Sorry not the preacher. Typo error. There was a guy who was eying me the whole time while I was there. He's the one that pestered me. 

I enjoyed the youtube video. 

Lel at the last part though.

"Have you been naughty?"

"Worried you might not go to heaven?"

"That you might be stuck in purgatory for 1000s of years"

But believe me, its not a joke if you died one day and you don't know where you'll end up. 

Eh something is wrong with the code it's not showing up again

Edit: I hngghhh the stuff shows in preview but when I post it's empty pulak apa niiii

Okay recopy pasta and it's not showing up on my end.

If you can see it that means my chrome bugged liao.

Hebrews 8:12 (NIV) For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more

Hebrews 8:10-12 (NIV)
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”c

Thanks UW I think I am not 'qualify' to share this topic as I am still a struggling Christian singles who is still searching for life partner.

no need for apologies (kinda feels weird being thanked for not being offended..)  I've only seen a few videos discussing about the subject(trinity) but have never read the verses regarding it myself.
Also, is it alright for a non Christian to post on this thread a bit?

Question for you guys: What do you think is the core essentials of Christianity (also the truth that unites all christians despite denominations)? Without this core beliefs, these people are no longer christians.

ah nice. relevant to what I want to know too.

yes actually. I stumbled upon a blog post today, it belonged to a Muslim who has some unorthodox views regarding her religion. Her understanding of the text lead to a conclusion contrary to the standard ruling of most scholars (I think). Which reminded me of an old video where some people were discussing/debating the concept of trinity(both have a different explanation of "the trinity").
in summary, I was only wondering if there is anyone here who read and study the bible and is also a regular church goer but disagrees with his or her church views on some things. Also, do any of you here identify yourself as Catholics or Protestants?
alright, got it. I will tread carefully.

*edit* I understand that this thread is for resting and not debating. I hope my questions aren't intrusive.

you are right about the divine mystery. I understand the inability of the mind to comprehend God fully. In my understanding, in order to accept the incomprehensible, I,you,they,anyone will have to understand the context of the presented subject/Topic/entity to see if the incomprehensible is compatible with the subject/topic/entity or in this case, God(general understanding) and Religious Texts.
I see that you have accepted the concept of the holy trinity as it is. thanks for answering!  I'll be sure to ask if anything comes up.
P.S, I hope my English was not confusing. I'm terrible at grammar.
*edit* in other words, what I meant above is simply that in order for anyone to accept the trinity or other concepts of God. the trinity itself must fit with the whole understanding of the religion/Christianity. Or in other words, the religious texts. which then brings me to my original question regarding how constant are you in reading the Bible to which you answered "daily" and you have also come to the conclusion of the holy Trinity after reading and understanding the Bible am I correct? again, thanks for answering! I'll be sure to ask if something comes up.

Hi guys. Can I join in as well? I'm a RC. From kuching

You can add Matthew 28:19 ... "... baptizing them into the name[singular] of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"

UW, can you repeat your reply here?

I can't seem to tract where our debate went to.

Anyway my point is some churches do try to force everybody to speak in tongues. And why when its time to praise during worship, everybody speak in tongues but nobody translate? 

Are you a full time worker at Calvary? Omg, I hope I don't know you. I am not from Calvary. But I met one guy who wear specs (forgot his name) work full time at Calvary likes to hang out with an artsy graphic designer guy from another mega church.

Kind of lonely to go alone, my cellies are quite FFK king.

Anyways, my partner is overseas. I am in LDR. So I am kind of lone wolf until I commute to the country where my partner is working once a month.

Sounds like DUMC! haha
I went for a mission trip with a Charismatic church once, and during the planning stages, my leader was concerned because some of us didn't speak in tongues because we might face some "spiritual warfare" thing when we are on our trip. I asked her for her scriptural justification for her charge that we should all speak in tongues, but I was never given one.

I never understood the idea of spiritual warfare the way many churches believe in it IMO: it makes God look like he's superman fighting Lex Luthor (AKA powers and authorities) which implies that God and the evil forces are on nearly equal ground but God is slightly stronger. The God of the Bible sounds like he isn't just stronger than the enemy, but he's sovereign over them and can crush them (and will crush them) very very easily.

I'm not doubting the existence of such "forces" though.
and...Happy Reformation day guys! lololololol

Because God has already chosen how to gloriously defeat them?(i.e. Revelations)
What is your answer?

Read on from the text: If Jesus was simply saying to Pilate that he wasn't powerful enough here because it's not his kingdom, he wouldn't have said the things he said (i.e. I was born for this reason (what reason?)..)
I think it's all pointing to something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy2AQlK6C5k...t=TLlRKw9UdEtCA

I don't doubt that our world is a fallen world and that God's kingdom isn't here NOW yet; nor am I saying that just because God is sovereign we should just sit back and enjoy the movie.

I'm not saying "don't pray", no, pray. But what do we pray about and why do we pray, that is the concern. While Jesus taught us to pray that "God's will be done", we're busy praying about what we *think* is God's will but we don't know because the bible is too hard to read. Prayer should lead us to be in submission to Christ and be humbled by the work that he has done, not to puff us up so that we can claim to have some "supernatural" power that other people don't.

To put it simply, we shouldn't be praying independently of trying to know God's will through his word: in this case, is speaking/praying in tongues really necessary? Does tongues make me a "better" Christian than someone else? No it doesn't. So why, why is there more emphasis on tongues than the faithful teaching and preaching of the gospel?

Reading all the epistles of Paul, what's more blatantly important to him? whether everyone's speaking in tongues or whether or not the gospel that of Jesus Christ dying for undeserving sinners, saving them through grace,and rising on the third day? 

Here's a real world example:
You're going to a third world country to preach the gospel to people who barely understand or have not heard of the gospel, what are your priorities?
(1)Pray that God will help you understand His word better and that you will be faithful to what you're teaching and preaching and that the people there will learn, AND THEN you work hard to make sure that you and your team are equipped to do the work there and won't teach heresy there

OR

(2)Make sure everyone in your team prays in tongues X times a week, fast breakfast every Monday and during group meetings: the priority is always to pray together in tongues without an interpreter.

In my case, (2) happened. And what happened when we were on the field? A few hundred village teens who are hardcore poor heard a sermon that told them how God was gonna bless them (in context, it was in a material way) if they remain righteous in him. So in other words, these poor village folk were taught that this whole relationship with God works this way: You obey him, he gives you stuff on earth, you guys clearly don't have alot of stuff right now because you're poor but don't worry, God's gonna bless you with wealth because you're Christians!

It was disgusting.
And of course on a complete separate issue: speaking in tongues corporately without an interpreter seems to be going against what scripture is teaching in 1 Corinthians 12-14 like what the other guy was saying. If this is what the Bible is teaching, shouldn't we obey it? :/

Btw everything I typed should be read in a happy and reasonable tone; there is no anger or hate involved in the typing of this message



Also, I think this is testimony would be good to understand what I'm trying to say too (think in terms of what the "focus" is)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94uqMo68ZDo
She's a paraplegic (semi-paralyzed) who sung a really nice song that nearly won an oscar called "Alone but not alone" (check that out too!)

I never understood the idea of spiritual warfare the way many churches believe in it IMO: it makes God look like he's superman fighting Lex Luthor (AKA powers and authorities) which implies that God and the evil forces are on nearly equal ground but God is slightly stronger. The God of the Bible sounds like he isn't just stronger than the enemy, but he's sovereign over them and can crush them (and will crush them) very very easily.

Even now, there are spiritual forces wrecking havoc somewhere, but why God doesn't crush them then and there?

Read on from the text: If Jesus was simply saying to Pilate that he wasn't powerful enough here because it's not his kingdom, he wouldn't have said the things he said (i.e. I was born for this reason (what reason?)..)

we're busy praying about what we *think* is God's will but we don't know because the bible is too hard to read.

is speaking/praying in tongues really necessary?

Reading all the epistles of Paul, what's more blatantly important to him? whether everyone's speaking in tongues or whether or not the gospel that of Jesus Christ dying for undeserving sinners, saving them through grace,and rising on the third day? 

can i add?

i believe there are different types of tongues. the tongues which require an interpreter are speaking in other's natives language

while the other is when we pray to the Father

is it completely necessary? someone once told me, when we can't pray, the Holy Spirit intercedes with us (with our inner man)

if you are going to ask for bible reference.... i'll have to go look it up

Looks like you don't understand the verse yourself. Paul has clearly stated that he would rather have people prophesy than speak in tongues, and show love rather than have all those spiritual gifts. This is not to say that these gifts are not important, but one is clearly more important than the other. Also, if no interpreter is present, they should keep silent.

Love > Prophecy > Tongues

Compare this with the practice of alot of churches today where everyone bursts into speaking in tongues. Paul would shake his head if he saw that happen.

27 No more than two or three should speak in tongues. They must speak one at a time, and someone must interpret what they say. 28 But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately. 1 Corinthians 14:27-28

Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? 30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:39-41