Revised (2nd rough draft) In the life of a Chirstian.

In the life of a Chirstian. My views on Christianity

Please understand that these views are my own, this article is my own with some help from other sources.

There's one subject that will never, for the life of me, get old. It's about stories passed down through the ages and for around two-thousand years it has played a role in some of the most major battles and conflicts of the world. The subject that has touched so many of our lives is God. One passage stands out to me more than most when in reference to God, well I guess that you could say when in describing God. The scripture I'm talking about is John 4:24

John 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth

God is the spirit that drives men to goodness and if people are to worship him then they have to worship him not only in mind, but in your actions. Such is the Truth that John was talking about, Truth, not only to yourself but Truth to others and Truth in action. This is but a number of life lessons that the Bible offers us to think on.

One of the most stressed over points of the Bible is the fact that God is merciful. So merciful in fact that he gave his own son so that we could repent our sins.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

It even goes so far as to say that Jesus went down into Hell to save the souls of those that had been as unlucky as to be sent down there because there was no repentance before Jesus gave his life for us.

But then again, God also expects his word to be taken seriously, which leads us to one of the more famous parts in the bible, I'm talking about of course the story of Cain and Abel. Cain was the first begotten of Adam and Eve, Abel was the second. This story proves that God loves all of his creations no matter how small or insignificant seeming they might be. Cain and Abel were farmers in all sense of the word, Cain harvested fruit and Abel harvested livestock. Also, I'd like to point out that the phrase "My brothers keeper" comes from this part in the Bible where Cain, distrought by his brother earning Gods favor, killed his brother Abel and god says:

Genisis 4:9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where [is] Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: [Am] I my brother's keeper?
Genisis 4:10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Then he curses Cain, saying that whenever he tills the land the land will not give up fruit, then he banishes Cain telling him that he is a fugitive and a vagabond. But, he isn't completely without mercy, when Cain tells God that the punishment he set down for him is too hard to bare and that if anyone finds him that they will surely kill him. God then tells him:

Genisis 4:15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

So there we have the story of Cain and Abel, two early Biblical characters that can teach us much about loving one another. But there are so many more issues the bible touches on. Trust is one of the most major lessons to be learned. The story of Jesus walking on water and calling out to Peter, one of his diciples, that he should not be afraid, to take trust in Jesus and come forward onto the water to stand with him.

 

 

Many people have their own interpritations of what the bible could mean, as we all have opinions. The Bible isn't limited to these, you can take it how you want to, but the meaning is clear. "Love thy neighbor." But I have found a lot of things that people have skewed in the bible. The first of such that I have seen is by the switching around of the first commandment. What I mean by this is that in the original text the Bible says "Thou shalt not commit murder." But, when it was changed over to "Thou shalt not kill" When they wrote the King James verson they switched them around.

Salvation is through the gift of God, who sent Jesus to be mankinds savior, but not in the Hero sense, or maybe in the Hero sense, depending on how you look at it. He is the savior of our souls, through faith in Jesus He will clense us of sin, and from eternal death. The death of our spiritual body, so to speak. Each tradition has their own take on what the operation and effects of grace. Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy teach the neccessity of the free will to cooperate with grace. I won't go as far as to name them all, I only gave you an example.

Sorry, I got off of my original topic, the Bible. Christianity is based around the Holy Bible, they are the chronological books in two seperate parts, those parts are the Old Testament and the New Testament. The New Testament is more based on the life of Jesus Christ and his followers. This is the Word of God, more or less because of the fact that it was written by humans under the inspiration of God.

I have a few of my own personal experiences I would love to share, one such experience happened one night while I was lying in bed, trying to sleep. One phrase of the Bible crossed my mind, I honestly don't know where it came from, nor where I read it at but to the day it still stands clear in my mind, and also to this day it makes me tremble to think about it:

And we know that all men must repent and believe on the name of Jesus Christ, and worship the Father in his name, and endure in faith on his name to the end, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.

The meaning was clear in my mind and I have no doubt that, in his own way, God was telling me that I needed to repent and pray, to keep my faith in the Lord strong. I sat up in my bed barely daring to breathe. It was then that my belief in God and in Christ was secure. I prayed that night, I poured my heart out to God and since I believe in God, in Jesus, I know that he has repented me of my sins. Remember, God works in mysterious ways.

 

I'm going to now talk about Cathlocism, their beliefs. I myself am a Babtist, so as such I don't really know too much about this branch of Religion.
I'm taking these facts from a website, so I give them full credit for this part of my article. This is taken directly from a website that I will provide the link for you. (1)

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A: Has God Spoken?

Protestants maintain that God has spoken in the 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament, and thus, only these books are divinely authoritative.

**
"The Roman Catholic Church teaches that there are FIVE additional sources of Devine Authority.

First, there are additional books written between the Old and New Testaments, known to Catholics as the deuterocanonical books and to Protestants by the term "Apocrypha." Roman Catholics consider these books as genuine Scripture and thus include them as part of their Bible.

Second, Catholicism maintains that divine authority is to be found in the authorized Tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, which is also classified as the "Word of God."

Third, divine authority (infallibility) is given to the Pope when he speaks officially on matters of faith and morals.

Fourth, when speaking or teaching in conjunction with the Pope and orthodox Catholic Tradition, Roman Catholic bishops are also held to be infallible, and hence, divinely authoritative.

Finally, official Roman Catholic interpretation of the Bible (Catholic teaching) is considered to have divine warrant and authority. In essence, all five of these sources can be summarized by the term "Roman Catholic Tradition."

B: HOW SINS ARE FORGIVEN?

Is it a mere difference of opinion between the Protesters (PROTESTANTS) of the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church as concerns salvation? Or does the Bible Point Out The Truth?

**
Bible:
"All sins are forgiven at the point of salvation-past, present, and future-because Christ's death satisfied all God's wrath against sin. (See Colossians 2:13.)

Catholicism:
Sins are only potentially forgiven and so must be worked off through a process mediated by the Church and its sacraments over the lifetime of the believer."
C: Eternal Life?

Does one attain regeneration/everlasting life through Works Of Merit?

**
"Bible:
The instantaneous imparting of eternal life and the quickening of the human spirit, making it alive to God.Catholicism:
(In part) The lifelong process of infusing grace (spiritual power) to perform works of merit."

D:

Justification?

Who or what is the Justification for attaining Spiritual Rebirth and Life After Death?

**
"Bible: The legal declaration of Christ's righteousness reckoned to the believer at the point of faith solely as an act of God's mercy.

Catholicism: Spiritual rebirth and the lifelong process of sanctification which begins at the point of the sacrament of baptism. "

E: Doctrine?

Contrary to the New Testament and the Words of Jesus and Paul, the Catholic doctrine of salvation teaches and implies that actual forgiveness of sins comes not only by faith in Christ, but also through many or all of the following:a) the sacraments, such as baptism and penance,
b) participation in the Mass,
c) the help of the virgin Mary,
d) the recitation of the rosary, and
e) purgatorial suffering after death.F: What must Catholics Do? The Bible Teaches through the Word Of God Spoken through Jesus the "assurance of having been saved" is a biblical doctrine.

**
"1 John 5:13 proves.
"You also know that because Catholicism teaches that a Christian may lose his or her salvation, it argues that "not even faith ... or conversion... or reception of baptism ... or constancy throughout life... can gain for one the right to salvation..." and that all these are held to be only "the forerunners of attainment" toward salvation."

Yet Catholics are TAUGHT and TEACH that the assurance of salvation is a ** "presumption upon the mercy of God" a rare occurrence when combined with the Roman Catholic fact that penance is required for the restoration from the "eternal separation from God," caused by mortal sin.

**
"Jesus Himself taught that faith does bring the right to salvation: "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12, NASB, emphasis added). The Bible clearly teaches that by faith alone people can know that they are eternally saved because they, at the moment of saving faith, possess eternal life. You can know this by truly trusting in Christ for forgiveness of sins and making Him your personal Savior."

It is therefore this KNOWLEDGE (not JUDGMENT) that leads us to inform you that Roman Catholics whom practice their faith under these Ideas and Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church are Doomed To Eternal Pain and Suffering.
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So I'm starting to wrap up my article here, but I do have some more words of wisdom that I would like to share. Christians believe in the following of Jesus' teachings, do as I do, live life like Jesus did. Be kind to your fellow man. A long time ago there were bracelets that were passed around, they had the letters W.W.J.D. meaning that if you found yourself in a situation that you should think to yourself.. What would Jesus do? I have a few scriptures to leave you with, to think over.

Romans 13:14
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Put your trust in Jesus, let him guide your actions.

Matthew 5:17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Jesus isn't here to change the law, nor is he here to go against what the Prophets have written, but he's here to help us.

And also in responce to a catch question asked by a Pharisee he said:

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Trust in what God has written, His book, the Holy Bible. Love your fellow man, no matter if they have wronged you, love them. Treat them as you would like to be treated.

And so I leave you with this article to think on.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to E-mail or PM me.
Jared.

 

Also note that I have made some changes and will undoubtably will be adding more seeind as this is only my second rough draft. This article and the article within it is the property of it's owners. The website that I used on my section of Catholicism is posted below, and as such that is their views and perceptions on the Catholic Religion and are not meant to be slanderous. If you are offended by my article then I am truely sorry.

(1) Here is the website from which I used their explination on Catholicism: http://yourgoingtohell.com/catholic.html Full rights to them on the part of my article that I used, no copyright infringement was intended, as I was only using this to give information to people(s).

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