A question for Christians

For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

He came not to condemn the world but to save it.

If you love Him you will follow his commandments.

Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. If you do this you will have fulfilled the commandments.

God is love, those who love are of God

 

That is not it either..........we are not paying attention at all to what the Bible said Jesus preached about for three and a half years or possible not studying the Bible…..I think its both.

 

I think it is unlikely that most of what Jesus is recorded as saying has been corrupted over time (they wouldn't have dared), and the New Testament is our best source for it. What you are saying about the Kingdom seems to me true, though I'd guess we'd disagree on much else. Tellum!

 

You have any proof of that? And what you are saying is that God is not all-powerful, because He can't even preserve His own inspired word from being corrupted. Or that you have little to no faith in God's ability.

 

I said we'd disagree.

 

Obviously, but your disagreement is not based on the truth. I am completely confident in God's ability to protect His word from being corrupted.

 

BFSmith , I don't post much on the religious threads because of the trolls that are allowed to flamebait & insult at will .

As far as I know , my Bible teaches me that Jesus started his ministry when he was 9 years old , and he confounded the religious sages of his time with his wisdom , understanding , and with the authority with which he spoke .

His message evolved as he grew older , but he never wavered from his message one iota , his every word gave veracity to prophecy that was foretold hundreds of years before he was ever born .

If you could be more specific as to what 3 .5 years you are intrested in , then send me a pm about it , because I will not feed the atheist trolls on an open forum , but I'll try and help you to understand if I can his message .

 

What Jesus did when He was a child and in the temple was simply asking them questions…..it was a one-time thing. The Bible did not say He was preaching to them. Jesus' ministry began after He became an adult. But that's really a side issue.....the message is far more important, but unfortunately most Christians are totally and completely unaware of His message.

This is really an indictment on Christians as a whole, because it either says they don’t study the very book they claim to believe in, or they don’t understand it all and are just fooling themselves.

One of the things that Jesus prophesied was that many would be deceived, by those who acknowledged Him as Christ.

Matthew 24:5 (ASV)
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray.

So how can a person deceive others while at the same time acknowledge that the Jesus of the Bible is the real Messiah? (And notice that Jesus said many….He did not say the few would be deceived) They deceive others by changing the message that Jesus preached to a message about Jesus. Jesus did not preach about Himself and He did not preached Calvary. But basically, those are the two messages we hear Christians talk about when they are witnessing to unbelievers as they call it.

Few Christians know that there is a curse pronounced on any and all who preached a different gospel than what the apostles preached, which was given to them by Jesus.

Galatians 1:8 (KJV)
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

It’s no wonder much of Christianity has been so ineffective and lacking in real power and purpose. It is no wonder most Christians set such poor example of what the kingdom of God is like......they are neglecting the gospel that would tell us that the end has arrived, once its been preached all over the world.


Matthew 24:14 (ASV)
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.

 

I kind of stumbled into this thread and started reading it, and there were really some laugh out loud funny moments at the beginning.

I just want to make one comment, that it appears odd to me that the supposedly religious or faith based contingent aren't willing to go out on a limb and say ANYTHING theologically specific, after having been asked a fairly simple and direct question by the OP.

I mean, I guess I understand the rationale of "don't feed the atheist trolls" or whatever... but still, it is surprising, that the debate or discussion on religion or Christianity has reached this impasse where, before a single word has been spoken or a single question can be answered, one side completely shuts down the debate and just refuses to be forthcoming with any truth or information about the nature of their beliefs.

It is almost as if, or possibly EXACTLY as if, one side in the debate has decided that the only way to insulate their faith or what they think and believe, is to only share or discuss their actual opinions amongst those whom they know for sure will not question them or ask for any clarification. Honestly, I don't think the OP was trolling, I think that he was testing the theory that many Christians apparently don't even have any knowledge of actual Christian theology, aside from the most childish and basic, and that Christianity is usually just more of a cultural, political, tribal and racial badge, a kind of "hoooray for our side" type of belief and not much more.

This is of course sad, but if anything, the religious responses seem to be proving the OP's point, and in fact embellishing it lavishly with bizarre anger and paranoia. I would in fact venture to say, that the ones who will venture into a forum such as this, toss around accusations and insults, call for the closing of threads and show unrestrained contempt for other posters, but, crucially, be at the same time totally unwilling to provide relevant information or to discuss honestly and openly the issue at hand are the actual, true, unrepentant trolls.

 

A very good observation on your part and a correct one.

 

You have a sealed-in truth, untouchable by other minds as far as I can see. Some of it suggests you read the New Testament better than most, but your notion of the text is unhistorical and therefore unsound: if people disagree with you, you call in a discussion-stopper called you own experience, 'faith' or whatever. Your 'truth' might last you out, but it grows increasingly irrelevant, I'm afraid.

 

A very good observation on your part and a correct one.

 

Felicity , with all respect , this is a perfect example of a strawman OP / thread , in my opinion . The thread purports to ask a question ? when actually it is used as an argument to belittle the responder , that makes it flamebait , in my opinion . racism also applies to religion as well as it does the color of ones skin . I've seen it over and over again on the religious threads , that's why I don't post much on the religious threads any more , there's just too many trolls.

 

There is a scripture that says prove all things and hold fast to that which is good. I have proven that God is in control of all things. And since He is in control of everything on Earth and in the heavens, it means He can and has, motivated men of God to put His inspired word together and has protected and preserved it for His people today.

A scripture says, without faith it is impossible to please God. If you don't believe that God is more than capable of doing what I said then you are saying that man is more powerful than He is.

So once I have proven for myself that God has done what He has done by preserving the Bible, there is nothing that anyone can tell me otherwise that is even worthy enough to listen to them.

 

My OP was not about how long did Jesus ministry lasted but what did He preached for three and a half years. You chose to divert away from what my OP was about. I was not asking anyone to teach me about what Jesus' ministry was about....you chose to make that an issue as well. If you don't like the threads you don't have to post here, but to call for it to be closed just because you don't like it is acting like a dictator over what others can say.....and you don't have that right.

 

"prove" as in "test," not as in shown to be verified.

That says I think what I think because I think it and therefore I am right about what I think and no one can convince me otherwise...

That's silly. That says you have more faith in yourself than in God, and I can prove it using the Bible--because the Bible says the EXACT OPPOSITE of what you are suggesting here.



.

 

I think he's just incredibly prideful and ignorant of what the Bible actually says--let alone what it means.

No...not really, unless you're a Jew because that is a race and a religion.

There is such a thing as being prejudiced and bigoted against religion, but it's not technically "racism."

There are. However, if this is "trolling"--perhaps you're a little over sensitive.

Kudos to you. God's blessings be upon you!

 

Yes, you are perfectly sealed-in and insulated from any outside information or "distortions" to your personal truth that you have instructed yourself on from "Your Bible" (literally "your book"). I wouldn't expect you to apologize.

So, what is the point you're trying to make, anyway?

 

And still you have not answered my OP but instead you chose to make false accusations……and I don’t expect you to. And just for your information, Jesus' ministry began after John the Baptist prepared the way for Him, not before. It was after John baptized Jesus that Jesus went out and started to preach/announce His message of the kingdom of God.

 

Well, as I say, discussion seems pointless. Spiritual pride - you might perhaps remember - is a very dangerous thing, even for those who render themselves deaf and blind.

 

When it comes to the trust-worthiness of God's word that is not up for discussion...period.

 

again , what 3 1/2 years are you refering to ?

I did not call for a Christian boycott because I didn't like your OP , I called for the boycott because you seek not understanding , but only trolling arguments .

If you had sought understanding , you would have respected my right to not be trolled , and replied with a pm . . you didn't do that , threw it back in my face , actually .

by your own words are you revealed .