Posted by James 5:16 on April 26, 2002 at 11:32:36:
In Reply to: Re: believe in god message posted by Katy on April 19, 2002 at 11:33:48:
: What is this crap? I guess what you both are saying is that you believe in God but I don't see why. When I typed into a search engine Why Should I Believe in God I came here and I wanted to find some answers. Instead I found more Jesus whining -- I'm not interested in denominational sermons.
O.K. I'm sorry for taking so long to respond. I meant to last week and my life went crazy, but here I am. I hope I can help.
What I want to find is something that will come closer to an understanding of the essential nature of God. I get so sad about there being so many death's in the supposed name of God. He people who love God are supposed to kill I don't want to be a believer because I think killing is wrong. Why do believers kill? Please help?
I agree. There are many deaths in the name of God. There are many arguments and disagreements as to the nature of God Himself. There are three major religions in the world that view the same God in incredibly different ways.
Now, all three religions Judiaism, Islam, and Christianity all view the Penteteuch (the first five books of scripture) as holy. Within that set of books is Exodus, which contains the Ten Commandments. The sixth Commandment (capitalized because it refers to a proper noun Ezekiel...) is "Thou shall not murder."
Now, there are many people that place themselves higher than the Commandments. Not just in the Islamic religions as we have seen so recently. The Inquisitition for example. Not Christianity's finest's hour.
Now, I cannot answer for those other two faiths, but as for Christians', we're humans too. We are drawn to try to repair our problems. There are some people that are drawn to kill as some are drawn to steal. Christianity teaches that sinfulness is an ever present problem that we must pray to God to cure us of, as if it were an ailment.
I ask you to think back to your own life and a sin that you have tried to beat. Were you able to do it on your own?
Just something to think about.
But getting back to your original question:
Why do believers kill?
Just because we believe does not cure us of the disease of sinfulness. At least not right now. We will be forgiven.
Now, you might be thinking, "These Christians have it pretty good. They can do whatever they want and be forgiven."
In a way that's true, but also Christians are lead by the Holy Spirit. That draws us to fix our sins. If it does not, we were not really Christians to begin with.
I hope that answers some of your questions.
If you have any more, please post. There are are a lot of people that have opinions that differ from mine (find Ezekiel) that I respect that are not Christians. A general posting will get a good response.
Well until next time,
James 5:16