Can You Connect to God Without Religion?
Is there a difference between God and Religion? There is definitely a difference between God and religion. God is someone I have a relationship with. My view on God can be altered by many factors in my life. It can be affected by my relationship with my own father or even by my culture and the people I spend time with.
I see religion is a set of beliefs that have guidelines for behavior associated with them. There are many religions with many differing beliefs and rules. I don’t think God needs religion. He wants to have a relationship with me. It is so easy for me to get confused and think that my relationship with him has rules of engagement. I love knowing that God cares about me and that my relationship with him does not need a lot of order and structure. I want to participate in religion or church to celebrate his holiness, but it’s not a condition of knowing God. Do you believe you can you connect to God without religion?
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Tom:
Do you consider them equivocal? The words that you site are unequivocal. Your GOD extends a conditional invitation to heaven, accept Jesus as my SON or your soul will be damned to HELL. I believe in a GOD that wins human souls through reason and not threats. A GOD that is intelligent enough to understand that a soul that is won through threats is not worth very much.
So by your standard, a skull and crossbones on a bottle of deadly poison is an unequivocal threat? The warning label on an electrical appliance is an unequivocal threat? The guardrail on a mountain road is an unequivocal threat?
You speak as a lawyer. Words mean what they mean. Eternal damnation is an unequivocal threat. Nothing else impels the reader of the BOOK, to accept Jesus as her saviour without this threat. That is why most people in the world today reject your faith because nobody likes to be threatened. Without this ROMAN threat, I believe more people would choose to be Christian today. But ROME failed to have much faith in their fellowman. Today many Christian ministers have an understanding of this. Even the Pope understands that people do not like to be threatened. For some unknown reason it fails to bother you one bit.
What you see as a threat is actually a warning. God created humanity for perfect relationship with Him, but we rejected Him and chose to follow a path away from Him. Unfortunately, that path away from God leads to destruction because God is the source of everything good. God in His love for us has warned of the dangers that will come if we continue on that path. It’s like a sign warning that a bridge is out. You see the sign as a threat and reject it’s warning.
God’s warning also comes with a sacrifice of Himself in order to make our escape from our eternal destruction a possibility. How can it be a threat when He paid so high a price to rescue us?
Now I know you won’t answer that. You tend to ignore my points and question :)
Jamie
GOD is welcoming. GOD is non threatening. The foundation of your belief is an odious threat. Your GOD is Roman.
As of Nov 2014 the full Bible has been translated into 531 languages and 2883 languages have part of the Bible translation. The Wycliff Bible translators have the goal of translating the Bible into every language by 2025. They currently have over 1800 languages yet to complete and have 1500 teams working on translations right now. The Hebrew Bible was translated into Koine (Common) Greek in 2nd century BC and the New Testament documents were all originally written in Koine Greek so that everyone in the Roman Empire would be able to access it. To say that it was given only to middle eastern people is just not true.
The virgin birth was prophesied by Isaiah hundreds of years before Jesus. The Dead Sea Scrolls prove that this portion of Isaiah existed before Jesus’ birth. To suggest that it was a Roman creation is anachronistic.
How does the existence of fulfilled prophecy contained in the texts of the Bible fit with your hypothesis that it was an endorphin-induced trip? Again the prophecies of Isaiah are just one example of detailed descriptions of Jesus ministry and death that are easily proved to have existed prior to His birth.
If you are convinced that God will accept all people then why are you so adamant about me believing the same thing as you? According to your worldview we will all end up with God anyway. It would appear that you are creating conflict where there should be none if your worldview is correct.
According to Jesus, He is the only way. My reason for wanting to share this truth with you comes from a realization that if you refuse to choose to follow Jesus you will be eternally condemned. So my interaction with you is completely consistent with my worldview. Why isn’t yours?
Jesus death effectively paid the penalty of all of humanity’s sin, but He does not force it on you or anyone. You are given the opportunity to receive His free gift. If you choose instead to follow your own way. You cannot condemn God when people refuse to accept what He has offered.
Jamie:
GOD’s true gifts are universal. The holy bible is not such a gift because it was ostensibly given to a middle eastern people. Virgin birth is a Roman invention based on Roman mythology. Rome had debased sexual behaviour in their ribald engagements. When Rome became Christian it could not have a Christ created by intimacy between a mortal man and woman. All new religious movements create sacred texts to separate themselves from non believers. The Hebrews in their Exodus story spoke of the Canaanites as being completely eliminated by former Hebrew slaves. Modern archaeology has demonstrated that the ancient Hebrews once were part of the Canaanites. Christians in their sacred texts separated themselves from their Hebrew origins by blaming them in part for the crucifixion of Christ. Religion is created to divide peoples and not unite them. GOD on the other hand favours the unification of humanity. GOD was in no way the inspiration or creator of sacred text. Only Men who got high on their own endorphins while writing. They took that high as a gift from GOD. It was wasn’t. More importantly most of people on this earth simply are not Christian. That would disqualify them from a post corporeal existence.
What other moral behaviours of animals should we also consider appropriate for humans? There are far more than 10% of animals that will eat their own kind. Should we also then understand that God approves of cannibalism?
The Bible is God’s gift to us so that we don’t have to wrestle with questions like this. He tells us that all human life is precious and that our greatest call is to love Him and the ones He has made. Jesus leads us how to apply that in all situations even when the ethical implications are multi-layered and difficult to assess. That is why relationship with Jesus is so crucial; without it we can become legalistic or moralistically permissive. Either extreme is dangerous.
What do you base your moral choices on? What gives you confidence that those choices conform to God’s standard?
Jamie:
You are a literalist. That is why you accept that homosexual practices are evil because the words of Bible that inform you are the same words that have ensnared your mind. Science has proven that GOD created a world with 10% of all creatures being homosexual. This part of GOD’s creation you simply refuse to accept. The words of the Bible have therefore blinded you to the actual world that GOD created. GOD is considerably kinder than you imagine.
I would suggest to you Jack that having a written communication from God is essential to guard against the misleading influence of endorphins and many other things that could deceive us into thinking that we are close to God. By having a written description of who God is and how we can have a relationship with Him we are less carried away by the whims of our human heart. We can measure what we believe against what God has revealed about Himself and if there is a discrepancy we can confidently know which is true.
What guards do you have against being misled by your endorphins in your spiritual pursuits?
Jamie:
People of faith are addicted to their own endorphins.
You get high on belief. You distort what you read to satisfy your addiction. You fail to understand that GOD made us mammals or as you put it “animals”. You might argue that you are being rewarded by endorphins by the GOD that created you. You would be wrong to think so. The scripture that you read drags you down into the deep hole of addiction. I pray that GOD we both believe in frees you very soon.
You can order this book on the net as it is currently out of print. By reading it you will begin to understand what you have become.
“When God Becomes a Drug” by Father Leo Booth
I don’t think it is wise to base morality on the actions of animals. Should we approve of cannibalism because it is practiced by some animals? Is that how God wants us to determine what is morally correct? Doesn’t it make more sense that a God who has created humans to be in a unique relationship with Him would clearly reveal what a right relationship with Him is like? Wouldn’t a written record that was not subject to the whims of humanity make sense?
As a parent don’t you think there are things that you set boundaries around with your children even when they don’t understand why? Sometimes, in the child’s eye it seems to be a harmless activity but as the parent you know the long-term impact and danger of that activity. God has a much better awareness of what is best for humanity because He has created us. So in His love for us, He has provided a written self-revelation which gives us a clear picture of how best to live. That way we can measure all other revelation against it and know whether it comes from God or not.
How do you see God communicate His moral expectations to humanity? How do you know what comes from Him and what comes from false sources?
Jamie
The scholars I rely on teach at the finest Universities on this Continent. Logic and analysis are the the tools of their trade not blind faith. Blind faith makes you accept that homosexuality is evil. It it were evil why did GOD make 10% of all birds and mammals homosexual. What author was inspired to write these intolerant words in n the Epistle to the Romans 1:26-27 (English Majority Text Version, EMTV), . This author was inspired by the devil and not by GOD. Yours is a GOD of hate not one of love.
I don’t know which biblical scholars you have read Jack, but there are many who agree on the activity of the Holy Spirit in the authoring, collection and preserving of scripture. Donald Bloesch, in his work “Holy Scripture” states, “Scripture is a product of the inspiring work of the Spirit, who guided the writers to give a reliable testimony to God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ. It’s canonizing [meaning the collection of documents identified as inspired by God] is to be attributed to the illuminating work of the Spirit, who led the fathers of the church to assent to what the Spirit had already authorized.” (p150) It was not that the people of God said what was going to be in the Bible but they acknowledged, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, what He had already given His stamp of approval. If the Bible is the self-revelation of God to the world, then it would have to be inspired, collected and preserved by Him.
If we were to use any other standard for our understanding of who God is and how He wants us to relate to Him then we would be captive to the whim of humanity which we know shifts back and forth with each given generation and society. You seem to think that one standard for morality is the animal kingdom. I dare say, that if we use that to guide our actions towards each other we would live in a more violent and blood-thirsty world than we do today. We would be rife with cannibalism, infanticide, and all manner of other atrocities. God has put humanity in a position of stewarding Creation not copying it. Or another standard that you demand is that it is perfectly balanced between male and female authors. It would be impossible for the Bible to conform to everybody’s expectations of what it should contain. The imbalance of male and female authors does not suggest that God values women less than He does men. Neither would anybody suggest that God doesn’t care about the Chinese people because the events recorded in the Bible center on the Middle Eastern nations. The Bible says that all of humanity is precious to God and that He has a plan and purpose for all people. He will accomplish those purposes in HIs perfect way, not in accordance with anyone else’s expectations.
The Bible is in place so that we don’t have to be unclear about what God wants from us. He speaks plainly about how we are to reflect His character and gives us the example of Jesus so that we can know how we should live. He also gives us the Holy Spirit to guide our understanding of the Bible so that we can accurately apply it to our lives.
Jamie:
No biblical scholar speaks of the people of God following the spirit of GOD in crafting the New Testament. Again Jamie why do you avoid dealing with the issue of homosexuality? Do you not accept that homosexuality was part of GOD’s divine plan? I trust Jamie, that you accept the equality of men and women in the eyes of GOD. Well how do you account for this Biblically inspired book containing far less than half the stories about women. Clearly men and not GOD were the final arbiters of what went into the GOOD BOOK. These men more than likely saw their gender as superior to that of women. They more than likely saw homosexual practices as the work of the Devil. In short these men lived in different times than modern man. They knew nothing about the multi verse. They knew nothing about the eternal expansion and contraction of all universes. They were seeking an eternal post corporeal existence. They failed to grasp that corporeal existence will recur indefinitely and thus there is no need of heaven.
We can have great confidence in the Bible today for may different reasons. First of all, we have manuscripts that date as far back as 117-150 AD You will note that pre-dates Constantine’s life by almost 200 years. If Constantine changed the content of those documents we would see it through comparison. Not only that but we have a huge amount of copies that span a huge time period which again gives us the opportunity to compare and note discrepancies. And there are discrepancies between copies. By studying the differences in wording between the different copies we are able to hypothesize what the original actually said, to the point that biblical scholars are 99.9+% certain of what the original manuscripts actually contained. You can note that the discrepancies again often predate Constantine. If he or any in church leadership had wanted to control the text of the Bible they would have done away with any of the differences in the copies that were made. There is just no evidence of that kind of tampering with the Biblical documents.
In studying the process by which the Bible came to contain the documents that it does you can see that Constantine did not legislate what constituted the Bible. The first declaration we have of the precise 66 books of the Bible used today was in 367 AD by Athanasius. You see there never was a Church Council that decided what the Bible would be. It was the people of God following the Spirit of God to use documents that were written by Apostles or those closely associated with Apostles, which were useful for directing people’s lives toward Jesus. These documents were the ones that were consistently used by the people in the Church and became adopted by the Church as a whole over many years. No one man or even organized council of men ever took on the responsibility to make that decision.
Again, it all stems from relationship with Jesus: He is alive and active in people’s lives and directs them according His purposes. He was the One who helped guide the people of the church to value the written Word that He had inspired the Apostles to pen. He is the One who has preserved those documents for us today so that we can have confidence in knowing the Truth about Him. He is the One who leads us to understand what those documents mean and how to apply them to our lives and relationships. There is no human manipulation or conspiracy that has ever proven to misdirect His purposes. Even a lie like “Jesus was married” which has been proven again and again to be false, has not been able to undermine the consistent growing number of people who are discovering the transformational impact of a relationship with Jesus.
Emperor Constantine made Rome Christian. Constantine’s Bible is very much effected by what he learned as a boy. One of the books which was excluded from the Bible, does not agree with the divinity of Christ. There were tens of thousands of Hebrew Zealots crucified by Rome. More than one man who was crucified was named Jesus which was as common as Jamie is today. One piece of physical evidence that never found its way into the Bible was the fact that the Jesus of the Bible was a married man. Not surprising in that all procreation was a GOD given obligation that was imposed on him and all other males. The Christian Bible as I have already pointed out shamefully discriminates against homosexuality. Any sexual encounter that did not come with the intent of procreation is a violation of Christian morality. We know today that at least 10% of all birds and mammals are homosexual. This strikes me as in keeping with GOD’s plan. This was GOD method of population control. The Christian Bible slanders GOD’s plan.
Hi Jack, you seem to be comparing some very different things here. The stories of Zeus’ escapades with human women shows a depravity of morals and a self-centred motivation. Where as the account of the immaculate conception of Jesus is motivated out of a love for humanity, a means by which to rescue humanity from our self-destructive path.
The comparison between Zeus/ Hercules and Jesus also does not fit because of the historically verifiable existence of Jesus, whereas the myth of Zeus and Hercules is universally acknowledged as just that: myth. There are no eye witness accounts of the life of Hercules. There are no historically identifiable people or events that give any credibility to the stories. While the accounts of the life of Jesus are clearly based in a real history, told by those who were eye-witnesses to those events. Those accounts were recorded and distributed at a time when opposition to Christians was high and the opportunity for those who opposed His message could have easily silenced the movement by showing that the resurrection of Jesus never happened. It was that event which had convinced so many that Jesus was indeed God in human form. His conception and birth are an integral part of our understanding of HIs divine nature but it is His death and resurrection that gives proof to that claim.
But Jesus did not come to Earth to establish a legal code or ritual-based religion. He came as a baby to establish a relationship with each of us. His purpose was to rescue us from the destiny of our rebellious choices and lead us into a life that brings glory to God and accomplishes the purpose for which God had created us. It is because of our relationship with Him that humans are now able to live morally. It is because of our relationship with Him that humans are able to worship God as He deserves.
Because of Jesus our relationship with Him can be based on revelation rather than on the whim of human desires. We can be certain of how we come to Him. Jesus shows us our brokenness and He also gives us an example of how we can live in perfect harmony with God. He not only shows us but through our relationship He guides us so that we can actually live that out. That is the great hope and joy of His message to us. Zeus and Hercules don’t even come close.
Tom:
Your GOD is as real as Zeus. Zeus, if you remember impregnated a mortal woman. Hercules was part mortal and part god. This story emerged before the Christian Bible. Before that the Egyptians believed in a similar story about a mortal woman bearing the seed of a GOD. Humanity has always needed to believe that GOD understood their pain. This knowledge could be assured when GOD’s son was crucified. That story fills a human need. That need does not make the story true, but it explains how easy it is for us to believe in a myth that resonates with us.
Tom, free yourself from the yoke of scripture and find the GOD that exists external to biblical texts. It is the GOD that will make you humble.
The one true God, the God who reveals himself in the Bible, “resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” You have created a god in your own image. He does not exist. I pray you will humble yourself and ask for His forgiveness.
Tom:
The Christian Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Quran and the Old Testament are all myths. I am in no danger because my mind cannot be influenced by the evil that religion has perpetrated on humanity. By your lack of response to the real issue expressed in my post, it is clear to me you believe that homosexuality is morally wrong. In this respect you chose not to understand a damn thing. You chose words over a belief in the real GOD. But the GOD that I know exists forgives stupidity.
As you wrote CJ, “Words can be very lethal to those who choose to quote but not understand a damn thing.” You are living proof of this my friend.
The 10% rule is the best proof of the existence of GOD. From the beginning 10% of all birds and mammals were and are homosexual. Why? But for that rule, most humans today would not have enough to eat or drink. This was GOD’s plan for population control. Yet in the Christian Bible, we find these words which I have reproduced.
In the Epistle to the Romans 1:26-27 (English Majority Text Version, EMTV), Paul writes
“ For this reason [idolatry] God gave them up to passions of dishonor; for even their females exchanged the natural use for that which is contrary to nature, and likewise also the males, having left the natural use of the female, were inflamed by their lust for one another, males with males, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was fitting for their error. ”
Because of these words, homosexuals were murdered throughout Christian history. Words can be very lethal to those who choose to quote but not understand a damn thing.
Basically, when Jesus said “It is finished,” his service to mankind was finished–in other words, he came to serve mankind by dying to save it.
Now, out of a grateful heart, those who have repented and trusted in Jesus live to serve him and others. For instance, look at these verses:
Romans 12:11
Deut. 13:4
Galatians 5:13
1 Peter 4:10
Joshua 22:5
1 Samuel 12:24
1 Chr. 28:9
Malachi 3:18
Matthew 6;24
John 12:26
Romans 7:6
Hebrews 9:14
1 Peter 4:11
Keep in mind that anytime we serve others, we are serving him. ““The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40
We have it upside down We do not serve Jesus,Jesus came to serve us,he said it all in his last three words before he died IT IS FINISHES.Adam sinned
all men were born sinners Jesus died all men were saved amen
God created an infinite number of Universes. In other words a multi verse. Each Universe expands and contracts over billions of years. Currently the Universe we live within is expanding at an ever increasing rate, That is because in our Universe the speed of expansion is increasing as it draws closer to another Universe.It will in fact violently collide with it in another 100 billion years. When that happens all matter will instantly turn into energy. Over the next billion years our Universe will contract until it become smaller than an atom. Then the Big Bang happens and everything is brought back to what it once was. In short there is no after life, there is a recurrence of life. There is no heaven. The eternal life we will all experience will be within the Multi Verse that is GOD’s Creation. At the end of any interval in a person’s life, she gets to chose the life form her soul will next inhabit. In so doing over eternity she learns about how it feels to live under completely different circumstances within her new life forms. This is how we develop empathy for all life forms for they could be us. God created people who cannot read to teach the rest of who can how unimportant it is to our Creator. What matter most of all, is how much we honesty care for each other. Real caring requires us to listen and not lecture.
I have no interest in reading lies, myths, and man-made falsehoods. Each have been painstakingly proven just that. Google it if you like.
And yes, we know for certain whose soul needs saving. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
You can ignore the truth of the Word of God CJ, but the moment you die you will know the truth and it will be too late for you. Hope you enjoy your life while you can.
Tom
Have you read the Quran? The Book of Mormon? All of the Greek and Roman mythologies? Or the teaching of the Buddha? Tom your soul is filled with hubris. I try to fill mine with humility. In the great scheme of this creation, can either of us really know whose soul needs saving?
I started to respond to your various points CJ, but it is obvious that you are not interested in any kind of reason. You are simply making things up as you go along. It’s easy to just make statements of beliefs; it’s harder to give reasons for the beliefs. I guess you probably don’t care that you’re breaking the second commandment and making a god in your own image of what you want in a god.
If you ever come up with ANY reason whatsoever for believing what you believe, feel free to post it. It should make for good reading. In the meantime, repent and trust in Christ. He’s everyone’s ONLY hope.
In my haste to post, I misstated GOD’s plan. May She forgive me. Her plan was to make 10% of all birds and mammals homosexual.
Jack, i concur with you on many things but i would not just dismiss the Scriptures entirely.
Believe in God but be wary of man’s agenda-laden “version” of God and his attempt to subjugate others through his religion.
Jack, i concur with you on many things but i would not just dismiss the Scriptures entirely.
Believe in good but be wary of man’s agenda-laden “version” of God and his attempt to subjugate others through his religion.
The only GOD I believe is not described in the Bible. The GOD that made all races and genders equal. It is the GOD whose purpose can be seen in al of Creation. GOD with infinite wisdom made all birds and mammals homosexual. Without this divine plan the world today would be filled with furs and feathers. Yet the Bible makes no mention of this. All bible based faiths have discriminated against other races, religions and sexual orientations. People who want to find GOD, must first remove the closed mind that Biblical inhibitions have been imposed on them.
Ariel–
I have no clue as to why you would think I’m telling you you have to do things MY way. I also have no clue as to why you are suggesting I’ve giving you Old Testament references. I’ve simply given you New Testament scriptures from Jesus pertaining to the covenant of grace, not law.
I’m so sad that you are so opposed to the teachings of the Lord Jesus, both about salvation and the New Testament church. You have obviously become quite confused about what it takes to be saved. I pray the Lord will be merciful to you and open your eyes so that you will repent and trust Him.
Nice chatting with you.
Whether i get into heaven or miss heaven is not up to you. I do not get my Salvation from you.
Organised religionists defenders like you are the ones making me wary of religions. Arrogant religionists have not room for other point of views.
All any born again believers and they will tell you they repent after believing due to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Do not quote anything that belongs to the Old Testament era that no longer applies to us.
Ariel—
You keep talking about the church as if it in itself is an organized religion. The physical church building is where Christians meet to worship and use their spiritual gifts in obedience to the Lord. The spiritual Church is the Bride of Christ, all those who have been born again spiritually.
You also seem to suggest that everything that’s taught in the church is wrong. Yes, there are some pastors and teachers who do not preach the truth of the Bible, but that doesn’t make all of them bad. Most churches teach and preach from the scriptures, and they don’t distort the gospel message.
Repentance and trust in Christ are two sides of the same coin. You can’t have one without the other. The Holy Spirit uses the Word to bring conviction, the person responds to the Word by repenting, and the Holy Spirit causes the person to be born again spiritually as a result of the person’s faith/belief.
I quoted Jesus’ and John the Baptist’s remarks about repentance. Here is what the Bible says in Acts 3:19—“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Why would God command us through His Word to repent if we can’t? Why would Jesus command us to repent if we can’t? Why would John the Baptist preach repentance if people can’t repent? I know that some churches teach that repentance is a work. And since you seem to say the same thing, it would seem you were going to one of those churches that are not preaching a true gospel as revealed in scripture.
However, and with all that being said, I not here to argue with you. My purpose is to offer the truth of scripture, not what some church teaches. Whether you want to use the word repent or not, or if you believe one is saved by “believing” in Jesus while still living like the world, the bottom line is this—If you haven’t been born again, you are not saved and will suffer the wrath of God on judgment day. I say this in kindness, love, and concern Ariel. I pray you will not be so stubborn or prideful that you miss heaven.
This is the very reason why i don’t believe in organised religion like the church. They try to complicate and distort the simple message of the cross by putting up so many human pre-conditions even in the gift of Salvation.
We have no power to repent and sinners do not repent before they are saved. Is only through the power of the Holy Spirit, conviction that repentence come. Not by one’s own effort. Otherwise why would we need Jesus for if we can make things right by our own efforts
Ariel–
I’m going by what the Bible says. But you cannot just take one scripture about anything. In Luke 13:3,5, Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” He said it twice in two verses. John the baptist said it over and over again–“Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.” Jesus said it too. There are countless professing Christians who have “accepted” Jesus, prayed a prayer, said they “believe” in Jesus, but they continue to walk just like the world.
Consider–Almost every convict or prisoner would say that when they get out “I’ll never do such-and-such again.” But statistics show that 85% of them do it again. That shows that they haven’t truly repented of what they did. They were only sorry they got caught. But 15% never break the law again. That shows a heart that’s truly sorry.
While only God knows a person’s heart, Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruit.” In other words, if a person professes to be a Christian but never shows evidence of it, they are NOT saved. Jesus said, “Many will come to me on that day and say ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we do (such and such) for you’, and I will say to them “Depart from me you sinners, I never know you.'”
Jesus told Nicodemus that he “must be born again” spiritually in order to see the kingdom of God. When a person truly repents and trust in Jesus Christ, they are born again spiritually. They become a child of God and the Holy Spirit comes to live within them. A true Christian KNOWS they are saved by the working of the Holy Spirit within them.
Anything short of the new birth and you will spend eternity separated from God in hell.
I take these things straight from the Bible, the Word of God.
Didn’t the bible day “Believe in the Lord jesus, you and your household be saved”? Or are you merely parroting what you have been taught by your church ?
Ariel–
While it is good that you believe in God and Jesus Christ, those beliefs will not save you. Imagine that you believe in a parachute, but when you jump out of the plane you leave the parachute behind. Your belief would not help you.
In order for those beliefs to save you, you must repent (turn from your sins) and humbly trust in Jesus Christ alone to save you. It is not a matter of knowledge, it is a matter of a heart relationship with Jesus. Forget religion, forget what some church may teach, and trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.”
Jesus repeatedly spoke against all the religious people of his day. Jesus Christ shed his perfect, innocent blood so that your sins can be forgiven. The Bible says, “It is appointed for a man to die once, and after that the judgment.” The instant you die, you will be either in heaven or hell forever. Only by being “born again” spiritually by trust in Jesus can you be forgiven by God and accepted by him.
What would keep you from repenting (turning from your sins) and trusting completely in Jesus right now?
I believe in God and even in jesus Christ but i don’t fully believe in what the church teaches as i view theology is merely man’s futile and unsuccessful attempts at explaining God. In a sense i am a Deist.
Sorry for the typos – it’s hard to write using a smartphone.
bI believe in God and even in jesus Christ but i don’t fully believe in what the church teaches as i view theology is merely man’s futile and unsuccessful attempts at explaining God. In a sense i am a Diest.
Tomsays:
I believe in good and even in jais Christ but i don’t fully believe in what the church teaches as i view theology is merely man’s futile and unsuccessful attempts at explaining God. In a sense i am a Diest.
Ariel Huang—
You might notice that the word “Bible” isn’t in the Bible either. So, what is the point you’re trying to make?
As others have said, being a Christian is simply being a follower of Jesus Christ—having confessed to him your sins and trusting in him to forgive those sins because of his payment for you on the cross.
Remember, Christianity is NOT a religion; it is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Let me ask you Ariel—What is going to happen to you when you die? Where is your spirit going to go forever?
Ariel…1 peter 4.16 also contains the Word Christian. blessings!!
Ariel…the Word Christian does appear in acts 11.26. it simply means one like christ which has nothing to do with organized religión but rather following jesus which i pray you and i do today with all of our hearts!
I do not believe in this organised religion called Christianity either. The word “Christians” is not in the bible.
Ariel…we have had truth personalifed in the person of jesus christ. the words of jesus are true. i encourage you to read them. blessings!!
Ariel—
What you’ve written is very true. All the world’s religions are just man’s futile attempt to be right with their god (if they even believe in a god) and reach their idea of heaven or nirvana or whatever. Biblical Christianity is a relationship with the one true God through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus IS the truth and he will set you free!
One can belive in the Creator yet not in organised religions. Religion is merely man’s futile, unsuccessful and unconvincing attempts to explain God. Everyone thinks he can fully explain God and only by him, it’s the “true” religion. The evidence of their imperfection in explaining God is evident – all the contradiction, contraversies and abuses prove what they have is not the absolute truth.
CJ–
You originally stated that women didn’t play a major role in scripture. I grant that “major” is a relative term. However, if you don’t consider the many important examples I gave you as major, that is your prerogative. I think most people would think otherwise. I believe that birthing a nation and protecting an entire nation are “major” accomplishments for any woman.
I notice that instead of responding to my evidential refutation of your comments in five specific areas, you have simply moved on to yet another area. That leads me to believe that you are only interested in arguing from a lack of evidence and irrelevance instead of dealing with the issues head on. However let me respond to your latest comments:
You state, “The greatest myth in the Bible . . .” etc. etc. Once again, you’ve made a statement without any credible evidence whatsoever to support your claim. Anyone can simply make statements–that doesn’t make them true. Since the Bible isn’t specific as to what was done with all those who died in the wilderness, how do you know they were not cremated? Or considering the vastness of the desert in which they traveled, consider how little square foot area the bodies would take up compared to the thousands of square miles of desert. It would be like finding a million needles in a trillion haystacks. Also, considering that the bodies would not have been embalmed, and considering the intense heat of the desert and the shifting sands etc., just how many remains could we expect to find after 4,000 years?
It is rather insulting of you to suggest that because I am a believer I “will foist a myth to support a myth.” How do you know what I or any believer would do in any particular situation? The fact is, as a believer in Jesus Christ and the Bible as the Word of God, the last thing I would do is try to deceive someone. That would be specifically contrary to my beliefs.
As for your last comment, why would I want to try to prove the evidence of God or the truth of the Bible from sources outside the Bible? When was the last time you read a biography or a text book and then went to “outside sources” to try to prove the accuracy of what you read? The burden of proof lies on those who profess the Bible is NOT what it says it is. Since the Bible is 100% accurate archeologically, historically, and scientifically, not to mention the 100% accuracy of its hundreds of prophecies, just what other sources should I investigate to prove it further? And just how many “outside sources” would I have to use in order to convince you? With that being said, did you know that by using the non-biblical writings of non-Christian historians and Jews who lived in the first couple of centuries A.D., a full 70% of what is stated in the New Testament could be recreated? I’d say that is “major” evidence for the validity of what’s written in New Testament books.
I hope this helps to clarify the “truth” of the matter. If you really want to understand the truth of scripture, you simply need to humbly repent of your sins and trust Jesus Christ. His Holy Spirit will then guide you into ALL truth!
Tom:
The women you mention represent a very small percentage of all those described in the Bible. The greatest myth in the Bible is the story of Exodus. Some of the first archeologists were Christians who saw this new science as the method of proving the Bible true. They knew there should be tens of thousands of ancient Hebrew remains buried in the desert during their 40 year wandering. They found absolutely no such evidence and they reasoned that GOD had lifted the bones up to heaven, In short if you are a believer you will foist a myth to support a myth. He who avers must prove. If you support Biblical truth than site all the of the objective evidence that exists outside of the Bible that proves any of it to be true beyond a reasonable doubt.
Well CJ, based on your comments, it’s obvious that you know little or nothing about the Bible. Therefore, I would encourage you not to make statements about something you have not investigated for yourself. For example:
Women of the Bible who had significant roles in God’s plan include, Ruth (who is found in the Book which bears her name and was part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ), Esther (who is also found in the Book which bears her name and who saved the Hebrew nation from genocide), Mary (Jesus’ mother, called the Woman honored above all women), Martha and Mary (whose actions are detailed in more than one of the four Gospels), Rahab (who played an integral part in the genealogy of Jesus Christ), Eve (the first woman and the mother of all mankind), Priscilla (an important leader of the New Testament church, and Sarah (wife of Abraham and “mother” of the nation of Israel). These are just representative of the significant women found in the Bible.
You state, “The good Book is a book of myths.” Please present the evidence that this is so. In fact, NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING in scripture has EVER been proven false by archeology, history, or science. What other “religious” book can make that claim?
You state, “Humankind has been on this planet for at least 100,000 years.” Please present the evidence that this is so. Based on the Bible’s genealogies, man is approximately 6,500 years old.
You state, “Ancient myths like the story of Noah were introduced into the Bible.” Please present the evidence that this is so. Speaking in the New Testament, Jesus confirms the story of Noah and the flood (Matthew 24:37).
You state, “It is only when we awaken do we see the actual truth.” Awaken from what CJ? Would that be from undocumented statements and regurgitated falsehoods? Jesus said, “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
The same holds true for you CJ. If you’ll repent and trust in Jesus, you too will come to know the REAL truth.
I write all these things in kindness and concern for you.