What beliefs would we consider reasonable for a self proclaimed Christian to hold?

[Godscreated]

Tell us specifically what prayers were answered, and how were they answered. You're great at telling half a story I notice. The last time it was "God reveals himself to me." You never went into detail about that either did you? It leads me to believe that you're just making shit up.

 You couldn't and wouldn't if you could understand. You believe about me as you desire, I've never given you a reason to believe I would lie to anyone about God. They were answered by revelation and the prayers are personal and actually none of your business. 

GC

[vorlon13]

  Paul's letters tell us we can have knowledge. You tell me how I can't know God is real when He has specifically answered prayers in a away that could not be coincidental. 
GC

I'm reading your reply as a direct rebuke of John 3:16.

Sure you want to go there ??

[Cod]

Tell us specifically what prayers were answered, and how were they answered. You're great at telling half a story I notice. The last time it was "God reveals himself to me." You never went into detail about that either did you? It leads me to believe that you're just making shit up.

 You couldn't and wouldn't if you could understand. You believe about me as you desire, I've never given you a reason to believe I would lie to anyone about God. They were answered by revelation and the prayers are personal and actually none of your business. 

GC

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Jesus.
Jesus who?
Not telling you.
Thanks a bunch.

[Astreja]

I believe there is very good evidence that there is indeed a spirit (soul) that survives the death of the body. I was in audience with Dr. George Ritchie who wrote the books Return From Tomorrow, and My Life After Dying. He was  pronounced dead twice and ultimately was revived by an injection into the heart. He was chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of Towers Hospital; and founder and president of the Universal Youth Corps. There have been hundreds of books written about near death and out of body experiences. The research is ongoing.

I am strongly of the opinion that Dr. Ritchie's brain was not permanently dead and that he experienced a run-of-the-mill NDE (which I do not accept as evidence of life after death).

[GrandizerII]

I believe there is very good evidence that there is indeed a spirit (soul) that survives the death of the body. I was in audience with Dr. George Ritchie who wrote the books Return From Tomorrow, and My Life After Dying. He was  pronounced dead twice and ultimately was revived by an injection into the heart. He was chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of Towers Hospital; and founder and president of the Universal Youth Corps. There have been hundreds of books written about near death and out of body experiences. The research is ongoing.

I am strongly of the opinion that Dr. Ritchie's brain was not permanently dead and that he experienced a run-of-the-mill NDE (which I do not accept as evidence of life after death).

Apparently, he also wrote his book decades after the experience, so a lot of the details would've likely been false memories.

[Drich]

Proof is not for any of to give. All any of us can do it tell you where and how to find it. GOD Himself provides the proof. Once you find that/once you know what it is you are looking for, nothing for you can deny who/what God is.

Sounds like the ideal setup for becoming a victim of confirmation bias.  Probably because it is.

What if said proof points you into a completely different direction?

Apart of my proof came in a 180* different view of Hell. I only knew a version of Dante' inferno, came to find out I experenced a completely different version of Hell. so much so I almost dismissed the whole experience, till I started reading the bible. Then began to read descriptions of Hell that I experienced months or even years prior.

---

Your system of 'proof' work no other way/make no logical sense other than being an obstical for God to over come and then/thereby be subjegated to 'science' thus proving He is not God.

Think about it in what trial is not eye witness testimony invalid? in what court is the eye witness testimony by billions thrown out and laught at?

Then a demand made that in order to prove an all powerful God subjugate Himself to the confines and limitation/predictable reactions to prodding and testing of small minded 'science' would thus disqualify him as being all powerful since He has made the declaration that He will hide himself from those who seek to discover God on those terms.

Proof is not for any of to give. All any of us can do it tell you where and how to find it. GOD Himself provides the proof. Once you find that/once you know what it is you are looking for, nothing for you can deny who/what God is.

A book of silly, flawed fairy tales is not proof.  Stories told by con men and witch doctors is not proof.  "Eye-witness testimony" contained in an old book of fairy tales is not "eye-witness".  (Now, if you had a few dozen texts from Roman, Greek, and Jewish historians written in the year 32-ish, that might have some value. These have not been found.) Personal stories about god go in the same category as personal stories about being abducted by aliens.  If people pray to experience something hard enough, most people will experience something and attribute it to - whatever they were told to expect.  I need more substantive proof.  If there is an all-powerful deity that actually wants humans to know of its existence, then it is quite capable of providing clear proof that cannot be mistaken for human fantasy and story telling.

How are you a doctor of anything??

Eye witness in the billions does not mean the few who live with Christ. I'm speaking of the billions of people who came after and witness and experienced Christ and or the Holy Spirit on a personal level as I have.

Despite what you guys think God is active and alive in HIS Churches.

[Astreja]

Eye witness in the billions does not mean the few who live with Christ. I'm speaking of the billions of people who came after and witness and experienced Christ and or the Holy Spirit on a personal level as I have.

I think you're all imagining it.  Every one of you, without a single exception.

[The Grand Nudger]

LOL, so do they.  Courts full of christians don't exactly give deference to the "christ told me to" theory of criminal defence.  Even among the religious, overt religiosity is a negative indicator. They all know that christ never told anyone shit. They know this because christ is silent and hidden in their lives, as god so eloquently was in magic book beyond a small handful of people in the middle of nowhere thousands of years ago..for a couple of years...allegedly.

To be completely blunt..they aren't even imagining shit. All this "witnessing" this or that is churchspeak.

[Whateverist]

Pro tip:  NEAR-death studies have nothing whatsoever to do with real, physical, permanent death.  The phenomenon known as a near-death experience appears to occur in a still-living brain in distress, possibly caused by hypoxia due to heart failure, and/or by release of assorted hormones in response to the crisis.

I believe that death is permanent and that there is no such thing as life after death and no such thing as a soul.

Don't believe me?  Then where does your "soul" go at night when you enter non-REM deep sleep?  If you can't even maintain awareness of your self when your brain is alive and healthy but producing low-frequency brain waves rather than the brain waves that normally accompany consciousness, what makes you think that you will be aware when your brain is completely dead?

Embrace your mortality.  Seek meaning in the real world, while you can.  Mourn the loss of your dead properly, rather than expecting to meet them again in heaven.  There is no escape.

I believe there is very good evidence that there is indeed a spirit (soul) that survives the death of the body. I was in audience with Dr. George Ritchie who wrote the books Return From Tomorrow, and My Life After Dying. He was  pronounced dead twice and ultimately was revived by an injection into the heart. He was chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of Towers Hospital; and founder and president of the Universal Youth Corps. There have been hundreds of books written about near death and out of body experiences. The research is ongoing.

*my bold*

An indication of just how desperate believers are to receive even a crumb of hope for the weird shit you believe.

[The Grand Nudger]

I've always thought that af would be a great place to do research for a completely cynical exploitation of supernatural whatsits.  We have here, in effect, a laundry list of outlandish shit that some people are dying to see legitimized. Not even the rank and file..but the real fuckin nutters who haven't been adequately serviced by the religious market and so come here to get their rocks off by saying crazy shit that would get them booed out of church (or temple, or the ritual circle, or knitting class, or their morning stretches...whatever passes for religion.)