I don't know. Maybe not sure is the best answer. Goodness doesn’t seem to be all good anymore. And badness is not so bad here in the time of Trump.
I don't use the word Karma either. I put sowing and reaping more in a financial context. If I reaped all the sins I sowed, well, then Jesus' death would be irrelevant. If I want others to reap what they sowed, then I'm not walking under the guidelines of forgiveness. Not suggesting I have the forgiveness thing totally down pat, but I am aware I'm required to work at it.
1 John 1:9.....can anyone in the congregation give me a whewwwwwww! So much for Karma! I’m sorta the same way. “You get what you put into it” is a more secular way of saying it from my standpoint.
Hi, all, I'm new here. My answer to this very interesting question is: None of the above. I believe only what can be proven objectively, not what somebody's imagination has conjured up.
A tendentious poll but understandable given the ops belief. As was pointed out all potentials not possible to poll. None not an option but good poll otherwise.
Sunny Allen, thanks to the 19th century criticism movement against the Bible, creationism, and other religious beliefs, Christian scientists, historians, and apologists have revealed an immense amount of objective evidence supporting these matters of faith. Here's a brief defense of 2 of Ken's listed items, starting with a related precursor: The existence of a supernatural god of some sort is well supported by several of our most widely accepted scientific laws (like the Laws of Thermodynamics and Biogenesis that refute any naturalistic origin of the universe or life as we know it). The existence of "God, the Father" is well supported by a variety of objective evidence that supports the Bible's authority and representation of God. First, the manuscript basis for the Bible's New Testament is far superior to any other scholarly accepted historical work of antiquity. Second, extensive textual criticism of the Bible's New Testament shows it's accuracy to the original manuscripts to be over 99.5%, with no single Christian doctrine in doubt. Third, secular history shows that the Bible's Old Testament has several specific, fulfilled prophesies that are mathematically impossible without divine revelation. Fourth, archaeology continues to discover artifacts of people, places, and events in the Bible that give testimony to its historical reliability, both Old and New Testaments. The existence of an afterlife is well documented by hundreds of near death experiences, by both believers and unbelievers, with uncontroversial evidence of their reported experiences. While some of the details vary like any witness testimony, the transition of one's soul beyond the physical body is a certain reality that binds them all - strongly suggesting an "eternal life" somewhere of some form. Many members here will discount any evidence that supports God, the Bible, or any related Christian beliefs. Irregardless, there is in fact a preponderance of objective evidence supporting the numerous Christian issues of faith.
When I see a movie based on a Biblical story, I later check to see if the Bible version is as accurate as the movie. Hal
@Ken Anderson -- Could you edit the poll to add a "none of these" button? For those of us who didn't choose any, we can't view the poll results.
No, this was intended to poll people who believe as to what they believed in. Anyone here can start their own poll, however.
I'm not interested in a new poll. I'd just like to see the results of this one, which would be skewed if I clicked a box "just because."
Just as a hint, In the 60’s, the phrase, “what comes around, goes around” was kind of adopted in kinship with Karma a little later on. As I wrote earlier, the reason I didn’t push that button is because of it’s definition in another philosophy of faith but perhaps if you were of the comes ‘round, goes ‘round folks, that may be your way into “the realm of virtual visibility”.
This was something that I spent a few days looking at before answering the poll. When @Beth Gallagher mentioned about wanting to see the results, I realized that I couldn’t see them either and answered the poll. My observation would be that there are so many things that we might think could be possible, but just as easily, might not be real, and because of that I question what i do and don’t believe nowadays. Reincarnation is kind of in that category. Back when I was a teenager, I read The Search For Bridey Murphy , and was astonished to think that such a thing as reincarnation could happen. I had always been taught in church that it was “sinful” to even think about that. Over the years, I have read stories that (if true) definitely point to some kind of a reincarnation , at least of a persons mind and spirit. It is incredible how a little child can know things about someone’s life that was years before they were born, but there is evidence that it seems to happen. When I read some of Edgar Cayce’s works, I discovered that he was not only a professing Christian, but also believed that the Bible has verses that seem to point to reincarnation. So, since i don’t have an evidence myself of knowing anyone who has possibly reincarnated, and only stories to go by, I can’t say that reincarnation is something that I actually believe in; but I do think that it is possible, and that there is more to the whole thing than we understand. Some of the other choices are the same way, to one degree or another. To just reject the possibility of spiritual ideas and beliefs altogether is to have a completely closed mind to even thinking about something, and if a person does not open their mind to investigation , then we can never learn what is real and what is not. However, much of the things in the spiritual realm cannot just be tested and proved like other things. I believe that there are angels, but I can’t just go find one to show people that they exist. Even though I have had times in my life when I am totally positive that angels were protecting me and saved my life, I have no physical evidence of that, and even if I did, people would probably dispute it. An example might be back years ago, when I lived in Idaho. We lived at the top of a steep hill, and our vehicle was an old Chevy flatbed truck. It was in the middle of winter, near zero out, and the hill was total ice. Now, flatbed trucks are terrible in the winter, because they have all of the weight in the front and nothing over the back axle, so it took us several tries to even get partway up the hill, and suddenly, the truck was spinning out and sliding backwards and about to go off the deep bank on the side of the road. We would have all been killed if the truck went over that bank, and my husband was doing his best to try and at least steer the truck away from going over. I prayed, “God , please put this truck in 4-wheel-drive and get us home”, and no sooner than I had prayed that, the truck grabbed hold (somehow) in the ice and just sailed the rest of the way up that hill like the roads were bare and something was pushing us ! I choose to believe that I had spiritual help of some kind, and that it was not just coincidence that this amazing thing happened when I prayed. Because I do believe that some of the things on the list are real, I try to keep an open mind and learn more about the things that other people believe are real, and that I just do not know enough about yet.
Which bible? The ancient early Greek and Christians writings before they were labeled Christians. The Pauline version, the Essenes, the Zealots, the Jewish multiple versions, the Gnostics versions, the Sadducees and Pharisees versions. The, early and later, Popes versions before they were called Catholics. Constantine's version. The King James rewrite by a poet to make it sound pretty. The Koran, Mormon, Catholic bibles. Then of course the LDS, Nag Hammadi/Dead Sea Scrolls and many others. Then there are the 3 dozen modern rewrites to browse through. Accuracy and consistency just does not exist. Your choices are numerous. And it probably doesn't match any of the above since every version leaves out whole passages, whole books, verses; and adds others in just for fun. They all use different words with very different meanings. Numerous words meant one thing long ago and the same word means something totally different later on and again it is different now days. The meaning of a word in Greek, Aramaic, English, Hebrew can be and often is different. Every version rewrite puts their own spin/angle on what is being taught/emphasized and for different reasons!
Sometimes I think it's hard to know what to believe. Other times I think all we have, all we know, is what science offers up to us. If one is true to himself he'll believe what can be proven, I suppose. There have been so many shenanigans pulled of in the name of religion, one almost has to discard the bible and its teachings. Yet I was brought up in the faith and some of those early teachings are sometimes hard to discard. Maybe in those early times we merely practiced rituals hoping for a better tomorrow that would never come.