Major issues in reading the Bible.

Yes, I DO deserve death. When I know God's law (what sin is), and I willfully break it, and I know the punishment is death, then, yes, I deserve death.

"For the wages of sin is death..." Romans 6:23

It may be a hard pill to swallow, and I know a lot of people who have a hard time swallowing it, but it IS the truth. Frankly, I don't see all those "negative things" you purport. All the bad in this world, all the death, destruction, disease, it's all a result of evil and sin in this world. I can't blame God for that.

Hey man, it's kool.
Just remember that when I say this. There's a bunch of 'ifs' in your post. 'If' salvation wasn't the main point of the Bible, there would be no need of a 'relationship' of any kind, with Almighty God. 'If' salvation wasn't the main point then why have the Bible at all? There are many people who read the Bible and pray regularly that will never see Heaven, because they never bothered with salvation.

I sincerely hope God opens up whatever it is you need to gain the understanding you're searching for. God Bless!

Do not judge others for you yourself will in turn be judged as well

-

To a degree; yes.

I mean, He wants us to obey His every word does He not? And those who do not follow His rules or who do not profess to love Him are given an enternity of the worst kind of suffering imaginable, right?

Why even be given the option to choose; if choosing anything other than what He wants you to choose is a direct route to Hell?

I...do understand your point of view; I was raised in the church, so I do understand the concept of free will which they commonly teach. And how God wants us to prove our love by choosing to think and act the way He wants us to think and act.

I...am trying to think of this room as a safe place to "speak" plainly, even if my perception is not a popular one.

In the Bible, God slaughters countless people who do not abide by his exact rules; heck He was even about to kill Moses, until Moses's wife cut off their son's forskin and threw it at his feet.

God...please forgive me, but it's true, if you read the Bible...seems sadistic in some ways; extremely quick to anger and slaughter those who do not follow His rules. And the only way He could be appeased was through the slaughter and spreading of blood...THAT is kind of morbid. Great detail went into the explaining of how animals were to be sliced apart and how their blood was to be poured over alters in order to make our God happy.

But, sorry; I have gotten off subject.

Yes. Our Lord does want robots. The choice is...be a robot, or go to Hell. So; yes.

say Chapel, did you see post 22 and 40? it's fine if you don't want to respond... but just checking

Sorry Dan 473, I was not ignoring you.

To answer your question and post 22; I do believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Although...a sacrifice is the loss of something; but since Jesus rose again, and he knew that he would rise again...there was really no loss.

But still, I understand the relevance of his resurrection.

To answer your question on post 40:

Indeed, I would agree that I am in search for explanations. I understand fully that it is not meant for us to completely understand God, and that is not my entire goal. In addition to everything else, I want to eliminate a level of ignorance in regards to the faith. It annoys me when Christians make a bold claims but are not able to back them up with anything other than pointing to the Bible... a book which is full of contradictions, stories that are not proven to be factual, and has been altered throughout the years by man. When I proclaim something in the name of God I want to be able to back up those claims.

I don't know what sort of answer you are wanting in regards to the Mark 16 verse.

John 10 is a good read:

KJV:* All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

OK, so you believe Jesus is alive today... that's all I was really asking with the Mark 16 quote

you and I are in the same boat, actually... because I don't feel like I have satisfying answers to those kinds of questions, either

OK so... if Jesus came back to life, that puts him head and shoulders above every other spiritual teacher.

any serious nt scholar will agree that we have at least some idea of what he taught

so come Monday morning (now, actually) we both have to get up and go to work... what kind of people will we be? we have this stunning religious teacher, and a good idea of what he taught.

I don't understand a lot of what's in the Gospels, or the ot culture that Jesus grew up in... to me, there is enough to know how to live

comments?

As for the why we deserve to die:

Background tidbit: I am against death penalty.
and yet, I don't see a problem with "the penalty of sin is death".

Why? Well, God made us, God gave us life, and God sustains life. ...and He made the law.
and much of the time, we aren't even capable of keeping his "simplest" commandment: Love!
- He also gave us a very straightforward way to gain life: FAITH in Christ.
... no need to end all wars (though we should try to avoid war)
... no need to heal all the sick (though we should pray, and offer what help we can)
... no need to isolate from the world (though a select few may benefit from it)

all that is required is FAITH. ... the rest will follow

Ariel82,

From the comments that you have made; you strike me as a wise and knowledgeable person, thus I would really like to get your point of view on the last post that I made to you.

That particular subject matter is something that has always bothered me; it's is one of my primary arguments as to why I do not feel we serve an "all good and loving" God.

If you are able to shed some light on this, it would be immensely helpful.

Sorry chapel, just saw your message...I don't always check all threads, just what time allows me. Pm is the best method if you really want a response from someone.

Let me find you post and pray about it.

They already knew good, the tree allowed them to know evil. Just because you are tempted by evil to sin does not mean that you have sinned.

There is a Bible verse that says God does not tempt people to sin. It is their own lusts and desires that draws them. That desire gives birth to sin and sin when full grown leads to spiritual death.

We are called to weed out desires and strongholds that war against the knowledge of God.

Also we need to ask what is full grown sin?
I believe it's when we reject God's chastenment and do not humble ourselves when God confronts and convicts us of our sin. When we don't repent and try and justify why we were right to sin and tell God he is wrong, unjust and unfair.

This will take longer to answer and I am visiting nana right now...will try and find time and words of God is willing to respond.

Main thing that jumps out is when you look at sin and it's destruction some blood might be needed to cleanse the wound....when someone gets an infection, how does our body heal? Dont we cut off the dead and infected flesh and allow the blood to flow and heal the wound?

Hope that helps, will keep you in prayers. All wisdom comes from God and His Spirit confirms His truth. So when asked to answer we first pray that our words will be like life giving water and understood by the heater and recognize it's God power that moves through us to touch the lives of others. Only when we walk and speak with God's blessings does truth and light chase away the darkness.

To speak without God's love is to be a brass cymbal and no matter what you say, the other person will not hear because you must first love them before you can help or teach them about God.

God's love and blessings be upon you. may you find that deeper understanding that God has already blessed you with for He has given you all you need to grow in Him through His love, mercy and grace. Thank you Lord for your many blessings, Amen!

Thank you for that...and I will take your words to heart.

My "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil", was a response to your discription of a negligent parent. The description that you gave, is much like the situation with that tree.

***
At that point in time Adam and Eve were very much like children; and if you have children, you understand that their level of comprehension is not on the same level as yours. Adam and Eve had never seen death; so when God told him " The day you eat of this tree you will surely die", there is no possible way they could have fully comprehended what he was saying.

Also, if you have children; if you saw a roach crawling on the ground, pointed it out to that child and told them to not touch it...a child, not fully comprehending the world...will still attempt to pick that roach to eat it. Even after you have told them not to; it is the nature of a child.

The serpent told Eve, " you will not surely die ; for the day that you eat of this fruit, God knows that you shall become like Him... knowing both good and evil." The serpent told the truth; there was no deception in his words.

And again, though Adam and Eve were adults in many ways they were much like children; easily swayed at the thought of being like their parent; and what child what didn't not want that?

If God did not want them to have the knowledge, then He should not have created the completely unnecessary tree and simply left; for it to be a constant temptation...to children. And then, when they did give in to their curiosity, God blamed and punished them.

Divorced. I look forward to your wisdom Willie-T. And thank you so much for not taking offense to my comments; I think that most other people would.