Oh, man...sorry. Didn't mean to sound rude or anything.

Darth Katana, this is exactly the kind of thing we've been trying to warn Yeltensic to avoid. While I certainly agree with your Trinitarian theology, we are not exactly at liberty to simply assert our certainty that it is true without offering data to support our views.

Er...when have I been "simply asserting [my] certainty" without explaining why?

BTW, to the poster who said that atheism requires religious faith, it doesn't. You should read up on atheism if you think that.

Anyway, since when is religion based on data? If there were evidence for God's existence, it wouldn't exactly be faith (in the religious sense of the word), would it?

It would just be silly to be expected to go out of your way to say,"Atlanta is the capital of Georgia because blah blah blah." Simple statement of fact, that's all it is.

it's its lack of any kind of religious faith

Why should I blindly believe what my parents told me to believe, without questioning? And their resoning? A bunch of dead guys told their ancestors to believe it without any evidence at all, and they follow without thinking twice.

Why should I blindly believe what my parents told me to believe, without questioning? And their resoning? A bunch of dead guys told their ancestors to believe it without any evidence at all, and they follow without thinking twice.

I have yet to have a "spiritual experience,"

Well yes, it involves faith, in the entirely non-religious sense

(or, less often, irreligion)

Keep in mind, children share most of the same genes as their parents, so they're likely to think the same, so it doesn't necessarily mean people aren't thinking for themselves.

Genes don't determine thoughts. F--.

1.

There is only one true God, the one who made us and continues to care for us and sustain us, even when we fail to acknowledge him.


This one true God is both Father and Son, not two Gods, but one God, manifest in both of these persons, who bear the name YHWH Sabaoth, along with the Third Person, the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ lives and reigns with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever.


This one true God took upon himself our human form and entered into his creation, specifically so he could reconcile his fallen creatures to himself by taking upon himself our human weakness. He is the Immanuel, God who is with us, God who is one of us, God who makes his dwelling among us, and God who is on our side.


This he accomplished by suffering the pain, the torment, the evil of all humanity. For the Christian, the problem of evil finds its solution in a God who was willing to take that evil into himself and bear it in death, suffering the consequences of our wrongdoing, and through this, offering us forgiveness and healing.


Yet this God did not remain dead. He is risen! Taking up his life again, he then reclaimed the heavenly glory that was his by right, and now from his heavenly throne, continues to watch over us, to hear our prayers, and to administer his mercy. Through his glorious resurrection, we, too, have access to eternal life in him.


Yet he has not abandoned us to be alone in this world, but has given us the promised Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. God now dwells within us through Holy Baptism, through the ministry of the Word, through prayer, and through the Sacrament of Holy Communion. This Holy Spirit reveals to us the true God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and daily and richly forgives our sins, cleanses us from wrong, and strengthens us to live holy lives under God's caring provision.


We who are marked with Christ's name are one body. In him, we are a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a people chosen by God to proclaim his greatness here on earth. In this Christian Church, we hear the proclamation of God's Word and receive the ministration of his Sacraments, and through these, we are forgiven our sins and strengthened in faith.


In Holy Baptism, we are joined to Christ in his death and resurrection. In Holy Baptism, God writes his name upon us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, marking us as his children, for whom he cares. Through Holy Baptism, we receive the promised gift of God's Spirit, who continues to strengthen us in faith, and enables us to bear fruit in Christ's name.


By the love of God, and through the Word and the Sacraments, we have the promise of everlasting life. When Christ returns, he will raise us up from the dead, and we will rule over creation with him.


This word means "truth," and by speaking it, we declare, "This is most certainly true." Truth is not relative, but is factual. We Christians hold our faith to be fact, not myth or philosophical conjecture, for Jesus Christ is indeed the way, the truth, and the life.

2. I believe it because the Holy Spirit enlightened my mind and heart to hear God's Word. That's on one level. On the other, I believe it because history testifies that Jesus of Nazareth made some rather outlandish claims to deity, but then also demonstrated his claim by the life he led and the miracles he performed. While skeptics often present me with challenges to the historicity of the documents of his life, most of them appear to me very shallow and uncritical. For example, those who claim the Bible was written hundreds of years after Jesus' death, when we have manuscript evidence that indicates a much earlier date for them.

3. I believe it is factual. If I did not, I would have nothing to say on the subject. For this reason, I also believe that there are no other valid paths. If Jesus Christ was correct in saying that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes unto God except by him, then what room is there for any other way, truth, or life?

4. As St. Paul says, if Jesus Christ is not raised from the dead, then we are all still dead in our transgressions. There would be no hope for any of us. Frankly, even if it were somehow proven untrue, I'd follow ol' Puddleglum from The Silver Chair; I'd continue to live as a free citizen of God's Kingdom, and conduct my life as if it really mattered.

I am Christian, LDS to be specific. I believe in God, the Eternal Father, in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy ghost. I believe they are three distinct beings, though one in purpose.

Then why would Christ pray to God? Why would he talk to Him as though he were a seperate person? Even on the cross he said "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” If Christ is indeed the Father, then is He talking to himself? Why not just say “I forgive thee, for thou knowest not what thou dost.”

We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being. For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another. But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit. Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated is the Spirit. The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit is infinite. Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit: And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal; as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is uncreated and unlimited. Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit: And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one who is almighty. Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God: And yet there are not three gods, but one God. Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord: And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord. As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.

"Of course the Bible teaches that there is one true God whom we worship. The question is what this means. The Bible clearly teaches that Christ and the Father are two distinct beings, and that the Father is greater than Christ (John 14:28), who is the Son. So if Christ is God (He is) and the Father is God, and they are distinct persons (even Stephen saw Christ standing on the right hand of God in Acts 7:55,56), there are two Gods (and the Holy Ghost makes 3). So the question is what is meant by "one"? Christ explains it in His intercessory prayer in John 17:11,20-23:

11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are....

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Christians should be one even as the Father and Son are one. Not one substance, but one in mind and heart and purpose. What else can the unity of Christians mean? And that is the kind of unity we find in the Godhead. Yes, there are three persons - and three Beings. They can be called One and fully function as One. The Son represents the Father, only does the will of the Father, and is the author of our Salvation, acting for the Father. They are one - but not in the abstract, bodiless "one substance" concept of the Greek philosophers."