Part 39 of Post Your Tough Questions Regarding Christianity

She looks like she’s quite proud of them.

 

He never answers any questions put to him. He usually responds ten years later with dodges and by citing a book and then thanking you for your question disingenuously. You should be happy he responded to you almost right away, even though he didn't aswer your question

 

When I make statements that has biblical truths in them, I back up my statements by presenting Scripture that confirms what I'm saying, so there's no lies being generated by me. I'm only stating what has been revealed to us by Almighty God. And Almighty God does not lie, He is not a man, so He does not lie.

That's not true for a start. You are only stating WHAT YOU BELIEVE is revealed by Almighty God. As yet you have not proved that your God actually exists. You have no evidence that Jesus was divine. Matthew makes Jesus a divine baby by obvious misuse of OT scriptures and Paul puts his divinity down to his supposed resurection. (Romans). Most commentators in the early days say 'that's what his disciples say'. You're on here to proselytise and failing rather dismally. You can can only back up your statements with your own interpretation of scripture - however wrong it might be. And you go blithely along without any real understanding of the subject.

 

When exactly is the soul implanted in a fetus? Does God track sperm after an ejaculation waiting to implant a soul? Of is the soul created as a natural process? If so, do animals have souls? If not why not?

 

Everything seems silly to an unbeliever...that's a given. dairy you once told us you were a Christian, and so I'm a bit surprised that you never heard of this before.

Yes, Bible scholars have on going debates regarding this. So, nothing is conclusive. God did not leave us with many details regarding the Great Flood of Noah so that's why Bible scholars resort to debates/opinions etc. regarding this true historical event.

Here let me just present a video from my favorite Christian Ministry. They give their opinions/beliefs as to why God inflicted His Wrath on a world gone wrong.
Also, I have something from the blue letter bible organization below for you to read.

Ok thanks dairy for your post, it was a pleasure for me to respond to it.

 

According to the bible, a fetus is not a living person with a soul until after drawing its first breath. So an abortion is not equivalent to killing a living person.

 

I gave you my interpretation and so why keep on asking about this "morning star"? And I would like to know what religion is your belief system based on, are you an atheist, agnostic, Buddhist? What is it? You already know my religion, so what is yours? I want to know what your world view perspective is.

If you don't want to tell me then I'm sorry but I can't continue having conversations with you.

Ok thanks Kode for your post.

 

Heck! WTH is a “soul” exactly??

 

I didn’t ask for your private opinion. I asked for the meaning intended by the writer in that time.

I grew up in an Episcopalian church and as an adult I took up a years-long study into the ancient monastics. I read the writings they left behind. I learned their practices, and I did what they did. They wrote of their methods of work and their insights gained in their practice. They told of “the anointing”, the meaning of “unconditional love” and how it is entirely different from every type of human love, they wrote of “the peace that passeth understanding”, of “the Presence” of God face-to-face. And in the practices I personally experienced all those graces too. Insights included the meaning of “the morning star”, “the circumcision of the heart”, “I am the way the truth and the life”, “no one comes to the Father but through me”, “the milk of the Word and the meat of the Word”, and much, much more from every chapter of every book of the bible, ... and even The Trinity” which is not in the bible but which the Catholic church holds true. And they told that few there be who would understand and most would miss the mark. They would not even accept the truth as a possibility. I personally have never found a religionist who could grasp and accept the meaning of “unconditional love”. That would be the easiest, but they cannot accept the truth of that, let alone the others.

And this all opened up for me a truly spiritual understanding of the bible that few see though they claim great knowledge and understanding.

 

This is why Mitt is so ridiculous. The Flood as described in the Bible cannot have happened in this world for several million years. Certainly not in man's time. Even reading the Bible hydrology shows this. Water in the form of moisture is drawn up by heat. In the upper atmosphere it forms drops. When the conditions are right it falls as rain to the earth and makes it way down rivers back to the ocean. As the system is circular the ocean never rises. Of course God could have drained the water from the moon and Mars and transported it across space. What happened to it afterwards only 'God' knows.

Many of the stories of the Bible are simply adapted from earlier stories. Job - The Babylonian Job. (,The Ludlul-Bel-Nimeqi), Jonah - the Babylonian god -Oanes. Esther purports to explain how the feast of Purim came to be celebrated by the Jews. There is no historical event to show this to be true.
If Moses existed and wrote the Pentatuech he was extremely clever as the language it was written in was not around in his supposed time and it is generally agreed by scholars that several writers got together and formed it around the 7th-6th century BCE.

A lot of the OT books are simply attributed to authors who may have written part with others adding their part. The Book of Lamentations is simply ascribed to Jeremiah but its poems are written by various unknown authors. It wasn't uncommon to write poems of lamentations about the destruction of cities. Besides Jerusalem, there were lamentations of Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Eridu. Like Jerusalem, we don't know who the authors were.

Mitt may accept the scriptures are divinely written and scriptually accurate, but studies of many experts show this not to be true. A study of the background shows the same.. That's why Mitt refuses to answer certain questions.

 

If you can close your eyes and speak, you can pray to God in heaven. It also helps to avoid other distractions, like sound. And so you wind up talking to a person who isn't there, but with the hope that there is a God who hears you.

 

That’s just a belief.

 

That's just unbelief. All progress begins with belief.

 

Nope nope nope. Belief is basically opinion, guess, hope, and faith with no factual evidence is involved.

 

But it is just your belief that the background info you received is true that makes the Bible so unreal to you.

You have acknowledged that, "Belief is basically opinion, guess, hope, and faith with no factual evidence is involved."

Let me put up post #1464 by Kode that you liked, essentially indicating your agreement with his statement.

Ok thanks trev and Kode for your posts, it was a pleasure for me to respond to them.

 

The difference Mitt is that what I post has been proven by archaeology, history etc. It is not belief - it is fact. What you post has not, and in many cases, as the scottish judicial system would say, 'Not Proven'.

Thank you for your post and the continued refusal to answer questions I have posed. That rather makes a mockery of your posts. You have all the answers for Biblical questions yet cannot answer my questions. You claim Moses existed, that the Flood was as stated in the Bible. There's not a shred of evidence in science to prove that. As I said the Bible actually denies the flood in its description of hydrology - as I posted. And the idea of waters under the earth rising is nonsense. If you did any basic science or geography in school you would know that.

Thanks again for your post. You're simply showing your lack of real knowledge. If you are interested I can show you the reason why the Nativity stories are fabricated and how Joseph and family, are in Nazareth and Egypt at the same time. I can show you why a 200 mile hourney to Egypt through the Judean mountains, Negev Desert and Nile Delta would have been more dangerous than a trip to Syria - 20 miles from Josephs home in Nazareth.

 

Why do you believe in the ancient ethnocentric Middle Eastern Jewish religious fairytale when it is so racist against non-Jews? Maybe you have fallen in love with the sounds of the words "god" and "Bible."

 

Nothing is gained without it. The poster wanted to know how to discern among all the Gods and beliefs, which one is correct. I suggested ignoring the legion of proposals, and praying about it. That way it cannot be just another opinion or composition, but a fact, if it is attained. But it cannot be attained without first having a measure of belief or courage. Does one sit in the ship and shudder at dock, or take to the sea. Does one study without first believing to learn. The miracle comes after having exercised faith. But like the Apostle Paul said, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." This is a sound concept, applicable to everything in life. It is not a stranger to mankind. So to say that belief is somehow foreign to man and a contrivance, is to suggest that closing your eyes can make you invisible to the truth. We have the means to pray. It is as easy as breathing, and easier than searching thru google. But it is to us whether or not we do. I know that God is real and that he lives. I know that he hears and answers prayers as he deems appropriate.

 

Well, you like to bring up archaeology, then let's talk about it.

The Bible is an accurate historical record. When you consider many of its historical details have been confirmed. Certain portions that were held in doubt were later verified by archaeology. But truth be told, not every single detail in the Bible can be directly confirmed, however that doesn't make it unreliable because it contains parts that cannot be confirmed or have not yet been confirmed.

Archaeological findings/discoveries play a major role in authenticating the validity of the historical Bible. And there have been many archeological discoveries from the past up to the present. If you care to look at it below is a link regarding the top 10 biblical-archaeology discoveries of 2021.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/n...gy-top-10-discoveries-new-artifacts-2021.html

So, I have presented facts myself, or are you going to deny them as facts and display your bias here?

Bottom line trev, nobody on either side is going to agree on anything. So, the reality is that we have beliefs that we adhere to and nobody and I mean nobody is going to prove anything one way or the other when it concerns anything to do with God/Lord Jesus/Holy Bible.

Ok thanks for your post trev, and thanks for bringing up archaeology, it's such a fascinating, interesting field of science...don't you think?

 

So if you recieve something it is Gods will. If you don't that's also gods will. So you are absolved from any decision. In the OT if things went right for Israel it was because they had been 'good', and if they were 'bad' they were punished. In fact it was usually down to their own actions.

 

Your reference is irrelevant as it contains nothing we didn't already know by other means. They just confirm our knowledge. I suspect you just chose the reference you thought best.

The problem Mitt is that the actual 'archaeology' was there first. It simply hadn't been discovered. The Bible simply uses facts known at the time. If it didn't the facts would not have been written into stories. The Bible simply provides known facts that are proved by archaeology.

If you believe in the Bible stories answer in your own words those questions I put to you. Archaeology shows that the Israelites were never in Egypt. They were a tribe always in Palestine. The Bible declares that Joshua and the Israelites defeated Jericho and Ai yet Ai had been in ruins for centuries and evidence shows that Jericho was destroyed by an earthquake - not for the first time. And it was hit by an earthquake in 1926. Proved. It also says that the Israelites destroyed 3 cities. Archaeology shows that at the time many cities were destroyed. We know that around that time the Canaanite tribes rebelled against the Egyptian invaders who ruled Palestine and went against many cities. Archaeology is only proving things known at the time the Bible was written.
And remember archaeology gives us facts of the time affecting, but not mentioned, in the Bible. It also mentions things that are simply proven untrue. eg. 600000 armed Hebrews leaving Egypt - 2.5 - 3.5 million leaving and not a mention anywhere. 3.5 million yet God says to Moses you are the smallest of nations - when in fact they would be the largest by far with whom they would come in contact. It describes the flood and nothing known to science shows this could have happened because of the way your God has created this world.

The facts you posted are nothing we didn't know. They just confirm our knowledge.

The problem with your beliefs is the lack of facts. You simply believe what the Bible says. It's a pity because a study of the old world shows the actual background to the Bible and denies much of it. And some of it crucial to Christianity.

 

That's not true. I understand a thing, I understand that the Holy Bible is the Word of God.

Oh, and another thing I understand. I understand that the 1st ten words of the Bible states: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

We Read in Scripture:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 NLT

I just proved you wrong by stating I know at least two things about the Bible. But further truth be told now, I actually know many more things about the Bible.

I don't do that. So, you're wrong again. But are you saying all of the Christians world-wide except me, your statement applies to them?...C'mon dairy get realistic. You can't possibly know that. There are a little over 2 billion practicing Christians world-wide.

That's true, that's why there are many denominations with their own distinctive beliefs/practices/interpretations.

But despite that each denomination has its own distinctive beliefs/practices/interpretations, they are all commonly considered branches of the same religion in which they agree on such fundamentals as the Holy Bible, the Trinity, and the teachings of the Nicene Creed.

Furthermore, what's vitally important is that a Christian fully accept as part of his or her own personal worldview the following core beliefs:

Jesus is the Son of God and is equal with God.
Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life.
Jesus was crucified to pay the penalty for our sins.
We are saved by the grace of God; that is, we cannot add to or take away from Christ’s finished work on the cross as full payment for our sin.

So regardless of the many different interpretations, they're not really hindrances/obstacles for a Christian.

The 1st few words were probably as it is today: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

That's true but we have managed to translate from the copies of the original texts despite the changes in languages.

Human beings can be very adaptable to changes. Don't forget now, God created us in His own image and so He gave us intelligence/knowledge but of course not the kind of intelligence/knowledge that He possesses. I mean if we had His intelligence/knowledge then we'd all have insight into 100% of all knowledge.

Ok thanks dairy for your post, it was a pleasure for me to respond to it.

 

Yeah, without responding to them.

 

You should have already understood that I wholeheartedly agree with your statement. Especially when this belief is geared towards religion...lol

 

We know Kansas is real. Frank Baum mentions Kansas. Therefore, the Wizzard of Oz is real. lol