But it’s called fellowship..ing. We build each other up, we share our experiences with each other to make ourselves stronger in the Lord. I wouldn’t have understood at first without looking for help from my brothers and sisters in Christ haha…
Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Hebrews 10:25
Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Ephesians 5:30
Because we are members of his body.
1 John 4:11-13
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
Well first I find this very insulting and a little counterintuitive. First you say that millions of people have failed to bring people to Christ, yet you also say that this country is overwhelmingly Christian… which means there is success in preaching the gospel.
I’m not bringing new knowledge…God’s word has been here before the world began.
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God
“I” can’t lead people to God. I’m just trying to spread the Gospel, and hopefully God will do the rest.
Matthew 28:19
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Mark 16:15
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come
Most people keep whatever religion they’re raised with. I think his point is that the atheists and Jews and Buddhists out there are already aware of Christianity and aren’t enticed. What do you have to add?
Actually, it was more that you can’t live in this country without drowning in Christianity yet the OP comes in here spouting Bible verses like it’s new information that has never been heard before.
Reread Isaiah 13-14 : it adresses the king of Babylon, not Satan. The identification of “Lucifer” with “Satan” is a “modern” tradition. Lucifer means “the light bringer”, “morning star” ( more specifically the planet Venus). Here Isaiah is adressing the pride of the king who believes himself to be the equal of god (Isaiah 14: 13-14). “Lucifer” is left untranslated in the KJV. However when I pick a random French (I’m French) translation of the same text, it reads something like that :
“How you fell, bright star, son of the dawn! How are you lying on the ground, destroyer of nations!” “You who said in his heart : I will climb into the skies, above the stars of God…etc…”
Similarly, an equaly random English translation :
[QUOTE=NASB]
"How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!
13“But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north."
[/QUOTE]
The difference is that the word “lucifer” is translated here, while the NKJV uses it as a proper name. You might not be convinced, so strong is the tradition identifying “Lucifer” and “Satan”. Note however that this identification cannot be found in the bible, and more importantly that all of Isaiah : 13-14 is adressing the Babylonian nation and his king. Why would Isaiah suddenly stop talking about the king, disgress for two verses about Satan (calling him by another non-obvious name : “morning star”) and then resume talking about the king?
No. “Morning star”/ “Light Bringer” (Venus, the brightest “star” in the sky), here, is the title the prideful king who believes he’s the equal of god, reigning over the stars, gives to himself. It’s not Satan.
Part of my many other downfalls is not knowing much, if at all, other religions. But it would be interesting to find the clashes of the religions. Like in my previous post, I was born into a Christian family, which shouldn’t be an excuse, but that’s a definite must-do on my list. To study other religions, but by no accounts does that mean I’m going to believe that those religions are true… sorry if that sounds close-minded. I’m not going to, in my best ability, consciously insult your religion. To answer shortly, I don’t, and hopefully God won’t let me be swayed, sorry if that sounds a little virtuous…ish…but it’s true.
Oh okay, haha. Then that verse was definitely taken out of context. My apologies!
However, why would Satan want to rebel against God? Why would Satan want Jesus to worship him in the wilderness.
Matthew 4
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’[
That’s true. Sadly, there are those churches that are more or man-made rituals. I was blessed to be in a church that loves God and cared about the development of the brothers and sisters. It’s also true that those people indoctrinated can leave, not saying that it’s easy to leave a family, but while this Gospel Odyssey one week preaching time, there were some many encounters that some did leave because they were raised in a really religious church where they felt something wasn’t right.
It’s more of a relationship with God. Attending church weekly as a ritual or tradition isn’t what God is looking for. Churches shouldn’t be forcing people to pay money. Because God’s gift is free, he forgives all.
I mean you can’t just assume that everyone knows every single verse in the Bible. Maybe you do. But trust me, there are those out there that don’t. It’s probably new information for other people, maybe not you.
I don’t want to be mean here, but if you don’t like it, and if you’ve heard it a million times, why did you still click on this? And I know, i asked a question to share your belief, so that’s why you clicked haha… but you could have chosen to ignore it. It just shows that even if you don’t believe, God is still in your life. You’re still talking/thinking about Him.
Not to mention, are the churches and Christians out there TRUE Christians? Look at the politicians who claim to be Christian, not saying all politicians are bad, but we all know people badmouth politicians because of corruptness. Look at the Christians you find hypocritical and just as bad as nonbelievers. There is a need to spread the Gospel, regardless of how many times it has supposedly been spread around.
They’re aware of Christianity, though. Do you think posting some random verses is going to accomplish anything? A lot of these get splashed on buses and billboards anyway.
No. A good punishment renders the culprit unwilling or physically incapable of reoffending, and/or provides a deterrent to make them and others unwilling to commit the same offense. Eternal punishment in hell does neither - it is applied after the culprit is already dead, and thus already incapable of reoffending, and God refuses to tell anyone that he’s doing it, making it useless as a deterrent. It is just torture for torture’s sake, performed on a helpless prisoner.
No; it means that the original non-Christian inhabitants were exterminated or converted at gunpoint. Christianity is a religion whose position in the world was created by spilling an ocean of blood.
No; your god was invented a few thousand years ago. Human history is far longer, and the world far older than that.
Of course; America is a nation deeply infested by Christianity, there’s no avoiding it.
Yes. A Christian is just someone who says they are a Christian.
Grin! But, perhaps more seriously, suppose the figure had been saying, “Love One Another.” Same problem. It doesn’t really figure at that scale. It isn’t telling us anything useful. Heck, “Keep banging those rocks together” is more useful! That, at least, put humanity on a track to knowledge.
Regarding Jesus, ask your favorite theologian. I believe that typically, it is assumed he wants him to fail in his “mission”.
Regarding the rebellion : in the old testament, it isn’t mentioned that Satan rebelled:
Job 1: 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Satan is paying a visit. God tells him about Job being such a faithful servant. Satan isn’t convinced. Nothing implies that he’s a rebel angel. Satan then acts in accordance with god’s statements :
Job 2:6 2:6 “And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life”
Satan (in Hebrew “THE satan”) means “the accuser”. From what I read here, in Jewish tradition, Satan isn’t considered an ennemy of YHWH. He’s rather his prosecutor, sort of. Both Christian and Muslim (Shaytan) traditions made him into a rebel. But while the Quran explicitely mentions his rebellion, Christian scriptures don’t. Despite this, Satan plays in Christian tradition a much more proeminent role than in either Judaism or Islam. He is elevated to an almost godlike level similar to that of Ahriman in Zoroastrianism (in this religion, there’s an evil god opposing the good one, Ahura Mazda, and who is essentially his equal. For instance, evil things have been created by Ahriman. Christianism falls short of that). While for instance the Quran denies Shaytan any authority over men.
How about food? Do you enjoy bad-mouthing foods you don’t care for? Come on over! Everyone has something interesting to say about some kind of food they hate. Throw in your two cents (unless it’s about Communion wafers)!
Ooh, here’s a fun one: Trivia Dominoes! Make sure you read the entire thread before you put one of your own down – we don’t want any repeats!
SDMB is a great place! You can have a real good time hanging out here.
Oh, and when people on the SDMB don’t believe in God, the answer to the question “Why don’t people believe in God?” is usually “Because there isn’t any particular reason why they should.”
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, go enjoy the SDMB! The Board is your oyster!
