Why Are You A Christian?

[Antigonos]

[quote name='Pomak' date='11 December 2009 - 08:59 AM' timestamp='1260511166' post='2018236']
I am not sure if you guys share this, but Imam Al Ghazali commented that for a person to have iman(faith) he must have certainty. So how does a person have certainty if he or she doesn't truly understand or comprehend the fundamental dogma of his church.
[/quote]

An excellent question! You notice how the Christians fall back on that "it's a mystery" when they don't understand that faith is always illogical, and that they haven't got a clue what it is that they do believe.

Why doesn't Jesus talk to Hindus, or Buddhists? Several posters have claimed to have had personal revelations of Jesus. If Jesus were really a universal god, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume he'd have personal meetings with persons of other religions, to show them he was a god?

[Antigonos]

[quote name='MissyP89' date='11 December 2009 - 10:46 AM' timestamp='1260517596' post='2018275']
To the original question:

I am a Christian because I recognized myself to be directionless without God's love and mercy to guide me. I am a Catholic because I believe the love and mercy of God is most fully present in the Church, through the Sacraments. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif[/img]
[/quote]

This is the best explanation I've read so far. I don't agree with it, but I can understand your thinking.

I get nervous when people tell me that they've had personal revelations in the form of direct conversations with God [any God]. Reminds me of the line in the 1973 Peter O'Toole film "The Ruling Class". He's been in a mental asylum because he insists every one call him Jesus. Trying to humor him, someone asks him when he first realized he was God: "When I found that when I was praying I was talking to myself", he answers. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/saint.gif[/img]

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Antigonos' date='21 December 2009 - 11:52 AM' timestamp='1261421559' post='2024084']
[quote]I am not sure if you guys share this, but Imam Al Ghazali commented that for a person to have iman(faith) he must have certainty. So how does a person have certainty if he or she doesn't truly understand or comprehend the fundamental dogma of his church.[/quote]
An excellent question! You notice how the Christians fall back on that "it's a mystery" when they don't understand that faith is always illogical, and that they haven't got a clue what it is that they do believe.[/quote]
Al-Ghazali believed that allah's attributes were distinct from - and superadded to - his essence (See Al-Ghazali, [i]On Divine Predicates[/i], no. 1), but in spite of the fact that he was certain about the reality of this point of doctrine, he admitted that he did not know how it was possible.

God is beyond the created thoughts of man, and yet He has revealed certain things about Himself in sacred scripture and the apostolic tradition, and these revealed truths can be known with certainty through faith. Now, the gift of faith, and the certainty it provides, is not founded upon the created intellect of the believer, but is instead based upon the God's glory, which cannot be discursively known but only experienced in awe and worship (See St. Gregory of Nyssa, [i]Homilies on the Canticle of Canticles[/i]).

Edited December 21, 2009 by Apotheoun

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='brightsadness' date='20 December 2009 - 02:39 PM' timestamp='1261345170' post='2023580']
Salvation, sanctification, and in God's mercy...Theosis.
[/quote]
Well said!

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='Apotheoun' date='21 December 2009 - 02:40 PM' timestamp='1261424449' post='2024099']
Well said!
[/quote]
Indeed! I'll +1 that for you

[sacredheartandbloodofjesus]

To all the Muslims who think it is a sign of Catholic falsity that we beleive in the Trinity and say its a mystery because God is a mystery....

-How do you know God is one? Oh and I want facts that can be backed up with reason.

-Prove to me that God is all merciful.

-Prove to me that there is a God who created man.

-I want pure reason and facts that God created earth.

-Why is there suffering if God is all good and merciful?

These are essential things to your Faith so you should be able to back them up with reasonable facts and certainty.