Do young Polish people believe in their religion and God?

There are exceptions to every rule.

The Holy Bible (the handbook of life) doesn't though.

Of course it does... there's more than one assembled version (not to mention differences in translation).

Perhaps you could give us an example of which of God's words that have changed, according to you.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church (far older than any kind of protestatism) uses a Bible with 81 books....

Roman Catholics have 73....

Most modern protestants use only 66....

And again, you have no first hand knowledge what any of them say unless you know Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic and/or New Testament Greek so you rely exclusively on translations.... (unless you're one of the kooky King James only people who think that it supercedes and replaces the original texts....)

So there's more than one Christian Bible and many, many, many translations into English and constant reinterpretations of what the original texts say.

I knew you couldn't. :-)

Wow... I didn't realize you read some version of the bible in the original!

I did realize you didn't.
I'll have you Pagans converted in no time.
Just look at the interest in the Bible that I have instilled in you Lost Souls.
And God said, "Job well done johnny reb". :-)

The overwhelming majority of Poles are Roman Catholic despite church attendance dropping considerably over the years. What relevance to this thread does you being a born again Christian have?


i would concentrate on humility rather than pride.

So do you think God created the world in six days?

Normally I don't respond to Guest poster however you ask a good question.
Me being a born again Christian's job is to share the word with poor lost souls so they may see the light to inherit the Kingdom for eternity.

On the flip side you have Satans children here that claim there is no God so to balance things out it is my duty to enlighten them.


That is exactly what I am doing as I have been humbled by God and serve Him the best I can.
Pride, hardly.
Are you Catholics not taught to share the word just like us born again are ?
What have you done as a Catholic to share the word when the Heathens here mock God ?

That's very hard for narcissists...


Lots of people here might have seen this already, but it's very interesting and gives a quick guide to how various denominations of Christianity differ and what they have in common.

youtube.com/watch?v=tzLS4O7YaUg

shorter version:

protestants: think the bible has more authority than the church

sub types
baptists - adult baptism and personal relationship with jesus is what's most important
anglican - mish mash but concentrates on balancing reason, scripture and tradition
methodists - add spiritual experience to the mix and seek to achieve holiness on earth through works and charity (in addition to faith)
lutherans - about law and gospel, don't look to your own experience look to jc and the gospel
presbyterians - orderly theology nerds

catholics and orthodox: think the church has more authority than the bible

subdivisions
catholics - all about authority (from St Pete to the present pope) and answers, they're really into having answers for everything, participating in the church is a necessary expression of faith and necessary for salvation

orthodox - all about tradition and not interested in answers at all, it's all about mystical experience less interesed in 'salvation' (no original sin) than in sharing in the divine nature of god through church services

Where did you copy and paste that from ?
I would like to read the rest of it as it seems to be spot on.

That's not actually true. You don't have to be a practising Catholic to go to Heaven :)

Also, I would say there's a lot more diversity to Catholicism than the definition you've suggested. It really does vary from country to country according to their culture.

The section about Catholicism begins at 8:24, I'm sure the creator (a very young American) would value your input and corrections.


Not copy paste, but summaries (with some quotes) from the video, which I left a link for (aren't I considerate?)

I would say one big difference would be attitude towards 'spreading the word'. Or is it an American trait to take it so seriously?

Perhaps you could explain what you mean by attitude.
I know when I go to different schools sporting activities like basketball games you can tell immediately if it is a parochial school or a public school that you just walked into.

There is a totally different atmosphere among those kids.


No, it is a practicing Christian of any faith in any country to take it seriously but there are many different ways of witnessing.

Depends.... catholics do a lot of mission work (esp to non-Christian or recently Christian countries)... it is an American trait (for some protestants and semi- or pseudo- Christian followers to think that anyone out of their denomination is danmed to hell...

US Southern Baptists tend to believe that only they are _true_ Christians

Mormons (arguably not really Christians) and JWs (likewise) also.

Those are all groups that are active in Poland to various degrees hunting up new converts among the catholics....

Protestant denominations do the most missionary work by far.


Fall into the 'Cult' sect.


That's what I am, a recovering Catholic.

I mean more on a personal level. I declared as an atheist about 20 years ago, forced my mom to get me out of religion around the same time but I never remember anyone trying to 'Save me' or anything like that. I remember some singer having a prayer with the whole concert crew before the event and it was so strange to me..

Most Christians I've met would not classify Mormons and JWs as Christians - so I don't think they qualify for "cult" or "sect". They are so different, that it's a different religion. Mormons especially - they have their own book even!

A Cult is a religion regarded as unorthodox so they are both a Cult.


I'm here for you Lenka.
All you have to do is take Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and ask that He forgives your sins.
That is called Faith as you were saved by grace and grace alone when He died on the cross for your sins.
See how easy that was. :-)

Technically in popular usage a 'cult' is a group with some aspects of a religion but with others that are unrelated (more sociological than spiritual)

I think JWs, Mormons (maybe 7th day Adventists and maybe Christian Scientists) as separate religions derived from Christianity. Some of them slip into cultish (sociologically speaking) behavior, especially the JWs but they're more religion than cult like.

The vid I linked to uses the Nicene Creed as the dividing point between Christian and non-Christian faiths, which is, I guess as good a metric as any....


Not how most Christian denominations work... becoming a Catholic requires education and training...

That is debatable however the damage done by all evangelists is indisputable.

That just sounds like you're looking for converts. Very off-putting. Clearly in Poland they haven't seen the light given that only 0.2% identify as Evangelists.

Do all Evangelists think of atheists as Satan's children or is that just your own intolerance?


Surely you jest. I haven't seen any evidence of that.


Oh no! Not the old hellfire and damnation bit!

Man, you need to work much harder on your recovery programme, you still sound like you are addicted to God.


My God!
This is weak and pathetic stuff!


No question.


Yup!That is exactly where JR Jim is coming from......

Please cut down on your quotes

I know many Catholics that are clueless too, maf.
I have gone to mass, walked out of church and while going down the steps heard, "Jesus Christ was it hot today, I have to get that goddam air conditioner fixed."

So when the Bible says, "though shall not take the name of the Lord they God in vein I guess some Catholics interpret it different than I do.

And that is why Christians attend church on Sunday is to hear and learn scripture from the Bible.
Then usually once a week there is a nightly Bible study.
I attended one every week for four years without missing one.
So yeah, us Non Catholics study the Bible while you Catholics study the Catholic Canon.
And let it be known that I learned the basics of the Bible in my Catechism classes by the Nuns while attending Catholic school very well.

I am not a Christian, much less a Catholic.... I'm agnostic.

I'm interested in the.... processes around belief (not just religious) and recognize that many/most people do better with some kind of religion going on, but personally I have no capacity for religious faith.

In the words of St Therese of Lisieux :

"For a long time I had been asking myself why souls did not all receive the same amount of grace. Jesus deigned to instruct me about this mystery. Before my eyes He placed the book of nature and I understood that all the flowers created by Him are beautiful . . .that, if all the little flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime garb. This is true of the world of souls, the Lord's living garden."

So you see, you have your place in the garden too :))

Then what draws you to all the religious threads on the Polish forums as an authority on Christianity ?