It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
originally posted by: charles1952
This is not intended as an insult, but I think I like you. Several other people have been informed of that fact and, as far as I know, they have not been stricken with bad breath, psoriasis, or a decline in virility.
Let's see what we can make of all this confusion.
It seems as though one of the important areas you address is sin. Things like Easter Bunnies and Santa Claus. I have more belief in Santa Claus than the Easter Bunny, because Santa is based in history. But for me, someone sins if they have a well-formed and instructed conscience, realize that their action is sinful, and do it anyway with complete freedom to choose another path.
But even that doesn't make you a non-Christian, repentance is always possible, unto the last breath.
Was the Bible divinely inspired? I believe so, others don't. Maybe you're on the fence. Tell me how it would affect your life if you believed they weren't divinely inspired. Would you find a non-Christian religion? Believe however you wanted to believe (basically making up your own religion)?
Has the Bible been used or abused? Probably, at one point or another. But do you see what your question necessarily means? It means that there is a way to use the Bible properly. That's important. As long as we are men, we'll screw things up. Even interpretations of the Bible. But the Church is there to say, "Wait a minute, that's a heresy." And if they don't catch it right away, it's caught down the road of time somewhere. Our job, and the job of any Christian religion, is to use the Bible and the thoughts of wise men to guide us to eternity with God.
I'm a little confused with the idea of a "one world religion." Of course, every religion and denomination would like to convert everybody. I can't see that as bad. But if the State creates a religion and brings everybody into forced agreement with it, that would be catastrophic. One hope I have is that the Catholic Church seems to be the one religion that is giving the US government and society a hard time. I like that.
Many Catholics don't follow the Church's teachings, but is the fault in the teachings, or in those who don't follow them.
Anyway, I really enjoyed your post. I don't think anyone sees you as a jerk, I certainly don't.
With respect,
Charles1952
originally posted by: Akragon
a reply to: Maigret
you do realise people have been saying "these are the end times" for 2000 years right...
No... these are not the end times... Don't believe the hype
And no God is not silent, HE speaks to you, and everyone else every day... but most don't hear him
If you want to know how to get saved, you MUST hear the truth about what God did to save you! The Bible says that Jesus (God the Son) was crucified, and He bore the sins of the world upon the cross
Now we can answer the question: Where will I go when I die? There are only two possibilities: The Bible says that once you are saved, you also receive the gift of eternal life. This means that you will go to heaven when you die. You might have asked, can a saved person die and go to hell? The Bible says the answer to that question is NO, he cannot.
I honestly hope this leaves you perplexed. So, a born-again Christian will sin. What happens on account of that sin? Dr. Johnson seems to be saying that nothing will happen, somehow that sin will be erased before death. If it's not erased before death, will a sinner be able to enter into Heaven in a sinful and unholy condition? My guess is "No way, Jose." (Unless that's racist, then forget I said it.)
This does not mean that a Christian will never sin. It simply means that he will strive against sin and will be able to overcome temptation through Christ because, as a born-again Christian washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, he is no longer in bondage to sin.
2113 Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Many martyrs died for not adoring “the Beast”refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.
Matt. 17:1-3; Mark 9:4; Luke 9:30-31 – deceased Moses and Elijah appear at the Transfiguration to converse with Jesus in the presence of Peter, James and John (these may be the two “witnesses” John refers to in Rev. 11:3). Nothing in Scripture ever suggests that God abhors or cuts off communication between the living in heaven and the living on earth. To the contrary, God encourages communication within the communion of saints. Moses and Elijah’s appearance on earth also teach us that the saints in heaven have capabilities that far surpass our limitations on earth.
originally posted by: WakeUpBeer
Posted this in another thread but amidst the on going discussion there it was ignored or missed (except by Akragon). I decided these questions deserved a thread of their own.
The books in the Bible are supposed to have been divinely inspired by God. Likewise, the council that decided what was in, and what was out, were supposed to have been divinely inspired by God. Books that didn't make it into the cannon are largely considered to be false doctrines, or the work of fallen angels trying to lead man astray.
1) What proves the books in the Bible were divinely inspired?
2) What proves the Bible itself was divinely inspired?
3) Why aren't some of the things coming out of the Catholic church, and other denominations, considered divinely inspired? (e.g. the Pope saying he would baptize extraterrestrials)
My personal belief, at least when it comes to Catholicism, is that any truth that may be found in old scriptures and texts was twisted hundreds and hundreds of years ago, by them, for purposes of control. Lies told over and over again for hundreds of years, and it stuck. From Catholicism eventually sprang all the other Christian denominations, and here we are today.
Here are some examples of things in the past that were accepted to be Gods divine will.
1) Monarchs right to rule (we certainly don't feel our leaders were appointed by God today).
2) Indulgences. There was a day when God allowed you to pay a fine for your sins!
3) Pagan traditions combined with Christian tradition. Bam! Saturnalia becomes Christmas and Ishtar becomes the Easter Bunny.
So, again. How can you know beyond a shadow of a doubt the Bible was divinely inspired?
It is like a history and in it, it records the fact that he preached the gospel, it isn't the gospel itself.
Im not following...
gospel means "the good news"... whats better then what Jesus said?
I was giving that as an example of what technically a gospel is.
Surely Paul isn't the answer