Yes we are called hypocrites because we have standards that we fail to meet. It is much easer not to have any standards at all.Or at least no standards that you will admit to. Then you can not be called a hypocrite.

@trunthepaige@xanga - Or, have standards that are possible to achieve, such as, say, my personal philosophy.  Saying that all non-Christians are heathens with no ethical code is one of the reasons that non-Christians can sometimes be so hostile towards Christians.  It's a widespread misconception, and I think your fellow Christians would appreciate it if you would stop spreading it.

I disagree with the idea that G-d doesn't send people to Hell.  No, He doesn't desire for them to be there, but His Holiness is such that He can do nothing else.  We all stand convicted before Him, and yet He has offered us a way out.  Since you are a soon-to-be law student, I think you will appreciate the following analogy:

The word (Ha Shatan) which is translated as "Satan" in the Bible is a word that is closest in meaning to our words "Accuser" and "Prosecutor" and was actually used as a legal word at the time.
One of Christ's titles (I forget which one, my apologies) means "Advocate."
The Greek word (Hamartia) for sin means to miss the mark, or to break the law.
Hebrews 4:12 portrays the Word of G-d, be it in written or Spirit form, as a judge of the thoughts and actions of men.

Essentially, these little factoids portray the sinner as a man on trial, with Lucifer as the Prosecution, Jesus as the Defense, and G-d as the Judge.  In this trial, there is no jury, no bailiff, no court reporter, but it is indeed a trial.  Our Crime?  Sin trafficking.  We are in the sin trade.  We do it, we give it, we take it, and we often sell it.  Sin is, by definition, illegal.

  Paul, an expert on the law whom Christ called to testify, tells us that if we Confess with our mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believe in our hearts that G-d raised Him from the dead, we will be saved.  In a sense, it's very similar to a plea Bargain.  We are told that if we will just make Christ the Lord of our lives, we will be acquitted, which brings us to another Bible word, Justified, which means "Declared not Guilty."  Now, it is not so simple as saying "Oh yeah, Jesus is Lord."  No, the Greek idea of declaring someone as Lord was that you were swearing allegiance to them.  The phrase was often used with the Caesars of the day, similar to "Long live the Queen," or "Heil Hitler."  It showed your obedience to the Crown.  In this case, it is Jesus' Crown.  You might even argue that once you do so, you are entering into a holy Rehabilitation, as is evidenced in 1 Thessalonians 5:23: "May G-d himself, the G-d of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We who were once addicted to and saturated with Sin can be sanctified (made Holy).  We can be transformed by the renewing of our minds(Romans 12:2).  It's really the ultimate Rehab.

However, in order to receive this pardon, we do have to go through with our part of the plea bargain- confessing that Christ is Lord and living as such.  If we reject "The Deal," we receive the maximum sentence- Hell.  Just like the criminal who chooses life- or even death- in prison because he refuses to give up the people who led him in to crime in the first place, the Damned choose the wages of sin- death- out of loyalty to their sinful way of life.

Well, I'm an atheist myself, but I've gotten into many debates with Christians.  I probably get into one about once or twice a week.  Not always because I want to, but because most of the people I know are rather abrasive Christians and feel the need to try and lead me to Christianity.  I know a wee bit about the Bible so I'm able to hold my own in a debate about religion.  But honestly, I don't like doing it.  It's very tiresome and I almost always end up feeling judged--perhaps in the same way you feel judged by non-Christians.  Atheists and Christians are not all that dissimilar, believe it or not.

I think the atheists and agnostics you know may have been a bit rude.  There are a lot of us who don't expect Christians to be perfect.  There are a lot of us who don't see Christians as using Jesus as a crutch.  Not all of us are argumentative hedonists.

"I don't understand how people can be comfortable with living this life, dying, and that being the end."  Fair enough.  Personally, I don't understand how someone can be comfortable worshiping the Christian god and believing everything about the Bible.

science points to God? these days i'm hearing alot of scientific proof for there being an intelligent designer for our universe and for life. Everything on earth points to God. His glory can seen all around the world. We are not the center of the universe, He is. And we are created to marvel at his glory, and to realize and acknowledge his love and holiness. la_faerie talks about living, loving, and being happy. these things can only truly be satisfied from the God in the bible. The problem is not that people aren't satisfied, it's that people are satisfied with too little. You'll see one day when you've achieved all you've ever wanted to achieve that you will still feel empty. You'll realize someday that people cannot love you to the fullness that you require. You'll find that on this earth we do not reach our full potential to be truly happy. God offers a different solution to those who would believe and accept Jesus into their hearts. We were created to need God for his truths and his realities that are so quickly disregarded.  The bible is full of his truths, it has  withstood  an incredible amount of scrutiny and has  been able to hold  on it's own.  Jesus  is real. God is real.  And the joy and peace, and love, and life and the transformational power that he gives to those who love him cannot be denied and the many miracles that still go on today.
It's true many people claim to be Christians when they aren't really and have a poor understanding of the gospel. It's true that everyone makes mistakes and naturally rejects God unless God softens that persons heart and reveals himself to them. It's true that this world is ruled by evil, pride, lust, greed, etc. we are manipulated by society and are born into a lie. A life without God, is no life at all. there is no comparison to knowing his truths, to having assurance of salvation, a hope for an eternity, and a real relationship with a loving father that wants what's best for you.
God speaks to the heart. His word sustains. Surely his love will endure forever.

@shedinator@xanga - 

Another one!

Read what I said and not what you think I did. I did not say anything resembling what you are responding to. You and La Faerie obviously have issues with that subject.But I did not say what you seem to think i did. And the problem is not with anything I wrote. My statement did not exclude anyone from having and stating their moral standards did it?

Christians do have standards, that they are called hypocrites for not living up to. And many people have few or any standards at all, or if they do have them, they are quite about it. But I never even came close to saying any group of people fit that description. Sorry you think i was pointing at you

@trunthepaige@xanga - Honey, I'm a Christian, but that's neither here nor there.

You said "It is much easer not to have any standards at all.Or at least no standards that you will admit to. Then you can not be called a hypocrite."  It most certainly comes across as though you are saying non-Christians do not have standards.  You may not have intended it that way, but if you presented that exact quote to ANY non-christian, they would likely take it that way.  Besides, if you read the rest my response, I defended you quite a bit.

@odd_one_out_33@xanga - What if hell is not what we would like it to be, but already is what it is? Christians believe the Bible, and the biblical notions of heaven, earth, and hell does not fit the temporary prison idea that your questions form. Christians did not just sit down one day and go, "Hey, let's invent the notions of heaven and hell so we can freak the heck out of people and they will join us out of fear and we can lose our lives together for no reason whatsoever! " You may not believe the Bible, and my aim is not to attack that. I just want to explain why Christians believe the things they do. Perhaps the beliefs seem irrational or 'not nice', but they were derived from the Bible which most Christians believe is the inspired holy Word of God. We believe that the Bible tells us what is or isn't, and it's not up to us to create our preferred pictures of God, heaven and hell anymore. We can imagine what we like, but God and those 2 places already exist and our imaginations do nothing to change them. 

Your idea of hell is more similar to Buddhism, where nothing is permanent until you achieve enlightenment. You are in cycles of life, put in various stages according to your meritable deeds, and promoted accordingly. Reincarnation and karma.

So I guess the question is, what is the justification for believing one thing over another? Why do Christians/Buddhists/Muslims/Jews/Hindus/Wiccans/Taoists believe the things they do?

@shedinator@xanga - I did read it  (after my response) and sorry you were very guilty of reading your own thoughts into what I did not say.  I did not label any group, in any way, shape, or form. the inference came only from your mind. the fact that we should call ourselves sisters does not change that fact.

That is called getting off on the wrong foot. you were influenced by the words of La Faerie and not mine. she was responding to past discussions with me and nothing i said here

@shedinator@xanga - the name is Paige not Honey 

@odd_one_out_33@xanga - Dante would've agreed with the Different hells for different people.  However, the Bible is fairly clear on the permanent and singular nature of Hell.  There's no getting out, and it's the same for everyone.  The idea of "Absence from G-d" is tossed around, that's inconclusive, but its existence and its permanence are fairly concrete.

If you were fulfilled by debating theory against theory, that's a problem.  Evolution, however factually supported, is still Theory, and the idea of gradual adaptation overtime is in no way opposed to Christianity.  The opposition comes from the standard Evolutionary theory of life origins, something heavily dependent on unwitnessed events, and as a result, something that can not be duplicated in a lab.  Once you go back to the beginning, Evolution takes equally as much faith as any form of Religion.

@shedinator@xanga - I do not set my standards because they are attainable, necessarily.  However, I do understand the limits of human capacity, and the utmost reaches of those limits are my standards.  For instance, I consider knowledge a value, but I do not expect or require anyone to be an expert in all fields of human knowledge (that would be impossible).  Instead, I hold a high standard of work ethic on the basis of what is possible to achieve while maintaining a balance with other things in life.  So, "knowledge" is a value regardless of how easily it could be achieved, and I would ultimately value infinite knowledge, but I do not declare someone unfit simply because he does not have perfect knowledge.  Instead, I declare someone unfit if he has insufficient knowledge about an area that is vital to his life or work (a chemistry teacher who has virtually no knowledge of chemistry, for example, or an engineer who can't do math).  However, this is an ethical preference.  Ethical requirements are based only on the autonomy of each individual.  Basically, the only ethical requirement is to respect the property rights of other people (their own bodies count as property, so they have life and liberty rights, technically, but only as an extension of property rights).  It is ethically preferable to be kind, generous, non-competitive, self-actualized, etc., but basically, each person must be evaluated in the context of his own life.  I personally hold myself to a standard of integrity, honesty, respect, fairness, justice, happiness, simple kindnesses, and hard work.  I am personally able to achieve these things because I spend much of my time working to improve my own knowledge, and abilities.  I am constantly reaching to test the limits of my life here on earth, and my standards are constantly higher for myself, as I have had more opportunity and possibility.  I do admit that there are times when I have decided not to live up to my standards - not doing homework and getting an A- when I should have had an A+, for instance.  However, as a whole, I think I have done a very good job of doing what I wish everyone would do for themselves and for others.

A standard can be attainable and still foster growth, as my own model shows.  Surely, this is hard for most people to understand, and  many people could not work with (much less develop) a similar model, but it works quite well for me, and it is a great measure by which to evaluate potential friends or romantic partners.