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Sorry Wardendresden, didn't mean to come across so mean. I used to be a Christain until they turned on me. You only have to look on this thread to understand why I have turned my back on God and no longer have room for him in my heart.
A pastor gave a good illustration on what you are saying.
He said a brother hurt his feelings, so he told his wife he would leave her.
Leaving God because a "christian" (One or more) hurt you is the same thing. God did not hurt you a man or woman did. Why blame God?
A pastor gave a good illustration on what you are saying.
He said a brother hurt his feelings, so he told his wife he would leave her.
Leaving God because a "christian" (One or more) hurt you is the same thing. God did not hurt you a man or woman did. Why blame God?
Every good Christian I know, can pull out over a dozen verses out of the Bible that explain to me how many different ways I'm going to Hell. So screw them, I don't care anymore. If going to Hell means I don't have to put up with them so be it, I hear Hell it a dry heat, I will get used to it.
Every good Christian I know, can pull out over a dozen verses out of the Bible that explain to me how many different ways I'm going to Hell. So screw them, I don't care anymore. If going to Hell means I don't have to put up with them so be it, I hear Hell it a dry heat, I will get used to it.
Hi,
What some men may do has nothing to do with what God will do.
Now if those verses are clear and your activities are out of harmony with what God has clearly said is wrong, then yes your argument is with God.
Hell is neither wet nor dry it is simply death.
We each get to make the choice, life or death. God does not force us to chose either, he extends His love to draw us to Him. Of course if we desire that which God says is bad, then we will not be drawn to Him, rather we will move away. Still our choice.
I hear Christian Mastodons bellowing impotently from the tar pits of prejudice and ignorance.
In a generation or two, all we'll hear is "glub-glub."
If there is enough of them, then we won't have to worry about our oil disappearing... instead of coming from dinosaurs and other elements of the past, it will come from the dinosaurs of our present.
Unlike the Qu'ran, the Bible has no absolute claim on the truth. As in, the Qu'ran was supposed to be God's absolute and final word, and cannot be debated or changed. The Bible on the other hand, has been revised several times, and debated.
I'm transgender. As such, I went to Pride this year. One of the more interesting things I saw was a church involved which had a sign saying "the body of Christ has AIDS" so I asked about it. "The body of Christ, is his people. If the people of Christ have AIDS, Christ shares in their pain." Hmmm, so who wrote the Bible? The people of God.
Can people change their mind? Absolutely.
The body of Christ is black, white, asian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex. The one overturning the scriptures is you. The New Testament is to love your neighbor as yourself. Most of these laws were of the Old Testament.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tthttf
The Bible was inspired by God. The different writers were all inspired to write their specific part by God.
I would go into some specifics but that would go off topic.
Exactly, they were inspired by God. Human beings are touched by God, but they essentially still retain their insecurities, and their bigotries. Here's an example:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lev 11
The Lord spoke again to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘These are the creatures which you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth. 3 Whatever divides a hoof, thus making split hoofs, and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat. 4 Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these, among those which chew the cud, or among those which divide the hoof: the camel, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you. 5 Likewise, the [a]shaphan, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you; 6 the [b]rabbit also, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you; 7 and the pig, for though it divides the hoof, thus making a split hoof, it does not chew cud, it is unclean to you. 8 You shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you. 9 ‘These you may eat, whatever is in the water: all that have fins and scales, those in the water, in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. 10 But whatever is in the seas and in the rivers that does not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of the water, and among all the living creatures that are in the water, they are detestable things to you, 11 and they shall be [c]abhorrent to you; you may not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall detest. 12 Whatever in the water does not have fins and scales is [d]abhorrent to you.
Clear-cut, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acts 10
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
It later goes on to say that he was called to welcome Gentiles.
The people of the Dark Ages had a different spiritual oldlook than we do. I'd like to think as our outlook expands, we become closer to God. Or it could stay the same, and we could push away people seeking to know God.
Quote:
Originally Posted by okie1962
Every good Christian I know, can pull out over a dozen verses out of the Bible that explain to me how many different ways I'm going to Hell. So screw them, I don't care anymore. If going to Hell means I don't have to put up with them so be it, I hear Hell it a dry heat, I will get used to it.
It's not. The burning in flames is largely extra-biblical, as is the fluffy cloud heaven. Heaven is many mansions, death was originally viewed as a dim existence, a shadowy world (concept of Yomi is similar). Unless we actively desired not to exist, I doubt God would sentence us to that. A good sense of Hell, is closer to that found in What Dreams May Come, punishing yourself with guilt and sorrow. Also, eternal torment, does not mean "torment forever" it means outside of time. You're stuck in a groundhog day loop of guilt and torment, but... But.
God wants to know us, not Christians. If we let Christians push us away, we end up back in Hell. Again.
God reaches out to us. The next life. And the next life. And the next life...
One day we will be with God. Or we will ask "please God put me out of my misery." But trust me, I don't want that. I want to keep striving toward God. And I'm pretty sure you guys don't either. Not really.
I'm uncertain how could you speak so surely, would you like to share a secret?*
I'm not disagreeing yet merely intrigued. If same sex types will be in heaven surely will be molesters, those whom pillaged, thieves, our white ancestors and present ignorant bigot relatives (each committed a horrible sin to the black community). Appears everyone on earth will ultimately be in heaven regardless if he commits a sin-according to the ideology of many!*
Surely I do not agree with same sex rituals however, that does not make it wrong!
Sorry Wardendresden, didn't mean to come across so mean. I used to be a Christain until they turned on me. You only have to look on this thread to understand why I have turned my back on God and no longer have room for him in my heart.
You didn't come across mean, okie. But it does anger me that people who claim Christianity DRIVE people away from God. They are blind men not realizing the negative anti-Christ impact of their words.
Jesus indicated few would find the narrow path and the narrow gate. The vast majority of American Christians put credence to His prophetic words.
When a person meets Christ, he or she doesn't need anyone telling them about the Bible and its teachings. In time God will reveal His own message and guidance. I'm no longer a church attender because nearly twenty years ago I began to see how the church was losing its primary goal of bringing all of us sinners under a mantle of grace and love--and instead had fallen into political interests led by the likes of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. The first thing that will burn in hell are about 99% of the churches in the USA.
It was not always so. Church used to be a place where sinners gathered to hear the Good News, that Christ had come to rescue them. Pastors didn't preach about "all those bad people out there," they preached about introspection and finding a closer walk with Christ. They accepted diversity of beliefs. There was, in evangelical churches, a primary precept of the priesthood of the believer, the right to see scripture and understand it as God gives the light to understand it.
Now we have church attenders so thoroughly indoctrinated by political interests that they (1) don't see they have been brain-washed by Satan, (2) have become mean-spirited toward those with differing views, and (3) cannot study scripture critically or understand it was written by ordinary men who tried to express their own faith and beliefs the best they knew how--albeit sometimes mistakenly.
The god preached by these misguided souls is in no way related to the God in Heaven I met half a century ago. You'll recognize real Christians by their love and acceptance of the unlovable and unacceptable. Because that's what I was and am. Unlovable and unacceptable--except to God.
Uh how about a scholarly and accepted source for you claims.
In checking 5 Biblical Greek lexicons and find only:
20330 pai/j, paido,j, o` and h` child; (1) in reference to age child, either boy (MT 2.16) or girl (LU 8.51); (2) in reference to descent son, daughter, child (JN 4.51); (3) in reference to social position servant, slave "boy" (LU .7; cf. dou/loj [slave, servant] in 7.2); as a servant in a ruler's household attendant, courtier (MT 14.2); (4) figuratively, in reference to relation to God servant (AC 4.25)
4497 pai/j , paido,j m and f servant, slave; child, boy, girl
No basis for the claim.
Then why does one of only two surviving Greek novels refer to pais and describe a homosexual relationship? Greek lexicons of the BIBLE, like Strong's, were written by fundamentalists and leave out many alternate meanings.
And it certainly makes sense in the context of the story of the Centurion that the boy was a lover. If he were merely a slave--the soldier could let him die and get another--they were abundant in that time. His concern was inordinate to be directed toward a mere slave. And it WAS the practice of higher ranking soldiers to take younger boys as both servants and lovers.
Quote:
The Roman soldier, like any free and respectable Roman male of status, was expected to show self-discipline in matters of sex. Augustus (reigned 27 BC–14 AD) even prohibited
soldiers from marrying, a ban that remained in force for the Imperial army nearly two centuries. Other forms of sexual gratification available to soldiers were prostitutes of any gender, male slaves, war rape, and same sex-relations.
Wikipedia
Quote:
In the Roman Republic pederasty was even prohibited by law. But this too referred only to the passive role in relations among free citizens - slaves didn't count. Nevertheless, these laws were quickly outrun by reality. In Rome, homosexual relationships were quite common; there were masses of male prostitutes who legally paid their taxes, and many rich and powerful men spent fortunes on their male lovers.
I'm afraid there is a lack of literary understanding and cohesion in your biblical account. Scripture has to be studied as any other literature is studied, taking into account the cultural acceptability of the times and what OTHER literature brings to bear on scripture.
You are avoiding the obvious to protect an incorrect evaluation of the passage, one that maintains a sense of self-righteousness of how abominable homosexuality is. In other words, you don't see the real Jesus at all.
Last edited by Wardendresden; 10-19-2014 at 10:55 AM..
You cannot continue to live in sin and expect to be forgiven of your sins.
God's Feast of Unleavened Bread (see Leviticus 23) pictures our part in God's Plan.
We must all put sin our of our lives -- put the leaven out.
Homosexuals must acknowledge their errors and put the sins out. For many this may come at the Last Great Day - the Great White Throne Judgement at the end of the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ.
But at the end of the day they will be no more but cast into the lake of fire unless they repent. God allows one to choose.
tthttf
I do not believe in a Great White Throne Judgment or thousand year reign, predicated on the thoughts of men; and their eternal damnation theologies. But let me ask you: How many times should you be forgiven? Have you missed the mark on more than one occasion? Are you now able to walk on water? Do you feed and clothe the poor in Spirit?
You mentioned liberalism in an earlier post, however, one of the scariest thoughts I have come across is the ideology that the people of the land should be governed by the Religious, according to a conservative understanding of biblical law, whereas, we should "stone" people to death for various reasons? You will never experience freedom, while being held in bondage?
Gay marriage is not a sin and not condemned by God. You may now stop worrying about God punishing everyone.
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