Religion Scripture Readings

[ABM]

“.....Which command in the law is the most important?”

Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and most important command. And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself. All of the law and the writings of the prophets take their meaning from these two commands.”

~Matthew 22:36-40

 

[3RA1N1AC]

It means don't take the chance and you'll have nothing to worry about.

was actually wondering

i think it warns against false prophets, people who "speak against the holy ghost" meaning, they say that they speak for him, when they dont

 

[RR7]

was actually wondering

i think it warns against false prophets, people who "speak against the holy ghost" meaning, they say that they speak for him, when they dont

I always believed/was told speaking against him was to criticize or argue against him. Kind of kills the ability to recruit born agains, though, since they would technically be incapable of being saved.

 

[ABM]

was actually wondering

i think it warns against false prophets, people who "speak against the holy ghost" meaning, they say that they speak for him, when they dont

You may very well be right.

In Revelation 3:16. Jesus also warns the "lukewarm" church in Laodicea. Says He will spit them out of His mouth. Now, thems are words to chew on. OK, well, maybe not.

 

[Sinobas]

Can I ask a favor of all of you who have no interest in keeping this an uplifting thread for the purpose of encouragement (as related in the OP)?

Please take your criticisms/objections/detractions to another thread?

I just wanted to start a thread that would be edifying to those of us believers in Christ, as well as for those that wanted to read some encouraging words from the Word of God. I think the thread title is pretty straight forward.

Thanks.

This scripture lifts me up! So I can walk on mountains! It lifts me up across the stormy seas!!! Jesus is the wind beneath my wings!

Now here is more scripture that shows him kicking ass!
Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children. (Isaiah 13:15-18 NLT)

Oh man, I just wish I could go back in time and participate in these battles as a soldier for God!

 

[noknobs]

This scripture lifts me up! So I can walk on mountains! It lifts me up across the stormy seas!!! Jesus is the wind beneath my wings!

Now here is more scripture that shows him kicking ass!
Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children. (Isaiah 13:15-18 NLT)

Oh man, I just wish I could go back in time and participate in these battles as a soldier for God!

You can do that now! Unspeakable crimes against others in the name of religion carries on, as strong as ever! So pick up your weapon of choice, find someone who disagrees with you and send them straight to hell! Yeah! Religion kicks ass!!

I get to simultaneously act self-righteous, tell others how to live, and if I apologize real nice after I sin, Jesus will forgive me! That's what I call a win-win, baby. Getting preached to by pedophiles is just the cherry on top!

 

[PtldPlatypus]

as to not derail, ABM, whats your take on Mark 3:28-29?

“I promise you that any of the sinful things you say or do can be forgiven, no matter how terrible those things are. But if you speak against the Holy Spirit, you can never be forgiven. That sin will be held against you forever.”

ive always been fascinated by this passage

I always start by looking at the verse in context. Here's the full passage (Mark 3:22-30):

And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”

He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

I read that as Jesus rebuking those attributing to Satan the work of God. When I meet Jesus, that's certainly one passage I'll be asking Him about. Another is Hebrews 6:4-8. Check that one out when you have a moment.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

interesting, i dont like thinking that he can forgive murder and rape, but not a wavering faith though, it seems like that journey is probably shared by most everyone with who believes

 

[noknobs]

I read that as Jesus rebuking those attributing to Satan the work of God. When I meet Jesus, that's certainly one passage I'll be asking Him about. Another is Hebrews 6:4-8. Check that one out when you have a moment.

That's great. Disrespect dad and you go to hell. Fuck an alter boy, that's forgiven. Shoot up a school, that's forgiven. I'm glad they've got their priorities straight. Makes me really want to be a part of such a great outfit.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

interesting, i dont like thinking that he can forgive murder and rape, but not a wavering faith though, it seems like that journey is probably shared by most everyone with who believes

I personally think the passage is about much more than just "wavering faith". Especially when considered in light of John 10:28-29.

"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand."

Salvation isn't something that we earn, or something we are responsible to hold on to. It's something given by God through his mercy and secured through His strength. I believe it takes more than our human frailty to sever that which God grants.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

ive heard those passages interpreted as "if you deny the existence of god after being saved/ see the light/ whatever, than that is the unforgivable sin"

if so, thats crap

 

[Sinobas]

Don't any of you fellow believers ever wish you could go back in time and roll around in the blood of Jesus, as it's dripped fresh from the cross? I know that it covers our sins, even to this day, but it would feel so real to actually be there in person, and see his glorious suffering! His torture is the best thing that ever happened in the history of the world!

I would smear his blood all over my body, knowing that it covers up every bad thing I've ever done, or will ever do.

 

[noknobs]

Deuteronomy is wild.

1. He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
2. A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

 

[noknobs]

One of the truly inspiring scripture stories can be found in Numbers, chapter 31, when Israel takes vengeance on Midian.

Basically, the Lord told Moses to avenge Israel by going to war against the Mid'i-anites. (Why this is necessary if everything gets straightened out in the afterlife is anyone's guess..) Moses gathered a shit-ton of tribes and went to war and slew all the males. They took all the women and children captives, and plundered and raised their cities. Then they brought their captives and spoils to Moses. It was then asked that they kill every male among the children, and kill every woman who wasn't a virgin. "But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

 

[noknobs]

1st Corinthians, 14:
34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

II Kings, 2
23 And he went up from thence unto Beth–el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

Amen

 

[BrianFromWA]

interesting, i dont like thinking that he can forgive murder and rape, but not a wavering faith though, it seems like that journey is probably shared by most everyone with who believes

What you may not be understanding is that your forgiveness is based upon you being saved from the eternal consequences of that sin. The way to be forgiven is to

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

You are saved not because you are baptized, or because you say "I'm sorry", or because you only did a small sin but did a bunch of good stuff to counteract it. You are saved because you say that Jesus is Lord of your life (my paraphrase, since "Lord" doesn't mean much to our non-feudal society: able to command you to do things you don't feel like doing, and hold you to the consequences of those actions) and that God raised Him from the dead (my paraphrase: that you have faith that He who blamelessly took the punishment you should have had for your sin was not able to be held by Satan, but lifted up to everlasting life). That's not to say that you will be immediately a perfect, sinless being on earth. That's not even to say that you won't commit some horrible sin.
Romans 8 talks about how glorification (becoming the being God created us to be before corruption of Original Sin and our lives) is the end result of a process. The part of justification and sanctification that happens here on earth is neither immediate nor fulfilled, until our death and glorification.

As for me? I:

...am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate (me) from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

[BrianFromWA]

One of the truly inspiring scripture stories can be found in Numbers, chapter 31, when Israel takes vengeance on Midian.

Basically, the Lord told Moses to avenge Israel by going to war against the Mid'i-anites. (Why this is necessary if everything gets straightened out in the afterlife is anyone's guess..) Moses gathered a shit-ton of tribes and went to war and slew all the males. They took all the women and children captives, and plundered and raised their cities. Then they brought their captives and spoils to Moses. It was then asked that they kill every male among the children, and kill every woman who wasn't a virgin. "But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

Everything gets straightened out the way God intends it to be--that's not a guess. Some judgments are given on earth. Some at the Judgment Seat.

And if you continue to read the OT, you'll find that many of these stories are about tests of strict obedience to God, where not doing what He commands is punished. Even Moses was punished (not allowed into the Promised Land) because when God told him to speak to a rock to bring forth water, he struck it with a staff (as he'd done before). Abraham was about to kill his son (though God saved him), and his actions were credited to him as faith. Conversely David ducked out of going to war himself, peeped a naked girl, sent her husband to war and ordered his men to isolate him, ensuring certain death; married the widow and through their offspring generations down the road Jesus was born. God uses the actions of the wicked AND those who love Him.

God's not to be messed with. If you believe in him and all that. You're not the first not to, and you won't be the last. But maybe some of the scripture will resonate in you--maybe God works a miracle in your life (or anyone who's reading these) and allows the Holy Spirit to give you understanding to your questions and skepticism. Maybe not. But I imagine that that's how it worked for many of us who believe.

 

[ABM]

"So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t."

Romans 12:1-5 - The Message Translation

 

[Spud147]

I have to tell you, this has been great for me. This week I have been in a very dark place, some stuff came to a head this afternoon, and I was able to keep a cool head and overcome what otherwise may have not gone so well.

Thank you for starting this.

Same for me... I got a lot of comfort out of many of the things people said. Here's one I'm thinking on today:

Ephesians 4:31-32

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath he forgiven you.

 

[magnifier661]

I always believed/was told speaking against him was to criticize or argue against him. Kind of kills the ability to recruit born agains, though, since they would technically be incapable of being saved.

Everyone is capable of being saved. There isn't any sin, no matter which one, excludes you from being saved.

People don't really understand salvation. Many think its this ritual that requires teaching and a life lived after salvation.

Being saved is now becoming of Christ. No matter what you do before or after salvation has any effect on salvation. You become of Jesus. Meaning Jesus is now of your reflection to God. He sees you as a perfect being.

 

[noknobs]

Everything gets straightened out the way God intends it to be--that's not a guess. Some judgments are given on earth. Some at the Judgment Seat.

That most certainly is a guess. And what a convenient way for man to then claim their actions which hurt others are in fact God's will.

God's not to be messed with. If you believe in him and all that. You're not the first not to, and you won't be the last. But maybe some of the scripture will resonate in you--maybe God works a miracle in your life (or anyone who's reading these) and allows the Holy Spirit to give you understanding to your questions and skepticism. Maybe not. But I imagine that that's how it worked for many of us who believe.

It's not that I don't believe in a higher power or whatever. Like everyone else I have no clue. What I take exception to is man-made religion, in all it's forms. It's complete and total bullshit. And THAT is not a guess.

 

[magnifier661]

That most certainly is a guess. And what a convenient way for man to then claim their actions which hurt others are in fact God's will.



It's not that I don't believe in a higher power or whatever. Like everyone else I have no clue. What I take exception to is man-made religion, in all it's forms. It's complete and total bullshit. And THAT is not a guess.

You can't claim bullshit as fact unless you have actual documentation and empirical evidence that can support this claim. More like you think it's bullshit. As in "this is my opinion". This is no different than young earth Christians claiming evolution and billion year earth is bullshit. It's an opinion that isn't backed by empirical evidence.

 

[noknobs]

You can't claim bullshit as fact unless you have actual documentation and empirical evidence that can support this claim. More like you think it's bullshit. As in "this is my opinion". This is no different than young earth Christians claiming evolution and billion year earth is bullshit. It's an opinion that isn't backed by empirical evidence.

Listen son, let me spell it out so that even you can understand. Burden of proof is on the side of religion.

You can't simply make up a far-fetched fable (that people are then supposed to devote their entire lives toward) which includes miracles, 900 year lives and how the world was created in seven days, and then tell me that simply because I don't have documentation which shows it didn't happen that way I can't claim it's bullshit. (And by the way there is documentation that disproves a lot of that, it's called science) That's like me saying Star Wars is real, and since you don't have documentation which says it's not, then it's therefore a valid opinion. It's not. It's bullshit.

 

[magnifier661]

Listen son, let me spell it out so that even you can understand. Burden of proof is on the side of religion.

You can't simply make up a far-fetched fable (that people are then supposed to devote their entire lives toward) which includes miracles, 900 year lives and how the world was created in seven days, and then tell me that simply because I don't have documentation which shows it didn't happen that way I can't claim it's bullshit. (And by the way there is documentation that disproves a lot of that, it's called science) That's like me saying Star Wars is real, and since you don't have documentation which says it's not, then it's therefore a valid opinion. It's not. It's bullshit.

Son?! Lmao!!!!

Actually the Christians that believe in their faith feel they have the burden of proof; with the Holy Spirit touching them.

And you are right! If you claim something not true; then the burden is on you. Just like I said the burden of proof with young earth Christians are on them for calling evolution and old earth being bullshit.

You claim bullshit, then you better have facts to back your claim. Otherwise, its just a opinion. Simple as that SON!

 

[magnifier661]

Let me put it another way.

Let's say I call bullshit that you love your wife. You can say "look at what I've done for my wife, how faithful and nurturing I am, all my works"

I say that isn't proof and you must have physical evidence of brain scans and neuro transmission; with millions of studies on how certain neuro waves and release of hormones are released to validate love.

So if you don't have that proof; then you don't really love your wife right?

 

[noknobs]

Son?! Lmao!!!!

Actually the Christians that believe in their faith feel they have the burden of proof; with the Holy Spirit touching them.

And you are right! If you claim something not true; then the burden is on you. Just like I said the burden of proof with young earth Christians are on them for calling evolution and old earth being bullshit.

You claim bullshit, then you better have facts to back your claim. Otherwise, its just a opinion. Simple as that SON!

It's amazing that even after science has proven so many aspects of the bible false, that some still choose to believe in any of it. Just pick and choose whatever they like and disregard the rest. It's amazing to me.

And you are right! If you claim something not true; then the burden is on you.

I don't expect you to be able to comprehend basic English, but what?? That's not even what I said... The burden of proof is on the person claiming an ancient fairy tale is true despite the total lack of evidence. The burden of proof is not on me when I claim it's bullshit, however I have plenty of it to back me up...

Hopefully someday you'll be able to think rationally. Or maybe ignorance is bliss?

 

[magnifier661]

Oh please stop getting all bent out of shape man!

I can take any historical record and find accounts that I can argue and discredit in ancient times.

Should we stop believing in Caesar because of the claim that he believed he is God? Or maybe the holo cast didn't exist because maybe only 1 million where killed instead of 904,000 people where executed?

I think it's more funny that the ones that claim the bible is a bunch of bullshit because they can break out a few verses and try and discount them. I think it's even more ironic that they don't take account of the billions that still believe it and seek it out.

Maybe we should stop believing the Memphis grizzlies exist because they have such a weak fan base too?

 

[BlazersFanatic]

It's amazing that even after science has proven so many aspects of the bible false, that some still choose to believe in any of it. Just pick and choose whatever they like and disregard the rest. It's amazing to me.
/QUOTE]

Honestly may I ask what science has proven the Bible wrong?

Actually the Bible had quite a bit of science before people knew anything which tells a lot.


Bible Science Facts

 

[noknobs]

Oh please stop getting all bent out of shape man!

I can take any historical record and find accounts that I can argue and discredit in ancient times.

Should we stop believing in Caesar because of the claim that he believed he is God? Or maybe the holo cast didn't exist because maybe only 1 million where killed instead of 904,000 people where executed?

I think it's more funny that the ones that claim the bible is a bunch of bullshit because they can break out a few verses and try and discount them. I think it's even more ironic that they don't take account of the billions that still believe it and seek it out.

Maybe we should stop believing the Memphis grizzlies exist because they have such a weak fan base too?

Wow, by all means keep posting. You're really hurting your argument with just about everything you post.

Comparing the events of the bible and the belief that Jesus is the son of God to the Memphis Grizzles, Ceasar, and the holocaust (!?) is just about the strangest thing I've ever read on here, and you've had some tough competition...

 

[magnifier661]

It's amazing that even after science has proven so many aspects of the bible false, that some still choose to believe in any of it. Just pick and choose whatever they like and disregard the rest. It's amazing to me.
/QUOTE]

Honestly may I ask what science has proven the Bible wrong?

Actually the Bible had quite a bit of science before people knew anything which tells a lot.


Bible Science Facts

Yeah I kinda laugh at the comments about the earth was the center of the universe or that the sun revolved around the earth. I am still searching for reference in the bible of this.