I\'ve gotta stir up the religion pot again..this time

First of all, does God punish you for your thoughts? Like for example, say someone really pisses you off and then you let your imaginaion run wild and imagine the most gruesome of punishments that could possibly be inflicted on them. Are you punished for that? I would guess that it\'s just your actions that you are judged upon.

If you think about where bad thoughts come from, it is usually from something not of God.  Like if you are in an argument with a friend, you are sinning (causing, or continuing contention is a sin) which might lead to those bad thoughts.  And if you are having bad thoughts, that often times leads to bad actions.  So yes, you will be judged on your thoughts as well as your actions.

"Exodus 32: 14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people."
This is referring to when Moses was on top of the mountain getting the 10 commandments, and all of the people at the bottom of the mountain were sinning.  God was angry at them, and said "...my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them...", but later repented of his evil thoughts.  By that example we can see that we will be judged by our thoughts.  I don\'t know how literal that "repenting" was in Gods case (it could have been symbolic of something else), but that is an entirely different discussion on its own.

Secondly, if you are unsure if God does exist, and yet live your life by very powerful morals doing nothing but good deeds for others and yourself, how does that reflect upon you? I mean you have no faith and yet you do great in your life for others. How will you be judged for that?

It seems like everyone is trying to skip out on religion on this world.  Like I said in responce to shockwaves, The LDS belief is that you might get a chance for salvation after this life if you live worthily.  But I am not the one who says if you will be saved or not, The Lord is.  It probably depends on how much you know about the religions.  If you know a lot about them and decide to just ignore them, then my guess would be that your chances of salvation are less likely.  And if you perpously try to avoid learning about religion, your chances of salvation would probably be less likely.  But I don\'t know for sure because I am not The Lord, and I am not going to be the one judging you (If I was judging you, you would have a free ticket into heaven. )

It will be interesting to see what other religions believe about having a chance at salvation after death...

Finally, if stealing is a sin, then am I going to hell for my MP3 collection?

I sure hope not, because that would make two of us!

Actually, yes, stealing is wrong.  And now I have to reconsider keeping my MP3 collection.  Thanks a lot!

Originally posted by Videoholic
Did noah build a bunch of cages for the animals?  I mean wouldn\'t the dinosaur eat the beavers?  I know I like to eat beaver.:thepimp:

I think God put a calm over the animals, it\'s in there somewhere.

Originally posted by Ryu
Secondly, if you are unsure if God does exist, and yet live your life by very powerful morals doing nothing but good deeds for others and yourself, how does that reflect upon you?  I mean you have no faith and yet you do great in your life for others.  How will you be judged for that?

Doing good and the need to folow morals is an action of the Holy Spirit.  The only step someone needs ot make to be a christian would be to believe that.

Oh, and. . .

"5) Christians believe that if you "mess up," you\'re going to hell.
"

Not so, as long as you still believe that Christ has died for the sins you\'ve commited.  And before anyone rebukes, being filled with the spirit of Christ, you don\'t want to do bad.

Like if you are in an argument with a friend, you are sinning (causing, or continuing contention is a sin) which might lead to those bad thoughts.

That\'s a bit confusing.  Married couples constantly have contentions, but what happens if they work everything out in the end?  Avoiding an arguement is practically impossible, how can that be a sin?

Okay, since these threads always seem to back God and Christianity into a corner, let\'s do the same with people who believe in evolution.

If all these animals evolved into other animals, why isn\'t evolution still occuring today?  How come that ape family at the zoo isn\'t slowly turning into man? Why is it that since the evolution theory has come up, there has been no actual "evolution event"?

Ryu:

That\'s a bit confusing. Married couples constantly have contentions, but what happens if they work everything out in the end?

That\'s what repentance is for.  They are not damned if they repent.

Avoiding an arguement is practically impossible, how can that be a sin?

How do you think God looks at an argument?  Does it make him sad, or angry, or instead does he just brush it off like, "Ah, they\'re fighting again.  They\'ll get over it."

Contention is caused by the devil, therefore, it is a sin.  At least, that\'s my take on it.  Feel free to have your own opinion about it.

Also, just because a sin is practically impossible to avoid doesn\'t mean it\'s not a sin.  We as humans have to sin.  It is impossible for us not to sin in our lifetimes.  So does that mean that sinning really isn\'t sinning because it\'s impossible to avoid?  

serrano007:

If all these animals evolved into other animals, why isn\'t evolution still occuring today? How come that ape family at the zoo isn\'t slowly turning into man? Why is it that since the evolution theory has come up, there has been no actual "evolution event"?

Because evolution from one kind of animal to another takes millions and millions of years.  There is no real way to prove them wrong about evolution just like there is no real way to prove us wrong about religion.

Are there degrees for repetence?  How does one repent for an arguement?  What happens if they are a repeat offender?

Are there degrees for repetence?

Hmmm...kind of.  (Again, LDS beliefs.  People from other religions, feel free to state what you believe)  While many sins can be repented of by taking the Sacriment and never commiting the same sin again (the first "degree" I guess you could say), other sins go beyond that.  (second degree) There are some sins that cannot be forgiven unless you talk to your Bishop (the head of each ward in the LDS church).  Those sins usually involve immorality.  After you have talked to your Bishop, usually multiple times over the timespan of 3-6 months, then you can partake of the sacrement and repent for your sins.  There are some sins that cannot be forgiven by Christ, nomatter what (third degree).  Murder is one of them.  A second offense of adultery is another one.  And then the absolute worst sin is denying the holy Ghost (fourth degree).  This is a sin that most of us don\'t have to worry about, because in order to commit this sin we have to see God with our own eyes, then deny his existence.

So yes, there are different degrees for repetence I guess.

How does one repent for an arguement?

An argument could be forgiven by partaking of the sacrement and following the steps to repentence.  Steps of Repentence:
1. Know and identify the sin
2. Have Godly sorrow for the sin.
3. Stop committing the sin
4. Confess the sin (to your bishop in extreme cases, then to God, or just to God in the less extreme cases.)
5. Partake of the sacrement worthily
6. Know you are forgiven

What happens if they are a repeat offender?

From what I understand, if you do the same sin again, then you have not repented for it.  Because part of repentence is never doing the same sin again.  But I don\'t know exactly what would happen to them.  It is up to Christ to decide if this one problem is enough to keep them out of heaven.

Originally posted by IronFist
Where did these "cancers" come from in the first place? I\'ll bet that if we traced back every single sickness and disease on this world, we would find that each one of them were caused by people going against God. IMO, without religion we would have killed ourselves off years ago.

And I don\'t know about other churches, but I know the LDS church has a huge fund to help the starving, needy, etc.
 

Actually, cancer is just cells in your body mutating and reproducing out of control, it\'s non transferrable, rather it\'s genetic.  Yes, cancer can occur to people with no cancer in their familiy history.  Yes, cancer has happened to very religeous, or right-living people.

It\'s the same way with many diseases, so please... PLEASE don\'t try and blame those things on anti-God thoughts.  DON\'T even try to bring up adam/eve-paradise-sin-torment either, because Jesus died for original sin.  The slate is clean.

Originally posted by serrano007
Okay, since these threads always seem to back God and Christianity into a corner, let\'s do the same with people who believe in evolution.

If all these animals evolved into other animals, why isn\'t evolution still occuring today?  How come that ape family at the zoo isn\'t slowly turning into man? Why is it that since the evolution theory has come up, there has been no actual "evolution event"?

99% of the population who do believe in evolution (which I believe is most of the educated world, with the exception of religeous peoples) don\'t believe in the \'sudden\' evolution theory.  Even rushed evolution takes generations of inheritance of good survival charactaristics to assert themselves among the new emerging dominant species.  They have seen evolution around a few volcanoes, over a few tens of years, where certain fish have adapted to breath oxygen at higher water temperatures (and they pass on this trait to their offspring, who became dominant).

I think the problem with religeon VS science is the major issue here, however, and unfortunately the churches have a bad track record.  Until they see overwhelming evidence, they are loath to accept the \'generally acknowledged\' scientific facts.  Remember how long it took them to finally admit the Earth was NOT the center of the universe?  They don\'t like to admit that something in the scriptures is wrong, hence they fight like mad until they can not possibly fight anymore.  

IMHO eventually the churches will acknowledge evolution and other scientific paradigms, but it will be a long road before it happens.

So patching things up with the person you got in an arguement with and getting their forgiveness would not be repenting?  I mean, in most cases, you admit you\'re wrong, you take responsibility, you apologize, and then you hope for foregivness.  That\'s usually how it happens with me and my girlfriend.  I\'m wondering if that\'s enough.

Originally posted by FatalXception
Actually, cancer is just cells in your body mutating and reproducing out of control, it\'s non transferrable, rather it\'s genetic.  Yes, cancer can occur to people with no cancer in their familiy history.  Yes, cancer has happened to very religeous, or right-living people.

But where did it originate?  When?  Why?  My theory is that if we could trace cancer back to where it started, we would see that it was caused by one person, or a group of people going against God.  There is no way to prove this, and I don\'t have anything to base it on except my personal opinion, so there is no point in arguing about it.

DON\'T even try to bring up adam/eve-paradise-sin-torment either, because Jesus died for original sin.  The slate is clean.

Actually, one of the 13 articles of faith found in the back of the Book of Mormon triple combination (actually part of the Pearl of Great Price), says, "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression."  Many Christian churches believe that we need to repent for Adam and Eve\'s sin.  The LDS church is not one of them.  I\'ll leave it up to members of other Christian churches to defend that belief, because I really don\'t understand it.

Ryu

So patching things up with the person you got in an arguement with and getting their forgiveness would not be repenting? I mean, in most cases, you admit you\'re wrong, you take responsibility, you apologize, and then you hope for foregivness. That\'s usually how it happens with me and my girlfriend. I\'m wondering if that\'s enough.

While that is a great start (showing humility and love towards your girlfriend), you need to show that same love and humility to the one man who can wipe the slate clean, Jesus Christ.  He lived a perfect life, never sinning, and then took upon himself the sins of the world.  Then he died on the cross.  This was why he came to the earth, to save man kind.  Only through him can we be saved.

I see.  That\'s all the questions I have for now.  I\'ll have more later.  Thank you Ironfist, you\'ve been most helpful.

Sure thing.  I\'m looking forward to next time.  Oh, and thank you.  Tomorrow and Sunday is Conference (an LDS thing that happens twice a year where the prophet and apostles talk to us), and you have really helped me get into the right mind-set.

OH MY GOD (PUN INTENDED!!)

DID I JUST SEE SOMEONE THROW A BIBLE VERSE!!@$F%F!$D#@

Why do you believe in "God" ?