4 ms·

The article is a misrepresentation, apparently "believe in a higher power or God" has risen somewhat. This is different from excitement about organized religio

The article is a misrepresentation, apparently "believe in a higher power or God" has risen somewhat. This is different from excitement about organized religion, which seems to be less of a thing, not more.

dokem 3y ago
It's the opposite for me personally. While I still wouldn't say I believe in a tangible god or higher power in any meaningful way, I have come to grow more of an interest and appreciation for religion, specifically christianity, as I've gotten older. I'll never be a bible freak but I would like to, one day, be able to say I honestly believe in (a) god. I'm not sure what that means exactly, and it could be wrong, but if it's all the same I'd much rather be the person that believes.
- IKLOL 3y ago
  You can become a Christian right now. 1. Admit you are a sinner, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10-12, 1 John 1:10, James 2:10 2. Realize the penalty for sin, which is death, hell, and eternal separation from God - Revelation 21:8, Romans 6:23, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9, James 1:15 3. Believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again to pay for your sin - 1 John 2:2, Acts 16:30-31, Acts 3:19, Acts 10:43 Romans 5:8, 1 Timothy 3:16, 1 Peter 2:24, John 3:16, John 10:28, John 6:47, John 11:26, 1 Timothy 1:15, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Corinthians 6:11 4. Trust Jesus Christ alone as your savior, nothing else - Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 4:11-12, Romans 11:6, Matthew 7:13-14, Matthew 7:21-23 Pray this prayer: "Dear Jesus Christ, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I deserve to go to hell, but I believe you died on the cross for me and rose again. Please save me right now and give me eternal life. I'm only trusting in you Jesus, Amen." And if you believed this in your heart, you're now saved and have the Holy Spirit. First of all, rejoice because you've passed from death to life through the power of Jesus Christ and he will NEVER leave nor forsake you, no matter what. This is why "Gospel" means "good news". You have absolute freedom, and power over death through Jesus. The Holy Spirit will guide you into more understanding as you read the scripture, but you should first focus on knowing the person of Jesus. Jesus is also in the Old Testament symbolically and literally. The important thing to note is that Christianity is not just doing good things, about turning your life around, etc. Christianity is first about believing the promise of God and His finished work on the cross, and then those good works can follow (but they don't have to, some are saved without works - Romans 4:5). We don't do work for Jesus or become obedient to him because we must to be saved, we do it out of love because we ARE saved. And once you're saved, you're saved. There is no bad deed you could do to lose it, because there was no good deed you could do to earn it. Jesus says he will never leave nor forsake you, and he means it, and his promises are good forever and always.
  - credit_guy 3y ago
    > I know that I deserve to go to hell Why do I deserve to go to hell? My life was and continues to be pretty boring: as a child I went to school, I did my homework and got good grades, later I went to college, and later still I got a Ph.D.. Then I got a job, I got married, got kids. I continue to go to work, I get paid, pay my taxes (if you prefer, "I render unto Caesar what's due to Caesar"). I don't steal or con people. I don't cheat on my wife. I don't take Lord's name in vain, because I don't swear in general. I honor may parents. I don't observe the Sabbath, I don't even know if it's supposed to be on Saturday on Sunday. I don't worship idols, either 2D or 3D, because I'm an atheist. Why exactly am I supposed to go to hell?
    - IKLOL 3y ago
      You can live a good life, but if you've transgressed the law at any point you're guilty of it all. Jesus himself said if you even look at a woman with lust your heart is guilty of adultery, or if you're angry at your brother your heart is guilty of murder. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” - James 2:10 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." - Revelation 21:8 "The thought of foolishness is sin: And the scorner is an abomination to men." - Proverbs 24:9 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." - Isaiah 64:6 I don't know about you, but I've BEEN unbelieving in my past, I've lied and sometimes still do, and I've thought foolishness and still do. So I've transgressed God's law, but it has been forgiven of me because I accepted God's plan of salvation, which is faith in Jesus Christ through His substitutionary death on the cross and bodily resurrection. If you never broke God's law, you'd never die and you would completely earn your salvation. It's impossible for us, but it was possible for Jesus because he was God and born to a virgin, therefore he was fully man and fully God. His work on the cross makes it possible to be born again in this life, with his same duality (having our flesh and our spirit), and the promise that we will one day receive a new body without sin. The point is, God is so entirely holy that we cannot be reconciled by anything that we do with our bodies, or "works". Faith is required to receive the gift Jesus Christ paid for, which is not something we do with our body, it's a spiritual transaction. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." - 2 Corinthians 5:21 “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” - 1 Peter 2:24
- noworriesnate 3y ago
  I can sympathize with this. My journey is slightly different but it does feel like the world is changing like it never changed in my life before. For me personally this was due to ripple effects from COVID / shutdowns / vaccine policy etc. I know several other people who are in the same boat. Edit: wanted to say, good luck on your journey! And I hope we meet in paradise or Valhalla or whatever you want to call it.

dokem 3y ago

It's the opposite for me personally. While I still wouldn't say I believe in a tangible god or higher power in any meaningful way, I have come to grow more of an interest and appreciation for religion, specifically christianity, as I've gotten older. I'll never be a bible freak but I would like to, one day, be able to say I honestly believe in (a) god. I'm not sure what that means exactly, and it could be wrong, but if it's all the same I'd much rather be the person that believes.

IKLOL 3y ago
You can become a Christian right now. 1. Admit you are a sinner, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10-12, 1 John 1:10, James 2:10 2. Realize the penalty for sin, which is death, hell, and eternal separation from God - Revelation 21:8, Romans 6:23, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9, James 1:15 3. Believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again to pay for your sin - 1 John 2:2, Acts 16:30-31, Acts 3:19, Acts 10:43 Romans 5:8, 1 Timothy 3:16, 1 Peter 2:24, John 3:16, John 10:28, John 6:47, John 11:26, 1 Timothy 1:15, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Corinthians 6:11 4. Trust Jesus Christ alone as your savior, nothing else - Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 4:11-12, Romans 11:6, Matthew 7:13-14, Matthew 7:21-23 Pray this prayer: "Dear Jesus Christ, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I deserve to go to hell, but I believe you died on the cross for me and rose again. Please save me right now and give me eternal life. I'm only trusting in you Jesus, Amen." And if you believed this in your heart, you're now saved and have the Holy Spirit. First of all, rejoice because you've passed from death to life through the power of Jesus Christ and he will NEVER leave nor forsake you, no matter what. This is why "Gospel" means "good news". You have absolute freedom, and power over death through Jesus. The Holy Spirit will guide you into more understanding as you read the scripture, but you should first focus on knowing the person of Jesus. Jesus is also in the Old Testament symbolically and literally. The important thing to note is that Christianity is not just doing good things, about turning your life around, etc. Christianity is first about believing the promise of God and His finished work on the cross, and then those good works can follow (but they don't have to, some are saved without works - Romans 4:5). We don't do work for Jesus or become obedient to him because we must to be saved, we do it out of love because we ARE saved. And once you're saved, you're saved. There is no bad deed you could do to lose it, because there was no good deed you could do to earn it. Jesus says he will never leave nor forsake you, and he means it, and his promises are good forever and always.
- credit_guy 3y ago
  > I know that I deserve to go to hell Why do I deserve to go to hell? My life was and continues to be pretty boring: as a child I went to school, I did my homework and got good grades, later I went to college, and later still I got a Ph.D.. Then I got a job, I got married, got kids. I continue to go to work, I get paid, pay my taxes (if you prefer, "I render unto Caesar what's due to Caesar"). I don't steal or con people. I don't cheat on my wife. I don't take Lord's name in vain, because I don't swear in general. I honor may parents. I don't observe the Sabbath, I don't even know if it's supposed to be on Saturday on Sunday. I don't worship idols, either 2D or 3D, because I'm an atheist. Why exactly am I supposed to go to hell?
  - IKLOL 3y ago
    You can live a good life, but if you've transgressed the law at any point you're guilty of it all. Jesus himself said if you even look at a woman with lust your heart is guilty of adultery, or if you're angry at your brother your heart is guilty of murder. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” - James 2:10 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." - Revelation 21:8 "The thought of foolishness is sin: And the scorner is an abomination to men." - Proverbs 24:9 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." - Isaiah 64:6 I don't know about you, but I've BEEN unbelieving in my past, I've lied and sometimes still do, and I've thought foolishness and still do. So I've transgressed God's law, but it has been forgiven of me because I accepted God's plan of salvation, which is faith in Jesus Christ through His substitutionary death on the cross and bodily resurrection. If you never broke God's law, you'd never die and you would completely earn your salvation. It's impossible for us, but it was possible for Jesus because he was God and born to a virgin, therefore he was fully man and fully God. His work on the cross makes it possible to be born again in this life, with his same duality (having our flesh and our spirit), and the promise that we will one day receive a new body without sin. The point is, God is so entirely holy that we cannot be reconciled by anything that we do with our bodies, or "works". Faith is required to receive the gift Jesus Christ paid for, which is not something we do with our body, it's a spiritual transaction. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." - 2 Corinthians 5:21 “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” - 1 Peter 2:24
noworriesnate 3y ago
I can sympathize with this. My journey is slightly different but it does feel like the world is changing like it never changed in my life before. For me personally this was due to ripple effects from COVID / shutdowns / vaccine policy etc. I know several other people who are in the same boat. Edit: wanted to say, good luck on your journey! And I hope we meet in paradise or Valhalla or whatever you want to call it.