Reasons To Believe

reply to post by Casing


The current Heaven and Earth will be destroyed and there will be a new creation, a new Heaven and Earth as one where Jesus (Yeshua) reigns forever in the new Jerusalem. It is encouraging at least to see a non-believer with a pretty good understanding of what is in the Bible though.

I don't really have an answer for why Satan would have rebelled if everything was perfect. The angels were also created with free will and it's only known to me that Satan was proud and he let it get the better of him. I'll be trying to think of a better answer supported biblically for the question you raise concerning that.

reply to post by Donnie Darko


1) There is nothing that tells us that Jesus' saving act on the cross was for anyone but us humans, God's creation in His own image. If there is other life out there, I am sure God has a plan for it, but we are unaware of it. Sorry that doesn't help much. :-[

2) God expects that we love Him first and foremost. If we loved our families more, we might choose to believe whatever they believe or do what they do in fear of alienating ourselves from them or just being rejected for believing in God when they don't. If your family also believes, then you are in a great situation. Jesus says that we should love God so much, that our love for our family pales in comparison. Even to the point of saying we must hate our own families in perspective. We know that we are supposed to love them of course, because Jesus also said that anyone who does not take care of his own family is worse off than the pagans, because even they do that. Keep loving, it's the main command God gave us in both the Old Testament and the New!

reply to post by Watcher-In-The-Shadows


Love is putting another's needs and even wants above your own. Being willing to suffer at the expense of another. Wanting to improve anothers state of being at the cost of personal sacrifice. Love is selflessness in its extreme. Love is giving all that you have for someone and expecting nothing in return.

For a better definition, read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

reply to post by Mykahel


Why is being "good" not good enough? Just curious ...

reply to post by psyko45


I am sorry for your loss and the pain you have felt as a result of it. I do not wish to insult by saying this, but many have made the demand for either to show themselves and it simply has not happened.

God is not our servant in that He must do as we want when we want...
Satan is not all powerful and omnipotent. He may have never even heard you.

I hope that God does reveal Himself to you at some point.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


Exactly what questions are you asking about this part of Isaiah? I might be able to help but no promises. I am a student of the word, but by no means an expert.

reply to post by Nichiren


In the book of Romans it says that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.

None of us have lived a perfect life, and in order for us to be in the very presence of a perfect God we need to be perfect.

On top of not being worthy to be with God, we are guilty of sin and the punishment is death. Jesus, however, paid that price already for us on the cross. By cleansing us of our imperfections and taking our punishment, Jesus has opened the door for us to enter into the presence of God and enjoy the reward he has waiting for us.

This gift of grace from Jesus is for everyone, but we must accept it. If we do not accept it, then we are still imperfect and have a punishment due us. This is why being "good" is not good enough

In short, we would have to be PERFECT to be good enough. Just "good" won't cut it. Did that help?

Reasons to Believe are too many to list and are increasing exponentially, while whatever reasons there were not too are so0 few and diminishing rapidly!

As the Two witnesses of the Hebrew and Greek 'Judeo-Christian' Bible are proving true with History and Science, and time itself has revealed it's prophecy inevitable, the rejecting do so to their own perilous demise...

still they have been saved by the very same 0ne who gave them being at all to begin with, and in the great lasting infinity becoming they shall either arrive to share in the heavens or remain ashamed and withelled.

I don't even know where to begin on pointing out flaws in Christianity. I could go on for days and days about how pretentious "you people" are. I respect the fact that you want to use the bible and the teachings of Jesus to guide you to be a better person, and that your belief in God is a huge part of a Christian's life. I would never ask you to stop believing in God- just stop telling me that every fact that science has produced over the past 500 is bull# because a single book 1,000 years older than that says so. That just doesn't fly with me. To me, sir/ma'am, it is you the Christian who has "stopped looking", not the Athiest that chooses to look further for the truth than just a moldy old book. Science has pretty much fulfilled the space for religion, which was the ancient people's use for explaining misunderstood phenomena.

I seriously don't mind if people are Christians, because I feel that Christianity and other religions can guide people to be good people. But just be content with what you believe and don't force it on other people because a belief is a personal opinion in which you get to choose for yourself.

reply to post by Mykahel


Are you talking about the same guy who is omniscient, but puts his children in a snake infested garden? Tells them not to eat from a certain tree, by punishment of death, but knowing fully well that the two will eat the fruit. He then blames the kids and a talking snake for the incident? Since he doesn't kill them he's also, let's say "intellectually dishonest".

Is this the perfection you allude to?

reply to post by maximumpower


Many Christians accept a lot of the science that has developed over the centuries. While many claim us to be sheep that simply follow blindly, I think you will find that the science many of us reject is the stuff that simply has not been proven without a doubt.

I for one was a skeptic of the science behind Global warming from the get-go, and look how accurate that all turned out.

Not trying to be rude, but just understand that many of us have reasons (some better than others) for not buying into everything that "science" has to tell us. Hope that clarifies a little at least.

Sorry if it seems like I have kinda taken over the thread, it's late and I didn't have much to do. Going to bed now... Good night.

reply to post by Mykahel


Once again, though, not here to get you to change your mind. I'm just saying stop trying to assimilate every one else! You already have like 90% of the world.

reply to post by Nichiren


A distortion of it perhaps. Before the fall of man, there was no death or disease and so the snakes would have been completely harmless. In the Genesis account it reads that every plant was given for food for every animal. Perhaps some animals were made to be carnivorous beforehand because God knew the fall would eventually happen.

Nothing says that Adam and Eve were kids when they were formed. We have no idea at what age they would have been upon their being created.

God never said he would kill them, he said they would "surely die." They did eventually die as a direct result of the curse. They could have lived forever.

By us falling and suffering death, God has now allowed for the opportunity for us to love Him and for Him to express his unending love for us. God wants a real relationship with us, and that means we have to have choice. He knew our choice would come at a great cost to Him, but He wanted a relationship with us so much that he was willing to pay the price, knowing he would have to from the very beginning. Hope that helps.

reply to post by ACTS 2:38


I really disagree with you on this one.

Even an atheist is a religious belief as they must have a faith that God does not exist.

Atheism merely means, To not there are any god's.
Usually, only after confronted by bias reasoning and illogical opposites bible texts and explanations or any other scriptures, one makes to a point of not buying it. Not 'not' believing but make believing even an option.

Like a collector without a collection, is in fact not a collector in any way.
As Atheism would seize to exist, the very moment people stop believing in a god.
Why the need for naming a need to explain you don't believe, If there is nobody around believing ?

Originally posted by Conclusion
I have seen so many Christian bashing threads on here that I felt as if I had to write this.

First off I would like to state that I do understand why you do not believe. You stopped looking.

You see, in order to find anything you have to look for it. If you do not look for something it makes it very difficult to find it. You may as well be blind to what you are searching for.

Could it not be that we did look, we did examine, we were raised on a Christian faith, we took classes on the Bible... and as we developed the mental capacity to do so, we formed our own opinion without accepting whole heartedly everything the good preacher told us when we were 8?

You know who you are. If you do not open yourself to even the slightest possibility that there are things out there that you cannot understand, let alone explain, then you are wasting your time. And the clock is ticking.

This is comedic gold. Nothing to say about it.. pretty self explanatory... I can't be the only one that got a laugh out of that.

I will tell you exactly why I place zero faith in the Bible. Council of Nicaea and King James. That ruined it for me.

How does almighty YHWH let man edit and revise the almighty word of YHWH... twice? And why do Christians place so much stock in this twice revised, retracted, edited, and rewritten version of what men wrote down... ~2000 years ago?

What it boils down to is that everything a Christian "knows", everything a Christian "learned" about the Bible... the entirety of their foundation for their Christian belief... ORIGINATED from the mouth of a man, who read the translated words of another man, who edited the original words of another man, of the books that man allowed to be in the Bible... and it's only later in their lives do they try and connect what is happening in their lives and around them to what the preacher man told you life was all about.

I'll go 12 rounds on Bible Theory with anyone, I'll interpret 'till the cows come home, I'll debate you on any hymn, passage, or book you would like... but I do so with the understanding of where these words came from... that is something that Christians either are not aware of, or ignore.

reply to post by maximumpower


Please understand, the reason we try to "assimilate" everyone is because since we believe that we know the only way to eternal life and want none to suffer Hell, so we try to help as many as possible understand.

I am perfectly fine just living alongside of people who don't believe the same as me, its the idea that they will be suffering for eternity that drives me to present the word of God.

I wish we had 90% of the word. Would be a wonderful place, assuming they lived up to the name "Christian." Anyway, best of wishes to you and God bless.

Originally posted by Conclusion

First off I would like to state that I do understand why you do not believe.

You stopped looking.

You may as well be blind to what you are searching for.

If you want to know the answer learn a little science.

And the clock is ticking.

This thread will be no use to you.

I will tell you that there is not one good person. Not one.

Only one part of reality Pedro.

When you read something at least try to understand it.

I see through you.

Therefore your understanding of the events are flawed.

Here is a little bit of information you might not know.

You have to stop blaming God for your own bad decisions and work toward improving whatever you need to improve.

It's loving folks like you that give the man a bad rep.

reply to post by Mykahel


All I can say is that you thinking that your way of life is the one true way is the reason I really loathe Christians. The religion itself isn't that bad, I guess, but you guys take it to an inappropriate level.

reply to post by ImaNutter


Yes, the words came from man, but were inspired by God. I too questioned those things I was taught and doubted many of them. I searched for my own answers and have got some of them, but not all. I still believe.

To be honest, the King James has done terrible harm to the faith. there are some (The King James Only or KJO) who say that the King James is the ONLY inspired translation of the Bible and that they are in fact the exact words of God and any other translation is a heresy and so on so forth.

I assume your arguments end with the basic point that the Bible was written by failable man and that is why you place no stock in it. I would argue that God uses failable men all the time to accomplish His will. If I am mistaken about your argument, please help me so I can better understand. I know you have to decide for yourself and I probably won't prove anything, but if you are open to it I would like to know these issues you have. peace.

Why do depictions of Adam and Eve show them having belly buttons?

Seriously.

If a giant invisible guy in the sky "created them" (as laughable as that is), they wouldnt have belly buttons.

reply to post by Mykahel


May I ask you what semester you're in?

Best,

N