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Religious Faith Is Surging Among Young People

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Re: Religious Faith Is Surging Among Young People

#31

Post by mecha_ghidorah »

IKLOL wrote: post #12
dokem wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the opposite for me personally. While I still wouldn't say I believe in a tangible god or higher power in any meaningful way, I have come to grow more of an interest and appreciation for religion, specifically christianity, as I've gotten older. I'll never be a bible freak but I would like to, one day, be able to say I honestly believe in (a) god. I'm not sure what that means exactly, and it could be wrong, but…

You can become a Christian right now. 1. Admit you are a sinner, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10-12, 1 John 1:10, James 2:10 2. Realize the penalty for sin, which is death, hell, and eternal separation from God - Revelation 21:8, Romans 6:23, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9, James 1:15 3. Believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again to pay for your sin…

> You can become a Christian right now.

You say this like step 3 is something you can choose to do. I couldn't make myself believe in the resurrection even if I wanted to, in the same way I can't make myself believe in any sort of afterlife, or believe that the sun won't rise tomorrow, or believe that I'm more handsome than Brad Pitt was in his prime.

I'm not ragging on you for your faith, but I've seen a few religious people suggest that belief is a choice and I don't see how belief possibly could be. I at times genuinely and deeply wish I could believe in the resurrection and in a compassionate god... hell right now I have a close family member whose health is degrading and is suffering in a way I feel is undignified and that they don't deserve. I wish so acutely that there was some sort of heaven and that they will be restored and I will be with them again. Even if there wasn't really a heaven I'd feel better right now believing that there was.... that's the rub though. These things are so fundamentally disconnected from my understanding of the world, I quite literally am incapable of believing in them.

Re: Religious Faith Is Surging Among Young People

#32

Post by IKLOL »

mecha_ghidorah wrote: post #31
IKLOL wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can become a Christian right now. 1. Admit you are a sinner, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10-12, 1 John 1:10, James 2:10 2. Realize the penalty for sin, which is death, hell, and eternal separation from God - Revelation 21:8, Romans 6:23, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9, James 1:15 3. Believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again to pay for your sin…

> You can become a Christian right now. You say this like step 3 is something you can choose to do. I couldn't make myself believe in the resurrection even if I wanted to, in the same way I can't make myself believe in any sort of afterlife, or believe that the sun won't rise tomorrow, or believe that I'm more handsome than Brad Pitt was in his prime. I'm not ragging on you for your faith, but I've seen a few religio…

I was exactly where you are for a majority of my life, my brother passed away when I was 14 and it didn't lead me anywhere good, only further from God. I was saved when I was 19 by accepting those steps outlined in faith, and praying that prayer. I didn't intellectually accept them as you suggest, I didn't say "that makes sense to me", I just simply took it on faith, and prayed that prayer to Jesus, asking to be saved.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." - Proverbs 3:5-6

By praying that prayer earnestly in your heart you commit your soul to Jesus, it's just like the thief next to Jesus on the cross:

"And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." - Luke 23:42-43 KJV

And I know it's hard to recognize your sin, and believe in the penalty for sin, without first believing in Jesus. Maybe I shouldn't put them into steps, because it's something that happens all at once. By accepting Jesus you accept the truth of God's word in the Bible, because Jesus is "the word made flesh".

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." - John 1:1

I can tell from your paragraph that you are not incapable of believing, so I will pray earnestly for your salvation.

Re: Religious Faith Is Surging Among Young People

#33

Post by IKLOL »

credit_guy wrote: post #30
IKLOL wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can live a good life, but if you've transgressed the law at any point you're guilty of it all. Jesus himself said if you even look at a woman with lust your heart is guilty of adultery, or if you're angry at your brother your heart is guilty of murder. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” - James 2:10 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and…

I can't say that you had me at "hello". In fact you lost me where the fearful deserve to burn in fire and brimstone just the same as the murderer. Really? The punishment for fear is to burn?

All people will be punished by eternal hell if they do not accept Jesus Christ. The default state of man is death and hell since the fall of Adam, but we can reconcile our sin with God through Jesus, who is called "the true and better Adam".

"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." - Romans 5:18

When we trust in Jesus Christ our sin no longer defines us, and no longer has any power over us, because we've accepted Jesus Christ's atonement for those sins, and all of the sins of our life. We can never defeat sin on this earth, for as long as we have the flesh it has some power over us, and that is the struggle of the Christian life.

I've been fearful, I've been a liar, I sometimes still fear and still lie. But I trust in Jesus, that since through his power he defeated sin and death, and was resurrected, that he can do the same for me. So though I've lied, I'm no longer a liar, though I've feared, I'm no longer fearful. Until you are reconciled to God by belief in Jesus Christ, you are defined by your sin, and punished for your sin after death.

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:" - John 11:25

Re: Religious Faith Is Surging Among Young People

#34

Post by dang »

IKLOL wrote: post #12
dokem wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the opposite for me personally. While I still wouldn't say I believe in a tangible god or higher power in any meaningful way, I have come to grow more of an interest and appreciation for religion, specifically christianity, as I've gotten older. I'll never be a bible freak but I would like to, one day, be able to say I honestly believe in (a) god. I'm not sure what that means exactly, and it could be wrong, but…

You can become a Christian right now. 1. Admit you are a sinner, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10-12, 1 John 1:10, James 2:10 2. Realize the penalty for sin, which is death, hell, and eternal separation from God - Revelation 21:8, Romans 6:23, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9, James 1:15 3. Believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again to pay for your sin…

Please don't take HN threads into religious flamewar. Regardless of your sincerity, that's what this amounts to on a large public internet forum. It's off topic, and we have to ban accounts that do it, so please don't do it again.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Religious Faith Is Surging Among Young People

#35

Post by dang »

eurasiantiger wrote: post #26
IKLOL wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can become a Christian right now. 1. Admit you are a sinner, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10-12, 1 John 1:10, James 2:10 2. Realize the penalty for sin, which is death, hell, and eternal separation from God - Revelation 21:8, Romans 6:23, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9, James 1:15 3. Believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again to pay for your sin…

[flagged]

You can't post like this here, regardless of what anyone else has posted. I've banned the account.

If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

Re: Religious Faith Is Surging Among Young People

#36

Post by IKLOL »

dang wrote: post #34
IKLOL wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can become a Christian right now. 1. Admit you are a sinner, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10-12, 1 John 1:10, James 2:10 2. Realize the penalty for sin, which is death, hell, and eternal separation from God - Revelation 21:8, Romans 6:23, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9, James 1:15 3. Believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again to pay for your sin…

Please don't take HN threads into religious flamewar. Regardless of your sincerity, that's what this amounts to on a large public internet forum. It's off topic, and we have to ban accounts that do it, so please don't do it again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I fail to see how this is off-topic. The topic of the article is religious faith among young people, and the person I replied to expressed a want to find Christian faith. So how is it off topic? At least admit you're being a tad-bit dishonest.

You link the guidelines but I haven't broken a single one in this thread lmao. I admit some other times I've brought up faith may have been off-topic as it relates to the OP, but on topic as it relates to my reply.

Re: Religious Faith Is Surging Among Young People

#37

Post by dang »

IKLOL wrote: post #36
dang wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't take HN threads into religious flamewar. Regardless of your sincerity, that's what this amounts to on a large public internet forum. It's off topic, and we have to ban accounts that do it, so please don't do it again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I fail to see how this is off-topic. The topic of the article is religious faith among young people, and the person I replied to expressed a want to find Christian faith. So how is it off topic? At least admit you're being a tad-bit dishonest. You link the guidelines but I haven't broken a single one in this thread lmao. I admit some other times I've brought up faith may have been off-topic as it relates to the OP, b…

Your comment broke this guideline: "Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents." (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html).

The topic of the article is a demographic study. You swerved directly into religious material itself. That's not the same topic at all. It's also flamebait because if you advocate your religious views in this way you will provoke others into advocating their religious views in an equally (let's call it) dedicated way, and off the cliff we will go. This isn't hard to predict.

We have tons of respect for people's religious views but this is a large public internet forum.

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