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Salvation from what?
Only about 60% of people believe in hell these days, and that includes Christians.
Still too many though.
Belief in God I can kinda truck with.
Belief in hell? Come on people. It's 2023, not the middle ages.
There are still quite a few end of the world conspiracy theory believers out there too.
He can present himself IN the words that inspired people to write them down. Even years later. It had apparently changed them. Imagine a time of gory vengeance, when an eye for an eye was the norm, to be taught to forgive. Turn the other cheek. Who would have thunk such a thing? Only Jesus.
There is a big difference between just describing what someone DID and interpreting what someone said or why they did it. The former is far more likely to be accurate and less prone to miscommunication. Interpretation (especially WHY someone did what they did) is far more prone to misunderstanding.
However, there is an assumption that the description that what someone DID is entirely accurate, which is questionable to say the least. The very fact that there have been numerous translations, additions, and subtractions to the NT gospels throughout history should give pause to that belief, not to mention the political influences driving a particular narrative that benefited certain rulers, not to mention religious leaders of various denominations.
However, there is an assumption that the description that what someone DID is entirely accurate, which is questionable to say the least. The very fact that there have been numerous translations, additions, and subtractions to the NT gospels throughout history should give pause to that belief, not to mention the political influences driving a particular narrative that benefited certain rulers, not to mention religious leaders of various denominations.
I agree completely, but the match of the "mind of Christ" to the consciousness I encountered was compelling. It makes little difference to me what the origin of the narrative was since it accurately depicted the consciousness of God which I "know" exists. People ask me how I know it is God. My answer is, "What else would you call a CONSCIOUS Reality responsible for the existence of absolutely everything???"
He can present himself IN the words that inspired people to write them down. Even years later. It had apparently changed them. Imagine a time of gory vengeance, when an eye for an eye was the norm, to be taught to forgive. Turn the other cheek. Who would have thunk such a thing? Only Jesus.
Yet you do not turn the other cheek. People do not, because it is a bad philosophy which only makes sense in an end of times scenario where the meek will be the winners.
And just like you do not turn the other cheek, you do not follow ALL the OT laws, as Jesus commanded, which ironically says take an eye for an eye.
That's an interesting question. AFAIK, there have been NO direct quotes by Jesus ever recorded. Everything that has been written about him has been hearsay, and some of it is even decades old or older. How, then, could Jesus present Himself in the Bible?
Hearsay or invented.
Poor Mark, inventing these witty comebacks in his allegorical 'biography', and Jesus getting the credit.
There is a big difference between just describing what someone DID and interpreting what someone said or why they did it. The former is far more likely to be accurate and less prone to miscommunication. Interpretation (especially WHY someone did what they did) is far more prone to misunderstanding.
So Jesus deprived a pig farmer of his living, walked on water, and fed multitudes in the desert? I thought you said the supernatural did not exist?
Yet you do not turn the other cheek. People do not, because it is a bad philosophy which only makes sense in an end of times scenario where the meek will be the winners.
And just like you do not turn the other cheek, you do not follow ALL the OT laws, as Jesus commanded, which ironically says take an eye for an eye.
I have brought this up before, albeit described differently. The Beatitudes are -- to a large extent -- great for the next life...not so great for this life.
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