ever here of Christian Surfers?

No worries, you're not getting under my skin and I'm unconvertible

Why the fuss about any religious deity though? Because many people yearn for something or someone to believe in to get them through life, which is fine. There is only a BC and an AD in Christian countries. Non-Christian countries and the scientific community have different timelines. Your questions all assume that everyone practices Christianity, which obviously we don't.

 

I've surf traveled all over the place and everywhere I hear similar words from surfers. "Its spiritual man!" Surfing is alot more than that as we all know, but it sums up to being one with an energy far stronger than ourselves. Ask anyone surfing Mavericks. the ocean will win every time. Those guys are deep into their super conscious just to survive the worst. We all can walk on water and be great surfers and people but we can also be snubbed out by a rogue wave at any time.

 

Everyone gets to go to surfer heaven. God accepts everyone. Jesus didnt discriminate when he said all are saved. Religion has caused more pain and suffering than almost anything else out there and in the name of what? Most of it was created to control the sheep of the world. In the name of religion we had the inquisition. Imagine if the inquisition included hedonistic rituals like surfing. They'd set fire to our petroleum based boards and burn us and our brand new wetsuits over a toxic fire. Look what happened to the Hawains. Only now are they getting back to the way things should be just like the American Indian who can finally dance again during their ceremonies.

 

I'm a Christian, and I'm trying to live a better life... slowly but surely, I have already grown into a better human being. However, being a Christian doesn't mean you have to go to church, it's just that a good church is like a community and will aid in your spiritual growth. IMO, Catholic Mass is unproductive and just a bunch of rituals, and my parents used to take me every Sunday, so I have had first-hand experience. I think we (the world as a whole) got it wrong when we divided Christianity, when in the bible it clearly says to practice unity with each other and encourage each other with love. I certainly don't walk around school shouting verses at people, but present myself as a clean individual, as do my friends. Hopefully, we can represent a change. It doesn't mean we convert everyone. It just means that what everyone is doing is pretty bad, even from a non-religious viewpoint.

I agree that some countries have used religion as a means of control, which is flat out wrong, but you'll find that true Christianity widely contrasts the values of many corrupt countries, and even politicians in our own country.

Also, Jesse Hines, Noah Snyder, Brett Barley, all those guys are Christians, but you wouldn't have known it without paying careful attention.

btw, Get Wet, do you have any info for the CSA in the Cape Fear chapter?

 

I'm glad we can all get along, as Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddists, Hindus, agnostics, atheists, spiritualists, native spirit. Thats what makes the surfing community so great and diverse. A tribe all over the world creating good. I agree with someone about the 'Golden Rule'. It applies to everyone.

 

I would consider my self a Christian . I dont go to Church as regulare as I should but I try to lead my life as best as Christ would want me. He know we mortals are not perfect but I belive the if we belive that he died for are sins that we will all have a place by his side when each of out time comes.

When I do go to church I usually go to Crest Community church in Wildwood Crest. It has a nice vibe and a few surfers I know go there as well

 

I'm a Christian but I dislike organized religion because of the stereotypes it perpetuates. Looks like most of you buy those stereotypes, which is sad. Most Christians, like me, are not evangelical at all; I don't go around searching for "unsaved souls" and I don't drop Bible verses or anything. However, I am open about my faith, not meaning that I talk about all the time but you won't ever see me hiding it, and I'm happy to talk about it to people who want to hear. Most of us will share it with whoever wants to be shared with. I have faith, faith that is very real. I've felt God in my life, and that feeling of knowing is very difficult to explain to someone who doesn't have it, or who denies before trying to understand. It is blind faith, yes, I don't have any scientific proof, but the faith is real and it is there and I believe in it. It's just there in me.

 

Bullsh&t!! Surfing is a physical activity. The 'spiritual' part is endorphins that your brain releases from the exercise.

 

I am an atheist, and proud to be one.

 

ok, you want an explanation: i was raised catholic, served as an alter boy for several years (no, i was not molested, thanks), went to catechism on sundays, etc...none of it EVER answered any of the questions i had raging in my head. after my mother died (i was 14), it became even more meaningless. i then left the catholic church, never to look back.
since that time, i've studied a LOT of different religions & they all had a few things in common: treat everyone nicely, don't kill or steal, etc...the usual things. those tenants that *anyone* of *any* faith can agree on. then i looked further & discovered the dark side: forced conversions or extermination of those who don't share The Faith. the rape of the heathen women. the COMPLETE exclusion of any who disagree w/ your faith from your heaven.
these are not things i want to be associated w/ in any way. don't make the mistake of thinking that i've not considered my position. i have thoughtfully done so. i believe that, if god exists & i live my life as a good person, i will go to "heaven" or whatever you want to call the good place after i die. i mean, do you really think that someone like the dalai lama is going to go to hell? what about ghandi? neither was a christian, but were inarguably 2 of the best men to ever walk this earth.
if your god would send those men to hell, then i want nothing to do w/ him. i would rather burn unjustly for simply being a good person than be in heaven b/c i could follow a fairly arbitrary set of rules written down over 2000 years ago by some drunk shepherd.

surfers are, by nature, counter-cultural & anti-establishment. so was jesus. as a revolutionary figure in history, he's a great role model. (& he DID exist...there are historical records to back that up. the romans were nothing if not meticulous record keepers). i prefer to keep to that...logic, if i had to say so, would be my "religion" & the art of critical thinking my prayer. the way society is going, those who can think & analyze are the ones who will be able to survive.

& what of the afterlife, you ask? i don't believe there is one. this is it. one shot is all you get. make it count. some have argued that if there's no afterlife, then nothing we do here matters. i say the opposite is true. it is b/c there is no afterlife that EVERYTHING we do here matters. if there were an afterlife, then what's the point? this world is just a holding pen for the next one. as i've said, it makes no sense.

as for the gospel, since you asked, they were written some 100-150 years AFTER jesus was crucified, & maybe were based on stories about jesus handed down over the years. & like anyone who's played "whisper down the lane" knows, stories change as they're retold. the various councils over the years decided which gospels to include & which to leave out. they also decided the question of jesus' divinity. he only ever professed that he was god's son (which, according to christians, jews, & muslims, we ALL are). he never said he was divine. in short, useful tales to indoctrinate people w/, but not even close to being historically accurate or relevant.

how's that for explanation?

 

Some things can't be explained with logic and critical thinking.

 

Anyone here ever heard of Gnosticism? If not, you may encounter an "a-ha" moment. Google it if you've never heard of it. Buy a book or two if it intrigues you. 2 cents.

 

correct

 

Yeah its a Physical Activity but, that "activity " can change someones mental state of life which make then a Spiritual or "Euphoric" experience in ones mind

Its like faith . Some dont need prove to belive in it

I consider my self a Chirstian but I also belive alot of stuff Zen Buddhims has to offer . I belive what ever make a person a better person is the best faith for that person and why shun one for it

 

The whole christian/catholic religion is based on faith. njsurfer42- i'm not going to tell you that you are stupid because everybody has their own belief. Even though i disagree with you completely i'm not gonna argue at all.
I myself am a strong Catholic so all of you out there that are defending the christian religion, don't hate on me. I'm just puting my two cents in on it.

 

Boy, that took me FOREVER to catch up on this thread. Here is my two cents. First, I will preface by saying yes, I was raised catholic. Confirmed and the whole nine yards.

Catholisism = Government. An organization, put together to gather as many resources as it possibly can, and share amongst its OWN followers. Yes, over thousands of years, this organization that has ALWAYS been run by man, have killed, stolen and gone against their intended beliefs, all while doing it in the “name of god”. Yes, this is a sh**y fact, but yes it happened. And that is why a lot of people hate the church. But that is the point. GOD is perfect, no one who has ever been involved in catholosism has ever been perfect, so we get a bad wrap… but so does EVERY religion. Most other religious groups are out bombing eachothers homes right now… its sick. Its crazy… NONE of that is in the name of god. It is all in the name of MAN.

So yeah, I 100% agree with the FUNDAMENTAL beliefs of catholics, but its just really hard to find anyone left in the church that you can trust…

But I don’t even want to imagine the things I may have done in my life had I not been raised catholic. If I never had the “fear of god” in me. I would have taken a lot more wrong turns in life. Because when no one is looking, it’s just you and god.. (if you believe in that)… But I plan on raising my children based on that. Based on Hope. Based on eternal life. Yeah, who knows whats true and whats not… But religion has always given HOPE. Maybe a false hope, but hope anyway. People without hope can do some pretty gnarly things.

Most of my family and people I know that all gave up on catholosism gave up on it because of strange, new worldy reasons. I have cousins and family member who are gay, and because they are gay, and the Churh is COMPLETELY against them, half my family kind of sides with them, saying well if the church won’t love you, we don’t want to be a part of it.

But that is BS to me… This whole freaking country thinks they should be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want, with whomever they want and that we have to all agree with it. F*** that. I agree with the church on most of that. You know what, if you are gay, you cant get married. Deal with it. That is the choice you made. Don’t be angry at god and 2000 years of organized religion, because in 2010 sexual deviants are fighting for marriage rights and everything else. Socially, this country has gone to hell in a handbasket, because of LACK of religion. LACK OF MORALS. LACK OF FAITH….

There are SERIOUS sins going on, and people are mad at the church for telling them they are wrong. That’s weak sauce…

Everyone who is so “ANTI” religion, needs to OPEN THEIR WALLET, take out a dollar bill and read it. WHAT DOES IT SAY?

IN GOD WE TRUST>. This whole COUNTRY was founded on that. OUR POLITICAL FIGURES AND THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS BASED ON GOD>>>> ALWAYS HAS BEEN!!! But in 2010, everyone has to say “SEPARATE CHURCH AND STATE””” BLAHHH BLAHH BLAHHH

ITS ON YOUR MONEY. … sorry for the rant. Im no super Christian, I just get mad at people who don’t respect peoples beliefs whether they agree or not.

 

inb4 /thread.

 

njsurfer, I apologize if you were offended by my asking you to explain the gospel. That was not my intent. I see that you have insight into Christianity and I apologize if it came across as if you didn't.

I see that you don't believe the Bible because you feel that it's not accurate. You are not alone. I held the same argument close to my heart for a long time. There's a movie called "The Case for Christ" and I think there is also one called "The Case for Scripture". They're both documentaries about the facts regarding translations and who, what, where, when, and why things happened back then.

A lot of people think Catholics and Christians are synonymous as I did for a long time. I'm going to try not to offend anyone who may be Catholic here but it's my opinion that the leadership in the Catholic church is leading people astray. They are accurate on some things but go against a lot of what it says in the Bible.

In response to some of the things that were stated above: Jesus did say that he was the Messiah. see Matthew 16:16.

For those who think God will let everyone into heaven. see Matthew 7:23

Jesus never said that good deeds are good enough to get you into heaven. see Isaiah 64:6

For those that think that they do not need to go to church. You're right but you should still yearn for fellowship and joint worship. see Matthew 18:20

For those who are located in or near Wilmington, NC check out PC3. It's really not your typical church. That's where I went while I was down there. see www.portcitychurch.org

I know that most here don't care how many versus I put on here because they don't believe that the Bible is truly the Word of God so it doesn't matter. I know a lot of people on here will probly knock me for my views and I'm not trying to impress them on anyone else here. You are entitled to your own opinions and beliefs. John 15:18 says Jesus speaking "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." So I expect to be hated, if I'm not hated then I'm not doing my job. The truth is that the Gospel is offensive. Who wants to be told that the way they've been living is wrong and that they have to try to stop all the things that they've grown so accustomed to and submit to an all powerful Creator? I know that before I accepted Christ I made up my own determination of what was right and wrong and I had my own opinion on what would happen when I died. Essentially making myself into my own god.

Here's my interpretation of the Gospel:

God is perfect, sinless, Holy
I am a sinner, even if I'm "good" I have lied, stolen, lusted, been angry etc.
I can't be in God's presence with my sins.
Christ died as a perfect sacrifice
He took my sins upon himself so that I can be seen as sinless at the judgement
All I have to do in return is accept it, repent (ask for forgiveness and not commit the sin again) and try to spread the Good News!

Alright, I'm done. Again njsurfer and anyone else on here who may have been offended by my "challenge" to debate. I apologize, I can get a little excited about this stuff sometimes...

 

People get along fine until religion comes into play. I stated earlier my views. I also don't think there will ever be peace in the Middle East or the world for that matter because of different religions and greed. Does anybody believe anything about 2012 ? I mean how did people who lived a thousand years ago know all the planets will be aligned with the milky way and there is a black hole dead smack in the middle. Thats some sh#! to ponder my friends.