Posted by Paul D Hoffmeyer on Monday, September 17, 2007 at 00:39:51 :
In Reply to: Religious Question (OT) posted by richard bowman on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 00:08:44 :
Richard, thanks for beginning this thread with your proclamation of your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Many of the responses you have received I'm sure you expected, as did I. I'm also sure that many of them were disappointing to you, as they were to me. To those who are sincere and honest skeptics, I respect their right to be skeptical or to totally disagree. The one thing I would comment on is the common opinion that it doesn't matter what religion you hold as long as you are a good person. Trouble is, no one but God is good, therefor we need a Savior. All religions that I know of claim to be the "one true religion". There are a great many differences between the theologies of the various religions, enough so that they cannot all be right.
Technically speaking, they are all wrong, because Christianity is not a religion, but a personal relationship with the Creator God of the universe, who became a human being, yet being fully God, lived a sinless life and gave his own life blood as payment in our place, so that All who place their faith or trust in Him will have eternal life. Having said that, I agree that there are a great many people claiming the name of Christ that are not really Christians, but are the hypocrites that several gentlemen have rightly rejected in their responses. I lived for years trying to convince others that I was a "good person" before I yielded to the call of Jesus on my life in 1983. I base all my information on the Holy Bible as the infallible Word of God, not a particular church. I am a member of a local independent Bible preaching and teaching church and I trust my Pastor to preach the truth. But the Bible is open on my lap as he preaches to make sure he is accurate. And I read it every morning before I go out for the day. I am not usually very outgoing about my faith, though that same Bible in the words of Jesus Himself commands me to tell others what He has done in my life.
So, to sum up a long post, Richard, I too am a born again Christian and proud to call you my brother in Christ. My prayer would be to all who have read this far, to investigate the Truth in the Bible and make your own decision, no one can force you, it has to be of your own free will.
Gentlemen, it's late, sleep calls; good night and God bless you all as you think on these things.
Paul H
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