Lenny

Hello.

I am trying to understand your belief of salvation by Faith alone rather than by Faith and Works. As I understand it, Faith (belief) in Jesus (God) alone will bring anyone salvation even after a life totally lacking in good works towards our fellow man and even after a life full of evil works towards the same. I've gotten this understanding from both non-Catholic friends/acquaintances and this forum.

At non-Catholic Christian Services I've heard many strong sermons filled with the fire and brimstone of the damned and here lies my uncertainty. If all who believe in Jesus are saved, including all sinners, is it your belief hell exists solely for Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Multi-theists, Atheists and other non-Christians ? If so, is there is no chance of salvation for those who die following these non-Christian Faiths/beliefs ?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Regards,

Lenny.

Hello all.

I frequently read questions and especially answers in R&S making quotes to the effect of :

"You can't be saved if, unless, or by, etc.".

Sometimes it has to do with certain acts or prayers.

Sometimes it has to do with how/if a person reads or interprets The Bible or even which version of The Bible a person reads.

Sometimes it has to do with which religion or denomination a person follows or don't follow.

Most of the time it boils down to :

"You can't be saved unless you believe as I do.".

I'm not speaking of those who say "I believe" or "my Church/religion believes", I'm speaking of those who go out of their way to preach hellfire, damnation and doom all to it who don't subscribe to their own particular religious tenets.

My question is simply this : By telling anyone they "won't be saved unless", "they can't be saved unless", they aren't going to be saved because" or anything of a similar nature, aren't you in effect saying :

"Those are the rules and God has to follow them !"

Think about it, you may have your own beliefs and are entitled to them but by enforcing them on others of differing beliefs as binding aren't you saying "even God can't choose to save you".

If, as I believe, God is all powerful, I feel I would be insulting Him were I to tell anyone of any faith or of no faith they can not/will not be saved.

God is The All Powerful and is not some red tape minor city hall court clerk bound by red tape and doomed to forever making sure He dots His I's and crosses His T's. He is The Almighty and as such, is bound by nothing.

I've read questions and answers which stated good people who live their lives every bit as well as Jesus asked us to live but were not of one of The Christian Faiths were still doomed to hell no matter how good their lives were. I've also seen the same said of Christians by certain non-Christian followers.

And worse, I've seen it said by Christians about other Christians of differing denominations.

Where does anyone have the right to LOCK GOD ONTO ANY COURSE OF ACTION or to speak with His voice regarding those of other beliefs.

I''m a Christian of The Roman Catholic Faith, a Church which has a great many Doctrines and Sacraments we follow. Our beliefs, Doctrines and Sacraments are solely for us. We believe in them and do our best to follow them but do not consider others to be bound by them. They are for members of The Roman Catholic Church only. Any potential convert who could not be comfortable within our belief structure would not receive the Sacraments bringing them into Roman Catholicism. Those of other faiths are not subject to our Doctrines or our judgment.

Jesus taught us to pray :

Our Father. Who art in Heaven. Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom Come,

***********THY WILL BE DONE.**************

not ours.

As it should be.

Regards,

Lenny.

Hello all.

In answering another question, someone mentioned The Great Apostasy. Since I was less than totally familiar with this term, I "Googled" it. This is one of the selections (not in any way suggested by the answerer mentioned above) :

http://www.thegreatapostasy.com/

I'd like you all to read as much of it as you can and give your opinion of the page. Since it is only fair, I will give my own here and now.

I find it one of the worst collections of hatred and slanted religious bigotry I've ever encountered. It is not only anti Catholic in the extreme but also takes pokes at both the Protestant and Jewish Faiths.

The overall attitude of this SWILL indicates early Christians were so ignorant and of so little faith as to be completely mislead by the evil villain of his rantings, the early Catholic Church. This is done through misinterpretations of history and misrepresentations of Biblical Verse.

His paranoid hate ravings basically state all Christians throughout history, excepting apparently himself, have been led to worship the devil without knowing it.

He lays the blame of this on The Pope and The Catholic Church among others. I see the writer as being all about hatred and creating animosity between various believers in Jesus Christ (along with all other religions) and as such, a follower of the evil one he accuses others of following.

I honestly would like to hear the opinions of what this writer has to say from all members of The Christian Community along with those of any non-Christians.

My purpose : I'd like to know if there are those of you out there who honestly believe, agree with and are not offended by slanted "writings" of this sort put out in Christ's name.

As many of you may already know, I am a Christian of the Roman Catholic faith myself.

Thank you,

Lenny.

Hello.

This is not a trick question or in any way a set-up question. There is no right or wrong answer.

This is a question of awareness of how well we know ourselves while we are trying to know God.

I'd like everyone to consider their beliefs and their past answers and questions to this forum with my question's title statement in mind then answer the most appropriate question below or all three if you prefer.

Non-Christians are also welcome to answer based on your own faith and religious texts.

Are God's desires and the intentions of The Bible itself accurately defined by the title statement ?

Or

Are God's desires and the intentions of The Bible itself not accurately defined by the title statement ?

Or

Are there various levels of interpretation left to each of us which are also acceptable and pleasing to God.

I'm looking for some serious soul searching and depth here folks so don't be skimpy on explaining your answers.

Regards and my thanks,

Lenny.

PS : Hecklers and other children, there's a separate section of Yahoo! Answers for games and entertainment.

L.

Hello All.

Do you consider members and clergy of other Christian denominations :

1) Heretics for worshiping Jesus in ways which differ from those of your chosen Christian denomination and thus sinful and displeasing to God in their ways of worshiping Him ?

2) Simply Christians who worship Jesus in ways other than in your chosen Christian denomination but still pleasing to God by their worship of Him ?

3) Going to hell for not following your personal or your denominational beliefs and ways of worshiping Him ?

Please, include your own denomination. Which if any other denomination(s) you feel strongly about especially if you choose choice 1 and/or 3. Your reasons why.

Please also bare in mind others believe as strongly in their chosen Christian faiths and their ways as you do in yours.

As always, I ask all to be civil and to not defame or be disrespectful in your answers.

Thank You,

Lenny.

Hello

I'd like as much information as possible about DTVs and especially about setting one up, Add as much information as you may care to share.

Since I'm as they say, "on a fixed income", I'm looking at Visio 37"- 40" thin, flat, wall mounted models. They seem the most reasonable and their reviews nave been fairly good. If your aware of Internet stores that give better saving than Wal-Mart, Circuit city etc, I'd apreciate the information.

Include information on just what the "programming fee" they want to charge when you buy them, best types of cables and switch box set-ups to use with a turntable CD/DVD, stereo receiver, PC etc.

I have a PC with TV Analog, DTV, Composite receiver and recorder card, 3 GB memory and about 700 GB of upgraded hard drives with an AMD Athlon 3500+ 22GHz 2000 MHz processor about 25" away from it (Windows XP Media Center). Can I buy and use a Composite Video cable for that distance without signal degradation from the length?

I know little about the whole deal except for being fairly familiar with the Analog/Digital signal difference but feel free to add information on it that may be less commonly known.

I live very secluded and rural, Cable TV is not available to me. I'm presently using a roof top free over the air antenna. I will probably go with a satellite system after recovering a little from the $$$ outlay for all the above but am open to other suggestions. Are there quality "over the Internet" DTV signal reception systems available ? I currently use a Sprint SmartView USB broadband modem (I highly recommend it if you're near their towers as I am but don't have access to cable. I get constant 1500-1800 mbps download speeds and 300-400 mbps upload speeds on the Dallas server, my personal "benchmark" and the same using all east coast and Midwest servers with all west coast servers showing lightly less for some reason using www.speakeasy.com). I'm in Texas.

Thanks and regards,

Lenny.

Hello Forum.

Who and where the original Celtic People with their Druid priests and

Wiccan priestesses.

Give some historic facts. New life interpretations also welcome.

Who set out to destroy them, (people and religions) and why.

Get your Celtic contacts into this one as they can be important

sources of both information and commonly believed fallacies.

The more information, the better. The further back in time, the better.

Don't let me down, get the Pagans, Christians, Atheists, Historians

and all your connections involved, Neo Pagans too.

Get those opinions out here.

Regard,

Lenny.

PS: Check back to this question later to see what your forum

members have to say about the subject.

L.

Don't let me down, stir some sh/t up.

Regards,

Lenny.

A young boy from the Deep Bayou swamps walking his dog in the city came up on a giant trucker with the biggest, meanest, vicious Pit Bull ever. The trucker holding the attacking Pit's tow chain says "Kid, that's one ugly, short legged, big nosed, brown dog and this is the meanest Pit in town. If I unsnap this chain he'll tear that ugly S.O.B. to pieces. Take him across the street.

The boy, taught by mama to respect his elders replied " 'scuse me sir, that all be true but mines's never bin woopp'd. I'm not wantin' yours ta git mess'd up".

The trucker yells "I warned you !" unhooks the tow chain and the Pit attacks. It's the bloodiest most fur flying screaming battle ever and when the smoke clears, the ugly brown dog is unhurt with torn up Pit Bull pieces all around him !

"I don't believe it cried the trucker. What kinda dog is that !"

"Can't say's I rightly knows sir" says the boy "a'fore'n we cut 'is tail off 'n paint'd 'im brown, we'all's jus' calls'd 'im Alligator".

Hello.

On 60 Minutes tonight a story caught my eye from Iraq where those of any Christian faith have been almost totally "cleansed" from certain areas. A man had photos of his two children, both executed in his home by religious extremist's. He and his family were of a Christian faith and owned a liquor store, both legal in Iraq but not tolerated by the extremists. A Christian father on a bus with his family is taken from them and never seen again by similar extremists. Most Iraqis of Christian denominations have left as refugees or have been killed as of today. Please give your serious opinions without degrading others of this forum, remembering those responsible for these atrocities are radical, extremist fanatics, not who or what they represent.

Regards

Lenny.

This will be over the internet with no networks or administrators involved. Can it be done reasonably easy and (in simple but very complete terms, please), how? I would prefer to restrain their access to only this 1 folder and it's sub folders.

Thanks.

I would like to actually be able to modify the features of avatars, not just add clothes or accessories. Things like modifying age, weight and other non standard options. I have a few ideas but I'm sure someone has 'The Way' to do it right. Of course, I would want the new avatar to be usable in all the places and ways of the original avatar.

Thanks,

Lenny.