Do you believe in god?

[Unicorndreams24]

i have recently been thinking a lot about religion and wondering how many believe in god and also what made you come to the decision of believing?

An interesting question for Christians.

Reading the thread about the woman shot by ICE, turns out she was a devout Christian RIP.

Got me thinking. Not specifically her, but in general.

Trump and his admin are Christian. Many migrants, especially from Latin countries are also Christians.

Given that both sides pray to the same God, but for very different things, what side should God support and answer ?

Thank you; that is wonderful to hear. I just can’t really answer your specific question here within the framework you’ve outlined, because it assumes a works-based model — good Christians, bad Christians — and then a third category of non-believers. This framework is something that Christianity itself doesn’t teach.

The Bible states that Jesus came to save all, and teaches that whoever trusts in him will have eternal life. Salvation isn’t earned by works or moral performance, but received by grace. So, that would be the closest to a Christian view on the framework proposed; I do hope that helps.

Maybe others can help answer your question and respond on the framework if they share your view.

Don’t think Jesus can save non believers .

Your question reminds me of this scenario-

“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a Man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua went up to Him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
”Neither,” He replied, “but as Commander of the army of YHWH I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked Him, “What message does my Lord have for His servant?” The Commander of YHWH’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.”
Joshua 5 :13-15

in other words, God is on His own ‘side’ and we need to first recognise Him and then fall in line with Him.

edited for typo

Why on earth would anyone fall in line with him?

Jos 6:2 "And YHWH says to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho and its king into your hand--mighty men of valor, "(LSV)

Ok, so God gave Joshua the King, then they done the 7 times around blowing horns, carrying the ark of the covenant.

Then Jos 6:24 "And they have burned the city with fire, and all that [is] in it; only, the silver and the gold, and the vessels of bronze, and of iron, they have given [to] the treasury of the house of YHWH;" (LSV)

And

Jos 6:21 "and they devote all that [is] in the city, from man even to woman, from young even to aged, even to ox, and sheep, and donkey, by the mouth of the sword." (LSV)

Then

Jos 6:25" and Rahab the harlot, and the house of her father, and all whom she has, Joshua has kept alive; and she dwells in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho." (LSV)

Right, so in that verse you quoted, God gives the King of the city to Joshua, then some magic spells happen, all the people of the city are killed, except for the Harlot, and God keeps all the gold and silver.

If that is the Bible story you think answers the question, then that means Trump then. He keeps all the gold and silver, because he like gold, the Harlot survives and goes into hiding

Jos 6:27 "And YHWH is with Joshua, and his fame is in all the land". (LSV)

I think you could have found a better story, unless of course you really do think God is on Trumps side.

But in any case, to quote you :" in other words, God is on His own ‘side’ and we need to first recognise Him and then fall in line with Him."

His own side being about Genocide.

Cool.

Am very surprised that Trump hasn’t been kicked out of any church . Not the type of behaviour you’d want to be associated with

i haven’t addressed the situation with Trump at all.

What I’ve shown you is that God has His own plans and will. He can’t be “used” by any ‘side’.

have a great day :-)

That is an interesting question. However, I think the question assumes prayer works like competing requests where God has to “pick a side.” I would suggest that the Bible does not teach this.

In the Bible, God isn’t a tribal deity who backs whoever claims Him loudest. Jesus explicitly rejects the idea that suffering means God chose against someone (Luke 13:1–5 is what I am recalling here.)

Christians believe God cares about people, not political agendas. Prayer isn’t about controlling outcomes but about seeking God’s will, asking for mercy, justice, repentance, restraint, and compassion — especially in broken situations caused by human decisions.

When Christians pray in situations like this, many would pray for peace, for the protection of life, for wisdom for those in authority, for repentance where there is wrongdoing, and for comfort for the grieving — not for one “side” to win. What a tragedy the loss of any life is.

The New Testament is very clear that human power regularly acts unjustly, even while claiming God (Jesus was killed by religious and political authorities who believed they were right, is what springs to mind). I hope that provides a bit of colour on this question. I appreciate it may result in disagreement, of course, but didn’t want to leave it unanswered if possible.

I find your posts so interesting, thank you so much for sharing!

At school, long ago, we were taught about Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. It was a standard C of E school. I had the impression that purgatory was a sort of bland nothingness, where you'd float around in an eternal fog while you felt appropriately sorry for your shortcomings. If it was explained how to make it out of there, I don't remember what they said; I do remember it would be thousands of years and it wasn't supposed to be nice.

Google tells me purgatory's a Catholic thing and involves being purified by fire.
It cites:

Matthew 12:32: "Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."

Hebrews 12:14/Revelation 21:27: "Without holiness no one will see the Lord."

It also suggests that Christ's death fully atones for all sins, making further purification or punishment unnecessary. But does it atone for all sins and all sinners, or is entry to the country club restricted to believers?

What is our resident Christians' take on this?

To clarify, I have no anxiety about it as I'm convinced my 'afterlife' will be down to physics & chemistry. As my atoms pass through infinity, forming different parts of different things, I do not expect them to have consciousness. Would be wild if they do, though!

we were lucky enough to send DT’s to an international school in London and they learnt about the role of religions in history, art, and society, not theological doctrines.

No religious assemblies or church services.

You have never heard who is official Whitehouse Pastors are then.

President Trump Announces Appointments to the White House Faith Office – The White House

Paula White Cain is a good one. Here is a breakdown of one of her scams.

Breaking down rumor that Trump's faith adviser promised '7 supernatural blessings' for $1K | Snopes.com

The conclusion of the latter is "Therefore, while a viewer may justifiably infer, based on the video, that White-Cain promised that seven blessings will arrive should the viewer give $1,000 to Paula White Ministries, neither White-Cain nor the narrator explicitly promise anywhere in the video that giving $1,000 or more will result in people receiving the seven blessings."

And here is what the Christian press say about her.

From Prosperity Televangelism to the White House - Christianity Today

From that :"According to Lee and Sinitiere, White-Cain “reinvented her image with extensive plastic surgery, modish hairstyles, perfectly manicured nails, chic silk suits, fitted dresses, and a leaner size 4 figure.”"

I am also fairly sure she claimed to have visited heaven as a guest. But my limited internet can't find it sorry.

Just his type I would say.

:-)

I’d forgotten about her - she’s weird

I think I was lucky that my school, in the 1960s, covered a range of belief systems in RE. I was obsessed by ancient Greek mythology. We also did introductions to Hinduism, Islam, some more obscure religions and Judaism. With hindsight, my teacher was a bit antisemitic (they killed Jesus) but she didn't preach hatred or anything like that.

As you know, C of E assembly was mandatory. In my early teens, I learned you could get out of it by making a declaration of religious conflict - so I did, and hung around drinking tea with the Jewish and Muslim girls for 20 minutes of a morning.

Quote : " When Christians pray in situations like this, many would pray for peace, for the protection of life, for wisdom for those in authority, for repentance where there is wrongdoing, and for comfort for the grieving — not for one “side” to win. What a tragedy the loss of any life is."

Ok. Not Trump then ?

Anyway, we know Trump does not like Anglicans. He did want that Anglican Bishop deported, after she preached about forgiveness and looking after migrants.

But yup, here is team Trump praying for guidance.

Oh yes. She is weird.

"A neighbor in her trailer park led her to Christ, then White-Cain married Randy White, a Pentecostal preacher. The newlyweds scraped together enough resources to start a church in Tampa, Florida, that eventually became Without Walls International Church. They divorced in 2007, just before a Senate Finance Committee investigation found they had spent tax-exempt donations on a lavish mansion, a private jet, and exorbitant salaries for family members."

Private jets of course. Gotta have a private jet or 3 to do the Lords work.

The tax exemption stuff might be why they like Trump though.

Edit-

No I am not mocking. Just showing how Christians are a diverse bunch, and that they appear to get different messages from the same bible as Christians posting here do.

What interesting questions! You’re right that purgatory is a Catholic doctrine, not part of historic Church of England teaching. The C of E’s position is in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (16th century), and Article XXII rather bluntly explicitly rejects purgatory as “a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture.”

Christ’s death is understood to be fully sufficient to atone for all sins: “By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Hebrews 10:14). But it’s effective for those who receive it — meaning it covers all sin (ie past, present and future), but only believers experience its forgiveness. That’s not about exclusion, but about relationship: God’s grace is offered freely to all, but not imposed.

The verses you mentioned fit this view, rather than one supporting purgatory. Matthew 12:32 highlights the seriousness of rejecting God, not a later purification process. The verse: “without holiness no one will see the Lord” is understood as holiness received in Christ, not something we earn.

On your last point: I love your curiosity! I know lots of physicists and chemists who are also Christians, and plenty who aren’t — and I’m neither, just a fellow human trying to make sense of life. So whether atoms dissolve into infinity or consciousness persists, I always feel honesty and wonder are never wasted.

A good point for DT’s going to an international school with no indoctrination about god and Jesus was that their classmates were from a huge number of countries with different cultures and beliefs.
DT’s have kept in touch with school friends and been invited to religious events of different backgrounds. Although we are atheists they have a great understanding of different cultures and beliefs without having to follow one.

It sounds a real positive 🤗

Yep, and when I was a kid it did scare me. It wasn't good. Conservative Evangelical theology has a lot to answer for. Took me a long time to untangle from it - very glad I now have.

I can't speak Trump et al regarding their personal faith / relationship with God, only they know what that's like, but 'by their fruit you shall know them'...... and nothing they've been doing so far convinces me they've read the gospels or are acting as Jesus would.
I think a hard line, right wing, evangelical conservative christianity is behind it all, and that does not match with the God or Christianity that I know... and I think Trump is using it for his own personal ends, whatever they might be. It's the populist vote for a large section of Americans (anti abortion, anti immigration, nationalist), and Trump is playing it for all he's worth, IMO. I think he would claim to be Christian (or not) and swivel on that in a heartbeat if he thought it suited whatever agenda he's got.

Ah yes .... Trump .... a prime example of a dictator using religion to justify their actions., as those in pursuit of power always have.

Just live by kindness. Do not get sucked into all this.

Books like the Bible are infinitely malleable. You can pick which bits you want to take as the Literal Word of God, which bits have been interpreted by fallible humans and so need contextualising and interpretation, which bits are allegorical and of those, what lessons we should take from those allegories. And then surrounding that you've got other traditions (eg, the purported lives of the saints) and texts (eg the Nicene Creed), later interpretations and then interpretations of those interpretations and so on. This is how you can get Christians who accept gay people and Christians who don't. It's also why you get Christians who say they're Christians and other Christians who say that the first group aren't.

This isn't just an issue with Christianity of course. Look at any religion and there are different sects, sub-sects and splinter groups, every one of which is convinced that they're the ones who've got it right. Islam has its sects just as much as Hinduism and Sikhism do, for instance. No two religious people believe exactly the same thing.

I was listening to a Mexican film director of horror movies talking about his life.
He was brought up in a strongly Catholic family and the concept of atoning for humankind sins through suffering expressed itself by his grandmother outting upturned bottle caps inside his shoes so his feet would bleed.
He was clear that the horrors in his films were based on biblical imagery.
Do we want this for out children? Is this how we want people to live?
Noone knows whether a god exists .... all we know is that there are ways of living decent lives that shun all this stuff.