Hey /christian/I'm an agnostic that has been struggling with religion and faith in general all my life. I have a couple of issues and questions about God that I hope can get answered here.Here are my questions:1. Why try to be the best christia

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File: a7fc9fd75c0bc71⋯.jpg (732.73 KB, 1600x1067, 1600:1067, Inside_the_Church_of_Our_L….jpg)

Christanon 01/31/18 (Wed) 22:35:21 ec50e1 No.597284

Hey /christian/

I'm an agnostic that has been struggling with religion and faith in general all my life. I have a couple of issues and questions about God that I hope can get answered here.

Here are my questions:

1. Why try to be the best christian you can all your life if you can get into Heaven with minimal effort?

2. Why do some Christians view magic as satanic when they believe all the "tricks" (turning water into wine, walking on water,etc.) that Jesus once did?

My last question is more personal, don't answer it if you don't want to.

3. What makes you believe in God?

I hope your answers can clear my mind of these questions. Thank you for reading.

Christanon 01/31/18 (Wed) 22:55:13 cd3578 No.597297

>1. Why try to be the best christian you can all your life if you can get into Heaven with minimal effort?

There is no such thing as "Minimal effort". Even from an apostolic perspective, if you "save it all up" for a deathbed confession and receive Last Rites, then all this does is remove your guilt. You still have to endure your temporal punishment, which means spending a long time in Purgatory before you can even get close to Heaven. You're saved, sure, but not quite. You are there until all those sins are burned out of you, and since you didn't recant until the last moment, you will be there for quite a while. This is why we say that it is better to do penance and purge ourselves here and get immediate bliss, rather than just putting it off until afterwards.

>2. Why do some Christians view magic as satanic when they believe all the "tricks" (turning water into wine, walking on water,etc.) that Jesus once did?

Because the two aren't the same. Jesus' "tricks" weren't just party favours to impress rustics, every one of them had salvific importance, and each one had major allegorical, anagorical and moral significance, which not only showed His divinity and goodness, but also showed His fulfilment of the Old Testament.

"Magic" properly understood is satanic at least because it tries to make a parody of God by using supernatural powers to pervert creation and the established order of things, and gratify our own wishes against God's Will, especially when it comes to placing curses on others (judgement of souls) or forcing others to love you (violating their free will). It completely contradicts the notion of trusting and loving God, because the implication is that you can do it all by yourself.

>3. What makes you believe in God?

Bluntly because He found me and converted me. I trust in Him, and I trust in the testimony of Him as passed down to us by the Church.

Christanon 01/31/18 (Wed) 22:57:34 ec50e1 No.597302

>>597297

Thank you very much. :)

Christanon 01/31/18 (Wed) 22:59:44 cd3578 No.597305

>>597302

No problem. I will pray for you!

Christanon 01/31/18 (Wed) 23:01:18 ec50e1 No.597308

>>597305

That means a lot. I hope that one day God will find me too like He found you.

Christanon 02/01/18 (Thu) 01:08:29 d29be6 No.597370

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>>597284

>1. Why try to be the best christian you can all your life if you can get into Heaven with minimal effort?

Out of love towards God. There logically must be some absolute bare minimum of effort with which one can attain Heaven, but I doubt anyone who first-hand realises who God is can really remain only at this bare minimum.

>2. Why do some Christians view magic as satanic when they believe all the "tricks" (turning water into wine, walking on water,etc.) that Jesus once did?

Magic, as a kind of sin, is not just doing things naturally impossible to man - as you pointed out, Jesus did these, as did many saints after him - what makes it magic specifically is doing it with aid of any powers other than Divine; since this can only be seriously done by recourse to the demonic, it's obviously sinful.

>3. What makes you believe in God?

Faith, understood as belief in God's revelation solely due to trust in the One revealing, is a direct and supernatural gift. It's not, and even in principle cannot be, based on any logical or empirical argument. You can only pray for it, and you can be certain that if you genuinely strive to believe and persevere in prayer, God will eventually answer.

That said, the above doesn't mean that existence of God is unprovable and can only be assented to by supernatural intervention; that is true of faith, but God's nature and attributes can be deduced through reason alone too. If you are interested in this, I advise you to read a simple introduction to Scholasticism; Feser's Aquinas is a common recommendation, and for a good reason. Kerr's Aquinas's Way to God is a great book too, discussing a simple and solid, but relatively unknown, proof from Aquinas' De ente et essentia, although you should read it after you know some basics already.

Christanon 02/01/18 (Thu) 01:15:55 fe29c0 No.597375

>1. Why try to be the best christian you can all your life if you can get into Heaven with minimal effort?

I think you're confused about what salvation entails. When you repent and receive God's grace, you don't just move on with your life afterward. You want to be the best Christian you can be, to be as close to Him as possible.

>2. Why do some Christians view magic as satanic when they believe all the "tricks" (turning water into wine, walking on water,etc.) that Jesus once did?

Because historically, the people trying to do magic were trying to make deals with demons. When they wrote about magic without fear of being killed for it, that's what they wrote about. In a lot of fictional worlds, magic is a consequence of different physics–people don't have to work with evil beings to do magic, it's just something they can naturally do. There would be nothing inherently sinful about that kind of magic if it existed, but as far as I can tell it doesn't.

Christ's miracles were of God, and not performed for worldly reasons.

>3. What makes you believe in God?

I've experienced His grace. That said, I think I had to be open to the idea in order for that to happen to me.

Christanon 02/02/18 (Fri) 01:39:24 4bc270 No.597971

>>597284

>1. Why try to be the best christian you can all your life if you can get into Heaven with minimal effort?

I would argue that you can't do it with minimal effort. But even if all were saved or you believed the "once saved always saved" heresy whereby salvation was just binding on a moment in time, I'd still argue that you can't rationally act against what you know to be true. If you know God exists and He wants what is best for you, why wouldn't you act on that truth? Don't believe in order to get to heaven. Fear is a powerful motivator, but there needs to be more.

>2. Why do some Christians view magic as satanic when they believe all the "tricks" (turning water into wine, walking on water,etc.) that Jesus once did?

Jesus' miracles were signs. Not simply tricks. He didn't do them for no reason. They also came from God and not from demons. Magic is like an attempt at doing what we want without God or playing God.

>3. What makes you believe in God?

It was difficult at first. I didn't convert until I was about 26. I didn't even believe in ghosts or astrology or anything supernatural until that time either. I had no inclination toward anything outside the natural world. So it was hard. For me, I came to a conclusion about society and morality that forced me to confront religion. I prayed every day for the first time and there was a moment (I couldn't even identify it for you) where I realised that I wasn't just acting in a certain way to follow rules or to make a show, but because I knew there was a God and he saw all.

Christanon 02/02/18 (Fri) 01:45:46 562d51 No.597974

>1. Why try to be the best christian you can all your life if you can get into Heaven with minimal effort?

You will be rewarded in Heaven fir doing works and if you sin a lot then you'll be pinksbed here on earth but you're still saved

>2. Why do some Christians view magic as satanic when they believe all the "tricks" (turning water into wine, walking on water,etc.) that Jesus once did?

Because it was God doing it. Witchcraft is punishable by death in the Bible.

>3. What makes you believe in God?

Romans 10:17

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Christanon 02/02/18 (Fri) 02:09:27 0cacfb No.597996

>Why try to be the best christian you can all your life if you can get into Heaven with minimal effort?

<>Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

<>And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

<>Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

>minimal effort