Why Are You A Christian?

[OraProMe]

That too.

[mortify]

[quote name='Hussain' date='11 December 2009 - 02:08 AM' timestamp='1260515288' post='2018265']
There are accounts of where the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) related to the Quraysh what caravans were travelling on the way from Mecca to Jerusalem, he related what the city looked like with accurate detail, and when the caravans returned to Mecca his position was reaffirmed to have been accurate.
[/quote]

The biggest problem is that Muhammad claimed to visit a Temple which was destroyed 500 years earlier in 70 AD. When Jerusalem was conquered by one of the "rightly guided" Khalifah it was commented that the area for the Temple was used as a garbage dump... so how was it that Muhammad counted the number of doors this Temple had? To me it's clear the story is fake, and the claim of positioning traveling caravans is nothing more than a redacted story.

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='Mark of the Cross' date='11 December 2009 - 08:33 PM' timestamp='1260581629' post='2018728']
I accidentally read that as violent rapist.
[/quote]

[quote name='OraProMe' date='11 December 2009 - 08:57 PM' timestamp='1260583077' post='2018745']
That too.
[/quote]

Uh.

[ardillacid]

it's absurd to ask someone to defend their views in a single sentence.

Edited December 12, 2009 by notardillacid

[mortify]

[quote name='Hussain' date='11 December 2009 - 02:22 AM' timestamp='1260516142' post='2018269']
Reason I asked was because of the many different explanations provided to me by Christians, and I have even heard different explanations from Catholics. I asked to know [i]your [/i]position. Your explanation is also different from some I heard, and read.[/quote]
There is nothing in the world that resembles what God is, we can only provide analogies. Since man was created in the image of God, it makes sense that man would serve as the best analogy.

[quote]As for your first question, how can half the members here reject Islam if they do not know what Muslims think of Jesus? Most do not know that Muslims do not believe he died. [/quote]

We do know what Muslims think about Jesus and it's erroneous. If Muhammad could not get something as basic as the Crucifixion right, why should we listen to anything else he has to say? But even if a Christian were totally ignorant of Islam they would be justified in rejecting it for the simple reason that there is no new revelation after the New Testament, Jesus was the climax of all revelation, and the Church He founded is protected by the Holy Spirit and therefore indestructible. So any claimant to prophethood after Jesus would immediately be known to be false.

[quote]The bold contradicts an All-Knowing God understanding. I believe God knows everything, why does He need to be wrapped in flesh to 'experience'humanity? Didn't He create humans?[/quote]

He didn't do it to experience humanity, He did it to save humanity. Again, how can you reject what you don't understand?

[quote]As for the rest, did God confine Himself to a created medium? Did he leave a place where there is no time and space and descended to a place where he is confined by time and place? Please bear in mind, I am not making any conclusions, just trying to understand your viewpoint. You will need to explain what you mean when you say Jesus is divine, was He 'possessed' by a divine spirit? Excuse my redundancy, I just want a clearer picture.
[/quote]

When I say Jesus is Divine I mean He is God.

[elizabeth09]

YES!

[Akalyte]

That's a question only God can answer. I cant tell you why since it was the Lord's hand that put me here.

[Apotheoun]

[i]The following quotation from St. Ignatios of Antioch expresses the beauty of Christianity:[/i]


[size="3"]I offer my life's breath for the sake of the Cross, which is a stumbling block to the unbelievers, but to us is salvation and eternal life. What has become of the philosopher? What of the controversialist? What of the vaunting of the so-called intellectuals? The fact is, our God Jesus Christ was conceived by Mary according to God's dispensation of the seed of David, it is true, but also of the Holy Spirit. He was born and was baptized, that by His Passion He might consecrate the water.

And the Prince of this world was in ignorance of the virginity of Mary and her childbearing and also of the death of the Lord--three mysteries loudly proclaimed to the world, though accomplished in the stillness of God! How, then, were they revealed to the ages? A star blazed forth in the sky, outshining all the other stars, and its light was indescribable, and its novelty provoked wonderment, and all the starry orbs, with the sun and the moon, formed a choir round that star; but its light exceeded that of all the rest, and there was perplexity as to the cause of the unparalleled novelty. This was the reason why every form of magic began to be destroyed, every malignant spell to be broken, ignorance to be dethroned, an ancient empire to be overthrown--God was making His appearance in human form to
mold the newness of eternal life! Then at length was ushered in what God had prepared in His counsels; then all the world was in an upheaval because the destruction of death was being prosecuted.[/size]

(St. Ignatios of Antioch, d. 107 A.D., Epistle to the Ephesians, nos. 18 and 19)

[laetitia crucis]

To answer the original question:

I converted to Roman Catholicism as a response to God's grace, a grace which was given to me out of His great Mercy. My response is freely given in "obedience of faith".

[quote]From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

142 [i]By his Revelation[/i], "the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company."1 The adequate response to this invitation is faith.

143 [i]By faith[/i], man completely submits his intellect and his will to God.2 With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, "the obedience of faith".

144 To obey (from the Latin ob-audire, to "hear or listen to") in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself...[/quote]

[elizabeth09]

[jeffpugh]

I would like to add that mystery is not total ignorance of something. Mystery can include knowledge of a subject, but just not full knowledge. We have an idea of what God is [i]not[/i] and we have been revealed as to some of what God [i]is[/i].

As per the original post:

I am Catholic because I am a sinner and I have a desire to be saved and enter heaven to be with the Eternal uncreated God who knew me and designed me before I was born. The Church is the only way to get to heaven because Jesus who is God who came and offered Himself as a spotless oblation made it this way to channel The Eternal Sacrifice that was to atone for man's offence against the Eternal God.

[Saint Therese]

The mercy of God.

[brightsadness]

Salvation, sanctification, and in God's mercy...Theosis.

[Fidei Defensor]

I'm not because it didn't make sense, and I have yet to find anything in the world that truly makes perfect sense.

[Ziggamafu]

Because the faith of Christianity, dynamic and living and growing, is a medicine so efficacious in curing what ails humanity that anyone who not only has this medicine but maximally [i]utilizes[/i] it is inevitably remembered as a world-changing saint.

Simplified: The charity, beauty, and order produced under the influence of Apostolic theology as represented by the saints.

Further simplified: The testimony and influences of saintliness.

Even further simplified: "The Communion of the Saints."