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How can I get myself back into going to church?

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Tequila
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17 Mar 2013, 5:03 pm

ArrantPariah wrote:
Also, church is one place to meet chicks.


Yes, but you might end up with Jaysus freaks.



1000Knives
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17 Mar 2013, 5:24 pm

Well, from the Orthodox perspective, we pray for the dead. We don't know who is "saved" and who's not. We hope for the salvation of all, and that God has mercy on everyone. In Orthodoxy, you're sentenced to Heaven or Hell at the Final Judgment, not before then, though you get a foretaste during the "sleep" period of death. Also, Orthodoxy has the Tollhouse belief and Catholicism has purgatory and they're both pretty similar. Intermediate states between Heaven and Hell. As far as everyone else, we don't know. We believe we're right, and that Orthodox Christianity is the true religion, and not even other non-Orthodox Christians are true, but we simply don't know how God will judge everyone else. So, we're obligated to share the gospel, tell people, if they don't want to hear it, pray for them, that God has mercy on them. We don't know everything, God does.

But it's not our place as humans to sentence people to Heaven or Hell. Except for the saints, we don't know who is in Heaven. The reason saints are declared saints is because usually after death something about them stands out, some sort of miracle that declares them a saint. Some cool things are incorruptibility, ie, bodies not decomposing after death.

But definitely look up the Orthodox views of salvation and come back. Also, Universal Reconciliation, too. A big reason I'm Orthodox is because I believe in the possibility of UR, but most people that believe in UR end up becoming like Unitarians or something like that.



Tequila
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17 Mar 2013, 5:27 pm

GreenTechnoFox wrote:
I suppose you are right, but I am kind of fearful of my soul being damnified for all eternity.


I'm looking forward to it, because I'll be dead.

It's a horrible thing to tell people, that, by the way.



ArrantPariah
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17 Mar 2013, 5:44 pm

GreenTechnoFox wrote:
I suppose you are right, but I am kind of fearful of my soul being damnified for all eternity.


And, you think that going to Church is going to make a damned bit of difference?



Tequila
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17 Mar 2013, 5:48 pm

ArrantPariah wrote:
And, you think that going to Church is going to make a damned bit of difference?


Damned if you do and damned if you don't. ;)



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17 Mar 2013, 5:53 pm

Tequila wrote:
ArrantPariah wrote:
And, you think that going to Church is going to make a damned bit of difference?


Damned if you do and damned if you don't. ;)


Yeah, we're all going to end up the same anyway: as food for worms.



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17 Mar 2013, 6:25 pm

GreenTechnoFox wrote:
I suppose you are right, but I am kind of fearful of my soul being damnified for all eternity.


That's if you have a soul. I'm pretty sure I don't.



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17 Mar 2013, 6:49 pm

Sexy nuns in rubber suits can get you back into the churchy mood.



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17 Mar 2013, 7:03 pm

Drehmaschine wrote:
Sexy nuns in rubber suits can get you back into the churchy mood.

If you survive the encounter.

Image



Tequila
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17 Mar 2013, 7:07 pm

Drehmaschine wrote:
Sexy nuns in rubber suits can get you back into the churchy mood.


I'd much rather have them dressed in the authentic fashion, because if you're going to do something like that, make it look as real as possible.

(I have several related fetishes that way, too.)



Nambo
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17 Mar 2013, 8:03 pm

GreenTechnoFox wrote:

I suppose you are right, but I am kind of fearful of my soul being damnified for all eternity.


All this talk of Hell and Eternal Damnation, why dont you become a Muslim, they are very big on worshiping a god who will spend much of his time torturing people.

I have no desire to worship such a god or go to a church who would teach such.

For a God to get my worship, it would have to be because of Love and appreciation of his goodness, not fear of eternal burning, what an ugly god that must be.

So I will only worship the God of the Bible, the one who offers life as a free gift for those who want it, and for those that reject forgiveness of sin? the price isnt torture, just death and non-existence which is all the atheist expects anyway:-

19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”

Hence, I dont go to any church, they all blaspheme God with their besmirchment of his good name and their doctrines of men, you can get closer to God if you go directly and leave out the paid middlemen.
Take Job for instance, what church did he go to?



GreenTechnoFox
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17 Mar 2013, 8:12 pm

Tequila wrote:
GreenTechnoFox wrote:
I suppose you are right, but I am kind of fearful of my soul being damnified for all eternity.


I'm looking forward to it, because I'll be dead.

It's a horrible thing to tell people, that, by the way.


How is it horrible?



GreenTechnoFox
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17 Mar 2013, 8:13 pm

ArrantPariah wrote:
GreenTechnoFox wrote:
I suppose you are right, but I am kind of fearful of my soul being damnified for all eternity.


And, you think that going to Church is going to make a damned bit of difference?


Well to reconnect my lost connection with God perhaps.



GreenTechnoFox
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17 Mar 2013, 8:16 pm

1000Knives wrote:
Well, from the Orthodox perspective, we pray for the dead. We don't know who is "saved" and who's not. We hope for the salvation of all, and that God has mercy on everyone. In Orthodoxy, you're sentenced to Heaven or Hell at the Final Judgment, not before then, though you get a foretaste during the "sleep" period of death. Also, Orthodoxy has the Tollhouse belief and Catholicism has purgatory and they're both pretty similar. Intermediate states between Heaven and Hell. As far as everyone else, we don't know. We believe we're right, and that Orthodox Christianity is the true religion, and not even other non-Orthodox Christians are true, but we simply don't know how God will judge everyone else. So, we're obligated to share the gospel, tell people, if they don't want to hear it, pray for them, that God has mercy on them. We don't know everything, God does.

But it's not our place as humans to sentence people to Heaven or Hell. Except for the saints, we don't know who is in Heaven. The reason saints are declared saints is because usually after death something about them stands out, some sort of miracle that declares them a saint. Some cool things are incorruptibility, ie, bodies not decomposing after death.

But definitely look up the Orthodox views of salvation and come back. Also, Universal Reconciliation, too. A big reason I'm Orthodox is because I believe in the possibility of UR, but most people that believe in UR end up becoming like Unitarians or something like that.


Very interesting, what is the Orthidox view on other religions?



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17 Mar 2013, 8:18 pm

GreenTechnoFox wrote:
How can I get myself back into going to church?

If you want to go back to church, then just go; and don't let people like me talk you out of it.



GreenTechnoFox
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17 Mar 2013, 8:21 pm

Nambo wrote:
GreenTechnoFox wrote:

I suppose you are right, but I am kind of fearful of my soul being damnified for all eternity.


All this talk of Hell and Eternal Damnation, why dont you become a Muslim, they are very big on worshiping a god who will spend much of his time torturing people.

I have no desire to worship such a god or go to a church who would teach such.

For a God to get my worship, it would have to be because of Love and appreciation of his goodness, not fear of eternal burning, what an ugly god that must be.

So I will only worship the God of the Bible, the one who offers life as a free gift for those who want it, and for those that reject forgiveness of sin? the price isnt torture, just death and non-existence which is all the atheist expects anyway:-

19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”

Hence, I dont go to any church, they all blaspheme God with their besmirchment of his good name and their doctrines of men, you can get closer to God if you go directly and leave out the paid middlemen.
Take Job for instance, what church did he go to?


That actually makes allot of sense of my problem. It am not saying I do not believe Jesus died for me. I am merely wondering if Christians are even doing the right thing now. My problem is with people, not the Bible.