My first issues with the Bible.

Thank God, I'm not a Christian.

My God, is a reptillian humanoid from another planet in outer space somewhere. He sports, two antennas on top of his head. Thats: ANTENNAS NOT HORNS: GET IT???

My question to ya'll out there: One word that the reptillian humanoid communicated to me was the word "Gaod". Does anybody know about know about any religious significance to this word or what it means?

P.S.: I believe that our Earth, is a rare jewel in our galaxy. That's why these ET's take a special interest in our planet.



Foofighter's Forever,

Erno

Originally posted by kid_cudi
I think you are the Antichrist! I'm done here. I'm gunna take the high road and leave! Peace

If you find any good cults, let me know.Maybe I will come live there if you are allowed to drink old grandad whiskey.Also, they have have to have some curvy women.Good luck with the brain washing experiments and have a great spring.

Originally posted by nekomata111

Originally posted by kid_cudi
What im saying is that the bible was written by many different people at different times! The devil is the one who you wants you to question the bible and the existence of God! If you knew the power of believing in Jesus Christ you wouldn't be saying the things you have said! You are picking and choosing what you want to believe in the bible! That's not right! You must believe everything! And no not everything in the bible is true either! And why do people like to bash and hate on Catholics! We never did anything to anyone! Or is because our knowledge of Christ is superior and we understand our religion and the bible! I'm pretty sure that i am the only that stated my religion on this thread because I'm not afraid what anyone thinks or says!

And you say I'm on the wrong forum! Who are you to tell me that I'm on the wrong forum!

edit on 21-3-2011 by kid_cudi because: (no reason given)

wow I hope you are trolling, "We never did anything to anyone!" you must be joking the hell out of we, so all the crusades, inquisitions, prosecutions, torture, brutality that catholic church did in middle age was nothing?
the ancient popes was more the definition of Antichrist than a religious leader.

Actually the Patriarchs of Rome were perfectly fine until the Schism. You will notice that after they were cut off from communion with the rest of the Church that things went bad. Look at this time line: www.saintignatiuschurch.org...

reply to post by kallisti36


Im sorry if it seemed like i was directing it specifically at Catholics, i believe that as long as we believe the same basics (that Christ died for the ungodly) , there should be no other disagreements.
I was just pointing out the way that they have stated that their belief is correct and that there cant be any other, yet havnt helped this discussion by adding proof, be it scientific, historical or otherwise.
Claiming that it must be true because it is Gods Word just goes in circles and doesnt help anyone.

reply to post by Jim Scott


1 text out of.... how many scrolls did they find?

That does not validate the accuracy of the Bible.

In fact, the discovery of the Gospel of Thomas, which was found more recently than the scrolls but in a similar fashion (think jar and rolls of papyri), does not in any way validate the story of the Gospels.

It solely focuses on the teachings of the one that is supposed to be "Christ".

Either the story of Jesus is an amalgam of several other stories that predate the story of Jesus, or it is the work of (S)Paul who was adamant in his conversion of Pagans.
He could have very well changed the account of this Jesus in order to be more congruent with the beliefs of the Pagans of his day.

The problem with this is no matter how polite you are, no matter how you explain you intentions. Wether it's to convince yourself God is real or to quantify you atheism. No matter what, you will be vilified or rediculed by the beleivers of the bible. There are the select few wich will accept that you are not a beleiver but aside from those few you will be prosecuted and made "evil" by the bible lover. I for one do not beleive in the bible at all. Not in the least bit. But I do accept that people are studying it and put their beleif in it and follow the words of the good book. Who am I to say you shouldn't. If it makes you happy...go right ahead. As for the OP comment about the "OUR" and "WE" bits, if you look at history you will see the bible was rewritten by the people in power to fit their needs. The "OUR"'s and "WE"'s are just that, TPTB. What I learned from all the bible threads on here is that the ones who beleive are the ones who distort the words of the bible "Judge not lest ye be jugded" and I am not misquoting. You whanna judge us with ill intent then be prepared to be judged the same way by your own God. OK I'll give you that, bible lovers, I don't beleive...but YOU do.

Originally posted by ChaosComplex
Is anyone doing anything along the lines of compiling similarities between holy texts? Something like showing what is similar between Sumerian, Hopi, Christianity, Hindu, etc...?

I haven't seen a concerted effort that's easy to decipher but hopefully there will be soon. But it doesn't take much scratching of the surface to realize there are spooky similarities to many of the global events, both as past events and future prophecies. The religions largely seem to be on the same page; it's the followers who don't dig each other.

If you are digging for something like this, let us know if you find anything good.

go in peace, sheep, don't forget to bow to your god and pray to he save your head, it sure will happen, as its written in your books, only he has power, right? if we were created at his image and semblance so any human could achieve the same or relative power of a god, because we are part of god, but you can't understand this, its much more easy blind follow.

The fact that it takes 28 pages of this # to argue back and forth is ridicules. People its simple live your life and then when you die you get to sleep forever. Who wouldn't want that. You don't have to worry about burning an being miserable since 99.9 percent of the people on earth have the qualifications of going to hell. Everyone is imortal as the universe doesn't waste any energy. You just might not be conscience the whole time.

1st question: "His kind". This goes back to the evolution argument. If Cain killed Abel and Cain left to marry, who did he marry since their parents were God's first people? I and many other Christians believe the creation theory is true and evolution is true (you should research The Gap Theory). Since Eve was tempted by Satan in early Genesis, a lot happened before the book was written- including the fall of Satan. I think God created the earth and events happened such as evolution of ape men and animals. Adam and Eve are referred to as God's people (God's creations). That doesn't mean that other man-like creatures and animals didn't exist through evolution. God was making His animals for His people. Can I prove this? no. This is one of those questions we'll have to ask one day.



2nd question: "let US make man". God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one God Head but are 3 different intities (spelling sucks). In Rev. especially, Jesus (the Lamb) is referred to the one who was, and is, and is to come. Also all of Heaven in it's inhabitants were all ready created.
God is speaking as the Creator, announcing his crowning work to the members of his heavenly court.

reply to post by ChaosComplex


Check this video out, it was in interesting watch.
Video

Originally posted by kallisti36
reply to post by Josephus23

 

I seem to recall the Church existing a good 300 years previous to Constantine's conversion. The Gospels and Epistles are also all dated before 100 A.D. Even after that, the Patriarch of Rome was one among equals and had no supreme power over the Church until he overstepped his station and split the Church in half. Anyways, the First Ecumenical Council didn't even decide the Canon, it was just called to decide between Arianism and Trinitarianism. Constantine also didn't preside over the Council, how could he? He was a recent convert and wanted issues of confusion to be resolved so he could be Orthodox in his understanding of the faith.

The Church and the Book are very different animals.

If you actually want to read a very in depth discussion on this matter, then click on the link in my signature.
It is a thread with almost 200 pages of information.
Links and sources, not simply faith and you gotta believe.

reply to post by ChaosComplex


I would be happy to answer any questions from the perspective of a practicing Christian, but I will not engage in name calling and pointless arguments. When people argue they are set in their ways and are closed minded (including myself). I never read this thread honestly because I thought it was more God bashing and that breaks my heart.

reply to post by Akragon


Star for you! I'm always amazed when I see these pastors pushing these people around and "healing" them. If it works then whatever, but I get a kick outa seeing that stuff.

reply to post by InnerstellarOne


Thank you InnerstellarOne! Geeeez! So, so, SO very sick and tired of hearing all of this God and bible bashing!!!!!! Shut up already- please! I am not spouting off at how totaly stupid -insane- and down right WRONG all of the totallary moronic idiots' believes are! Oops! Tee-hee- I guess I kinda already did!

Originally posted by istlota
First:
Assuming you really do want to gain something from reading the bible, and are not just seeking a platform to bash it mercilessly, begin by emptying your head of any and all previous traditions you have heard adherents of organized religions articulate regarding what they think the bible means. In particular, recognize that the _last_ person to know what Jesus was really talking about is a Christian. What they know about is what Christianity has taught them Jesus was talking about it --- an extremely relevant distinction which I hope you get.

Second:
Forget about the foolish Christian myth about the bible being the inerrant, literal, Word Of God. Yes, I know every Christian on the planet insists that it is. But, that is just not true. Any sane, rational, ten year old can discover blatantly obvious contradictions in just the first few pages of the bible.

Third:
If you ignore everything else I say, pay attention to this. Okay, are you ready? Are you really listening?. Okay, here is the most important thing I can say about the bible:

The Bible is an imperfect, flawed, image of the perfect, inerrant, Word Of God.

Simply put, what that means is this -- and it would be intuitively obvious if not for the fact that Christians have been shrilly screaming the exact opposite, and often times even killing anyone who dared to offer an opposing point of few, for almost two thousand years ---- The Bible contains ENORMOUS wisdom ... But That Wisdom Has To Be Separated From the many Ridiculously Foolish Traditions Of Men Also Contained Therein.

Even Jesus foresaw that this would occur, which he illustrated in his parable about the wheat and the tares [see Matthew 13:24-30, 36-42].

But the last thing adherents of organized religions want you to figure out is that _they_ are the tares the devil sowed into the same field that Jesus sowed the good seed.

Grok?

Fourth:
There is a God ... but It is nothing like the false god adherents of organized religions have engraven in the image of man. They have given this false idol of theirs, this Abomination of Desolation, the worst of mortal man's emotions [anger, rage, wrath, jealousy, hate, etc.]. They did this purely as a tool to control the masses -- from whence came 'Saint' Constantine's now infamous quote:

By this, Conquer

They have used, and are using, this control construct to convince the coppertops, the sheep, most of whom are clueless as to what is really going on in the world around them, that it is God's Will to 'kill the infidel', and 'bring the evil doers to justice', and 'fight for freedom and democracy', blah, blah, blah,,,

Fifth:
Regarding your questions about Genesis 1:26 ... God is Spirit. Man was made in the image of God. Hence, man is Spirit. The appearance of the plural pronoun 'us' reflects the Truth -- which Christianity absolutely is positively 100% opposed to admitting --- that the Divine Spirit, aka God, is the One who is All. Us, plural, are gods, plural [the All] -- not separate, individual gods -- but integral, indivisible members of the One body of Christ which is spirit, not flesh.

Sixth
God created man as spirit. But, then, man misperceived Self as a body of flesh. Genesis symbolically protrays this as Adam and Eve eating of the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil. Obviously, there is no literal tree which bears good and evil as fruit. That myth represents man's unfortunately necessary step wherein he had to forget who he was so that, by regaining his Knowledge of Self, he will be better prepared to appreciate who I AM.

Indeed, this misperception that man has, that he is flesh instead of spirit, is the root of all evil. Man steals, kills, rapes, and tortures all because he thinks, in error, that he is flesh and that what is most important in this life is to acquire pleasures of the flesh [land, money, oil, diamonds, nuclear weapons, gold, silver, etc.].

Seventh
The last book of the bible, The Book of the Revelation, similarly symbolizes the journey which man was created to go through --- the journey which Jesus showed by example how to accomplish --- the journey from misperception of I as Son of Man to realization of I as Son of God.

Hi, I hear this a lot about how the Bible is full of contradictions. Please produce ONE. You do know, I hope, that these "contradictions" have been covered for centuries in numerous texts, including modern texts.

RE: 5th above. We are not Gods, but some of us are gods. The Bible refers to men being gods if they deliver the law unto men, such as have the power of life and death and judgment over other men, like judges. There is not, however, any place in the Bible where we are Gods. Please refer to Exodus 7:1.

RE: 6th above. In reading the Bible, we see that man was made a living soul, comprised of body and spirit, before the Fall. The partaking of the fruit was an act of disobedience, a sin, which caused man to become a fallen spirit, hence Gen 5:1-3 shows that our likeness (spirit) was now different, like our Earthly fathers, and we therefore all will die as a punishment for that disobedience. However, our likeness (spirit) will be changed because of the sacrifice of Jesus, and we will inherit eternal life. I do not see a misperception, but a new nature in sin.

reply to post by Josephus23


Well, you are pretty much making a mountain out of a molehill. Perhpas if I had worded it more like "metaphysicians believe", then you would not have taken issue with my statement, as people who identify with "rational thinking" tend to equate religion with belief and science with observable "fact". wikipedia says this about metaphysics, "MetaphysicsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
This article is about the branch of philosophy dealing with theories of existence and knowledge. For the work of Aristotle, see Metaphysics (Aristotle). For the occult field dealing with the supernatural, see Metaphysics (supernatural).
Philosophy

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Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world,[1] although the term is not easily defined.[2] Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:

1."What is there?"
2."What is it like?"[3]
Metaphysics structures the knowledge of cosmology and cosmogony, religion and spirituality, mind and matter; and it answers the questions concerning determinism and free will, quantum physics, necessity and possibility, identity and change, and space and time.

Metaphysics is a branch of each and every philosophy, making that particular philosophy more or less metaphysical, systematic, or otherworldly than other philosophies. A proper metaphysics must strive toward consistency within its philosophy's logic, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics, with a critical dependence on fundamental assumptions." and this about metaphysicians, "A person who studies metaphysics would be called either a metaphysicist[5] or a metaphysician.[6] The metaphysician attempts to clarify the fundamental notions by which people understand the world, including existence, the definition of object, property, space, time, causality, and possibility."
and also this is another interesting wiki entry, "The nature of the mind and its relation to the body has been seen as more of a problem as science has progressed in its mechanistic understanding of the brain and body. Proposed solutions often have ramifications about the nature of mind as a whole. René Descartes proposed substance dualism, a theory in which mind and body are essentially different, with the mind having some of the attributes traditionally assigned to the soul, in the seventeenth century. This creates a conceptual puzzle about how the two interact

Originally posted by Cuervo

Originally posted by ChaosComplex
Is anyone doing anything along the lines of compiling similarities between holy texts? Something like showing what is similar between Sumerian, Hopi, Christianity, Hindu, etc...?

I haven't seen a concerted effort that's easy to decipher but hopefully there will be soon. But it doesn't take much scratching of the surface to realize there are spooky similarities to many of the global events, both as past events and future prophecies. The religions largely seem to be on the same page; it's the followers who don't dig each other.

If you are digging for something like this, let us know if you find anything good.

I invite you read any of my replies in this thread. I have tried to link sources to this very same topic.

It is difficult to do in a discussion like this, because people take it personally and most of the replies are appeals to emotion and lack logic and reason.
But what I have stated repeatly, and what contradicts most of what Christians believe, is what Bible scholars and theologians teach.
You can click on my profile, and then click to see the several replies that I have made to this thread hoping to God that someone with an academic viewpoint could converse with me on this very same subject.

Originally posted by Josephus23
reply to post by Jim Scott

 

1 text out of.... how many scrolls did they find?

That does not validate the accuracy of the Bible.

In fact, the discovery of the Gospel of Thomas, which was found more recently than the scrolls but in a similar fashion (think jar and rolls of papyri), does not in any way validate the story of the Gospels.

It solely focuses on the teachings of the one that is supposed to be "Christ".

Either the story of Jesus is an amalgam of several other stories that predate the story of Jesus, or it is the work of (S)Paul who was adamant in his conversion of Pagans.
He could have very well changed the account of this Jesus in order to be more congruent with the beliefs of the Pagans of his day.

The text comparisons of Isaiah then and now show the consistency of accurate copying by the monks over generations of time. It is fair to assume that this consistency went across all texts, as I cannot imagine their making any exceptions to their copying procedures.
The so-called gospel of Thomas is heretical literature, as is the gospel of Jude, the gospel of Mary, etc. These false texts were generated to destroy the early Christian church. Apparently, they are still working to destroy it today if you believe them.

reply to post by Jim Scott


Contradictions are rife throughout the Pentateuch.

They are referred to as doublets by Christian scholars.
A doublet is a textual interpretive device that tells the same narrative from two different perspectives, and they are all over the first five books of the Bible.

I have already linked sources to this very same subject.