CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I posted these questions and my answers on animenation and everyone on there was offended and twisted. Infact, one of the members referred me to this forum because they didn't think it was appropriate to ask there, I guess. I thought I'd post it here and see what would happen...



In a Bible study book I'm reading now it asks these four questions:

1. Who is God?

2. How did the world begin?

3. What is your pupose on earth?

4. What will happen to you after you die?

Here's my answers...

1. I believe God is everything He says He is. The Creator. The Alpha and Omega. Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent. The Sacrifice so that we might believe on Him and be saved. I believe He is Love and that He is Truth. What life is all about. My true Friend. I believe in the Trinity. And that God is the only one that has the power to save people from Hell and to condemn them.

2. I believe God created the universe in 6 days (Day 1: Light and Dark. 2: Water. 3: Land. 4: Sun, Moon, & Stars. 5: Sea creatures & the birds. 6: Man & the land creatures.) and rested on the 7th day.

3: I believe my purpose is to serve God and rejoice in Him. Tell others about Him and what He has done for them and what He could do for them if they believe on Him. To live abundantly and to love. To use my gifts to help others and honor Him. To study His Word and build my relationship with Him. To be more like Him with His help.

4: I believe that God has saved me from eternal damnation and that I will live forever with Him and other believers because I have excepted what His Son did for me on the cross and trusted in Him. I will be renewed and complete, in every way (spiritually/physically/mentally/emotionally). Without God, I could never go to heaven.

What do you think?

I got 7 replies from the non-Christian forum but none here so far

Mmm... maybe people are afraid to respond because it could become a theological debate? I know that's not allowed here, so maybe that's why...

What's to debate? I totally agree with all those answers.

[Edit: By the way, welcome to CAA, Akane. ^_^ ]

TheMelodyMaker wrote:What's to debate? I totally agree with all those answers.

[Edit: By the way, welcome to CAA, Akane. ^_^ ]

Thank you, TMM!

@ dyzzispell...I'm not trying to put anybody down or debate really.....I just wanted to know what others thought. I think it would be nice if people opened up. It helps me, at least.

Well, stuff like this always causes major controversy in non-Christian environments, but here, since we all basically agree with you, there's no real reason to debate it. XD It's refreshing, huh?

Radical Dreamer wrote:Well, stuff like this always causes major controversy in non-Christian environments, but here, since we all basically agree with you, there's no real reason to debate it. XD It's refreshing, huh?

Lol, yeah. In a way I'm not surprised that there hasn't been many replies. Because, like you said, we all basically agree. The answers I got from the other forum however...yeah But mostly, I just felt sorry for them....

In a Bible study book I'm reading now it asks these four questions:

1. Who is God?

2. How did the world begin?

3. What is your pupose on earth?

4. What will happen to you after you die?

1. He's the guy that created all of this, well most of it (the universe and all that, he created only the good stuff)... We chat alot but my recievers broke so, I have a bad connection with him most of the time. But apparently he gets my end of the coversation 'cause every once and a while he'll go out of his way to make it obvious he got my message. Really cool guy, can't wait till I get this stupid thing fixed and we can have some conversations in real time. Sometimes he drives me a little crazy though, he enjoys to take the subtle route about things and the strangest things mean so much to him. I'll see something odd he does and I had specifically asked him to do the other thing and man, we get into some big arguments. But he just sits back and watches, doesn't say a word. Cunning as anything though, and what gets me the most is that I know he's got it all figured out, and I can't wrap my brain around it. I never seen anyone with the ability to put a single feather beneath a bridge and have such luck at stopping it from collapsing at the VERY last second.

2. How did the world begin? I imagine from part 1, that its like that common odd example when one of my physics profs creates an entirely new (and absolutely profound) equation by adding zero to both sides. I imagine that he just spoke and everyone looked and saw the whole thing just the way it was before, a couple probobly laughed because it looked the exact same way as it did before... then the rabbit got pulled out of the hat, the anti-matter dominance faded to matter dominance, and the whole thing came together. But I think of my world as the whole universe as a whole, not just "Earth"... As for the specifics, I don't believe it matters quite so much as everyone thinks it does. He only wrote a couple of pages in my letter about the whole thing and spends hundreds upon hundreds of pages discussing people... Once again I'm baffled, you'd think the whole universe would matter more than a few people, but like I said, the strangest things mean so much to him, and I'm not complaining I enjoy the attention as odd as it seems to me. Also, I've yet to get why in the world the silly lineage thing really matters so much, but like I said, the wierdest things sometimes.

I have a new big bang theory however, it states that whenever someone brings up the topic of creationism and anything involving the Ricci Tensor, a large social explosion will occur that borders on the edge of being violent and several orders of magnitude above frightening. The feelings these arguments tend to create between these two or more individuals always appears neither with scientific objectivity nor Christian values... thus something new and entirely disturbing is created from the result!

3. I thought I knew this for the last 8 years of my life... And I worked with 100%, no 120% diligence in my efforts to achieve it, putting aside most of my teenage life and now a good portion of my adult life for the task... after all, it was my purpose. I achieved the three goal task but now the next step is completely invisible, and I'm expecting the main topic of #1 to yield part b anytime soon... hopefully REAL soon... But it has been decidedly cloudy in a way that I'm starting to get tired of it. I'm not going to worry though, should it not reveal itself, I'm off! WOOHOO, apparently it got cancelled and I just get to goof off the rest of my life ... Seeing as the first half of the preperation was so difficult, I'm assuming that it wasn't going to be pleasent anyways. I'll keep myself mentally fit in the meantime, but if it's cancelled, he can explain it all to me when this is all done... But I will want some explaining, that's for sure. It was certainly rough getting here.

4. What happens to me after I die? Doesn't compute, I never die, I can't die all because of #1. Oh maybe you're reffering this husk on the other side of the computer, don't know, don't care... Once again it's one of those things he doesn't seem to worry about, as he still let's thing run down, colds, cuts, bruises... I agree, its worthless. It's all cool though, got a sweet ride on the other side I hear, all decked out with the coolest attributes! Or at least that's what they say, doesn't matter what it's like in the end, he controls the game and if it's another body just like this one, all fine to me. It ain't the body or the city that really matters. Really, it's just him. Once we get to plan things together without this stupid reciever getting in the way, nothing's going to matter. There isn't a force in existance that'll stop the two of us, just you wait and see!

I'm out of here all!
Pascal

TheMelodyMaker wrote:What's to debate?

Point two I should think. One could also expand on point 3 in light of one's personal goals and beliefs.

Yeah, I could see question 2 leading to all sorts of nasty theological debates.

Akane wrote:Lol, yeah. In a way I'm not surprised that there hasn't been many replies. Because, like you said, we all basically agree. The answers I got from the other forum however...yeah But mostly, I just felt sorry for them....

To think that so many people don't know the God who made them... and some even hate Him. "But for the grace of God, there goes boerseun..."

1 Cor. 2:12, 14-15 "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God... The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one."

We should thank God that we know Him through Christ and pray for those who don't. And Akane, who knows, maybe your questions touched someone on the other forum. We may have a couple of new members soon...

I'd just like to add this to question 1. Here is a quote from Novatian:

[quote="Novation"]The mind of man cannot fittingly conceive how great is God and how majestic His nature. Nor has human eloquence the power to express His greatness. For all eloquence is certainly mute and every mind inadequate to conceive and to utter His majesty.

Whatever can be thought about Him is less than He]

This is the God we know and whom we love. This is the God who knows us and loves us also.

Yeah, I never meant to imply there WAS something to debate. ^_^ But I've seen some threads locked because they unintentionally led to debates anyway.
I agree with pretty much everything you said too. I would just add the fact that we are all sinners, and that THAT is what Christ saved us from. I figure that was to be assumed in your statement, but these days everyone is so afraid to use the word sin, you never know anymore.

dyzzispell wrote:I would just add the fact that we are all sinners, and that THAT is what Christ saved us from. I figure that was to be assumed in your statement, but these days everyone is so afraid to use the word sin, you never know anymore.

Amen.

Rom 5:8 "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Well, I can see points 2 and 4 be cause for some debate. Here are my answers:

1. The Creator of the universe. Terrifying, powerful, and for some reason that escapes me, desiring of personal contact with me.

2. Doesn't matter.

3. Serve the Creator and bring Him the praise He deserves.

4. Doesn't matter.

Hi Akane,

Welcome to CAA, I hope you enjoy your stay!
My answers are pretty similar to yours.

2. How did the world begin?
I believe that God created the world in 6 (24 hour) days.

3. What is your pupose on earth?
To serve and enjoy God, to worship him and to serve others and fufil the Great Commission.

4. What will happen to you after you die?
I don't know all the details. I profess faith in Jesus so I believe I'm going to Heaven. I don't believe in purgatory. That said God is outside of Time so its hard to say. Probably worship God for all eternity, catch up with others, enjoy a paradise existence.

1. Unknowable

2. Big bang + 15 or so billion years of stellar expansion + Evolution

3. I don't feel the need to have one.

4. Don't know. will find out in 60+- years.

ducheval wrote:4. Don't know. will find out in 60+- years.

Or tomorrow. Best to be prepared today.

Originally posted by ducheval:
4. Don't know. will find out in 60+- years.

Or tomorrow. Best to be prepared today.

Actually it's already tomorrow in Australia, so technicaly you could have died yesterday .

Akane wrote:I posted these questions and my answers on animenation and everyone on there was offended and twisted. Infact, one of the members referred me to this forum because they didn't think it was appropriate to ask there, I guess. I thought I'd post it here and see what would happen...



In a Bible study book I'm reading now it asks these four questions:

1. Who is God?

2. How did the world begin?

3. What is your pupose on earth?

4. What will happen to you after you die?

Here's my answers...

1. I believe God is everything He says He is. The Creator. The Alpha and Omega. Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent. The Sacrifice so that we might believe on Him and be saved. I believe He is Love and that He is Truth. What life is all about. My true Friend. I believe in the Trinity. And that God is the only one that has the power to save people from Hell and to condemn them.

2. I believe God created the universe in 6 days (Day 1: Light and Dark. 2: Water. 3: Land. 4: Sun, Moon, & Stars. 5: Sea creatures & the birds. 6: Man & the land creatures.) and rested on the 7th day.

3: I believe my purpose is to serve God and rejoice in Him. Tell others about Him and what He has done for them and what He could do for them if they believe on Him. To live abundantly and to love. To use my gifts to help others and honor Him. To study His Word and build my relationship with Him. To be more like Him with His help.

4: I believe that God has saved me from eternal damnation and that I will live forever with Him and other believers because I have excepted what His Son did for me on the cross and trusted in Him. I will be renewed and complete, in every way (spiritually/physically/mentally/emotionally). Without God, I could never go to heaven.

What do you think?

I'd like to get my two cents worth in before this is locked:

1.Who is God.This is what the Bible really is all about.The Bible is the revelation of who God is and how he deals with Man.Jesus Christ is the fullness of God become Man so as to express his personality and character in a way that is much more clearer to Fallen Man.In the image of Jesus Christ we see God come down to dwell with Man and to show Man who he,God,is.God is also the EVer Blessed Soveriegn,Creator,Redeemer Tri-unity of Father,
Son and Holy Ghost World without End,Amen.

2.The World began when God willed it to begin.It began as an expression of his Eternal Love for himself and the desire to share that love with creatures that were less and other than himself.

3.Reference The Westminister Shorter Cathechism answer to question 1:
The chief end of Man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

4.If you're bad you end up in Hoboken,New Jersey if you are good you get to have 70 virgins and live in Minnesota!
Ok,sorry I thought a little humor would help to ease the tension a bit.But
seriously,I believe that when you die God judges you and you are either sent to Hell,Purgatory or Heaven.I also believe that it is quite possible that there might come a time when God may reconcile all again to him and the need for Hell and Purgatory be done away with.Though I am not as much
universalistic in my beliefs as that, as I believe that there are in fact those people who because of one thing or another have gone beyond even the
ability of God to save them,nor do they wish or desire Salvation for themselves as strange as that might seem.Rather they perfer to go their own way.To those God,in C.S.Lewis' apt phrase from The Great Divorce will one day say:"Ok then have it your way!"And that is Hell.

ducheval wrote:I don't feel the need to have one.

A life without meaning or purpose is a life in which having lost the direction of a compass one now has complete freedom to go anywhere and yet nowhere at the same time.

A life without meaning or purpose is a life in which having lost the direction of a compass one now has complete freedom to go anywhere and yet nowhere at the same time.

If you say so. I feel that I'm going somewhere and doing things, I just don't feel that it has some huge (or even small) cosmic purpose or meaning. It's just what I'm doing; nothing less and nothing more. And I'm perfectly comfortable with that. Perhaps you have to feel that you have some purpose in this world to move forward with your life. I have no such need.

Do you feel that you have to have purpose and meaning in the process of getting breakfast in the morning? Probably not. Is it so hard that that same attitude can be applied to one's entire life?

[quote="ducheval"]If you say so. I feel that I'm going somewhere and doing things, I just don't feel that it has some huge (or even small) cosmic purpose or meaning. It's just what I'm doing]

You've only repeated what I said, you even borrowed my language "to go forward with your life", that is to borrow language from the compass analogy wherin there is in fact some direction to go in life. Seriously, if you're so apathetic to whether any religion is true and what intellectual foundations can be given for why to believe any religion is true, why did you bother coming here and posting at all?

Avoiding the subject of intellectual foundations of religion as I consider that to have nothing to do with my reply, the reason why I replied to you was that I found it somewhat absurd that I needed a purpose or meaning of life to get somewhere or do something. Life doesn't have to have meaning or purpose to me. It's simply a process that I'm caught in the middle of, working my way through, and doing the best I can at morally, financially, etc.

I've run into far far too many people that take up half hearted religious conviction because they're so ridiculously scared of the possibility that their life might have no meaning or purpose, which I consider a very poor basis for faith. I would not wish to be one such as that, so I consider it doubly important to not require some kind of artificial meaning or purpose of my life, but rather to simply live my life and choose faith because I feel it's right, not out of fear.

ducheval wrote:Avoiding the subject of intellectual foundations of religion as I consider that to have nothing to do with my reply, the reason why I replied to you was that I found it somewhat absurd that I needed a purpose or meaning of life to get somewhere or do something.

Here once more you have borrowed language from some undefended and unexplained controlling narrative in which there is in fact somewhere one can go or be which is presumably better than another place or state of being. My point about going somewhere was hyperbolic, drawing from the compass metaphor for the guiding beacon for which one lives for. On the philosophical level, the work to refute is chapter 1 of Religion and Nothingness by Kyoto school Zen Buddhist philosopher Keiji Nishitani, who critiques an apathetic (to invent a new term, apatheistic?) approach to the question of religion at length.

Life doesn't have to have meaning or purpose to me. It's simply a process that I'm caught in the middle of, working my way through, and doing the best I can at morally, financially, etc.

To my own and Nishitani's perspective, after everything I have seen, heard, read, learned, and done, this is deeply akin to hearing a person saying they do not feel the need to partake in music and the arts. If there is meaning to life, it bears the implication that failure to participate in it will result in failure to benefit from such participation. For example, if Buddhism is true and the meaning of life is to defeat the circle of samsara and the chain of reincarnation because of the will-to-live, but rather to achieve absolute unity with The Subtle Mind (Nirvana), then even if American culture defines "success" in life as the attainment of the most material goods and pleasures (all too typically any pleasure whatsoever), because this stands in direct opposition to breaking the cycle of samsara, but instead if anything reinforces it, this means that American "success" is in fact dismal failure. On the moral front in philosophy of ethics, you need to deal with the question "What is the highest good, why is it the highest good, and what makes something good as opposed to ill?"

I've run into far far too many people that take up half hearted religious conviction because they're so ridiculously scared of the possibility that their life might have no meaning or purpose, which I consider a very poor basis for faith. I would not wish to be one such as that, so I consider it doubly important to not require some kind of artificial meaning or purpose of my life, but rather to simply live my life and choose faith because I feel it's right, not out of fear.

What I am speaking of is not so much what one might call a belly flop of faith wherin one takes up religion by the skin of their teeth whilst retaining no real interest in it, but rather an honest inquiry into whether there is in fact a meaning of life - what Nishitani would call "the religious quest" wherin the person themselves becomes the question. It has been my observation of the human race that upon seeing something ill or out of hand like falling off of a horse in one direction, will proceed to fall off their horse in the other direction and call it progress. If your actual belief amounts to authentic apathy, this is how I would percieve it. I have also noticed a trait of belief in almost anything is that the degree of confidence and conviction with which it is held will fluctuate with the passing of time and information.

Thank you all for your thoughts ^_^ And thanx for welcoming me. I'm so glad people haven't really fought here about this. It's nice just to get your thoughts and opinions out there.

GhostontheNet wrote:if you're so apathetic to whether any religion is true and what intellectual foundations can be given for why to believe any religion is true, why did you bother coming here and posting at all?

Sorry. But thats the attitude that deters some people from joining this place.

if you're so apathetic to whether any religion is true and what intellectual foundations can be given for why to believe any religion is true, why did you bother coming here and posting at all?

I could actually think of many reasons why a person apathetic to religion would want to join CAA, first, they may share the same moral or ethical views as are commonly accepted by most Christians and thus find CAA an interesting enviroment to be part of while avoiding moral and ethical concepts that they are against. Second, they may have friends on CAA and thus wish to have a place where they can talk with their friends. There are probobly many other reasons as well. It doesn't really matter in the end, if this is the type of enviroment they want to discuss topics of their life in, should we really turn people away? In the end, I think we have improved the world in some manner, even if in slight way.

Pascal wrote:I could actually think of many reasons why a person apathetic to religion would want to join CAA, first, they may share the same moral or ethical views as are commonly accepted by most Christians and thus find CAA an interesting enviroment to be part of while avoiding moral and ethical concepts that they are against. Second, they may have friends on CAA and thus wish to have a place where they can talk with their friends. There are probobly many other reasons as well. It doesn't really matter in the end, if this is the type of enviroment they want to discuss topics of their life in, should we really turn people away? In the end, I think we have improved the world in some manner, even if in slight way.

Alright, fair enough, I admit I've seen a fair number of people like that come through, though with a certain limited amount of shelf life. It was my original perception that ducheval's original intent was to simply be a kind of hit-and-run nuissance, though the reality turned out to be much more subtle.

Back on topic...

1. Who is God?

"God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." - The Westminster Longer Catechism

2. How did the world begin?

God created the world in the beginning Ex Nihilo, from nothing. As the Nicene Creed states, God is the "maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.", and of Christ it states "Through him all things were made."

3. What is your pupose on earth?

To quote the Chatechism of the Catholic Church: "He [God] calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength." Thus, this is the purpose of man.

4. What will happen to you after you die?

To quote the Athanasian Creed:
"At whose [Christ's] coming all men shall rise again with their bodies; And shall give account of their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire."

Mr. SmartyPants wrote:Sorry. But thats the attitude that deters some people from joining this place.

My response was fueled by a fury caused by my initial perception that ducheval's intentions were roughly equivalent to those jerks who come through here posting pornography or signs like "If Jesus comes back kill him again". I refuse to behave like I had a bridge of rational and respectful dialogue with those who publicize that their bridges are already burned. Here I was wrong, however, and I'm sorry for the harshness of my response.