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Wow, that is a lot! Do you go to a mega church? I assume that because you talk about lasers and fog and such.
I don’t consider it a megachurch. That might depend on your definition, but most megachurches have more than 2000 members, and we’re not that big. We do have lights and such, but there are other smaller churches who use those things too- it’s not just the megachurches, although those are the ones who have drawn more attention to those things.
"Real love is for your good, not for your comfort." -Justin Whitmel Earley
It was rough, and it was subtly done…….. yeah. I won’t go into it, but I went through a lot of abuse from them, but so subtly that it looked like I was the problem (I even believed I was) It wasn’t until things started to come to light and people started finding out what was really going on that i was able to see the truth.
Sorry to hear about that! Manipulation like that makes situations so complicated! I have a friend who has grown up in a household that’s pretty toxic, and she thought she was crazy most of her life until realizing recently she’s been manipulated this entire time.
"Real love is for your good, not for your comfort." -Justin Whitmel Earley
That actually sounds really familiar concerning what happened with those two.
Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God
Yeah, unfortunately it’s really messy. Usually stems from insecurities, I think.
"Real love is for your good, not for your comfort." -Justin Whitmel Earley
How big is your church? (if you go to church.)
My church had roughly 200 members last time I checked, many of which are children.
What is your opinion on Mary?
I mean, I like Mary. ^_^ I don’t believe in praying through higher saints because I don’t believe God pays more attention to anyone. God can hear me just as well by myself. But I don’t know if Catholics disagree with that necessarily.
Do you have (or did you ever have) a friend that has (or had) a negative impact on your faith?
Depends on your definition of friend. When I first joined a community homeschool, I was very excited to make friends. But my Christian peers collectively avoided me. It was like getting the silent treatment from half the people you know, for an entire year. That was when I learned any teenager, even Christian, can be mean.
These days, I have good friends, and my closest friend is like a sister.
Where do you usually go for a place to pray to God? (It could be your favorite place, either inside or outside your own home.)
I pray wherever I am. I’m pretty good at adapting. XD
If your friend ever has a question about God, how do you answer?
Er, the one time I had a lot of non-Christians questioning me was on a mission trip. If I wasn’t sure what to say, I brought them to an older member of our group. I was also really shy at the time, so I think in the present day, I would be much more confident about it.
Do you believe that God created everything, or that evolution had a hand.
God made everything of course. I believe in the literal process of evolution as a mechanism in nature, but I don’t believe in ‘Evolution’ as in the big theory. If I’m being honest, I don’t think about this very much anymore. It used to be a huge debate in my mind when I was in middle school, but it no longer seems as important as the philosophical questions.
What are your plains to grow in the faith?
I really want to study the Bible some more. That’s the simple answer, but it’s true. I mean deep dives, like with commentaries and everything.
And finally, how do you feel on calling Christianity, a
faithreligion? (… I totally didn’t get this last one based on a friendly argument some people had… *cough cough)Calling Christianity a religion is fine to me. I understand if someone wants to avoid the negative ideas that this culture has about religion, but I think it’s better to ignore this culture entirely. I’m not afraid of triggering other people, especially because they have their own prejudice. If that makes sense. XD
What is one thing you disagree/don’t understand with a different denomination?
What is one thing you don’t understand about your own denomination?
I put these two questions at the end because I associate them with each other. The main problem that always resurfaces for me – in my denomination vs. others – is the problem of evil, and/or the existence of free will. Some people believe in free will, but often ignore the vast number of passages in the Bible where it talks about God’s complete control. They also characterize God based on their own imagination of what God should be like. On the flip side, if God is in complete control, why is there evil in the world? Isn’t that against his nature?
I recently studied Job, and it is my favorite. :] Job wrestles with the same problem. God answers some of his questions, but also tells him to wait and see, because at that time evil hadn’t been completely defeated. And the story still isn’t over. We can’t know everything that is happening on a cosmos level because we are locked away from the heavenly courtroom, but God reassures Job of one very important thing. He loves Job and he isn’t causing the injustice against his servant; he plans to defeat that injustice. That is what we are told, among other things, and I think the way God handled the questions is good enough for me.
#ProtectAdolinKholin
Job is absolutely fascinating. The two God speeches at the end? What with the literary symbols from the time, his addressing of the two sides in Job’s dilemma, and tone of voice – God ate and left no crumbs.
#ProtectAdolinKholin
It legitimately fascinates me. Anyway. XD
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What do you mean by that?
If I answered, I’d become the enemy of a lot of people.
First off, we do not worship Mary, and I do not believe there is any denomination that does for that matter! And building a statue or praying to her is not a form of worship at all! People build statues for many great people through out history, are the people who built those statues worshiping them like gods? No! Neither do we with Mary! We specifically teach that we do not worship her, and just honor her! We build those statues (and saint statues) to remember and honor their faith. And about praying to her, we pray for her to pray for us. We ask her to pray for us, in our prayer, the Hail Mary, we say. “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with you.” as in, she couldn’t have done ANY of this if the Lord was not with her! “Holy Mary, mother of God, PRAY for us sinners,” We are simply asking in the only way we can for her to prayer for us. And that is the only way we can talk to Mary, through prayer.
I consider praying a form of worship, but putting that aside, where in the Bible does it talk about praying to Mary or any other saint? And by Bible I mean the original 66 books, not the extra ones in the Catholic faith, since putting my personal faith aside, those books are controversial.
Plus, you can find pictures of the pope bowing to statues of Mary. Try and tell me that that isn’t worship.
I don’t mean to be rude, and I hope you understand! (Sorry if I did come off as rude)
No, if anything I am the one who will sound rude.
At the end of the day, I doubt either one of us will sway the other and this conversation will eventually merely turn into a heated argument.
Oh, could you tell me how?
My grandfather and his second wife hate Calvinism with a passion. I do not wish to go into any further details besides the entire thing in the past couple years paired with the death of someone very close to my heart caused a rift between God and I that I am still trying to fix.
STOP!!!!!!! Have you eaten Breakfast???
#AnduthForever (hopefully 💕)How big is your church? (if you go to church.)
Ummm it depends on the Sunday lol
We have a pretty big youth group that meets on Wednesdays (like 40-50) but only about ten of them come to church on Sundays.
Total services at my church would probably me about 40 people on average? I’m not sure lol…we have a lot of empty chairs :/
What is one thing you disagree/don’t understand with a different denomination?
There are several things I don’t agree with, but I wish people would just READ THE BIBLE and go off ONLY what it says without adding ANYTHING to it AT ALL. Like God gave us the Bible for a reason and I wish we would all just read it and not make so many “versions” of Christianity. Just believe in the Bible *cries*
What is your opinion on Mary?
I know you’ve said that Catholics ask Mary to pray for them, but I don’t really understand that. Why not pray for yourself, or talk to God directly instead of praying “through” other saints? It just doesn’t make sense to me, and I disagree with that. I don’t think God listens to people in Heaven any more than he listens to me, since God doesn’t pick favorites. We’re citizens of heaven too, just not there yet, so I don’t think Mary is worth “more” than anyone else, she just followed the will of God.
What is one thing you don’t understand about your own denomination?
Honestly, there’s not a lot I don’t understand, except I wish we would talk about Spiritual Gifts a little bit more. That’s basically it though, we’re pretty casual and simple, and easy to understand.
Do you have (or did you ever have) a friend that has (or had) a negative impact on your faith?
Yeah, a lot of them lol
I’ve learned to never change who I am to fit in someone else’s box. If they don’t like my crazy weird self, then they don’t need to be the people I hang out with the most.
Where do you usually go for a place to pray to God? (It could be your favorite place, either inside or outside your own home.)
I talk to God whenever and wherever I am!!! In class, during a conversation, in my room…
But if I need to talk to God by myself or if I’m worshiping Him, I go in my room <3
If your friend ever has a question about God, how do you answer?
I try to be calm and patient, while still conveying my personal convictions.
Do you believe that God created everything, or that evolution had a hand.
I believe God created everything, but I think he also designed our world with natural selection, and like Whaley said, like the literal process as a mechanism in nature.
What are your plans to grow in the faith?
I want to pray more and share my faith more.
And finally, how do you feel on calling Christianity, a religion? (… I totally didn’t get this last one based on a friendly argument some people had… *cough cough)
Well, for one, I don’t think it’s wrong to call it a religion lol, I was just trying to convey that I tend to lean towards calling it a different thing, but honestly it doesn’t really matter that much. As long as you believe in the truth!
And for two, it wasn’t an argument XD (at least I didn’t feel that way)
"Hair. Mouth. Cheese of yak. Come, Sintar, bRiNg a MeLoN."
Oh, I should answer this question.
A little. Still leaves some room for questions.
What I am understanding is, you believe that Jesus told us to continue baptism and such, but matrimony is more of just a bonding with one another under God, rather than holding any sacramental value?
I’m going to quickly define two words here.
Covenant – A promise. (Obviously it’s bigger than an everyday promise, and it has deep relationship implications, but this’ll do.)
Sacrament – A sign/seal of a covenant. Often something physical. The rainbow was a sign of the covenant between God and Noah, it was not the covenant itself.
Marriage is functionally a covenant between a man and a woman with God as the ultimate officiator.
The sacraments – Last Supper and Baptism – are a sign of the Gospel covenant, which is the covenant between God and man, through Christ.
See how they are different covenants?
Marriage has some important parallels with the relationship between Christ and the Church, so I can definitely see how it could be a sacrament in some churches. But there are some reasons why I think it isn’t the same. For one thing, God doesn’t encourage every Christian to marry. With Baptism and Communion, there are benefits for everyone, and we’re encouraged to participate in those.
Hope that makes sense. ^_^ You’re also totally free to disagree, I still love the symbolism in marriage and I get why Catholics call it a sacrament.
#ProtectAdolinKholin
My grandfather and his second wife hate Calvinism with a passion. I do not wish to go into any further details besides the entire thing in the past couple years paired with the death of someone very close to my heart caused a rift between God and I that I am still trying to fix.
If that means what I think it means, your grandmother was a very strong and brave woman.
#ProtectAdolinKholin
where in the Bible does it talk about praying to Mary or any other saint? And by Bible I mean the original 66 books, not the extra ones in the Catholic faith, since putting my personal faith aside, those books are controversial.
This is what I mean about “believing the Bible and ONLY the Bible”. Like, where in the Bible does it say to pray to these people? the only time in the Bible (that I can remember) that it talks about communicating with the dead was when a medium conjured up the spirit of Samuel at King Saul’s request (who was a man of God!!) and it clearly says that God doesn’t condone that. Saul was punished for this.
Maybe you don’t view that as the same thing, but I find it interesting that that’s the only instance in the Bible where it mentions contacting the dead, and it’s a negative context.
"Hair. Mouth. Cheese of yak. Come, Sintar, bRiNg a MeLoN."
I’m not going to say anything about the prayer-through-saints idea, but I will say the Catholic church has magnificent art and culture which I respect.
#ProtectAdolinKholin
I will say the Catholic church has magnificent art and culture which I respect.
Ohhh yess I wholeheartedly agree!
"Hair. Mouth. Cheese of yak. Come, Sintar, bRiNg a MeLoN."
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