I am thinking that at this time in his life Pope Francis probably has somewhat more fear of one billion Catholics than of Messiah Yeshua - Jesus, but I would dearly love to be incorrect about this. Matthew 18:6 ¶ “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!" The "Orthodox" Christian belief in a Virgin Birth makes reconciliation between the Jewish and Christian communities quite difficult. I personally ran into evidence in 2012 that caused me to abandon the traditional, supposedly Orthodox Christian belief in the "Virgin Birth." The Apostle Paul does not on even one occasion refer to the Virgin Birth. The Book of Luke was written after most, if not all of Paul's writings, so I suspect that the Virgin Birth heresy crept into Christianity in a similar way to how the early Christian belief in reincarnation was suppressed by the official Christian church. (My apologies if I should have put this in the Religion and Philosophy forum)?!
I began this discussion May 14, 2014. http://www.politicalforum.com/index...e-in-the-virgin-birth-of-jesus-yeshua.355981/ I no longer believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus/ Yeshua! https://books.google.ca/books?id=kbiGjKJl4D4C&q=
This subject is not entirely comfortable for me because I am a Christian but now I feel that I have to take another look at some of the books that I consider to be "Scripture" and factor into the formula the fact that those books were chosen....... by a then rather biased group of religious leaders who although obviously sincere....... had certain ideas taught to them that were probably biased. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon Why reincarnation was edited out of Christianity? http://www.politicalforum.com/index...nation-was-edited-out-of-christianity.370322/
I would read through Jeremiah rather thoroughly if I were you. Also consider that there is a coordinated effort to fracture the body of Christ and every time a new heterodox concept comes along it weakens all of us. The Council of Nicaea was called specifically to counter that issue back then. So now we have many new prophets that espouse their own brand of faith and call it Christianity. How does one know if a person or Church is true or false? Should we use how we feel about something? Should we be guided by our own moral or ethical code? What about following the whims of modern culture? Or perhaps science is the answer? A common way now id ones feelings. Look in the phone book and see how many Churches you find in there of different denominations or so called nondenominational. A major city could have hundreds. What is the one commonality in all of these different Churches? A lack of authority. Jesus was granted authority to preach the word of God by God the Father. He granted the same rights to his Apostles and so on into the founding of the different Churches. Those granted the authority came together in order to codify how the Church would function and what code or guidelines would be used. There are books written by Church fathers that made it into the Bible and many more left out. So you come forward and say this man's book is authoritative, you also come forth and say that the virgin birth is untrue based on your research. You too now claim authoritative knowledge. So I ask what makes this author or you the true authoritative source and not the Church fathers of the Council of Nicaea on these issues?
Good questions. After 27 years of studying the topic I have concluded that the being of light of NDE fame is none other than Messiah Yeshua - Jesus in his glorified immortal form speaking plainly of the Father........... and keeping his promise to judge us himself. John 16:25 "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father." John 5:22 "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:" http://www.politicalforum.com/index.php?threads/the-being-of-light-of-nde-fame-g-d-or-satan.445248/ The being of light of NDE fame, G-d or Satan?
Actually... I am at this time in my life convinced that the being of light of NDE fame = http://www.drbo.org/chapter/30006.htm "For my angel is with you: And I myself will demand an account of your souls."
That is all very interesting but I do not see how it answers my question. Especially when you use source material that was collected by the very Church Fathers that also sponsored the concept of the Virgin birth and the disavowal of reincarnation. On one hand you are denying their authoritative actions and on the others relying upon them. (If that makes sense)
Actually...... even the questionable verses in Luke could be quite close to what actually happened........ because perhaps the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and told her to go and sleep with her husband....... (on one level a symbol of the fact that a genuine Holy Spirit led Christian can have a deep relationship with Messiah Yeshua Jesus at this time...... previous to when our mortal bodies are swallowed up by immortality)......... On another level..... just as Messiah Yeshua - Jesus Lord of the Sabbath.... so also.. .Messiah is Lord of marriage and does not have to abide by the nearly infinite number of rules and regulations made up either by Essene Rabbis...... or priests.... or pastors... .who violate this scripture........ Exodus 34:26 "The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk."
So how is this demonstrative of you or the other writers authority on adding too, subtracting, or judging scripture in a way that is heterodox too Orthodox teachings by the Church Fathers. You are asking us to take your position over theirs on nothing more then his testimony and your assurances of research. It would behoove us to ask for more then that when we are discussing our faith.
Once we begin to study near death experience accounts we face certain questions that force us to make decisions. In my case..... I could no longer go along with the dogmatic "soul sleep" doctrine that Evangelist Garner Ted Armstrong and his dad had taught me..... so I got myself ex-communicated / dis-fellowshipped from the Worldwide Church of God and its offshoot the Philadelphia Church of God back in 1991. I personally am truly impressed that the Catholic church is taking the Colton Burpo testimony seriously. http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/heaven-is-best-left-to-the-imagination
Here is a somewhat related topic that in my opinion........ puts His Holiness Pope Francis in a position just as serious aS Adam was in....... in the moments after he found out that Eve... had already eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.......... Adam could have walked away from Eve..... and gone into the wilderness and fasted for forty days........ apart from his wife.............. Adam was free to do that.......... and Pope Francis is in a similar situation......NOW! http://www.politicalforum.com/index...ear-death-experiences.523189/#post-1068511530 Mom the church denomination vs Truth/ near death experiences?
If...... Messiah Yeshua - Jesus somehow took my consciousness out of my body........ and the consciousness of His Holiness Pope Francis out of his body........ as has been postulated in quite a few Hollywood movies............ and if Messiah Yeshua - Jesus - Issa were to put my consciousness into the body of Pope Francis...... then I would go public in encouraging Roman Catholics to pray directly to the Ancient of Days the FAther...... and directly to the Holy Spirit.... in the name of Messiah Yeshua - Jesus......... ..........and I personally would come right out and identify the being of light of near death experience fame........ as almost certainly being Messiah Yeshua - Jesus speaking plainly of the Father......... as promised during his three and a half year ministry in the Roman Province of Judaea....... John 16:25 "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father." The metaphorical Bride of Messiah, the church of Jesus Christ... is divided on the issue of whether or not Mr. Colton Burpo is a credible witness........ I am one of the respondents to this poll who answered "Yes." This poll was taken on ChristianForums .com: "Friends of yours watch Heaven Is For Real and ask you about it?"
The church fathers were not one hundred percent in error....... actually... I think that they were largely correct in most of their judgments and decisions...... but a "few flies in the ointment" did slip past them....... but those "flies in the ointment" that make the medicine deplorable to all Jewish scholars........ can now be properly understood in these "Latter Days" when people are running to and fro and knowledge is being increased. http://www.drbo.org/chapter/32012.htm If.... we Christians will admit to our most likely errors from the past 20 centuries........ we can be united with our Jewish brethren........ more and more and more and more........ but if we insist on insisting that we were not wrong.... at least a little bit....... then that possible increasing and increasing unity with Jewish scholars will not be able to take place........... The unity of Christians and Jews.... will cause Skepticism and Atheism to virtually disappear from planet earth........ "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another." [John 13:35] This statement was made to a primarily Jewish audience...... most of whom believed that Rabbi Yeshua - Jesus was the promised Messiah the Passover Lamb..... but part of the audience did not accept him as Messiah yet........ but if those two groups of Messianic and Rabbinic Jews... could respect each other....... give each other some credit...... and openly confess when they are shown about an error that they made in the past...... then those two groups coming together will transform the whole world....... and make it possible for many, many, many , many other groups to take several important steps toward their former rivals............ https://www.near-death.com/experiences/notable/howard-storm.html#a04
