I've heard from several people on here that they are Christians but they don't believe the Bible is the Word of God. The reason I have such an issue about that is because you cannot separate someone from their word. Your words tell people who you are. If you don't live up to the things you promise or say you stand for, your word is no good. In the same way, the Bible says that Heaven and Earth may pass away but not one jot or tittle of God's Word will pass away. A jot / tittle is a punctuation mark. That means that even the punctuation God wrote into the Word is important. That doesn't mean the punctuation that translators over the years have put in but what was originally written in the Hebrew and Greek text.
Now, people argue that the Bible was just written by men and it's been mistranslated so many times that it doesn't say what it originally said. I disagree. The only way you can believe that is if you haven't thoroughly studied it and lived it. I've lived what the Word says and it means what it says and says what it means and it does what it says it will do if you put your whole heart and soul into it and trust God without wavering.
Having said that and lived what the Word promises, I believe with all my heart what Jesus endured on the cross and that He rose from the dead and when I received His gift of salvation, I was raised and reborn with a new spirit that is connected to His. Because of what He did, I cannot and will not ever knowingly do something to betray Him or disappoint Him.
If other people don't like me because of that, that's their problem not mine. I'm not here for myself. I'm here because of what Jesus did for me and I owe Him everything and my life belongs to HIm first and foremost. I'm not interested in pleasing people. I'm interested only in pleasing God the Father, Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit. Nothing else matters.
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Comments: 44
Thank you for posting to sparealine.gather.com
Just because a person doesn't want to fight or argue about something doesn't make them less of a believer.
Christianity has been slowly removed from this country for the past 20 to 30 years. I remember when Dave Roever was able to go into High Schools and tell his testimony and share his faith, this was back in the mid to late 80s, guess what, now he can't.
There were many assemblies that focused on God when i ws a teenager and in High School, now a days kids can't wear a t-shirt that proclaims their faith, yet school districts are going out of their way to accommodate the Muslim faith.
So at some point I just have to say its in the Lord's Hands. Maybe in your eyes my attitude makes me a lesser Christian, and some people are better at witnessing, others do betting in behind the scenes and not dealing with people tasks....
But just because someone doesn't want to charge the mountain, or take charge does not make them any less of a Christian.
Christians aren't supposed to judge, we're supposed to Love......
Love your enemy as God love you............something to that effect.
I know what you are saying, however, I have to say right now that cramming your beliefs down someone else's throat is only going to cause fights, and bitter ones at that.
What we are seeing in the world today and how Christianity is being psuhed out of America and schools, I firmly believe, is all part of God's perfect plan.......
Stepping down from my soapbox now.
Hate me if you want to, Love me if you can.
Mooch
It's interesting to see when people say that we're not supposed to judge. To me, that says that they have not truly studied God's word.
In Luke 6:37-38, for instance, it says, "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
We forget that it says that if we do judge another's actions, then ours will be judged as well. It certainly does not demand that we never judge, for we have to judge. We have to know, for instance, that the church we attend is a real Bible-believing and Bible-preaching church. We have to judge that. We have to judge whether or not people are being treated properly, and if not, we have to stand up for them. We are called to judge each and every day.
We're also called to witness. While some will be given the gift of teaching and speaking and evangelism, each one has to be ready to share what God hs done for him/her at any given moment. We never know when God will place someone in our path who is searching and who needs to know Him. If we ignored that, it would be wrong.
NKJV
I also know I have struggled through various levels of faith from the time I was young and came across numerous realizations over a lifetime, going back and forth on what I believe. My father was a preacher's kid. His dad, my grandfather, was a hard core, out in the mountains travelling minister. My father remembers men would park their shotguns outside the church door on the way into church on Sunday. That would have been in the 20s and 30s in Appalachia. I keep the bible he used.
The way I see faith is that it's a growing process, for me at any rate. What you believe at one stage in your life may differ several times as you grow. To try to force your daughter, or my son in my own instance, to accept religion, in our way, would most certainly have pushed her, and him, away.
There's a young man I have known since he was about 5 years old. A little wild thing, hyperactive, into everything. Put a whole jar of Vaseline in his hair once because he just thought it would be cool. He's the nephew of one of my best friends. I absolutely adored that kid. Such a spark plug! I didn't see him all the time because they lived in Richmond, VA, when I lived in DC, but he sent me cards on holidays!
Joshua. Late teens and early 20s he grasped on to the Goth movement with gusto. Black clothes, black heavy boots, white face paint, black lipstick, black nails, dog collars and leather cuffs. Nobody knew what to do with him. Such a disappointment. My friend's mother died of emphysema during this time. She was like a second mother to me and it was so sad to see her gradually slipping away and finally reach the summit of death. Joshua and his buddies came to the funeral, services at Ft. Belvior and funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. Full Goth regalia! SO much disgust at that group, the nerve of them coming dressed like that. What would his grandmother think? They all thought he'd wind up in jail or dead in a ditch.
I never gave up on him. I knew that little boy Joshua had a lot of good in him. He had a loving heart. So what how he was dressed, the point was HE CAME. He grieved. He wanted to be there. He came without anyone forcing him to go.
Today he's married. Has two beautiful kids and works in the computer industry. Still wears a lot of black but why is that a problem? I wouldn't even care if he had huge gauges in his ears and a ring through his nose (he doesn't), I knew he was a good, caring person. And I knew he'd be fine. I had faith.
That experience taught me how to handle my own son. I know Matt is a good, caring, loving person. I know he is trying on shoes, just like I did. He may or may not go back to religion but that's his journey. I can't be there all the time. But for right now I'll just keep on loving him, encouraging him to experience life, and make informed decisions.
Sorry for the lengthy comment but your statement brought back a lot of memories. :)
Does it not bother you that your religion is completely patriarcal? That there is NO Divine Feminine, NO Goddess? No one who represents your sex? That most of the time women are treated as second class citizens at best, annd personal property at worst, in your Bible?
I'd like to comment on Elizabeths post above...your question about NO Divine Goddess, my belief is that the Holy Ghost is the Feminine side of GOD as for the treatment of woman that was an issue brough on by MEN .
Anyway, I doubt the existence of God, and my doubt is substantiated by all scientific measures known. God is not demonstrable in any form except those of the heart - by faith, by jumping to conclusions, by taking the entire bible word for word without a single question, for example.
If you have read the old testament, you no doubt know about a man's right to divorce a woman by giving her a letter saying so, and that women in menstruation are unclean and must separate themselves, also after childbirth, and that the rules differ by whether a womanchild or manchild is born, and could you tell me why no one offers a burnt animal on the altar in church anymore? Shall we touch on slavery? Genocide ordered by God? Angry, jealous, vengeful God? There's just so much I can't understand...
I'd rather live here and now, and try to be happy while I try not to hurt others. It's called being a good citizen. I'm ok with the unknown, and I think those of you who'd like to believe you have all the answers in your book of fables are... deluded. The bible itself warns that you better watch what you do, because you will most definitely be judged. I look at the book of Revelation and I do not see too much about a loving, forgiving God. He's supposed to come down here and open up a can o' whup ass on the whole gig. Are you sure your place at the table of the mighty ones is secured? Yes? By the blood of the lord Jesus? Ok, then, if Jesus died so that our sins be forgiven, what's the reason for the wholesale destruction of the rest of us? Lots of us live good lives, just we don't point to the sky every time we score a touchdown. (Ever notice that nobody points up if they come away with no points?) If y'all are dining at the Jesus Grille, why do we have to pay everyone's bill? Just because I have questions? Well, excuse me!!! All I'm doing is holding out for a few answers that can be backed up with some reality, not with "because it says so in the good book". They tried the rain chant at Woodstock. That didn't work either.
I've run on again. Sorry
I pity people who take the Bible literally out of ignorance and blindness. How can anyone in 2009 think that the Earth is about six thousand years old? You amaze me.
listen, do what ever gets you through the night, but do ont think god, or Jesus sat down with his Bic pen and wrote all that chapter and verse. Matthew, Mark luck and John even signed their mark to it so just stop saying it is God's word. It is the word of men, who were spiritual.
I suggest you watch the video Sunaura posted on one of my posts, The Crucifxion, i find this a much more plausible story and outcome of Jesus' life as a teacher (It deals with where he was in those lost years between 13 and 30!). There is even footage of Jesus' grave and his feet imprint (with the nails) he survived the Crucifixion (the Good Roman Soldier?) and lived out his life as a holy man in India.
Salvation is not manifest inwholeness. Salvation is eternal life. Jesus bought your way to eternal life with God when he died on the cross for your sins.
Your salvation rest upon your acceptance of his death and shed blood on the cross as payment for your sins. PERIOD.
Gods grace is a free gift to all mankind. Any sense of peace and grace you sense are from the Holy Spirit.
Kim is absolutely correct.
THE BIBLE IS THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. PERIOD. NO EXCEPTIONS
Jesus said I and the father are one.
In the begining was the WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God.
Taken right from the chapter of Genesis 1.
BY his WORD he spoke into existence.
By his WORd he healed them
According to his WORD your sins are forgiven
You CANNOT sepatate GOD from his WORD. He honors his WORD. and JESUS IS THE LIVING WORD of GOD.
If you proclaim to be a Christian but do not believe the Bible is the written word of God then you need to be in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to show you the truth.
Ben....you have it ALL wrong. You are way off base. Way off.
It is interesting to note that from our differing perspectives, we have come to some of the same conclusions. To wit: "Our best bet is to continue, as Jesus said, to love and forgive one another." I agree. This makes great sense for the entire world.
My own position, the way I figger it, is that the evidence obviates that love and forgiveness contain great benefits for individuals and society. I see no need for this kind of sense to be invented or made apparent by a supreme being. Since I don't see or feel God, I conclude that man is responsible for man's deeds, both righteous and heinous. In any case, our fate will be determined by what we do, not what we think.
Put it this way, do you wear make-up? Hair pins? Pants? Use contraceptives? Drink anything but water? If os, better read your bible again, those are against gods rules.
WOW. And people say I have issues...
I think that a god would be angrier at followers who warped and twisted his word into something sick and vengeful than at those who would choose not to follow such garbage. I would rather believe nothing than believe in a god who calls his children to turn on one another and fight with eachother like spoiled children to be the favorite, most obedient, most loved child.
Then what about all of the people born and died BEFORE him?
~ Point Fairies
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