• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Why did God send Scriptures after another Scripture?

InvestigateTruth

Well-Known Member
Based on the Quran, which one of these statements are true:

A. The reason that God kept sending down Scriptures so many times, is because, everytime People eventually, divided into sects, and misinterpreted the Message of their messenger, so, Allah had to send another messenger to give the original message to correct misinterpretations and to unite them. This process continued from Adam, the first messenger, and continued to Noah, Abraham, Moses Jesus, and Muhammad, the seal of Prophets.

B. The reason that Allah kept sending down Scriptures, is because the Laws and teachings of God are suitable only for a certain period. Once the period was passed, people needed a different set of Laws and teachings in accordance with exigencies of the Age they lived in. Thus, God sent a Messenger to them with a New Law.

C. Both A and B

D. None of the above.

E. Others, please explain.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
To me it's both A and B and is not limited to the Abrahamic faiths but is true of all the Avatars.

My belief is well-captured by the New Troubadors "Song of the Avatars" which goes beyond scriptures to Divine Light. This makes scriptures an attempt to capture that Light, as far as words can capture it.

When righteousness declines
And wickedness is strong,
In the dying of an age
As a new age comes along,
That is when I rise again
And yet again to light the flame
Of truth within the sons of men.

I am Light.
I am Truth.
I am the fire of the Son.
I am the hope of all the earth,
The spirit of the One.

When men have lost their way
And know not where to turn,
And the future seems to end
Where the fires of hatred burn,
Then let men look within
To see the rising of my flame
Of love to light the way again.

I am Love.
I am Truth.
I am the power of the Son.
I am the Light within all men
The spirit of the One.

When darkness seeks to hold
The hears of men in fear,
When men cry out for help
And no one seems to hear,
That is when I rise again
To shatter forms enslaving men
To let a newer world be born.

I am Light.
I am Truth.
I am the freedom of the Son.
I am the destiny of Man,
The triumph of the One.
 

Deeje

Avid Bible Student
Premium Member
Based on the Quran, which one of these statements are true:

A. The reason that God kept sending down Scriptures so many times, is because, everytime People eventually, divided into sects, and misinterpreted the Message of their messenger, so, Allah had to send another messenger to give the original message to correct misinterpretations and to unite them. This process continued from Adam, the first messenger, and continued to Noah, Abraham, Moses Jesus, and Muhammad, the seal of Prophets.

B. The reason that Allah kept sending down Scriptures, is because the Laws and teachings of God are suitable only for a certain period. Once the period was passed, people needed a different set of Laws and teachings in accordance with exigencies of the Age they lived in. Thus, God sent a Messenger to them with a New Law.

C. Both A and B

D. None of the above.

E. Others, please explain.

The main reason why the Qaran is not scripture to Christians, even though, as Baha’i believe, that all that constitutes “scripture”, (regardless of who the messenger is,) comes from the true God, it is the Bible itself that disqualifies all other scripture and their messengers as false.

For anyone to claim that the Bible is compatible with any other scripture is to cherry pick some of the Bible and place it in their own ‘box’. To make all these messengers compatible with the messengers that God sent to his own people, who were clearly identified as his prophets, you have to ignore a whole lot of what the Bible teaches. You can’t accept some and ignore the rest.

You cannot mix true worship with false worship.....that is the one thing that comes across very clearly in the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as in the Greek Scriptures. The fact that God reacted very negatively to any attempt to introduce the worship of the gods of other nations means that we have to make some tough choices. Followers of Jesus too had to make difficult choices. (Matthew 23:37-39; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

God’s punishment of his own people was proof that false prophets were not to be tolerated and any attempt to persuade his people to adopt the religious practices of the nations, was to be rejected.
His nation’s exile into Babylon and the devastation of their homeland, along with the destruction of their Temple, showed them what he thought of their disobedience to his laws. To acknowledge other prophets and to adopt false religious practices incurred his hot displeasure. He made sure that a disobedient generation never came “home”.

We have to choose to serve the true God without compromise. This is, I believe, the test we are all presented with.
 

VoidoftheSun

Necessary Heretical, Fundamentally Orthodox
Based on the Quran, which one of these statements are true:

A. The reason that God kept sending down Scriptures so many times, is because, everytime People eventually, divided into sects, and misinterpreted the Message of their messenger, so, Allah had to send another messenger to give the original message to correct misinterpretations and to unite them. This process continued from Adam, the first messenger, and continued to Noah, Abraham, Moses Jesus, and Muhammad, the seal of Prophets.

B. The reason that Allah kept sending down Scriptures, is because the Laws and teachings of God are suitable only for a certain period. Once the period was passed, people needed a different set of Laws and teachings in accordance with exigencies of the Age they lived in. Thus, God sent a Messenger to them with a New Law.

C. Both A and B

D. None of the above.

E. Others, please explain.

Both A and B, but not B in the way that Baha'i's see it. B more on a wider scale (as Prophets have been sent to every part of the world through history).
 

VoidoftheSun

Necessary Heretical, Fundamentally Orthodox
The main reason why the Qaran is not scripture to Christians, even though, as Baha’i believe, that all that constitutes “scripture”, (regardless of who the messenger is,) comes from the true God, it is the Bible itself that disqualifies all other scripture and their messengers as false.

For anyone to claim that the Bible is compatible with any other scripture is to cherry pick some of the Bible and place it in their own ‘box’. To make all these messengers compatible with the messengers that God sent to his own people, who were clearly identified as his prophets, you have to ignore a whole lot of what the Bible teaches. You can’t accept some and ignore the rest.

You cannot mix true worship with false worship.....that is the one thing that comes across very clearly in the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as in the Greek Scriptures. The fact that God reacted very negatively to any attempt to introduce the worship of the gods of other nations means that we have to make some tough choices. Followers of Jesus too had to make difficult choices. (Matthew 23:37-39; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

God’s punishment of his own people was proof that false prophets were not to be tolerated and any attempt to persuade his people to adopt the religious practices of the nations, was to be rejected.
His nation’s exile into Babylon and the devastation of their homeland, along with the destruction of their Temple, showed them what he thought of their disobedience to his laws. To acknowledge other prophets and to adopt false religious practices incurred his hot displeasure. He made sure that a disobedient generation never came “home”.

We have to choose to serve the true God without compromise. This is, I believe, the test we are all presented with.

I know I won't get anywhere with you, but my follow up question would be; why doesn't God send revelation? - in contrast the Biblical belief of revelation just being an element of a story plot in your narratives where a Prophet is simply a story character.
 

InvestigateTruth

Well-Known Member
The main reason why the Qaran is not scripture to Christians, even though, as Baha’i believe, that all that constitutes “scripture”, (regardless of who the messenger is,) comes from the true God, it is the Bible itself that disqualifies all other scripture and their messengers as false.

For anyone to claim that the Bible is compatible with any other scripture is to cherry pick some of the Bible and place it in their own ‘box’. To make all these messengers compatible with the messengers that God sent to his own people, who were clearly identified as his prophets, you have to ignore a whole lot of what the Bible teaches. You can’t accept some and ignore the rest.

You cannot mix true worship with false worship.....that is the one thing that comes across very clearly in the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as in the Greek Scriptures. The fact that God reacted very negatively to any attempt to introduce the worship of the gods of other nations means that we have to make some tough choices. Followers of Jesus too had to make difficult choices. (Matthew 23:37-39; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

God’s punishment of his own people was proof that false prophets were not to be tolerated and any attempt to persuade his people to adopt the religious practices of the nations, was to be rejected.
His nation’s exile into Babylon and the devastation of their homeland, along with the destruction of their Temple, showed them what he thought of their disobedience to his laws. To acknowledge other prophets and to adopt false religious practices incurred his hot displeasure. He made sure that a disobedient generation never came “home”.

We have to choose to serve the true God without compromise. This is, I believe, the test we are all presented with.
Do you mean to say, God stoped sending down Scriptures?
Here are some questions for you:
Did God send down Scriptures through Abraham? Did Abraham reveal Laws of God for people of His time? If yes, why after Abraham, God again sent down Scriptures through Moses (the commandments). Why He didnt send all commandments with Abraham? And if He did, why again through Moses?
 

VoidoftheSun

Necessary Heretical, Fundamentally Orthodox
Please elaborate on point B. How should it be, and what did Bahais get wrong in your view.

There are different streams of law, there is also no innate "progression" (where is there to go to?) other than from ignorance to knowledge.
The Baha'i view tends to represent it more in regards to the world's largest religions than in the wider scope of revelations and sages around the world. The Baha'i view tends to see it part of more a linear progression from Judaism to Christianity to Islam (and Babism, which is Shi'ite) to Baha'i, when in reality it is far more sparse and diverse than that single predominant stream.
Though the tendency towards a meeting point of many streams is an inevitable aspect, as to which we have seen happen in the ancient past anyway.
 

InvestigateTruth

Well-Known Member
There are different streams of law, there is also no innate "progression" (where is there to go to?) other than from ignorance to knowledge.
The Baha'i view tends to represent it more in regards to the world's largest religions than in the wider scope of revelations and sages around the world. The Baha'i view tends to see it part of more a linear progression from Judaism to Christianity to Islam (and Babism, which is Shi'ite) to Baha'i, when in reality it is far more sparse and diverse than that single predominant stream.
Though the tendency towards a meeting point of many streams is an inevitable aspect, as to which we have seen happen in the ancient past anyway.

I see the progressive revelation that Bahai scriptures describes, is compatible with both history, and scriptures of other religions.
Yes, the sages, of course are reciever of revelations as well, but Bahais don't see them as receiver of direct revelations from God. For example, Bahaullah explains in Iqan, how the zoroastrian sages knew about Jesus, and came to see Him, through recognizing His star. Likewise before Muhammad appears, 4 sages knew His coming was near. Or before the Manifestation of the Bab, Ahmad and Kazim were inspired that the promised one is coming soon. The Imams of Shia, desciples of Buddha, and alikes also is seen as sages. But sages, would be inspired by the teachings of messengers. Other major philosophers were also inspired by teachings of Prophets, according to some Muslims historians. It is seen as Rising the sun. When sun rises all are illuminated to different degrees. So, a Manifestation of God, is seen as the Rise of Sun in Bahai scriptures, and sages are just receiver of light from the Sun (manifestation of God).
 

Deeje

Avid Bible Student
Premium Member
I know I won't get anywhere with you, but my follow up question would be; why doesn't God send revelation? - in contrast the Biblical belief of revelation just being an element of a story plot in your narratives where a Prophet is simply a story character.

On the same basis I will answer you.....to you the Biblical belief may be just an element of a story......but to those of us who believe in the God who inspired the Bible, there is so much more to it than that.

God has no need to send further revelations because his last prophet was Jesus Christ and the last revelation was given by him to the apostle John. That Revelation was recorded as the last entry in the Christian Bible canon. There is no need for further scripture or Messiahs because that revelation was about a situation that was to take place 2 thousand years into the future, leading to the cleansing of the earth of all opposers of God's incoming Kingdom, and then taking the faithful survivors of that cleansing, a further 1,000 years beyond that...so why do we need more? We are living in the outworking of prophesy as we speak.....but unbelievers will be oblivious, just like the victims of the flood in Noah's day. Jesus actually used that as a model of what to expect as this world again descends into a moral morass. (Matthew 24:37-39)

We still have a 1,000 years to go before all the prophesies of the current Bible are fulfilled.
 

InvestigateTruth

Well-Known Member
On the same basis I will answer you.....to you the Biblical belief may be just an element of a story......but to those of us who believe in the God who inspired the Bible, there is so much more to it than that.

God has no need to send further revelations because his last prophet was Jesus Christ and the last revelation was given by him to the apostle John. That Revelation was recorded as the last entry in the Christian Bible canon. There is no need for further scripture or Messiahs because that revelation was about a situation that was to take place 2 thousand years into the future, leading to the cleansing of the earth of all opposers of God's incoming Kingdom, and then taking the faithful survivors of that cleansing, a further 1,000 years beyond that...so why do we need more? We are living in the outworking of prophesy as we speak.....but unbelievers will be oblivious, just like the victims of the flood in Noah's day. Jesus actually used that as a model of what to expect as this world again descends into a moral morass. (Matthew 24:37-39)

We still have a 1,000 years to go before all the prophesies of the current Bible are fulfilled.
But Quran explicitly says Muhammad is the Seal of Prophets. When did Jesus say, He is the Last Prophet?
 

Deeje

Avid Bible Student
Premium Member
Do you mean to say, God stoped sending down Scriptures?

Yes I do. Since there was an apostasy foretold, nothing that came after Christ's last contribution to the accepted Bible canon are admissible. The "wheat and the weeds" of Jesus prophesy would battle it out until "the end" when the angels are sent out to collect the 'weeds' and dispose of them. Only the "wheat" survive the "harvest". (Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43)

Here are some questions for you:
Did God send down Scriptures through Abraham?

No, but Moses wrote all about him and how he was pictorial in the outworking of God's purpose here on earth. The promised Messiah would come from Abraham's descendants...Isaac and Jacob. There is no mention of Ishmael as figuring in his purpose regarding the Messiah at all. So this to me lets out Islam and Baha'i as figuring in God's purpose at all.

Did Abraham reveal Laws of God for people of His time?

As a Patriarch, Abraham served as a priest for his family. He would have known God's requirements and taught his family what God expected of them. I do not see Abraham as a leader of anyone but his own relatives. Do you?

If yes, why after Abraham, God again sent down Scriptures through Moses (the commandments).

God did not give his laws to anyone else but his own chosen nation. Abraham was the progenitor of that nation. And only after their release from Egyptian slavery did he appoint Moses as the mediator of the 'old covenant'.
Jesus later became the mediator of the 'new covenant' that was foretold through Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 31:31-32) There were no other covenants or prophets to come after Jesus.

Why He didnt send all commandments with Abraham? And if He did, why again through Moses?

1) By choosing one nation to produce the promised "seed" of Genesis 3:15, he created an identification of the Messiah with that one nation....this excluded any other Messiah's from any other nation.

2) By creating one nation, with one set of laws that applied to no one else, God created one book of rules for his nation alone.....anyone who wanted to worship Israel's God had to leave their former worship behind and come into God's nation as proselytes....i.e. "Jews" but not by birth. They had to worship the true God on his terms and abide by his laws. Only then would those foreigners be accepted as "brothers".

3) God's dealings with that nation set precedents, written for our instruction, on how he expects all of his worshippers to behave. There is no room for other messengers, prophets or scripture.
The worship of Israel's God was to be EXCLUSIVE...not INCLUSIVE.

I know that this does not sit well with a lot of people who think God should be some kind of all loving, all forgiving, mamby-pamby wimp......but that is not the way he portrays himself at all. Sadly that attitude ended up with the Jews thinking that simply being "Jewish" (a son of Abraham) was all that was needed to be granted his eternal forgiveness for their constant errors. (Matthew 3:7-12) But the truth is, he kept them as his people only long enough to produce their Messiah. But when he was rejected, God rejected the Jews as his nation because they broke their covenant with him time and again, even killing the prophets God sent to correct them. (Matthew 23:37-39) God however, never broke his part of the agreement.

I hope that answered your questions.
 

VoidoftheSun

Necessary Heretical, Fundamentally Orthodox
On the same basis I will answer you.....to you the Biblical belief may be just an element of a story......but to those of us who believe in the God who inspired the Bible, there is so much more to it than that.

God has no need to send further revelations because his last prophet was Jesus Christ and the last revelation was given by him to the apostle John. That Revelation was recorded as the last entry in the Christian Bible canon. There is no need for further scripture or Messiahs because that revelation was about a situation that was to take place 2 thousand years into the future, leading to the cleansing of the earth of all opposers of God's incoming Kingdom, and then taking the faithful survivors of that cleansing, a further 1,000 years beyond that...so why do we need more? We are living in the outworking of prophesy as we speak.....but unbelievers will be oblivious, just like the victims of the flood in Noah's day. Jesus actually used that as a model of what to expect as this world again descends into a moral morass. (Matthew 24:37-39)

We still have a 1,000 years to go before all the prophesies of the current Bible are fulfilled.

And I mean that the Bible is just about things happening but isn't the things themselves happening.
You have accounts of Prophets, sure, but you don't have their scriptures nor their direct sayings, nor a book directly revealed by God. With the Qur'an it immensely contrasts what you have, by having the direct literal speech of God as the sole scripture (the "Qur'an" means recitation and is only God speaking to Muhammad), and having the story/life of the Prophet as a separate piece of literature (hadith).
In your religious scriptures there is no distinction between the both, which basically reduces both revelation and Prophethood to being plot elements rather than real life realities.
 

Deeje

Avid Bible Student
Premium Member
But Quran explicitly says Muhammad is the Seal of Prophets. When did Jesus say, He is the Last Prophet?
Read Mark 12:1-11....
"And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”"


This is a pictorial history of the Jews. The owner of the vineyard is God.
The cultivators were wicked and did not give back to the owner what was rightfully his...instead they killed the servants he sent to ask for his portion. The servants are God's prophets.
Finally he sent his son, thinking that that will surely respect him....but they plotted to kill him and take the inheritance for themselves. When they killed his son (Jesus) the owner had those wicked men put to death and gave the vineyard over to other more respectful tenants.

That is where the story ends....
 
Last edited:

Deeje

Avid Bible Student
Premium Member
And I mean that the Bible is just about things happening but isn't the things themselves happening.
You have accounts of Prophets, sure, but you don't have their scriptures nor their direct sayings, nor a book directly revealed by God. With the Qur'an it immensely contrasts what you have, by having the direct literal speech of God as the sole scripture (the "Qur'an" means recitation and is only God speaking to Muhammad), and having the story/life of the Prophet as a separate piece of literature (hadith).
In your religious scriptures there is no distinction between the both, which basically reduces both revelation and Prophethood to being plot elements rather than real life realities.

On the contrary, the Bible itself speaks of its divine inspiration.....

"Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work."
(2 Timothy 3:16-17)

"For you know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private interpretation. 21 For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were moved by holy spirit". (2 Peter 1:20-21)

All the Bible writers were inspired by God's spirit to write his book. He is the author, they are the secretaries....not speaking word for word, but writing God's thoughts in their own hand.
 

InvestigateTruth

Well-Known Member
Yes I do. Since there was an apostasy foretold, nothing that came after Christ's last contribution to the accepted Bible canon are admissible. The "wheat and the weeds" of Jesus prophesy would battle it out until "the end" when the angels are sent out to collect the 'weeds' and dispose of them. Only the "wheat" survive the "harvest". (Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43)



No, but Moses wrote all about him and how he was pictorial in the outworking of God's purpose here on earth. The promised Messiah would come from Abraham's descendants...Isaac and Jacob. There is no mention of Ishmael as figuring in his purpose regarding the Messiah at all. So this to me lets out Islam and Baha'i as figuring in God's purpose at all.



As a Patriarch, Abraham served as a priest for his family. He would have known God's requirements and taught his family what God expected of them. I do not see Abraham as a leader of anyone but his own relatives. Do you?



God did not give his laws to anyone else but his own chosen nation. Abraham was the progenitor of that nation. And only after their release from Egyptian slavery did he appoint Moses as the mediator of the 'old covenant'.
Jesus later became the mediator of the 'new covenant' that was foretold through Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 31:31-32) There were no other covenants or prophets to come after Jesus.



1) By choosing one nation to produce the promised "seed" of Genesis 3:15, he created an identification of the Messiah with that one nation....this excluded any other Messiah's from any other nation.

2) By creating one nation, with one set of laws that applied to no one else, God created one book of rules for his nation alone.....anyone who wanted to worship Israel's God had to leave their former worship behind and come into God's nation as proselytes....i.e. "Jews" but not by birth. They had to worship the true God on his terms and abide by his laws. Only then would those foreigners be accepted as "brothers".

3) God's dealings with that nation set precedents, written for our instruction, on how he expects all of his worshippers to behave. There is no room for other messengers, prophets or scripture.
The worship of Israel's God was to be EXCLUSIVE...not INCLUSIVE.

I know that this does not sit well with a lot of people who think God should be some kind of all loving, all forgiving, mamby-pamby wimp......but that is not the way he portrays himself at all. Sadly that attitude ended up with the Jews thinking that simply being "Jewish" (a son of Abraham) was all that was needed to be granted his eternal forgiveness for their constant errors. (Matthew 3:7-12) But the truth is, he kept them as his people only long enough to produce their Messiah. But when he was rejected, God rejected the Jews as his nation because they broke their covenant with him time and again, even killing the prophets God sent to correct them. (Matthew 23:37-39) God however, never broke his part of the agreement.

I hope that answered your questions.
In Bible, God spoke to different men at different times, through Noah, He made a covenant, and gave Noahide Laws, which were 7. God also spoke to Abraham, and through Him, He conveyed some messages to people, asking people what to do, and what not do. Later He spoke with Moses, making another covenant, giving new commandments and Laws. Then Jesus came, with new teachings, focusing on spirituality, forgiveness, kindness. He even did not demand Law of Sabbath anymore, and He made the Law of divorce more restricted. Anytime, anywhere people needed guidance of God, through a prophet , He spoke to people. So, what happened to humanity? Do we not need anymore guidance from God? When Jesus came, most people rejected Him, and even now after more than 2000 years, majority of people do not believe in Him. But, as Jesus said, it does not matter if we say Lord, Lord, what matters is to do the Will of the Father. So, why wouldn't the Father tell us again, what is His Will in our time? It doesnt seem that the Revelation of Jesus is guiding people of our time to do the Will of the Father anymore.
 

InvestigateTruth

Well-Known Member
Read Mark 12:1-11....
"And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”"


This is a pictorial history of the Jews. The owner of the vineyard is God.
The cultivators were wicked and did not give back to the owner what was rightfully his...instead they killed the servants he sent to ask for his portion. The servants are God's prophets.
Finally he sent his son, thinking that that will surely respect him....but they plotted to kill him and take the inheritance for themselves. When they killed his son (Jesus) the owner had those wicked men put to death and gave the vineyard over to other more respectful tenants.

That is where the story ends....
I guess what I'm trying to say is, to say mission of Jesus was to die for our sins, is oversimplifying His mission. The prophets, including Jesus, were also very concerned with detail life of people. Jesus was teaching divorce is not acceptable, or fornication and lust are great sins. Similar to Jesus Other prophets before Him also had rules and regulations at the personal level and social level for people. Now, we are living in a totally different time, and world. We are having certain problems related to our Age, such as new forms of slavery, discrimination and racism, terrorism, wars, different weapons, new world affairs. To me, it doesn't seem very reasonable that a God who was so concerned about every details of what people must do, or must not do, all the sudden in our Age, which has so many new problems and conditions, keeps quite and does not say any direct word through someone, as He did before.
 

Deeje

Avid Bible Student
Premium Member
In Bible, God spoke to different men at different times, through Noah, He made a covenant, and gave Noahide Laws, which were 7. God also spoke to Abraham, and through Him, He conveyed some messages to people, asking people what to do, and what not do. Later He spoke with Moses, making another covenant, giving new commandments and Laws. Then Jesus came, with new teachings, focusing on spirituality, forgiveness, kindness. He even did not demand Law of Sabbath anymore, and He made the Law of divorce more restricted.

Yes, God communicated to his earthly servants in many ways....sometimes through an angel, sometimes in a dream, and other times by direct communication with his prophets, who then delivered his messages.

When Jeremiah prophesied that the "new covenant" would NOT be like the old one, we saw Jesus returning his people to the worship of the one true God by reverting to what God initially purposed in creation. There was no Sabbath Law in the Garden, nor was there such until Israel was given the Law.
"The Israelites must keep the Sabbath; they must observe the Sabbath during all their generations. It is a lasting covenant. 17 It is an enduring sign between me and the people of Israel, for in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day he rested and refreshed himself.’” (Exodus 31:16-17)
The Sabbath was for the Jews....no one else.

Marriage was also returned to God's original standard...one man, one woman in a partnership that bonded them for life......no divorce.
"And Pharisees came to him intent on testing him, and they asked: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on every sort of grounds?” 4 In reply he said: “Have you not read that the one who created them from the beginning made them male and female 5 and said: ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’? 6 So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has yoked together, let no man put apart.” (Matthew 19:3-6)

Anytime, anywhere people needed guidance of God, through a prophet , He spoke to people. So, what happened to humanity? Do we not need anymore guidance from God? When Jesus came, most people rejected Him, and even now after more than 2000 years, majority of people do not believe in Him.

In giving the model for his return, Jesus said it would be 'just like the days of Noah' before the flood. (Matthew 24:37-39) Humans would be showing the same violent and immoral nature that will preclude the majority from inheriting the Kingdom, which is prophesied to "come" and rid the world of all corrupt human rulership and replace it. (Daniel 2:44)

It was prophesied by Jesus himself that "few" would be found on the 'cramped and narrow road to life'. (Matthew 7:13-14) So it should not surprise us that God will expect all people to comply with his commands.....those who do not, will not survive the end of this present world system....in fact, they see it disintegrating all around them, but still they will not acknowledge him. That is their choice. Just as God did not come to the rescue of those who were taken away by the flood waters, so God will not spare the wicked who defy him and ignore his messengers. In this judgement period, all of Christ's followers were to take his message out to the people of the whole world. (Matthew 24:14; Matthew 28:19-20) His modern day messengers do not have to be prophets. They are servants.

But, as Jesus said, it does not matter if we say Lord, Lord, what matters is to do the Will of the Father. So, why wouldn't the Father tell us again, what is His Will in our time? It doesnt seem that the Revelation of Jesus is guiding people of our time to do the Will of the Father anymore.

We are so near the end that this does not surprise us.....just like the days of Noah....

"Consequently, Jehovah saw that man’s wickedness was great on the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time. 6 Jehovah regretted that he had made men on the earth, and his heart was saddened. 7 So Jehovah said: “I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground, man together with domestic animals, creeping animals, and flying creatures of the heavens, for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah." (Genesis 6:5-8)

How do we think God feels as he looks at what is going on in this world? How can he not feel that same regret?

Only those who present themselves to God as Noah did will be spared the end of this disgusting world , where man's greed reigns supreme and his concern for the earth and everything on it is motivated by a "love of money".

"For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains." (1 Timothy 6:10)

Look at man's behavior down through time....history repeats because short sight humans think only of their own immediate gratification.

We long for the time when God's Kingdom will rule the whole earth and there will no longer be wars or crime or greed or violence. The Kingdom's rule will mean that God's will is "done on earth as it is in heaven"......bring it on!
 

Deeje

Avid Bible Student
Premium Member
To me, it doesn't seem very reasonable that a God who was so concerned about every details of what people must do, or must not do, all the sudden in our Age, which has so many new problems and conditions, keeps quite and does not say any direct word through someone, as He did before.

The details he gave to Israel were a set of laws that no one could keep. These laws reminded the Jews on a daily basis of their need for a savior. But when the savior came, he did not fit the pre-conceived ideas that the Jewish leaders had invented for their Messiah. He was supposed to be a strong political figure who was going to liberate the Jews from Roman domination, establish God's Kingdom and elevate the Pharisees to positions of honor, but Jesus did the opposite. He exposed them as the true hypocrites that they were, and he liberated the "lost sheep" from that corrupt religious system. They hated him enough to want him dead. Silencing the prophets is what Israel had always done. There is nothing new...

In these last days, Jesus has done something similar. He has again led "the lost sheep" out of another corrupted religious system. And he promised to be with his disciples as they proclaimed God's Kingdom to the world, but true to his prophesies, not many will heed the warning, just as the ones in Noah's day were confident that the 'nutter' building an enormous box in the middle of a field could not possibly be right.
 
Top