Part 39 of Post Your Tough Questions Regarding Christianity

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2Peter 1:20-21

So how is one to know that ones understanding of scripture is by the Holy Ghost and not ones own private understanding, counterfeited like a commodity and bandied about? God stood by while mankind murdered all his holy servants. Why not his words as well.

 

You're simply assuming the Bible is right and there is a god. We know the Bible isn't inspired by the very fact that much can be proved wrong. Many of the books are simply attributed to authors when we know that at least others contributed to the book. The creation story, Noah and the Ark, Adam and Eve, are adapted from earlier stories and the books of Job, Jonah draw on earlier beliefs.
The mythical story of the Ark is that it parked on a spot on Ararat and was towed away because gods signpost said 'NO ARKING'.

 

I understand your point. Then again, perhaps the whole Church was wrong. As for what is reality, I am more certain that God lives than I am of my own life. Which is why now I say that my life is in him, even though there is no tangible proof of his existence, and mine is not lacking.

 

Romans 1:20
For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

 

BTW Trevor... "god or gods" means the fallen angels that posed as gods. You might be heavily under their influence. I'll say a little prayer for you that they will leave you.

 

"No Arking?" Hah! Yes I confess that I read Peters words personally knowing that God lives, and that the history of Gods relationship with the Jews is authentic. But how much of it is accurate is something else. I don't quibble with particulars anymore than I'd fault a mans worth by his shortcomings. The God to whom Jewish scriptures point, is real. But he is not the signpost.

 

The god to whom the Jewish scriptures point is Jahweh. But Yahweh is part of the pantheon of gods whose father is El.

 

Thanks but I don't believe in either. The idea of fallen angels comes from long before the Bible - in Sumerian legend,

 

I don't know Jahweh and Yahweh. I only know one God by his spirit, whom I recognized and remembered, though not from along the course of my life, but rather from eternity or forever. It's as if this life is a separation from God, where we take upon ourselves a new identity according to culture, family, tradition, or the general circumstances of our birth into mortality. And we forget the God from whom we came.

 

The doctrine of Pre-existence. Mormon teaching.

 

It was my personal experience before I heard of it as doctrine. So I can verify its veracity. Everyone knows the one true God. But everyone has a form of amnesia. I think it is part of his plan to test us or to allow us to prove ourselves. But we have all failed. That's why Isaiah said, "All we like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him(Jesus Christ) the iniquity of us all." I could not have recognized and remembered his spirit when it came if I didn't already know his spirit. Otherwise any supernatural spirit might be misidentified as being from God.

 

"Clearly see his invisible qualities" is a contradictory statement.

 

So, if those passages don't apply to you, then why do you think other passages apply to you? It seems that you are being highly selective and not using a consistent standard. Was Jesus lying when he said that he had only been sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel? I keep missing passages where Jesus cavorted with sheep. Can you cite some for my continuing education? Thank you.

 

The key to deciphering any biblical text is to view it in context. Isaiah 53 is the fourth of the four “Servant Songs.” (The others are found in Isaiah chapters 42, 49 and 50.) Though the “servant” in Isaiah 53 is not openly identified – these verses merely refer to “My servant” (52:13, 53:11) – the “servant” in each of the previous Servant Songs is plainly and repeatedly identified as the Jewish nation. Beginning with chapter 41, the equating of God’s Servant with the nation of Israel is made nine times by the prophet Isaiah, and no one other than Israel is identified as the “servant”:

• “You are My servant, O Israel” (41:
• “You are My servant, Israel” (49:3)
• see also Isaiah 44:1, 44:2, 44:21, 45:4, 48:20

The Bible is filled with other references to the Jewish people as God’s “servant”; see Jeremiah 30:10, 46:27-28; Psalms 136:22. There is no reason that the “servant” in Isaiah 53 would suddenly switch and refer to someone other than the Jewish people.


https://aish.com/isaiah_53_the_suffering_servant

Jesus is not referred to. It is just Christian doctrine.

Part of his plan is to allow children to be born with mental problems that will mean some need looking after all their - often short - lives? I have a 'school' over my fence that has these children. They will have your experience? Your God allows children to be born with many crippling diseases. Your God allows millions to suffer without even knowing there may be a God. All for what?

 

One meaning of the word Israel is, "Let God prevail." So anyone in whose heart it is to "Let God prevail", is "My servant Israel."

As for why everyone is born into differing circumstances. I'm not God. So I don't know his mind or will in the matter. God doesn't consult with me for his actions. If he did, I would be God, and he my servant. But I'm not. I'm his creation, not he mine. I'm made by him in the midst of his creations, not he by me in the midst of mine. All of life is experience. It isn't the end game. What would be the point of everyone living in splendor, only to die, losing everything forever?

 

I don't use your standard because it makes general of something specific, and specific of something general. The "lost sheep of the house of Israel" is anyone who loves God and is lost. These are those who hear him and he will claim. Their lineage is irrelevant.
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." John 10:27-28

"Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." Matthew 3:8-10

The God of Israel is the God of everyone. In Exodus 7, Aarons rod swallowed up the Pharaoh's magicians rods. He is not only the God of Israel as you presume.

 

The good thing about writing fairytales is that the author can have his characters do all sorts of things but it doesn't make any of them true. You claim to believe, yet you can't do any of the things the Jesus character said that you should be able to do as a believer. When you can you will be the first person who s ever done such things. And, if no one can do such things that he promised they could do, why would you believe anything else that he promised?

 

Mitt, here is another tough question for you. After Noah's ark came to ground on Mt. Ararat how did flightless birds get to New Zealand?

 

They shared a jet plane with the Tasmanian Devils.

 

The "fairytale" is what you are making of it. We have already gone over this. So you are talking in circles for fun, to unburden yourself of the truth that it is for you that he suffered and laid down his life without comfort.

 

That was Jet flight 3534

 

So anyone in whose heart it is to "Let God prevail", is "My servant Israel."

That's just twisting words for your satisfaction. The fact is that Israel (Jacob) is just part of a story. If Jacob had existed he would have been long before the actual tribe is even known- 1000bce. He would have been somewhere around 1900BCE according to Biblical Matthews Genealogy - who misses out 400+ years when Israel was SUPPOSED to have been in Egypt.

 

So when were the Hebrews in Egypt?

 

They never never were. There's no evidence anywhere for that. They were a tribe that had settled in the Judean hills and cultivated the land. Pharaoh Merneptah records the fact in the 13th century BCE. Many people mistake the Hykssos for the Israelites. They were a Levantine tribe similar to the Palestinian tribes and wore similar clothing etc. They had their capital at Avaris instead of Memphis. They were thrown out by the southern Pharaoh Ahmose who took over all of Egypt. Some suggest that Exodus was based on this expulsion.
As I explained the story is simply made up to give the Hebrews an extended origin. There are so many things wrong with the story due to the fact it was written so long after the supposed Exodus time.
The story of Abraham leaving Ur is good. They used the fact that many people left Ur around that time as the area was invaded from the East and Ur was destroyed. It was later rebuilt. As a matter of interest the Book of Lamentations about Jerusalem's destruction is not the on book of Lamentations. Ur and four other cities - beside Jerusalem - had books of Lamentations about there destruction.
Terah was told to go to Canaan. He ended up in Haran to the north when there was a trail across the desert for traders with a 'town/city' in a wet area in the middle for provisions. Pharaoh would not have been interested in a 70 year old woman, however beautiful. If you wanted a trade deal with Pharaoh he expected to recieve one of your 'princesses' as a token of the deal. The Hittites had given two of theirs for deals with Pharaoh. The letters recording this are in a Museum somewhere. Others tribes did the same. The whole ancient Middle East is incomprehensible to people in the 21st century BCE, unless you study the people, culture, history and try to put yourself there.

 

Your point isn't clear to me. You said that the God of the Bible is the God of Israel and none other. I said that the word Israel means "Let God Prevail". So anyone who allows for the prevalence of God in honesty, sincerity, and truth, is therefore Israel. So God is the God of all, not only of the Jews. And likewise, Jesus Christ is the Savior of all mankind or wherever in whose heart an allowance is made for his rightful claim. There then is Israel.

I realize that this tact runs contrary to your position that the Judeo/Christian God is a local religion, specific to Jews from long ago. As such it would bear no more regard than any other religion or God specific to those other peoples in the world. First off, I think that Jews are too smart to play that game of, Hey let's make up a God. Second, they're too smart to buy into it. And third, there is too much right with Jews for it to not be essentially true. That is how I would estimate it looking at it from your perspective.

Yes I have a bias in my judgment in that I know that God is real, that he lives, and that Jesus Christ is the Savior. So I turn the matter to that end as it is the rightful way, though not in the worlds estimation.