Jesus defined that ''sword'' as the Holy Spirit, not a weapon: See Ephesians 6:10-17
What I might like to hear at church might be that religion and Christianity has just been cancelled, discontinued, declared invalid, due to the number of hypocrites and imposters that ravage it for power, self importance and other nefarious ulterior motives!
What I might like to hear at church might be that religion and Christianity has just been cancelled, discontinued, declared invalid, due to the number of hypocrites and imposters that ravage it for power, self importance and other nefarious ulterior motives!
What if you used the same standard for Cancon?
One thing at a time!
Still catching up? I just posted that to be annoying. lol
I forgot, some folks have a problem with multi-tasking.
- I remain an unashamed young-earth six-day creationist!
Hmm...
Okay, how about this for starters:
When I was young, Anglo-American Evangelical/Baptist/Pentecostal types harped against masturbation.
They justified their position by referring to the story of Onan in the Book of Genesis Chapter 38. .....
...... What in the world does that have to do with masturbation?!? What I know is that if I'm trying to study scripture and my mind keeps drifting off to images of sexual hotties, that it helps me to get re-focused by taking the 15 minutes required to get bodily concerns out of my head.
Did you know that some of the extreme branches of Essene-Judaism forbade having a bowel movement on the Sabbath, because that was considered to be work by some of their Gamma-level leaders? Maybe they had low-fibre diets, such that constipation was the norm for the time, in which case a bowel movement could be thought of as work, but if a person has the trots, isn't it more work to hold it in?
Another question I would ask is this:
Why in the world do Evangelical/Baptist/Pentacostalites get hung up on strict interpretation of the Creation story of Genesis, when it's already heck of a lot more in-line with what really happened than any other myth.
Pretend you're Moses talking to God, getting ready to write the Pentateuch.
Well... no, the sequence of events isn't right either, and it leaves out a lot of stuff we know exists but they didn't, like bacteria, which is still the dominant life form on the planet. But I'm sure your post is way too deep for the theists in this thread.
Actually, if you guys want to get hot about Christianity, answer me this...
I think the Holy Spirit (aka Holy Ghost) is a Female entity.
She didn't come along until some time after Her Son died in order to prove something about how She was something special that Jesus had died for in order to be introduced to humans... (day of Pentecost...)
Heavenly Father was a total bully-dad beating up all his kids until they got enough behavior and self-discipline before then...
One prays to the Holy Ghost, and She is the one to tell us how to pray to the Heavenly Father, like a Mother telling us how to talk to Dad when he's in a bad mood.
Anyway... I was trying to apologize to the Almighty for everything I've done wrong, and I ran out of numbers.
Not one complaint that contains a specific argument?
What journey?
You're right that "Christ" is a title -- it is a title that belongs to One Person, and that person is Jesus of Nazareth; that is why I use the title to refer to the person.
Your religion of works is not new in this world, and certainly not new to me. I was raised in a cult as a zealous Arminian Christian -- these sorts you might call the "Remonstrants." It sounds really noble and righteous, but it boils down to pride that says, "I can do such-and-such, and then God will be obliged to reward me."
The "empty-handed leap" you speak of has been for me an emptying of my pride-- my belief that I can twist God's arm. I observe the true meaning of Sabbath rest when I say, "Jesus Christ finished the work, for He said, 'It is finished,' and now I will repent of my so-called good works and will engage this Sabbath rest." If I work for my salvation, then I am breaking the Sabbath, and God hates Sabbath-breakers. Such work violates the rest that He sanctified; it represents a lack of faith in who Christ is and what Christ has done.
... and remain proudly sunk in your willful ignorance.
Didn't learn much science getting your B.Sc. I see. There's nothing quite like religion for making people proudly and willfully ignorant.
If you walked into a Christian church off the street, what question would you like to hear answered?
Continue to read the thread garsshopper, it has been laid out.
Jesus was not the only person to reach Christhood.
You miss the point altogether. It has nothing to do with works. The journey is a lifelong one. You must seek the truth with humility and integrity. You did not rid yourself of pride, you are constantly bragging about the only truth you have found and that all that do not see it as you do are doomed. That is arrogance and pride. You have not even started the journey. You have not gone into the wilderness and you have barely acknowledged your demons, let alone wrestled with them. I know this by your words.
How much money they have hoarded away, just like any other corporation
skimming money for themselves, at others expense.
Cliffy: I perceive that you are religious/spiritual. You do believe in something supernatural, God or gods? My question is, what is your foundation, who is your teacher, where is your religion defined, who are the "clergy" and "laity" of your church, if I may put it that way? Is it a one-man religion?
.... but mostly, I went into the wilderness, like Jesus is supposed to have done, for ten years. There I established a very personal relationship with my Creator. What I have been talking about here is a synthesis of what I have learned in those 40+ years.
Do you still contend that earths rotation around itself and around the sun is exactly the same as it was on the end of day 1 (4B years ago) ...
How does one lay out 40+ years of studying religious and spiritual systems, psychology, philosophy, quantum physics and mechanics, metaphysics, etc,? My teachers have been many and diverse, I have read hundreds of books and engaged hundreds of people from many schools of thought in conversation, but mostly, I went into the wilderness, like Jesus is supposed to have done, for ten years. There I established a very personal relationship with my Creator.
What I have been talking about here is a synthesis of what I have learned in those 40+ years. Yes, I have been a very serious student and one of the most profound realizations I had many years ago was that you cannot possibly reach enlightenment by being serious. Enlightenment is not just about wisdom. It is about a lightness of spirit, about seeing the humour in your own beliefs and thoughts and actions. A person who cannot laugh at themselves is in hell.
He only went for 40 days.
I cannot find fault in that. God has made himself known to us in these various ways. (The Bible also confesses this; see for example Psalm 19; Romans 1.) Where we will disagree is when I confess that the more clear and more full revelation of God is in the work of his Spirit guiding us into understanding of his Word. I believe the Bible is a gift from God, often mishandled, but able to be understood via the Teacher, who takes up residence within us and prepares us to understand the deeper truths of God.
I can't generally fault you there either. I do not see evil in humour, except where it abuses our neighbor (and this it often does). There are dangers on both sides. You're right -- a dedication to the extermination of "lightness of spirit" would be a fault. But a carelessness about our words and our approach to all subjects is also dangerous. Our culture is mostly marked by reckless drunkenness, of which I have participated.
Christ said we must give an account for every idle word. That's a high standard, and I dare say that in a forum such as this, we have all given room for flippant or careless words without really regarding the potential harm in what we're saying.
wow, thanks for all the answers.
i do find it unfortunate that Christ's gospel has been so twisted by so many people.
if we see the true Christ, we know that He is the answer to all of our problems (the biggest of which is the coming wrath of God).
You believe the bible is the word of god, I believe the word of god as he gave it to me: "Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find." there is no mention of books or sages. I don't need intermediaries or musty old books. I go to the source for the truth. Relying on outside sources is not going to get you anywhere. The bible is a codex written by men. It contains some truths. Those truths point to a way to establish a personal connection to the source. Take the journey.
Good grief, you mean He hasn't been wrathful up to now!!
I resent the fact that we got to be made from dirt, while Goid supposedly donated the sperm to create Jesus.
The gospel came into being twisted. At least these days, so many of our species, have developed a modicum of decency, common sense and true caring, that gospel is being looked at with a very jaundiced eye. Why take seriously, a God with more faults than the worst human criminal.
Hmm...
Okay, how about this for starters:
Sanctification is a real transformation, but it is a progression -- it isn't an instant imparting of full knowledge and glorification. One day, in new bodies, our conflict and confusion will be completely over, and we will finally be 100% united in Christ, which thing we now have only as a foretaste.
I haven't read that for a long time, but you're right that the point of the story wasn't about masturbation. The crime of Onan was in being unfair to his deceased brother and to Tamar.
That was long and interesting.
A few thoughts and assertions:
- the Bible never pretended to be a science textbook -- it's got a much more important message than "how does it work?"
- yet, as you at least partially suggest, and as I wholeheartedly confess, the Bible yet remains consistent with science; i.e., it does not contradict true science; where there is a contradiction between the Bible and a current popular opinion of scientists, my conclusion will be that either the Bible is being misunderstood at that point and/or the science is flawed;
- we must also confess that historically scientists have at times been wrong; they will be shown to be wrong again, for they too are human and prone to error, misunderstanding, and bias; science itself does not suffer these weaknesses -- however, science certainly has limitations; for example, science can have no comment on that which might transcend the material universe;
- I remain an unashamed young-earth six-day creationist!
Sweet, everyone's turned into automatons.
Actually, if you guys want to get hot about Christianity, answer me this...
I think the Holy Spirit (aka Holy Ghost) is a Female entity.
She didn't come along until some time after Her Son died in order to prove something about how She was something special that Jesus had died for in order to be introduced to humans... (day of Pentecost...)
Heavenly Father was a total bully-dad beating up all his kids until they got enough behavior and self-discipline before then...
One prays to the Holy Ghost, and She is the one to tell us how to pray to the Heavenly Father, like a Mother telling us how to talk to Dad when he's in a bad mood.
Anyway... I was trying to apologize to the Almighty for everything I've done wrong, and I ran out of numbers.
He only went for 40 days.
Don't we already have those? They're called Moonies right?
I keep pointing out to JWs that show up here on occasion that if everything in lalaland has no source for contention, everyone is in bliss, , etc. basically saying everything is perfect, then it's also perfectly boring.