How about a thread where non-Christians can ask a Christian, not about their own beliefs but what they are taught. I know, based on personal experience: with television, songs, and general everyday rumors/ I know that there are a lot of things people think about the Bible that are not in the Bible. So feel free to ask a Christian, not about changing you, nor about you changing them, but ask them a question you have on your mind. I would like to take the time to answer. Don't ask my opinon so much, as to the literal examples given through the ages. x I would like to open with a question I've asked myself. Is the Bible a believeable sorce? Well, if about 1600 years ago Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt and God divided the sea. If it really happed, what would people do? I think they would write it down, and tell their children. If God appeared on earth today what would people do? Write it down, videotape it, talk about it on the web and 100 years later the general public would say it never happened. x One thing I read that someone else wrote was that people changed the Bible. Who would gain from such a thing? The Hebrews who didn't believe Christ was the messiah? The Egyptions who enslaved the Hebrews? China, Australia, Bin Laden, George Bush, Dr.Phil? The Bible convicts mankinds' conscience, eliminates their self-justifications, then gives them a path out. x Feel free to ask what the Bible says regardding your questions.
I see people are visiting but no one has a question? x There are many anti-Christian things being said. I've heard such things as Hitler was a Christian?! I think what really happens is people dont get their way and feel let down, then they get angry, then they think it is too late. but He is better Savior than we are sinners! x An often unspoken question: who can be saved? "who soever believth in Him" keep in mind there are many men who say they believe yet we know better. In public people put on their shows, Its amazing how much the Bible tells the non-believer he is justified to not follow the wolves in sheep clothing!
I guess I'll shoot a question out, maybe it will warm people up or something. Hmmm . . . . Why do you think God makes it so confusing and difficult to be able to believe in him? (to push it further) Wouldn't an almighty God just up and let it be known that he is there, yet he sits back and watches things happen and everybody is all sitting here wondering what's up.
That's not really evidence You assumed what is written down is believeable , which was your original queston. I've some questions... 1. If the Bible is the world of God, and God is infallible, why is it that some of his words are no longer followed? Some argue that the Bible states homosexuality is wrong, therefore it is wrong. But the Bible also says it’s acceptable to stone disobedient children to death, yet I don’t see any Christians advocating this. Deuteronomy 21 21:18 - If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: 21:19 - Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; 21:20 - And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. 21:21 - And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. 2. How can heaven be utter bliss when people you love are care about are/maybe burning in hell? 3. Is Jesus the son of God or God in flesh? 4. Is Gandhi in heaven or hell? 5. The Bible says that God is a jealous God. How is this an example of a moral absolute of which man is supposed to follow? 1. "God is love." 1 John 4:8. 2. "Love is not jealous." 1 Cor 13:4 3. "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God." Exodus 20:5. So if love is NOT jealous, yet god is jealous, then God can’t be love. But if god IS love he cannot be jealous. Be he is.
1) God is omnipotent. 2) God gave humans free will. Q: If God gave humans free will, can he see our futures? A: If he can see our futures, then it is not free will. If he cannot see our futures, he is not omnipotent. Worshipping an omnipotent god? Sure, just don't keep saying you are omnipotent. Kinda "lying", you know. 3) God sents bad people to hell. Q: If God knows who is bad befoe they are even born, does he knowingly create people just to send them to hell? A: I don't see any other posibility. God lets people be born just so they fry when they die. Love? In BIZARRO WORLD!
Please decide how important this question is to you, and if you really want to discuss answers to it. There are fairly clear answers that I think I can get across, and/or provide some links and references, but it will involve some lengthy posts and several lengthy discussions. If this one is 'low' on your priority list of Biblical-questions-to-be-resolved, then I recommend skipping it for now. Both. In one sense, He is called the 'Son' of God like Adam was - Jesus is called 'the second Adam' because He fulfilled God's destiny for humankind, exactly where Adam failed, and brought life from death, even more than Adam brought death from life. The Jewish culture of the time was strictly monotheistic. A claim to be the Son of God would be understood as a claim to being divine - the One and Only God, in the flesh. That's not for me to decide, or for me to know. Since the New Testament was written in Greek and the Old Testament mostly in Hebrew, the two words are actually different in the original languages. I suggest a word study to see what the shades of meaning of each are, and how they differ.
Discussed here: http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?p=806426#post806426 Please don't multi-post; it makes it hard to keep track of any/all conversations/discussions that follow.
Yes yes, I know. I was just giving my same opinon to another thread which had the same basic idea. Sorry.
Here's a few more: 1. Why would God make me already knowing that I wouldn’t accept Jesus? If he didn’t know this he’s not omnipotent, if he’s not omnipotent he cannot exist. 2. God created us in his image. God is perfect. Wherefore why are we not perfect (as Christians argue?) Note: As I know it, we were prefect, but became imperfect because of “original sin,” but an omnipotent God would have know about this before he even created us, so why bother creating us in the first place. And it’s said our free will to disobey caused “original sin,” but if we were made perfect, why would we even disobey, because a perfect person wouldn’t disobey. Finally, how can a person be punished for disobeying before they have the knowledge of what good and bad was? Ann, I think my first question is fairly important for obvious reason, although I i dount think a long discussion needs to be made of it.
This is a question I think about sometimes. I reckon he's happy leave us guessing. A bit like how a teacher prefers not to give an answer to a question, but leave hints so you can work it out yourself, and practice thinking and the like. Although it does seems strange if so much is dependant on you getting this answer "right"...
Another new religion thread Why do religion posts constantly keep popping up ? Isn't anybody ever going to get tired of talking about this ? And it always seems to end up in these atheist vs. theist debates. Astheist posts question, a thesist posts question, questions gets answered but not answered...all hell breaks loose ! I wonder how many Religion threads have alone been started the last year ? With the point being what ? Atheist will never understand Christians because we don't try to understand, theists believe their stuff because they have faith and belief...wuupee dee ! Christian
The instruction not to eat from the Tree was fairly explicit. As usual, the basis of 'sin' is disobedience to God, nothing to do with morality.
That's a good point. Considering that this is a Martial Arts forum, it's amazing how many threads get started about Christianity. Although interestingly, other religions don't get much of a look in. Personally, if I wanted to discuss a point about Islam then I'd go to an Islamic discussion site, or if it was about Buddhism then I'd go to a Buddhist discussion site, etc. But for some reason, we get vast numbers of threads about Christianity here on MAP. Usually started either by 'born-again' types who feel the need to preach the word at every opportunity, or else by atheists who seem to get a buzz out of provoking a reaction out of the Christians.
I like talking religion in general. This has turned out to be a good place to do it in. Funnily enough, I've been to places dedicated to theological discussion and they weren't as good as this place. A forum's all about it's community and I think this religious one is pretty good.
on one of the bodybuilding sites i help mod we had gay threads popping up for 3 weeks, "gay marriage", "born gay?" etc etc... it ripped the forum apart as members had enough of it... religion is not bad compared to the threads we had popping up lol
common sense and a strong moral base > any religion, in my opinion. and no, moral base does not necessarily come from any religious teachings. My grandfather lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere in northern china. He had no idea who confucius or any other philosopher was. He moved to the city at the age of 24, and never once committed a crime, cheated, or stole. Moral ethics come from experience, not teachings.
HEY HEY HEY! I go to bed and go to work and come back and it's like everyone and their brother post at once.. haha x First, Mr Simpson, God knows you belive in Him, Ive read alot of your posts, your problem is not so much with God as with false Christians that have done whatever they have done to you, or the very common problem of the souls of people long gone that didnt accept Christianity. Mr Simpson if you love your daughter or son or love to play guitar or love to read, how is reading jealous? So like Ann mentioned words have multiple meanings, but also our love is jealous, thats why Christians dont accept so many things. We love unconditionally but we still want people to be perfect. x Another reason for the text could be the author, and the meaning of jealous. If you have a million dollars Im not jealous, but if you're giving a worker who does a poor job and I have made the most custormers happy, then Im jealous. It's all in how you read it. x The reason we dont stone people to death for being gay is the same reason we dont stone people to death for violating the Sabbath. When Jesus Christ died for all people, He was the sacrifice to forgive sins. All have sinned. If you do it physically, mentally, or verbally, sin exists. He forgave us and we forgive because He forgave us and we everyday need Him to forgive us so we everyday forgive also. x There is another thread about Hell. And for those that havent been to it. Look at the Bible for the explainations. It never says anyone suffers eternally or burns forever, and as for Ghandi in hell, no, because no one goes to heaven or hell when they die, they sleep untill the time of judgement, when all are judged. Another answer is in the book of Job, and it says to have Job pray for his friends because "his prayer will be accepted" and another text says the "prayer of faith will save the sick and if he hath commited sins, they will be forgiven." another says you will be saved "and your house" so we pray for each other and those that do not pray. To pray means to ask. x The Bible does tell us that God made everything, even the sinner for judgement. I know everyone wants everyone to be perfect and never sin but thats not really ever gonna happen in this world. Why did God make you if you were gonna end up destroyed. Because some of us will rejoice that we made it through this. If times were not bad we wouldnt comprehend love. Love is created by God it will return to God. We who love do suffer when people who don't accept God pass away. We cannot be truely happy until our souls are freed in the end. Of whom much is given much is expected, and to whom little is given little is expected. So those that dont believe and dont accept are in better shape than us that know better and deny. x Mr Simpson the word "perfect" has also been translated to mean "mature" be ye perfect as I am perfect. NOt somone who never sins. This is another reason I made this thread. Some people think if you become a Christian you never sin, or say you never do. The difference between Christians and non-Christians is the admittions of sin. You know you think bad things, say bad things and do bad things from time to time. Ever read that one deciple of Christ that said he was the chief sinner. Or king David who sinned, and are we to be more perfect than them? No, but we must hate it that we are not that kind of person we want to be for God. x From early childhood you should know the difference between good and bad, hurting people: bad.. stealing...wrong.. killing/wrong. So again I must go back to the text, to whom much is given much is required and to whom little is given little is required. Your intentions and the end results will be judged fairly. And what does it say about the sins you've done, "none of them will be mentioned to you.. if you turn from that way" not even mentioned.. sounds like a good deal, like dying a horrible humilliating death which we deserve by the law, was made intercession for us by Christ. So we dont stone people to death or be stonned but in the end we all answer God. x And by the way, I didnt create this thread to trigger arguements between Christians and athiests, I wanted a room for anyone who wanted to know what the Bible said about an issue, because as you can see many people in life will tell you non-Biblicial accounts on why things are that contradict the teachings. x God just doesnt sit back Sparkle. He is still saving lives! Still changing hearts and minds. Despite all the negative from pseudo-followers, look at all the people building homes, and giving food and giving medicine and money in the name of God. Billions of examples. God can even make a non-believe dig in his pockets to give to the less fortunate. x My question to you Homer is if the flood or any event in the Bible really happened, what would people do about it? Write it down and tell people? What if God appeared before you, what would you do, you know if you came back online to tell us there would always be a hater telling you their doubts.. If it was a perfect world we wouldnt even have ever existed, God must get pleasure out of the simple things we do to express our love towards Him and our fellow brothers and sisters in the world. I think we both hurt and entertain God, I think even being able to post this makes the day mean something more.
I disagree. I DO understand, which is exactly why i question it. You need to have some understanding to question it. If i dont know something, i'll ask, hence my posts here.
