@fairhooker11 said:

back on track

http://www.charismanews.com/politics/issues/65941-the-bible-is-an-actual-classroom-textbook-again-in-this-state

"Thanks to this legislation, Kentucky's students will now have the opportunity to learn about the Bible from a historical perspective, if they so choose."

I mean, it's elective, so I guess that's fine. I would think just a general religion overall elective course would be better though

All Dogs Go To Heaven

@diehardbrownsfan said:

It is possible. I had a little red dachshund who died last year and I don't believe in all the dogs I ever had that I loved one more than her. It has been almost a year since she died and I still think about her and wish I had her back.

Do dogs go to heaven?

We must not insist that God orders things according to our desires or understanding. Perhaps God may allow our beloved pets to be with us in heaven. Or He may choose to create a new pet for you. We must be willing to allow God to order things as He sees best—and trust that we will be happy with the situation in heaven. God says, “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17, NKJV).

We may not know all the details of what God is preparing for us in heaven, but we do know that it will be far beyond anything we can imagine. It's in the Bible, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NKJV).

The best advice is for us is to love our pets and enjoy them while they are here with us—and trust God in everything for the future. He sees and knows all, and nothing is too hard for Him to do. God knows how much we love our pets and how much they mean to us. The Bible doesn’t directly address whether our pets will be with us in heaven, but we do know that God loves us and wants us to be happy. The Bible says, “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11, NKJV). We can trust God that heaven will be a place filled with everything necessary for our happiness.

http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/do-animals-go-heaven

http://www.charismanews.com/politics/issues/65941-the-bible-is-an-actual-classroom-textbook-again-in-this-state

"Thanks to this legislation, Kentucky's students will now have the opportunity to learn about the Bible from a historical perspective, if they so choose."

All dogs go to heaven

@oldbrownsfan said:

Old, what about pets? Does you cat or dog that you loved get to go to heaven?

@mld-woody said:

Yes Woody I know you do but the alternative atheist view seems ridiculous as well to me. Out of nothing came all of creation.

As for election God knows who will and who will not respond to salvation. Every human has free will, God knows what choices will be made and in that sense only it is predetermined. Nobody is stopping anyone from believing and in fact the bible says God will even give the faith to believe to those who ask.

@oldbrownsfan said:

Following those scriptures is what gets your name in that book. If you refuse that is your choice, your decision.That refusal though is what keeps a person out of heaven.

Oh, I thought the point was that the "saved" were predetermined. I misunderstood. My bad (sincerely).

I think your beliefs are ridiculous, but I want to make sure I understand them as best I can

When I was a little kid in Baptist Bible School they told me I could have my own bible if I memorized and could recite the books of the bible. I learned them by the next Sunday, they couldn't believe it. My family had seven members and everyone but me and grandma quit church, so I hid in the basement and read the thing cover to cover. That was the end. I couldn't reconcile what I was reading with the pastor's interpretation..."you're going to hell son, that's it, it's over." I guess I saw way more in there to focus on, and left church myself soon thereafter. Plus I had a 4th grade teacher that read us apocalyptic bible passages in class (in public school); she totally botched it and freaked out many of her students, again telling us that we are going to hell with no hope. Nice.

Well, mom decides to become a Catholic along with my brothers and sisters. My dad had been a Catholic, but he quit when he realized that, without birth control, he had five kids before he knew it and would have to work his ass off forever to feed us. So now the two of us are heathens together. Anyhow, mom gets a job at a Jesuit college and I am lucky enough to get to go to school for a significant discount. I was actually blown away by how objective the Jesuits were. They taught us all kinds of different religious viewpoints (Hinduism, you name it) as well as the Gospels and never seemed to feel the need to pressure us about anything. They came off as self-confident I suppose. I studied poetry with some of the priests and was amazed at how freaking much they knew. (I also worked maintenance at the school and saw the cardboard refrigerator boxes full of empty wine bottles in the basement of the building where they lived. It wasn't all from the Eucharist. For all you fellow non-Catholics, the whole body and blood of Christ ceremony (bread and wine)).

Years later I am advising international students and I have 60 from 44 different countries from all over the world. Yes, I can vouch for it, people are people for sure, and they are messed up everywhere they exist! I ran the cultural week for the college and got to know all kinds of religious leaders and denominations in the DC area. Their faith and practices were something to behold and I got to the point where I saw more similarities than differences.

I suppose it reminds me of Joseph Campbell's "The Mask of God", a four-volume, ridiculously informative series:

The book is quoted by proponents of the Christ myth theory. Campbell writes, "It is clear that, whether accurate or not as to biographical detail, the moving legend of the Crucified and Risen Christ was fit to bring a new warmth, immediacy, and humanity, to the old motifs of the beloved Tammuz, Adonis, and Osiris cycles."^[75]

So, I guess at this point I am a follower of the hundred-headed God, whomever that might be. Not sure, maybe it was Ancient Aliens after all:

Ok, a bonus if you made it this far. I admit I have read the Book of Revelations out loud to my wife:

Revelations 1:3

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

@mld-woody said:

Following those scriptures is what gets your name in that book. If you refuse that is your choice, your decision.That refusal though is what keeps a person out of heaven.

@oldbrownsfan said:

To do everything perfectly is actually very easy under the new covenant. Jesus has done it all for us. It is our simply trusting and believing in Him and making Him Lord of our lives is how we are saved. Romans 10:9,10.

New International Version

If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Yeah but what if I'm not in God's book? Then I stick don't get in

@oldbrownsfan said:

and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

So mute's dont get into heaven? Ok that was trolling but in all seriousness...do you not see the problem with having created a god that only responds to sound. When he's supposed to exist in a time and space beyond our world of classical physics.

The blatant anthropomorphication of god should be the tell tale signal this stuff was written by men.

Like....

Exodus 29

2 Take from this ram the fat, the fat tail, the fat around the inner parts, the covering of the liver, both kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh. (This is the ram for the ordination.) 23 From the basket of bread made without yeast, which is before the LORD, take a loaf, and a cake made with oil, and a wafer. 24 Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and wave them before the LORD as a wave offering. 25 Then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar along with the burnt offering for a pleasing aroma to the LORD, an offering made to the LORD by fire.

That my friend.....is some blatant human written horse shizzle.

@mld-woody said:

To do everything perfectly is actually very easy under the new covenant. Jesus has done it all for us. It is our simply trusting and believing in Him and making Him Lord of our lives is how we are saved. Romans 10:9,10.

New International Version

If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

@mld-woody said:

Are some elected to be saved while others are not? I believe everybody is elected to be saved but whether they come into it or not is another thing. The door is open right now for all to come in. Whose fault is it for a person to reject God's salvation? It is not God's fault. We are all born with a measure of faith and God will even give a person faith to believe if they ask. It is predetermined in that God knows already who will respond and who will not.

1) a good, practicing Christian and

2) chosen by God (before you're even born)

So what happens to you if God didn't randomly pick you?

wait, wrong thread?

@mld-woody said:

I studied the bible for a number of years and never saw what the bible was actually saying about election and when I saw it it frightened me. We believe that only those written in the Lamb's (Jesus) book of life will be saved. It never occurred to me that God already knows whose name is in that book and who is not. To those who would say that is not fair I would just tell them there is an open door to the ark right now and go through that door (Jesus) and get in. God may know the decisions we will make but that doesn't mean we still don't have free will. Get in the ark. Put your trust and faith in Jesus and make Him Lord of your life.

Question: "Is God fair?"

https://www.gotquestions.org/is-God-fair.html

What does the Bible teach about election?

https://www.gty.org/library/questions/QA86/what-does-the-bible-teach-about-election

So you think God chose you to be saved? Does this mean, no matter what you do, you can't be saved if God doesn't pick you?

@mld-woody said:

We all are influenced by the devil at any given time. Nobody is immune from it. Even the disciples. When Jesus looked at Peter and said "get behind me satan" he wasn't speaking to Peter but satan who had influenced Peter to say what he did (Peter had what he thought was a good idea, to keep Jesus from being killed in Jerusalem he told Jesus why not just stay away from Jerusalem?) Of course this is contrary to Jesus's whole purpose for coming.

I actually had a similar Catholic background with parents who never went to church. I am not anti Catholic but there is a need in the Catholic church to teach more on a relationship with Christ and being born again over just religion.

As for being predisposed to believing that reminds me of something the bible teaches about (election).

https://www.gty.org/library/questions/QA86/what-does-the-bible-teach-about-election

@fairhooker11 said:

"faith in Christ is really about it being personal and not rules driven"....excellent point.

It is more than just a religion it is a relationship and a personal one at that.