Please do not call yourselves Christians any more.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

so are you telling me you trust a book written by men to give you the exact picture of Jesus? Are these books nothing more that OTHER men telling you about Jesus and what he said and you will follow their version of Christ over another mans version of Christ found in the same volumes?

Do you and winword not see your own hypocrisy in what you are claiming.

Jesus didn't write the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John did. So how do you know for sure Jesus really did say the things he said. Maybe there is no Jesus at all if it is all made up by men?

Winword and you seem to want to hold Christians to words you claim are just the fanciful writings of men. If you don't believe the words int he Bible are real then you cant expect to hold anyone to them. that is hypocrisy in the Highest form

a reply to: Akragon

I have a happy and wonderful life, married for 18 years, three children and we are happy.

I have to go now enjoy hating the Bible and those Who are Christians

a reply to: ChesterJohn

Jesus didn't write the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John did. So how do you know for sure Jesus really did say the things he said. Maybe there is no Jesus at all if it is all made up by men?

EXACTLY!!!!

THere you go. You answered your own conundrum.

Still - that being admitted: Why do you believe second/third/fourth hand gossip tabloid crap?

Isn't the main message enough?

(TREAT OTHERS THE WAY YOU WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED)
(DON'T JUDGE)

a reply to: ChesterJohn

Winword and you seem to want to hold Christians to words you claim are just the fanciful writings of men. If you don't believe the words int he Bible are real then you cant expect to hold anyone to them. that is hypocrisy in the Highest form

It doesn't matter if Jesus was a real person or if he's a complete myth. The story and its allegorical answers to mankinds' questions regarding its inner and outer, animal and spiritual struggles for balance, are universal. That being said, there is nothing new in the teachings of Jesus and his story that hasn't been said and told before by others first.

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
Why is anything except Jesus's words important to you as a "Christian"?

God always endorses what he does through signs and wonders.

I had an experience similar to the one below...

Many others have had very similar encounters.

I was just sitting there when all of a sudden a voice inside my head that was not my own asked this question right out of nowhere: "How would you like to see God?"

Without giving it even a second thought, immediately I answered, "Of course! Who wouldn't?!" Especially doubters like me. Then I heard this still, silent voice say:

"Okay, if you want to see God, go into the living room. He's in there."

"Look at the coffee table. What do you see on it?"

Walk over, pick up that Bible off the coffee table, and hold it in your hands."

I heard this voice inside my head one last time, and it said:

"What you are holding is Jesus Christ in print."

THE INCREDIBLE BIBLE MIRACLE!

Also in numerous encounters and NDE's, Jesus refers to the Bible as "my word" or "my book":

"Didn’t you read my book?"

"If you had read My Book you would have known all the answers."

"You don't believe my word the Bible..."

"an audible voice telling him to read a Bible..."

Another huge confirmation of this:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" ~ John 1:1

Jesus is saying ‘It is me, do you see in Genesis 1:26. Yes, me, I was with your ancestors right at the beginning when I made you in my image and likeness. I came to your ancestors, yes, me Jesus in Genesis 3:8 as the Lord God as I was walking in the garden in the cool of the day and your ancestors hid from me among the trees.

It was me Jesus who spoke to your ancestors saying “Where are you?” It was me, Jesus the Lord God, who made the garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. It was me, Jesus Christ your Lord God, who appeared with my two angels to meet Abraham near the great trees of Mamre. It was me, your Lord God Jesus Christ (YESHUA) in Exodus 6:2, when I said to Moses, I AM the LORD who appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty.

a reply to: Murgatroid

Wait....correct me if I'm mistaken, but:

Aren't you the guy who walked into a living room somewhere and saw this huge white coffee-table Bible there, and you opened it, and suddenly you were converted?

I thought that was your story. Please let me know if I've confused your story with someone else's.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

That's correct except for the conversion part...

The conversion happened a few years after that experience.

See posts here and here...

originally posted by: Murgatroid
In 1979 I had an incredible supernatural encounter and I was given instantaneous knowledge that the Bible I was looking at was written by GOD. I knew it was a supernatural event and it left a profound impact on what I believed even to this day.

a reply to: Murgatroid

Okay - just wanted to confirm I was thinking of you and not someone else.
Thanks.

a reply to: Murgatroid

So,,,,you are a prophet? I mean, you are adding your words as authority from Jesus. Can you do miracles too?

a reply to: ChesterJohn

I have to go now enjoy hating the Bible and those Who are Christians

I don't hate the bible, or Christians for that matter...

In fact the bible is easily my favorite book...

What I do hate is what Christianity turns people into a lot of the time... Christians are the most judgemental, hypocritical people I've ever met... and its plagued me my entire life

Personally IF I did claim to be a Christian.... I would be ashamed of it

originally posted by: MOMof3
I mean, you are adding your words as authority from Jesus.

Where exactly did I do this?

Don't seem to recall making any predictions either.

Sounds like an inquisition to me...

Are you by chance a Catholic?

a reply to: Akragon

but you have never been judgmental or hypocritical in your entire life. RIGHT!!!

a reply to: windword

it is a little hypocritical for someone who doesn't believe the Bible to try and hold others to its standard. that in and of itself is totally Hypocritical.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

No it's not. I don't claim to live by the Bible, then make excuses for not doing so.

originally posted by: [post=19843499]BuzzyWigs

(TREAT OTHERS THE WAY YOU WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED)
(DON'T JUDGE)

And you have NEVER judged anyone else.

and you have ALLWAYS treated everyone the way you want to be treated.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

So, because I believe those things, I have to be perfect in performing them? As for how I have treated people I worked with face to face, and directly, YES, I treated them the way I wanted to be treated. If they failed to reciprocate, after many, many chances I would decide they were not worthwhile or trustworthy and deserved chastising for it.

See - the dilemma is that there's also this fact that humans have the ability to discern.
If someone treats me badly, or holds beliefs that I find abhorrent, I'm not supposed to stand up against it?

I am human - I respond in kind when appropriate, and get defensive when assaulted and injured repeatedly. And yes, I make assessments of people who are open about their ignorant bigotry and greed. So?

I don't call myself a "Christian" - remember?
You, however, DO use that label to describe yourself. And you claim that being a "Christian" requires that you not wish others a good day, or deign to speak to them.

You see, Chester, I believe that everyone is doing their best by default. Sometimes "their best" falls abysmally far from morality and is entirely counter-productive. My role, as I see it, is to strive to help them see where they are amiss. I've been burned many, many times by mistakenly trusting people...and giving them the benefit of the doubt.

But I always START with trusting and giving the benefit of the doubt.
Not real big on turning the other cheek. But I outgrew my low self-worth (instilled by the Church) and now refuse to allow myself to be victimized or taken advantage of. I learned the HARD WAY.

Do I enter into relationships WITH THE INTENTION of abusing the other? NEVER.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

that is what the premise of what the OP states. We either keep it perfectly or don't call our selves Christians while he sits back and judges us for our failures to follow a book he himself does not believe. When a Hindu doesn't follow what the Veda's teach I would never tell them not to call themselves Hindu's because I don't believe in them.

that is why while the OP calls Christians hypocrites and judgmental, he at the very core is a hypocrite and judgmental by trying to tell us to live by a book he himself does not believe in.

at a the base I agree with much of what you say.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

We either keep it perfectly or don't call our selves Christians while he sits back and judges us for our failures to follow a book he himself does not believe

Whoa wait....hold up....what?

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but,

weren't you the one saying that you should judge and should turn away from people who don't believe what you believe? And not even bless them a good day???

I gotta say, friend.....
those ideas of yours just don't....they aren't...they're not sticking the landing, in my view.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

You don't believe any of that now do you? After all it is just a book written by men. It has been changed and made up to say what certain sects or people want it to say.

So throw that book away and go about your day.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

You don't believe any of that now do you?

Nope...I don't believe ANY of that (if you're still talking about judging and so forth)..... I also don't agree or believe that you have any place to judge or turn people away.

But, at least I am trying to get along with others.

After all it is just a book written by men.

That is correct. Exactly!

It has been changed and made up to say what certain sects or people want it to say.

So throw that book away and go about your day.

Yes. I highly recommend that course of action!!

Thanks! I'm so happy to have your approval...
okay, got shrimp scampi going in the kitchen...

talk to you later....thanks for your response!!