Jesus Protect Me From Your Followers...

In my way Jesus is always with us and he is living in every heart so we always get his blessing in our life so there is nothing bad in the world and we need to think in good way so we need to follow his principles and his way so we can understand the processor day by day is it correct answer.

I couldn't resist this one. You know a little about my beliefs, and I think I am blessed to call you friend. I love people, no matter what their beliefs are. I am a follower of Jesus, but not religion...for the simple fact you put to wrods better than I can.These people who spread fear and distruction drive me crazy!!! Sure I will share my beliefs with people, but I never rebuke them or call them names or try to make them feel like I think I am in some way better off than they are...this kind of "fellowship" is disheartening. I need to take a minute to say something to Springlady...it is people like you who give people like me a bad reputation. I feel for you..very deeply. You truly do not understand the faith you proclaim. If you would like to share your faith and trust in your lord, you should do it with love, kindness and passion...not this constant onslaught of degridation, hatred, and ignorance.....end of rant. Tess, I hope your experience with "Jesus Followers" hasn't tarnished your idea of who I am:) Hugs!

Jesus is nothing like some people portray Him. Nobody should hate other people in His name--and, certainly, nobody should carry that hatred so far that he or she would maim or kill in His name! You've, obviously, been introduced to a very distorted version of Jesus. Let me tell you about something that happened to me when I was in graduate school (why, to this day, I don't have my complete Master's Degree). Some people who didn't want to see me succeed for whatever personal reasons they had started spreading lies and half-truths about me. As a result, I was put on something called "university hold." What that meant was that my grades were far too good to flunk me out, and I wasn't breaking any campus rules. I took my education seriously--which isn't to say that I didn't have fun getting it because I did. However, these naysayers were "concerned" because I was doodling in class and writing poetry instead of taking straight notes. The truth was that I took notes. However, some of the lectures inspired a poem to form inside of me, and I wanted to write it right then instead of waiting until later. Doodling and sketching also helped me to keep my mind open to the content of the lectures. If these busybodies had been looking at their own notebooks, they wouldn't have even known. Of course, that wasn't really the problem. Anyway, there was a meeting held, and my "case" was described to the attendees so that they would vote whether or not to allow me to continue to work towards my degree or to have my individual program put on hold until I sought psychiatric care. Get clearance from a psychiatrist and get clearance from the university's health center were a couple of requirements for returning to the program. Of course, excuses kept getting made even when I complied with the rules. Nothing was ever good enough. But one thing that I especially remember was when I decided to go over to the health center and meet the university doctor (who seemed to have been the deciding vote after he was given the "evidence" about me). We sat together and had a nice, long talk. My mom was with me in there as well, and he told both of us that he wished that he'd met me prior to going to that meeting, as he would have voted differently. Of course, it was too late. He tried to tell the others that he'd changed his mind about how he voted, but it was like his updated opinion of me didn't count. But I believe that--just as Dr. Pentecost had gotten a bad slant on me before he had the chance to really know me--you've gotten a bad slant on Jesus. You were introduced to Jesus by people who had their own view of Him discolored and distorted. Each of us who call ourselves Christian is a looking glass for reflecting Jesus. Only on innocent babies is the looking glass a pure one, but many people don't realize that they're reflecting Jesus. On the rest of us, the looking glass doesn't give a perfect reflection--and some reflections are worse than others. Jesus would love that your little girl whispers to butterflies. He once talked about how the stones on the ground would have shouted "Hosanna!" had the people not done so first on that first Palm Sunday. Many of the Psalms personify nature. When appropriate, God talked through animals and at least one burning bush. It doesn't make Jesus less to me to say that what you believe will be, eventually, woven into the tapestry of how we'll come to worship in one accord! Too often, people are watching the sky for His return to such an extreme that they're breaking His command to us to be caretakers of our planet. Your earth-based religion can remind us of our assignment. I'm not going to an earth-based religion in an exclusive way. To cast Jesus aside or to even say that He was "just" a wise and good man doesn't wash for me. But I do know that Eternal Life and The Kingdom of God isn't all in the Hereafter. It's in the Here-And-Now as well, and we need to seek it and respond to it with thanksgiving, care and celebration!

I personally look forward to the day when Jesus comes back and takes all his followers to heaven. I will miss them, sure. But they will be happy because they will finally be with the God they love so much, and the rest of us can get back to careing for our earth and celebrating life they way it was meant to be celebrated. No offense to Christians. But I think so many of them are so caught up with getting into heaven that they forget to celebrate the life they have here and now. Many of them are so tempered by their idea of what God is like that they reject any possibility they have it wrong. They also reject anyone who does not conform to -their- idea of what god wanted them to be. I am not saying all - I am saying SOME do. I hope they get to spend eternity with their God. I wont be there. But I really hope they find what they are seeking and finaly leave the rest of us alone.

I hear your heart and the pain you feel .. Love is love and hate is hate. Why can't we all get along becuase of our beliefs .. Human nature can be destructive and so can everyone around us. This is a quote from the movie Dogma and I honestly believe in it whole heartedly to bad others didn't. Serendipity: When are you people going to learn? It's not about who's right or wrong. No denomination's nailed it yet, and they never will because they're all too self-righteous to realize that it doesn't matter what you have faith in, just that you have faith. Your hearts are in the right place, but your brains need to wake up. Who are we to say who is right and wrong in the religious circle we have our faiths and that should be all that counts is that we have faith. But poeple and human nature tends to take it to far I don't care if you celebrate the birth of christ or light the menorah I care about how you treat everyone around you ... The world is never going to get to the complete peace factor if we don't learn to accept other as they are. I'm sorry but that is how it is to me. You might believe in the wiccan reed great go for it that is your faith and your are so entitle to it and you know what I have studied it, Wiccans are peaceful people. I love how they view things. I tend to believe in generalizations I have faith that there is a higher power out there that has created everything that we have to enjoy and that would want to see me happy and healthly .. I have faith there for it doesn't matter what my belief is .. Some people will never be able to see it that simple that as long as you have faith that is all that counts. It doesn't matter what I worship or you worship it only matters that we are good people and are kind and caring and there for our fellow man. Why do people have to think in the terms of right and wrong .. There was a discussin of yours a long time ago that I had answered it had to do with religion and I think I summed up everything in that one alot more elequently.

I had religion shoved down my throat from an early age. And I had some trying times in my twenties. So much so I became angry with God and I fell away. I became an atheist. I became interested in Eastern religions. Experimented with psychedelics. Well, my belief is that you have to lose God to truly find him. All these people who walk around blindly spouting scripture are like children. Simply put God is Love not Hate, not Fear, not Intolerance, not someone who expects you to kill in his name. To know him you have to learn to know yourself. There are so many versions of the Bible, because the original was hand copied by monks who added and omitted what they thought and didn't like. To get the real message you would have to read the original tablets in the original language. Besides the monks, when you translate from one language to another things get lost. And the Bible has been translated many times. People need to stop quoting scripture and open their hearts. That's where you will find Him.

Unfortunately humans are just too hateful & cruel. They're so caught up in themselves to think about anybody else in most cases. I don't see that changing anytime soon. At best we can try to make sure we aren't the cause.