Have you never heard what Jesus did?; do you not believe in God; what????? I am just curious to see everyone's views (and seeing if my links at the bottom work).

I guess the links aren't working.

Oooh, have visions of this getting nasty. But in the spirit of things...

I'm not sure you consider Catholism Christain? But I turned from Catholism, like most Irish people it seems, because of the influence the church had on our society. It produced bad things (as well as good) and people went looking for something better. For me personally that lay down a spiritual road. You see I do believe in God, but I believe in other gods too.

Well this topic shouldn't get nasty or heated, because a simple question was asked, and one can ignor it or answer it.....so hopefully people will be mature not to always feel the need to cause drama by a 'simple' question.

I am back-sliden...but I am a christian.....I believe in Jesus Christ.

Definitely not!!! I think the 2 are extremely different. (although there may be catholics who are christians). A christian, to me,........ Here is a verse that pretty much sums it up:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, & shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)

Actually, Catholicism is just another denomination of Christianity just like Baptist, Pentecostal, Episcopalian. They each have variations on their beliefs and what's considered moral, but they are all Christians who believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins, thus the term Christianity.

I was actually raised Pentecostal, but began exploring other faiths when around the age of 12, I became curious about dreams, experiences, and what I will simply call "gifts" I began to realize others didn't possess. Things that in all my previous childhood, I thought was completely normal. I always felt out of place in the Christian church and schools I attended. Something just didn't feel right and I had too many questions. My logical mind just couldn't leave well enough alone. I couldn't just blindly follow what others were telling me was truth without some sort of solid explanation.

While I now consider myself pagan, I am still very much on my spiritual journey and continuing to learn about different faiths. I have more closely ascribed my personal beliefs with Wicca, than anything else just to make things simple when someone asks what religion I ascribe to, but I don't really feel comfortable placing myself into a group like that. At least not just yet. I know that the Wiccan Rede was written by human beings who thought up Wicca, just like the Bible was written by human beings and put together as a guideline by people who thought up Christianity, just like any other religion and their set forth doctrines. So I choose to put my faith in what I feel rather than what others tell me I should. It's what works for me.

As for what I believe about God, amongst the different religions, we give he/she different names and faces according to language, culture, aspects that we choose to call on for a specific purpose, but in essence, all Gods are one God. That is what I truly believe.

Growing up on the Bible Belt surrounded by a bunch of hypocrites did the trick. My parents raised me to reach my own conclusions about God and religion. When I was younger I believed in God and prayed, blah blah blah but as I got older it stopped making sense to me.

I tried to find a religion that fit, but none of them did so I was agnostic for years. After a lot of soul searching and self-introspection, I came to conclusion there is no God. If I couldn't find faith it was probably because I never really had it in the first place. Besides, I realized how absurd it was for me to be "grocery shopping" for faith/religion. I'm an atheist and quite content with it.

I feel it's hypocritcal. They don't accept my being gay, why should I accept them?

I was raised with Mormons, they consider themselves christian. While in their care I was nearly drowned, molested and otherwise treated really crappily because I didn't know who my father was and I'm not fully white (there are very few non white mormons). Most churches I have attended since have also treated me with the same disrespect and disregard. I found paganism to be one of the few religions that suit me and accept me. What also turned me off to Christianity and many other strictly organised religions is the fact that most members of these religions don't know what their relgion is about.
I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said Jesus is God, that would mean that god and jesus are the same person, not father and son as the bible says.
I still say to each his or her own, as long as nothing gets shoved down my throat I couldn't care less.

Jesus was awesome, from the stories I've read of his teachings. He's an example of faith in God that was so strong he willingly and knowingly suffered and died for it. That took balls, man. I respect that. How many people do *you* know who would be willing to be crucified for their faith?

As for raising him from the dead, I believe human beings of great faith can enter trancelike states where they barely breathe, and need little to no food or water -- and it's certainly possible he entered such a state with divine guidance, and then "came out" the other side.

Did his body truly die? I don't think so. I think he was in such a deep state of meditation and exhaustion that it appeared that way.

Did his soul journey out of his body and travel elsewhere before coming back? Probably.

Was he a divinely inspired human? Most definitely.

-Kieran