Can one be a Christian at birth ?

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Lon1934

Active member
Feb 13, 2020
143
92
28
#81
You downplay the concern others have shown for the state of your soul and your relationship with God.
I don't mean to downplay others concern for my soul and relationship with god and sincerely appreciate their concern. It's very Christian
 

Lon1934

Active member
Feb 13, 2020
143
92
28
#82
It is not difficult to ascertain that since Christian morals and prayers were taken out of the educational curriculum, the whole moral fabric of society has plummeted, and the downfall escalates with the leftist, atheist, and gay agendas. Christians are not blind to the fact that many who claim they agitate for tolerance are intolerant of Christianity... while they embrace the barbarity of Islam.
There are many that are not atheists,communists,leftists,liberals, socialists, gay agenda supporters that view Christians and Christianity as Intolerant.
 

Butterflyyy

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2019
1,626
1,319
113
#83
There are many that are not atheists,communists,leftists,liberals, socialists, gay agenda supporters that view Christians and Christianity as Intolerant.
Why do they view us as intolerant, Lon?
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
61,149
30,298
113
#84
There are many that are not atheists,communists,leftists,liberals, socialists, gay agenda supporters that view Christians and Christianity as Intolerant.
That is not the point, Lon. They (many non-believers) present themselves as being tolerant and pretend to be supportive of the belief systems of others while they are vociferously and vehemently intolerant of Christian beliefs. They deceive themselves, and seek to deceive others also, with their pretense of tolerance.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
61,149
30,298
113
#85
Why do they view us as intolerant, Lon?
It is because Christians define sin according to the revealed written Word of God... which non-believers reject as any kind of authority. Non-believers commit the same error Adam and Eve did in desiring to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
61,149
30,298
113
#87
I think it ceners mostly on Moral Issues & Fairness
The issue centers on the rejection of God's revealed written Word having any kind of authority. The ten commandments are not even allowed to be displayed in some court houses where, you know, things like "do not lie" and "do not steal" should be givens.
 

Lon1934

Active member
Feb 13, 2020
143
92
28
#88
The issue centers on the rejection of God's revealed written Word having any kind of authority. The ten commandments are not even allowed to be displayed in some court houses where, you know, things like "do not lie" and "do not steal" should be givens.
Homosexuality & Marriage issues I don't believe are covered by the 10 comandments
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
61,149
30,298
113
#89
Homosexuality & Marriage issues I don't believe are covered by the 10 comandments
Yes, actually, they are. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Did you miss that one? And homosexuality is an abomination to God. When one loves God and puts Him first as we are commanded to, sexual orientation and desire are brought to heel. Non-believers have a hard time seeing their sex life as an idol. Jesus defined lust as adultery also. You shall have no other gods before Me <- number one commandment.
 
Feb 28, 2016
11,311
2,974
113
#90
(((HELLO)))=(((MAGENTA))), our Sister in Christ -
nail-on-the-head -
like the Scripture says,
ROMANS 8:7.
'Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be.'
and again,
The children of the 'flesh' always persecute the children of the 'Spirit'...
 

Angela53510

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2011
11,786
2,959
113
#91
Lon, it is possible for a HUMANIST to become a Christian. I am living proof! And my father and my sister. I was very much a believer in the dignity and worth of humans and our ability to accomplish much. I didn't not believe in any "narrow way" scenarios. I sat with Buddhists, meditated with Hindus, danced with Sufis, read theosophy and other arcane books, studied with Bahia's, and communed with the water and sky. I attended a Unitarian church. I lost total faith in any god, and became an atheist, although a good one, who cared for others.

But my soul was parched and empty. I was lost, sad, and beaten down. I had no firm footing, but my own. So, I started doing drugs and drinking. That got me no where. I stopped the drugs, but alcohol became my friend. Sadly!

Finally, i started reading the Bible, out of honour to my grandmother who was an Orthodox Christian, who got saved in a Pentecostal Church. I did not understand a thing! And I had even been to Baptist Sunday School as a child. Meanwhile, a revival started, and everyone was telling me about Jesus. It was really annoying. Some amazing conversions came out of that revival. I honestly believed some of those people were changed by God, even if I didn't believe in their God. Meanwhile, my grandmother continued to pray for me, like she always had. Many of my friends who got saved prayed for me, too! And kept telling me about Jesus.

Then, comes the weird part of my story. I was in college, studying science. I was working on a degree in biogeography - how the plants and animals interact with the physical environment. Basically, environmental studies. In geology, I learned that the rocks were dated by the fossils. In biology, I learned the fossils were dated by the rocks. Circular logic? That didn't work? It made me start wondering about origins of the universe. So, I read Genesis. Then someone gave me a number of books about creation, and I realized that evolution was false. Something had created the earth! But who or what?

Meanwhile, I had been getting to know my future husband. He sat me down and told me I had to repent of my sins, and believe in Jesus. I had tried to repent, but again, to whom? My future husband told me I need to repent to Jesus. Then, God spoke to me, and told me that he was the Saviour of the world, he loved me and I needed to repent. I immediately was delivered from alcohol. I have never had a drink again, and that was 40 years ago. (Not saying everyone has to stop drinking, but it was something God knew I needed to do.) And I was saved by the power of God. And when I opened my Bible, it all made sense! It was all about Jesus!

My whole life was transformed. I had been trying so long to make myself a better person, more loving, kind and compassionate, less self-centred and egotistic than I had been. Wow! Did God ever change my heart and my mind. He changed me, and continues to change me. Nothing static about God, and his relationship with us.

Being a Christian is so much more than just believing in Jesus and saying a sinner's prayer, or repenting. It is about serving the living God! It is about Jesus coming into your life, and showing you the way to go. And it is all about transformation! Only God can make that deep change within you, to make you into a person who is being transformed into the image of Christ.

Jesus Christ is perfect! He did not sin, but yet, went to the cross for our sins. If he was just a man, this would mean nothing. But he was also God, part of the Trinity. He has the power to make us new creatures in him. We don't have to follow in drudgery. Every step that God takes us is new and renewed. He is constantly changing us. And it is not rigid, or stupefying. No, it is alive, fresh and clean. It is exciting and real. The God of the universe stepped down from heaven to die on the cross but also to take us from darkness to light.

From the day I was saved in May of 1980, I began to pray for my family to be saved. I also witnessed to them, and they were actually impressed with how "I" had changed myself. I told my father, it was not I, but Christ in me. But, he had so many stumbling blocks and questions. He had a PhD and was a scientist. He believed in science, and in the good in man. And in himself. But I kept praying. Then, he got very sick with heart disease and ended up in hospital. My husband and I presented the gospel again. And God was pleased to save him! What a different man he became. He had been about money, and himself. He asked me one day, "How come I didn't know life was about God?" I told him he knew now, and that was what was important. As he got sicker, I read him the Bible, prayed with him, and played him Christian music. He told every nurse, doctor and visitor about how they needed God. He also told my humanist sister, who got a bit annoyed with me that I had "preyed" upon him in his last days. But when she flew out and saw him, she agreed he was different, and it was good he had something at the end, even if she didn't agree. My father died 5 months after God saved him. I look forward to seeing him again in glory!

I sort of gave up on my sister. I still prayed for her, and told her about what Jesus was doing in my life, but I was convinced her heart and conscience were "seared" as the Bible says! Then I would pray some more. Last year, just before Christmas, she phoned me to tell me about her little Baptist church she was going to. I could not have been more shocked!! I asked her if she believed in Jesus, but she was still working it out in her heart. I took up praying for her with a passion. But it was never about me! It was about God. He reached down and changed her heart and soul and mind. She was in love with Jesus. She didn't really know how it happened. (Maybe the 38 years of apologetics I had engaged her with?? LOL) No, it was God sovereignly touching her and changing her. And she is getting stronger and stronger in her faith. She was a lawyer, and she amazes me with the things she sees, which I never saw, despite having an MDiv and working on a PhD. She just understood the law, and how Jesus set her free, but now she willingly follows him. And follows him with joy. Following Jesus is not grim, but full of joy unspeakable. God gives us his best!

Sorry about the long bunch of testimony. I do believe you need to believe and commit your life to Jesus. But in the end, God is the one who will pick you. Not your parents, not your friends and not this group, including me. I pray you will ask God to reveal himself to you. Not mockingly, but ask him in humility and faith. I do hope God will save you. And you will realize you didn't just come here to find out about Christians and what they believe, but you will find out who Jesus is, and you will believe and be saved.
 
Feb 28, 2016
11,311
2,974
113
#92
ACTIONS always SPEAK louder than Words, this is the result of the 'FRUITS' of our labor for Christ...
 

Jimbone

Senior Member
Aug 22, 2014
3,049
1,003
113
45
#93
Homosexuality & Marriage issues I don't believe are covered by the 10 comandments
So you don't believe God had a purpose for sex when He created it? You don't have to be a bible scholar to reason out "that" doesn't go "there". Even the almighty science will tell you that a society of all homosexuals would die out in 1 generation. You act as if the concept that this is wrong (as in not what it was created for) is just SSOOO far fetched as to be absurd when really it's common sense.
 

Angela53510

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2011
11,786
2,959
113
#94
Lon, let's say we could agree that homosexuality was ok. Would that help you get saved? Of course not! You are throwing out red herrings, rather than face the real issue. Are you trusting in your own works or that of Christ?

All these ethical issues work themselves out when God saves you! He sure did for me.

PS I do not believe in gay marriage, but I am willing to let gays do their own thing. However, when transmen start moving into girl's locker rooms, and taking scholarships from teenage girls and competing in the Olympics with their testosterone filled bodies, in every fiber of every muscle in their body, I do draw the line. I have had trans friends, and I follow Blaire White on Twitter. Even she does not agree with trans men doing the things they are doing, and she is trans! I saw her debate that deadbeat Jonathan Yaniv, and got him arrested for bringing out his taser, which is against the law in Canada. If men want to dress like women or vice versa, that is their business. But, when these pedophiles start pretending to be women to get at children or to get laurels that they couldn't get as men, (because they were not good enough!) then I am standing up to this ridiculousness.
 

Lon1934

Active member
Feb 13, 2020
143
92
28
#95
So you don't believe God had a purpose for sex when He created it? You don't have to be a bible scholar to reason out "that" doesn't go "there". Even the almighty science will tell you that a society of all homosexuals would die out in 1 generation. You act as if the concept that this is wrong (as in not what it was created for) is just SSOOO far fetched as to be absurd when really it's common sense.
You are putting words in my mouth Jimbone. First of all I don't believe god created sex. It evolved the same as all human & animal species IMHO. Discrimination toward Gays by any Christian is not fair or as you might say CHRISTIAN.
 

Lon1934

Active member
Feb 13, 2020
143
92
28
#96
Yes, actually, they are. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Did you miss that one? And homosexuality is an abomination to God. When one loves God and puts Him first as we are commanded to, sexual orientation and desire are brought to heel. Non-believers have a hard time seeing their sex life as an idol. Jesus defined lust as adultery also. You shall have no other gods before Me <- number one commandment.
Which Commandment covers homosexuality? Commandments aside, Christians have a very very narrow view of adultry and homosexuality.
 

Lon1934

Active member
Feb 13, 2020
143
92
28
#97
Lon, it is possible for a HUMANIST to become a Christian. I am living proof! And my father and my sister. I was very much a believer in the dignity and worth of humans and our ability to accomplish much. I didn't not believe in any "narrow way" scenarios. I sat with Buddhists, meditated with Hindus, danced with Sufis, read theosophy and other arcane books, studied with Bahia's, and communed with the water and sky. I attended a Unitarian church. I lost total faith in any god, and became an atheist, although a good one, who cared for others.

But my soul was parched and empty. I was lost, sad, and beaten down. I had no firm footing, but my own. So, I started doing drugs and drinking. That got me no where. I stopped the drugs, but alcohol became my friend. Sadly!

Finally, i started reading the Bible, out of honour to my grandmother who was an Orthodox Christian, who got saved in a Pentecostal Church. I did not understand a thing! And I had even been to Baptist Sunday School as a child. Meanwhile, a revival started, and everyone was telling me about Jesus. It was really annoying. Some amazing conversions came out of that revival. I honestly believed some of those people were changed by God, even if I didn't believe in their God. Meanwhile, my grandmother continued to pray for me, like she always had. Many of my friends who got saved prayed for me, too! And kept telling me about Jesus.

Then, comes the weird part of my story. I was in college, studying science. I was working on a degree in biogeography - how the plants and animals interact with the physical environment. Basically, environmental studies. In geology, I learned that the rocks were dated by the fossils. In biology, I learned the fossils were dated by the rocks. Circular logic? That didn't work? It made me start wondering about origins of the universe. So, I read Genesis. Then someone gave me a number of books about creation, and I realized that evolution was false. Something had created the earth! But who or what?

Meanwhile, I had been getting to know my future husband. He sat me down and told me I had to repent of my sins, and believe in Jesus. I had tried to repent, but again, to whom? My future husband told me I need to repent to Jesus. Then, God spoke to me, and told me that he was the Saviour of the world, he loved me and I needed to repent. I immediately was delivered from alcohol. I have never had a drink again, and that was 40 years ago. (Not saying everyone has to stop drinking, but it was something God knew I needed to do.) And I was saved by the power of God. And when I opened my Bible, it all made sense! It was all about Jesus!

My whole life was transformed. I had been trying so long to make myself a better person, more loving, kind and compassionate, less self-centred and egotistic than I had been. Wow! Did God ever change my heart and my mind. He changed me, and continues to change me. Nothing static about God, and his relationship with us.

Being a Christian is so much more than just believing in Jesus and saying a sinner's prayer, or repenting. It is about serving the living God! It is about Jesus coming into your life, and showing you the way to go. And it is all about transformation! Only God can make that deep change within you, to make you into a person who is being transformed into the image of Christ.

Jesus Christ is perfect! He did not sin, but yet, went to the cross for our sins. If he was just a man, this would mean nothing. But he was also God, part of the Trinity. He has the power to make us new creatures in him. We don't have to follow in drudgery. Every step that God takes us is new and renewed. He is constantly changing us. And it is not rigid, or stupefying. No, it is alive, fresh and clean. It is exciting and real. The God of the universe stepped down from heaven to die on the cross but also to take us from darkness to light.

From the day I was saved in May of 1980, I began to pray for my family to be saved. I also witnessed to them, and they were actually impressed with how "I" had changed myself. I told my father, it was not I, but Christ in me. But, he had so many stumbling blocks and questions. He had a PhD and was a scientist. He believed in science, and in the good in man. And in himself. But I kept praying. Then, he got very sick with heart disease and ended up in hospital. My husband and I presented the gospel again. And God was pleased to save him! What a different man he became. He had been about money, and himself. He asked me one day, "How come I didn't know life was about God?" I told him he knew now, and that was what was important. As he got sicker, I read him the Bible, prayed with him, and played him Christian music. He told every nurse, doctor and visitor about how they needed God. He also told my humanist sister, who got a bit annoyed with me that I had "preyed" upon him in his last days. But when she flew out and saw him, she agreed he was different, and it was good he had something at the end, even if she didn't agree. My father died 5 months after God saved him. I look forward to seeing him again in glory!

I sort of gave up on my sister. I still prayed for her, and told her about what Jesus was doing in my life, but I was convinced her heart and conscience were "seared" as the Bible says! Then I would pray some more. Last year, just before Christmas, she phoned me to tell me about her little Baptist church she was going to. I could not have been more shocked!! I asked her if she believed in Jesus, but she was still working it out in her heart. I took up praying for her with a passion. But it was never about me! It was about God. He reached down and changed her heart and soul and mind. She was in love with Jesus. She didn't really know how it happened. (Maybe the 38 years of apologetics I had engaged her with?? LOL) No, it was God sovereignly touching her and changing her. And she is getting stronger and stronger in her faith. She was a lawyer, and she amazes me with the things she sees, which I never saw, despite having an MDiv and working on a PhD. She just understood the law, and how Jesus set her free, but now she willingly follows him. And follows him with joy. Following Jesus is not grim, but full of joy unspeakable. God gives us his best!

Sorry about the long bunch of testimony. I do believe you need to believe and commit your life to Jesus. But in the end, God is the one who will pick you. Not your parents, not your friends and not this group, including me. I pray you will ask God to reveal himself to you. Not mockingly, but ask him in humility and faith. I do hope God will save you. And you will realize you didn't just come here to find out about Christians and what they believe, but you will find out who Jesus is, and you will believe and be saved.
I am glad you are comfortable with your beliefs. I am quite comfortable with mine.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
61,149
30,298
113
#98
Which Commandment covers homosexuality? Commandments aside, Christians have a very very narrow view of adultry and homosexuality.
Homosexuality is covered under lust which is considered adultery. You have already made quite clear you are unaware of there being a commandment against such. It is often numbered as 7 in the list depending which book you take them from, for sometimes it is the 6th Commandment: You shall not commit adultery. I already told you that, but you seem loathe to accept it, which really is not surprising. I realize it is very likely you will try to dance around this again, but remember: Jesus defined lust as adultery.
 

Lon1934

Active member
Feb 13, 2020
143
92
28
#99
Homosexuality is covered under lust which is considered adultery. You have already made quite clear you are unaware of there being a commandment against such. It is often numbered as 7 in the list depending which book you take them from, for sometimes it is the 6th Commandment: You shall not commit adultery. I already told you that, but you seem loathe to accept it, which really is not surprising. I realize it is very likely you will try to dance around this again, but remember: Jesus defined lust as adultery.
Seems like their is quite a bit open to interpretation both in ancient times and present.
I am gaining a good insight into the mind set of some members.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
61,149
30,298
113
Seems like their is quite a bit open to interpretation both in ancient times and present.
I am gaining a good insight into the mind set of some members.
So your curiosity is being sated? LOL.

No doubt you can find lots of wiggle room when you deny God and the authority of His revealed written Word.