Former champion *atheist* willing to learn

Iamstuck said:

Do you still think so called muslim countries are really that? Most people i know, esp. My batchmates have no belief in All-h. Muslims who profess to be religious are actually using it as political tool. You do know that our part of world is very close to commie states.

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Iamstuck said:

Azerbaijan is mostly a nonpracticing materialistic muslim society. Which made me hate religion. Muslims are hypocrites. This may sound rude, but they do opposite of what they profess

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Iamstuck said:

Also. I don't understand why Bible revolves around Humans and especially Jews.Like the authors never mention other peoples other than reffering them as gentiles. God promises safety to israel. Israel seems to be centre of attention all the time. Jews are gods chosen people. Jesus calls a gentile dog.This stuff i don't understand. Gentiles are treated as second class all through the OT. The only book that was not jew centric is proverbs. Which has some wisdom everyone can use. I don't find it reasonable why creator of all people would regard jews as some special people. Please help me with this

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Iamstuck said:

Lol at the analogy...
But the things in medical science are precise and meanings are literal, not context. Like is said, i am not good at literature. But one thing comes to my mind after reading your post- if its all about context, as you and many people say, then word of a Holy G-d will become ambigous. A poor fellow like me will be devoid of its true meaning.. Why should Gospel be so cryptic?

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The Jewish leaders, Scribes & Pharisees saw Jesus Christ as an enemy. They were hypocrites, because they were religious outwardly but their hearts were darkened, as Jesus said. They thought they were special and believed following laws made them holy and they looked down on others for not following all the Jewish laws. They were absolutely wrong.

Jesus came from a Jewish bloodline, that's true. That why it’s said salvation comes from the Jews, not because of those who practiced the Jewish religion. Not because of Jewish men, but only because of Christ himself being born a Jew.

In John chapter 4 Jesus talked with a Samaritan woman at a well and asked her for a drink. Jews looked down on Samaritans, even the woman knew that and asked Jesus why he should talk with her. He explained that even though salvation came from the Jews (because of his bloodline), he came so everyone could know God in spirit and in truth.

Jesus was saying bloodline has nothing to do with it. Religion has nothing to do with it. Jesus tells her God comes to us all in spirit and truth. God comes to us through Jesus Christ and enters into our hearts. It’s not an intellectual thing, it's not a religious thing, it’s a change of heart.

The Jewish leaders crucified Christ. They didn’t want him because they were blinded by religion. They prided themselves for knowing scriptures and practicing religious traditions and following Jewish laws. The only way they could accept what Christ Jesus was saying is to admit they were hypocrites, and they were not willing to do that. That was too humiliating for them to accept, because it would mean all their religious works were in vain and that they were no better than anyone else. They were outraged and had him crucified.

As for being cryptic, Jesus said even a child can understand him. Because children are innocent and have no pretense. Jesus' message is simple. The reason it sounds cryptic to us adults is because our minds are so conditioned with the junk and lies and religion we’ve been brainwashed with our whole lives. Jesus talks plainly and only when we hear him with our hearts can we understand. God talks to each of our hearts personally, not as a group. Each individual is precious in his sight.

Ya know, Jesus said there are only 2 commandments to follow: love God and treat others the way we want to be treated. That's it! Everything hangs on that. And he comes to each of us and gives us his spirit so that we might have the power to do just that. He gives us a new mind, one that loves one another and wants the best for each other. And he gives us a heart to know him intimately.

Christianity has gotten a bad name because so many still following laws and traditions and thinking that’s what makes them holy. I’m with you when you say hypocrisy is sickening, because it is. Nobody is better than anyone else in God’s eyes. We all need the Lord to help us to see the truth.

The Samaritan woman at the well said to Jesus, “I know the Messiah called Christ is coming someday. And when he does, he will explain everything to us.” And Jesus replied, “He is speaking to you right now.”

And many of the people of her town believed in Jesus because of that woman’s testimony. She said, "Come see this man who told me everything about me!” Because Jesus had seen right into her heart. And when her neighbors came to see him they proclaimed, “Now we believe him because we heard him for ourselves.” Because Jesus speaks to each of us personally. He gets right to the heart of the matter for all of us.

And the Samaritan community asked Jesus to stay with them a few days and he did.

Because of that Samaritan woman, the gospel of Jesus Christ was spread. Even Jesus’ Jewish disciples were perplexed about Jesus speaking to a Samaritan, but they were too afraid to question him. They had not yet understood that there is no Jew or Gentile with Christ. All people are loved and accepted by God individually.

If you are speaking of God that is not using his name in vain If you are cursing his name that is different... No saying God D-- it or something like that..

The best thing you can do is read the King James Bible Online do your studying It will let you read by topic or by verse. Apply your mind to learn and keep your mind open to the word. Most often closed minded people are afraid to learn.

Taking the name of the Lord in vain means professing to others that you're a follower of the Lord Jesus and yet are not sincerely devoted to him. In other words, a hypocrite and a liar.

Oh jenny! The first sentence of my post says i am willing to learn. BTW i have downloaded an ebook of kjv pure cambridge edition. I will start reading it and see where i go. Thank you for the reply btw.

Auntie ant(nice name) you made some very good points. I fancy that You are gifted in this area. Lovely. Although i still have no answer for my fundamental questions:
Q1 Why is that God focuses only on Human Beings, not on Other creatures?
Q2 Why is Holy Bible i.e. word of God focussed on Israel and Middle eastern locations. Looks like authors didn't know of rest of the world? Its much like Koran being focussed on Saudi Arabia. Anything too local seems to be written by men instead of our Holy Creator.
Q3 How can God be a man? Worshipping a man is not the best practice is it?

I don't mean to sow discord or create controversy. God forbid. I just can not get these questions out of my head.
Sincerely yours...

Oh I ask God questions all the time! He encourages us to take all our questions to him without fear and he will answer. He said cast all our cares and worries on him and ask him for wisdom and he will give it. He's faithful to do that, too. We don't ever have to worry about asking the wrong question or doubting the Lord. He knows we have to learn to trust him. He says, "Test me, try me, and see if I am not good." God can prove himself to you personally. He wants to!

A poor young blind woman revealed to me more about Christ through her genuine friendship to me and her day to day lifestyle, more than all the preaching I had heard before I met her. She was real. She followed Christ with her heart. That's how I met the Lord.

Your question about God being a man... again, God isn't a man, he is spirit and truth. His attributes toward us are not only fatherly but motherly as well. That's all in the Word of God, too.

Worship simply means reverence, like a child reverences their beloved parents. God's not an egomaniac. He also delights in us, as the scriptures say, "The LORD your God is with you... he takes great delight in you; in his love he will not rebuke you, but he rejoices over you with singing and dances over you with joy."

Picture a father or mother dancing around the room with their precious baby in their arms, singing and praising that child just because that child belongs to them. That's how God views you and me. Doesn't sound like an egomaniac now, does he?

I would imagine the Bible is focused so much on Israel & the Middle East because Jesus was born in that area. I mean, if Jesus was born and grew up in say, North America or the UK or anywhere else, it would focus on those countries. And yes, the Bible was written by men although inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. Nevertheless, we can't really understand the truth of any of it intellectually. That's why there's so many interpretations. But God reveals his truth in our hearts.

God is Spirit and truth and the message is a spiritual one. We can only get what God means in our hearts when we are meditating with him one on one. It's a beautiful, personal message to each one of us.

As for God focusing on other creatures, he actually does. The Word says he watches over even the sparrows. In fact, the Word of God gives him attributes of animals. It says like a hen gathering her chicks, God calls us to him so he can cover us with his feathers and protect us. The Lord's even concerned about flowers and provides sunshine and rain for them. The Word tells us that we're like sheep and the Lord is the gentle shepherd who guides us and keeps us from the wolves.

By the way, it's very nice to meet you. I'm glad you joined us here. It's a delight to meet someone so friendly and real.

Iamstuck, if I'm gifted, I'm not aware of it. I'm continually asking God for wisdom and guidance. I'm like a sheep going off a cliff unless I meditate with God about things.

In fact, I would not be surprised at all that God sent you to this site to help others understand as much as you seek understanding from us. Because we are all created to love one another and help & encourage each another in this life.

I have been mulling something over in my mind since reading over your initial post. I have a very dear friend who is a Muslim and I have been friends with him, his wife and family for years. But I have distanced myself from him lately because of a misunderstanding we had. Perhaps you can help me resolve my conflict.

You see, a friend of his visited here from Egypt and was verbally abusive to me for being Christian, although I never told him I was. He saw a Bible on my coffee table and just laid into me for about an hour. He actually struck terror in me as he was quite angry and brutish and wouldn't even allow me to talk.

I told my friend about it later and he assured me the guy was harmless, just overly devout. But I think differently because the guy had said some very disturbing things to me, which I cannot dismiss as harmless. I was disappointed that my friend didn't defend me or tell that man to leave me alone.

Anyhow, my point is I don't communicate much with my Muslim friend anymore even though I miss him & his family a lot. He messages me on Facebook but I keep it short & sweet because I see his Egyptian friend is still very much a part of his life and I'm afraid of him. I feel like that man will eventually influence my Muslim friend and turn him against me. It really hurts my heart to think like that about my friend & I know I'm being irrational.

I've been praying about it and perhaps God will use you to help me see how I can overcome my disappointment in my dear Muslim friend and my fear of his religious friend from Egypt.

Don't feel obligated to answer, I'm just wondering if maybe you could offer insight on it. If so, that would be fantastic and an answer to my prayer. Thanks, Iamstuck.

Well according to the Bible there will be animals in eternity with us and God.. But animals do not have the knowledge of good and evil.. they run on instinct and base emotions like fear.. God create us in His image the Bible declares so we are special.. different.. Higher if you like then animals..

Because thats the rejoin where He chose to reveal himself.. And it is geographically the centre of the world.. Think for a moment if you where going to introduce something to the earth and wanted it to be in the best location to spread all over the world what place would you select? Right at the crossroads between Europe, Africa and Asia ??? With coast lines inked to the mediteranian and western seas and the Red sea linked to the indian ocean and the east.... Yep God selected the best spot for His stage and His performance..

No one should worship a man.. We should worship God. If God chose to come to earth in the body of a man we should still worship Him.. We are not worshiping the flesh of a man when we are worshiping God that is using that flesh to dewll on earth for a time with us... The name of Jesus means "God with us" in Greek it is Emmanuel

Matthew 1:KJV
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
No worries Iamstuck.. If there is any discord between people here it is going to exist no matter if you ask questions or not.. Your questions might reveal that discord but it certainly will not create it.. i encourage you to keep asking questions. It is an honor for me to answer them i assure you..

Hey ant! Trying not to be divisive, but based on my first hand experience with muslims, i believe you must take precautions. Is your muslim friend a shiite or sunni?? It does make a LOT of difference. We can talk personally too if you ok with that.

Hey Adstar! Thanks for your last reply. Its just too difficult for me to digest the fact that God Almighty, the creator of everything becoming a man to dwell amongst us. Where is the need. Why die for our sins? Why not provide a simple way to get rid of them?
I mean isn't it possible that jesus was just a righteous man who went about helping people, who was murdered by self righteous hate filled jews?
What if his disciples wrote the accounts of his miracles and resurrection out of emotions, like sorrow about hia death at hand of merciless peoples? Pls shed light on this..(pardon my intrusive questioning, i don't intend to blaspheme. God forbid)

Also, when jesus was adressed as Good teacher by one of his disciples, he clearly said: who is good but our father in heavens? He didn't accept being adressed as "good" but reffered to God as being good. So how can he be Son of god?

That would a rethorical question ... he was pointing out to them that he was indeed God

Iamstruck, these are good questions. The answer to them lies within you.

We believe we are basically ok and everything we have done, on balance is acceptable.
God says simply this is not true. Israel was the proof of the difference between God and man.
Though many tried to lived Gods way, most failed or ended up just following rules and not seeing
love and God himself.

The problem is we have been betrayed, hurt, turned in on ourselves and put an agressive
sinful face to the world in order to survive, hiding our needs and love within. Most of all we do
not trust God or the situation we find ourselves in.

The only way God could communicate and show us, for real, that things were not as they seemed
and there was hope was to become our friend, to meet with us, and walk with us.

There are two steps to salvation. The first is in recognising Gods summary of our condition is true.
The second is putting faith in Him and following, by repenting of our ways and learning to follow
His. This is what would be called transformation into a child of God.

So do you accept Gods summary of mankinds problem and yours specifically?
Secondly do you believe God loves you and why?

What simple way would you propose? Just deciding that they aren't that big of a deal and people who've suffered gross injustice should just forgive and get over it? Some sort of divine override of our free will so that we're incapable of sinning anymore and are more puppets than people? I think part of the need for the incarnation (for God taking the form of a man and living a human life in Jesus), was simply so we would believe that God really does understand what we're going through, that he's experienced it too. That point is made in Hebrews for where it talks about Jesus as our high priest who is able to sympathize with our weakness. At any rate, I think the proper response to God becoming man is not to question whether it was necessary and why, but to kind of be in awe that God would do that for us and that he cares that much for us.

His trial proved he was a righteous man, the only charge they could find against him was blasphemy: that he claimed to be God. And to paint that milquetoast picture of Jesus that he was just some nice helpful guy completely dismisses his harsh words to the religious leaders, his warnings of judgement, and a lot of the parables he taught. He helped a lot of people, but it wasn't his being nice and kind to people that got him in trouble.

That's a huge stretch. First objection would be that if the disciples were going to make up these stories, they would have painted themselves in a better light. Second objection is that scholars agree that the Biblical accounts were written down at the earliest some 20 years after Jesus crucifixion. Not exactly the result of an immediate emotional aftermath of the crucifixion, and there's the fact that they went from running away in terror when Jesus was arrested to less than two months later preaching his resurrection in the streets and boldly facing down those same religious leaders that had Jesus killed.

What I really see you doing here, I am stuck, is getting stuck in all that you've heard against God and what the Bible says from athiests and then asking Christians what the Bible says instead of reading the Bible itself to get the whole story. But I do want to point you to some good overview resources: the Jesus film project (now available online in a whole bunch of different languages) and the God story project. Neither are great cinematic feats, but both provide a great overview of what I'll call the big story of the Bible. Also I do highly recommend the movie Risen (just came out last easter) not as any sort of factual account, but a great look into the difference between belief and faith and the struggle to accept the impossible to believe.

I think we are starting to see a little clearer picture of you. A good portion of the hatred muslims have toward Jews seems to have rubbed off on you.

1John 5:4
[SUP]4 [/SUP]For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our[SUP][a][/SUP] faith. [SUP]5 [/SUP]Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

John 3:18
[SUP]18 [/SUP]“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Your search ends with those truths. NOTHING else will matter until you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. We can tell you the faults of other religions, try and answer some of the questions you have about Scripture, and love you, but until you are born again, and filled with the Holy Spirit you will not be able to discern Scripture.

I pray that you would accept God's ONLY provision for Salvation, His ONLY Son, Jesus Christ. In His Name I pray.

If justice is to be served the penalty for sin must be paid.... The Bible states that the just penalty for sin (any sin) is the eternal death penalty in the Lake of Fire.. So God is like the judge who cannot be seen to be corrupt in front of all the heavenly host (Angels ) therefore a Loving God being perfect and not corrupt must find a Justifiable Way to save human sinners from the penalty of death which is hanging over all our heads because we are all guilty of committing sin.. So God decided to take the form of a man come down to earth and take upon himself the death penalty to pay the penalty for us human sinners... So it would be like the Judge of a court finding a very poor person guilty of a driving offense and declaring a standard fine of lets say $500 dollars and then pulling out his wallet and taking $500 dollars from it and offering it as a gift to the offender who has no hope of paying the fine so that the guy could pay his fine immediately and leave the court a free man... This is the judge Atoning for or paying the fine of the offender..

Well thats a harder question to answer.. Of course as a Christian i believe God will bring the sinning state of humans to an end one day.. But i believe the main reason for all of this history is to demonstrate to the heavenly host (The Angels of whom satan is one) that God is justified to be the one and only God of all existence and that satan ( also called lucifer ) is totally unjustified in his claim to Godhood.. This long term controversy has to be fully worked out.. Each individual human is only tasked with experiencing like in this faulty existence for a limited life time. But has the prospects of having an eternal existence after this short life as a perfected being in Gods perfect existence. So while God could indeed end the current corrupt state of humanity i can only believe that there are still angels up there who God needs to convince of His position.


Well if Jesus was not God manifested in the flesh then He would be liar and a blasphemer who did some good things but in the end deserved to be executed by the Jews.. The elite religious Jews wanted to kill Jesus because they saw him as a dangerous blasphemer and a man who did miracles by the power of the devil..

Do you know that the disciples where executed in various different ways because they would not recant their report of Jesus rising from the dead and all His teachings... Now why would people be prepared to die for a lie.. They where not prepared to face death because someone had taught them that Jesus died and was resurrected from the dead.. They faced execution for what they claimed to have seen with their own eyes..

That was not one of His disciples.. That was a young rich man.. The man called Jesus ""Good Master"" Now this young man did not think Jesus was God manifested in the flesh. Even his disciples did not know the nature of Jesus at the time. The young rich man saw Jesus as a wise religious man a prophet maybe.. Jesus replied ""Why do you call me Good? "" Jesus then said Only God was Good.. Which is true.. In Christianity only God is good and no man is good.. Jesus was not denying He was Good.. He knew that the young rich man believed that religious men where Good.. when in fact no man is good..

Thank you very much, Iamstuck! I will pm you.