Have Christians Been Duped?

It is easy in a forum to misinterpret what a thread is saying. I am making an attempt to separate religion from spirituality. I also read the Bible backwards and forwards and was active in Christianity for most of my life. Because I no longer consider myself a Christian does not denote that I do not believe in Jesus or the Bible, or what I feel Jesus was actually saying.

My posts are in essence; to attract those like myself who are no longer buying what we have always been taught to believe, especially without questioning! If orthodox religion still works for you, that is fine. However, I am not speaking to you. I respect your stance. But, please understand, there are amazingly enough - other schools of thought!

I put this to the group again...what if there is a different way to view verses or the Bible? Suppose there is a story or a meaning behind the verse or passage?

I feel a freedom from bondage in not being attached to a religion or strict doctrinal beliefs. But, that has not stopped my love of God or his son or his writings! I have a profound love of knowledge and especially knowledge that is not yet being recognized.

I do not ever again, want to be trapped by man's knowledge, or doctrines, at least not without questioning them. I have been a tremendous Bible thumper. It no longer works for me. If I have a breath to question, I will! I have grown forwards, not backwards, and so has my faith.

Matrix Prophet
www.michelelyon.com

Originally posted by idle_rockerIf you prefer to call it "make-believe" that is your decision. However, you are probably young and you must realize that your decisions now will affect everything about your future.

Well lets hope that this doesn't hold true for the make-believers. Their future could turn out to become a rather rude awakening when the truth is finally revealed.

Originally posted by theendisnear69
reply to post by Equinox99

 

Yes I already know religion is abunch of BS, but I have studied the bible from cover to cover, and I can't believe in the teachings it gives because there are so many loopholes in it.

I have tried finding "christ" in my own way but that turned out just the same. Just abunch of loopholes

Better wait for his Return.

JESUS WILL RETURN : www.jesuswillreturn.com...

Originally posted by theendisnear69
reply to post by Equinox99

 

So if I do good things but not in the name of christ there's no point to doing them?

That is your belief. There are tons of good people who don't do good things in jesus' name. Christians should be more open minded and not always think that their gods way is the only way, and if your not a christian then it was all in vain.

>You misread what I wrote or you know what I wrote but are trying to take it out of context. I meant Those teachings are embedded in your DNA. IT IS YOUR MORALS AND ETHICS. That is what he was teaching. He was enforcing the good in us. So if you think Jesus did nothing or showed us nothing then that is your thought, but you still have those morals and ethics of which he taught in your DNA.

>Even though I am not a Christian I can see it has great teachings. IF you can't see that, then you are blind. You don't have to follow their religion, but surely any man knows not to murder, steal, cheat, and to help others.
Jesus came to show us that way, and yes mainstream Christianity is evil in some ways the road to God that you pick may not be.

>It is up to you, I am not here to convert Atheists into believers, I am here to defend Christianity because the OP has something against it. It is sort of funny in a way that you think I am close minded, yet here I am defending something that I am not. Tell me again how am I close minded?

reply to post by MatrixProphet


It's funny I am the same type. I no longer consider myself Christian but I still believe in what Jesus Christ was teaching. I don't attend a church I have my own inner sanctuary. I still enjoy reading the bible.

reply to post by Equinox99


of course we all know that it's wrong to murder, lie, steal, you know all the bad stuff. Christ din't put that in our DNA. It's called a conscious.

And i'm not an atheist I believe that there's some kind of higher being out there. But it's definitley not the christian god. There's just way too muh controversy over christianity.

hello,

Its not a religion, its a relationship. when you look at it from that point of view its easier to understand, God doesn't want zombie followers he's looking for men to become his sons, heirs according to the promise. He loves you more than you can ever know, its a love relationship upon which all love and relationships are modeled after.


Keeper

reply to post by theendisnear69


*Sigh* Please re-read my post. I did not say Christ put it into our DNA, it is already embedded before Jesus showed up. He only came to show us the way to become better people. There is a difference between reading the bible cover to cover and reading the bible and actually understanding it.

Originally posted by MatrixProphet
I was a Christian for most of my life. I now consider myself a spiritual truth-seeker or I like the term; spiritual scientist. As a Christian it was my experience that it was not wise to question everything as that would make you an "independent thinker!"

A few years ago I left religion and no longer called myself Christian. Do I believe in Christ and believe that he existed? Yes, but no longer for the reasons I was taught or raised to believe.

Wouldn't it be interesting if the Bible was actually written as a conspiracy to mislead the religious? There seems to be countless confusion regarding many aspects of the Bible and the fact that so many parts were even left out.

Matrix Prophet

Here's where you confused me. You were a Christian then left Christianity or (religion) but now call yourself a "spiritual scientist". So there is where I'm confused. You left one religion because you felt it was bondage or controlling and went into another religion?? Do you understand that religion or 'christianity' is not a prerequisite to believing the Word of God/Son nor to worshipping Him? In His own words.....:

John 4:23
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.on of God?

He said the hour cometh and now is I think that bears repeating.

But it is a fact, that when you/I tell someone what we believe, ie; in The Son of God/The written word of the 'HOLY' bible, that we are automatically stamped with a label called 'christian'. Who cares? Call me what you wish is what I say. My God knows my heart, he knows I worship Him IN my heart and He knows that no matter what man says out here that nothing is going to take me out of Him or His Word. It's the last stance of the enemy and his followers to do everything they can to persuade a believer/follower/reader away from the Truth by coming up with untruths to discredit the Bible. Here's a good verse for assistance:

2 Peter 1:21
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

There is a difference in the will of man and will of God. God willed that His Son be manifested/born of a virgin, God chose that virgin and chose the lineage. God chose what Yahshua spoke and was present every step of the way during the witness from the followers/disciples to the account of the testimony of Yahshua. God chose John to be the one to reveal His Son in the most spiritual sense and to reveal the truth to 'us' those that believe the testimony of Yahshua. I believe God is ALMIGHTY and there was absolutely no way that He would allow latter men who translated the initial testimonies to totally dupe us with false knowledge. Sure there are mistakes, that's because man isn't perfect, but the Spirit, or Holy Comforter given to us, who choose to seek Him, will bear witness to to the true seeds:
(Matt 13:37-39)
37He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

38The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels


If you read the entire chapter Matt 13, it may make sense to you that there are good seeds and bad seeds, some take root, some fall by the wayside etc...but the seeds that are sown by the good seed or by the children of the Kingdom, TAKE ROOT. God word never passes away, which means it never withers or dies, but is fruitful and plants firmly within.

So if you're attending any church and the preacher is preaching his own words and you're wondering why after 20 years or so you still feel empty, then read chapter 13 AGAIN. The seeds were sown right into the word of God by the Son of God and His disciples and Apostles. But what happens is that emptiness has to be filled right? So it is my observation that people completely forsake the bible, because of religion and find another source out there in the world to fill that empty place, wrong answer.

Yahshua is the TRUTH, WAY and LIFE. Only by Him can we ever even get a peek at God the Father. There is no religion, person, place or thing out in this world that will bring you unto the Father, not even 10000000 degrees and the highest medals of honor, not a grand master 666 degree mason, not the pope, not anything can get you to the Father except the Son, which is the WORD. Yahshua is smart, He can get you through all the mistakes man has made in interpreting and translating His word, He stands at the door and even knocks for crying out loud all you have to do is open the door to Him and HE HIMSELF WILL SUP WITH YOU.

You might sense some anger in my post, but it is passion, begging, beseeching, love, care, and it isn't ME who is speaking/typing/knocking at your door- it is Him through me, Greater is He who is in me than he who is in this (world=me) I am nothing without Him, absolutely nothing and will go back to nothing without Him. Is that what you want? Gain the whole world to lose your very own soul? It isn't fear tactics like what man uses, it's reality tactics and our eternity is at stake.

So my advice to you, is to get you a good bible and sit down and begin reading, you make the choice and He does the rest, isn't He fantastic!! Forget all about the Horrible things people are going to continue to say about Him, and seek Him, no matter what they say. In the end, in that great day, who is it going to be standing before Him?????? YOU and YOU only.

(I'm quite sure there are numerous mistakes and spelling errors, I just speedily went with the flow without stopping and thinking, letting Him speak through me) so please foegive my grammer errors and just get past all that

May you hear His voice and not harden your heart.

This is an interesting thread - As for myself, I'm not your typical Christian, but I do love & believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe he is trying really hard to come back and that he is God. But here is where I differ. I do not believe it to be true that Jesus Christ died for our sins. He died because those alive stood by and either watched or participated in his execution. I see the symbol of the cross as one might view an electric chair, it's all the same to me. If I could go back in time, I would slaughter every single person who stood by and watched this beautiful God, turned human, tortured and murdered - If I could go back in time, I'd slaughter the manipulators of those who carefully chose what books would be included in the "bible" and which would not, those that mutilated the concept of love and coined famous words in the text for the mere purpose of greed and politics. It would be fine with me if I went straight to hell for having murded those that intending on preventing beauty and goodness from taking place.

It makes me sad to hear others say, "he died for our sins or my sins". This is merely a bunch of excuses in my opinion. It's about one taking full responsibility for their actions. I believe that because of that centuries old erroneous teaching, which we have all majorly suffered because of it; christians more so in particular, while we wait, century after century, praying for Him to come back to set this corrupt world straight once and for all - while the whole time we're being preached a pack of lies about Jesus and what was actually done to him. I don't think Constantine and the "order" would ever be so kind as to reveal the true power of and within Christ Himself, especially after He came so close to over throwing all governement - their government. What was known and revealed about Him has always been kept a precious secret...until...

I seriously believe the collective consciousness that Christians have with each other, along with our belief in Christ, that with the faulty belief to give him our sins is an error and hurting Christianity...because giving our sin to Christ actually weighs him down and prevents him from returning to us. But of course that would be the opposer's plan - to keep him from truly returning to us...

In all honesty, there is something very strange going on regarding Christianity. I see that great harm has come to this God, Christ. He is utterly weighted down with years of abusive filthy human sin having been thrust at him. He is of way more, but picture the sun being over grown with garbage: revenge, murder, hate, greed and blood spilled all over...littered with sorry's only to be butchered again and again. Finally, there is no place for any of this to go, and so it spills back out onto us. Just as we read this planet needs cleaning up and the need to go green before we totally loose it, so does our Christ or we risk losing him forever.

I do believe that there is a chance of having him come here. That it is erroneous to say that we will never know the time of His arrival. Most of you feel it and some of you alread know Him but maybe not as the name I give here or having any relationship with the bible. You may feel Him pushing through - trying to break through. I believe that if Christ is looked upon and desired in the "right" way, through a collective consciousness of even a moderately sized group of people, He can finally break through and manifest here on earth, once again, in human form. He can be brought over to this side again with our help. I know it is possible. It is possible - it is the greatest magic known and it can be done. Obviously there will be nay sayers, lol, - it is likely some of these very people know how powerful group collective consciousness is with manifestation and to merely make a simple change of a well known Christian teaching...

reply to post by Key-Minder


Are you talking about a pardigm shift or an age of aquarius?
A collective awakening to the spirit of unity in man and the cosmos?
Because THAT is exactly what will usher in the antichrist.
He will be the rider on the white horse in Revelation, coming in as Christ to right the wrongs, but, he will mandate humanity to worship him.

You are right in what you said about continually saying "I'm sorry". and continuing in sin. It is backsliding from God and we better not trod the blood of Jeshua under our feet and make him an open shame as we continue in sin, God forbid.

reply to post by Equinox99


Umm I think that embed means the same as to put it in, so no I did not misunderstand your post.

And where exactly does it say in the bible that Christ's teachings are embedded in our DNA?

And Christ's teachings are not unique. Everything that Christ taught can be found in any other religion. And yes I believe I understand the bible quite well I used to be a Christian.

Can someone tell me something? did Eve have sex with the serpent being in
Genesis or what? Seriously I dont know, but according to Genesis thats what it seems like to me. I'l break it down later if I still have to.

reply to post by theendisnear69


Embedded is a past tense word which means same thing as built in. The teaching of Christ are not unique, but if you believe it or not we already follow most of them. The bible does not state anything about DNA, however it is a philosophy in which you must understand in order to know what I am talking about. We have conscious and I am sure you are aware of that. In that conscious we have a set of rules and morals that each individual follows.

Christ came and taught us these exact same morals and ethics, so you can reject him but his teachings are still in each one of us.

You said you understand the bible because you are Christian. I beg to differ. If you understood then we would not be having this conversation now would we.

Christianity is not unique, in fact all religions are similar but the figure heads. Other then that they are all teaching the same morals and ethics that you and I have within our conscious and our DNA.

I hope you understand what I said. Embedded means it was already built in.

reply to post by P-a-r-a-d-o-X-2


Honestly, I don't think so.
I used to believe it, but, when I look at the Hebrew in Strong's concordance, I don't see it.
???

reply to post by Key-Minder

Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? (John 18:10-11)
And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him. (Luke 22:50)

Your post caught my attention, not so much for someone, saying they are a Christian, to make the statement that they love the Lord Jesus Christ but, they don’t believe He died for our sins, as much as your comments about going back in time and slaughtering. That is why I posted the two scriptures above, because if you look, Peter could have very well sliced everyone to pieces with his sword, and too, regarding the same incident, Jesus said to Peter, “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Mat 26:52) So you see, Jesus knew He must go to the cross and die, even though He very well could have called down an army of angels and wiped out the entire group which had come to seize him.

What is interesting to note are these facts, take up the sword (slaughter) is to die by the sword. The cup that Jesus had to drink of, crucifixion, atonement for sins, was one that God (Father) had given him to drink of. Lastly, even at the final point of being seized and Peter’s fury being leashed out, by cutting off the ear of the servant of the high priest, Jesus restored that man’s ear. I have to wonder how this man was effected afterwards.

reply to post by P-a-r-a-d-o-X-2


There is a post on the original sin on the recent posts at Above Top Secret right now that you may find interesting.

reply to post by idle_rocker


Thanks I'l check it out, you didnt leave a link but I'l search for it.

reply to post by Clearskies


I have E sword loaded with a few books to compare, and strongs dictionary in it, Im no bible scholar tho, it does have a couple of sly pointers towards possible sex. Like 'beguiled' could imply immoral sexual seduction. The word 'Touch' can imply 'to lie with a woman'. Then theres the main point of the snake / serpent being cursed to go on its belly all its life.. implying it had legs OR was now unable to evolute or something...

I have a post ready on all this but Im going to search for the thread mentioned just now and see what that is saying.

[edit on 19-3-2008 by P-a-r-a-d-o-X-2]

**sorry double posted**

[edit on 19-3-2008 by P-a-r-a-d-o-X-2]