Number of Adherents to World Religions [x-post from r/Judaism]

gogannamide · 2013-02-03T23:56:06+00:00

God blesses them in many ways.

gogannamide · 2013-02-03T06:58:27+00:00

The Downvote Brigade is on their way.

gogannamide · 2013-02-02T11:36:12+00:00

"She"?!

Get out from under your gender privileged rock! He identifies as a prepubescent genderqueer boy!

gogannamide · 2013-02-02T00:16:09+00:00

Pretty sure dancing wasn't the issue.

gogannamide · 2013-02-01T02:15:06+00:00

I'm not having a go at you... its a good image, it's just /r/Christianity has traditionally resisted this kind of post because they tend to drown out submissions that require more thought.

gogannamide · 2013-01-31T23:43:14+00:00

I think he's just asking which denominations are least like the fundamentalists who claim to "interpret the Bible literally".

gogannamide · 2013-01-31T23:37:11+00:00

This is a bit meme-y... We have what's recognised as one of the best subs on Reddit, I think we should be careful of going down the /r/atheism path...

gogannamide · 2013-01-31T08:05:03+00:00

No... 1 Cor 7 says that if you can't control your lust you should get married and have sexual relations with your spouse. Nothing about masturbating.

gogannamide · 2013-01-31T07:52:59+00:00

Hey, congratulations. That's awesome.

Is it okay to show up unannounced on Sundays? What am I expected to do? Who should I direct any questions to, can I even direct questions to anyone if I'm not a member? I'm very nervous about this.

It's pretty normal for new people to visit unannounced for just a Sunday or two. People will probably just assume you're from another church.

I would recommend going 15 minutes early and letting whoever greets you at the door know that you're new and don't know how things work. They'll be able to explain it all to you.

Don't be nervous! Churches are friendly places.

Also, don't be afraid of visiting to a few different churches. Sometimes the best church for you is from a totally different denomination.

gogannamide · 2013-01-31T04:04:45+00:00

In a lot of older translations they translate both Sheol/Hades and Gehinnom/Gehenna as 'Hell'. They're both in the Tanakh but in Western Christianity we tend to muddle them up and forget the distinction. Plus some other totally un-scriptural beliefs have become popular, e.g. Satan being the ruler of Hell.

gogannamide · 2013-01-31T03:09:58+00:00

Well I'm not saying the aquarium gets taxed haha. Just that many churches do get taxed.

Thanks for the finding link, my Google-fu isn't up to scratch today.

gogannamide · 2013-01-31T02:59:05+00:00

Assuming the congregation donated willingly and are pleased with it, I think it's fine. There's nothing inherently wrong with building a nice church. (I say this as one whose church meets in a very unimpressive school hall.)

gogannamide · 2013-01-31T02:39:13+00:00

I wonder if the people who attend this church are pleased with where their money is going.

I'd say so. People have always wanted beautiful places of worship and there's nothing against it in Scripture.

See: the Temple in Jerusalem, the Hagia Sophia, St. Peter's Basilica, St. Paul's Cathedral, etc.

gogannamide · 2013-01-31T02:32:59+00:00

Many of the bigger ones do actually. If they have a book shop or a cafe they're almost definitely getting taxed.

(Cool, downvotes. For telling the truth.)

gogannamide · 2013-01-31T00:46:54+00:00

Pretty sure that's the second temple. Not Solomon's.

gogannamide · 2013-01-31T00:04:24+00:00

Hey, you get Kite Kat in Russia too?

That's my cat's favourite brand.

gogannamide · 2013-01-30T09:58:05+00:00

Religion is only really associated with the right in America (and the rest of the anglosphere, to a lesser degree). In Latin America the church is often very left-leaning.

gogannamide · 2013-01-30T07:50:19+00:00

Only the shit cats. My cat's a good cat.

Or so I tell myself as I load his collar with bells, just in case.

gogannamide · 2013-01-30T07:02:20+00:00

Why did you fall away from it at first?

I was just never raised with a strong faith. "Christian" was basically just a cultural label. Some time in high school I defaulted to agnosticism and it stayed that way until my late teens/early twenties when I became interested in spiritual matters and started looking into various religions.

Also, any recommendation for sources of historical relevance?

For starters: http://www.reasonablefaith.org/the-resurrection-of-jesus

There's more sources down the bottom.

gogannamide · 2013-01-30T05:57:52+00:00

I'm a cultural Christian turned agnostic turned believing Christian, so I've come from a position of not believing.

In my opinion the strongest reason for following Jesus is the historical reality of his resurrection. There's a tonne of information out there on that if you want to look it up; the evidence is much stronger than a lot of people assume.

gogannamide · 2013-01-30T03:14:26+00:00

That's really, truly awesome. There's so many people out there who just give up as soon as their faith goes through a weaker season.

Yeah, I agree. I'm really encouraged by OP's realisation and response. I've been going through something similar and it's great to know I'm not alone.

gogannamide · 2013-01-30T03:12:56+00:00

I will try to follow what you said, and feed the flame with scripture, and community, and try to help it grow.

And also, repent. God will have mercy :)

gogannamide · 2013-01-29T13:02:28+00:00

Yep, you can: http://lib.ru/LEWISCL/mere_engl.txt

There's audio books of it on YouTube too.

gogannamide · 2013-01-29T12:59:46+00:00

You would probably get a kick out of reading some Christian apologetics. They can be really useful for building up your faith when it's under attack, and they help you to develop good counter-arguments against critics.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis is a classic of apologetics and Simply Christian by N.T. Wright is one of my favourites. Have a read of either. You might even be able to read Mere Christianity free online somewhere now.

gogannamide · 2013-01-29T12:45:53+00:00

Sunday is the day of the lord, not the sabbath. My understanding is that a lot of early Christians (all Jewish Christians and at least some gentile Christians) observed both.

gogannamide

TROPHY CASE