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AROUND THE WORLDYes, Canada is Actually Arresting Christian Pastors and Banning Them From Preaching

SugarOcean

¡pɹᴉǝM ʎɐʇS
What happens if we all die and find out that Thor is waiting to judge us and doesn't care about repentence of any of that Christian stuff? Or any of the other thousands of god(s) that humans have worshiped?
Old Testament Isaiah 45 is a fascinating chapter.
5. "I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God I will gird you, though you have not known Me;

So to respond to your supposition, God tells us there is no other than "him". (God is not a gender. God is a holy spirit). Therefore, and there are Christians that will not agree with me and that's OK, no god nor goddess of any faith that predates Judaism and Christianity can be any other than the one God.

Perhaps, and this is my view, all the deities humans imagined for themselves and even as far back as the age of our primitive ancestors dwelling in caves, are not only the one God, but arrived in the psyche of those primitives precisely because they were so. Animism being the first link to creator. Then as we evolved into the more adept hominids so too did our focus of worship.

And with writing, from was seals, to skins, to parchment, and on unto the printing press, our advances as people and society made it appear as though our worship was bearing fruit. We emerged from the caves gradually learning how to survive more in this world, and always, always, deifying something along the way.

Whether it was the storms, the animals we hunted for food, the waters that nourished us to life, or the female power that reproduced our own kind after growing round, bleeding profusely and bringing forth a miniature replica of "us". And then was able to nourish that newborn from her own body. (There's a great book I highly recommend. "When God Was A Woman" , author Merlin Stone)
The point is, the human race has always revered something greater than ourselves because everything in our world had more power than we did.

Therefore, if I die tomorrow and Odin is standing beneath the shade of Yggdrasill and is smiling at me, I will know I have arrived to the beliefs my Norse ancestors held.
If White Buffalo Calf woman awaits, I will know I have arrived in the afterlife where the Great Spirit calls me daughter. And I return to my departed ancestors of the tribes.

When there is only one God no other god nor goddess can be any other than the one. Perhaps, and I believe this, all the deities of all peoples since our human existence began was the one leading, speaking, to us so that we can better survive here in this world of that spirits creation.

Jesus ministry was by and large shared in parables (Matthew 13:10). One parable that stands out for me is when he said, no one comes to the Father but through me. (John 14:6)

When Jesus was God incarnate, (And they shall call his name Emmanuel, meaning, "God with us" ...Matthew 1:22–23 ), I believe Jesus was saying in that verse that the source of all that is is calling parts of holy spirits being to return to the beginning, the source.

IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. [Isa. 9:6.] He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. (John 1:1-4 AMP)

When Holy Spirit (God) is source of all that is, was, or shall be, there is no thing that is any thing other than of and from Spirit. Jesus words in John 14:6 , for me, is the Holy Spirit saying all things that are of God return to God through opening to the belief in God. And that's not to believe in something set aside, elsewhere, or other. That's the invitation to realize, re-cognize, that Holy Spirit is us. We are all particles of creator living as and within human-formed.

And sin, redemption, and regeneration, per the Christian teaching? Is simply our coming to terms with who and what we are; fallible carnal human beings. We must forgive ourselves for what we have lived and know as our self. The darkness and the light. And we must forgive ourselves for what we don't like about our self. And what we've done all our life to that point of reconciling with our own ego. And then that "rebirth", regeneration, occurs because we know we are more than this.

And once we've taken a good honest strong look at our self , warts and all, which takes time, the re-birth occurs because we now know who we were and who we can become, once we reconcile ourselves to the reality that we are indwelt and always have been by that Holy Spirit because that is the source of all things, we are renewed within that new consciousness. That awakened awareness that we can be more than we were. We can be better than what we despised in ourselves. We can heal from what was done to us and what we did to others.

While Baptism is that rite, that ritual, that immersion into living water, that is psycho-spiritual in nature. (pun fully intended ;)) We submerge our old self that we've recognized for what he/she is, and we arise reborn, as if from the watery womb once more, to be who we now know we can become, fully realizing we are not separated from source. God, Odin, Thor, power, energy, creator. Rather, we are one with that and always have been.

The regeneration therefore is when we wake up to what we are on that cellular and spiritual level that then helps the mind transcend what was previously thought about this reality and our place in it. Which is far more than flesh can contain.



I mean, it's not really an either/or type of situation here.
It is with regard to the fundamental Christian teachings.
Then again, I am not a Fundamentalist.

Now I'll close this veritable novelette. I don't like walls of text posts and here I am making one. My excuse is, I was inspired. :p:)

giphy.gif
 

SugarOcean

¡pɹᴉǝM ʎɐʇS
I believe it is. The crux of this question is......"is the Bible the word of God or the words of men?" This is where we diverge. You accept the words of men over scripture, their 'scholarship' notwithstanding, you trust them more than you trust God's ability to preserve the integrity of his own word.
I am not responsible for what you believe about me.
It appears you're hoping to dismiss my thoughts because you hope to convince yourself I am not a Christian.
God knows my name.
That you do not accept what I've said, when I've supported my posts with abiding scripture, is your prerogative.
I follow Christ. Not Saul.
As I've also suggested repeatedly, you'd do yourself a great service to research how the Bible came to be. It would take you more time to do that than it has to manufacture accusations and slights against my character and faith.

If you accept only parts of it, on whose authority do you accept those parts and reject others? Do you see the problem?
I accept Jesus Christ and his teachings. The teachings of Christ were delivered to those whom the Apostles met and taught orally. Christianity was an oral tradition first. Before any written form of scripture came about, the good news was received from the Apostles own mouth.
I accept Jesus warning about false teachers, as I've repeatedly stated. When Saul fits the criteria of forewarning against believing the false teacher, I accept Christ's teachings.
Scholarship surrounding the faith expands on the history of the scriptures we know today.

Could I have references for that please....? Paul was specific when giving his own recommendations on various things. He said "I, not the Lord", so he never ascribed to Jesus what he personally thought was good counsel.
Certainly. Three examples.
“In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.” Romans 2:16
“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began…”
Romans 16:25

“Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:” 2 Timothy 2:8

Saul said of himself that he was the master builder upon which others would build upon the foundation he had laid forth. When in truth God/Christ is the foundation.

“According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.” 1 Corinthians 3:10

"Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily"(Isaiah 28:16).


Paul was not one of the 12 and never claimed to be.
That is not so. 1 Corinthians 15:9–10, 2 Corinthians 11:22–3.
His was an assignment specifically to take the good news to the Gentile nations
. Saul was a Pharisee. Jesus instructed his Apostles to take the Gospel to all people, including the Gentiles. And being The Helper, the holy spirit , would guide the twelve in what they should say in that regard, the Apostles were serving the great commission as anointed to do. And to all nations and people.
Mark 16
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

And this after Jesus went to his own, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and they did not accept he was Messiah. They rejected him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11)
Even though Jesus had said he came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and before his encounter with the temple elders, Jesus did teach non-Jews. He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel because he was their prophesied Messiah.

His qualifications made him a good choice because the 12 were not equipped educationally to go where Paul went and to address those to whom Paul spoke.
Educationally? A Pharisee in that time would never have taught the Bible to a Gentile. Temple was segregated among even the Jews. Men nearest the Rabbi, women behind a screen and separated from the men and set away from the Rabbi.
The holy spirit led the Apostles to teach the Gospel. That's the best education in all the universe.



Because I don't believe that God's word contains the teachings of those who would lead Jesus' disciples down the wrong track....satan used the churches to do that. That is what he foretold. If Paul's words are counterfeit Christianity, then God would be to blame for allowing false testimony to be taught as scripture.
Or, God foresaw Saul and his self-identifying as His Apostle before the world was created. And being He forewarned His people about such false teachers he would then have allowed such a one to enter into a tome said to be God's word so that those with the eyes to see could discern the truth by following the teachings that forewarned of that false one.

You obviously don't trust God to provide the truth in his own book. :shrug:
If you see it that way. It is not my duty to change your mind. You make it quite clear you've come to a conclusion about me. That's your responsibility.


When did Paul contradict Jesus?
I share some of those instances below. If you wish to find more, and there are more, search engine: "Paul contradicts Jesus". There are many sources available. Because there are many evidences to be found. I would pick a source however, you may not respect that source. That is why I suggest you do your own search and find the one you believe credible.
That there are many resources available for review indicates it is not an isolated thought of mine that Saul contradicted Jesus.


You can interpret it that way if you wish, but Paul himself issued the same warnings. (Acts 20:29-30; 2 Corinthians 11:13)
Read all of the chapter in 2nd Corinthians 11. Saul was laying a curse upon those that would come after in Corinth. That would be any one of Jesus' 12 Apostles.

After Saul's "conversion" on the Damascus road, and there are three differing accounts of that. Including that which says the two witnesses with Saul did not hear the voice speaking from the light. While other accounts say they did, Saul thought to go to Jerusalem and inform the Apostles of what had transpired.

But in Saul's own letter he writes that while in the temple he fell into a trance. And a voice, that voice that guided him, told him not to go. Because they, the Apostles, would not receive him, believe him. Acts 22

Apostle is from the Greek, Apostolos, meaning, one who is sent out. Jesus anointed the feet of his Disciples so that when he sent them forth as the Apostles of the word they would be in his service and anointed by God himself to the task. Jesus chose his 12 for all time.
But Paul claimed he was appointed a herald, an apostle, and a teacher. 2 Timothy 1:11
However, Jesus said there is one teacher, himself.
Matthew 23.
10
Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
Jesus anointed his Apostles from the 12 Disciples that remained with him even after others fell from the way and departed.

Revelation 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

And then the holy spirit, the helper, Jesus returned unto holy spirit, would guide those Apostles in what they should say. John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

God used men to write it too.....it's still God's word. You seem to doubt God's ability to have his own thoughts preserved for all generations as he wanted them recorded. If he was to allow his word to be corrupted, then what other parts are untrustworthy? If you shoot down the Bible writers because you want to imply sinister motives to them, you undermine the authenticity of the whole book.
I would suggest you are of that thought because you've not studied how the Bible came to be. You would expand your knowledge greatly if you did commit to that study.

It is all God's word....or none of it is. To say otherwise is to argue with scripture. I argue with none of it.
I'm not saying argue. I'm advising you to think. And research. God didn't write the Bible. And no scholar will claim he did.


No need to shout.
Well, I know you didn't click that link now. I didn't shout. I copied the article title itself and pasted it here. As is the standard when sharing a copy/paste of someone elses intellectual property. As well as the link to said work of course.
 
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SugarOcean

¡pɹᴉǝM ʎɐʇS
I am not responsible for what you believe about me.
It appears you're hoping to dismiss my thoughts because you hope to convince yourself I am not a Christian.
God knows my name.
That you do not accept what I've said, when I've supported my posts with abiding scripture, is your prerogative.
I follow Christ. Not Saul.
As I've also suggested repeatedly, you'd do yourself a great service to research how the Bible came to be. It would take you more time to do that than it has to manufacture accusations and slights against my character and faith.


I accept Jesus Christ and his teachings. The teachings of Christ were delivered to those whom the Apostles met and taught orally. Christianity was an oral tradition first. Before any written form of scripture came about, the good news was received from the Apostles own mouth.
I accept Jesus warning about false teachers, as I've repeatedly stated. When Saul fits the criteria of forewarning against believing the false teacher, I accept Christ's teachings.
Scholarship surrounding the faith expands on the history of the scriptures we know today.


Certainly. Three examples.
“In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.” Romans 2:16
“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began…”
Romans 16:25

“Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:” 2 Timothy 2:8

Saul said of himself that he was the master builder upon which others would build upon the foundation he had laid forth. When in truth God/Christ is the foundation.

“According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.” 1 Corinthians 3:10

"Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily"(Isaiah 28:16).


That is not so. 1 Corinthians 15:9–10, 2 Corinthians 11:22–3.
. Saul was a Pharisee. Jesus instructed his Apostles to take the Gospel to all people, including the Gentiles. And being The Helper, the holy spirit , would guide the twelve in what they should say in that regard, the Apostles were serving the great commission as anointed to do. And to all nations and people.
Mark 16
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

And this after Jesus went to his own, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and they did not accept he was Messiah. They rejected him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11)
Even though Jesus had said he came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and before his encounter with the temple elders, Jesus did teach non-Jews. He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel because he was their prophesied Messiah.

Educationally? A Pharisee in that time would never have taught the Bible to a Gentile. Temple was segregated among even the Jews. Men nearest the Rabbi, women behind a screen and separated from the men and set away from the Rabbi.
The holy spirit led the Apostles to teach the Gospel. That's the best education in all the universe.



Or, God foresaw Saul and his self-identifying as His Apostle before the world was created. And being He forewarned His people about such false teachers he would then have allowed such a one to enter into a tome said to be God's word so that those with the eyes to see could discern the truth by following the teachings that forewarned of that false one.

If you see it that way. It is not my duty to change your mind. You make it quite clear you've come to a conclusion about me. That's your responsibility.



I share some of those instances below. If you wish to find more, and there are more, search engine: "Paul contradicts Jesus". There are many sources available. Because there are many evidences to be found. I would pick a source however, you may not respect that source. That is why I suggest you do your own search and find the one you believe credible.
That there are many resources available for review indicates it is not an isolated thought of mine that Saul contradicted Jesus.


Read all of the chapter in 2nd Corinthians 11. Saul was laying a curse upon those that would come after in Corinth. That would be any one of Jesus' 12 Apostles.

After Saul's "conversion" on the Damascus road, and there are three differing accounts of that. Including that which says the two witnesses with Saul did not hear the voice speaking from the light. While other accounts say they did, Saul thought to go to Jerusalem and inform the Apostles of what had transpired.

But in Saul's own letter he writes that while in the temple he fell into a trance. And a voice, that voice that guided him, told him not to go. Because they, the Apostles, would not receive him, believe him. Acts 22

Apostle is from the Greek, Apostolos, meaning, one who is sent out. Jesus anointed the feet of his Disciples so that when he sent them forth as the Apostles of the word they would be in his service and anointed by God himself to the task. Jesus chose his 12 for all time.
But Paul claimed he was appointed a herald, an apostle, and a teacher. 2 Timothy 1:11
However, Jesus said there is one teacher, himself.
Matthew 23.
10
Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
Jesus anointed his Apostles from the 12 Disciples that remained with him even after others fell from the way and departed.

Revelation 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

And then the holy spirit, the helper, Jesus returned unto holy spirit, would guide those Apostles in what they should say. John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

I would suggest you are of that thought because you've not studied how the Bible came to be. You would expand your knowledge greatly if you did commit to that study.


I'm not saying argue. I'm advising you to think. And research. God didn't write the Bible. And no scholar will claim he did.


Well, I know you didn't click that link now. I didn't shout. I copied the article title itself and pasted it here. As is the standard when sharing a copy/paste of someone elses intellectual property. As well as the link to said work of course.

Our back and forth is over extended as per the number of character limits per post.
This is the second and last half of my reply.
It was hand copied. And the period between when the writing of the Bible's final book was completed, (end of the first century) up until the beginning of the "time of the end" (according to Daniels prophesies) was a dark time when it was foretold that the devil would sow his weeds of fake Christianity and lead the majority of people away from Christ's teaching by doing exactly what Judaism did....adopting the traditions of men and substituting them for the word of God.

Those dark times also saw the word of God taken away from the common man and secreted away for only a select few to ponder. This gave rise to all manner of false ideas being presented as truth because ordinary people were not educated and had to take the words of those men for what the Bible contained. They told lies that are still around as 'gospel' to this day.

The one thing that God did not allow, was the corruption of scripture itself. Men could put all manner of false interpretation on the meanings of its words, but never were they permitted to alter its message. This is true of all scripture and I have studied it deeply for the last 47 years. The one thing I do not rely on is the opinion of men corrupted by Christendom's pathetic interpretations of God's word to form my beliefs. Look at its sad and sorry state....divided into literally thousands of bickering fragments, none of whom reflect Christ's teachings in the slightest. If Christ came back tomorrow Matthew 7:21-23 would see its fulfillment.

That is how I see it.

I see you're becoming more hostile and delivering slights toward my faith and my self so I will end this discussion with you.
Personally, I do not see any indication you've studied scripture for 47 years when you are unaware of the points I've made in these posts. No, I am not saying you are false. I am saying perhaps you started to study by setting a preconceived foundation that leads you to believe the Bible says what it says and your responsibility in that regard is to read what it is saying.
“If you seek him, he will be found by you” (1 Chronicles 28:9)

Jesus chastised those in attendance when he entered Jerusalem and a Jewish festival for their diligence in the study of the scriptures so as to find him.

John 5:39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

The Bible of today is different than the scriptures Jesus taught from while in the temple. How many versions are there now? How many denominations?

God cannot be contained in structures built by men. Why would you think The Word that became flesh can be contained in a book?

I wish you peace.
 

SugarOcean

¡pɹᴉǝM ʎɐʇS
Are you saying none of them could become -- or became -- Christians?

Read Acts of the Apostles 15:5-6.

Some people are willing to change their way of life, to become approved. Saul/Paul was one.
I think if you read my posting again you'll note I was speaking only of Saul.
Therefore, I do not know to whom you are referring when you say, 'them' .
 

sooda

Veteran Member
I believe it is. The crux of this question is......"is the Bible the word of God or the words of men?" This is where we diverge. You accept the words of men over scripture, their 'scholarship' notwithstanding, you trust them more than you trust God's ability to preserve the integrity of his own word.
If you accept only parts of it, on whose authority do you accept those parts and reject others? Do you see the problem?



Could I have references for that please....? Paul was specific when giving his own recommendations on various things. He said "I, not the Lord", so he never ascribed to Jesus what he personally thought was good counsel.



Paul was not one of the 12 and never claimed to be. His was an assignment specifically to take the good news to the Gentile nations. His qualifications made him a good choice because the 12 were not equipped educationally to go where Paul went and to address those to whom Paul spoke.



Because I don't believe that God's word contains the teachings of those who would lead Jesus' disciples down the wrong track....satan used the churches to do that. That is what he foretold. If Paul's words are counterfeit Christianity, then God would be to blame for allowing false testimony to be taught as scripture.
You obviously don't trust God to provide the truth in his own book. :shrug:



When did Paul contradict Jesus?



You can interpret it that way if you wish, but Paul himself issued the same warnings. (Acts 20:29-30; 2 Corinthians 11:13)



God used men to write it too.....it's still God's word. You seem to doubt God's ability to have his own thoughts preserved for all generations as he wanted them recorded. If he was to allow his word to be corrupted, then what other parts are untrustworthy? If you shoot down the Bible writers because you want to imply sinister motives to them, you undermine the authenticity of the whole book.

It is all God's word....or none of it is. To say otherwise is to argue with scripture. I argue with none of it.



No need to shout.

It was hand copied. And the period between when the writing of the Bible's final book was completed, (end of the first century) up until the beginning of the "time of the end" (according to Daniels prophesies) was a dark time when it was foretold that the devil would sow his weeds of fake Christianity and lead the majority of people away from Christ's teaching by doing exactly what Judaism did....adopting the traditions of men and substituting them for the word of God.

Those dark times also saw the word of God taken away from the common man and secreted away for only a select few to ponder. This gave rise to all manner of false ideas being presented as truth because ordinary people were not educated and had to take the words of those men for what the Bible contained. They told lies that are still around as 'gospel' to this day.

The one thing that God did not allow, was the corruption of scripture itself. Men could put all manner of false interpretation on the meanings of its words, but never were they permitted to alter its message. This is true of all scripture and I have studied it deeply for the last 47 years. The one thing I do not rely on is the opinion of men corrupted by Christendom's pathetic interpretations of God's word to form my beliefs. Look at its sad and sorry state....divided into literally thousands of bickering fragments, none of whom reflect Christ's teachings in the slightest. If Christ came back tomorrow Matthew 7:21-23 would see its fulfillment.

That is how I see it.

There was no Daniel. The book was written by a group of Jews in 165 BC that's why they have Nebuchadnezzar so wrong.
 

SkepticThinker

Veteran Member
Old Testament Isaiah 45 is a fascinating chapter.
5. "I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God I will gird you, though you have not known Me;

So to respond to your supposition, God tells us there is no other than "him". (God is not a gender. God is a holy spirit). Therefore, and there are Christians that will not agree with me and that's OK, no god nor goddess of any faith that predates Judaism and Christianity can be any other than the one God.

Perhaps, and this is my view, all the deities humans imagined for themselves and even as far back as the age of our primitive ancestors dwelling in caves, are not only the one God, but arrived in the psyche of those primitives precisely because they were so. Animism being the first link to creator. Then as we evolved into the more adept hominids so too did our focus of worship.

And with writing, from was seals, to skins, to parchment, and on unto the printing press, our advances as people and society made it appear as though our worship was bearing fruit. We emerged from the caves gradually learning how to survive more in this world, and always, always, deifying something along the way.

Whether it was the storms, the animals we hunted for food, the waters that nourished us to life, or the female power that reproduced our own kind after growing round, bleeding profusely and bringing forth a miniature replica of "us". And then was able to nourish that newborn from her own body. (There's a great book I highly recommend. "When God Was A Woman" , author Merlin Stone)
The point is, the human race has always revered something greater than ourselves because everything in our world had more power than we did.

Therefore, if I die tomorrow and Odin is standing beneath the shade of Yggdrasill and is smiling at me, I will know I have arrived to the beliefs my Norse ancestors held.
If White Buffalo Calf woman awaits, I will know I have arrived in the afterlife where the Great Spirit calls me daughter. And I return to my departed ancestors of the tribes.

When there is only one God no other god nor goddess can be any other than the one. Perhaps, and I believe this, all the deities of all peoples since our human existence began was the one leading, speaking, to us so that we can better survive here in this world of that spirits creation.

Jesus ministry was by and large shared in parables (Matthew 13:10). One parable that stands out for me is when he said, no one comes to the Father but through me. (John 14:6)

When Jesus was God incarnate, (And they shall call his name Emmanuel, meaning, "God with us" ...Matthew 1:22–23 ), I believe Jesus was saying in that verse that the source of all that is is calling parts of holy spirits being to return to the beginning, the source.

IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. [Isa. 9:6.] He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. (John 1:1-4 AMP)

When Holy Spirit (God) is source of all that is, was, or shall be, there is no thing that is any thing other than of and from Spirit. Jesus words in John 14:6 , for me, is the Holy Spirit saying all things that are of God return to God through opening to the belief in God. And that's not to believe in something set aside, elsewhere, or other. That's the invitation to realize, re-cognize, that Holy Spirit is us. We are all particles of creator living as and within human-formed.

And sin, redemption, and regeneration, per the Christian teaching? Is simply our coming to terms with who and what we are; fallible carnal human beings. We must forgive ourselves for what we have lived and know as our self. The darkness and the light. And we must forgive ourselves for what we don't like about our self. And what we've done all our life to that point of reconciling with our own ego. And then that "rebirth", regeneration, occurs because we know we are more than this.

And once we've taken a good honest strong look at our self , warts and all, which takes time, the re-birth occurs because we now know who we were and who we can become, once we reconcile ourselves to the reality that we are indwelt and always have been by that Holy Spirit because that is the source of all things, we are renewed within that new consciousness. That awakened awareness that we can be more than we were. We can be better than what we despised in ourselves. We can heal from what was done to us and what we did to others.

While Baptism is that rite, that ritual, that immersion into living water, that is psycho-spiritual in nature. (pun fully intended ;)) We submerge our old self that we've recognized for what he/she is, and we arise reborn, as if from the watery womb once more, to be who we now know we can become, fully realizing we are not separated from source. God, Odin, Thor, power, energy, creator. Rather, we are one with that and always have been.

The regeneration therefore is when we wake up to what we are on that cellular and spiritual level that then helps the mind transcend what was previously thought about this reality and our place in it. Which is far more than flesh can contain.



It is with regard to the fundamental Christian teachings.
Then again, I am not a Fundamentalist.

Now I'll close this veritable novelette. I don't like walls of text posts and here I am making one. My excuse is, I was inspired. :p:)

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Sorry, but most of this just reads as preaching to me and doesn't really get to the crux of my question. Because now I will have to ask you how we know that we should be following the Bible and not say, the Qu'ran or the Bhagavad Gita? Or are you suggesting we should follow all of them?
 

SugarOcean

¡pɹᴉǝM ʎɐʇS
Sorry, but most of this just reads as preaching to me and doesn't really get to the crux of my question. Because now I will have to ask you how we know that we should be following the Bible and not say, the Qu'ran or the Bhagavad Gita? Or are you suggesting we should follow all of them?
Well, if that ridiculous wall of text didn't satisfy you, because I did answer your question, that's OK too.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
Well, if that ridiculous wall of text didn't satisfy you, because I did answer your question, that's OK too.
Since it looks like frantic hand waving I do not see how it would convince anyone. Perhaps you should try to break your claims down a bit and see if you can find some reliable evidence that supports your beliefs.
 

SugarOcean

¡pɹᴉǝM ʎɐʇS
The Bible quotes weren't necessary, imo. :)
They were in my opinion.
While I was posting in response to you I think it helps to be aware that others are also reading. And my post could be something that they want to read . And as such that is why I like to support my statements with scripture. :)
 

SkepticThinker

Veteran Member
They were in my opinion.
While I was posting in response to you I think it helps to be aware that others are also reading. And my post could be something that they want to read . And as such that is why I like to support my statements with scripture. :)
The reason I said that was because my question pertained to how we are supposed to determine which deity from which religion is the one that actually exists. So the problem is that scripture is not evidence of anything other than the fact that some other people assert that the god they worship exists, but still doesn't provide any actual evidence.
 

sooda

Veteran Member
:facepalm: Yep.....and your provable reference for that statement is....?
Daniel is a canaanite character that was borrowed by the Jews to tell a history of the Babylonian exile 1500 years before Abraham.. and the got it all wrong. 600years later they used the same character to write about antiochus iv epiphanes,the maccbean revolt and theabomination of desolation
 

Deeje

Avid Bible Student
Premium Member
Even before day 1 of our species our pre-homo sapiens ancestors were not self-sufficient and depended on each other for survival. Given we are still indeed very much social animals, this has not changed.

Can you name me one species on this planet who are not self-sufficient? Yet "self sufficiency" relies on the fact that what sustains life for every creature is already supplied....like air, food, water and shelter from the elements. We see shelter in the form of creating various structures by instinct or by having an external coat to protect from weather extremes...fur, feathers or impervious skin.

Every creature has its own habitat, and food and water supply. Their reproduction is unassisted and they live happily in the environments created for them. But once humans began altering the environment to fit their greedy agendas, we began robbing these creatures of their rightful homes, destroying their food supplies and forcing them into unfamiliar territories. Many species are now extinct and others are threatened because of what humans are doing. And we are the clever ones????

We humans are unique in the world because we alone plan our shelters and construct them by educated choice, not instinct.
We produce our food by farming, passing on education in these things to the next generation, not through instinctive programming.
Our self-sufficiency has gradually been eroded away....the powers that be in this era have taken it upon themselves to make life 'more convenient and less stressful' by supplying all our needs....but at a cost. The real cost of our western lifestyle, being our self-sufficiency because by making humans dependent, they have created the ultimate slaves.....those who pay to have others do what they should be doing themselves. The potential for corruption is limitless.

Try living in this world without what they provide, and what we in affluent nations largely take for granted.
 

Deeje

Avid Bible Student
Premium Member
Daniel is a canaanite character that was borrowed by the Jews to tell a history of the Babylonian exile 1500 years before Abraham.. and the got it all wrong. 600years later they used the same character to write about antiochus iv epiphanes,the maccbean revolt and theabomination of desolation

Lets see your substantiated reference for these assertions....There were no Jews before Abraham.
 
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