How many Christians are here?

I am a Christian. However, I don't attend church, because I'm not very social. On the other hand I keep God close to my heart. I am a sinner, and my heart is full of regrets. I feel that every day I find a new way to spit on all I have been given and I just can't turn back some things. So I feel the need for salvation. I believe Jesus came to earth to show us the dangers of ``amor sui', and is our savior. I certainly accept him as my savior.

Is anyone else here a Christian? I imagine most of you are atheists, agnostics or of other religions. This is ok with me, as I understand it is what is fashionable amongst young people these days. However, I'm always happy when I meet a fellow Christian in an unexpected place :)

>>16
I'll reply with a bunch of random thoughts and go nowhere cause I don't intend to discuss this anymore either.

I can't see any ``errors'' in your retort.

You're probably sophisticated enough to see a clear distinction between the symbol which represents a number number and a number itself (or any other such examples). Well, you can say some symbol e.g. '4' is a man made creation but saying the number that symbol represents is man made too, is, to me, ludicrous.

It's not something that just exists in your head. It's something that exists period. It's not physical, you can't touch it, see it, taste it, or hear it, but it exists anyway. You can know it exists with certainty.

With the same certaintiy I know God exists, and I know my soul exists.

So, to me, its not about finding some set of morals or ethics and knowing what's ``good'' in this way, it's about discovering God. This is the ``amor sui'' vs ``amor dei'' thing. If there is no God, if deities are just some relic of ancient symbolism or whatever, then all you have left is love of self. You are God in your own head and you have the power to create and destroy all the gods you please (sort of like the very amusing take on religion and gods in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels (and numerous video games))

To me Christian theology is by far the most sophisticated, and aside from that I truly do believe Jesus was God and that God came to earth to guide us and that God, Jesus and the Holy spirit are all one holy union. I understand this sounds borderline insane to someone who doesn't have faith, but its not that insane ;). If you accept this, and then e.g. read the great scholastics and really give things some thought, you'll be surprised at the sophistication (the kind a programmer ought to appreciate) that's been put into the Christian faith. It's the only faith I know that actually studied God, and not man; descriptive not perscriptive.

Anyway, I share the same distate for this sort of discussion.

I started this thread just to see if there were any other Christians here, say hi, maybe share some experiences, and generally feel good. That is all.

I didn't really want a debate on whether this religion or that religion is the right one etc. etc.