The Book Of Revelation Effect

Originally posted by Suzianne
If one believes only until something happens that causes him to lose his belief, then exactly how serious was the belief? Exactly. Either one is committed, or one is not committed.

Exactly. I was committed. But now I am not. I was serious. But now I am not. Faith was there.But now it's gone. You sound incredulous about my experience, but I think, in a way, you do understand.

Originally posted by FMF
Exactly. I was committed. But now I am not. I was serious. But now I am not. Faith was there.But now it's gone. You sound incredulous about my experience, but I think, in a way, you do understand.

Faith needs to be exercised, how were you exercising your faith FMF.

(2 Corinthians 4:13) we too exercise faith and therefore we speak

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Faith needs to be exercised, how were you exercising your faith FMF.

(2 Corinthians 4:13) we too exercise faith and therefore we speak

I had no problem exercising my faith when I still had faith. But it's moot now, anyway. This thread is about the loss of credibility of the literature in the eyes of people who became ex-Christians. Maybe 2 Corinthians 4:13 would make a good thread topic that Christians ~ who are still Christians ~ could contribute to. You could talk about how you exercise your faith there.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
Exactly. TINY amount of faith. There you go.

My point is that it is not the amount of faith, but the quality of faith. I also said, "But this faith must be true, it cannot be wishy-washy. It must be a faith that you know to be true. Anything less is not worthy."

Originally posted by FMF
I don't think 'how horrific' or 'not horrific' things I have seen ~ or how easy or hard my life may have been ~ has anything to do with it. Nor do I think 'how certain' and 'how permanent' your beliefs happen to be has any bearing on my beliefs.

My point is that had my faith been less, perhaps I too would have abandoned my faith. It's all too easy to "blame God" for the horror show called "life on planet earth". Ditto for not believing the prophecy of Revelation. Yes, the events seem drastic now. But the drastic times ahead call for drastic measures. Even so, some who do have faith will still not be ready for it.

Originally posted by FMF
Exactly. I was committed. But now I am not. I was serious. But now I am not. Faith was there.But now it's gone. You sound incredulous about my experience, but I think, in a way, you do understand.

I am incredulous, but that's only after filtering your experience through my own measure of faith. But yes, I do understand. Plenty of people have fallen away and will fall away from the faith before all is said and done. Many of them because of the events prophesied by the very book you refuse to believe. But many more will be brought into faith by these events. Perhaps you'll be one of them. The prodigal son, as it were.

Originally posted by FMF
I had no problem exercising my faith when I still had faith. But it's moot now, anyway. This thread is about the loss of credibility of the literature in the eyes of people who became ex-Christians. Maybe 2 Corinthians 4:13 would make a good thread topic that Christians ~ who are still Christians ~ could contribute to. You could talk about how you exercise your faith there.

sorry I cannot find the actual answer to the question that you were asked, which I shall repeat, 'how did you exercise your faith?' and its every bit as topical as any of your other content concerning your alleged loss of faith which you seem to have no aversion attempting to answer. Please note that the question does not necessitate that you are a practising Christian at present nor if you have any faith at all, in fact, its in the form of the past tense making your allusion to people who are still practising Christians, rather nonsensical. In fact its as nonsensical as evaluating the book of revelation from the perspective of the new testament only.

Originally posted by Suzianne
My point is that it is not the amount of faith, but the quality of faith. I also said, "But this faith must be true, it cannot be wishy-washy. It must be a faith that you know to be true. Anything less is not worthy."

If the quantification doesn't refer to the strength of the faith, then what does it refer to?

Originally posted by SwissGambit
If the quantification doesn't refer to the strength of the faith, then what does it refer to?

Indeed her statement of amount and quality makes NO sense. Faith in scripture has always been quantified in comparative terms as in weak and strong.

(Romans 4:19) And, although he did not grow weak in faith

Originally posted by SwissGambit
If the quantification doesn't refer to the strength of the faith, then what does it refer to?

I agree there is some confusion between the two. I've been guilty of it myself when I speak of having "less faith", when I meant "weaker faith".

Perhaps the quantification could relate to the number of things one believes in. Perhaps the lesson is that even if you only believe in ONE thing, in order to be efficacious, you must believe it with your whole heart, or you might as well not believe it at all, for all the good it will do. In illustration, Jesus mentions the mustard seed, which is among the tiniest seeds known, yet the plant it produces grows tall and stout enough to harbor birds in its branches. He compares faith to this, advising his apostles to "have faith as a grain of mustard seed".

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Indeed her statement of amount and quality makes NO sense. Faith in scripture has always been quantified in comparative terms as in weak and strong.

(Romans 4:19) And, although he did not grow weak in faith

Said the man who has demonstrated time and again to not fully understand even the most basic scripture.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
sorry I cannot find the actual answer to the question that you were asked, which I shall repeat, 'how did you exercise your faith?' and its every bit as topical as any of your other content concerning your alleged loss of faith which you seem to have no aversion attempting to answer. Please note that the question does not necessitate that you are a ...[text shortened]... nonsensical as evaluating the book of revelation from the perspective of the new testament only.

It's clear to most that he's blowing off your question as unimportant at best, and meaningless at worst. He's trying to be polite about it. I think I'd leave it at that if I were you. Or were you born in a zoo and cannot understand basic human interactions?

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
sorry I cannot find the actual answer to the question that you were asked, which I shall repeat, 'how did you exercise your faith?'

It's irrelevant to what I want to discuss here. Start a thread entitled "Faith needs to be exercised, how are you exercising your faith?" if you want.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
...its every bit as topical as any of your other content concerning your alleged loss of faith which you seem to have no aversion attempting to answer. Please note that the question does not necessitate that you are a practising Christian at present nor if you have any faith at all, in fact, its in the form of the past tense making your allusion to people who are still practising Christians, rather nonsensical.

Whether you believe I have lost my faith or whether you believe I ever had any faith in the first place is immaterial. So your question about how I exercised my faith in the past is irrelevant and of no interest to me. If you want to talk about how you exercise your faith then just go ahead and do so.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
... its as nonsensical as evaluating the book of revelation from the perspective of the new testament only.

I just found it to be bogus, in and of itself, for the reasons I gave. Once the credibility of its content and inclusion was gone, as far as I was concerned, the credibility of the rest of the canon started to disappear, until I finally found I rejected it all and was an ex-Christian.