What you call the facts of man ‘is’ the Word of what man has called the Word of God. The Word of God would not be contradictory. It can be proven that much of it is not true and did not happen. The Word itself can be used to prove this. People tend to believe what they want to be the truth,and change the meaning to suit their own beliefs. God would not inspire people to see things in a contridictory manner, but all would understand it as the same.
Why would God dictate a whole book to Muhammad? There is as much proof of that as there is of the Old and New Testement.
Matthew chapter 16 verses 27 through 28;
For the Son Of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father,and then he will render to every one according to his conduct.
Amen I say to you, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death,till they have seen the Son Of man coming in his kingdom."
Where does it show Jesus coming during their life time and why didn’t it happen?
Are there 2000 year old people living here among us?
This morning my truck was out of diesel, the little reading was telling me I had 7 miles to empty. No Exxon in site, I had faith I would make the 25 mile commute.
I did.
Jesus’ second coming didn’t happen in the lifetimes of the eyewitnesses of his ministry, nor to their grandchildren. The Synoptic Gospels were written between 60 and 90 years after Jesus died, adapted from an earlier document that I referred to above. Eyewitnesses were dying, and there was a push to preserve Jesus’ teachings for future generations before they were lost. The Gospel of John came even later, and was written as something of a manual by Christians for Christians.
Most scholars believe that the only words actually spoken by Jesus and recorded in the Gospels are the ones that still appear today in Aramaic. “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” said by Jesus at his crucifixion is one that comes to mind immediately. Mary’s call of “Raboni” when confronted by the risen Jesus at his tomb is another example of such preservation. So, the New Testament does not contain the exact words of Jesus as he spoke them, unlike the words of God recorded more directly in the Qu’ran. Rather, the New Testament contains the story of Jesus and how he and his teachings fit into the history of the region, a history that was already very old and rich.
Jesus’ teachings (ideas, concepts and goals instead of his exact words) were preserved by oral tradition for many years until they were written down by many people in many forms. The Synoptic Gospels were the first of several attempts to consolidate, codify and organize Jesus’ teachings and reject offshoots such as Arianism and Gnosticism. The final organisation occurred in 325 at the Council of Nicaea, where documents that had been circulated among churches were assembled into the New Testament.
As for the various occurrences where Jesus ‘says’ he’s going to return, they don’t mean much to me, either. I do not follow or see the validity of apocalyptic or Millennarian theology. I grew up with Anglican theology, a theology that reflects the lives of the Apostles after the Resurrection. In those years, they built the Christian Church and lived their daily lives as Jesus had taught them to. They worshiped and lived together, trying to find the peace and fellowship that Jesus spoke of. They struggled with the legalism of Judaic faith that created injustice and worked toward fairness. They also struggled with their sins and human imperfections and confessed them as a way of limiting their destructive potential. The Second Coming is mentioned in the Book of Common Prayer in a few places, but it is just one small part of many others that define my faith.
This may be too personal a question, but i’d be interested in knowing what differences you feel there’ve been in your beliefs. Is there anything in particular you could point to show the change you’ve undergone, or any particular belief in which you’ve very significantly changed?
There are so many, here is a short list:one is that God is OK with us sinning, He knows we are helpless against the power of sin, and we can’t stop on our own. The power to overcome sin and addictions is not in us, but in Him. It is coming to Him saying Lord I can’t stop sinning, I need you to do that. Another one is for some people He will allow you to ‘sin’ in order to reach people who sin (if He does this He will give you His power to overcome it). Another one is the true freedom that Jesus offers to us. Another is that He does not want us under laws, rules, regulations, another is His willingness to look after us and over us as a loving father does his child. Another is that God’s ways lead to prosperity and beauty and a very high tech existence where we, as His children can play, instead of this comparatively low tech world where we must work.
Another big one is the world view is directly opposite God’s view, I knew it was different, but I never assumes that everything the world has is so exactly 180 degrees opposite. and how much we can’t see without His help.
Here we have the classic fundamentalist mindset – despite all the rules against “sinning”, it’s actually OKAY to “sin” under certain conditions. What are those conditions? Apparently, whatever you want them to be. So there’s really no difference between being a christian or a heathen; you can do whatever you want, and not care about anyone else’s feelings, because GOD commands you to do so.
Frankly, I have far more respect for sinners; at least they don’t presume that some lawful diety is silently approving their actions.
Thanks for providing this info, so I didn’t have to for a change. And doing it better than I have. Though I think intelligent design (no caps), depending on the flavor, can sometimes be part of Theistic Evolution.
I am glad to see that you’re putting your powers to use for Good for a change.
So, the Garden of Eden is very technologically advanced and beautiful. Have we finally found a place connected to the Internet where the bulk of the bandwidth doesn’t go to downloading porn?
God offers 2 paths, one is a written code which IMHO include the 10 commandments, and the other laws plus all the laws we have in our land, The other one is the grace offered by Jesus. Once you are under grace you are no longer under any law, as any and all who have any claim against you have been paid by the ultimate sacrifice - the death of God’s Son.
After you know you are totally under grace (not all saved people will reach this point IMHO), you follow your heart, which is the heart of Jesus. In order to reach people you may have to do things which violate the written code, such as Jesus healed on the sabbath, and for that matter ‘commandeered’ a donkey.
In my experience it is more like don’t let the law get in the way of doing the work of Jesus as opposed to f’u I’m doing what I want.
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You point out the difference, I don’t do what I want, but what God commands. That is the difference. Free will is yielded to God, so it is God using my body to reach who He wants.
The issue is not sin, but us admitting we are helpless sinners and need God and only God to save us.
We cannot know for sure what Jesus said or did, humans being as they are, like to make up stories. Just listen to today’s news or listen to talk radio. What one believes is a personal thing, it is just that belief, and each person should be allowed to believe as he or she wishes as long as it doesn’t harm another.
We can prove that all religions were started and accepted by humans. Humans decided what they would call holy. Hence the wars etc. over a piece of land or a belief system. The early Spanish wiped out a lot of people because they called them heretics,destroyed a lot of writings, just as the church fathers did in the 300’s They picked and chose what they wanted to be called the words of God. Depriving anyone of thinking differently and how much they inserted to back up their claims is disputable,
I guess that is why God chose adulters and murderers to lead His people. Moses was a murderer, David ,both a murderer and an adulterer (to name 2).
The way you describe your God he is like a father who has handicapped children and punishes the blind for not seeing the sun, the Paralized for not walking, the deaf for not hearing, the mentally ill for not understanding, etc.
I feel sorry for you, with such a God who lacks compassion and blames and punishes his children for his mistakes.
