Q.Why would God demand that everyone believe in a specific piece of folklore over any other. Just how are they supposed to KNOW that it’s actually from God? I mean, when I look at the book I’m totally convinced that it can’t possibly be from the creator of this universe.
So I’m rejecting a BOOK, not God. And if God is so wise and omnipresent and knows everyone’s thoughts then he would KNOW that I’m not rejecting him, but rather I’m rejecting a book that I simply don’t believe has anything to do with him.

A. Because it is God breathed, the Bible is called THE WORD OF GOD! So if you reject the WORD OF GOD then you reject GOD!
this IS common sense...
the reason also the reason he want's us to believe in chrisianity over any other "folklore" as YOU call it is because all the other folklore are taking people away from GOD.
that would be consitered having a false IDOL.

This is where I have a serious problem with the religion. When the religious people say, “Oh no! You have to believe in the BIBLE, nothing else will do!”. Well to me that just indicates that it is INDEED all just a big hoax. The focus is on the religion, NOT on God.

If the book were genuinely written by God he would have made it clear that reverence for him is all that’s important and that believing in any particular book simply isn’t important.

In fact, if God wanted to send a message to man, why do it though a restricted geographical region and just a handful of closely related people? Why not inspire writings all over the globe by all men. Then we’d see a whole lot of differnet books that were simultaneously written all over the world in a time when that kind of communication wouldn’t have been possible. Then we’d KNOW that the message was from God!

HELLO?? Are you hearing yourself? IT WAS WRITTEN BY MANY DIFFERENT MEN from around the world God revealed himself to them through the holy Spirit, don't you know your history???
Hence why it is called GOD INSPIRED!

Instead we have a bunch of yo-yo’s in the Middle East writing self-centered stories about their own lineage and nations. Smells like folklore to me!!!
But I guess I’ll be rejected by God then because I didn’t buy into the correct comic book.
What the hell kind of a way is that to play a game?
It’s a stupid game if you ask me.

It's not a game that's why we as christians try to reach people around the world so they are not lost to Hell.

Miles wrote:
“Hell is a foriegn concept to the Holy Bible. Complete destruction is the punishment of the wicked not everlasting torture. Death is death non exxistance”

Now that I can handle! I’m not wicked, but if I lose the game because I read the wrong comic books then I’m glad to know that I’ll just die when I die. I have no problem with that. Hanging around for eternity groveling for forgiveness all the time and having to constantly worship and praise a deity doesn’t sound like a bunch of fun anyway. Just passing out into oblivion actually sounds much more inviting in comparison.
After all, in theory I was non-existent before I was born, so going back to being non-existent after I die seems like a pretty fair deal.

Just because it's "comfortable" for you to believe doesn't mean it's true because that's such an easy "way out", you just want something that's easy for you so you don't have to do any work, you know that if what I say is true then it's going to be "hard"
You don't want to believe it because when you get to your Judgement you want to say to God "I didn't know, I thought I would just float off and be like "poof" gone" well you can't use excuses with God because I TOLD YOU so you did know and chose not to believe what I said.
you can't just pick and choose whats comfortable for you and expect to be covered in every aspect.
Don't be mistaken in thinking there is more then one way to heaven because there's not, and as far as it not being fun praising God all the time you have no clue what its like to be in HIS {NOT her} presence because if you did you wouldn't say such a thing, it is more wonderful then you can imagine because I HAVE been in His presence.
if you really want God to show Himself to you just ask Him to and HE will when the timing is right, I'll pray for you that God will reveal Himself to you.

Bottom line with this heaven and hell business and the "Christian" view of how all the sorting is done, God knows your heart - Nuff said.

Wench-

I love it when you cut to the heart of the matter in a single entertaining and endearing (at least to me) sentance.



God knows our hearts.

Josh wrote:
"HELLO?? Are you hearing yourself? IT WAS WRITTEN BY MANY DIFFERENT MEN from around the world God revealed himself to them through the holy Spirit, don't you know your history???
Hence why it is called GOD INSPIRED!"

With all due respect Josh what you've just said here simply isn't true. The stories in the Bible all came from ancient doctrines from the Middle East. There were no books in the Bible written by the Japanese, or Chinese, or Indonesia, or the Mongolians, etc, etc, etc. An certainly not one in the western hemisphere of the earth (the Americas, both North and South) ever wrote anything about this.

All of these stories came from the Middle Eastern area, which would include Northern Africa, the Mediterranean, and that whole geographic area that was naturally in touch with each other and had access to the same folklore to expand upon.

It’s simply not true that it came from around the world. It was a very local story. All of the authors were aware of what the other authors had written and just expanded on it.

Just like today, when someone has an experience they feel is mystical they run and proclaim that it came from the God of the Bible simply because that’s the only religious doctrine they can think of attributing it to.

You’re seriously kidding yourself if you believe that the Bible was written by men from all around the world. That most certainly is not true. It’s a an extremely regional mythology. Written by various authors, all of whom could have easily been aware of the stories of the authors who wrote before them, and in fact most likely were.

Facts still remains that the Bible describes it hell as buring,
blisting,baking, blazing, boling hell.
GODS word speaks as clear and plain about hell as it does any
other subject. If you believe there is a heaven, then you must believe theres is a hell, becouse we get our information concerning both places from the same source.
the reality of hell cannot be explained away by those who are dealing in fanciful wishing for their own escape.
the bible describes future punishment as literal , future
punishment as eternal;future punishment as escapable- that is
escapable this side of the grave.
the scripture says, it is appointed unto men once to die
but after this the judgement. heb9;27
the bible further describes hell as furnace of fire, lake of fire.a bottomless pit,a pit of destruction, and outer darkness,
the second death, where there will be weeping, wailingand gnashing of teeth.
in hell the Bible assures us that all of the faculties
of man will function. read luke 16 chaper wher the man wanted a drop of water.
hell is not a curse word , but a place. it was prepared by the lord for the devil and his angels( matt.25;41)
GOD does not send any soul to hell, but every person that refuses JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND SAVIOR.
However , people who refuse GODS Heaven have no choice but to take the devils hell . Psalm 9;17 says " the wicked shall
be turn into hell, and all the nations that forget GOD."
unconfessed, unrepented, will send your soul too hell and doom in hell forever and ever.
Hell is the land of the lost, hell nota playground;hell is not a summer resort. Hell is a place of torment. Anyone who shuts GOD out of their heart in this life, GOD will shut them out of HIS Heaven in the life to come.
Hell is no myth, but hell is a certainty, and certainty is a KNOWN TRUTH.
Where dos one go to find the truth? I highly recommend the leading Book , in inspiration ,circulation, preservation,authority ,and unbiased truth.
we call it Bible, the HOLY WORD OF GOD.
All that it needs is reading, believing, and practicing.
"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" matt 11;15
MAY GOD BLESS YOU
someonefyou

In the New Testament there are 27 books,260 chaptersand 234 verses that deal directly with hell.
This is amost one verse per chapter that deals on this terrible, hideouse, horrifying place called hell. hell is a place_ but where?
it is described as a subterranean area, created and located for a specific purpose. deut32;22 says A fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell.
that says to me, the place is BENEATH, LOW DOWN in location
LOW DOWN in its habitation.
Hell from beneath is moved for theee to meet thee at thy coming. "(Isaiah 14:9)
canst thou by searching find out GOD? (Job 11:8)
It is as highh as heaven_ DEEPER than hell.
I heared REV Angel Martinez say if you do not want to believe the doctrine of hell, get saved and you can forget about it .
I want to show you a SOLEMN VIEW
'" And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it , from whose faces the earth and heaven fled away,and there was
found no place for them. (Rev20,11
" AND I sawthe dead, smalland great, stand before GOD and the books were opened; and another book was open which is the book of life. and the dead was judged out of thoser things which were written in the books , according to their works . " (Rev 20 12
and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in to the lake of fire. ( rev 20,13 -15


MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU

Someoneforyou,

I agree that this is what the Bible says. The question is, who wrote the Bible? God or man?

I believe it was written by men. It’s clearly to me that they are basically saying, “Either believe in this doctrine or you will be cursed beyond your wildest nightmares.

It’s a perfect scare tactic which is what most of the Bible is about.

If you want someone to believe something just tell them that if they don’t believe it, they will be rejected by God, unloved, and forsaken forever to eternal damnation without no hope of every being pardoned or freed from that godforsaken predicament.

What better tactic to use to keep people from even THINKING that your story might not be true! That very THOUGHT could cause you to be sent to HELL!

It’s a brainwashing technique used by men.

What kind of an all-perfect, all-knowing, all-compassionate, all-loving God would have created such a disgusting mess?

It simply comes down to one of two things. Either God isn’t all-powerful and therefore has no control over things. Or God is a demented sadist who purposefully designed things were MOST of the spirits he creates will end up in eternal torment with no hope of ever escaping that horrible fate.

And the Bible does say that MOST people will go to hell simply because it implies that only very FEW will actually make it to heaven. Hell being the ONLY other possibly alternative.

Such a God would be a demon of unprecedented horror. And those who did make it to his heaven would be serving that demon under his rule for all of eternity. The only real motivation to get into that heaven is to avoid the hell. What a sad predicament for all of humanity.

Why anyone would want to believe that god is such a demon is beyond me. I think it makes much more sense to just realize that the Bible is a manmade story and has no validity beyond that. To actually believe that God could be so crude is just unfathomable. Most humans we meet have more compassion than the God described in the Bible. Thus proving that such a picture of God can’t possibly be true. How could it be that mere mortals are more compassionate than God?

Would you allow someone to go to an eternal Hell if you could prevent it? I certainly wouldn’t. So either God is not all-powerful (can’t control things completely) or he’s less compassionate than me (hopefully you and me both!)

This picture of an uncompassionate God simply can’t be true. Especially if he is SENDING people to hell simply because they didn’t believe in some crazy story that no rational person would believe. And YES, if he’s ALLOWING them to be sent to hell, then he’s SENDING them there himself! The idea that it was their decision is nonsense.

I don’t believe the Bible is the word of god yet I am NOT choosing to go to hell. I am choosing to appreciate and USE the brain that god gave me! The Bible simply makes no sense and should not be believed. Period. No god could be that despicable.

we are looking at both sides now.


we are talking out of both sides of our mouths now.

it is all here now.


it will all magnify later.

Sometimes it is best not to think about it.

sometimes it is just too insane to comprehend that life is fair and balanced.

I want to scream and run away.

wouldee wrote:
"I want to scream and run away."

You and me both!

In fact, I think that's what I'm going to do with the forums.

I don't meet kooks in real life like I meet here.