ok listen here.......

[slipknotpsycho]

so just cuz someone's baptized, atleast by your logic, there's no way they can decide later on they no longer believe?

because they get their head dunked in water they'll never change their opinion?

i wash my hair all the time, i still change my opinion on alot of things...

[Pass That Shit]

Being baptized with the Holy Spirit is different from religion taking a dunk in a jacuzzi and claiming they've been baptized.

[BoilerUp]

The way I see it is that religion prevents you from doing what you want, and I hate it when people try to govern my actions.

Being baptized with the Holy Ghost is receiving the Spirit of God.
Jesus is faith.
Faith in your heart is substance and evidence that he exists.

By the way, I was baptized, and I am an extreme atheist. I thought god didn't want you to make generalizations.

[Pass That Shit]

See previous post!!!

[Pass That Shit]

If you had been baptized with the Spirit of God, you would testify of him. All you did was take part in a religious ceremony.

[Hardcore Newbie]

I guess we'll have to disagree, as I still feel people can change their minds about anything, even if it's to do with faith. I still believe that one can lose faith. If you believe you've received The Holy Spirit, or even if you actually have, I believe you can always "rationalize" (for lack of a better word that doesn't assume that your beliefs are inferior to mine) it as a hallucination, or just a dream, or something that you wanted to see.

[Pass That Shit]

I guess we'll have to disagree, as I still feel people can change their minds about anything, even if it's to do with faith. I still believe that one can lose faith. If you believe you've received The Holy Spirit, or even if you actually have, I believe you can always "rationalize" (for lack of a better word that doesn't assume that your beliefs are inferior to mine) it as a hallucination, or just a dream, or something that you wanted to see.

You're not really disagreeing with me cause you don't believe me. You can't be disagreeing that the Holy Ghost never leaves your heart cause you don't believe man could recieve the Spirit of God. Those that loose faith actually don't loose anything. If faith was not in their heart, what did they loose? Your definition of faith is someone putting their trust thinking something is true and then learning that it's not. So they lost "faith" in what they once felt was true.
But what was of substance and what evidence did that person posses that they no longer trust in?

[imitator]

You're not really disagreeing with me cause you don't believe me. You can't be disagreeing that the Holy Ghost never leaves your heart cause you don't believe man could recieve the Spirit of God. Those that loose faith actually don't loose anything. If faith was not in their heart, what did they loose? Your definition of faith is someone putting their trust thinking something is true and then learning that it's not. So they lost "faith" in what they once felt was true.
But what was of substance and what evidence did that person posses that they no longer trust in?

It is possible for someone to loose faith in the religion in which they believed, touched by the holy spirit or not.

God speaks of those who have lost the path, but never does he mention that they were heathens or could not have been on the path before. Many times we can be side tracked, and loose the faith we once had.

Technically, the Holy Spirit is with us all, believer and non, because of what Jesus did for us, and how the whole thing works. God does not care if you spend your time in churches worshiping him, or if you dont spend a single minute praising his name in your life. He doesnt care if you believe in him, so much as he cares that you follow the morals that were supposed to be taught through the stories in the bible. Man decided to take things in a literal sense, and start using what happened in the bible stories as cause and justification for actions they made. Which isnt what is meant to happen with such things. God gave you rules, they are called the Ten Commandments. If he wanted the bible to be a giant rule book, im sure he would have done so. You know, Gods rules for Dummies or something.

But according to that book of stories to enchance ones life with, well... New Testament, Old Testament is like an action film with a very angry pist off God in it... God more or less states that as long as you live a good pure life, he is happy with you. And Jesus loves us, no matter what we do, same with God, else he would not allow people to be forgiven by asking for true forgiveness.

Being that the spirit is within us all if you perscribe to the Catholic/Christian faith, it is possible for people to loose their faith, or perhaps never have faith at all. The true test of a persons soul is to allow them to be tested and never let them know. Watch them when they think no one is watching them. And if someone can pass the "tests" of being one of true soul, then they truely deserve to enter the kingdom of heaven, as they have found the key to living how God wishes them to live, without ever having to have it forced down their throats, or even brought up.

Who is the better man, the one who spends his entire life in service of god, knowing exactly what he needs to do to enter the kingdom of heaven... but messes up once in awhile because he is human... or the man who knows nothing of God, but lives his life in attune to what God wishes as best as he can, and also screws up once in awhile? My money is on the guy who didnt know, because his soul was pure enough to find the correct path without any need of guidance or a carrot at the end of the stick.

Those who do something just to get something in return... well thats cheating. That means they arent living their life they way He asks because they want to do it for him, or themselves, they are doing it for the reward at the end. Which is selfish, and against everything their God preaches. Life isnt about working your way to heaven, life is about living... enjoying the gift that God gave them, and leading good wholesome lives. People who's entire focus is on obtaining access to heaven... they squander the most precious gift that God has given them, and I cant see how that is rewarded the same as the people who dont spend every second trying to get the prize to the game.

[Hardcore Newbie]

You're not really disagreeing with me cause you don't believe me. You can't be disagreeing that the Holy Ghost never leaves your heart cause you don't believe man could recieve the Spirit of God. Those that loose faith actually don't loose anything. If faith was not in their heart, what did they loose? Your definition of faith is someone putting their trust thinking something is true and then learning that it's not. So they lost "faith" in what they once felt was true.
But what was of substance and what evidence did that person posses that they no longer trust in?

I did disagree with you, because I never said anywhere that i didn't believe man could not receive the holy spirit. In fact, I went out of my way to say that this could be possible, even if it's something i consider highly unlikely.

I guess we'll have to disagree, as I still feel people can change their minds about anything, even if it's to do with faith. I still believe that one can lose faith. If you believe you've received The Holy Spirit, or even if you actually have, I believe you can always "rationalize" (for lack of a better word that doesn't assume that your beliefs are inferior to mine) it as a hallucination, or just a dream, or something that you wanted to see.

I believe that if someone has received the holy spirit, they can still "lose the evidence", so to speak. I believe, that people can change their opinion on anything, through the passing of time, and/or from acquiring new information. Whether newly acquired information is truth or not is of little importance. If a person has genuinely received the holy spirit, they can deem it to be false later. Maybe they've been dissatisfied with the way their life is turning, look for new information, and come to the conclusion that this baptism was in fact a trick by the spaghetti monster to poison their soul (in this religion, the spaghetti monster is a bad guy).

Through time and information, their perception of the exact same situation has changed. Even if the ideas and theologies within the Bible are 100% true, and someone has genuinely been baptized by the spirit, people are always free to change their mind (or heart, or soul). It wouldn't matter if the new information is a lie, it only matters if the follower believes it or not. People can be deceived, so it's fair to state that deception can take someone away from the truth.

For my own curiosity, what does the Bible say about how to go about getting this baptism of the Holy Spirit? Specific verses would be great.

[imitator]

You come up with just as many ways to beleive in god =\
And who are you to say you know what the truth is.
Because you don't.

Exactly. Never trust those who claim to know truths, for they are men with agenda's.