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The repeating theme of Judges is that "There was no King in Israel, each one did what was right in their own eyes" (Judges 21:25). God told Israel HE would be their King -- they didn't need a man to lead them. But they refused to follow him. To the point that it go so bad that this stuff happened. This is an illustration of what happened when Israel turned away from God. They became like the other nations around them.
do you think a god in human skin died, woke up, and flew away? did the human skin go too?
Why is your opinion of such the standard? Is not a sovereign God allowed to do what he wants with his creation?
To my mind a sovereign God who had our best interests and saw that such problems as different ways to interpret the same text would cause His people to fight with one another over how it should be interpreted would take steps to keep people from being able to interpret them more than one way which would be the correct way. I try to place a normal father in the situation of having two children. He wouldn't write one note to his first child saying he's going to be home with a gift for him at 6PM and write another note to his other child saying he's going to be home at 9PM without a gift for him. Imagine how confused the children would be. Imagine how confused we are, judging by all this infighting, because the Bible cannot be read one way, the right way.
Last edited by thrillobyte; 08-20-2016 at 06:21 PM..
Thrill, I often think it is more complex than just picking up a Bible and reading it. When it is presented as a simple thing, many Christians will try to tell you that you did not read it the way it is supposed to be read. In fact, they will go off the deep end and tell you that the reason you MISread the bible or did not get it was because you did not allow the holy spirit to guide you or open your eyes to their...um, it's truths.
We live in a socialized Christian society. Whether we are Christians are not, I would venture to say that MOST of us have SOME concept of what Christianity teaches, even if just in passing and the older you are, the more you are more likely to be familiar with the basics:
1. There is one god and he created the heavens and earth and created the first humans
2. He has a son by the name of Jesus and he died on a cross for people's wrongdoings and you can be saved from your sins by accepting him or at least going to church and engaging in rituals.
3. There is a bad place called hell and there is a good place called heaven. Whatever you think they are, you want to go to one and not the other.
4. There are some people called the Jews this god loves.
5. Jesus is coming back to clean up the world and make things right for eternity.
Now, say you take the time to actually listen to someone peddling Christianity via the bible. Because you have already been casually socialized, even by movies (The 10 Commandments, The Passion of the Christ, the multitude of Easter movies about Jesus) or Christmas carols, your mind is already bent toward WHAT you think the bible is saying. It is now just up to you to believe the basic parts you are being sold:
1. You're a *******. Don't you feel really bad about being born and hurting God's feelings?
2. Jesus wants to unschmuck you so accept him and then he will do so and make God happy with you again.
3. Come to our church, read our material, accept OUR idea and concept of God and you will be in the right.
Now, an added bonus for the peddlers would be if you are going through some crap, recently lost a loved one or find yourself a mess. In such vulnerable positions, you are likely to be very receptive to "good news" about magic prayers that can move a deity on your behalf or that you can meet your lost loved one in some otherwordly place of bliss.
Now, with all of that said, if you have a more than average level of intelligence and have a more than cursory knowledge of human history INCLUDING religious history, you are more inclined to read the bible critically and more from a historical or just literary position than a devotional one. In THAT case, the book will not be converting you because it is already perceived as a book on par with the Illiad.
Let's take aionion of Matthew as an example. How on earth did a word that could mean "eternal" AND "for an indefinite period of time" end up in God's Word???????? So how much fighting have we done over that single little word and how much hard feelings and discord has been sown by it? Is that's God's will for us, to be eternally fighting over that the word means. Couldn't Jesus have said, "And these will go into flames for only a period of time whereupon they will be released to enter into heaven" so there's no mistaking what he means?
Let's take aionion of Matthew as an example. How on earth did a word that could mean "eternal" AND "for an indefinite period of time" end up in God's Word???????? So how much fighting have we done over that single little word and how much hard feelings and discord has been sown by it? Is that's God's will for us, to be eternally fighting over that the word means. Couldn't Jesus have said, "And these will go into flames for only a period of time whereupon they will be released to enter into heaven" so there's no mistaking what he means?
He did, it was man that twisted the meaning through the Latin Vulgate.
Tell us, Viz...How does God feel about your behavior when you act in a most un-Christian-like manner and write posts mocking the LGBTQ community... and even the use of the letters 'LGBTQ' ? How about when you misrepresent the beliefs of the LDS or claim Catholics aren't Christians? Or when you post something less-the-respectful about Pope Francis. Do you consider how God feels when you do that?
How often do YOU do a heart check? There are LGBTQ Christians and LDS Christians and Catholic Christians posting on this board. Do you think about their relationship with God, and His with them, before you hit the "save" button?
I missed the verse in the Bible that says, "Preachers should lecture everyone on how to behave but are free to act however they like." Perhaps you could post that for us.
Amen, Dew! I don't know how they do it but they manage NOT to see themselves as they actually are. It is quite a trick.
And as a result, skepticism is so prevalent in American society, young people are growing up, wholesale, discounting religion altogether. They don't even take, at least Christianity, serious. I have 4 children, all 16 and older, and despite me being a Christian once upon a time, my son was just 8 when I busted out from Christianity and my daughters, even younger. I never used to indoctrinate them even before I deconverted (their mother tried) and now, none of them even give Christianity a second look and they are well respectable and adjusted children who bring me jokes of Christians behaving badly that they find on the internet.
Posts like this give me great hope for the future.
Posts like this give me great hope for the future.
Yeah, Christianity has had a long run in the sun. It is only a matter of time before it becomes a true relic here in the United States too. Where it is losing a LOT of steam is in the African American and Caribbean communities, where for ages now (going back to the days of slavery), it has thrived, in great part because of the disenfranchisement that breeds the vulnerability of hopelessness Christianity preys on. I cannot gauge Latin America that is still in a chokehold from Catholicism, however.
For me, the opposite is true. When reading the Bible, I get the sense that I am ready no ordinary book. It is inspiring. And, no other book, I repeat, no other book that has ever been written in human history so accurately describes the condition of the human heart.
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So how much fighting have we done over that single little word and how much hard feelings and discord has been sown by it? Is that's God's will for us, to be eternally fighting over that the word means. Couldn't Jesus have said, "And these will go into flames for only a period of time whereupon they will be released to enter into heaven" so there's no mistaking what he means?
