Here we go...

[Alumentum]

Hello to everyone,


My name is Nick. I am 17 years old and I live in Florida. I am in my final year of high school where I participate in ROTC and music as well as other basic classes. The town I live in is small, nice and very VERY religious. The last fact seems to be the prOBlem and here comes the part where you all hate me.

I am not a christian. I am actually pagen, predominatly Odinist. I am adopted by my family and they are Baptist. They have tried and tried to get my to convert and to go to church, but I can't seem to do it. I joined this website in hopes that maybe you could help me with this 'prOBlem' I have. I'm just sick and tired of disappointing my family and I want to be as happy as everyone around me is.

Um..that's about it X /

[Brother Rick]

Hey there!

Consider yourself warmly welcomed to the site.

The people here are pretty friendly for the most part, but we're just human too. No one here is perfect, you may have heard the expression, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven."

To be frank, if you put up with us and have an honest heart that is seeking the truth, we'll put up with anything in you that might be disagreeable.

Let's try and find some common ground.

I'm not familar with what an Odinist is. Do you believe in one God, multiple gods, or no God? Heaven? Hell? Afterlife? What is your view of the Bible?

[Alumentum]

Thank you.

Well, I believe in many gods and godesses. I also believe in an afterlife and an end of time. To me, Odin is the supreme god, but my personal favorite is Thor. Thor is similar to Jupiter or Zues but, in my religion he is the guardian of Midgard(earth and the material world) and the god of thunder. To me there are many versions of heaven but, the most prestigious is the capitol city Asgard. Odin and his wife are the rulers there and you have to be accepted by them to enter.

I don't really have a view on the Bible. I've never read it or anything, I literally know nothing about Christianity. I hope not to anger any of you, but I'm not the smartest of people so things have to be dumed down a bit.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Alumentum

[HappyChristian]

Alumentum, glad to have you with us. One thing you need to know at the outset: we don't hate you!

To get a fuller understanding of what we believe, I would recommend that you begin to read the Bible. The Gospel of John is a wonderful place to start and is easy to understand.

As you have questions, feel free to ask. There is a wide variety of experience and knowledge on this board, and we will all do what we can to help you understand.

[Alumentum]

Thank you and that's really nice to know. So far I have been kicked off of three other sites before I could even say why I was there so I just expected the same here.

I think I'll start reading the Bible tomorrow when everyone goes to church. For my questions, where should I post them?

[4everHis]

Welcome!

We are glad that you have found us. I'm not super savvy on where to post things. Why don't you post up your first question and then someone else can tell you where it goes!

[Alumentum]

Ok, the biggest question I have is what are the rules or the virtues you go by? How do you know what is right or wrong and what are you guidlines to help you follow the rules so to speak?

[trc123]

My friend, we don't go by any virtues. We have looked into the mirror of the perfect, loving Jesus, the Messiah and seen we are a needy people. We've seen there is nothing in ourselves that is worthy of praise or naturally good in comparison to Jehovah our God. We've come to the realization that "trying to be good" is exhausting and eventually futile. We've come to rest in the forgiveness, mercy and love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Alumentum]

So you have nothing to guide you? Do you not have things that you can and can't do or should and shouldn't do?

I'm sorry if I'm misreading this, I just don't know if I'm understanding this correctly. X /

[JerryNumbers]

Alumentum, What kind of relationship do you have with your adopted parents? I was never adopted, my mother, brother, and a sited died in a house fire when I was about 20 months old. 20 days later my older brother and I were place in an orphan home. I left the orphan home to live with one family, but things feel a apart, at about 5 years of age I went to live with a man and woman, husband and wife, and the wife's mother. I called them father, mother, grandmother.

Mother attended church faithfully, along with grandmother, and she made sure I was there every time the doors opened. I'm glad, I was saved in August 1961.

No, I have not always been faithful to my God, after school I fell away, but later on I went back to Him.

Why is it you refuse to attend church with them? Why not attend church with them, that would be a great way to lean about our living God and his Son Jesus who gave His life on the cross so that we can have life?

Oh, welcome to onlinebaptist.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Jerry80871852

[CPR]

Hello to everyone,


My name is Nick. I am 17 years old and I live in Florida. I am in my final year of high school where I participate in ROTC and music as well as other basic classes. The town I live in is small, nice and very VERY religious. The last fact seems to be the prOBlem and here comes the part where you all hate me.

I am not a christian. I am actually pagen, predominatly Odinist. I am adopted by my family and they are Baptist. They have tried and tried to get my to convert and to go to church, but I can't seem to do it. I joined this website in hopes that maybe you could help me with this 'prOBlem' I have. I'm just sick and tired of disappointing my family and I want to be as happy as everyone around me is.

Um..that's about it X /

Hi Nick!

It can be tough to figure out what you believe and where you fit in everything and I understand what you are going through. When I was in high school I didn't attend church with my parents either. I attended a different church (different Christian denomination). The reasons why make for kind of a long story, but in a nutshell, I was able to make what I believed my own with the support of my parents.

Now I know that you are in a much different situation, but I understand being uncomfortable with the idea of a particular church. It seems that you are open minded, which is a good thing, and you are willing to explore your adoptive parents' religion. I would encourage you to continue exploring and asking questions. I'm a pretty open minded and understanding person, so don't be shy about bringing up anything you have questions about.

[CPR]

Ok, the biggest question I have is what are the rules or the virtues you go by? How do you know what is right or wrong and what are you guidlines to help you follow the rules so to speak?

Let me take a stab at this, I think I know what you mean.

What everyone is trying to say is that we have to have faith in Jesus to forgive us for our sins (everything we do wrong) because we are human and we will do wrong even though we may try. Because we are not perfect, we can't be good enough to earn salvation or to get to Heaven, faith in Jesus is the only way.

As Christians, we try to follow the example of Jesus and his teachings. He summed them up for us by saying that we should love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength; and love our neighbor as ourself.

So, we try to love God and love others and treat them as we would want to be treated as basic guiding principles for life. Is that what you were asking?

[Alumentum]

@Jerry

I suppose I have a fairly good one. I call them mom and dad and they treat me the same as their other kids. They don't bash me on my beliefs so I pay a lot of respect to them for that. I don't refuse to go to church, I used to go out of respect but, all I got were weird stares and eventually the pastor made it very clear I shouldn't even bother to go, so I don't.

@CPR

But, why would you trust only him? Why wouldn't he tell you what you can and cannot due? And to be honest, my knowledge of Jesus is a little less then the paragraph they had about him in the history book. So, who or what is Jesus? Why would you put faith in him and not God?

Edited June 23, 2010 by Alumentum

[HappyChristian]

But, why would you trust only him? Why wouldn't he tell you what you can and cannot due? And to be honest, my knowledge of Jesus is a little less then the paragraph they had about him in the history book. So, who or what is Jesus? Why would you put faith in him and not God?

Alumentum, who or what is Jesus? He is the Son of God, the Creator of the Universe, and my Lord and Saviour. But that is something, given your little knowledge of Him, that you may not understand. Actually, that is the entire reason I recommended that you begin with the Gospel of John in the Bible. That gospel tells the story of Jesus Christ's life on earth from the viewpoint of His diety.

Actually, He does tell us what we can and cannot do. In His written Word. There are principles and commands throughout scripture that let us know how He wants us to live. However: it isn't all about what we do or don't do. Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ - through faith.

Oh - you can post your questions in whatever forum you feel they fit. If you have questions about the Bible or Christianity, you can put it in the Bible forum (forums can be accessed on the main page).

[Brother Rick]

Alumentum, I'm really glad you're here. You seem to be very reasonable and rational, and I appreciate that and I'm sure everyone else here does.

I second the suggestion to start by reading the book of John.

Christianity is a religion of a risen Saviour, Jesus, and a book - the Bible. We don't worship the Bible, but it is our authority. We believe that it is the word of God. We believe it has the truth in it about life, God, the afterlife, everything. Our views and opinions are subject to the word of God. The Bible is a collection of books, written over a couple thousand years by over 40 authors. The whole book fits together.

We believe in one God. He created the Earth and the universe. God is manifested in three forms, the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. God created the Earth perfect, but man disOBeyed God and fell into sin. That's why everything is a mess. God, in His love, sent His Son Jesus to pay the penalty of our sins. The Bible says, "...the wages of sin is death...", therefore Jesus died a terrible death for crimes He did not commit. If a person is willing to admit he is a sinner, he can by faith pray to God and ask for forgiveness BASED upon what Jesus did.

This is called salvation. It is a onetime event. Jesus only died once to pay for the penalty of our sins for all time, so we only need to ask Him for salvation one time. At the point of salvation, we are adopted into the family of God. We are "born again" spiritually, and become spiritual children of God. We are not made perfect by salvation, so we still sin sometimes. When we do, we ask for forgiveness to our Father (God) as a child would to its Father. We are still children of the Father the entire time, regardless of the sin. We ask for forgiveness because we as children want to have a better relationship with our Father.

Which brings me to a critical point. Christians have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Ask yourself if any of the gods you believe in actually know you or have done anything for you, on a personal level. Jesus actually did something FOR us. He didn't just go out and do a bunch of things, and we try to follow in His steps. He did something FOR us. On a daily basis, we try to do things for Him, and He lives inside of us spiritually. He does things for us on a daily basis because He loves us, as a Father loves his child. We don't do anything to try to achieve anything; we serve the Lord because we love Him.

Every religion out there is either "do", but Christianity is "done". We believe everything was done in Jesus, and we don't have to do anything to earn anything. We go to Heaven based solely upon the merits of Jesus Christ.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Rick Schworer