This a simple poll. I am not trying to start any kind of philosophical debate here.

There is no need to qualify you answer with a comment. I don't expect anyone to be converted here.

I have tried to keep this short and inoffensive. If you are offended, get therapy immediately.

Maybe I should relent/repent!

There are a couple of religions that have caught my interest that I could possibly consider.

1. The beliefs of the ancient Greeks or Romans. The tales of their Gods are so exciting - why limit yourself to 1 when you could have lots!

2. Witchcraft( white magic only). The thought of riding around on a broomstick has always appealed to me. And now that I've lost weight dancing skyclad around a bonfire wouldn't be too bad either!

3.Voodoo. There are a couple of people that I would have loved to have stuck pins into.

4...........

I suppose I should behave. My apologies if I have upset anyone but as someone said earlier this is the rants and raves section.

Now that's a fact. It's so much easier when your kids are in school and you're in contact with so many other parents.

It always seems to take me a couple of years to get to know people in a new town. But I learned that I have some card playing neighbors who are a blast and I am very happy in this particular neighborhood. Friends are very important to me. I've read that they are very important to most women. Once your nest is empty, I think they become even more important.

why? Bjean, do you move around alot?

Now that's a fact. It's so much easier when your kids are in school and you're in contact with so many other parents.

It always seems to take me a couple of years to get to know people in a new town. But I learned that I have some card playing neighbors who are a blast and I am very happy in this particular neighborhood. Friends are very important to me. I've read that they are very important to most women. Once your nest is empty, I think they become even more important.

BJean, before we had a child late in life, we moved around a lot. I think it may be due to the fact that my sweetie and I both have Sagittarius rising. I make friends quite quickly and in one of the parenting classes I took I examined my own attachment behaviour and could see that in every place we've lived I make three very good and intimate friends and a whole pile of just good friends. When I've moved on, I usually manage to keep in regular contact with one or two of them and sporadic contact with the others. When we do connect it's almost like we've never been apart, we can pick up where we left off no matter how many years it may have been.

I agree with you that friends are very important. I went through a period of post traumatic stress disorder after our son was ill and it was my girlfriends that got me through. My sweetie was there for me but he was kind of going through it a bit, too.

Maybe I should relent/repent!

There are a couple of religions that have caught my interest that I could possibly consider.

1. The beliefs of the ancient Greeks or Romans. The tales of their Gods are so exciting - why limit yourself to 1 when you could have lots!

Elcee, there is a CBC radio program called "Ideas" on which many topics are discussed and philosophised over. In the late '80's I happened to hear one called "The Immortals" which posed the question: What if the ancient Gods were real?

Holy smokes!! It electrified me. I sent for the transcript. It all made sense. The key for me is the fact the original word for these guys was actually "immortals" rather than gods. And in the old testament the original word also was "immortals", which we now use as "God" and have morphed into meaning "deity".

Anyway, this sent me on a Quest that has helped form my opinion which is this: I think something very interesting went on back then. SOMEONE was here and I'm not even going to speculate where they came from. I think the ancient gods and the gods of the old testament were the same group. I think they were guys and not deities. I think Jehovah was one that emerged from a group and tried to build his team (hence the smiting of people not on his team, which is very un-supreme-deity-like behaviour). I think the old testament has nothing whatsoever to do with the big "g" God. It was just some guys trying to control their underlings and get them to be good and obedient children. And I think this is where we get our western view of god as the "Father" from.

Probably sounds bizarre to most people but it's the only thing that makes sense to me.

Your eternal destination is not determined by your good or bad deeds. The only thing that determines heaven or hell for anyone is their faith in Jesus.

What? I can do anything I want to in this life (good or bad) and still go to heaven if I have faith in Jesus? Really? Cool.

Your eternal destination is not determined by your good or bad deeds. The only thing that determines heaven or hell for anyone is their faith in Jesus.

What? I can do anything I want to in this life (good or bad) and still go to heaven if I have faith in Jesus? Really? Cool.

You don't even have to believe while you're living. You can accept Jesus on your deathbed and you're in, so ... party on, folks!

A chaplain told me once that if Judas had come to the foot of the cross he would have been forgiven. So why go through all the questioning and struggling when you can have what you want anyway? I even heard of Christians who were willing to believe that Ted Bundy "found the Lord"! What a crock!

Just my opinion.

Debbie

Finally! Some fresh intelligent, questioning and thinking people post. Yay.

Jesus knows your real heart. What if you spend your whole life doing whatever you want waiting till the end to “believe” and that time never comes because you die in an accident. If you are a Christian and you know people who do not believe it is for us to tell them the “Good News” and then leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit. I feel as Christian we will be accountable for people who we could have reached out to and did not as God had instructed us to do. We are not instructed to drag them to the foot of the cross. Just share, care and pray.

With all due respect, I sincerely hope I can spend my whole life doing whatever I want.

Your eternal destination is not determined by your good or bad deeds. The only thing that determines heaven or hell for anyone is their faith in Jesus.

What? I can do anything I want to in this life (good or bad) and still go to heaven if I have faith in Jesus? Really? Cool.

Those who have 'truly' put their faith in Jesus will have a desire, which comes from God, to live righteously. Of course, noone is able to do that perfectly. But once you have asked Jesus to be your Savior, you will be forgiven for all your past, present and future sins. While you are growing in your faith and learning more about him, you will desire more and more to be like him, and thus the desire to do all the things that you feel you can't live without right now will deminish. When you do sin, God will forgive you once again. So, yes, you can still go to Heaven. If you ask Jesus to be your Savior, and then go on to live your life anyway that you choose, good or bad, and you ignore God, should you expect that he will still allow you into Heaven? He may say to you at the door, "get away from me, I never knew you." That is why it is important to have a relationship with God throughout your life, and not just want to "ask him to be your Savior" just to avoid Hell. God knows everyone. He knows the exact number of hairs are on your head. Now, that's personal. :redface:

One has to have a belief that god even exists before they can claim Jesus as their personal savior. Herein lies the rub, as they say

Debbie.

Throughout history there have been many gods, but they are all dead reproductions made out of cement or other materials . . . BUT I serve a living God, the Creator of all, one that come to earth and became a man, Jesus. Died for our sins return to Heaven and sits on the right hand of God. God is real and He lives within my heart. God is the best 3 in one- God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I would not want to live one day in this world without Him. If you do not know Him you do not know what you are missing.

Amen!:redface:

I find it interesting that so many people love to say that there must be a creator... all you have to do is look around you and observe the wonders of God.

Who created God then?

It is very important that we question and learn and expand our beliefs. If we stay transfixed by the stuff that our Sunday school teachers used to make an impression on us, we are doomed to live within that tight little constrained world our whole lives. For instance, one of those was that God knows the number of hairs on your head.

I find it interesting that so many people love to say that there must be a creator... all you have to do is look around you and observe the wonders of God.

Who created God then?

Its a bit like infinity. I understand the concept but it doesn't make sense. Everything has to have a start and an end even time and space. It was something I could never get my head round at school and I find the concept far creepier than spiders, monsters or the like.