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Mom, you just keep asking, don't stop for anyone.
And I am not being rude to anyone out there in city-data, but if you are a follower of Christ, should you not be honored that Mom is asking? Who is drawing this person?
Thank you Lord for Mom asking!
Thank you Mom for being here!
Exactly!! There was only one person who was defensive about my questions and I am happy for that, I got a lot of really good responses and I am suprised...I know that religion is a touchy subject for some so I want to be careful on how I word things. Thankyou! It is interesting to read all of your reponses and thankyou ALL for helping me understand what I wanted to know
Not to be rude but I am curious, how would you live your life if there wasn't a bible? It seems strange to me that people live their life by a book. I am not a religous person so when it comes to religion I am clueless, I will admit that so this question might seem wierd to some people. I just don't get it, why can't you live your own life and make your own decisions on what you think is right or wrong, or what you should and shouldn't do. If god is suppose to love everyone then why does it matter what you do and don't follow?
Ok i'll bite....lets' live by your code shall we......I don't like you infact I can't stand you and you really make my life difficult so I have decided to murder you. Am I justified in killing you, why or why not?
Last edited by Fundamentalist; 10-22-2009 at 11:05 AM..
To the OP: The Bible is more than just a book, It is the Living WORD of GOD. What in you judges between right and wrong and by what standard do you base your judgement upon? How does a person know right from wrong? The origin of this concept is found only in GOD. And what does GOD's love for HIS creation have to do with it? GOD is love; yet, HE is the standard of Righteousness and HE judges right from wrong. HE loves you the best and HIS judgment is the only one that matters in the end. Most parents love their children unconditionally, but not all their behaviors. Sometimes the behavior of our dear children is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated without serious consequences. However, parents still love their children unconditionally just as GOD loves. The love of GOD is constant and nothing can separate you from HIS love- not even your lack of understanding or disbelief. GOD condemns sin; yet, HE loves the sinner. Everybody is living by the "Book" as you have called it, one way or another. Maybe you should try reading the Bible yourself to resolve any questions you may have.
Ok i'll bite....lets' live by your code shall we......I don't like you infact I can't stand you and you really make my life difficult so I have decided to murder you. Am I justified in killing you, why or why not?
No it's not justified it just means that your brain did not develop like it should have when you were little and that you have major problems.
OK so my next question~~
If god is suppose to love everyone then why does it matter what you do and don't follow? I am not religous, I do not follow the bible but I am a good person with a good heart...so does that mean god ONLY loves people who follow his instructions?
God loves all of us. There are many people who believe in God who are not Christian and he loves them too. The Jews follow God, Muslims follow God, Bahai's follow God. We are all his children. He hears all our prayers.
No one has a private, exclusive channel to God. We are called to act in an ethical manner to live our lives with the emphasis on the here and now, to learn and be educated, and tolerant.
Folks who follow religions that espouse their way is the only way will certainly try to get you in their camp because they see you as needing to be saved, but you don't. There are lots of religions that don't have that view.
I have always found it strange that Christianity took from Judaism all of their tanakh, changing its name to the old testament. Islam took stories from the Christian old testament, but changed the stories around. Yet both say that Jews are not saved. Because each sees themselves as somehow negating what came before them. So there was Judaism which was improved by Christianity, and then Islam which sees itself as the seal as the prophethood and the final word. Both of them took much from Judaism.
Bahai's have a really interesting faith and they are very tolerant in their beliefs. Look them up to see what they believe. I had bahai friends when I was in my late teens and I attended some of their firesides.
[quote=Betsey Lane;11280610]Good morning DaniMae1. Good to see you here. Aren't we blessed to have yet another day? You see this comment above? Now THAT's your personal opinion, and if that's how you choose to live your life, by all means....LIVE IT.
Some of us, believe otherwise and choose to believe the BIBLE. Biblical Instructions Before Leaving Earth.
It's all about choices is'nt it? And whether we believe it, or not, each has rewards...........you will get something.
Betsey[/quote]
Actually Betsey she is right in her comment. There has been an awful lot of really bad stuff done in history in the name of Christianity:
Crusades
Inquisition
pogroms
kicking the Jews out of many many countries, because they were Jews
Blood libels
Catholics killing protestants and protestants killing Catholics
Christians in early America killing those who they deemed to be heretics
Other religions who deem themselves who have the only truth have done the same thing but in the modern era.
The world would be better off if none of the religions who saw themselves as having the only truth didn't exist because historically the believers haven't been able to co-exist with other religions.
Christians ought to at least acknowledge the truth of the death attributed to their belief of being exclusively right.
[quote=mshipmate;11289946]First, the Bible is not just a book,
Sure it is like other religious texts. Written by many men over a period of time and divinely inspired.
Anytime you have books written down by men you don't have something literal or infallible.
Does that mean it is doesn't have important information? No.
It means that it cannot be taken literally.
The bible is full of stories, poems, written by ancient men speaking to what was going on around them. The epic story of the freeing of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. The wandering in the desert and the teaching of the ancient Hebrews of the law. The event on Mt Sinai and the formation of the Jewish people and the covenant with God. Stories for the people who were being affected by what was going on around them.
As a Jew I understand that much of the Tanakh (bible) is full of the history of my people and the prophets were speaking to them and speaking to what was happening to them.
Much of what Christianity has to say about the Christian bible is very different to how the Jews see it and for me I see a religion that took a religious text from another and changed its meaning. For that reason alone it is not literal or infallible.
Today we can still get important information from the bible.
Personally, I don't live my life by a book but rather by the spirit of God within me. The bible is a reference point in the sense that it is God's letter to us. However, I don't believe God stopped speaking after the last word in the book of revelations was written. God still speaks today. Sometimes He speaks to me through His word found within the pages of the Bible. Sometimes He speaks to me through a message I may hear in church, bible study, or somewhere else. Sometimes He speaks to me through a conversation that I may be having with someone. Sometimes He speaks to me through experiences I may be going through. And, most often, He speaks to me through my prayer life with Him, my devotional time, and my seeking Him through these things.
I personally have never sat down and read the bible page by page from Genesis to Revelations. However, in the course of the 13 years since I gave my life to the Lord, I have read the entire bible several times through studies, through just opening it up and reading where it opened up to, through opening it as a message was being preached in church, etc.
I know some will say, and I believe even somewhere on this thread it was mentioned, that once you have read the bible, you have the information, and that's all that's needed. It is now in your heart and you no longer need the bible. I do not say that. I don't worship the Bible. I worship God. However, the bible is His word and what I have found in my 13 years of reading His word and fellowship with God is that His word is very much alive and active today.
There are times when I can read a scripture that I have read a dozen times before and suddenly something is revealed to me that I just sit there in awe thinking "God you are truly amazing, how did I miss that before".
So no, I don't believe that reading the word of God every day, studying His word on a regular basis, and having our lives, minds, and hearts transformed by every word God has spoken means we are worshiping a book, nor even living our lives by and through a book. Rather, I believe that in doing this, we are learning more and more about the character of God, who we are in Him, and yes, how we ought to live our lives. Which by the way, is more than a mere list of things to do and not do. It is about a transformation of our character into being more like His, our attitude more into that of Christ. It is about a transformation that purges us from the faulty thinking of this world and more into the mind of Christ and a returning to how God originally intended us to be, created in His image, in His likeness.
Free will is what determines my life. The bible sets a standard. The world too sets a standard. Our life and circumstances are upon where our chosen standards are displayed. It is my free, however, which will choose which standard I will adhere to.
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