What does Jesus want from us?

Originally posted by checkbaiter
Exactly. I think Rajk and ToO are members of what I call The R.L.E.R.
That is, the "Red Letter Edition" Religion because they only adhere or give credence to the "Red" letters spoken by Jesus.
They don't seem to understand that the Word of God was written by holy men of God, including the "red letters".
They also must not understand that the Epistles ...[text shortened]... Jesus Christ. So in a sense one might be able to say the whole bible is the Red Letter Edition.

Sonship provided a good point on the 'red letter' issue, on the bottom of page 13. I don't think anyone responded to it and would be interested to hear some opinions.

Originally posted by chaney3
Sonship provided a good point on the 'red letter' issue, on the bottom of page 13. I don't think anyone responded to it and would be interested to hear some opinions.

I think it is clear from your comments that you are more interested in the opinion of men than in the teachings of Christ.

Originally posted by Suzianne
Well, let me offer my take on Acts 1:18.

Firstly, Matthew was written by Matthew, and Acts was written by Luke. Arguably, they have different writing styles. When Luke writes that "this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity", and although Judas did not buy this field personally (he had intended to, for his own monetary gain), it was bought ...[text shortened]... simplest answer, it makes the most sense, and most Biblical commentators agree with this point.

I don't think it requires much explanation, unless you insist that the Bible never contradicts itself. The gospels were written at least a generation after the events and a certain amount of confusion about the fate of Judas is to be expected. The writer of Matthew and the writer of Acts will have heard one or more versions of what happened to Judas and, in the same way as eye-witnesses in a court will contradict each other over details often pretty significant ones, the two stories do. I don't think it's worth your while getting too worried about these discrepancies. I think the Acts story is most consistent with him falling on his sword - for his body to burst open like that he'd have to fall from a pretty significant height - but it could just reflect the feelings of the writer of Acts to the betrayer. So we have one version of the story with him hanging himself and the other seems to have him falling on his sword. One version has the priests buying the field and the other has Judas buying it himself - although this seems unlikely if he intended suicide. The core of the story is a folk-etymology for the field and that he died at his own hands.

Consider the sentence: "The sky is blue.". Most people would accept that as the truth, but if you think about it a lot of the time it's not, around half the time it's night and the sky's pretty black, then if it's overcast the sky's grey, enough dust or pollution and the sky can be red. Nevertheless the sentence "The sky is blue." captures enough of the truth that no one seriously disputes it. So with the fate of Judas I suspect that the writers of the first five books of the New Testament didn't spend much time trying to find out exactly what happened, two of them didn't include it at all.

Originally posted by Rajk999
I think it is clear from your comments that you are more interested in the opinion of men than in the teachings of Christ.

Aren't you a 'man' who is attempting to convince this forum that you hold the only truth in the teachings of Christ?

Why should your 'opinion' be the only one? Or maybe you are saying that your 'opinion' is the only correct one?

Originally posted by Suzianne
[b]"Conceptually His teachings are pretty much antithetical to the core tenets of Christianity."
This is ridiculous.

The error you make is the exact same error of the other "fringe" theists who post here. (Notable among them is Rajk, and why I compared you to him elsewhere. He routinely bad-mouths other Christians as well.) You lean unto your own ...[text shortened]... ur days, simply because the six days of creation were said to have an "evening" and a "morning".[/b]

I'll generalize what I wrote before:

The compulsion to adhere to church dogma makes it incumbent on the believer to reconcile all deviations from said dogma by any means necessary no matter how irrational. From what I can tell, the ability to do so is often seen as a test of ones belief. As a test that the Holy Spirit is truly functioning within the individual.

Originally posted by chaney3
Sonship provided a good point on the 'red letter' issue, on the bottom of page 13. I don't think anyone responded to it and would be interested to hear some opinions.

Actually it's a red herring wrapped up in a straw man.

Reread my post and then jaywill's. You'll see that this is true.

Originally posted by chaney3
Aren't you a 'man' who is attempting to convince this forum that you hold the only truth in the teachings of Christ?

Why should your 'opinion' be the only one? Or maybe you are saying that your 'opinion' is the only correct one?

Actually from what I can tell, rajk999 is attempting to convince this forum that Jesus holds "the only truth in the teachings of Christ", though several Christians seem compelled to characterize it as otherwise. You should ask yourself as to why that may be the case.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Actually from what I can tell, rajk999 is attempting to convince this forum that Jesus holds "the only truth in the teachings of Christ", though several Christians seem compelled to characterize it as otherwise. You should ask yourself as to why that may be the case.

Thanks .. Jesus has the true teaching .. not me.

Originally posted by checkbaiter
Exactly. I think Rajk and ToO are members of what I call The R.L.E.R.
That is, the "Red Letter Edition" Religion because they only adhere or give credence to the "Red" letters spoken by Jesus.
They don't seem to understand that the Word of God was written by holy men of God, including the "red letters".
They also must not understand that the Epistles ...[text shortened]... Jesus Christ. So in a sense one might be able to say the whole bible is the Red Letter Edition.

Exactly. I think Rajk and ToO are members of what I call The R.L.E.R.
That is, the "Red Letter Edition" Religion because they only adhere or give credence to the "Red" letters spoken by Jesus.

You'd "think" wrong in both cases. You really seem to make a habit of that.

They don't seem to understand that the Word of God was written by holy men of God, including the "red letters".
dogma

They also must not understand that the Epistles were written by revelation from Jesus Christ.
dogma again

So in a sense one might be able to say the whole bible is the Red Letter Edition.
dogma again again

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Earlier on this thread I posted the following:
[quote]Of course you can't make sense of [the Bible]. The Bible is filled with inconsistencies, discrepancies and outright contradictions. Though most refuse to admit it, [b]they pick and choose the verses and passages that support their beliefs and dismiss those that don't and often do so in a most disingen ...[text shortened]... nda rather than a sincere attempt to arrive at the truth. It's fascinating in a sad sort of way.

Are you suggesting women should remain silent and play a lesser role?
That is what Appendix 12 is trying to expose.
God never intended people to think women are second class citizens.
By all means, I hope everyone reads appendix 12 entitled "The Role of Woman in the church". It is about the bias among scribes and religious leaders who entered their bias into the bible.

http://www.revisedenglishversion.com/Appendix/12/The-Role-of-Women-in-the-Church

Originally posted by chaney3
Aren't you a 'man' who is attempting to convince this forum that you hold the only truth in the teachings of Christ?

Why should your 'opinion' be the only one? Or maybe you are saying that your 'opinion' is the only correct one?

I thought you were telling everyone how you are "seeking"?

Originally posted by divegeester
I thought you were telling everyone how you are "seeking"?

I am seeking. I was responding to Rajk999's comment on the top of the page. Did you miss it? I doubt it because it was directly above my comment.

So I can assume that you are finished with a discussion about the teachings of Jesus....and now are merely 'seeking' a shallow debate? And before you bring up my 'Christian doubt' for the 50th time, I will remind you that you have threatened to discard the entire New Testament. Have you done that?

I will wait for you to choose one word, or one sentence from my post, and ignore the entirety of it. This is getting old Dive. Real old.

Originally posted by chaney3
I am seeking. I was responding to Rajk999's comment on the top of the page. Did you miss it? I doubt it because it was directly above my comment.

So I can assume that you are finished with a discussion about the teachings of Jesus....and now are merely 'seeking' a shallow debate? And before you bring up my 'Christian doubt' for the 50th time, I will r ...[text shortened]... one sentence from my post, and ignore the entirety of it. This is getting old Dive. Real old.

Whether or not it is getting old is irrelevant waffle. You pretend to be a "seeker" but whenever anyone gives you sound scriptural advice you either ignore it or diss all over it, as you have with me, several times.

You have still not responded (after several prompts) to my posts to you in Robbie's "dasa" thread, by the way.

Originally posted by divegeester
Whether or not it is getting old is irrelevant waffle. You pretend to be a "seeker" but whenever anyone gives you sound scriptural advice you either ignore it or diss all over it, as you have with me, several times.

You have still not responded (after several prompts) to my posts to you in Robbie's "dasa" thread, by the way.

If you would pay attention to 'this' thread at all, you would realize that all of the 'sound scriptural advice' is different!!!

Can you explain why it's all different? Other posters on this thread have offered opinions, what's yours?

Or is your advice to adhere to the Dive Christianity model, and seek no other opinions from others? Would you care to issue your Christianity manifesto for all of us to print out, and then we can shut down this forum, as it would no longer be needed?

Originally posted by chaney3
If you would pay attention to 'this' thread at all, you would realize that all of the 'sound scriptural advice' is different!!!

Can you explain why it's all different? Other posters on this thread have offered opinions, what's yours?

Or is your advice to adhere to the Dive Christianity model, and seek no other opinions from others? Would you care to ...[text shortened]... r all of us to print out, and then we can shut down this forum, as it would no longer be needed?

Over the last year and in recent weeks, I have given you all the 'advice' I'm prepared to give you at this time. You can continue use to manipulate those Christians here who are willing to absorb your pretensions as pleas for help.