An Open Book Test

Life is about the choices we make. Each one of us daily faces a series of choices. We can choose to be happy. We can choose to be filled with joy. We can choose to have life abundantly.

Likewise, we can can make choices that have a negative effect on our lives. We can choose to be angry. We can choose to live in fear. We can choose to hold on to unforgiveness.

God gave us a free will. He also gave us authority over this earthly realm. I disagree with those that say that nothing happens that God doesn't cause to happen, or at least permit to happen. I disagree that God is 100% sovereign and nothing happens outside of His will. God gave us choices to make.

God's will does not automatically come to pass. I think the following two verses make this pretty clear:

"The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent."
2 Peter 3:9 NLT

This verse makes it very clear that it is God's will that not even one person should perish. God's desire is that all would come to repentance and experience Eternal Life.

But Jesus said:

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way."
Matthew 7:13 NLT

Here again, we see choice. We see that the decisions we make can either go against the will of God, or they can be in line with the will of God. God is not going to make these decisions for us. He gave us the choice.


“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NLT


I love this passage. It's like God is giving us a quiz here. He says,

"Choose "A" - Life and Blessings or

"Choose "B" - Death and Curses

Then he even gives us the answer to this little quiz. He says "Choose Life"! It's like he whispers to us, (hint) A's the answer!


Well, there's my little contribution to blog world for today. Granted, it's not the best blog I've ever written. Nor is it the greatest revelation God has ever given me. But it is a powerful reminder that we have, each day, choices to make. God told us to have dominion. He commanded us to rule over this earth. He gave us His Spirit and all of the power associated therewith and told us to take authority over everything that hinders us.

So today, I present this little quiz to you my friends. What choice do you make for today?

A - Life and Blessings

or

B - Death and Curses


"For to be carnally minded ("B") is death; but to be spiritually minded ("A") is life and peace."
Romans 8:6


In love,
Michael


(The answer is "A")

The problem with this is that you've been quoting from a very hateful book, even though the quotes that you have personally chosen may not be hateful in and of themselves.

The fact is that the Bible does indeed proclaim that the "Lord" has commanded us to do horrible hateful things.

This is a quote from a Christian Pope: ""the Jews, by their own guilt, are consigned to perpetual servitude because they crucified the Lord...As slaves rejected by God, in whose death they wickedly conspire, they shall by the effect of this very action, recognize themselves as the slaves of those whom Christ's death set free..."

That's HIS INTERPRETATION of the Bible.

Other Popes have ordered armies to comitte genocide in the name of the Biblical God. Look up the history of the Cathers.

Here's a quote by Martin Luther: "I have come to the conclusion that the Jews will always curse and blaspheme God and his King Christ, as all the prophets have predicted....For they are thus given over by the wrath of God to reprobation, that they may become incorrigible, as Ecclesiastes says, for every one who is incorrigible is rendered worse rather than better by correction."

Once again the Bible being used to reject a large group of people.

In fact the Bible says as a direct commandment from God:

Exodus 22:18 "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

This book also has God commanding his devoted servants to seek out and murder any and all "Heathens" where a heathen is defined as nothing other than anyone who refuses to believe that the Bible is the word of God.

Clearly this is a book that is filled with hatred toward anyone who refuses to accept the premise that this book is the word of God.

I understand your own personal 'Designer Christian' views. You would like to believe that Christianity is all about Jesus and the teachings of Jesus. But in truth, the message of Jesus was indeed the very same message that Buddha taught over 500 years before Jesus was born.

The problem with the "Jesus is God" view is that it truly rejects the God of Abraham and instead of worshiping that God it attempts to replace him with Jesus.

In fact your very implication here seems to be that rejecting the Bible as the word of God is the very same thing as rejecting God.

But that's the very source of hatred toward "heathens".

The REAL CHOICE is whether or not you want to follow your creator, or a book written by a bunch of hateful men who blasphemed themselves by claiming to speak for God.

I choose to toss the godforsaken book into the hell fire and instead worship the real living spirit.

So I personally see rejecting of the Bible as acceptance of God, and acceptance of the Bible as rejection of God.

To each their own I guess.

Choose LOVE, not HATE.

You can't go wrong with LOVE.

Don't worship a book that spreads hatred toward heathens where a 'heathen' is simply defined as anyone who rejects the book.

That's NOT LOVE. That's living a life of FEAR and PREJUDICE.

let's not forget about the christian crusades, when they killed people for not believing in their god.

Let's not leave out the Spanish Inquisition, the Witch Trials...
Not to mention all the things we know now to be fact, that was deemed untrue, and blasphemous against the church...

I can't get behind the Gods, who are more vengeful, angry, and dangerous if you don't believe in them!


Why can't all these Gods just get along? I mean, they're omnipotent and omnipresent, what's the problem?







-William Shatner

which were done by man warping the teachings

Actually it all comes from the Old Testament. And from mainly from the writings of Paul in the New Testament where much of the time he simply points back to the Old Testament and rehashes that same evil crap.

The actual teachings of Jesus alone would be difficult to use to support the crusades (or even the burnings of witches). All of those things come from the Old Testament and the idea of a jealous God who demanded, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me".

So it didn't require any 'warping' of the overall religion as it stands.

The very problem with the religion is indeed the Old Testament. And of course, Paul's writings in the New Testament that rehash those same ungodly sentiments.

If Jesus could stand on his own two feet as a God in his own right then the idea you express would have some validity. But Jesus has no feet of his own to stand on in the Christian interpretation of the Bible. Because they demand that his authority stems from the God of Abraham.

The very idea that Jesus is the Son of the God of Arbaham is the only thing that gives Jesus credibility and authority. Without that endorsement he would just be another mortal man.

So it's not a "Warping" of the Biblical teachings to use Jesus as a prop to support the Old Testament. On the contrary that's the very thesis of Christianity!

The Old Testament clearly had God demanding that people seek out and murder "heathens" as their duty to him. That's given as a command by God in Deuteronomy as well as other places.

Jesus supposedly claimed that he did not come to change the laws and that not one jot nor one tittle shall pass from law.

Put those two facts together and how could you possibly call the murdering of heathens a 'warping' of the biblical teachings?

That is nothing more than a cop-out.

In every other aspect of life, people can realize that evils can be done, and that the person perpetrating the evils really beliefs in what they are doing. Religion is the only thing that uses the "not a true believer" cop-out.
A lot of the atrocities that have been committed throughout History, in the name of Religion, have done due to a literal translation of the holy book.

It is long past time for Religion to give up this false shelter, and to take the blame it deserves.

NOT a cop out. they themselves choose to do those things out of greed, self-righteousness, power, whatever. it's not a monopoly to one religion....non-believers have done the same as well as other faiths. it is a warping of beliefs and they hide behind the beliefs to justify themselves

But how can you call it a 'warping of beliefs' when it's IN THE BOOK!

If the Bible truly is the word of God, and God doesn't want people to go around murdering heathens, then WHY would that God command people to do precisely that? :huh

The Bible as a whole sends MIXED MESSAGES!

This is why I denounce it as being impossible to have been the word of God. Particularly the Old Testament.

However, if I demand that the Old Testament is NOT the word of God, then what sense would it make for me to believe the Jesus is the sacrificial lamb of that that "God"?

Therein lies the whole problem with Christianity.

It can't work just by pointing to the teaching of Jesus and ignoring the teachings of the Old Testament. It must either be taken in its entirity or it must be rejected as not being the word of God.

It makes no sense to accept that Jesus is the sacrificial lamb of a God that YOU REJECT!

I have no problem accepting the moral teachings of Jesus. In fact I've been arguing for years that the moral teachings of Jesus are indeed the same as the moral teachings of Buddhism. Mahayana Buddism to be precise.

It's not Jesus that I reject. It's the OLD TESTAMENT that I reject.

But having rejected the Old Testament it then makes absolutely no sense to believe that Jesus was sent by that God to be a sacrificial lamb to pay for the sins of man.

The bottom line in all of this is that it makes no sense to accept Jesus as the sacrificial lamb of the God of Abraham whilst simultaneously claiming that to believe in the God of Abraham would be 'warping' the Bible!

Ironically enough this is what many modern 'Designer Christians' want to do. They want to reject the Old Testament in favor of the teachings of Jesus. But they also want to RETAIN the idea that he is their "Savior" (i.e. that he is the sacrifical lamb of the God of Abraham and he is the ONLY WAY to salvation).

But that's not compatible with rejecting the Old Testament!

The fudamentalists who would love to murder heathens are RIGHT!

If you're going to take the Bible SERIOUSLY you must accept the teachings of the Old Testament as the "WORD OF GOD". And you must also believe that Jesus said that he DID NOT COME to CHANGE THE LAWS.

Put those two things together and you end up with either the Crusades, witch burnings, or an anti-semitism holocaust.

To claim that his is a 'warping' of the bible is truly ludicious.

Modern "Jesus Freaks" who would like to ignore the Old Testament in favor of the Buddhistic teachings of Jesus are truly the ones who are 'warping' the Bible.

I don't see why they don't just recognize like I do that Jesus could not possibly have been the son of the God of Abraham and necessarily must have been a Mahayana Buddhist who actually did preach a different philosophy than had been preached in the Old Testament.

To denounce the teachings of the Old Testament as "warping the Bible" is indeed to reject the teaching of the God of Abraham.

Many modern Christians would indeed like to believe that Jesus is God and the God of Abraham was just a bad nightmare. But that's not what "Christianity" truly holds. They hold that Jesus is indeed the Son of the God of Abraham!

christianity follows the tachings of christ. i'm sure many have explained it all to you but instead of just taking it for what it is....you want to argue and tear it down. if i remember correctly....you believed in some higher power of some sorts but you don't know what it is. but yet you can't prove it anymore than you expect christians to

IF Christianity is just about the teachings of Jesus, why have the OT in the bible? IF Christianity is just about the teachings of Christ, why not get rid of all those stories that really have nothing to do with Jesus?

does it really do any good to explain it???? when all you seem to want to do is argue any way?

That's a perfectly good argument.

And it's a sincere question. Most of Christian bigotry comes from the Old Tesament, or from part of the New Testament that was written by Paul that just points back to the Old Testament and rehashes it.

The problem with you proclamation Rose, is that it's simply not true.

If I denounce the Old Testament, and reject the teachings of Paul which constitute the bulk of the New Testament and I only accept the Gospels.

Then what do I end up with?

I end up with a Buddha.

No Christian organization or establishment would allow me to call that "Chrisitanity". They would all claim that I'm a heretic.

You can't just point to the teachings of Christ and ignore the rest.

If I thought I could do that I'd be a Christian.

In fact, if I'm allowed to do that, then by your definition I already AM a Christian!

not sure what part you say is untrue.

as far as "organized" religion....i have my own problem with because the heads of the churches tend to take bits and pieces for their own agenda....but then again...many people do this in many aspects of life

i didn't say you ignore the rest. a christian by definition is a follower of the teachings of christ. christ even says to remember the 10 commandments.

but like i have said....i have seen many people try to explain things to you. if you don't want to take what they say and continue to argue....then that is on you and it's your right to.

i don't want to spin my wheels....there is more in my life to do that

And yet you come back here day after day and take part in these arguments. And day after day you throw up this same argument. You want to know why one does not accept the explanations of others it is because they don't agree with some part of the answer.

i don't try to argue about my beliefs any more because it's useless. but i come to see the drama. it's like the jerry springer show without the jerry beads lol

i know why people can't just take things for what it's worth. i just come for the show

i come in here...because i can...just like you. i tel everyone they are spinning their wheels because it's the same arguments and usually go away from the topic

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

He's perfect in every way!

Oh and by the way....I choose LIFE~!