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Hello;
As a youngster, I had no say in my choice of religion. My mother imposed her own belief system on me and my siblings as kids. Subsequently, we were baptized as infants into the Roman Catholic Church; forced to attend catechism, and went on to complete First Holy Communion and Confirmation.
I was loyal to Rome and its teachings up until I was a little over 24 years old; and then in 1968 under the tutelage of a Baptist minister; the Holy Bible opened my eyes to some reality checks; and one of those checks is that Rome and its version of Christ does not always agree with the Holy Bible and its version of Christ.
I was faced with a grave decision : do I stifle my own better judgment, marginalize the Bible and its version of Christ and continue following Rome and its version of Christ; or do I yield to my own better judgment and marginalize Rome in favor of the Bible. I chose to marginalize Rome. That was over 43 years ago and in all that time I have not had one single pang of conscience nor feelings of regret for my decision. In point of fact, the more I studied the Bible and its version of Christ; the more disillusioned I became with Rome and its version.
So then, where do I now stand relative to the afterlife? Answer : I am no longer in the slightest danger whatsoever of the wrath of God because of my full and complete reliance upon the Lord's crucifixion— just as Yhvh's people escaped inevitable death by snakebite when they fully and completely relied upon the serpentary effigy that Moses constructed at Num 21:4-9.
†. John 3:14-17 . . As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up on a pole, so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His son into the world to condemn it, but to rescue it.
In point of fact, I am already in full and complete possession of eternal life right now— no delay and no waiting period. Note the grammatical tense of the Lord's "have" verb in his statement below because "have" is in the present tense; not future.
†. John 5:24 . . I assure you those who listen to my message, and believe in God who sent me, have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
Not only do I currently possess eternal life; but I'm also currently a fully naturalized citizen of the Lord's kingdom.
†. Col 1:13-14 . . He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son whom He loves, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Note : If perchance someone out there reading this is a Roman Catholic; I sincerely hope you don't take any of the above personally because I assure you my statement wasn't intended to attack, denigrate, and/or belittle either you, the Vatican, or your belief system. Having been a die-hard Catholic myself for almost a quarter century, I know how easy it is to see red and to regard any and all negative comments about Catholicism as an expression of hatred for Catholics. But that's just not the case at all. If I were to hate any Catholics it would be on an individual basis rather than the result of a malicious prejudice against the entire Church.
I also know just how difficult it is for life-long Catholics to believe it's possible that somebody would actually disown Rome for reasons of conscience. It's typically a knee-jerk reflex to assume that every apostate turns against Catholicism because of some petty grievance. That wasn't so in my case. The decision I made to relinquish my native religion was not provoked. It was simply the result of balancing things out and making an informed choice rather than an emotional choice.
Studies have been done to determine what motivates voters. Not surprisingly, voters select a candidate based upon how they feel about him/her; and then use their intellects to defend their choice. So, in the voting booth, on average, one's feelings are primary, and their intelligence is only secondary. Well, I did not choose to part company with Rome like so many fickle voters chose to elect Mr. Obama solely on the basis of the color of his skin. No, it was a very grave, life-changing decision; and I went into it with both eyes open.
C.L.I.F.F.
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Hello;
As a youngster, I had no say in my choice of religion. My mother imposed her own belief system on me and my siblings as kids. Subsequently, we were baptized as infants into the Roman Catholic Church; forced to attend catechism, and went on to complete First Holy Communion and Confirmation.
I was loyal to Rome and its teachings up until I was a little over 24 years old; and then in 1968 under the tutelage of a Baptist minister; the Holy Bible opened my eyes to some reality checks; and one of those checks is that Rome and its version of Christ does not always agree with the Holy Bible and its version of Christ.
I was faced with a grave decision : do I stifle my own better judgment, marginalize the Bible and its version of Christ and continue following Rome and its version of Christ; or do I yield to my own better judgment and marginalize Rome in favor of the Bible. I chose to marginalize Rome. That was over 43 years ago and in all that time I have not had one single pang of conscience nor feelings of regret for my decision. In point of fact, the more I studied the Bible and its version of Christ; the more disillusioned I became with Rome and its version.
So then, where do I now stand relative to the afterlife? Answer : I am no longer in the slightest danger whatsoever of the wrath of God because of my full and complete reliance upon the Lord's crucifixion— just as Yhvh's people escaped inevitable death by snakebite when they fully and completely relied upon the serpentary effigy that Moses constructed at Num 21:4-9.
†. John 3:14-17 . . As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up on a pole, so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His son into the world to condemn it, but to rescue it.
In point of fact, I am already in full and complete possession of eternal life right now— no delay and no waiting period. Note the grammatical tense of the Lord's "have" verb in his statement below because "have" is in the present tense; not future.
†. John 5:24 . . I assure you those who listen to my message, and believe in God who sent me, have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
Not only do I currently possess eternal life; but I'm also currently a fully naturalized citizen of the Lord's kingdom.
†. Col 1:13-14 . . He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son whom He loves, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Note : If perchance someone out there reading this is a Roman Catholic; I sincerely hope you don't take any of the above personally because I assure you my statement wasn't intended to attack, denigrate, and/or belittle either you, the Vatican, or your belief system. Having been a die-hard Catholic myself for almost a quarter century, I know how easy it is to see red and to regard any and all negative comments about Catholicism as an expression of hatred for Catholics. But that's just not the case at all. If I were to hate any Catholics it would be on an individual basis rather than the result of a malicious prejudice against the entire Church.
I also know just how difficult it is for life-long Catholics to believe it's possible that somebody would actually disown Rome for reasons of conscience. It's typically a knee-jerk reflex to assume that every apostate turns against Catholicism because of some petty grievance. That wasn't so in my case. The decision I made to relinquish my native religion was not provoked. It was simply the result of balancing things out and making an informed choice rather than an emotional choice.
Studies have been done to determine what motivates voters. Not surprisingly, voters select a candidate based upon how they feel about him/her; and then use their intellects to defend their choice. So, in the voting booth, on average, one's feelings are primary, and their intelligence is only secondary. Well, I did not choose to part company with Rome like so many fickle voters chose to elect Mr. Obama solely on the basis of the color of his skin. No, it was a very grave, life-changing decision; and I went into it with both eyes open.
C.L.I.F.F.
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