Post by Splintercat on Aug 12, 2016 18:57:47 GMT -5
(I'm taking a poll to see how many people of each Christian denomination or religion there are on this site. Vote here.)
Hello, and welcome to the WCRF's unofficially official Christian chatroom! This is a place for Christian members of the forums to come, hang out, and chat. Of course, people of all other faiths (and non-faiths) are completely welcome here. All I ask is that everybody be polite and respectful.
I can tell that this might be a somewhat controversial thread, so let me lay down a few starting points: this thread's aim is not to offend, or to somehow laugh at the rest of the forums as we sit on our throne of holier-than-thou. This thread is meant to provide a place for Christians to gather and discuss their faith, although people of other faiths (or no faith) are certainly allowed. It is also meant to provide a place for genuine, Christianity-centered conversations between anybody and everybody, and to open up new lines of communication for this website's diverse population.
This is not just a thread for Christians. This is a thread for anyone and everyone. If you need help, if you feel rejected, if you feel like everyone has turned against you, if you're an outcast, or even if you just want to talk, we want you here. No matter who you are, or what you've done, you will always be welcome here.
Rules:
-Follow all forum rules.
-Be respectful at all times. This is very important; as we all know, religion is a sensitive topic, but there's no reason that we can't all remain civil while discussing it. Don't attack anybody for their beliefs, don't insult anybody, etc.
-Per the mods of the forums, no discussion of the fighting on OTD is allowed. If you must discuss it, talk about it via PM with someone.
-Friendly debate is allowed, but only if both parties consent. It MUST remain respectful at all times.
-If somebody wants to be left alone or to stop talking about a certain issue, leave them alone.
-As aforementioned, anyone can post here, not just Christians, as is in line with the forum rules. Muslims, atheists, agnostics, etc., are allowed. Everybody is. The only requirement is that you remain respectful and polite.
Bible Verse of the Week (updated every Tuesday... hopefully):
"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet." -Matthew 24:6
Related Threads:
-That Christian Art Page
-The OTD Pagans Thread
-The Atheist Chatroom
Directory:
Post 1: Main Post (Rules, BVOTW, Other Christian Threads, Directory, Recommended Reading, Recommended Bands/Artists, Recommended Movies, Recommended Podcasts, Recommended Prayer Requests)
Post 2: Explanations of Christianity (Formal Statement of Faith, Layman's Explanation of Christianity)
Post 3: Christian Resources
Post 4: Events (Monthly Monday Movies, Bible Study)
Recommended Reading (feel free to suggest more!):
The Bible- top kek. Obviously you should read this.
"More Than a Carpenter" by Josh McDowell- outlines some of the historical evidence for Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
"Cold Case Christianity" by J. Warner Wallace- a thorough examination of the New Testament's claims by a cold-case criminal investigator.
"The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel- a lawyer sets out to prove the Bible and Christianity wrong, only to arrive at a different conclusion than he expected.
"I, Saul" by Jerry B. Jenkins- a fiction novel about the race to find newly-discovered parchments that may contain new writings of the apostle Paul.
The Quran- surprise, this is on the list! Not necessarily the whole thing cover-to-cover, of course. But as Cloverfrost points out, it's intellectually honest to get to know your "opposition", and it helps with apologetics.
The Torah- what we call the Old Testament. It's important to read though, and I feel as though Christians can sometines too little emphasis on it and what it means. It can be helpful from an apologetics standpoint to read it from the perspective of a Jew as well.
This Present Darkness- unveils the unseen clash between angels and demons and juxtaposes it with the struggle of Christians. Takes a few liberties, as it's (a) fiction and ( there's a lot unknown about the angelic realm, but it's a Christian book and is pretty biblical.
Left Behind- a book series about the people who are left behind after the Rapture. Dispensationalist theology, fairly controversial. Still a pretty decent book series with good Biblical teaching on morality and such.
Genesis Unbound- an attempt to unravel the mysteries of what Moses was trying to convey when he wrote the book of Genesis. Offers a fresh and perhaps controversial interpretation of Genesis based off of the original Hebrew words.
Books of the Infinite- in a fantasy setting, several people are called by God ("the Infinite") to take on challenging tasks.
"Agents of the Apocalypse" by David Jeremiah- a look at some of the key players of the end times from a dispensationalist, pre-millennial view of Revelation.
Recommended Bands/Music Artists (suggest more!):
-Hawk Nelson
-Legacy (little-known a cappella group)
-The Newsboys
-Skillet
-For King and Country
-Colton Dixon
-Disciple
-Red
-Wolves at the Gate
-Sleeping at Last
-Owl City
-Casting Crowns
-DC Talk
-Jason Gray
-TobyMac
-Payable on Death (POD)
-Flyleaf
-Danny Gokey
-Bluetree
-Blanca
-Britt Nicole
-Mandisa
-Chris Tomlin
-Switchfoot
-Plum
-Finding Favor
-MercyMe
-The Afters
-Steven Curtis Chapman
-Matthew West
-Citizen Way
-7eventh Time Down
-Hillsong United
-Love & the Outcome
-Francesca Battistelli
-Group 1 Crew
-Jamie Grace
-Lauren Daigle
-MIKESCHAIR
-Audio Adrenaline
-1 Girl Nation
J-onny Diaz
-Luminate
-Matt Redman
-Pentatonix (not strictly Christian but have some great covers of Christian songs)
-VERIDIA
-Thousand Foot Krutch
-We As Human
-As We Ascend
-Capital Kings
-Royal Tailor
-Superchick
-Hillsong Young & Free
-Lecraw
-NF
-Relient K
-Fireflight
-Lacey Sturm
-Family Force 5
-Anberlin
-Lights Go Down (not specifically "Christian music", but all of the band members are Christian)
-Twenty One Pilots
-Jordan Feliz
-Third Day
-NEEDTOBREATHE
-Theocracy
Recommended Movies (suggest more!):
God's Not Dead- a Christian student debates an atheist philosophy professor.
God's Not Dead 2- a teacher comes under attack for answering a student's question about Jesus and must defend her faith in court.
Heaven Is For Real- the story of a little boy who claims to have had the miraculous experience of visiting heaven and coming back. Highly controversial, should be taken with a grain of salt and constantly cross-examined through the lens of Scripture.
Holy Ghost- a movie director attempts to create a documentary led entirely by the Holy Spirit. Leans more on the charismatic side of the scale and is also fairly controversial.
Risen- an ancient Roman cop movie in which Pontius Pilate enlists a Roman soldier to help him find the missing body of Jesus Christ. They wind up with a bit more than they bargained for
The Prince of Egypt- an animated retelling of the book of Exodus.
War Room- a couple's failing marriage gets a sudden burst of hope from an old lady who encourages them to work it out through the power of prayer.
Passion of the Christ- a graphic, R-rated dramatization of Jesus Christ's crucifixion.
Courageous- after a terrible personal tragedy, a sheriff's deputy convinces his friends on the force to sign a pledge to be better Christians and better parents. However, one of the men's greed causes problems.
Fireproof- a firefighter realizes what a terrible husband he is and reads a Christian self-help book called "The Love Dare" in an attempt to reconnect with his wife and, goaded on by his devout father, begins a 40-day quest to restore his marriage.
Facing the Giants- after enduring one problem after another, the football coach of a Christian high school tries to turn his life and his team around using the power of faith.
Grace Unplugged- a teenage musician longs to become a pop star, but her father, a former pop music idol, warns her that fame corrupts and advises her to use her gifts in service of God with her church's worship band. When her father's former manager pays them a visit, she decides to accept his offer of a big-time music career, but the more successful and popular she becomes, the more pressure she feels to give up her Christian values.
The Third Day- a documentary examining the historical plausibility of Jesus' resurrection.
I'm Not Ashamed- after a life of being a kind-of-sort-of Christian, a high school student finds inspiration from another teen, and her renewed commitment to Christ plays out powerfully at her school and around the world.
Joyful Noise- two women in a church choir must overcome their musical differences and work together to win a national competition.
Recommended Podcasts (suggest more!):
Apologetics 315 Interviews- an apologetics resource organization interviews various people involved in the apologetics world.
Fallacy Friday- Apologetics 315 describes numerous common logical fallacies.
Ask Pastor John- John Piper of Desiring God answers questions.
Prayer Requests (please tell me if you have a request for prayer, and I will put it here! List will be wiped every three months [January, April, July, and October]. Let me know if you want a prayer request of yours to survive the wipe. If you tell me that a prayer has been answered, I will remove it from the list.):
Hello, and welcome to the WCRF's unofficially official Christian chatroom! This is a place for Christian members of the forums to come, hang out, and chat. Of course, people of all other faiths (and non-faiths) are completely welcome here. All I ask is that everybody be polite and respectful.
I can tell that this might be a somewhat controversial thread, so let me lay down a few starting points: this thread's aim is not to offend, or to somehow laugh at the rest of the forums as we sit on our throne of holier-than-thou. This thread is meant to provide a place for Christians to gather and discuss their faith, although people of other faiths (or no faith) are certainly allowed. It is also meant to provide a place for genuine, Christianity-centered conversations between anybody and everybody, and to open up new lines of communication for this website's diverse population.
This is not just a thread for Christians. This is a thread for anyone and everyone. If you need help, if you feel rejected, if you feel like everyone has turned against you, if you're an outcast, or even if you just want to talk, we want you here. No matter who you are, or what you've done, you will always be welcome here.
Rules:
-Follow all forum rules.
-Be respectful at all times. This is very important; as we all know, religion is a sensitive topic, but there's no reason that we can't all remain civil while discussing it. Don't attack anybody for their beliefs, don't insult anybody, etc.
-Per the mods of the forums, no discussion of the fighting on OTD is allowed. If you must discuss it, talk about it via PM with someone.
-Friendly debate is allowed, but only if both parties consent. It MUST remain respectful at all times.
-If somebody wants to be left alone or to stop talking about a certain issue, leave them alone.
-As aforementioned, anyone can post here, not just Christians, as is in line with the forum rules. Muslims, atheists, agnostics, etc., are allowed. Everybody is. The only requirement is that you remain respectful and polite.
Bible Verse of the Week (updated every Tuesday... hopefully):
"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet." -Matthew 24:6
Related Threads:
-That Christian Art Page
-The OTD Pagans Thread
-The Atheist Chatroom
Directory:
Post 1: Main Post (Rules, BVOTW, Other Christian Threads, Directory, Recommended Reading, Recommended Bands/Artists, Recommended Movies, Recommended Podcasts, Recommended Prayer Requests)
Post 2: Explanations of Christianity (Formal Statement of Faith, Layman's Explanation of Christianity)
Post 3: Christian Resources
Post 4: Events (Monthly Monday Movies, Bible Study)
Recommended Reading (feel free to suggest more!):
The Bible- top kek. Obviously you should read this.
"More Than a Carpenter" by Josh McDowell- outlines some of the historical evidence for Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
"Cold Case Christianity" by J. Warner Wallace- a thorough examination of the New Testament's claims by a cold-case criminal investigator.
"The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel- a lawyer sets out to prove the Bible and Christianity wrong, only to arrive at a different conclusion than he expected.
"I, Saul" by Jerry B. Jenkins- a fiction novel about the race to find newly-discovered parchments that may contain new writings of the apostle Paul.
The Quran- surprise, this is on the list! Not necessarily the whole thing cover-to-cover, of course. But as Cloverfrost points out, it's intellectually honest to get to know your "opposition", and it helps with apologetics.
The Torah- what we call the Old Testament. It's important to read though, and I feel as though Christians can sometines too little emphasis on it and what it means. It can be helpful from an apologetics standpoint to read it from the perspective of a Jew as well.
This Present Darkness- unveils the unseen clash between angels and demons and juxtaposes it with the struggle of Christians. Takes a few liberties, as it's (a) fiction and ( there's a lot unknown about the angelic realm, but it's a Christian book and is pretty biblical.
Left Behind- a book series about the people who are left behind after the Rapture. Dispensationalist theology, fairly controversial. Still a pretty decent book series with good Biblical teaching on morality and such.
Genesis Unbound- an attempt to unravel the mysteries of what Moses was trying to convey when he wrote the book of Genesis. Offers a fresh and perhaps controversial interpretation of Genesis based off of the original Hebrew words.
Books of the Infinite- in a fantasy setting, several people are called by God ("the Infinite") to take on challenging tasks.
"Agents of the Apocalypse" by David Jeremiah- a look at some of the key players of the end times from a dispensationalist, pre-millennial view of Revelation.
Recommended Bands/Music Artists (suggest more!):
-Hawk Nelson
-Legacy (little-known a cappella group)
-The Newsboys
-Skillet
-For King and Country
-Colton Dixon
-Disciple
-Red
-Wolves at the Gate
-Sleeping at Last
-Owl City
-Casting Crowns
-DC Talk
-Jason Gray
-TobyMac
-Payable on Death (POD)
-Flyleaf
-Danny Gokey
-Bluetree
-Blanca
-Britt Nicole
-Mandisa
-Chris Tomlin
-Switchfoot
-Plum
-Finding Favor
-MercyMe
-The Afters
-Steven Curtis Chapman
-Matthew West
-Citizen Way
-7eventh Time Down
-Hillsong United
-Love & the Outcome
-Francesca Battistelli
-Group 1 Crew
-Jamie Grace
-Lauren Daigle
-MIKESCHAIR
-Audio Adrenaline
-1 Girl Nation
J-onny Diaz
-Luminate
-Matt Redman
-Pentatonix (not strictly Christian but have some great covers of Christian songs)
-VERIDIA
-Thousand Foot Krutch
-We As Human
-As We Ascend
-Capital Kings
-Royal Tailor
-Superchick
-Hillsong Young & Free
-Lecraw
-NF
-Relient K
-Fireflight
-Lacey Sturm
-Family Force 5
-Anberlin
-Lights Go Down (not specifically "Christian music", but all of the band members are Christian)
-Twenty One Pilots
-Jordan Feliz
-Third Day
-NEEDTOBREATHE
-Theocracy
Recommended Movies (suggest more!):
God's Not Dead- a Christian student debates an atheist philosophy professor.
God's Not Dead 2- a teacher comes under attack for answering a student's question about Jesus and must defend her faith in court.
Heaven Is For Real- the story of a little boy who claims to have had the miraculous experience of visiting heaven and coming back. Highly controversial, should be taken with a grain of salt and constantly cross-examined through the lens of Scripture.
Holy Ghost- a movie director attempts to create a documentary led entirely by the Holy Spirit. Leans more on the charismatic side of the scale and is also fairly controversial.
Risen- an ancient Roman cop movie in which Pontius Pilate enlists a Roman soldier to help him find the missing body of Jesus Christ. They wind up with a bit more than they bargained for
The Prince of Egypt- an animated retelling of the book of Exodus.
War Room- a couple's failing marriage gets a sudden burst of hope from an old lady who encourages them to work it out through the power of prayer.
Passion of the Christ- a graphic, R-rated dramatization of Jesus Christ's crucifixion.
Courageous- after a terrible personal tragedy, a sheriff's deputy convinces his friends on the force to sign a pledge to be better Christians and better parents. However, one of the men's greed causes problems.
Fireproof- a firefighter realizes what a terrible husband he is and reads a Christian self-help book called "The Love Dare" in an attempt to reconnect with his wife and, goaded on by his devout father, begins a 40-day quest to restore his marriage.
Facing the Giants- after enduring one problem after another, the football coach of a Christian high school tries to turn his life and his team around using the power of faith.
Grace Unplugged- a teenage musician longs to become a pop star, but her father, a former pop music idol, warns her that fame corrupts and advises her to use her gifts in service of God with her church's worship band. When her father's former manager pays them a visit, she decides to accept his offer of a big-time music career, but the more successful and popular she becomes, the more pressure she feels to give up her Christian values.
The Third Day- a documentary examining the historical plausibility of Jesus' resurrection.
I'm Not Ashamed- after a life of being a kind-of-sort-of Christian, a high school student finds inspiration from another teen, and her renewed commitment to Christ plays out powerfully at her school and around the world.
Joyful Noise- two women in a church choir must overcome their musical differences and work together to win a national competition.
Recommended Podcasts (suggest more!):
Apologetics 315 Interviews- an apologetics resource organization interviews various people involved in the apologetics world.
Fallacy Friday- Apologetics 315 describes numerous common logical fallacies.
Ask Pastor John- John Piper of Desiring God answers questions.
Prayer Requests (please tell me if you have a request for prayer, and I will put it here! List will be wiped every three months [January, April, July, and October]. Let me know if you want a prayer request of yours to survive the wipe. If you tell me that a prayer has been answered, I will remove it from the list.):