Well I don't believe that the Catholic church represents Christianity. There are way too many gross inconsistencies in their doctrine and practices relative to the Bible.
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I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
--Jesus Christ
No doubt they'd say the same thing about differing factions of Christianity. Doesn't the fact that the entire thing is down to interpretation of the bible show you how absurd the whole idea of it being "The word of God" is. Surely if it truly is the word of God then it would have only 1 interpretation of it. Surely God isn't imperfect in that he would dictate a vague record of his commands for the human race.
Gender: Male Location: Southern Oregon,
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But what if your interpretation of the bible is wrong? That would mean that your belief is also wrong.
You seem to always look at other Christians and say they are wrong, but you never consider the possibility you are wrong. With this way of thinking, you never examine your belief, and you can never correct where you are wrong, and grow.
Only a fool is so confident in his beliefs that he will not examine them.
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But I believe the Bible and I believe that it must be rightly divided. It is possible to do this if you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, give yourself to prayer and to the study of God' Word. Furthermore, you must have a general understanding of the Bible one that extends from Genesis to Revelation. This comes through daily reading and study. This will provide the basis for further, deeper comprehension of the more metaphorical concepts. Plus it helps to show the connection among all the books of the Bible. I go to great lengths to know what I am talking about before I post. I do all of the things that I talk about in this post. I am not just someone who picks up a Bible (for argument sake), opens it up, goes to a chapter and verse that someone has quoted, in order to disprove something they have said. I actually live by this Book, believe it, and study it.
So there is a real distinction between myself and perhaps you for example. I really commit to know and understand the Bible and trust that it is given by inspiration of God. Could I be wrong in my understanding and interpretation of the Bible? Sure I could but that possibility is greatly minimized because of all of the effort that I put into rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
__________________
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
--Jesus Christ
Gender: Male Location: Southern Oregon,
Looking at you.
My father studied all the time, for as long as I can remember. He worked hard on writing about the end times. From my point of view, there was no one who knew more about the bible then my father. However, he was wrong. He was a good man, but he was wrong. Why should I believe you? You are just as wrong as my father was.
__________________ I play guitar, sing & write songs. Listen to my music HERE Or my new CD HERE
Second, I don't know what your father believed or whether any of it was consistent with Scripture.
Third, you have never seen me post anyting that you could not verify by the Bible.
As far as why you should believe me I guess that is a personal choice that only you can make. The good news is that you don't have to believe me if you choose not to. I would rather you believe the Bible than me anyway. Besides you will never be able to say when you stand before God that you did not know His will with regard to salvation through Jesus Christ or any other subject that I have posted.
Why do you believe that I am wrong? Wrong about what? Saying that I am wrong does not make it true, that is just your opinion. You cannot support your opinion with the Bible so it is just that your opinion.
__________________
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
--Jesus Christ
Question: do you really believe that I am delusional? Wouldn't that mean that delusion is something absolute? If delusion is possible then the opposite must be true correct? So since you believe that I am delusional are you implying that you are not delusional? So delusion and its antithesis are possible according to you correct? You can't have delusion without having its opposite otherwise you are indicting yourself as well right? In order for you to recognize delusion you would have to know what it is not to know what it is correct?
Here's the problem with that assessment: you said that there are no absolutes.
There would have to be an absolute, logical definition of delusion to distinguish it from what is not delusion that way you would be able to identify what delusion is. But that would mean that absolutes do indeed exist.
Now, if an absolute can exist for delusion then there must be an absolute for other things as well. In other words, there would have to be an up so that you can know what down is. There must of necessity be a right in order for you to recognize what left is. There has to be an in to distinguish from out so on and so forth.
Well...here's the kicker...there must be absolute Truth or you would not know what false looks like. You cannot tell me that there is no absolute Truth, that everything is a matter of perception, or everything is relative. That would be like saying that everyone is delusional or everyone is not.
Question: which is it? Again, you cannot know what delusion is (logical absolute) without knowing what it is not (logical absolute).
__________________
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
--Jesus Christ
Last edited by JesusIsAlive on Nov 6th, 2009 at 09:46 AM
Gender: Male Location: Southern Oregon,
Looking at you.
What are you doing here on this forum? This is a debate forum focused on the topic of religion. Debate is a sport, which is why they have debate teams in high school. You step onto the court and just stand there. When someone hands you the ball, you keep it. When I try to take the ball away from you, you take it personally. I think you really believe that you are here to save people from hell, but that is not what this place is for, and that is not what’s going on.
When I first started here I wasn’t very good at debating, but I have gotten better by reading what other people write and learning from how they debate. However, you have not changed. Your debating skills are like mine when I first started. The reason for this is because you are delusional. You think you are a beacon to the lost, guiding the way, when all you are really doing is getting everyone pissed off at you because you will not play the game.
Delusion is not an absolute. The definition of absolute that you are using is “completely unequivocal and not capable of being viewed as partial or relative”. Delusion is dependent upon the topic, and is relative to the person and circumstances. That is why a person can be greatly or slightly delusional. Something that can be viewed as relative is not absolute, and vice versa.
You see, I do believe there is an absolute truth, but that absolute truth is beyond the ability for humans to understand. This absolute truth cannot be written down, or conveyed in anyway from person to person. The absolute truth cannot be understood by me or you. Therefore, as far as we humans are concerned, absolute truth does not exist. This is a basic principle in Buddhism. The unknowable cannot be known because once it is known it is no longer unknowable. This absolute truth is called the Mystic Law.
Mystic Law
The ultimate law, principle, or truth of life and the universe in Nichiren's teachings; the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. This term derives from Kumarajiva's Chinese translation of the Sanskrit word saddharma, from the title of the Sad-dharma-pundarika-sutra, or the Lotus Sutra. It has been translated into English also as Wonderful Law, Wonderful Dharma, Fine Dharma, etc.
My question is very simple: why do you believe that I am delusional but that you are not?
I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe that the Bible is the Word of God. I believe in a literal Hell and Heaven. I believe that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I believe that the wages of sin is death. But I believe that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Him. I believe that salvation from the wages of sin and eternal life is a gift from God accessible through faith in Jesus Christ.
Now...because of these beliefs that I hold you call me delusional. Again, why do you believe that I am delusional but that you are not? If absolute truth cannot be known then how do you know that you are not delusional? How do you know that your Buddhist beliefs are valid?
You say that Mystic Law is absolute...where did this law come from? What makes it law? What makes it absolute? For it to be absolute it would have to be true at all times everywhere.
Who decides that absolute truth is beyond the ability for humans to understand, cannot be written down, or conveyed in anyway from person to person? If that is the case then how do you know that it exists? That fact that you mention that you believe that absolute truth exists proves that it is not unknowable.
__________________
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
--Jesus Christ
Gender: Male Location: Southern Oregon,
Looking at you.
A long time ago a man lived by a vast ocean. This man would get up in the morning a collect sea shell for trade. He would then fish from the shore to feed his family. One day the man found a whale beached on the shore. The man had never seen a whale before. Where the whale came from was a great mystery. Even though the man could not figure out were the whale came from, he still knew that there was a mystery. Therefore, it is possible to know that there is mystery without knowing the answer to the mystery.
I never said I wasn’t delusional. I only said that you are delusional.
That is fine, but it is irrelevant.
I believe that you are delusional because of what you are trying to do here.
I also never said I wasn’t delusional. If the Mystic Law cannot be known, then all people are delusional. It is all a matter of degrees.
I am the man looking at the whale and wandering where it came from.
Because Buddhism works in my life.
Where did the whale come from?
Nothing makes it law, but what do you call something that cannot be understood? Humans called it the Mystic Law.
It is absolute because of it’s nature.
I am glad that you understand.
Where did the whale come from?
The nature of the Mystic Law can be found in chapter three of the Lotus Sutra.
__________________ I play guitar, sing & write songs. Listen to my music HERE Or my new CD HERE
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Nov 3rd, 2009 04:57 PM
