Jesus Christ: The Loving God of the Old AND New Testament

a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1

Do you believe you can live as Jesus did? Sinless and perfect?

When I confess my sins and remain in fellowship with God yes. I cant keep a perfect track record, if I could, then I wouldnt need God's forgiveness. When I die, my sin nature will be removed and I will be as Jesus is.

Are you perfect as God is perfect? If not, you do not love God.

Jesus died for my sins, so I am blameless in God's eyes. I am still disciplined when I slip up, but I am no longer condemned. As I said, when I die, my sin will not be part of my afterlife.

Do you fear being punished if you disagree with the bible? Do you fear being left behind if Jesus comes back?

I have been born again. Christ overcame death for me. I have no reason to fear eternaty.

My repentance was not motivated by fear, but by disgust for the wickedness of my own heart that was evident by my lack of faith. I dont fear punishment. I fear temporarily falling out of fellowship because I know that my God suffered for my recklessness. It hurts to know that every time I lose my patience, Jesus suffered that much more on the cross. It doesnt always stop my from sinning, but it brings me back to repentance, and God is always willing to forgive.

I hope this answers some of your questions.

a reply to: Akragon

I respect you for what you said. Understand that each individual is responsible for their own thoughts and actions whether under brainwash, coersion or threat of death. Even Jesus told us to be faithfull unto death. But you cant hold the sins of a few idiots against all Christians. If you do this, that speck of hatred will always be a blindspot for what might otherwise seem obvious.

I will pray for you because you requested it. Im not the type that tells people "I will pray for you" for passive aggressive condecsention.

As far as the Bible is concerned, I cant make anyone see what they dont want to see. That doesnt automatically mean Im right, but you could be overlooking something vitally important because a pack of fools placed a stumbling block before your feet. Yes, the OT said some ugly things. As long as humanity is involved, there will always be ugliness. But if you take the Bible as a whole, the message becomes a love story between God and man, that describes the things God was willing to do to restore that relationship.

My only advice to you is to set aside all emotion and examine the bible for what it is. Follow the bread crumbs between the books. Read between the lines. If you cant see it now, it doesnt mean you wont see something new in the future.

Ask God for the truth. He is obligated to answer. But you have to understand that you may not like what He has to say. Is this a flaw in God or man?

Everything has a purpose, even your personal trials.

a reply to: BELIEVERpriest

Thank you... but let me ask you one question

How exactly do you think I've came to my conclusions?

Im not part of any religion... NO ONE teaches me except God...

And I've been studying religious material for over 10 years now...(probably closer to 11 by now) which has involved many different religions...

And I always come back to the gospels...

a reply to: Akragon

My personal understanding of Christianity is that it is not a religion. I know this is not the mainstream view, but it is my perspective. While all religions are unified by the attept to gain the approbation of God via works (good deeds, esoteric knowledge, higher plain meditation, "enlightenment"); Christianity only ask for faith. By faith, I dont mean intellectual acknowledgment or profession, but Love for Christ+Knowledge of Salvation=Faith. The Bible as a whole teaches that man is slave to sin, and can not pay for his own freedom by works of good. So Jesus took responsibility for the sins of His creation (man) to purchase/redeem us from sin.

Therefore faith in Christ is a macrocosm of a Husband/wife relationship. Christ being the Husband and believers being the Bride.

If you studied religion, then it is likely that you approached the gospells from a religious perspective. If that is the case, then I would expect that the gospells would make some sense to you, but the rest of the Bible wouldnt fit.

If you approach the Bible from the "Husband/ wife relationship" perspective (unconditional love), I would expect that you would see much more truth in it.
Also, because all religion share a common thread of work, they lend creedance to the "all roads lead to Rome" ideology. The idea that all religions share an element of truth that can be consollidated into a master religion. This is called Ecumenalism, and is considered Satanic in my circle of faith. Consollidated religion has the potential to enslave all of mankind.

Those are my thoughts. I hope they are instrumental in your search for the truth.

a reply to: BELIEVERpriest

So you do not live as Jesus does. If you sin then you do not live like him because according to Christianity he was sinless. If you claim to love God and claim to know him you must be sinless and perfect just as the bible tells you to. If you are not sinless then you do not know God. That's exactly what the bible says.

a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1

See, now your just trying to trap me in a senseless argument. Jesus freed me so that I can live like Him. I do love God, but old habits die hard. That is why Jesus taught to forgive as the Father forgives.

Jesus didnt expect us to be perfect. Instead, He wants us to put sin behind us, and when we fail, try again.

Just get to the point, dont BS me.

a reply to: BELIEVERpriest

Fair enough... I can appreciate what that...

First... I didn't start from a religious perspective... I started from nothing... No belief in God or anything else except for what was in front of my eyes... started at a point in my life where I was discovering the world is made up of lies and deceit... In every thing that we learn, in everything we're shown... in everything we're fed by the media...

In truth it all started at the turning point in our civilization... when the towers fell... I saw what happened, and I knew it was just another lie... I realised there is no truth in this world, and so I started my search for what was lacking... TRUTH... I thought IF there was a God, maybe he had something to say about "the truth"... So I started my search with the bible... read through it cover to cover searching for truth... but as per usual in almost every case, when one reads the bible they start at Genesis... and by the time you get half way through the book, you're so confused it just seems like nonsense... I read the gospels as well but pretty much glossed over them... when I hit revelation it was just nonsense at that point... so I started on other religions hoping for some small shred of truth...

Touched on several other religions as well... Judaism, Taoism, Hinduism... I read the Bhagavad Gita which was interesting... but it seemed like more mythological rhetoric...I even looked into Satanism which just wasn't for me.... Buddhism was the turning point... I learned meditation, and practiced it regularly... and more then anything I was really into conspiracies which eventually led me here... all the while searching for this elusive "truth" that seemed nonexistent at that point.

I can't point out exactly when I came across Jesus, I always knew about him but not in detail... I grew up in a mildly religious house hold, meaning I got dragged to church on sundays... which I hated, and do this day I do not feel comfortable in a church, but at least now I know why... So I started reading the gospels, and they struck a cord in my heart... No matter how hard I tried to find issues with what he taught I could not find it... and I happen to notice he called himself "the truth"... which I balked at in the beginning... but it became undeniable as I read through them over and over... So I started back on Genesis and it did not add up, especially since i remembered the whole "trinity" idea... Jesus was supposed to be God... so why would the story of creation and the books of the torah conflict with what he taught? I mean this was supposed to be Gods word...

Eventually after reading through the bible a few more times more confused then ever i wondered why there was only 4 books with Jesus in them... I thought there must be more somewhere, which was when i found Gnosticism... Things were starting to add up finally, and to top it off there was a lovely conspiracy around every corner when comparing what Christianity is today to the early versions of it... So i pretty much dedicated my free time to early Christian writing...

This has been my reading list since then... and of course, the KJV bible

reluctant-messenger.com...

www.earlychristianwritings.com...

www.gnosis.org...

I've read every book within those links at one point or another in the past several years... and some I've read a few times... and in everything I've read in these past years, i always come back to the gospels, and i can even tell you why...

Christians believe Jesus saved them... This is true, but its not in the way they believe... All this blood sacrifice, and ritualistic symbolism that's involved in the religion is simply tradition from an older religion... basically indoctrination stemming from the early church Fathers and what they turned the religion into, which was not what Jesus wanted

Jesus saved us because HE taught people how NOT to sin... His death and resurrection was never what was important, it was his life... the way he led it, and what he taught during it...

And the fact is what he taught was simple... WE DO NOT DIE... Death is nothing more then the passing of the physical body, the spirit lives on after death... and this is not a gift from God that is only for a few people that believe in the religion they prefer... It is for everyone... Every single one of us living, and every one that has ever lived...

And for this wonderful precious Gift... all he asks is that we love each other... Help each other, respect each other... Forgive, and have mercy even if we feel someone doesn't deserve it...

No books aside from the gospels will tell you this... the rest is simply not necessary IF one understands these very simple things... And this idea that work is Nothing but filthy rags to God is just disgusting...

Regardless of your beliefs or lack of belief in God, we all return home... to where we came from...

NO hell... NO eternal damnation.... NO fear... NO despair...

NO WORRIES...

Just love

a reply to: Akragon

I cant say I agree with any of that, but I do have a new found respect for why you believe that.

On that note, Im gonna go count some sheep.

Good night and keep your heart open. You never know what you might find.

a reply to: BELIEVERpriest

My dear brother,

May you be strong in the Lord always, and may He protect your mind from all vile heresies and doctrines of demons,

God bless you and your entire family, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,

and may you always remember the words of the Apostle:

1 Timothy 6:11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

a reply to: godlover25

Thank you for your prayer and blessing. Know that I am also keeping you in my prayers as well. Never falter in the stand against heresies. Continue to seek for strength in the Lord. Fight the good fight until we are called to rest.