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I've done the same as MR. Horton. I only occasionally check in just to see what's going on. I even posted on one thread today, but that's all I do any more, for the same reasons as the OP. A forum of people who already have all the answers and just want to bash those who believe? What's the point?
I've done the same as MR. Horton. I only occasionally check in just to see what's going on. I even posted on one thread today, but that's all I do any more, for the same reasons as the OP. A forum of people who already have all the answers and just want to bash those who believe? What's the point?
Well, you are more of a hit and run poster, anyway, so nothing has really changed it seems.
By the way, Freak, have you "met" Augie? He's an LCMS pastor, iirc.
God bless you brother. I pray that we might work together to reveal the truth. I pray that regardless of our individual conclusions that we still abound in love toward one another. That through this discussion and investigation, Jesus will be honored and lifted up. I pray that whoever might read this may feel conviction to study for themselves and draw nearer to the Lord. Amen.
So here you are referring to Jeremiah 8. If you read the whole chapter it is fairly clear that this verse is speaking about teachers of the law spreading false interpretations of it. Not about falsehood or errancy in the scriptures themselves. The Jewish people have VOLUMES of books from the Rabbis who have studied the Torah forever. They STILL add to it. Sort of like a "Bible commentary" that has been continuing for thousands of years.
Even in the New Testament (Matthew 23) Jesus says "Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!" which in some manuscripts is translated "scribes and Pharisees". So essentially scribes and "teachers of the law" are interchangeable.
Ah, but he used the word “pen”, so obviously they were writing things down inaccurately or adding to the true Word.
If that were true then I think Paul wouldn’t have said “ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Obviously Paul felt like the manuscripts HE had in his day were intact and untainted.
In fact if you really look at what Paul is saying here, it would be quite easy to draw the conclusion that without ALL OF SCRIPTURE, the man of God is INCOMPLETE and is NOT thoroughly equipped for every good work.
You also seem to assume that no one could have known (have a deep knowledge of the father) until Jesus incarnation. He has been evident throughout the OT, so that isn't really true.
Matthew and Luke state it this way “NO ONE KNOWS THE FATHER EXCEPT THE SON AND THOSE TO WHOM THE SON CHOOSES TO REVEAL HIM.” This doesn't necessarily mean that he didn't choose to reveal Him to many in the OT. In fact there are examples throughout the entirety of the OT.
Ya that is what the church will tell you, however scripture on a number of occasion warns people not to add or take away from that which is written.
2Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
18For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Only those who have been brainwashed or are naive would believe that adding to and taking away from the scriptures CANNOT happen. They have made Gods warnings here redundant through their naivety.
Here are a few quotes from some bible scholars.
Gaius (AD175-200) who speaks of the source of corruptions that survive in the early papyri: "The Divine Scriptures these heretics have audaciously corrupted. Laying violent hands upon them, under pretense of correcting them."
One of the most common biblical manuscripts used to make our modern English translations is known today as the Nestle Text. Yet it was Prof. Eberhard Nestle himself who warned us in his Einfhrung in die Textkritik des griechischen Testaments: "Learned men, so called Correctores were, following the church meeting at Nicea 325 AD, selected by the church authorities to scrutinize the sacred texts and rewrite them in order to correct their meaning in accordance with the views which the church had just sanctioned."
Prof. Bart D. Ehrman in his book, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, where he warns us that: "...theological disputes, specifically disputes over Christology, prompted Christian scribes to alter the words of scripture in order to make them more serviceable for the polemical task. Scribes modified their manuscripts to make them more patently ‘orthodox’ and less susceptible to ‘abuse’ by the opponents of orthodoxy" --
One of the oldest copies of the Bible which dates back to the fifth century is the Codex Bezae, of which the Britannica writes: "Codex Bezae… has a text that is very different from other witnesses. Codex Bezae has many distinctive longer and shorter readings and seems almost to be a separate edition. Its 'Acts, for example, is one-tenth longer than usual’". How can we have a Bible that is said to be "almost… a separate edition"?
St. Jerome when he wrote: "They write down not what they find but what they think is the meaning; and while they attempt to rectify the errors of others, they merely expose their own" (Jerome, Epist. lxxi.5).
Eusebius writes of a number of sects of Christians of his day: "Therefore they have laid their hands boldly upon the Divine Scriptures, alleging that they have corrected them. That I am not speaking falsely of them in this matter, whoever wishes may learn. For if any one will collect their respective copies, and compare them one with another, he will find that they differ greatly. Those of Asclepiades, for example, do not agree with those of Theodotus. And many of these can be obtained, because their disciples have assiduously written the corrections, as they call them, that is the corruptions, of each of them. Again, those of Hermophilus do not agree with these, and those of Apollonides are not consistent with themselves. For you can compare those prepared by them at an earlier date with those which they corrupted later, and you will find them widely different. But how daring this offense is, it is not likely that they themselves are ignorant. For either they do not believe that the Divine Scriptures were spoken by the Holy Spirit, and thus are unbelievers, or else they think themselves wiser than the Holy Spirit, and in that case what else are they than demoniacs? For they cannot deny the commission of the crime, since the copies have been written by their own hands. For they did not receive such Scriptures from their instructors, nor can they produce any copies from which they were transcribed".
Corruption within the NIV.
1 Pet 2:11-20
Original Text
"Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God."
(NIV)
"Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
(NIV)
Verses 13-14 and 17-18, which instruct the reader to submit themselves to the ordinances of man and honor the kings and governors was put there to exert political and social control over the people by the secular authorities of the Roman Empire.
Conybeare then goes on and quotes the biblical scholar Dr. C.R. Gregory, and writes: "In the case just examined (Matthew 28:19), it is to be noticed that not a single manuscript or ancient version has preserved to us the true reading. But that is not surprising, for as Dr. C.R. Gregory, one of the greatest of our textual critics, reminds us, 'The Greek MSS of the Text of the New Testament were often altered by the scribes, who put into them the readings which were familiar to them, and which they held to be the right readings' (Canon and Text of the New Testament, 1907, p. 424)".
Conybeare then writes: "These facts speak for themselves. Our Greek texts, not only of the Gospels, but of the Epistles as well, have been revised and interpolated by orthodox copyists. We can trace their perversions of the text in a few cases, with the aid of patristic citations and ancient versions. But there must remain many passages which have been so corrected, but where we cannot today expose the fraud".
In the publication, The Fraternal Visitor, this assessment was made concerning the falsification of the scriptures: "Codex B (Vaticanus) would be the best of all existing MSS, …if it were completely preserved, less damaged, (less) corrected, more easily legible, and not altered by a later hand in more than two thousand places. Eusebius, therefore, is not without grounds for accusing the adherents of Athanasius and the newly-risen doctrine of the trinity of falsifying the Bible even more than once" (Fraternal Visitor 1924, p. 148; translated from Christadelphian Monatshefte).
Adam Clarke, an 18th Century Anglican Scholar, makes it clear that the work of the Masoretes is, in reality, a commentary which has been integrated into the body of Scripture. However, Clarke points out that the Hebrew of the Masoretic Text (Masoretic Hebrew) is quite different from the Hebrew of the Patriarchs, (Ancient Hebrew) in which Old Covenant Scripture was originally written.
In the General Preface of his commentary on the Scripture, published in 1810, Clarke writes:
"The Masorets were the most extensive Jewish commentators which that nation could ever boast. The system of punctuation, probably invented by them, is a continual gloss on the Law and the Prophets; their vowel points, and prosaic and metrical accents, &c., give every word to which they are affixed a peculiar kind of meaning, which in their simple state, multitudes of them can by no means bear. The vowel points alone add whole conjugations to the language. This system is one of the most artificial, particular, and extensive comments ever written on the Word of God; for there is not one word in the Bible that is not the subject of a particular gloss through its influence. This school is supposed to have commenced about 450 years before our Lord, and to have extended down to AD1030. Some think it did not commence before the 5th century A.D."
Even without adding to, deleting from, or changing a single letter of the Ancient Hebrew manuscripts of Scripture, pointing gave the Masorete power to dramatically change the meaning of almost any given passage of Scripture, for the prerogative of selecting vowels, is, to a large extent, the prerogative of selecting words! As a crude example, consider how the meaning of an English sentence might be changed by substitution of the word "poor" for the word "pure"
a substitution which may be effected by a simple change of vowels.
Also of note is that the book of Jerimiah is one third longer in the mazorite text. Who added that one third? why is it not in the Septuagint or the dead sea scrolls?
Here is the thing you are missing, all scripture is inspired by God, however that does not mean everything in our bibles is scripture. You like most equate the bible and scripture to be the same thing, they are not.
Here are a few examples of where Jesus exposed what the lying pen of the scribes added to the law.
Written in the book of the Law of Moses we read
Numbers 30:2
2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.
Deuteronomy 23:21
21 When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.
However, according to Jesus we are not to swear at all, but let our communication be yea, yea, or nay, nay.
Matthew 5:33-37
33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all;neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Jesus’ words are a total contradiction to what is written in Numbers 30:2 and Deuteronomy 23:21.
A couple of things to take note of in what Jesus says in Matthew 5:33-37.
First, Jesus does not say it is written, but says ye have heard that it hath been said.
Jesus purposely chose the words ye have heard that it hath been said instead ofit is writtento show us that the law of forswearing comes from the lying pen of the Scribes and is an addition to the law of Moses, but attributed to Moses by those same Scribes.
Secondly, some people have tried to tell me that this is only to show the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. However, if this is the case then God changed His mind about what He wants from us and if God changes His mind about what He wants from us then His word is not steadfast. And if Gods word is not steadfast what assurances do we have that God will not change His mind again and again?
Thirdly, Jesus says whatsoever is more then yea and nay cometh from EVIL. So if forswearing ourselves came from God as Numbers 30:2 and Deuteronomy 23:21 suggest then Jesus would be saying God is EVIL or what God speaks is EVIL.
So we are left with a choice, we can either believe God changes His mind concerning what He wants from us, making His word not steadfast, or we can believe what Jeremiah stated in 8:8 that the lying pen of the Scribes have changed Gods laws into lies.
We see this same lying pen of the Scribe in the horrendous eye for an eye doctrine that the Scribes attributed to Moses in Exodus 21:21-24, Leviticus 24:19-20 and Deuteronomy 19:21
Exodus 21:22-24
22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, 24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Leviticus 24:19-20
19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; 20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.
Deuteronomy 19:21
21 And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
But Jesus says that ye resist not evil.
Matthew 5:38-42
38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Jesus’ words again are in total contradiction to what is written in Exodus 21:21-24, Leviticus 24:19-20 and Deuteronomy 19:21.
Take note of what Jesus says in Matthew 5:38-42
Again, Jesus does not say it is written, but says ye have heard that it hath been said.
And again, Jesus purposely chose the words ye have heard that it hath been said instead ofit is writtento show us that the law of an eye for an eye comes from the lying pen of the Scribes and is an addition to the law of Moses, but attributed to Moses by those same Scribes.
Matthew 5:43-45
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Take note that again Jesus uses the same manner of speech, Jesus does not say it is written, but says ye have heard that it hath been said. Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Oh, oh Houston we have a problem.
Nowhere is it stated in the bible that we are to hate our enemy.
Did Jesus make a blunder when he said you have heard that it hath been said?
NO, absolutely, NO, Jesus did not blunder when he said this.
So what is going on?
Everything else Jesus referenced in these sets of scripture is found written somewhere in the Law of Moses being an addition by the lying pen of the Scribes, but attributed to Moses. So why do we not find the term hate thine enemy also recorded?
No matter how one looks at it, forswearing, eye for an eye and hate thine enemy are a total contradiction to what Jesus tells us.
One of the reasons Jesus said he came was to reveal the Father. If those in the OT really had a deep understanding of God then Jesus would not have had to do this. But he did, and he did it because the view of God from those writing in the OT view of God was obscure. Seeing God through a glass darkly as it were.
The more i read this forum the more i see how the bible idolators have devoured the scriptures with their adding and taking away from the scriptures. They bang on about context, yet it is them that continually take things out of context to support their man made doctrines. The truth being offensive thread is a classic example of this, they have no evidence that Jesus Christ the Truth offended anyone other than the fundies of his day by what he said, so they search the scriptures to find a verse that just appears to be saying what they believe, which is not surprising because everything about fundamentalism is built on what things appear to be rather than what the reality of it is.
It is God's intention to teach man from the beginning,
Sin is the ABSENCE OF OBEDIENCE.
Jesus directly instuced the desciples NOT to be called Master Father or Rabbi (teacher) did you obey ?
NO
Jesus specifically designated the Holy Spirit to teach in His place .
Do you obey the Holy Spirit real time ?
Jesus did not depend on the new testament being written, in fact believers were being taught of the Spirit noted 1John 2;20,21,
Jesus provision of the Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father fulfilled .
Paul failed miserably, cercumventing God's.provision and design ,labeling himself father hood over timothy and establishing teachers and a hiarchy in the church.
Can God use it , yes of course , God can use any thing, even a dumb ass (That's the biblical term) to talk to a wayward prophet Balim .
This did not make the ass holy , it was just a means to make a point to a man failing miserably.
Men get carried away with worshipping things ,that might have had some use God had made but that is not certification to His approval over all.
Jesus made it clear, Matthew 7;21,22,23, It's not what you claim, nor the noble works, but what God recognizes as obedience.
Missing the mark is the absence of not knowing God's heart towards oneself. When we keep ourselves in the heart of God which is love, we keep the commandments or more to the point the commandments(the law of God or the dynamic of God)) keeps us.
It is God's intention to teach man from the beginning,
Sin is the ABSENCE OF OBEDIENCE.
Jesus directly instuced the desciples NOT to be called Master Father or Rabbi (teacher) did you obey ?
NO
Jesus specifically designated the Holy Spirit to teach in His place .
Do you obey the Holy Spirit real time ?
Jesus did not depend on the new testament being written, in fact believers were being taught of the Spirit noted 1John 2;20,21,
Jesus provision of the Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father fulfilled .
Paul failed miserably, cercumventing God's.provision and design ,labeling himself father hood over timothy and establishing teachers and a hiarchy in the church.
Can God use it , yes of course , God can use any thing, even a dumb ass (That's the biblical term) to talk to a wayward prophet Balim .
This did not make the ass holy , it was just a means to make a point to a man failing miserably.
Men get carried away with worshipping things ,that might have had some use God had made but that is not certification to His approval over all.
Jesus made it clear, Matthew 7;21,22,23, It's not what you claim, nor the noble works, but what God recognizes as obedience.
Actually arleigh, sin is the absence of LOVE. You see, I can obey God all day long and kill people and claim I was obeying God. I could steal and say I was obeying god. I could sleep with my daughters (yuck!) and say I was obeying God..I could take my best friends wife and claim I was obeying God..
Not true you say? All of theses happened in the BIBLE, and other than being sins and excused because the perpetrator was "OBEYING" God, the other thing they all have in common is they LACK LOVE.
Had the perps been considering LOVE, they most like;y NEVER WOULD HAVE DONE the crime..
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
As long as there is a God and a recognized, authoritative 'truth standard', what everyone 'thinks' is nothing more than 'relative truth', which is really 'no truth at all.' Everything Christians know about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and God's ways, truths, plans, purpose and promises -- comes from scripture/the Bible. The Bible does not contradict itself, nor do God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit contradict one another ... except, of course, in the minds and words of those presenting a different doctrine. This is not about people having different views of what scripture says, but, rather, about those who have abandoned scripture altogether --- except for giving it lip-service. Yes, 'Sound Doctrine' has all, but, left the CD Christianity forum 'building.'
Quote:
58. Man was created after the other animals
Gen 1:25,26,27
Man was created before the other animals
Gen 2:18,19
59. Seed time and harvest were never to cease
Gen 8:22
Seed time and harvest did cease for seven years
Gen 41:54,56/ Gen 45:6
60. God hardened Pharaoh's heart
Ex 4:21/ Ed 9:12
Pharaoh hardened his own heart
Ex 8:15
61. All the cattle and horses in Egypt died
Ex 9:3,6/ 14:9
All the horses of Egypt did not die
Ex 14:9
62. Moses feared Pharaoh
Ex 2:14,15,23; 4:19
Moses did not fear Pharaoh
Heb 11:27
63. There died of the plague twenty-four thousand
Num 25:9
There died of the plague but twenty-three thousand
1 Cor 10:8
64. John the Baptist was Elias
Matt 11:14
John the Baptist was not Elias
John 1:21
65. The father of Joseph, Mary's husband was Jacob
Matt 1:16
The father of Mary's husband was Heli
Luke 3:23
66. The father of Salah was Arphaxad
Gen 11:12
The father of Salah was Cainan
Luke 3:35,36
67. There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David
Matt 1:17
There were but thirteen generations from Abraham to David
Matt 1:2-6
68. There were fourteen generations from the Babylonian captivity
to Christ.
Matt 1:17
There were but thirteen generations from the Babylonian
captivity to Christ
Matt 1:12-16
69. The infant Christ was taken into Egypt
Matt 2:14,15,19,21,23
The infant Christ was not taken into Egypt
Luke 2:22, 39
70. Christ was tempted in the wilderness
Mark 1:12,13
Christ was not tempted in the wilderness
John 2:1,2
After posting on the CD Christianity forum for several years, I've pretty much moved on and only check back occasionally to see if anything has changed. Things have even gotten worse as it appears that more and more Bible-believing Christians are abandoning the CD Christianity 'free-for-all.' Every time sound doctrine appears, the Bible detractors and false teachers pile on, to the point where this entire forum is filled with those offering nothing, but, 'clever' comebacks and false doctrine. But, I guess that is consistent with scripture teaching that, 'there will come a time when people will no longer endure sound doctrine.'
As long as there is a God and a recognized, authoritative 'truth standard', what everyone 'thinks' is nothing more than 'relative truth', which is really 'no truth at all.' Everything Christians know about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and God's ways, truths, plans, purpose and promises -- comes from scripture/the Bible. The Bible does not contradict itself, nor do God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit contradict one another ... except, of course, in the minds and words of those presenting a different doctrine. This is not about people having different views of what scripture says, but, rather, about those who have abandoned scripture altogether --- except for giving it lip-service. Yes, 'Sound Doctrine' has all, but, left the CD Christianity forum 'building.'
You are absolutely totally utterly and sadly correct. Every man has ticklish ears and pursues those words which sound best to him. Even in churches that still preach salvation, the liturgy is polluted with humanistic hymns and constant reiteration of slogans and phrases that are suitable only to the sinner and the recently converted.
In these pages, we are witness to the denigration of the nation and its society. The visible truth of our iniquity may be read here and sadly acknowledged by those who know the difference between right and wrong - between truth and smooth lies - between hard saving words and oily happy talk.
It is too late for America. Better men than I have stated publicly that we have passed the point of no return. Judgment is coming. It is so heavy now that one can almost smell it in the air. A few voices admit to it and tell us how to prepare, but most deny it and like the fools they are - refuse to seek safely. The first thing to die is truth and there is now a famine in the land. Not a famine of food but of the Word of God.
Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them: so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surly hide my face in that day for all the evils, which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.
Deuteronomy 31:17-18
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
Ezek 34:1-2
IF GOD DOES NOT JUDGE AMERICA HE WILL HAVE TO APOLOGIZE TO SODOM AND GOMORRAH.
You are absolutely totally utterly and sadly correct. Every man has ticklish ears and pursues those words which sound best to him. Even in churches that still preach salvation, the liturgy is polluted with humanistic hymns and constant reiteration of slogans and phrases that are suitable only to the sinner and the recently converted.
In these pages, we are witness to the denigration of the nation and its society. The visible truth of our iniquity may be read here and sadly acknowledged by those who know the difference between right and wrong - between truth and smooth lies - between hard saving words and oily happy talk.
It is too late for America. Better men than I have stated publicly that we have passed the point of no return. Judgment is coming. It is so heavy now that one can almost smell it in the air. A few voices admit to it and tell us how to prepare, but most deny it and like the fools they are - refuse to seek safely. The first thing to die is truth and there is now a famine in the land. Not a famine of food but of the Word of God.
Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them: so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surly hide my face in that day for all the evils, which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.
Deuteronomy 31:17-18
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
Ezek 34:1-2
IF GOD DOES NOT JUDGE AMERICA HE WILL HAVE TO APOLOGIZE TO SODOM AND GOMORRAH.
and that's me, hollering from the choir loft...
Yes, and the spiral downward began with fundamentalist religion marked by the following characteristics:
They (fundamentalists) are counter-modernist--desiring to return to some inplausible golden age.
They (fundamentalists) are “generally assertive, clamorous, and often violent”.
They are “the Chosen”, “the Elect”, “the Saved”.
Public marks of distinctionare needed to maintain their sense of superiority and distinctive identity. Not only for the purpose of maintaining that distinctive identity, but also as “part of the narcissistic struggle to be considered unique and special.”
There is only one true religion and one correct way of life; and these must be defended against inroads from other religions and secularism.
There is an inerrant holy book, prophet or charismatic leader to whom literal obedience is mandatory.
Law and authority come from God.
Female sexuality must be controlled and clear impassable boundaries must be established between men and women.
Sexual behaviour is a major concernof all fundamentalists — Christian, Jewish, Islamic — without exception.Especially the fear of and opposition to homosexuality.
Fundamentalism and nationalism converge. The moral life according to the will of God can only be fully lived in a society of fellow-practitioners of the belief. This can only be achieved through God’s rule — through the national executive and legislature itself. Hence the importance of bringing about a government that will prioritize the right morals and right culture for the nation — relegating other (economic) functions to a secondary place.
These were highlights of a book by Tamas Pataki. In it he concludes that the characteristics--common to fundamentalism of all religions--notes that the above attributes cluster in patterns that point to something quite possibly independent of cultural variables — a certain set of psychological traits that he sees bound inextricably with narcissism.
You may get it on google books and thereby learn more about yourself. From google books website:
Against Religion by Tamas Pataki
Quote:
Brave and controversial, this philosophical study argues against extremist religions, contending that many radical doctrines stem from the same basic roots of fear, misery, and delusion Citing numerous statistics, this survey shows that traditional faith and belief in a higher power retains strong support the world over, from the United States and Nigeria to Indonesia and Ireland. The revival of Orthodoxy in Russia and Eastern Europe is also discussed, as well as the religious stirrings in atheistic China, the growth of extreme Hindu nationalism in India, and the appeal of Islamic fundamentalism.
It's short, only 136 pages. Try reading it. Consider it a message in self-discovery.
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