tcarstense's reply history at Help.com

Also, you said… “When in reality GOD boils down to the SUN GOD. In fact many religions share the same common humanly characteristics all based on stars in the sky and the way the world functions.”

I am sorry, I don’t quite understand. Are you saying that All common conceptions of a universal sovreign creator figure are based on things around us? If so, actually, Christianity was never associated with this type of thought, as well as the Muslim, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, New Age, or many eastern religions. I would say most modern religions don’t don’t worship icons of anything found in nature (including atheism - yes, atheism is a religion. According to Princeton University Religion is a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny and an institution to express belief in a divine power… Like the power to create. According to atheism Science is god and Chance random processes is Science’s power to create). But I digress…

I did watch the zeitgeist series… it was very interesting. There were a lot of interesting conspiracy theories there, and nearly all of it was assumptions or opinions based on (what I can only guess is) misinformation . It could be a actual attempt to attack faith, but I think it is just a errant interpretation of errant information. It was very interesting though. We can discuss parts of it, if you would like.

There is a lot of “YOU NEED TO HAVE FAITH” going around. Some parts are true, some Issues we need to just trust God for, but ‘Trust God’ and ‘You just need to have faith’ are overused phrases for issues people simply want to dodge. There are plenty of answers out there for those issues, simple questions like, “Is there any such thing as right and wrong? Why?” and more difficult questions like “Why would a good God allow such pain and suffering” and “Does Science disprove the Bible?”

All these questions have answers (If you would like to discuss them with me, go ahead). These are tough questions, though, and tough questions demand tough answers, which is probably a reason why many christians say “Just trust God and have faith.” Check Christiananswers.net and the links on the left for interesting questions and tough answers.

How’s your Dad?

You coould write a whole book and sell it!

Cool! I envy your talents!

All living Creatures have cells, some more similar than others, and all species including human, and plants rely on DNA information code with 4 letters. in a language with 4 letters, don’t you think that there would be some similarities? That doesn’t mean we all came from each other; it could mean that the DNA language is the fingerprint of God on all creation. That evidence is not for evolution or creation. It is neutral!

- two groups of organisms become defined as separate species when they can no longer mate with each other to produce reproductive offspring
- one of the first geneticists was a monk who studied pea plants
So? what does that have to do with anything?

- somehow a mitochondria (a little cell with its own DNA) ended up in a larger cell with its own DNA forming cells found in all animals, plants and humans
I’m confused…

- in parts of the desert that rain once a year or so, animals that can tolerate dryness will live, and the ones that can’t will pass on, leading to the evolution of animals which are more tolerant of dryness - they may develop a hump, some kind of long tube to suck water out of the earth or whatever happens to mutate
How come leading evolutionists have no evidence, especially fossil evidence to back this claim? There is none! Camels have humps. So? Any change in species like this is due to natural selection and the loss of genetic information (through breeding). Not evolution… remember Gregor mendel, the monk you mentioned? He proved that through breeding and mutation, information was LOST. Evolution demands the assumption that information is GROWING, EVOLVING. The first geneticist, the father of modern genetics, disproved the theory of evolution at its foundation, thirty years before Darwin died.

Notice that James begins this section by using the example of someone who says he has faith, verses 14. He then immediately gives an example of what true and false faiths are. He begins with the negative and demonstrates what an empty faith is (verses 15-17). Then he shows that that type of faith isn’t much different from the faith of demons (verse 19). Finally, he gives examples of living faith by showing Abraham and Rahab as examples of people who demonstrated their faith by their deeds.
James is examining two kinds of faith: one that leads to godly works and one that does not. One is true, and the other is false. One is dead, the other alive; hence, “Faith without works is dead,” (James 2:20).
This is why in the middle of his section on faith and works, he says in verse 19, “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” James says this because the demons believe in God, that is, they have faith, but the faith they have is useless. It does not result in appropriate works. Their faith is only a mental acknowledgment of God’s existence.

Ascentia and Fiducia

Two words are worth introducing here: ascentia and fiducia. Ascentia is the mental ascent, the mental acknowledgment of something’s existence. The demons acknowledge and believe that God exists. Fiducia is more than mental acknowledgment. It involves a trust in something, a giving over to it, a complete believing and acceptance of something. This is the kind of faith that a Christian has in Christ. A Christian, therefore, has fiducia; that is, he has real faith and trust in Christ, not simply an acknowledgment that He lived on earth at one time. Another way to put this is that there are many people in the world who believed that Jesus lived: ascentia. But they do not believe that He is their savior, the one to be looked to and trusted for the forgiveness of their sins.
Ascentia does not lead to works. Fiducia does. Ascentia is not of the heart. Fiducia is.

What is James Saying?

James is simply saying that if you ‘say’ you are a Christian, then there had better be some appropriate works manifested or your faith is false. This sentiment is echoed in 1 John 2:4 which says, “If you say you have come to know Him, yet you do not keep His commandments, then the truth is not in you and you are a liar.”
Apparently, there were people who were saying they were Christians, but were not manifesting any of the fruit of Christianity. Can this faith justify? Can the dead ‘faith’ that someone has which produces no change in a person and no good works before men and God be a faith that justifies? Absolutely not. It is not merely enough to say you believe in Jesus. You must actually believe and trust in Him. If you actually do, then you will demonstrate that faith by a changed and godly life. If not, then your profession is of no more value than the same profession of demons: “We believe Jesus lived.”
Notice that James actually quotes the same verse that Paul uses to support the teaching of justification by faith in Rom. 4:3. James 2:23 says, “and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘and Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’” If James was trying to teach a contradictory doctrine of faith and works than the other New Testament writers, then he would not have used Abraham as an example.
Therefore, we are justified by faith. That is, we are made righteous in the eyes of God by faith as is amply demonstrated by Romans. However, that faith, if it is true, will (it is forced to) result in deeds appropriate to salvation. After all, didn’t God say in Eph. 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

It is a fundamental Christian belief that we are justified by faith. Justification means that God declares a sinner to be righteous. He does this by crediting, by reckoning the righteousness of Jesus to the sinner. This is done by faith. That is, when the sinner puts his faith in the sacrifice of Jesus and trusts in Him and not himself for righteousness, then God justifies him. “And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” (Rom. 4:3). But, if the Bible teaches that we are justified by faith, does it also teach we are justified by works as James seems to say? Do we have a contradiction? The answer is no.

It is erroneous to take a verse, read it without its context, and then attempt to develop a doctrine from that verse alone. Therefore, let’s take a look at the context of James 2:24 which says that a man is justified by works. James chapter 2 has 26 verses: Verses 1-7 instruct us to not show favoritism. Verses 8- 13 are comments on the Law. Verses 14-26 are about the relationship between faith and works.

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day,
16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?
17 So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 Indeed someone might say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.
19 You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble.
20 Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?
22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works.
23 Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called “the friend of God.”
24 See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route?
26 For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Like most modern modern christian Dogma, its a bunch of BS? (All this from one sentence)

Wait a minute… isn’t that kind of generalizing? About the site, and about most “Christian dogma”?

The passage you quoted is relevant, but there are some other passages that clarify some things.

I’m a gemini too tapdancer!… or should I say, I’m a gemini two?

Pretend to be confident and outgoing, and the confident nature will appear in you, as if from nowhere. Trust me, it works!

This sounds sissy like, I guess, but which of the two do your do you think your parents prefer? (If they have a preference…) They’ve been there, done that… They might have some valuable input.

I would tell them flat out the situation, and tell them your not ready to chose between them a bf but that you want two friends for now.

I’m not sure though… I’m a boy.

Here’s another thought. Tell each one individually that you chose the other one… and gauge their reactions. That might help… or might not.

Absolutely… but lets not keep the whole convo centered around perversion…

SOOO, UMM, What is everybody up to? I just went to the neighborhood pool with two of my best friends… had lots of fun. Tomorrow we’re going to the movies to watch Ant Bully (It’s a special showing!)

No, no, I know you weren’t assoc. with him. He was talking like a stalker, asking for pictures of you nude and asking what i would say were ‘Personal’ questions, that shouldn’t be asked in a extremely profane and harrassing way. I reported him, and he was banned.

All I was saying is be careful. I didn’t mean to sound like a dad, I meant to sound like a friend.

I apologise.

Owch! Sounds painful! How did that happen?

Btw, up there was some 23 yr old, who is now completely banned, but still could be on Help.com as a different user. He was doing a lot more than “making a perverted statement involving molestation and 13 year olds”. Just goes to show ya, be careful around anyone on the internet whether they’ve been on help.com or Myspace or anywhere else for however long of a time. The human mind is capable of anything.

Tim

You is 13? Awesome!