Originally posted by Bat Dude
It's not hard to tell that Christianity is truth.-There's a HUGE push for New Age, whether people realize it or not
-New Age doctrine and pantheism is in everything we watch, read, and hear
-New Age hates Christianity and focuses tons of effort on refuting itIf the emerging world religion (New Age) is so focused on converting Christians, that's got to tell you that real Christianity has to be truth.
If Christianity were just some religion like Buddhism or Hinduism, why would they be pushing so hard and putting so much effort in to convert Christians and nobody else?
Why wouldn't they care about converting Buddhists? Or Hindus? Or Muslims? Or even Jews?
Because Satan's already got them in the palm of his hand.
The Bible itself predicts a world religion and world government under the Antichrist. You hardly hear sermons on it anymore, because everyone just wants their ears tickled and to hear the "prosperity Gospel" like Joel Osteen "preaches". The Bible predicted that many would fall away from the faith and become apostate, too.
No, God was actually being merciful if you think about it.
It doesn't matter anymore, though, because Jesus is the new and better covenant. We aren't bound by the Law anymore.
Don't you think that if a demon were to tell you to kill someone, and you were to question him, he would say "I am being merciful"?
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
Don't you think that if a demon were to tell you to kill someone, and you were to question him, he would say "I was being merciful"?
Demons want to kill you. They despise us because we are created in God's image and they despise God.
God doesn't want to kill anyone. The Bible says, "...As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live..." (Ezekiel 33:11)
Originally posted by Bat Dude
Demons want to kill you. They despise us because we are created in God's image and they despise God.God doesn't want to kill anyone. The Bible says, "...As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live..." (Ezekiel 33:11)
Demons are also deceivers. Therefore, my question is still valid.
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
Demons are also deceivers. Therefore, my question is still valid.
But God is not the author of confusion. (1 Corinthians 14:33)
If you have any sort of "supernatural experience" where an entity of some sort is communicating with you and telling you to do something, you check to see if what they are saying lines up with the Word of God.
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1)
Originally posted by Bat Dude
But God is not the author of confusion. (1 Corinthians 14:33)If you have any sort of "supernatural experience" where an entity of some sort is communicating with you and telling you to do something, you check to see if what they are saying lines up with the Word of God.
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1)
Like the people in the OT who were told by god to kill all the people in this city or that city?
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
Like the people in the OT who were told by god to kill all the people in this city or that city?
I think if God appeared to someone, it would be infinitely more glorious than any demon counterfeit. And of course, God would not contradict His own Word.
And demons had appeared to people before claiming to be God. They appeared to the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, etc. That's where the mythology comes from.
The King James Bible outlines anything you need to know about Christianity and how God and His angels generally appeared to humans.
Originally posted by Bat Dude
I think if God appeared to someone, it would be infinitely more glorious than any demon counterfeit. And of course, God would not contradict His own Word.And demons had appeared to people before claiming to be God. They appeared to the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, etc. That's where the mythology comes from.
The King James Bible outlines anything you need to know about Christianity and how God and His angels generally appeared to humans.
The OT does not shed a very good light on your god. From an outside point of view, some of the things that the Christian god did in the OT appear to be evil. It seems to me that the only thing you can say is that god had the intrinsic right to do so. Then you follow by saying that if god did it, then it was good and not evil. Is that correct?
Originally posted by Deja~vu
Okay, I'm gonna ask again. When did Jesus come back and what's with him being a Buddha. A Buddha Jesus? lol
Ok, in a nutshell -
Jesus, Buddha, Lao Zi and (possibly) Krishna are one the same, as in, it is possible they are the same spirit.
It is at times frightening how parallel their teachings, their sayings and their overall messages are. Par contrast, while Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism are in fact extremely similar religions in dogmatic terms, at their very core, they're very very different.
I know this will sound weird, but Christianity, if it is followed in terms of Jesus' actions and words (forget the God of Abraham for one minute here and the Christianity you know today) is much much closer to Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism than it is to Islam and Judaism.
It has been established that all Jesus' teachings which were either difficult to explain to the common people or were too hard to grasp were in fact scrapped in the early days of Christianity.
If you only concentrate on Buddha and Jesus, and read about them and what they said, you will soon understand what Shaky and I mean. If you extend that comparison to Lao Zi and Krishna, your mind will be blown.
Originally posted by Bat Dude
Sin is sin is sin. Every sin has the same weight in God's eyes. You have to understand that God is perfect in all His ways. He is eternal and pure. Any sin in the sight of God is abhorrent. Whether that's pride, lust, greed, or murder.God does decide who lives and dies.
God gave the law of the Old Testament to Moses. That was the old covenant. In the old covenant, God commanded that adulterers, fornicators, witches, astrologers, murderers, etc. be killed, so that their sin didn't permeate through the population, thus opening the people to demonic influences. ("A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."😉
Obviously, we aren't under the old covenant anymore, so we're not commanded to do that anymore. Anyone who goes out and kills abortion doctors is a hypocrite. Jesus is the new, better covenant.
What I have a great problem with is the New Age idea that Jesus was some Eastern mystic. That's no offense to you, it's just what I have a big problem with.
Interesting.
So, let me clarify few things first, before I accept the Old Testament in its entirety -
How exactly did God give Moses the Old Testament and the rules?
Unless the original Old Testament was written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, that type of book and rules did not exist until the Jews came in contact with Phoenicians who already had a well developed alphabet from where the Jews developed theirs, which took a while. Even then, their new found way of writing had no vowels for even a longer time.
This puzzles me.
Either there was a long period of time before God's words were put down on paper or the original OT was written in hieroglyphics.
Those who finally wrote the OT down, how exactly were they sure that they were writting it down correctly? Moses was long dead by that time. Did God speak to those people equally the way he spoke to Moses in order for them to jot it down right?
Why did God even bother speaking to Moses? Why didn't he get a random Assyrian or Phoenecian who can read and write and had a developed and advanced linguistic and writing system?
That would have been easier and far more productive, I feel.
If God didn't want Assyrians or Phoenicians, why didn't God, instead of handing the Jews a book of rules, hand them down an alphabet and/or a language first?
I find it hard to believe that God speaks to only one person while ignoring everyone else. Why does God ignore everyone else?
The way he is able to speak to Moses, he is able to speak to everyone else.
That in itself would save a lot of time and effort and war and death.
For the record, I do believe God speaks to everyone, equally and at all times.
Originally posted by lil bitchiness
Interesting.So, let me clarify few things first, before I accept the Old Testament in its entirety -
How exactly did God give Moses the Old Testament and the rules?
Unless the original Old Testament was written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, that type of book and rules did not exist until the Jews came in contact with Phoenicians who already had a well developed alphabet from where the Jews developed theirs, which took a while. Even then, their new found way of writing had no vowels for even a longer time.
This puzzles me.
Either there was a long period of time before God's words were put down on paper or the original OT was written in hieroglyphics.
Those who finally wrote the OT down, how exactly were they sure that they were writting it down correctly? Moses was long dead by that time. Did God speak to those people equally the way he spoke to Moses in order for them to jot it down right?
Why did God even bother speaking to Moses? Why didn't he get a random Assyrian or Phoenecian who can read and write and had a developed and advanced linguistic and writing system?
That would have been easier and far more productive, I feel.If God didn't want Assyrians or Phoenicians, why didn't God, instead of handing the Jews a book of rules, hand them down an alphabet and/or a language first?
I find it hard to believe that God speaks to only one person while ignoring everyone else. Why does God ignore everyone else?
The way he is able to speak to Moses, he is able to speak to everyone else.
That in itself would save a lot of time and effort and war and death.For the record, I do believe God speaks to everyone, equally and at all times.
God uses expedient means to lead all to nirvana.
In that way Moses had his way, and the Egyptians had their own.
You have your way, and I have mine.
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
What do you mean?
Apparently, God of Abraham has one way and that way is THE way. The only problem is that the way he insists things are done are so impractical and confusing, yet, he insists that's the only way.
If people want to be impractical and confusing, that's absolutely fine by me, but insisting on one thing only and that this God will throw everyone else into Hellfire if they don't do as they say he said or is born into a particular family, becomes a problem for me.
Scaremongering is a problem for me. Men who frighten others with Hell have already brought them Hell on earth.
I think many people have really distored Jesus. They are too busy judging others, going to bible study that they have missed the message Jesus was bringing. It is a real shame and it gives Christians a bad name. If I were a Christian, I would be ashamed to call myself one. I would totally dissassociate myself from the group.