
23. God requires works rather than faith
Both.
24. God violates freewill
No, not in any occasion that I know of.
25. God always keeps his promises:
Yes.
26. God sins (based on the bible definition of what sin is)
No.
27. Morals: Come from God/Come as a result of evolution
Not a big fan of the word "morals." I would say they come from love - which God IS, and which some people may have naturally written upon their hearts.
28. Miracles do happen these days
Yes.
29. Hell is… Eternal suffering/Death by fire/the Grave/On Earth
The Grave** (the world of the dead, where the dead go and sleep, to await the resurrection of the dead)
30. God created Hell
I would think so, but I am not sure.
31. God created Satan
The Adversary called satan? Yes. The Adversary's betrayal was his own choice.
32. Young children and babies will go to hell if they are not saved
Unless there is some provision that I do not know of for children and babies, then yes, they go to the grave same as everyone else not in Christ who dies, to await the resurrection of the dead.
33. People who have never heard the gospel will go to Hell
Who have never heard and come to Christ? Yes... to the grave** (the world of the dead). Until the resurrection of the dead.
34. Suffering is:
A result of our own or another's actions/decisions.
35. The earth is: around 6-7000 years old/Millions of years old
Millions (or whatever the science states at the moment)
36. God used evolution to create life
No, but it is a process by which the physical is subject to (adaptation).
37. Sin = Evil things that people do/Actions God hates/ Actions religious leaders hate/Human nature
Sin = error
38. Homosexuality is a sin
Refrain. I do not know the answer to this question. I also do not care. If it is a sin, it is a sin of the flesh, over which one has no control. Like menstruation - which, if I have understood correctly, is not 'unclean' because it is 'gross', but because seed (an egg) that could have formed life is 'spilled' instead.
39. Atheists are evil
No** (at least not just for being atheist, which is what I assume the question is asking).
40. Salvation =
Can be lost if one chooses not to remain in Christ, denies and loses one's faith.
41. You must be baptized to be saved:
Baptized by holy spirit, in order to be Christian. (more than just Christians are invited into the Kingdom, however, and receive the gift of eternal life).
42. Ex Christians were: Never true Christians to begin with/Were Christians but deconverted for some reason
Either/or.
43. Rank in order of importance: Faith, Knowledge, Critical thinking, Belief, Hope
Faith. (knowledge is included in that, and/or can come from that.) Hope. Critical thinking is a process of coming to knowledge, examining claims and/or evidence. Belief.
44. What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit = (describe in one or two sentences if possible)
THE Holy Spirit is Christ. He is the Life, the Teacher, the Chosen One of Jah, the Lamb, the Truth, the Word and Image of God.
He gives us the water of Life. That water is 'holy spirit' - the breath, blood, seed of God - which God has given to Christ without end, that Christ may give this gift of holy spirit to whomever He chooses, and which holy spirit begets sons. That is the anointing that one receives, that makes one a Christian, that makes one a member of the Body of Christ, and the Bride.

This holy spirit given to us also bears witness with out spirit when we hear truth - from another or from Christ Himself, and reminds us of what Christ teaches us.
45. What does it take to consider yourself a true Christian? (Try to keep your answer as brief as possible)
Being anointed with holy spirit. So that you are in union with and follow the true Christ.


Peace to you!
your servant and a slave of Christ,
tammy

**(edited to add clarifications in the brackets following the word "grave")

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