The difference between the Christian God/religion and others

reply to post by WeShallBeFree


yes..i explained the kinsman redeemer earlier in the thread..
l2

reply to post by aMason


no i just said they were idolatrous and i dont agree with the things they do at all..

Originally posted by resonance
reply to post by aMason

 

wrong..we are given the choice to believe or not..and god does not torture us in hell..hell is a spiritual place full of sin..he doesnt like come and poke and prod us..i think of the lake of fire as being a more like spiritual burning and yearning to be connected with god again..

its not gods fault if you go to hell..he gives you an easy task and fully explains the options available for eternity..it is a very fair choice..we have to cleanse our souls by accepting what jesus did and having his blood wash us of our sins..

Again, as I stated, if God is all knowing, he still creates specific individuals he knows will end up in Hell, is he not creating them for that purpose?

reply to post by aMason


i struggled with that..and this is the conclusion i have come to..

God is outside of time..this is obvious throughout the bible..physics says there are 10 dimensions..

the idea of god existing in all would give him the ability to see the whole timeline..this would include a separate path for each choice..so instead of a timeline, it would branch out more like a time tree with each choice..god sees the whole thing but we still have the ability to make the choice..

this also makes the characteristics of god less far-fetched..the fact that he can interact with us all and be closer to us all at once than we can...for example lets say there is a 2d universe..we exist in 3d...if that universe existed on a plane the size of a piece of paper we could interact with the entire thing at once..

Originally posted by resonance
reply to post by moocowman

 

lol..there is absolutely no proof for this claim..

line 2

Sorry to disappoint you but -

Courtesy of James Tabor Phd

Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he has taught since 1989. He previously held positions at Ambassador College (1968-70 while a student), the University of Notre Dame (1979-85), and the College of William and Mary (1985-89).


The reading “Yeshua son of Yehosef,” or “Jesus son of Joseph” is quite solid and confirmed by several of the world’s leading epigraphers, including Dr. Frank Cross, of Harvard University. Even though there were some initial attempts to question this reading by a few scholars when news of the Talpiot tomb first broke in late February, I think most are in agreement that we do indeed have a tomb with an ossuary inscribed “Jesus son of Joseph.” What is under discussion is not what the inscription says, but whether this particular “Jesus son of Joseph” might be identified with Jesus of Nazareth.

The “Jesus son of Joseph” inscription is in a cursive graffiti style that is somewhat difficult to read. In contrast three of the Aramaic inscriptions (Maria, Matya, Yose) are written in very clear block text, very likely by the same hand, and perhaps at the same time. In the case of Jesus of Nazareth, he died quite early, just past age 30, and the tomb is used for the next forty years, until 70 CE, so one might suppose that the other inscriptions, if they are from the Jesus family, would come later. It is extremely common to have “messy” graffiti-like inscriptions on ossuaries, even of persons of importance. The ossuary of the wealthy and influential high priest who presided over the trial of Jesus, Joseph son of Caiaphus, is quite difficult to read. Ossuary inscriptions are not intended to be on display, they are neither announcements nor proclamations. They function more as “tags” to identify the skeletal remains of a particular family member. Even if they are scribbled out, as long as they can be read by the intimate family they serve their function. There is no reason to think that an ossuary holding the bones of Jesus of Nazareth would have any sort or formal or monumental character. The plain and simple style of the “Jesus son of Joseph” ossuary itself, with its informal inscription, can be seen as highly appropriate for someone like Jesus of Nazareth. In contrast the Caiaphus ossuary is lavishly ornate with carved decorations.

reply to post by resonance

even if there was paramount evidence that the jews were in egypt the only possible form it would be in is writing by a jew (the book of exodus, and flavius josephus) or egyptian (i gave you the egyptian) and maybe some artifacts, as all of this would be thousands of years old

Dude your ignorance or sheer bloody mindedness is somewhat overwhelming.
We are not talking about a handful of protojews we are talking about over 2 bloody million !!! Which would be two thirds of the Egyptian population!!!

There are NO facts to support the claim, none nil nada you have been asked to present fact which you claim to have access to yet you have not done so.

Josephus IS NOT evidence of fact of the claim it is unsubstantiated HEARSAY.

reply to post by moocowman


so you basically just proved what i kept telling you earlier..you keep just accepting what you want and ignoring the real facts..

fact is, jesus was a super common name then..the text cannot be read clearly as seen here

www.reasonablefaith.org...

mary's name is written wrong..

the only "evidence" that it is jesus' tomb is the inscribed names..which mean nothing..

the talpiot tomb is widely discredited and has been for a long time..read the page i linked..

reply to post by moocowman


..josephus is not hearsay..he quotes sources like the egyptian i showed you..he is a widely accepted historian..

and i still dont know how you expect to get evidence of 2million people being in egypt..you are asking for a type of evidence that is just not possible..you dont want to accept written records because they are "hearsay"..but you are cool with accepting a simple scratchy name as proof of jesus' tomb lol..

the way you are approaching the exodus is how many are now trying to question the holocaust..its pathetic..

[edit on 12-1-2010 by resonance]

Very well written! For those of you who have a hard time understanding Christianity, let me sum it up for you!

LUKE 23:39One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, "Are You not the Christ? (AI)Save Yourself and us!"

40But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Do you not even fear (reverence) God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

41"And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong."

42And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!"

43And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in (AJ)Paradise."

As the writer of this thread stated clearly, your soul exists & it will exist when you leave your body. God has given everyone a Gift called Eternal life. You either accept it like this Thief did or you say "No Thanks".
The Thief did not need to go to Church, get Confirmed, say the Rosary, go to Confession, yada, yada, - that is RELIGION. FAITH, not RELIGION, is what makes Christianity different from every other Belief system. Salvation, like your existence, is a gift from God. Not something you can earn.

your argument is completely baseless..i could argue that the records of the trail of tears are bull because we cant still their tear splattered footprints in the dirt..nor can we see evidence of the boston tea party..it happened..but wheres the tea floating in the water..i could say pearl harbor didnt happen because the blown up ships arent still there...

[edit on 12-1-2010 by resonance]

reply to post by resonance


actually the blown up ships are still there... members.shaw.ca...

Also, the trail of tears is recorded and documented by both Native Americans and the US government, as well as others. Also, the reservations still exist.

There's tons of information about the Boston Tea party from both England and the United States. And I'm sure if you did enough research you could probably find the itemized list that was destroyed cargo from the chartered ship.

It seems like everyone's talking in circles with tons of misinformation and disinformation. Nobody's going to win here. You're not understanding that you can't win an argument with us by citing the bible. It's like defending Nazism by quoting "The Life of the Führer" and other Nazi Propaganda.

I, for one, am looking forward to experiencing this so-called afterlife. If I spend it in hell, so be it. I'll admit I was wrong and do my best to work my way up in the ranks. Maybe in a few thousand years I'll be upper management in hell.

[edit on 1.12.2010 by Avarus]

reply to post by Avarus


i was not being serious...i was just trying to give examples of how hard physical evidence cannot be found..only historical records

Originally posted by resonance
reply to post by Avarus

 

i was not being serious...

Then how can you be taken seriously?

Originally posted by wigiman
What happens to the babies who die without being baptized, do they go to hell? According to the Bible that's what happens. Also, why are the Jewish the (who wrote the book) chosen people and the rest of us are not, unless we join them?

What happens to the babies who die without being baptized, do they go to hell? According to the Bible that's what happens.

This is not true at all. I think you are thinking about the Catholic's tale about limbo which even they are backing away from.

Limbo is not stated to be hell. Raised as a Catholic, when I was a child, I was confused about the difference between limbo and purgatory, and thought of limbo as a gray area where the babies souls existed forever, not tortured, but not able to go in to God due to what is called original sin.

Neither place has biblical support for it's existence.

In my opinion as a former Catholic (who now reads the Bible and checked it out for myself instead of relying on the Catholic church's interpretations), I would say the only truth about *limbo* and *purgatory* is that the idea of both are great incentives for:

1 getting babies baptized into the church, to perpetuate it
2 playing on parents and relatives natural grief when someone dies
3 both of the above bring plenty of money into the church

God Bless

sezsue

Originally posted by resonance
The TRUE purpose of Christianity as the Bible teaches it is the redemption of mankind and helping to lead others to accept God's free gift of salvation. We are to witness to others and try to help them get to know God on a personal level. Yes there was a law in the OT but that is not the PURPOSE of our religion and holds no weight when it comes to salvation and acceptance in to heaven.

i respectfully beg to differ.

the TRUE purpose of Christianity as CHRIST teaches it is to LOVE your neighbor as you love yourself.
this comes after loving GOD with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul.

LOVE your enemies, as well as forgive them
judge not
help those in need

but above all:
LOVE
LOVE
LOVE

The Bible is not about doing as God says and being a good little follower so as to go to paradise, because none of us do as he says and none of us deserve anything. It is not about heaven or hell. It is about YOUR soul and YOUR eternity. It is YOUR choice as to where you go. God gives us a very fair choice. He gives us the two choices, and only a fool would CHOOSE to go to hell when the alternative is just the simple acceptance of a gift.

again, i respectfully beg to differ.

it IS about doing as GOD says; specifically what GOD says through Jesus.

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
John 14:23-24

what are Jesus' sayings that we should keep?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Matthew 22:37-39

reply to post by queenannie38


yes jesus taught..but following rules is not the point...its all about eternity..you have 2 choices for eternity..heaven or hell..god provided us the roads to travel for all eternity..its up to us to choose which one to take..

our life on this earth means nothing outside of doing things for the glory of god..once our flesh passes away, it has nothing to do with our spirit which lives on..

yes the bible gives advice on how to live a more righteous life, but without having your sins washed away it wouldnt matter

reply to post by resonance


You do realize that some of us opposing your argument don't believe in the very foundation of your belief system? In that, there is not a soul. I do believe that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only changed. That being said, I would say the remaining energy left in your body postmortem is likely released in twitches and random neural firing.

Take a burning log as an example. It starts as a log, but as it burns, it's transformed into ash, smoke, and heat. And once the heat is absorbed by it's environment, it's done it's job by vibrating the particles around it. It will never be the piece of wood it was before. There's no ghost log floating around somewhere. I don't think there's a log heaven for it to go to either. I am envious though in some ways, because for all logs everywhere there wasn't a 'log jesus' or 'log disciples' to write the 'log bible' to confuse and create disdain, hatred, and tension for generations upon generations of logs to come.

It's very comforting to think that you'll live forever, but someday we all need to realize the easter bunny, santa, and the tooth fairy aren't real. Until you can prove there's an afterlife definitively, using the most logical reasoning we must assume there is no castle in the clouds and a huge man with a big flowing beard waiting to give us a warm hug.

Of course you may argue we can't prove this magical world doesn't exist, but you also can't prove there isn't a invisible pink unicorn living in my garage.

I'm a very kind and loving person. I donate to charity, I assist in my community, but I don't believe any of your mythology. I don't need to to be a good person. If your god is going to punish me for being a good person, then I'll see you all in hell.

[edit on 1.13.2010 by Avarus]

reply to post by Avarus


it isnt really about being comofortable that i will live forever..it kinda scares me because that is a strange thought as in our natural world everything has a beginning and end..

also..if you dont believe we have a soul i honestly feel sorry for you..it is sad you hold your life to be of that little value...and if you claim to value it, to what value is it? because ultimately it will be utterly worthless with the passage of time...

and being sent to hell is not about being punished lol..its about the simple fact that god has to be apart from sin as he is completely righteous..heaven is a place with no sin...hell is a place with sin..its that simple..

also on the santa claus easter bunny spaghetti monster example i always see...its a pathetic argument because the christian god is much more plausible..the bible claims to be the word of god, everything it claims can be backed up through research..it claims to predict the future, it does..it claims to be infallible, it is ....it is sad to say this cannot be said for much of modern science taught in schools and relayed to the general population (and dont get me wrong i love science) yet people choose to believe it as well..

reply to post by resonance


Well, I have yet to see any scientifically corroborated 'research' you've been boasting about since the OP. Also, I'm happy for you that your fantasy of living forever boosts your ego. I, for one, will make what little difference I can while I'm here. If my life amounts to nothing, then so be it long after my death. I'm willing to except that.

I don't need your pity, I'm just being realistic.

Originally posted by resonance
yes jesus taught..but following rules is not the point...

you're absolutely right!

but then, what follows, according to you, is rather complicated and somewhat ambiguous, oddly enough despite being mired down in dualism.

and i understand what you are saying and do not disagree; or at least not in a major degree.

BUT, really, it is not that involved...
it is short, sweet, and simple...
my favorite four-letter word!

LOVE

if one loves one's neighbor as oneself, then there is no more reason to worry about righteousness, or heaven vs. hell, or even sin:

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 If I make use of the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am like sounding brass, or a loud-tongued bell.
2 And if I have a prophet's power, and have knowledge of all secret things; and if I have all faith, by which mountains may be moved from their place, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 And if I give all my goods to the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it is of no profit to me.

righteousness is sewn into love given to enemies:

Matthew 5:44-48
44 But I say to you, Have love for those who are against you, and make prayer for those who are cruel to you;
45 So that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven; for his sun gives light to the evil and to the good, and he sends rain on the upright man and on the sinner.
46 For if you have love for those who have love for you, what credit is it to you? do not the tax-farmers the same?
47 And if you say, Good day, to your brothers only, what do you do more than others? do not even the Gentiles the same?
48 Be then complete in righteousness, even as your Father in heaven is complete.

the kingdom of heaven is gained by loving GOD and loving neighbor:

Mark 12:33
33 And to have love for him with all the heart, and with all the mind, and with all the strength, and to have the same love for his neighbour as for himself, is much more than all forms of offerings.

even knowing his grisly fate, Jesus reiterated the most important point of all the teachings with which he was sent:

John 13:34-35
34 I give you a new law: Have love one for another; even as I have had love for you, so are you to have love one for another.
35 By this it will be clear to all men that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.

he doesn't say that the world will recognize his followers because they believed his death saved their souls.
he says that if they LOVE each other, as he (Jesus) had, then all the world would have no doubt of their discipleship.

i could go on and on, all the way to the last book of the NT, but i've made my general point.

again


all the things that you say are important are maybe not so important to Jesus and to GOD?

Jesus holds LOVE higher than anything else that a human can do, whether negative or positive, nice or mean!