im a 20-year old college student and do not wish to argue with any of you guys here. i just want to point out some stuff w/c also bother me (as a sign of growing up, i guess)… it would be nice if you guys could hear me out.

if there is one great thing i’ve learned from studying philosophy and theology, and from analyzing my own experiences, it is this: not everything in this world is commensureable. one cannot always compare all things as to whether they are important or not, true or not, by the same standards. there are aspects of our lives which largely depend on concrete tangible evidence (e.g. science, in which numbers, formulas, and equations, data are compulsory), yet there are ones which mainly depend on "non-something’s" or "non-somebody’s". an example of the former would be the chemical tests (Lucas and chromic acid tests for the presence of primary and secondary alcohols). on the other hand, a non-somebody could be explained by the ff: when you love your parents, you don’t love them because of the facts about them (e.g. their names, their birthdates and -places, etc. which were only imposed on them); you love your parents because of that something within them which could not be encompassed by given details about them… (i hope u get my point). similarly, you do not believe in your friend due to the "somebody" in him/her, that "somebody" who can be known by thousands of other people whom he/she encounters. you have faith in your friend because of that "non-somebody" in him/her who shares a special relationship with you, that "non-somebody" who makes you feel comfortable and proud of who you are. this breeds faith in that friend.

thus, in life, although people normally are stuck in looking for answers to endless questions which need scientific proof (this is what the workaday world does to us), there are other and personally, more significant factors which we do value. this, i think, is the basic foundation of believing, of religion.

i, as a roman-catholic, respect people who do not believe. may i ask my fellow believers to try and do the same. as for the non-believers, respect is also what we ask for in return.

thanks, guys and God bless!

Another point is that the Catholic church is the original church. The church of the book of acts is. The origional church was set up with no intentions of denominations, Catholicism included. So, to answer the question of which denomination is right, none are. If there was supposed to be a specific one, Paul would have said so in the Bible. I personally attend a non-denominational Bible college and church. But, the fact that there are so many different denominations only adds to the validity of the Christian faith. For the most part we all belive in the basic foudations of Christianity (one God in three parts but sill only one, the creation of the world, the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ, there are more) A lot of the denominations a from difference in opinion in traditions and practices, but, if you just live your life based on the Bible you’re fine and don’t need to pick a denomination to follow. My belief is that when all the Christinas get to heaven and ask God which one was right He’ll say none, the Bible is right.

As far as math and science. As I said I go to a Christian college, and the prof that I had fo biology my freshman year is one of the top bio-chemists in the country and has done extensive work for the government. He became a Christian by trying to disprove Christianity and God through science. Many of our professors in the math department came to faith in similar ways. My history prof is one of the few people in the world that has the highest possible acess to the dead sea scrolls and is one of the top archeologists in the world. Again he was saved by trying to prove Christianity wrong with historical evidence. Dickson, you are educated, but I highly doubt you are as educated as these men and women. I know I’m not and I most likely never will be.

The last words of Jesus are not as important as His death. Like beans said, the two different phrases mean the same thing, Christs job on earth is over for now.