Billy Graham is a Democrat

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Irvine511 said:




that's not my question.

my question is: what would you do if your personal experience conflicted with your Biblical beliefs? who do you trust -- your eyes and ears or the Bible?

i'm really very curious and not trying to tease out a particular response.

Now, I have had experience with that, so I don't mind commenting on it.

When I started my own business, it was not successful at all for the first year and a half. I was constantly bombarded with thoughts of being a loser, a failure, etc. This depressed me. I knew what the Bible says, that I wasn't a loser; in fact, that I was victorious in Christ, and that I have everything I need in Christ. But the devil's whisperings in my ear were very loud, and I was believing him. But then I realized that if I were going to say that the Bible is the Word of God for me, I needed to start believing what it said. I started to work on that Biblical concept of "walk by faith, not by sight". When the devil would throw those depressing thougts at me, I would counter by saying "I know what the physical circumstances seem to be saying about my worth. However, since I know what the Bible says about me, I choose to belief that the devil is manipulating and distorting the physical circumstances in my mind to cause me to hate myself. I refuse to do that; I choose to walk by faith in what the Bible says." That was a very vaulable learning experience for me.

So, that was a particular instance. The general answer is that I always want to be in line with the Word of God.

However, if presented with something that didn't seem to match up with my understanding of the Bible, it is quite possible that my understanding of the Bible is wrong. I would research it and see if my understanding is wrong, and ask God to show me the truth. In the past, I have changed my mind in such a case. For example, in college, I used to mock certain beliefs by a certain Christian, and now, I find that I actually hold many of those same beliefs.
 
u2bonogirl said:
okay. now THAT was just an example of christians being slammed in a really mean way

The difference is, all of us 'pesky lubrils' lined up to condemn it.

When Islam gets slammed, I don't see the conservatives saying a word, for the most part.
 
financeguy said:


The difference is, all of us 'pesky lubrils' lined up to condemn it.

When Islam gets slammed, I don't see the conservatives saying a word, for the most part.
I really dont see it get slammed that often :scratch:
But Im trying to learn more about it so I can understand what they believe better
Its really interesting actually
 
deep said:
80s, you claim you attend no church or rarely, you don't use the Bible to support your beliefs

Actually, I do attend Bible Study consistently in a church. I don't attend sermons, but that's because I have a very hard time staying awake. I figure if I'm just going to have to fight sleep the entire time, why take up space? I may be wrong, but that's what I do.
 
:up:
I would like to thank all of you for defending me against that picture posting. That was very nice of all of you, and I appreciate it immensely.

And thank you, Sicy for removing it.
 
financeguy said:


When Islam gets slammed, I don't see the conservatives saying a word, for the most part.

To be fair, does it happen?

But if someone insults Muslims like I was insulted by that uno guy, you bet I'd say something.
 
Best thing to do is not quote pictures like that because then I have more posts to remove.. lol. :wink:

unosdostres14, uncalled for and dont want to see anything like that again. Personal attacks, racist comments (and that includes pictures) are not allowed.
 
We have a regular poster in here that wanders in from time to time and puts up posts with that implication, sometimes thinly disguised, with his style and source selections

he admits his bias,
so what the hey.
 
80sU2isBest said:


So, let me get this straight, one last time.

You really think that we're more likely to hear veiled insults aimed toward Islam than we are to hear outright, in your face insults aimed at Christians?

Yes. I'm a Christian and rarely do I see someone post something that outright insults all of Christianity. When I do see it, it's usually by someone who thinks belief in any supreme being is stupid.

I see a lot of insults towards fundalmentalism or those that won't separate THEIR beliefs with politics, but I don't see that as Christianity. Now I know that some of your beliefs may fall into this category therefore you may see it as an attack on Christianity as a whole but that's just not the case.

I've seen many attack my view that pre-imptive war nor capital punishment can be justified, and I see that as part of my Christian beliefs, but I don't see those attacks as attacks on Christianity as a whole.

I think there are core beliefs that define Christianity and then there are many beliefs right outside the core. Beliefs that have divided the church several hundred times over. These will be the issues that divide Christianity till the end of time and I just have to accept that.
 
Last edited:
BonoVoxSupastar said:


I see a lot of insults towards fundalmentalism or those that won't separate THEIR beliefs with politics, but I don't see that as Christianity.

I think there are core beliefs that define Christianity and then there are many beliefs right outside the core. Beliefs that have divided the church several hundred times over. These will be the issues that divide Christianity till the end of time and I just have to accept that.

You talk about beliefs outside the core of Christianity, and yet you say that someone keeping his/her Christian beliefs out of politics is a good thing. Is that a core belief? What verse in the Bible promotes keeping Christian beliefs out of any other area of a person's life?

In fact, the Bible promotes letting Christ be Lord over all area of your life.
 
80sU2isBest said:


You talk about beliefs outside the core of Christianity, and yet you say that someone keeping his/her Christian beliefs out of politics is a good thing. Is that a core belief? What verse in the Bible promotes keeping Christian beliefs out of any other area of a person's life?
Jesus never promoted anything in politics, but he didn't ignore politics either. He said give unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's and give unto the Lord what is the Lord's. Now Jesus knew the political system at the time wasn't perfect, he knew it wasn't the most moral but he didn't care to inflatrate it. Why? Because he knew that was never the way to get to people's hearts. I think your faith should guide your decisions, but you have to be able to discern what's best for the people at the same time. Let's take the Sabbath for example(I'll stay away from all controversial ones right now) let's say the right got all the other laws they wanted and now they decided to push for an ammendment to make work on the Sabbath illegal. This would be inserting your faith without benefit to the majority of the people.

That's why so much of the left gets pissed off because the things the right want to ban or force etc either aren't a benefit or they don't hurt anyone, they're just enforcing their faith for the sake of enforcing their faith.

I think Jesus would have not even bothered with politics and supported whatever was best for the majority of the people, saved the majority of the lives in the long run, and united the country the best it could through equality, and save their souls on a personal level. Which is what I believe he did. And it's what Mr. Graham does.

80sU2isBest said:

In fact, the Bible promotes letting Christ be Lord over all area of your life.

Christ is lord over all my life.
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
I think your faith should guide your decisions, but you have to be able to discern what's best for the people at the same time. Let's take the Sabbath for example(I'll stay away from all controversial ones right now) let's say the right got all the other laws they wanted and now they decided to push for an ammendment to make work on the Sabbath illegal. This would be inserting your faith without benefit to the majority of the people.

That's why so much of the left gets pissed off because the things the right want to ban or force etc either aren't a benefit or they don't hurt anyone, they're just enforcing their faith for the sake of enforcing their faith.

:up:.

I just read through this whole thread, and my only real comment is this: Everybody should just believe what they feel comfortable believing, and nobody should try and force their personal religious beliefs, or lack thereof, to be the law of the land. Laws should be made for the reasons BVS mentioned, not because one religion thinks their beliefs trump everyone else's, regardless of what religion that is.

I don't agree with some of the people here on religious matters. But they have the right to their beliefs, and to express them, just like I or those who agree with me in regards to religious stuff do. That whole, "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" spheel.

Just expressing your view in and of itself isn't a crime. It's what you do regarding that view that matters.

Also, obviously that picture's gone now, but if it was indeed as bad as everyone's making it out to be...yeah, that's not cool :down:.

Angela
 
80sU2isBest said:


You talk about beliefs outside the core of Christianity, and yet you say that someone keeping his/her Christian beliefs out of politics is a good thing. Is that a core belief? What verse in the Bible promotes keeping Christian beliefs out of any other area of a person's life?

In fact, the Bible promotes letting Christ be Lord over all area of your life.



the Constitution would disagree with you.

yes, get your Bible-based justifications for certian laws out of my government. use science, reason, logic, anything that can be measured and understood by people of all faiths and non-faiths.

and it is only the judicious defending of the state from the pervasive influence and control of religion that we can keep both the state functioning as it should and the church free to function as it wishes.

let's flip it on it's head -- you might want church influencing government, but do you want your government influencing how and when and in what manner you worship?

the separation of faith and politics is as important to people of faith as it is to those who live a secular life.
 
Irvine and BVS, I am not advocating forcing my religious views on anyone using politics. But to me, when BVS said something about keeping religious views out opf politics, it seemed to me like advocating "turning off" your beliefs and being a different person politically than you are religiously. I think I may have misinterpreted, however, based on BVS's reply to my post, and I apologize for that. It seems to me now that you were saying that people shouldn't try to "force" Christianity down people's throats.

However, to continue on with my feelings as to politics/religious beliefs, I'll say that my Christian views define who I am, really, and I can't just turn them on and off depending on what situation I am in. I couldn't vote in favor of an agenda I don't agree with. But I don't think that's what you were advocating, anyway.
 
Back
Top Bottom