06 Feb 18
Originally posted by @romans1009What could be more 'human' than dreaming up a religion centred around a "free gift of grace" and "everlasting life" where there's just some stuff you have to think in order to get it?
How does it sound man-made when our entire frame of reference as humans is working for rewards?
Originally posted by @romans1009Of course I do. It's you who does not even remember the question, not me.
You don’t even remember the question.
Originally posted by @romans1009All that is mumbo jumbo to my ears. I believe in the teachings of Christ and in following his commandment . This is the way to the Kingdom of God as Jesus clearly said
I agree - where we seem to disagree is on the driving force behind “good works.” You think it’s human effort and I know it is the power of God’s Holy Spirit, which is given to anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Saviour.
We also seem to disagree on what makes someone righteous (in right standing with God) and how one obtains salvati ...[text shortened]... hrough faith in Jesus Christ and that good works are simply a manifestation of our saved status.
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06 Feb 18
Originally posted by @fmfDreaming up a religion? You don’t think Jesus Christ existed and was crucified? Even secular historians acknowledge that. You think Christianity was “dreamed up?” By whom?
What could be more 'human' than dreaming up a religion centred around a "free gift of grace" and "everlasting life" where there's just some stuff you have to think in order to get it?
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Originally posted by @fmfSalvation is obtained by believing in Christ in one’s heart. See John 3:16 and Romans 10:9.
What could be more 'human' than dreaming up a religion centred around a "free gift of grace" and "everlasting life" where there's just some stuff you have to think in order to get it?
But you can’t understand those verses because of 1 Corinthians 2:14
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
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Originally posted by @rajk999The law won’t make you righteous, but if you’re relying on that to make you righteous, you’re a debtor to do the whole law.
All that is mumbo jumbo to my ears. I believe in the teachings of Christ and in following his commandment . This is the way to the Kingdom of God as Jesus clearly said
And what did Jesus say were the two greatest commandments, upon which hung all the law and the prophets?
Originally posted by @romans1009Dreaming up a religion?
Absolutely.
You don’t think Jesus Christ existed and was crucified??
I do. I'm pretty sure he was crucified too ~ for sedition or blasphemy, or some fudged combination of the two ~ most likely by him being nailed to a post, though, rather than a cross.
Even secular historians acknowledge that.
So?
You think Christianity was “dreamed up?” By whom?
By subscribers to the Jesus story - in the wake of what must have been the devasting realization that he had been killed by the Romans - who then established a breakaway religion (from Judaism) in the decades and centuries after he died.
I believe that Hebrew mythology was dreamed up too. And the Islamic version of the Jesus story and their version of the Abrahamic religion too.
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Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-dukeThat quote from Bill Hicks is absurd. Job questioned God’s love and God’s character and, in the end, God restored him.
“The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love. That's the message we're brought up with, isn't it? Believe or die! Thank you, forgiving Lord, for all those options.”
Bill Hicks
Originally posted by @romans1009Is the supposedly 'good work' - of being the sole caretaker for one’s mother - righteous in and of itself when done by a Christian, even if it does not make the Christian righteous?
Being the sole caretaker for one’s mother constitutes good works, though it does not make one righteous.
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Originally posted by @fmfThere’s plenty of evidence that disputes what you believe about Christianity but you have to be willing to look at it - and look at it with an open heart and mind.
[b]Dreaming up a religion?
Absolutely.
You don’t think Jesus Christ existed and was crucified??
I do. I'm pretty sure he was crucified too ~ for sedition or blasphemy, or some fudged combination of the two ~ most likely by him being nailed to a post, though, rather than a cross.
Even secular historians acknowledge that.
So?
[ ...[text shortened]... too. And the Islamic version of the Jesus story and their version of the Abrahamic religion too.[/b]