Some of your comments got my attention.....
Do you assume that all humans were at one time "primitive"? Can you define "primitive" in that context?
Humans haven't been around for hundreds of thousands of years. I guess you take most of your beliefs from science and a little bit from the Bible then? How do you decide what to accept and what to dismiss?
You describe your religious preference as "Eclectic Christian"....so does that mean that you are a "shopper" for your beliefs....collecting a bit from here and a bit from there until your basket is filled with what you feel comfortable believing? Can you explain how a Christian can be eclectic? I thought the definition of a Christian was being a follower of Christ's teachings......all of them.
I agree about the millionaire pastors though; like the Pharisees, "they are having their reward in full" right now. (Matthew 6:1-8)
What happened to ..."you received free, give free"...? (Matthew 10:8)
I agree here, but Christendom was never Christianity by any stretch of the imagination. As foretold, the church leaders were going to be corrupted by the "traditions of men" just like Judaism before them. They would take most of the people with them. The road to life is not easy, so most take the highway. (Matthew 7:13-14)
Peter's word are timely here I think....
"However, let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or a wrongdoer or a busybody in other people’s matters. 16 But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but let him keep on glorifying God while bearing this name. 17 For it is the appointed time for the judgment to start with the house of God. Now if it starts first with us, what will the outcome be for those who are not obedient to the good news of God? 18 “And if the righteous man is being saved with difficulty, what will happen to the ungodly man and the sinner?” 19 So, then, let those who are suffering in harmony with the will of God keep on entrusting themselves to a faithful Creator while they are doing good." (1 Peter 4:15-19)
Like Judaism...judgment starts with "the house of God". Its not only the godless who have to worry.
When did "war break out in heaven before the world came to exist"? I am intrigued......I am assuming that the last part of that sentence refers to religious leaders who have supported murderous despots in the past and still do?
Are they "arriving" somewhere? Did the Pharisees in Jesus' day, "arrive" somewhere? I am picturing the Pearly Gates with armed guards telling these guys to take the elevator....down.
Surely you don't mean something like that?
When did God get "mad" with anyone in heaven? Are there wars in heaven like there are on earth? And why do you assume that paradise is heaven?
Sorry for all the questions but I am just curious. I like to know what brings others to their conclusions about these things.
It's like the primitives when our people dwelt in caves. Ignorant simple minds made deity out of lightening because they knew not from whence it came.
Do you assume that all humans were at one time "primitive"? Can you define "primitive" in that context?
Hundreds of thousands of years later we have millionaires in a pulpit promoting the same kind of thinking.
Humans haven't been around for hundreds of thousands of years. I guess you take most of your beliefs from science and a little bit from the Bible then? How do you decide what to accept and what to dismiss?
You describe your religious preference as "Eclectic Christian"....so does that mean that you are a "shopper" for your beliefs....collecting a bit from here and a bit from there until your basket is filled with what you feel comfortable believing? Can you explain how a Christian can be eclectic? I thought the definition of a Christian was being a follower of Christ's teachings......all of them.
I agree about the millionaire pastors though; like the Pharisees, "they are having their reward in full" right now. (Matthew 6:1-8)
What happened to ..."you received free, give free"...? (Matthew 10:8)
What such proponents of a weather god exacting vengeance don't appear to realize, or maybe they do, is that they're in that same breath used to proclaim, our God is angry and that's why he drowned your family, also are living so as to die and be in the presence of that tantrum trumpeter for eternity.
I agree here, but Christendom was never Christianity by any stretch of the imagination. As foretold, the church leaders were going to be corrupted by the "traditions of men" just like Judaism before them. They would take most of the people with them. The road to life is not easy, so most take the highway. (Matthew 7:13-14)
Peter's word are timely here I think....
"However, let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or a wrongdoer or a busybody in other people’s matters. 16 But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but let him keep on glorifying God while bearing this name. 17 For it is the appointed time for the judgment to start with the house of God. Now if it starts first with us, what will the outcome be for those who are not obedient to the good news of God? 18 “And if the righteous man is being saved with difficulty, what will happen to the ungodly man and the sinner?” 19 So, then, let those who are suffering in harmony with the will of God keep on entrusting themselves to a faithful Creator while they are doing good." (1 Peter 4:15-19)
Like Judaism...judgment starts with "the house of God". Its not only the godless who have to worry.
What fun! When a war broke out in Heaven before the world came to exist, imagine the future when such pastors arrive and have nowhere to go as they think live with that mass murderer they defended while on earth.
When did "war break out in heaven before the world came to exist"? I am intrigued......I am assuming that the last part of that sentence refers to religious leaders who have supported murderous despots in the past and still do?
Are they "arriving" somewhere? Did the Pharisees in Jesus' day, "arrive" somewhere? I am picturing the Pearly Gates with armed guards telling these guys to take the elevator....down.
Surely you don't mean something like that?
Who is to save them from that if "he" gets mad in Heaven? If war can be waged there is it really paradise?
When did God get "mad" with anyone in heaven? Are there wars in heaven like there are on earth? And why do you assume that paradise is heaven?
Sorry for all the questions but I am just curious. I like to know what brings others to their conclusions about these things.