Quote:
Originally Posted by JamAce
You are quite right there sir jeff, and that leaves us to our faith. How you truly believe that salvation exists. Do you believe in doctrines?
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I'll give you my position on religion in general (and faith):
I am a Christian. I believe in Jesus, his resurrection and the gift of Salvation that he offers to believers. I believe that the authors of the New Testament were human beings who wrote from their own perspectives and occasionally made mistakes and yet, their writings are consistent in terms of faith.
As a believer, I can choose to either believe in an isolated fashion, or I can choose to join one of many Christian religions which exist. In doing so, I don't have to immediately choose to accept everything stated by the religion as authoritative. Instead, I analyze the religion and make my own judgments as to the validity of the religion's tenets and practices.
I currently attend a church that is from one of the Christian religions. I do not follow every rule that the church puts forward. I respect most of their tenets and I even understand why some of their rules exist. Nonetheless, I am capable of exercising my own intelligence and have made determinations that some of their rules are improper. I have discussed this with the pastor of my church and he is in agreement with my reasoning on these issues (yet he still follows those rules as are required by his position).
A doctrine is simply something that is taught or a rule that should be followed (2 definitions in the dictionary). Let me just say that I agree with some of the teachings of the church that I attend and disagree with others. Actually this is exactly what Christians are supposed to do according to the Bible. We are supposed to analyze anything presented to us using our own intellect and the writings in the Bible as a guide and then make a determination as to whether or not something is correct.
As to Salvation (my original question in this topic), I see it as a gift that is given to those who accept it. Accepting Salvation is as simple as accepting that the person who gave it (Jesus) is one who had the authority to offer it (e.g. Jesus is God). There are no other requirements (e.g. I don't have to perform any rituals, don't have to fulfill any obligations, don't even have to live a good life -- although I try to as do most Christians, etc.).
-- Jeff