[taxesareforever]

I've come to the realization that most folks worship a book. They do not worship God. They think they are, but they aren't. Their whole existences center around a few hundred thousand words jotted down by a bronze- and iron-age civilization in the Middle East a few millennia ago. They don't seek God; they don't really want to know God. They think they already do.

Why are you basing your ideas on what others think and believe. What they think and believe is not going to get you or me into heaven. What I believe about God is not of my choosing. The Holy Spirit worked that faith in my heart. Therefore, if you have an axe to grind go to Him, for it is because of Him that I believe the Bible. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast."

[Ichneumon]

What I believe about God is not of my choosing. The Holy Spirit worked that faith in my heart.

That's what you choose to believe, anyway.

[Junior]

What they think and believe is not going to get you or me into heaven.

The Almighty has already implied that I'm not going to Heaven, so it doesn't really matter what I believe or don't. The best I can hope for is the cessation of existence. Oh well, I've never been in it for the reward or to avoid punishment, so any good I do is simply because I want to do it, not because I'm being forced to.