The bible doesn't mince words.... Revelation 3:15-16 New American Standard Bible ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
I liked your post, not because I agree with it, but because you are questioning things. I also know some very kind people who are not believers. I sometimes wonder if the reason God allows the world to continue as it is, without intervening very often to correct evil, is because He is demonstrating to people, angels and possibly whatever lies ahead in the eternal future, the consequences of sin. In other words, God is allowing people to make choices that are evil because He is showing the outcome of evil behavior. Some people make obvious choices to deliberately do harm to others. It's easy for us to see this type of evil and recognize it as being evil. On a standard where a serial killer is compared to a child who steals candy from a candy store, the child appears to be very innocent. But this really just shows how fallen from a purely good standard we have come. Stealing should never be something anyone desires to do. Thoughts of the heart are more revealing of what we really are than outward behavior. I may speak kindly to my friend who has been rude to me, but inwardly I am struggling to forgive and move on (a current struggle I have). On a standard of absolute perfection, I hardly measure up in the matter of a few minutes. When God judges, He does so from a standard of righteousness. He is not unfair. If you are righteous, then you have nothing to worry about. Is God right to punish people for not believing in Him? Is it a crime not to believe in God? Here is God describing how He feels: For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. Isaiah 1:2 In another place it describes that God lets people choose to be in rebellion against Him, but in letting them go, they go farther from His goodness. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Romans 1:28 Maybe a better way to explain it is that God is not only completely good, but He is the source of all that is good. To turn away from God is to turn from what is good.
Right, so according to definition anyone who doesn't accept Christian dogma is anti God and is incapable of doing good. You are aware there is good and bad in everyone, we are capable of being in two camps at the same time. The missionary in dark Africa thinks he is doing good by imposing his culture on another. Now missionary may be good by introducing sanitation, literature, education, but bad by introducing disease and land grabbing and imposing conditions the locals may not agree with. Meanwhile agnostics and athiests working in a hospital or relief organisation or volunteering is bad.
I was asking if you considered the possibility that when a later-written part of the Bible says the prophecy happened doesn't necessarily mean the prophecy actually happened.
Man is born into this world in sin, we have no choice in the matter, we are natural sinners. Mans reign on earth is three score years and ten. Christians make up 31% of earths population, but christian can mean anything, so let's say 3% of the poulation are true diehard devoted Christians. According to theory, space and time emerged together 14 billion years ago. So, 97% of people born and having a lifespan of 70 years can look forward to at least 14 billion years of hell because they were victims of being born. Another thought I have, perhaps another thread, Christianity is the birth place of a religion of sociopaths and phychopaths.
I don't think the problem is unbelief, or questioning, but instead rejection. New born babies of all animal-kind know things from birth ... instinctually. I believe we do too. https://www.gotquestions.org/eternity-in-our-hearts.html QUESTION What does it mean that we have eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11)? ANSWER Ecclesiastes 3:11 states God has “set eternity in the human heart.” In every human soul is a God-given awareness that there is “something more” than this transient world. And with that awareness of eternity comes a hope that we can one day find a fulfillment not afforded by the “vanity” in this world. Here is a closer look at the verse: “In the human heart” is an expression representing the mind, soul, or spirit of each person. God places eternity (Hebrew olam) into our heart and soul. The word translated “eternity” is much debated regarding its translation in this passage. The word olam can be translated as “darkness,” “eternity,” or “the future.” The use of this word could indicate darkness (in the sense of ignorance), contrasting this concept with what follows in verse 11: “Yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” It could be that Solomon is contrasting human ignorance with God’s perfect wisdom. A better possibility, and the one that is the typical interpretation, is that olam refers to God’s placing an eternal longing or sense of eternity in the human heart. Taking this understanding to be the correct one, Ecclesiastes 3:11 affirms the idea that humans operate in a different way than other forms of life. We have a sense of eternity in our lives; we possess an innate knowledge that there is something more to life than what we can see and experience in the here and now. The larger context of the chapter aids our understanding of verse 11. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is a time for everything, / and a season for every activity under the heavens.” The next seven verses list a series of contrasts: love and hate, scattering and gathering, tearing and mending, weeping and laughter. Then comes verse 11, which begins, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” In other words, life is comprised of opposite experiences in balance; God has appointed each to its season. Each season is to be considered as part of a whole. Seasons come and go, but does anything in this life truly satisfy? The answer in Ecclesiastes is, no, all is vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2). However, through all the ups and downs and vicissitudes of life, we have a glimpse of stability—God has “set eternity in the human heart.” Life is but a vapor (James 4:14), but we know there is something past this life. We have a divinely implanted awareness that the soul lives forever. This world is not our home. RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Ecclesiastes: Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom & Psalms by Craig BartholomewMore insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! RELATED TOPICS What does it mean that “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)?What does it mean that there is a proper time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1–8)?What does it mean that the dead know nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5)?What does it mean that there is nothing new under the sun?What does it mean to be overrighteous and overwise (Ecclesiastes 7:16)?
Thanks for your reply. The bottom line all of spirituality is a debated subject with no clear answers. We guess or imagine a God form, we attempt to interpret the bible. Many people assume they have the answers but offer no proof and continually claim faith is what's required. If a door to door saleman knocks on my door, 99% of the time I'll tell them to bugger off. If I want to buy something I'll visit a reputable bricks and mortar business online or in person. Christian offer this 'book' loaded with gibberish they don't even fully comprehend, they have a group think building where the meet every week in order to agree with each other. When it comes to hard facts and proof, there is none. If you look into history, artefacts, ruins, very little mention if any is made of Jesus. Even the Jews have little to say, but don't start on that, its an argument which will stretch to eternity. Christianity is a cult, plain and simple, 100% devotion to an ideology and praying is just wishful thinking imo because you are praying to an idol, a form of something conjured up by imagination.
Continuing.... I'm not an atheist, not anti God, but Christians claiming supremecy in their relationship in the spiritual realm is wrong imo.
If Christians really do have a relationship with the living God and He really does answer their prayers and the Bible really is true, then claiming we have these things is simply telling the truth and is not wrong.
The latter part of the Bible is the testimony of eyewitnesses sharing the things they had seen, or things they had heard from others who had seen the things that Christians believe about Jesus: that He claimed to be God, that He claimed to fulfill the Scriptures that spoke of the need for a Substitute for sin, and that they saw Him perform many miracles to show that He was the expected One. And they also witnessed His resurrection and ascension. So, there are the multiple accounts of many prophets in the Old Testament spanning a large period of time giving specific details concerning Jesus. There are multiple accounts verifying that Jesus did the things prophesied. These are good reasons to believe that it did happen and that it was foretold and orchestrated by God, not planned by man. In addition to this is the evidence that believers have that they have come to know the Lord. This is not something evident to unbelievers, but something that believers experience. It is the witness of the Holy Spirit working in their hearts and the interventions that God has had with them on a personal level. I can testify to this, but I cannot convince anyone else of it.