tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5310981.post7177812782220603377..comments2024-03-04T07:45:15.155-07:00Comments on Hackman's Musings: God and Cigarettes: Why So Sad?Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494823779999456396noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5310981.post-56783631871790183532023-08-27T10:43:46.057-06:002023-08-27T10:43:46.057-06:00I find it laughable and ridiculous that the person...I find it laughable and ridiculous that the person who dismissed much of what you said and instead witnessed what you have already learned, needs to do it anonymously.<br /><br />Two things (I could say much more)... 1) How can heaven be heaven and be a wonderful healthy place to be if any of your loved ones go to hell and not heaven? That is sick.<br />2) went sadnesses instead of horror and terror that someone is going to hell. How pathetic. It is shallow lacking of thoughts of deeper things. Allyson Burrellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5310981.post-90268540941421556262012-09-08T23:57:08.925-06:002012-09-08T23:57:08.925-06:00I also want to add that you mentioned that you don...I also want to add that you mentioned that you don't want people to feel sad for you..... well I can see many reasons why they would...... but you see people do fall away.... and in those times it calls christians to pray for them..... its part of how we move and breath as a body..... and I want to mention one thing.... apart from christianity..... is there any practice besides prayer that brings you all together in one heart??? most spiritualities lead you to seek an enlightenment of your own.... praying together in the name of Jesus is powerful..... praying into now where with no one to me just makes someone more alone..... this is all I've found.... and about the evidence of what makes christianity more likely to be the real one way that is the only one way is the fact that Jesus is the only enlightened man to live who said he was truly God's son.... the one and only..... and then he rose from the dead..... I mean.... I can't deny that.... no one else did that.... and he's the only anchor into a possible absolute truth that saves the soul.... going into relevant truth lets everyone believe what they feel like believing and you have no anchor as to where you are headed..... i.e. now headed toward oblivian or wherever mans intelligence can take us..... and that to me is scary..... and without judgement or reason to remain moral.... then you can see how there really is no more reason to..... why not do whatever if there is no one to answer to.... and maybe you aren't at this point....... yet..... but just think about many who are....... apart from the Ten commandments and the saving grace of Jesus..... we are in sodom and Ghamorra sexually why stay faithful to a wife or anyone else for that matter.... where's the anchor where's the discipline?? I'm just putting some ideas out there..... Without God.... we fall..... going away from a living God that is invisible and loves us is just going back to an idol.... what to worship now.... if not the God of love and forgiveness.... I guess a statue, or a car.... or meditation, or sexuality, or being a God myself..... but in reality..... do any of these have a promise of salvation, and eternal life with a loving and just creator...... the bible answers all questions..... the other books just give processes to try and attain something...... I was raised catholic.... that did not teach me or help me understand how to have a relationship with God, or show me how amazing and alive the word of God is.... God did bring me to this and show it to me..... everything else I found on my own...... so my question is this..... did you grow up in the church??? because if you did.... you may be just like anyone else out there who hasn't really had a living experience with Jesus Christ..... you may have just been going through the motions..... so prayer and hope for you is that you would call to Jesus.... and ask for him to show himself real..... because if you had him spiritually as a God and father to you everyday in prayer...... its hard for me to see how you could all of a sudden believe his existence a fable..... maybe you only experienced the motions of the church and never really knew Jesus??? I'm just rolling with what is coming to me..... only here to help..... Take care.....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5310981.post-80499563873506100182012-09-08T23:34:21.024-06:002012-09-08T23:34:21.024-06:00This is very interesting because I grew up not rea...This is very interesting because I grew up not really following faith and seeing where it brought me..... it brought me to read a ton of spirituality books.... it brought me to try some drugs..... it eventually brought me to have no foundation or support in friendships or relationships.... and now I see the life of faith as the only thing that could ever sustain a marriage or family..... prayer is powerful, healing, and brings God into situations we would normally try and figure out on our own and continue to fumble around in.... outside of christianity all I see is self serving... whether it be sensual, sexual, or the path of trying to attain something of a status in this life..... I feel sad for anyone who doesn't have Jesus.... when I say that I mean have a God who will not only talk with you and teach you in prayer.... but has his word to help correct you from corruptible behavior.... without it I'm lost, and I do believe its the same for anyone else...... but there is always the story of the prodigal son..... and that's just more revelation..... I think I see its true because I've lived in the dark for so long..... but when someone grows up in the church and that's all they know, I guess they always wonder what will happen if they eat the apple..... God has his ways.... and they are beyond ours..... I'm grateful for the truth I see..... and everyone has their own path..... I do think it helps to pray for those who fall away from the Lord, but after he brought me back I realized he had me even when I thought he was gone....... once again.... Gods ways are way too much for us to understand..... I always appreciate honesty from someone no matter what they believe..... but I do believe the bible to be the truth and Jesus to be exactly who he says he is..... <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5310981.post-48989513366430966522012-08-26T09:31:20.720-06:002012-08-26T09:31:20.720-06:00A quiet ovation from here! Quite possibly the most...A quiet ovation from here! Quite possibly the most level-headed, clearest essay I have read on the topic, and one that I hope more of the believers that I know will read and take to heart. I don't feel sadness for them believing, and I wish they would not feel it for me because I have serious doubts.<br /><br />Bravo!Irish Gumbohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07386134334156997186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5310981.post-7387097472531574452012-08-26T01:10:24.474-06:002012-08-26T01:10:24.474-06:00Very interesting piece. I grew up in SoCal listen...Very interesting piece. I grew up in SoCal listening to all the Christian bands out there. I feel sad when I run into people from that time and they are still living in that world. (anytime an Undercover plays a gig you see them all there) By that world I am not referring to faith but the world of 1988 Calvary Chapel/God Rules culture. The reason Ojo gives for leaving the faith seem to be rooted in what it does for him and how much sense it makes. There is a different and more accurately historical reason to live the life of faith that what it does for me.<br />Christianity, and for that matter most ancient religions, historically call you to faith because of some sort of God figure who is due worship. Now that mainstream Christianity appeals to a better life, happier life, comfort or some self serving reason as a reason to believe Im surprised that anyone at all stays in the church! I am a Christian who believes in the truth of Christianity but who also had to say goodbye to some "old friends" like evangelicalism and arrogance before I could feel comfortable in my Christian skin.sam khourynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5310981.post-91268376046976682772012-08-25T13:12:18.635-06:002012-08-25T13:12:18.635-06:00"Most American Christians have no problem dis..."Most American Christians have no problem dismissing these [other religions] out of hand, but are genuinely dismayed when their own Jesus story and all that goes with it are similarly dismissed. I understand that everyone thinks only their own religion is unequivocally true and the others heretical or worse, but none are any more convincing than another on the merits of evidence."<br /><br />Love this quote from the article... and I think it is one that can only be grasped once you are outside your faith. To those still within a faith there is a "yeah, but" response. The can make an intellectual assent to it to a certain degree, but they can't let go of the "reality" that THEIR belief remains different from the myriad of others.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12494823779999456396noreply@blogger.com