To my Christian brothers, for how long were you celibate before marriage?

[Jim Tom]

I celebrated for around 12 years before I got married at 29 yrs old.

Did your girlfriend visit you during the years of celibacy?

[Jim Tom]

In Genesis it said that God created Adam first, and then He told Adam directly not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge (Which is think is DMT)

And then after He created Adam and told him the rule, He created Eve. The sin belongs with him because God told Adam directly, even before Eve was created.

Eve knew the commandment even though she was created after Adam had been told. She knew:

Genesis 3:2-3
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die

Now also see that God actually judged her for her actions:

Genesis 3:16
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

[Jim Tom]

Am catholic went to catholic school.

Went to university.

Smashed in freshers week.

Did you go to the confession box and get a hiding from the priest?

[Jim Tom]

A conservative Christian upbringing nearly messed me up for life.

Didn't get my first piece until I was in my mid-20's. Between constant fear of hellfire, AIDS...(which, of course, was God's punishment for fornicating outside of wedlock), the low self-esteem, originating from the isolationism of my then-faith, when compared to my peers, multiplied my natural shyness around the opposite sex, during my formative years. It's a miracle my first time was a pleasant experience at all, at least for 24 hours or so, until the reality of my taught version of "how it should be" clashed with the reality of a liberated woman and how big a role sex didn't necessarily play.

To clarify, the sex was great, surprisingly for the first time (will-power to not finish too soon actually paid off); but a short day later I got to learn that painful lesson that sex does not necessarily equal emotional connection and, ultimately, it ruined what had been a really good friendship within the span of a few years afterwards. Thank "God" I survived the crazy period which followed as I went on my own personal emotional/psychological roller coaster, along with a varied assortment of strange, with surprisingly few broken hearts, comparatively.

Cause and effect...I was hurt emotionally and, inevitably, hurt others. Crash course in the blues and life, as I was somehow able to cram the life lessons most experience between their teens and twenties into a few short years, all thanks to the attempt to live out conservative Christian beliefs, as written and expected.

Friends, folks are simply not meant to live and behave in that way. It is the road to insanity or, at the very least, emotional insecurity and denial and disconnection to the way the world and people actually work. The Bible was comprised 2000 years ago in a cultish Middle-Eastern culture and the morals espoused between Genesis and Revelations reflect this ancient way of life, which in no way relates to our own, except in the most basic and simple of ethics and morals, which are, fundamentally, universal across borders and cultural divides.

Sorry for the testimony and quasi-sermon, guys; but the fact that I emerged from that quagmire of oppressive self-discipline as virtually unscathed as I did still amazes me to this day. I don't think religion is a bad thing, necessarily; but, take it from one who knows, it is maddening and self-damaging to attempt to live the tenants of any two millennium old, long dead culture under 21st century mentalities and experience. Which, is why, I would argue, that 21st Century Christianity, by and large, is the Light-Beer version of what was originally deep, dark, heavy, full-flavored Stout.

...regardless of what various followers tell themselves.

"We"....meaning modern Christians (although I no longer really self-identify as such, though I could be called an "Unorthodox Christian", in that I still primarily live by the words of wisdom espoused to have come from Yeshua Ben Yoseph"), are pale comparisons in our dedication to the guidelines outlined by those who wrote the words down, originally. "We" would be considered "********" compared to the founders....if not heretics.

If you were to die today would you be happy to meet your maker or go to your final destination?

Do you think the sex was good enough so what happens eternally to you is of no consequence compared to the sex?

Coming to whether the values are for us or not if God is God how hard is it for him to prescribe values through which men can live with? God does live in eternity and we live in time. He knows the end from the beginning so how hard is it for him to tell us what to do?

[Sparked_26]

Did you go to the confession box and get a hiding from the priest?

Honestly, I've not felt the same when my favourite priest actually turned out to be bumming alter boys in the 70s Such a stereotype.

When I was kid in the 90s he dropped the body of christ and had to bless every wafer. We had to watch him do it for an hour. He had parkinsons so it was sad.

But now you think, he shouldn't have bothered. You're going to the bad place mate. You could be shoving those wafers up your arse at this stage.

[Boxfan83]

Mind elaborating what you mean by Christians being hypocrites?

Protestants love to judge. They love to point fingers and call others unholy.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

I read someones post the other day saying that I claim to be a Christian but I dont speak like 1. In my opinion, my sins are between me and God as no1 has the right to judge me but him.

[K-DOGG]

If you were to die today would you be happy to meet your maker or go to your final destination?

Do you think the sex was good enough so what happens eternally to you is of no consequence compared to the sex?

Coming to whether the values are for us or not if God is God how hard is it for him to prescribe values through which men can live with? God does live in eternity and we live in time. He knows the end from the beginning so how hard is it for him to tell us what to do?

1. Yes, I'm perfectly fine with my impending death and whatever comes afterwards. The concept of "Heaven and Hell" are man-made constructs to ensure obedience to a certain set of behavior patterns and for years, loyalty to the all-powerful Catholic Church. The false threat of some celestial judgement holds no sway over me, nor my actions. I'm perfectly capable of moral behavior without the threat of hellfire.

2. Sex is pleasurable and one of the perks of being flesh. Concerning these imaginary consequences, the question is moot, as whatever happens to me in the afterlife will have nothing to do with any sexual exploits I had in this form of existence.

3. God. God is far too vast to be contained in any one book, much less one which was assembled for the purpose of defining Christianity under au****es of unifying Romans in such a manner as they were more manageable, which is why Constantine ordered the Council of Nicae in 323 A.D. I find it no mere coincidence that only 200 something odd church leaders out of 1800 invited actually attended and voted on a doctrine which reflected their predominantly Pauline teachings, as opposed the "gospels" which they proceeded to burn in a great bondfire after the actual Cannon reflecting their decided theology was formed. Then, a few short decades later, other church leaders who took umbrage with their narrow view of what Jesus taught were likewise burned and continued being burned throughout the following centuries to silence anything contrary to the dogma they voted upon all those years before.....that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God.

"God" is omniscient, which means he is everywhere, in between every molecule of every atom, and since you and I are comprised of more space than stuff, that means "God" occupies more of us than we do.

"God" does not need any one messenger to relay his will, as each of us have our own built in receiver, each of us is equally close to "God". It is whether we choose to listen to "his" murmurings or not.

Obeying what some Roman bureaucrat decided to copy down and edit some 2000 years ago is hardly a prerequisite of being a "Child of God", for that is a role we all own. Parents have good children and bad; but they love them all the same. A good parent may be disappointed with a child's behavior and very well may discipline them, or they may decide that consequences for one's actions, alone, is enough of a teacher; but make no mistake about it. Burning one's child for all eternity is something so barbaric that it could only come from the perverse mind of bronze age sadist and no true "God". No creator would be so willing to torment "his" creation; and if so, is hardly worth worship. And that is not even touching upon the fact that any being who is omnipotent and self-aware could possibly be so petty as to demand or even request something so self-gratifying as his creations worship him. To suggest such a notion is to belittle the very concept of "GOD", as is the notion of suggesting that he would willingly and knowingly allow his offspring to be tortured to death for the purpose of "forgiving sins", something which is entirely within the capabilities of any entity which is "omnipotent".

No, these are the creations of bronze-age men in their pitiful attempt to define their "god" and what "he" desired of his followers. While is was certainly an evolutionary step up from the days when beasts and children were slaughtered upon the alter, it is no less crude and barbaric in nature, regardless of whether or not the sacrifice was willing of the deed or no. The same sacrifice was made by countless other men and women from varying paganistic practices since time immemorial, without the press agent Saul of Tarsus heralding their deeds

Whatever Jesus truly taught was lost when the Church of Jerusalem was cast to the four winds in 70 A.D, yet, followers of Christianity put their faith in the writings of a man who never even laid eyes upon the man, unless you count the three accounts in Acts which Paul, himself, never even bothered to corroborate in his own writings, or clarified which version was the most accurate, since all three differed.

So, in conclusion, yes, God can tell us what to do. I could even make the point that "He" might be telling me to respond to you in this long drawn out way, just to set the record straight; but I will make no such argument, as I am not that arrogant or conceited. A claim which, obviously, cannot be made by the late Saul of Tarsus or the 200 something odd men who, 1700 years ago told you and all Christians what to believe was the truth, while destroying any evidence that they just might have been not telling you all of it.

[Mooshashi]

Did your girlfriend visit you during the years of celibacy?

My girlfriends (plural) celebrated along with me. In various positions.

[llll]

What do you have to say about this :

1 Corinthians 5:11
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

Galatians 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Please tell us your take on these scriptures.

My take is that you're missing the principle of the gospel.

" Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. "

Romans chapter 12 verse 2.

Jesus died for our sins so that we could be free. Free from the past, free from our curses and everything keeping us from God so that we could be free to join God in Eternity. If you're still talking about sin, then you're not free.

[Jim Tom]

That's in the old testament, directed towards the israelites setting down the law and government.

Everything changed when Jesus died for our sins.

Adam with the first sin cursed humanity to death.

And Jesus with the sacrifice freed humanity from sin. All sins are committed in the flesh, and there is no sin in the spirit. Through faith we are granted undeserved kindness in the flesh, and in spirit we are without sin.

God wants us to exist in spirit and to cast aside the flesh.

The New Testament also doesn’t allow eating of blood or meat sacrificed to idols. That rare steak is not for Christians because the life of an animal is in the blood.

Acts 15:28-29
For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.