i assume ur not one of the people who believe that religion should evolve with society...which is the way it should be. now before u start flaming cos i already stated im not christian and i should butt out...this applies to all religions. any religion that does not satisfy the changes due to time from the outset is flawed per se. i dont understand why religion should change with the changes in society. if religion and god are true, which to me they are, then god would have accounted for these changes from before, being omni-present, omni-potent and omniscient, right? thus all things within the religion should be based for as long as the religion sticks around. any modifications made to this creed are man-made and artificial - which is EXACTLY how it should NOT be. any man-made changes are limited in view, and requires constant changes to keep "up-to-date" per se. man in his very nature (note his is an arbitrary term), limited and dependant on many things, and if u believe in god - one who is above these limitations, then you should automatically realise that any thing that u add is limited as u urself are limited. thus, if god set out for a religion to stick for the entirety of humankind from its point of arrival, is it not plausible that god had infact intended the way described in the scriptures to be THE way to live ur life?Wilmo said:Christianity is only out dated because nobody wants to follow Christ...
But thats the same with all religions i guess... If muslims were commited to living the koran, or people listened to Ghandi then the world would be a completely different place. But its easy to say your something but not live like you are.
In my opinion, christians today have become lazy. Some people get into the mind frame that they are saved no matter what they do, which is true, but you cant show someone you love them if you dont put effort into the relationship.
For so long it seems we've lacked the motivation to live christianity, and because of that noone knows what christianity is... We're just a bunch of nay sayers pointing our fingers at anything we personally dont agree with saying "God doesnt want you to do this, He certainly doesnt like that"... God already gave his opinion on what he wants and we'd be better off to listen to it!
By this definition, the very moment you have sex with someone you are married to them. Not when you go through some fancy ceremony. So technically you cant have sex before marriage. But that also means if you have sex with one person, then go and have sex with another, you are breaking the terms of marriage. And as Malachi 2:16 starts:
Showing thats not what God wants.
And shown again by Jesus:
The commitment i am called to is to have a sexual love one person and one person only. The one i have sex with is my wife, and if I desire another woman, then I'm not living how I am called to live. I dont care if people feel sorry for me because I know that the person I do love gets ALL my love. Everything I have to offer is hers
That doesnt mean Im perfect... far from it. But God's grace is like a safety net to catch me when I fall. It would be stupid for a tight rope walker to never leave the saftey net because they are probably going to fall. So its stupid for me to live relying completely on grace to get me through. Although it will do that, thats not what its there for.
If you're are thinking that this is stupid because you should experience other people before you settle down, then you go do that. Only christians are bound by the guidelines that Christ told us to live by. I can't force the values of what I believe onto someone who doesnt believe it.
All I can do is put effort into living the life I am called to live. I am convinced of what i believe, and I know that christianity is relevant today... if only christians would live it
certainly any addition to the scriptures or any modification due to changes in the society should not be made. if u DO decide the religion u choose, or if ur just an agnostic believing that there is something out there...then u dont sway with the changes caused by society... that just seems stupid.
however, u must acknowledge also that faith or degree of faith within or around religions is subjective...ppl choose to believe some parts while rejecting others. is this how religion should be? is it just a matter of choosing the right social or moral values which best suit u? or are u supposed to follow an entire religion in its entirety? if u are looking for religion as a sense of hope and a drive to keep u going, so be it...however, i believe (yes this is a personal statement, and obvioously mean no direspect or offense) that u are not looking hard enuf. a religion by its definition is the guidelines to live ur life, and is complete within itself. it is not something u restrict to sundays (assuming most on this thread are christians), or any other holy day or event. religion is all-encompassing and should tell u how to act. it is a list of things that god has told u to uphold. so for all u ppl arguing that religion SHOULD change, why is it that u believe so? (note this question is directed to those who are of a designated religion, and not just faith, as faith is subjective and what u believe in may or may not be written down, or given in a direct set of rules to follow). if u DO believe in religion as the word of god...is it not obvious that he (again arbitrary) has sought out all that will come in the future and that whatever was decreed then should still hold now? is it also not obvious that changes in the moral values upheld by society ARE the changes thought up by men (arbitrary) and thus not with the wisdom or knowledge of god, and thus any change in this context would be illogical to make?
note just some food for thought...no offense intended. i, myself, admit i do not kno enuf to argue against christianity so i wont...if it seemed that i was, it was to be a general religion question, and i merely used christianity as an example.
enjoy.