Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Religion Extinctions - Coming? Is there a trend where you live?

All scripture is God breathed, not man made or authored. It is foolishness to fools like yourself who don't believe.

There are only 2 - toward Jesus and away from Jesus. The gap is growing fast and wide. For a while, the away from Jesus religion will seem to win, but in the end, it will be destroyed.

"I have no need to read your post, Brian, but will tell you that God loves you."

God loves you? I don't think the Christian God loves anybody. If he did there wouldn't be a Hell. The Christian God is like the stalker who tells the girl he's stalking that he loves her and if she loves him back everything will be wonderful. If she doesn't love him back he'll just blow her brains out with a 357 magnum. It's exactly the same as God saying that if you believe in him you'll have everlasting life and see all your deceased friends and family when you die (that is if they went to heaven). If you don't believe in him then you'll burn in Hell for eternity. Why doesn't God just smite you if you're a non-believer? That would be better than burning in Hell for eternity. It looks like God is cruel and vindictive. If you are offered eternal life why is the threat necessary?

You come from your father and you go to your father.....who is your father?

Religeous gibberish.

Normally, you get what you pay for, but in the case of salvation, the price is quite meager compared to the reward. Still some, like you, demand it for free. I have no problem acknowledging this is God's playground and His ball. As such, I will also play by His rules, which are both easy and light. Sorry something has put a chip on your shoulder that clouds your thinking.

I had a friend once who was similarly angry at God. His brother died without accepting Him. They grew up unchurched and ignorant about God. My friend learned of the Truth after his brothers death and understood his fate. That made him very bitter and angry with God.

I'm not sure where your resentment comes from, but will pray that it will ease long enough for you to sort things out rationally.

God loves you too.

You've got it all backwards. God does love us all, but we've been naughty. In God's realm, a little bit naughty is the same as a whole lot naughty so we all deserve a very bad punishment. God then said "ok, I love you enough to take your punishment", which he did. It's free. You don't have to do anything for that forgiveness except believe in Him. You don't have to work for it or anything else, just believe.
How can you say that God doesn't love you when he offers to take the entire rap for all the evil we've all done? If you throw it in His face, it's on your own head. God has done it all for you but you have to accept it.

All I know is that our church, Christ the King Catholic Church, is full at all weekend Masses. We're just a tiny nighborhood parish and hold about 800 folks, but we're normally full.

On Holy Days of Obligation, we have to get there a half-hour early, or we are standing.

On Christmas, Easter and Ash Wednesday we normally have at least 900 to 1,000 folks celebrating with us.

This evening was a Lenten Study talk and we simply ran out of room in our Parish Center ... the folks just kept coming. Tomorrow evening, we have another talk and Karen & I will surely arrive 45 minutes early.

We will be adding a $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 addition to the church building and the Parish Hall next year and all funds will come from us, the parishioners at CTK. We are all for it and we will all pitch in, according to our ability.

Honestly, all each of us can do is to be active and work in our own church. I cannot be concerned with a general trend, but simply what is happening to my own parish. As for our local Catholic Parishes, they are thriving. And we, at CTK, are simply growing at an expoential rate.

We've had to add to our Adult Faith Formation and RCIA classes. We've also enlarged our Bible Study. Our problem is not getting parishioners, it's finding the finest teachers and helpers.

But, when you get down to it, the Catholic Church is the original church started by Our Lord. When we read the Bible, which is all the time, the Catholic Church is the the Community of Believers (the Greek definition of a church) that we see starting in the Acts of the Apostles.

In these hard times, maybe folks are getting back to basics ... the wonderful 2,000 year old Catholic Church.

It must totally SUCK to have no faith, no God, no Lord. You lose if you are right and you lose if you are wrong.

I could never be an athiest or an agnostic. Heck, I could never be a Protestant, because I simply see nothing to protest!!! Just count me as a devoutly Catholic guy who loves his ancient church and a wonderful God. I simply cannot imagine another way to go through this life than praising Our Lord.

Thanks Be To God.

Lenten Blessings To All,

Steve

No, Steve. That's when you get down to it.

It is not a threat it is a choice.
It is not eternal life you are offered. We all have eternal life.

What you are offered and the choice YOU must make is where and with whom will you spend your eternity.

Ricky, he speaks of the Roman Catholic church.

Catholic simply means, right, correct, etc.

No, it means universal.

ETA:
That view of Hell as punishment is seen as kind of old fashion these days, kind of medieval. Sure, it's eternal Hell fire, but it's really more like a garbage can than a punishment inflicted. God isn't doing the punishing, the agony is in the (self-chosen) separation from God.

Depending on your perspective,e.g., "that's a catholic idea".

Sort of like,,, a free spirit,,,,or a whore,,,depending on your perspective.

That may be your definition, but Webster and others attribute "universal", or "whole", to the word. First used in the 15th century.

You go from right and correct to whore? FWIW: That's NOT my perspective.

I am SO sorry.

God doesn't want anyone to spend eternity in hell, but he will give us all what we want. In the end, a loving God will hear from the faithful, "Thy will be done." To all others, God will say, "Thy will be done."

Steve

I thought Jack Chick was dead.

Not to me.

I have to agree with that.
I certainly don't believe that God wants to punish us, otherwise why would He have sent his Son to die a horribly painful death on a cross?-because God wants us to be punished? He wants us to be saved, but we have to choose.

Unfortunately, folks like Brian have made the wrong decision.