Christians

[-Kevin-]

This is turning into a really interesting debate and people are using such a wide range of vocabulary I can hardly keep up.I am losing track of this thread so much and then I have to go back to the previous posts to find out what has been said and I cant take it in.

[John]

I know that not all my fellow christians would agree with me but I've always believed that when I read my bible it gives me guidance as to how I should live my life not ammunition to use in telling others how to live theirs.

As a Christian do you not worry that non-believers will not inherit god’s kingdom? And do you not feel obliged (out of duty to god) not necessarily to tell people how to live their lives but at least to point them in right direction in regards to Christianity. I have met many Christians who felt it was their duty to evangelise.

I am concerned that non believers will not be there in the kingdom of God. ( Particularly the ones I like!!

Yes I do feel the need to evangelize. However I feel the most effective way to do that is to live as the Bible advises me to and obviously enjoy doing it. That is far more likely to impress another person positively than criticising their actions or setting up rules for them to follow in line with what I believe but they don't.

Of course if my lifestyle and attitudes lead them to be interested in my beliefs I am always willingly to explain them.

[Red Ranger 1]

I know that not all my fellow christians would agree with me but I've always believed that when I read my bible it gives me guidance as to how I should live my life not ammunition to use in telling others how to live theirs.

As a Christian do you not worry that non-believers will not inherit god’s kingdom? And do you not feel obliged (out of duty to god) not necessarily to tell people how to live their lives but at least to point them in right direction in regards to Christianity. I have met many Christians who felt it was their duty to evangelise.

I am concerned that non believers will not be there in the kingdom of God. ( Particularly the ones I like!!

Yes I do feel the need to evangelize. However I feel the most effective way to do that is to live as the Bible advises me to and obviously enjoy doing it. That is far more likely to impress another person positively than criticising their actions or setting up rules for them to follow in line with what I believe but they don't.

Of course if my lifestyle and attitudes lead them to be interested in my beliefs I am always willingly to explain them.

I've always been a bit worried about the whole non-Christians won't see the kingdom of God thing, this implication that no matter how good a person you are, if you don't follow a faith or don't follow the "right" faith you're somehow damned."I am the way, the truth and the life.No-one comes to the father except by me."I doubt any theologians would agree with me but for my own peace of mind I like to think that means that you have to follow Christ's teachings and lead your life the way he instructed rather than following him personally.Which raises a lot of questions about the purpose of worship but never mind.Has anyone read the last Chronicles of Narnia book, The Last Battle, where they basically die and go to heaven and the Calorman chap is there with them and he says to Aslan "But I never worshipped you" and Aslan says "Anyone who does good does it in my name"?Good old CS Lewis.

In an attempt to bring the conversation back to the show, one of the scenes that interested me was after Axel died when Geoff and Annie were worrying that it was some sort of divine judgement.Some people didn't like it because they thought they saw it as them being judgemental but I think the key thing was that they were worried.They didn't want it to be true because they didn't want to believe God would be that harsh but the coincidence was too big for them to be able to dismiss it.I quite liked that.

[emmasi]

^I'm reading The Chronicles of Narnia right now. Halfway through The Silver Chair. I like Aslan too. There's a comment on Magic at the start of The Silver Chair, where it says something like casting spells is like trying to force Aslan to do what you want him to, when really all you can do is ask. I believe in magic and I cast spells from time to time when I really feel that something is important enough to do it, but even then, I'm still asking - the Universe, God, Jesus, Aslan - anyone who's listening - to help me. And then I just have to have faith that what needs to happen will happen.

I used to worry about the thing where people who don't follow God in exactly the right way, or don't follow him at all, won't go to Heaven. I don't worry about that anymore. For one thing, if you don't believe in Heaven, why should you be so concerned if someone tells you you won't get there? For another, if you know in your soul that you're a good person and that you deserve eternal happiness, you'll get it no matter where it comes from. It might only be a rush of blissful endorphins at the time of death, so that the last thing you're conscious of before the life goes out of you is exceeding and everlasting happiness. If that's all it is, then that's good enough for me.

I had an epiphany the other day though, and now I'm not so sure that there is a Heaven or a Hell. I'm starting to think that reincarnation is the key. I've always believed that reincarnation is an option, but now I'm wondering if it might be the only option. Think about it. If you do bad things, the world goes bad, and when you're reborn, you're reborn into a world that's moving further and further into a real-live Hell. But if you do good things - be kind to people, help out charities and things when you can - then maybe the world will turn good, and when you die, you'll be reborn into a world that's a little bit closer to a real-live Heaven.

Not that this has anything to do with the show, but I felt the need to share that. This seems like as good a place as any.

[John]

This is a highly interesting topic. It is entitled "Christians" and is in the "General Discussion" thread so it doesn't have to relate to the show. I guess it's kind of good if it does given the nature of the Board we all belong to but that would be a bonus.

[emmasi]

Its actually a General Chat subforum of the "Home and Away" forum, meaning that it's supposed to be for General Chat about Home and Away. There is also the General Chat subforum of the "General" forum, which is for General Chat NOT about Home and Away. I'm not being mean about it, because it can be confusing sometimes, just trying to clear it up. This thread is supposed to be about the portrayal of Christian characters in Home and Away, such as Annie and Geoff, but that's lead to some General discussion on Christianity itself. I've willingly wandered off-topic with my post, whereas Red Ranger 1 has made an attempt to get the discussion back on track... before I derailed it again And you, John, are justifiably confused as to what the difference is between two subforums that share the same name

[John]

Its actually a General Chat subforum of the "Home and Away" forum, meaning that it's supposed to be for General Chat about Home and Away. There is also the General Chat subforum of the "General" forum, which is for General Chat NOT about Home and Away. I'm not being mean about it, because it can be confusing sometimes, just trying to clear it up. This thread is supposed to be about the portrayal of Christian characters in Home and Away, such as Annie and Geoff, but that's lead to some General discussion on Christianity itself. I've willingly wandered off-topic with my post, whereas Red Ranger 1 has made an attempt to get the discussion back on track... before I derailed it again And you, John, are justifiably confused as to what the difference is between two subforums that share the same name

There are some who would say I'm perpetually confused. My apologies. I did actually realise that after I'd posted. (I don't seem to have an "embarassed" button amongst my emoticons.)

I do think it would be a great storyline if Annie and Geoff did have to "confront" a gay character in the show. It would lead them to question their beliefs and that can make good drama.

I know we had to come to terms with that issue early in the piece with our "christian" counselling centre. We have many pregnant teenage clients who have to be offered termination as an option although we don't believe it to always be the best option. ( Some of our church members would be horrified. We might be stoned!! ) We also have a significant number of gay female couples who have suffered abuse within gay relationships who seem to have come to trust us despite our christian affiliations.

Unfortunately a lot of these issues would be difficult to write well for a PG rated timeslot.

[emmasi]

Its actually a General Chat subforum of the "Home and Away" forum, meaning that it's supposed to be for General Chat about Home and Away. There is also the General Chat subforum of the "General" forum, which is for General Chat NOT about Home and Away. I'm not being mean about it, because it can be confusing sometimes, just trying to clear it up. This thread is supposed to be about the portrayal of Christian characters in Home and Away, such as Annie and Geoff, but that's lead to some General discussion on Christianity itself. I've willingly wandered off-topic with my post, whereas Red Ranger 1 has made an attempt to get the discussion back on track... before I derailed it again And you, John, are justifiably confused as to what the difference is between two subforums that share the same name

There are some who would say I'm perpetually confused. My apologies. I did actually realise that after I'd posted. (I don't seem to have an "embarassed" button amongst my emoticons.)

No worries. After sounding like a little know-it-all, I got half the names of the forums wrong anyway Glad you get the drift though.

[Zetti]

Christianity for me is a complex subject, with science giving us the answer to most things, where does the bible come into it? I mean in the Koran, there is a mention of the Big Bang so Islam is covered that way but where does it mention in the bible?

There are scientists such as Einstein that believe in god. Also if you are referring to the bible and God's creation of the earth in 7 days, I'm not sure if that is meant to be taken literally. I honestly don't believe that science will ever disprove the existence of god. Indeed if you refer to the Big Bang theory there is no scientific explanation for that event starting spontaneously. Someone or something would have to have caused it. So why not God? Furthermore I believe that the God from the Koran and the one from The Bible are the one and the same are they not, as I've met many Muslims that believe in Jesus Christ. Simply that he isn't the son of god.

I know Muslims believe in Jesus Christ being a muslim myself, that is why I wasnt quite sure about science in the sense of the bible.

[Brian]

I agree with not judging others. And when I’ve seen Christian people use the homosexuality argument, the counter I’ve seen to this is to not judge people. However my mind keeps going back to the same thing. Namely, that the Bible so openly condemns homosexuality, not just in the Old Testament but the New Testament as well. Personally I couldn’t care less what other people do but I was always under the impression that although you sin the idea is that you repent and atone for your sins. There are certain things that you could argue are wrong (even according to non Christian people) such as theft, murder, adultery etc. However there are other things that although they are sins, non Christian people could argue that there’s nothing wrong with such as fornication and again homosexuality. I’ve seen some Christians accept fornication because the idea is that eventually the two people involved would get married so they will no longer be sinning. But with same sex relationships they haven’t been so accommodating.

I also agree with not judging others, Slade. But in all the very interesting views that have expressed on this topic over the last week, there is one word that is missing : LOVE. For me, the most important part of being a Christian is LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR. That to me means everybody, looking out for people in difficulty, having time for them, listening to them, helping them where I can and not judging them, even when I disagree with their way of life. Christ did not condemn sinners; it's only the rather weird epistles of Paul in the New Testament that do that.

Hey folks, let's all do something nice to someone today and make the world a better place!

To come back to Home and Away, it would be good if Nicole could point out things to Geoff about other people and make him less judgemental. We shall see.