What makes the christian god the 'true god'?

[Ingledsva]

The point is that when someone of any background hears about Jesus Christ and sincerely considers who He claimed to be it is often times the case that such a person may place their faith in Christ, so such faith is not only based upon one's upbringing.

Which means nothing - as all of the other religions mentioned, can claim the same thing.

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[InChrist]

Fact of the matter is that there is a lot of myth in there - Adam and Chav'vah, Noah's Ark, talking serpents, talking donkey, lots of magic, including magic wand making, Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. Or a son of a God on a human virgin, where have we heard that one before???

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It may appear that some of the accounts of the scriptures are "myths' to one as yourself who does not understand or know the ability of God, but really something as a talking donkey or even a virgin birth, as amazing as these are from a human perspective, seem pretty small accomplishments for One who has the power to create the heavens and the earth.

 

[InChrist]

Which means nothing - as all of the other religions mentioned, can claim the same thing.

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Well, maybe they can, but I'm not arguing otherwise. I was simply responding further back to someone who said those who believe in the Bible and the Christian God do so because they were raised in that belief and culture. Again, my point is that very often this is not the case because millions have come to faith in Christ who were not raised within a Christian culture.

 

[Ingledsva]

It may appear that some of the accounts of the scriptures are "myths' to one as yourself who does not understand or know the ability of God, but really something as a talking donkey or even a virgin birth, as amazing as these are from a human perspective, seem pretty small accomplishments for One who has the power to create the heavens and the earth.

These are the same types of things thought of as "real history" by the followers of those other religions' books, - now called myth.

In truth - yours is no different. There is no proof. To me it is just more myth.

PS. To that - "one as yourself who does not understand or know the ability of God..." I used to be a Christian, until I actually started reading the book, and translating the text, etc. In my opinion It is the word of man.


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[InChrist]

These are the same types of things thought of as "real history" by the followers of those other religions' books, - now called myth.

In truth - yours is no different. There is no proof. To me it is just more myth.


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Except that the supernatural events which you are asserting must be myths took place within the context of historical settings and among historical individuals, unlike many of the mythological stories of other religious books which were clearly detached from reality. This is my perspective. You obviously don't have to agree with it and can write it off as myth if you like, I'm not about to try to convince you. Besides, I think anyone who really wants to see the truth of the matter can distinguish the difference between the biblical accounts and other religious stories with even some very basic reading and research.

Thanks for the chat, but it's late, I'm going to sleep. Good night.

 

[Pegg]

Alright, first of all, I am not condemning any religion or group of people by asking this. But I just want to know, from the christians of this forum, what makes you believe in what you believe in? What makes you believe in the christian god and not believe in other gods (like Thor, Zeus, etc). And for those who are going to quote from the scriptures (the bible, dogmas, etc), what makes such scripture above anything else/worth believing for? Thanks.

The Christian God is the God of the Hebrew Scriptures..iow, the Jewish God.

His name is YHWH/ Yahweh (or Jehovah in english) and he proved himself the true God on many occasions in the ancient past. People have worshiped a plethora of different gods, but none of those gods every showed themselves to their followers. They were unable to provide protection to their followers and when called upon, they never showed themselves.

The God of the Hebrews was different. He was a God who did show himself, he revealed his purpose and he provided protection to those who worshiped him.

The accounts in the bible show his many saving acts and it also records his communications with man. And what i find interesting is that many gods of the nations most often require acts of immorality from their adherents. For example sex worship was very common among the pagan religions, they held sacred orgies and some gods required married women to prostitute themselves at least once a the temples. , Jehovah on the other hand required absolute justice, holiness and righteousness from his adherents. That is a very unique feature of the worship of Jehovah and its something that makes him standout as different to all others.

For me, there is no other god but the 'True' God Jehovah. All others are the word of Satan who seeks to mislead and corrupt mankind away from the worship of the Only True God.

 

[Ingledsva]

Except that the supernatural events which you are asserting must be myths took place within the context of historical settings and among historical individuals, unlike many of the mythological stories of other religious books which were clearly detached from reality. This is my perspective. You obviously don't have to agree with it and can write it off as myth if you like, I'm not about to try to convince you. Besides, I think anyone who really wants to see the truth of the matter can distinguish the difference between the biblical accounts and other religious stories with even some very basic reading and research.

Thanks for the chat, but it's late, I'm going to sleep. Good night.

There is absolutely no proof for any of the magic and myth in the Bible.

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[Ultimatum]

So how does this then apply to the millions who were raised in other religions or cultures unfamiliar with Christianity, yet who at a later point after hearing about Jesus Christ have believed and had their lives transformed by Him?

Implying that Chrstianity is the only religion gaining followers..
You should get our more, to be honest!

 

[Robert.Evans]

Sure it is. All elements of religious belief have been cobbled together to suit the needs of the believer. Some of this happened hundreds, even thousands of years ago, and some of it continues today; tweaking various elements so as to fit the needs of either those in charge, the flock, or both.

''cobbled together'' like it!
Altering or improving ideas is what everybody does about everything in order to imporve something when we understand it better. So what?

 

[Quintessence]

Unlike gods such as Thor or Zeus which are known through mythological stories, the God of the biblical scriptures has revealed Himself within a historical context. The recorded interactions of the God of the Bible with humanity involve real people, occur in real places, and through real events.

And various Pagan gods are mythopoetic renditions of various aspects of reality, like meteorological phenomena (Zeus: weather), emotional phenomena (Zeus: wrath), civic phenomena (Zeus: justice), and more. You claim historicity, Pagan gods basically represent reality/nature and/or that which governs it. I'm not really seeing the difference in terms of "realness."

 

[averageJOE]

So basically, the only answers to the OP are 1) because it "feels" right and 2) because of the bible.

 

[Quintessence]

So basically, the only answers to the OP are 1) because it "feels" right and 2) because of the bible.

Which is entirely fair to me, provided they are speaking for themselves and themselves only. The moment they claim that spaghetti strap underwear are right for everybody is when I start holding up picket signs and having underwear burning parties. Because, dear gods, those things are intolerably uncomfortable.

 

[Skwim]

''cobbled together'' like it!
Altering or improving ideas is what everybody does about everything in order to imporve something when we understand it better. So what?[/QUOTE]
You'll have to go back and follow the thread of posts leading up to mine, starting with Ultimatum's post #5.

 

[nazz]

Same for me, too. I have a habit of flip flopping around, religion-wise, but Jesus is the only one that has truly made a connection with me. I don't get into the "I have the true God" stuff. It's not my place to deny other people's experiences.

Yeah, that last point has been a struggle for me. On the one hand we have Jesus saying he is the only way to the Father and my own spiritual search has confirmed that. On the other hand we have multitudes of other people claiming to have reached God in another way. They way I resolved that was to think of the Father as a unique form of God reached only through Jesus. But there are other forms of God that people can reach in other ways.

 

[Robert.Evans]

So basically, the only answers to the OP are 1) because it "feels" right and 2) because of the bible.

haha... sort of. But who makes it ''feel right''?

 

[nazz]

So basically, the only answers to the OP are 1) because it "feels" right and 2) because of the bible.

Not the answer I gave at all

 

[averageJOE]

Not the answer I gave at all

Fine I'll add 3) because of Jesus

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Yeah, that last point has been a struggle for me. On the one hand we have Jesus saying he is the only way to the Father and my own spiritual search has confirmed that. On the other hand we have multitudes of other people claiming to have reached God in another way. They way I resolved that was to think of the Father as a unique form of God reached only through Jesus. But there are other forms of God that people can reach in other ways.

I don't know, really. My mom, for example, thinks of gods like Thor as possibly being nature spirits.

 

[averageJOE]

Which is entirely fair to me, provided they are speaking for themselves and themselves only. The moment they claim that spaghetti strap underwear are right for everybody is when I start holding up picket signs and having underwear burning parties. Because, dear gods, those things are intolerably uncomfortable.

Totally agree.

 

[InChrist]

There is absolutely no proof for any of the magic and myth in the Bible.

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I can agree with this to a certain degree because I don't think there is any magic or myth in the Bible at all. As far as the supernatural events which are recorded there were plenty of eyewitnesses, including many hostile contemporaries, who could have very easily discredited accounts, such as the resurrection of Jesus Christ, from ever surviving, being circulated or passed down, if such an event did not actually take place.