My apologies, I'm a little confused on faith right now. How Is Christianity True?

[Suze]

My apologies if I shook your faith, I don't really mean to but I just find logical problems with the existence of an all powerful deity who is helpless to stop Satan.

U didn't shake my faith , I don't believe in a deity that can't stop satan , i believe that satan is a metaphor ( there r a lot of them in the Bible , in case u didn't know this ) for ; sin in the flesh . Satan opposes God , who does that ? Us ,that's who , sinful human beings . Humanity as it now is , cast out of Eden , estranged from the presence of our Creator because of our disobedience and lack of love for and faith in our God , that's sin in the flesh , that's us , disobedient and faithless , the very definition of sin , satan . The heart ( the HUMAN HEART , us ! ) is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked , who can know it . Think that's from Jeremiah but , my memory may b at fault .
God has devised a pure means of reconciliation for us , the man , the sinless man Jesus Christ , who willingly offered himself to b the propitiation for our sins , OUR SINS , in order to b a part of this plan of salvation we have to acknowledge OUR SINS . We cannot blame our sins on a dissembodied fiend that led us astray , WE lead EACH OTHER and OURSELVES astray . If our sins were not our fault , would God blame us for them ? Of course He wouldn't ! Read the Old Testament , how many times does Israel sin ? Does God blame satan for leading Israel astray ? No , He does not , even Israel themselves DO NOT blame a dissembodied fiend , they accept responsibility for their sins . This in itself is an important part of our salvation , TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR OWN SINFUL SELVES ! Paul tells us somewhere , every man is led astray by his own desires . We oppose God's Righteous Will , therefore we r satan , sin in the flesh . THERE IS NO SIN WITHOUT FLESH . We r flesh . Get it ? It seems very simple and clear to me . I hope I've made my case in a clear way , I'm not used to teaching / preaching etc .

 

[Suze]

My apologies if I shook your faith, I don't really mean to but I just find logical problems with the existence of an all powerful deity who is helpless to stop Satan.

Read Jeremiah Ch 13 verses 9-11 . Where does satan come into the equation ? He doesn't , There is only two elements , spirit and flesh , God and humans . THIS EVIL PEOPLE WHICH REFUSE TO HEAR MY WORDS , WHICH WALK IN THE IMAGINATION OF THEIR HEART .
SO HAVE I CAUSED TO CLEAVE UNTO ME THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND THE WHOLE HOUSE OF JUDAH , SAITH THE LORD ; THAT THEY MIGHT BE UNTO ME FOR A PEOPLE , AND FOR A NAME , AND FOR A PRAISE , AND FOR A GLORY : BUT THEY WOULD NOT HEAR .
That is sin . No faith , no love , no obedience . That is the flesh . Faithless , loveless and disobedient . Christians r supposed to walk according to the Spirit , not the flesh .
We r not supposed to walk by sight but by faith . Christ crucified is the death of sin in the flesh to us if , we walk in the Spirit and follow his example , he will lead us to our God .
It is the Spirit that quickens , the flesh profiteth nothing . No mention of satan . Just us in our sinful flesh doing what sinful flesh does . Christ has shown us the way back to our God .

 

[rewriter]

What is sin? Surely it is disobedience of God. Did Adam and Eve disobey God? Yes. The fact that their disobedience is not referred to by the word "sin" in that passage in Genesis 3 makes no difference. Anyway, other passages in the Bible do say that sin was involved. For example:

NKJV Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "a version of themselves." As for the serpent being Satan/the devil, I agree that Genesis 3 does not tell us that, but we have the complete word of God, and Revelation makes clear that the serpent, the devil, and Satan are one and the same:

NKJV Rev 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

I don't see that sin is not a moral matter. Yes, it also affects our relationship with God, but that does not mean it isn't moral, or rather, as far as sin is concerned, immoral.


No relation as far as I am aware. Most of my relatives on my father's sides come from Colchester, Essex (about 56 miles north east of London).

I do not dispute that there is a moral dimension to sin, I just question whether the moral dimension is primary or secondary. To my mind, the moral issue must be secondary as modern science supports the notion that all of creation is interconnected and thus that whatever one does to another part of creation, they do to themselves.

Thus the question arises, unless one falsely perceives themselves as separate, a relational issue, what moral harm would they inflict on another part of creation, given that doing so would be to injure themselves? I again reference Romans 1:25 and its reference to a single specific lie that people believe that leads to all the moral issues. What lie, other than that the individual is a separable entity, which then allows for various other supposed separable entities, aka false idols, fits?

Now admittedly, once one accepts this lie as truth, the lie will direct the individual to deny the truth by whatever means possible, but if any fragment of free will remains it will be possible to carefully consider this point and consider whether any other lie meets the requirements without this specific lie being foundational. Idolatry, for instance, fails as it requires separable entities.

Now managing to void this lie in one's belief system will require outside intervention, a healing/salvation and cannot be fully accomplished within the physical realm.

 

[DavidLamb]

I do not dispute that there is a moral dimension to sin, I just question whether the moral dimension is primary or secondary. To my mind, the moral issue must be secondary as modern science supports the notion that all of creation is interconnected and thus that whatever one does to another part of creation, they do to themselves.

Thus the question arises, unless one falsely perceives themselves as separate, a relational issue, what moral harm would they inflict on another part of creation, given that doing so would be to injure themselves? I again reference Romans 1:25 and its reference to a single specific lie that people believe that leads to all the moral issues. What lie, other than that the individual is a separable entity, which then allows for various other supposed separable entities, aka false idols, fits?

Now admittedly, once one accepts this lie as truth, the lie will direct the individual to deny the truth by whatever means possible, but if any fragment of free will remains it will be possible to carefully consider this point and consider whether any other lie meets the requirements without this specific lie being foundational. Idolatry, for instance, fails as it requires separable entities.

Now managing to void this lie in one's belief system will require outside intervention, a healing/salvation and cannot be fully accomplished within the physical realm.

Whether or not all of creation is interconnected so that one's action affect the rest of creation is not how sin is defined. John wrote:

NKJV 1Jn 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness, breaking God's commands. As such, it remains sin whether or not it affects other people or things in creation.

 

[rewriter]

Whether or not all of creation is interconnected so that one's action affect the rest of creation is not how sin is defined. John wrote:

NKJV 1Jn 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness, breaking God's commands. As such, it remains sin whether or not it affects other people or things in creation.

And are not the laws of creation laws? If all of creation is interconnected, then it follows that one immutable law is that whatever one does to another aspect of creation, one does to themselves.

And remember, ancient Israel distorted the 10 Commandments, making declarative statements into imperative, statements of truth into statements of law. Today people do similar actions, requiring anything they dislike to be supported by scripture, ignoring that scripture points to the whole of creation as sources of divine knowledge. Scripture even states that it does not record everything related to the divine, but it is still considered to be the sole proper source for divine insights.

One simple example of modern folly and distortion of scripture comes from the Romans passage about the internal battle between the desires to follow the law and the desires of the body. It is recorded by Paul, but it cannot refer to Paul himself, as so many wish to do. There is only one individual who could possibly have made such claims as only one person has ever existed prior to the law, at least according to scripture, and that would be Adam.

Easy understandings of scripture are fine for those young in the faith, but as one matures, the answers get much harder. Typically, by the end of 1st grade, one has access to sufficient knowledge to address any problem, they can read and do math. However, the answers that can easily e found are not adequate and much more schooling is required to properly address many questions, both reading and math skills need to be developed to a much greater extent to adequately address some questions. Knowledge of scripture is fine, but knowledge of far more of reality than is recorded in the scriptures is far better and leads to greater awareness of what the scriptures are saying.