Originally posted by Strangelove
Again, you refuse to answer my question. You assert that Jesus is the Truth, the Way, and the Life, and anything else, but you have yet to say why you believe that, which was in fact my question.You and I believe in different truths. What makes your "truth" more valid than mine?
Strangelove, I have not refused to answer your question. I have repeatedly told you why I believe that Jesus is the Truth. But I gave you a practical way for YOU to do the same. You must first take a step of faith towards Jesus to know whether He is Truth. You cannot remain where you are (in terms of your belief system continuing in the direction that it is going) and expect to experience any change. You must do something different than you have done up to this point in your life. So, how do I know that Jesus is the Truth and that the Bible is true? Well, I will reiterate what I have already told you in previous posts:
I did what Jesus said do in order to be saved. I took a step of faith beginning with reading the Bible (particularly the Book of Acts and the Gospel According to John).
Second, I did what Jesus said do with respect to being saved:
1) I admitted that I am a sinner and unrighteous before God.
2) I repented (i.e. I changed my ways and turned away from my sins)
3) I confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God has raised Him from the dead.
4) In short, I asked Jesus Christ to save me from my sins.
Once I took these steps of faith, I became aware of Who Jesus Christ truly is. Jesus revealed to me Who He is, and He revealed the veracity of His Word (the Bible) to me as well.
But you would do well to read and heed everything that I have already written. For therein lies the answers to your questions. You must do (something) before Jesus will make Himself real to You. You cannot be passive. If you truly want to know if the Bible is true then do what Jesus said do. You ask how do I know that Jesus is the Truth, and I have already told you how I know: I did what He said do and He did the rest. But Jesus requires some effort on your part Strangelove. He requires faith from you (which is trusting in Someone or something that you cannot perceive with your senses). Once you take this step of faith Jesus will meet you the rest of the way. This is how I know, and why I believe that Jesus is the Truth and that the Bible is true.
Below is a Biblical example of God requiring His people to make a commitment (i.e. a step of faith) before He came on the scene (i.e. showed up as it were).
Joshua 3:7-8, 12-13
7 And the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.’”
12 Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. 13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.”
God told Joshua (Moses' successor) to command the priests who bore (carried) the ark of the covenant to in essence take a step of faith. Before God would part the waters of the Jordan river the priests would have to step into the water (first). Once they made the commitment to get into the water then God would cause the water to separate on either side of them, creating a path for them to cross over on dry land.
Strangelove, it appears that you want the answer to your questions without committing to finding out the answer to your questions. You want the waters in your life (so to speak) to part without taking that step of faith that Jesus requires you to take. But is that how anything works? Most people must take a step of faith in many areas of their lives before things work for them. Most guys must take a step of faith for example in the dating game (you, Strangelove, are perhaps an exception, again I do not know). They see an interesting, attractive woman that they want to date, but they realize that they must do something first: they must talk to her and eventually ask her out on a date (with no guarantee that she will accept). With regard to applying for a job most of us understand (almost implicitly) that we must complete and submit an application and/or a resume first, before we can even be considered for employment. This too requires faith on our part--first (I am not trying to be facetious but, again, you may be an exception in this case as well). But we do all of this without any promise of being hired. Finally, Strangelove, can you walk up to an atm machine at a bank and expect it to give you any cash without some effort (or commitment) on your part? Case in point, the first time that you used an atm machine required faith on your part (I am assuming that you have used one). You had to (first) give the atm machine your atm card, right? You inserted your atm card and guess what happened: the card seemingly disappeared. You gave up something (first) without any guarantee that you would get it back (I am talking about the first time that you used the atm machine. You know now that if you use your atm card that you will get it back, but you did not know that experientially the very first time). The point: I know that Jesus is Truth and that the Bible is true because I made and effort and commitment to know this. I took a step of faith (which is the only way that you or anyone else will discover the Truth) and that step led to another step. Each step that I took towards Jesus and to the pursuit of Happyness...uh...I mean toward knowing whether or not Jesus and the Bible were true (isn’t that the name of a recent movie?), brought me more revelation. Jesus is still revealing the Truth of Himself to me. Jesus is still confirming the veracity of His Word to me. But it took some effort on my part. I was just like you. I questioned the Word (the Bible) and doubted that it was given by inspiration of God--until...I did all this doubting and carrying until the day I decided to take a step of faith. To think of all that time that I wasted doubting, questioning, wondering, and wavering back and forth. That time could have been spent more productively because I will never get that time back. So, what say you Strangelove?
Does this answer your question Strangelove? If not then re-read the post because I am certain that the answers to your questions are here but I have perhaps not presented them to you in the way that you evisioned or expected me to. (Hey, you cannot say that I am not making an effort to answer your questions).