Most Christians I have met and talked with are slackers who only know what they have been told. On the other hand, you have some who go overboard and fry their minds like someone on here who I will not name. Shirley there is a happy medium, but I have met only one or two.
We should chat. You have seen how some people can take a thought and project the path it is on and see the outcome. God didn't leave any teachers, he left a pile of words where it takes some projecting to be able to put the passages into the proper context. That was intentionally done by God in that every Scribe He used wrote down every single word of the information they were given the the first writer, Moses, would have had to tell what Revelation contains if God had clued him in. Same with every one that God called down to the very last one, John the Baptist. That is a good place to stop with you because despite being 'exposed' to Christianity the understanding part was not part of that. That would bean our conversation would have to start at the very first verse and define almost every word from that point on. Obviously that would take more than a page or two and seeing as you are close to being a troll yourself (a religious troll if that makes any difference).
Is your enlightenment part of the reason for this post, not a bit, if god doesn't want you gathered yet I'm not going to be able to change that, this has to do with your comment that leaves me thinking I just got called a religious idiot, and a compulsive one at that. That isn't even that big of an issue considering how important you are in my 'day job life' although I do have an instant answer for most parts of the Bible. It's a pretty big book and not all opinions are the same as to what it says and what it means. My version takes for granted that the whole book had to be in place before the chosen audience could be in place. The last generation could only be meant for the one that experiences the last 42 months of the period called 'the time of the Gentiles'. The start of the period was 70AD (Luke:21:24), we are some place before the end of that time because that would be the day of the return and a lot of big changes that are almost instantly made. Being close should allow some checks to be placed beside markers. With more than one version there is the completion of the 'falling away from the truth', and the list goes on. The list isn't that long but it does take some time to list all the points and explore what information they hold. That is my version and shows that I just thought it out a bit more carefully than most, if I can do that with Scripture I can do that in other areas of my daily life, to a certain extent. Being through is not time based, through is climbing a tree trunk and coming back down and not score high as far as being the 'fastest' but when asked a question about any of the branches on the tree only one can give a complete and accurate answer, the one who was through first. The speedy guy gets to make return trips before he knows what the branches hold. At one point many years ago I knew there was 'a plan' and it was a pretty good one' but really shy on the details, today not so shy. That is from actual work via a lot of reading and talking with others (not here obviously).
Any way lets start this part of our chat off with the tid-bit about what overboard means in general, for all I know you are the one overboard and in danger of drowning and you just want to drag somebody under with you. If God wants you saved a chopper or boat will come along, if not the Pearly Gates await you where St Peter will explain that you are early and you should have taken the chopper or the boat that God sent to save your scrawny ***.
That's how the joke goes, the truth is somebody who is overboard because of one thing is more than likely to go overboard to some degree on all things so really it is a powder-keg just waiting to blow. Now by the time it takes to read that short sentence I went from 'as calm as an 'overboarder' can ever get to being more than a little pissed off at you specifically. I have to assume you model for 'normal' is nobody but yourself (I'll get to your other role models later) The Bible can be many things to many people, I doubt your first teachers were as good an authority as they thought they were, you seem to have grasped that but perhaps not the full reason why they were so bad at their jobs, after all they were 'the experts'. To push them away did not fill the void with the right version, just 'a version' that you were comfortable with, nothing wrong with that, life is full of compromises and ditching people that mistreat you and aren't capable of change should be abandoned (put far enough away that they are no longer dangerous).
Now you have an adopted version of what God and the Bible is all about. The version I have about those two is somewhat different and it's quite detailed as far as the things it covers and the list is quite long but it is only so long to there is an end that can be reached. If you conclude what it says or means before you read and understand the material you will get the wrong picture. That also works in any other part of life, private or corporate.
Define overboard in those situations and why it is acceptable or not?
