Part 20 of Post Your Tough Questions Regarding Christianity

In the spiritual realm... I have already explained this ...

 

Then 'souls' can be tortured? 'Ethereal' torture?

 

Do you believe in the existence of souls? If not then it should not be a concern to you.

 

Yes

No

 

Of course it should be of concern. Those who preach hell and damnation should be able to explain this. The Church has used fear for long enough without explaining that it has no answer for things such as this. No-one knows what happens when the body expires. No-one knows if there is a 'life' after this. It's all guess work and hope.

 

Sorry but you're wrong, there is evidence of the existence of Jesus from outside sources.

The truth is there are first-hand accounts of Jesus as to His existence outside of the Bible. Just recently I gave an explanation of this coming from my favorite Christian web-site. So there is definitely historicity concerning our Lord Savior Jesus Christ.

And you're not going to get actual physical proof. He resurrected from the dead and so in that respect there are no remains of Him.

Did you think they should have taken His picture back then? Had a video made of Him? Had audible recordings of Him? Even if they were able to do all those things back in those ancient days guys like you would still be in denial of it.

So what's this silly game guys like you like to play with the "P" word all about? I tell you what it's all about, it's your way of keeping yourselves in denial of the truth, one day those denials will run out.

What you have are actual writings from first-hand witnesses during Jesus life, some are coming from the Holy Bible and others independent of the Holy Bible.

Even it it's true, which I doubt, so what? That hasn't stop Christians from believing all the events of Jesus life, His birth, His ministry, miracles He performed, His death and resurrection.

Writings are a form of "evidence". Again we are not going to get any physical evidence, that's just the way it is.

And nobody is asking you to prove it, for it should be understood by all that no one can prove/disprove anything regarding our Lord Savior Jesus Christ! We Christians believe and trust in Him through our faith.

To we Christians Jesus was more than just a Rabbi, He was the incarnate God in the flesh. That speaks volumes, that's why you have approx. 1/3 of the entire world's population as practicing Christians.

 

Adam was a species, the very first man to evolve from a surrogate Ape/mother:

Gen. 5:2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called THEIR name Adam, (Sahelanthropus tchadensis), in the day when THEY, (the first hominoids), were created (by the Natural Laws governing Evolution).

By an act of God, Adam was created in a mutation which fused together two of the 24 chromosomes in an Ape, making man a species with only 23 chromosomes.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromosome_2_(human)
"Chromosome 2 presents very strong evidence in favour of the common descent of humans and other apes. According to researcher J. W. IJdo, "We conclude that the locus cloned in cosmids c8.1 and c29B is the relic of an ancient telomere-telomere fusion and marks the point at which two ancestral ape chromosomes fused to give rise to human chromosome 2.





Because the fused chromosome is unique to humans and is fixed, the fusion must have occurred after the humanñchimpanzee split, but before modern humans spread around the world, that is, between 6 million and ~1 million years ago (Mya; Chen and Li 2001; Yu et al. 2001) (Fig.5).

References:
1.Fan Y, et al. Genomic Structure and Evolution of the Ancestral Chromosome Fusion Site in 2q13-2q14.1 and paralogous regions on other human chromosomes. Genome Research 2002, volume 12, pages 1651-1662.

 

Gad, you are reaching......

 

Yes, two of the 24 ape chromosomes fused together, in an Act-of-God, which created man from the dust or atoms within the ovum of the surrogate mother ape that gave birth to the first man.

This is Science and also the Bible story, too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromosome_2_(human)
"Chromosome 2 presents very strong evidence in favour of the common descent of humans and other apes. According to researcher J. W. IJdo, "We conclude that the locus cloned in cosmids c8.1 and c29B is the relic of an ancient telomere-telomere fusion and marks the point at which two ancestral ape chromosomes fused to give rise to human chromosome 2.





Because the fused chromosome is unique to humans and is fixed, the fusion must have occurred after the humanñchimpanzee split, but before modern humans spread around the world, that is, between 6 million and ~1 million years ago (Mya; Chen and Li 2001; Yu et al. 2001) (Fig.5).

References:
1.Fan Y, et al. Genomic Structure and Evolution of the Ancestral Chromosome Fusion Site in 2q13-2q14.1 and paralogous regions on other human chromosomes. Genome Research 2002, volume 12, pages 1651-1662.

 

Wow! That's amazing! The Bible clearly states that Assyria, Ethiopia, Persia, and Arabia existed at the time Adam emerged from the dirt or, in your version, his ape mother. Maybe your version of Adam existed on another planet in a distant galaxy.

 

Why explain it if you don't believe in the existence of 'hell and damnation'? If you don't believe in either, then surely they cannot do any harm to you. Right? That is a problem with most churches in this day and age... They (most of them) have become married to the state and must remain politically correct in order to keep their doors open. Can you prove your claim that "no-one knows if there is a 'life' after this."? Oh... so it is all guess work, then that would mean that you don't know that 'no-one knows'. Hmmmm.

 

...sources...?

 

Show where in the 'Bible' that is says that God is reality.

 

The Jews didn't believe in hell... Did they get it wrong?

Jesus and Ghenna: The Sermon on the Mount


In previous posts, I’ve made two points:

1. In the New Testament, the English word that is translated as “hell” is actually describing “Ghenna,” a trash dump that was located outside of Jerusalem.

2. Generally speaking, Jesus’ teachings are riddled with references to people who are useless in the Kingdom of God, and who therefore find themselves on the outside of it. Ghenna fits perfectly within this theme of uselessness in the Kingdom of God.

I’d now like to get down to something more specific: what, exactly does Jesus have to say about Ghenna? How is he using it in his teachings?

We’ll begin with the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5, Jesus makes two references to Ghenna. However, before we get to those references, lets make sure we understand the overall theme of Jesus’ teachings in this section of Matthew.

In verses 17-18, Jesus points out that he is not abolishing the law of Moses. He then says this about the commandments that are contained within the law of Moses:

Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Notice something right away: Jesus does not say that those who break the commands, or even teach the breaking of the commands will be thrown out of the kingdom and into Ghenna. Rather, it is a matter of the status they will enjoy within the kingdom. Jesus does not teach that Ghenna is a place where imperfect, or even intellectually wrong teachers, are bound. Instead, as we discover in the following verse, his complaints are directed at people who are much worse than law-breakers or even incorrect teachers:

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

The Pharisees, Jesus believes, are even worse off than those who are “in” the kingdom, but still “least” because they break commandments or incorrectly teach that commands should be broken. Why? Because they are not honest about who they are, and therefore cannot be changed.

Jesus begins his critique of the Pharisees with the theme of hatred. Sure enough, murder is a bad thing and may subject one to “judgment.” But it is also wrong to be angry. Thus, one will not only be subject to judgment, but to being thrown out into the fires of Ghenna if one says insulting things to others out of anger:

continued.

http://mattritchie.wordpress.com/2007/01/10/what-jesus-says-about-ghenna/

 

You are wrong to a degree here.

The Jews are about to accept Christ as their Elijah, who returned in 32AD, as had been promised, but went unrecognized by the Rabbi and the leaders.

They are now discovering, from 1Kings, that Christ repeated all the experiences which Elijah had encountered 800 years before Jesus was born:



1) Both Elijah and Christ raised the dead:

1 Kings 17:22.. And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

John 12:1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where .Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

2) Both Elijah, who never dies, and Christ were immortal:

2 Kings 2:1 And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal

John 20:25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

3) Both Elijah and Christ. ascended into Heaven before witnesses:

2 Kings 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. .
12..And Elisha saw it,.

Luke 24:.51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven

4) Both Elijah and Christ troubled Israel:

1 Kings 18:17 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?

Matthew 2:3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born..

5) Both Elijah and Christ were threatened by the authorities with death:

1 Kings 19:14.. And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of ..I..srael have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and .I. .even I only .am .left..; and they seek my life, to take it away

John 11:53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death

6) Both Elijah and Christ.... were hunted by the Jewish authorities:

1 Kings 19:14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away

Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?

7) Both Elijah and Christ.... hid in a cave/tomb:

1 Kings 19:9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth...

Both Elijah and Christ pondered in the wilderness 40 days and forty nights:....

1 Kings 19:8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God

Matthew 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

9) Both Elijah and Christ. walked on across the water

2 Kings 2:8.. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground

Matthew 14:25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea

10) Both Elijah and Christ let a person follow them across the water:

2 Kings 2:14.. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over

Matthew 14:29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

11) Both Elijah and Christ.... wrote only one thing, a letter, to people on Earth AFTER they had ascended:

2 Chronicles 21:12 And there came a writing to him from ..Elijah.. the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

12) Both Elijah and Christ appointed a successor, Elisha, by Elijah, and Peter, by Christ:

2 Kings 2:9.. And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And ..Elisha.. said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me

Matthew 16:18.. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this .rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

13) Both Elijah and Christ gave a successor the power to raise the dead:

2 Kings 8:5.. And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom ..Elisha.. restored to life.
Acts 9:40 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and ..prayed..; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up

14) Both Elijah and Christ gave a successor the power to heal:

2 Kings 5:10.. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean

Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk

15) Both Elijah and Christ gave a successor a symbolic authority, the cloak to one, the keys to the other:

1 Kings 19:19.. So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.

Matthew 16:19.. And I will give unto thee the keys.of the kingdom.. of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven

16) Both Elijah and Christ. asked that the this "cup" be taken from them:

1Kings 19:4 .But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die (because he was afraid of what was coming from Jezebel: [1Kings 19:3]), and said, "It is enough (they seek my life, to take it away: [1Kings 19:10]); now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers."

Matthew 26:39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, (because he began to show grief and distress of mind and was deeply depressed: [Matt 26:37]), let this cup pass from me (It is enough: [1Kings 19:4]): nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

17) Both Elijah and Christ have been said to have had miraculous births:

Jewish Encyclopedia:
Three different theories regarding Elijah's origin are presented in the Haggadah: Mention must be made of a statement which, though found only in the later cabalistic literature (Yal?u? Reubeni, Bere(*)(*)(*)(*), 9a, ed. Amsterdam), seems nevertheless to be very old (see Epiphanius, l.c.), and according to which Elijah was an angel in human form, so that he had neither parents nor offspring.
See also Melchizedek.

Matthew1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

1 Both Elijah and Christ destroyed pagan worshippers and priests. Elijah destroyed the priests of Baal; Christ, the Pantheon of Rome, 380AD:

IKi 18:40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

History: Universal Christianity in 380AD:
Revelation 20:4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.
They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years (32AD -1054AD)

19) Both Elijah and Christ were promised faithfulness three times, Elisha in the former and Peter, in the latter.

2 Kings 2:2.. I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel
2 Kings 2:4.. I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho
2 Kings 2:6.. I will not leave thee. And they two went on

John 21:17.. He saith unto him the third time,... "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, "Lovest thou me?"

20) Both Elijah and Christ. condemned a Jezebel:

2 Kings 9:36 Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel:

Rev 2:20 ..Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds..

21) Both Elijah and Christ re-dedicated the Israelite people to God by raising up a new altar or temple:

1 Ki 18:30.. And ..Elijah.. said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:

John 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

22) Both Elijah and Christ chose one man upon which to build his following:

2 Kings 2:15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him

Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and ..upon.. this ..rock.. I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

23) Both Elijah and Christ were subject of a three day 'search' for their presence:

2 Kings 2:1 And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send.
They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.

Luke 2:46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

 

Haaa... were did the great mystery of God get answered!!!

7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

The mystery was over once the "son-of-God" told us his image of Reality (Gen 1:26), was Truth, (John 14:6 "I am the Truth,... and the way and the life").

One is the other, as far as men can tell.
Trinity centers around this singular duplicity.

Truth is the image of Reality, but conversely, Reality is the image of Truth, all by definitions in your dictionary.

 

Without even having to go past your first line, I conclude that you might want to study a little more about what the Jews believed and what they did not believe.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=hell&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

Maybe that link will help, as it gives many references in the OT where hell is a subject of discussion among the Jews. Jews and Hebrews are, according to scripture, descendants of Adam and Eve.

 

the third option was to OPT OUT altogether - no heaven, no hell, no anything to do with your myths. is this third option available, or are we all FORCED to choose one of the two (with one clearly not being a real choice at all, as it involves lakes of fire) presented by your god? and yes, it is most definitely forced when there is only a single option.

 

If God is going to eventually stop hiding and reveal itself who was it that did all of the God dialog in the Bible?

 

they'll say he can't come out of hiding because then there'd be no need for faith, and they were somehow convinced when young that faith is a virtue. they don't know WHY faith is a virtue, but they just know it is. A sweet little old lady I know once announced grandiosely that "you've got to have Faith", in tones emphatically glorifying the idea. I asked her if she felt faith was a virtue, to which she responded almost indignantly, "of COURSE!". Naturally, I couldn't resist the temptation to ask why, and .... I swear on a stack of bibles, this is 100% true ... she replied "oh, I don't know"

 

The Jewish authorities hated Jesus so much that they carelessly disregarded many of their own laws, one of them was that an accused was to be given counsel or representation but as we know from Scripture Jesus had none. They really wanted Him to be put to death for they saw Him as a threat.

We read in Scripture, "Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. "What are we going to do?" they asked each other. "This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation."
Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, "You don't know what you're talking about! You don’t realize that it's better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed."---John 11:47-50 NLT

"So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus' death."---John 11:53 NLT

Jesus, the most innocent man in the history of the world, the only sinless man/person in the history of the world, was found guilty of crimes and sentenced to death by crucifixion. The trials of Jesus represent the ultimate mockery of justice.

But then as bad as this was, God turned this mockery of justice into something good in that whoever believes in Jesus, in that He sacrificed His life shedding His innocent blood on the cross for us, they will be forgiven their sins and have eternal life in heaven.

We read in Scripture, "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God."---Romans 5:8-11 NLT

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”---John 3:16-21 NLT

 

One of your biggest problems is the fact that you don't even quote the scripture correctly. In the KJV it reads "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Then on top of that, when you quote other scriptures, you add your own interpretation to those scriptures without any PROOF of a translation that points in the direction that would affirm your private interpretation. Try again.... dude.

 

Christians say God is perfect in every way. Yet could not create perfection. Lucifer became imperfect. Angels became imperfect. Humans became imperfect. String of bad luck with the creating thing for a perfect being.

 

Only God is perfect. Jesus was perfect. Jesus is God.

The missing point is that God created man with a freewill. A mind of his own.
He could have created a mindless clone of some sort but what would be
the purpose? They wouldn't have the ability to chose to love God.

Adam sinned and the "sin gene" has been passed down from generation to
generation.

 

Jews don't believe in original sin.. Did they get it wrong?