The Bible

[zuchick]

What is the Bible?

The Bible is merely a Road Map that tells you the way to God, God will show you the way to Heaven. But the Bible warns us about the pitfalls, traps and thorny places in this cruel life. Some heed its advise alone, but the wise seek the Wisdom of the Church Fathers and the Church for understanding.

 

[Penn]

Re: What is the Bible?

Originally posted by zuchick
The Bible is merely a Road Map that tells you the way to God, God will show you the way to Heaven. But the Bible warns us about the pitfalls, traps and thorny places in this cruel life. Some heed its advise alone, but the wise seek the Wisdom of the Church Fathers and the Church for understanding.

Well said, zuchick.

My Pastors and Adult Sunday School teachers feel the same way; that the Bible is a roadmap for life.

It is, in all it's stories the way to God.

Let me say this, though: Because we're all sinners, to one degree or another, the Bible can be a very "hard read" for a lot of people.
Okay, what's that suppose to mean?

Well, if you try to live your life the way God/Jesus Christ/The Holy Spirit tell you, or leads you to, many of us find we break His rules every single day.

Think of the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt and shalt not.........

Through temptation, greed, envy and a whole lot of other emotions, we are tested each and every day against all of them.

It ain't easy being a Christian.

The best you can do is keep Him in your heart, mind and soul; try your hardest to walk the right path, and pray to The Almighty each day.

 

[zuchick]

Re: Re: What is the Bible?

I am humbled by your comments PennCam.

Your Pastor is a wise man. The Bible is a Road Map to God, but you would be shocked to realize how many people seem to worship the Bible instead of placing it into proper prespective.

And we are indeed all sinners, God forgive me for making such a judgement, but it is true because the one who says they do not sin make God out to be a liar.

"Hard Read"

It can be a "Hard Read" which is why one needs to seek the Wisdom of the Church Fathers to help them to understand it better.. Myself I do not trust myself or the Spirit within because I am not wise enough to discern the Spirit within me to be that of the Holy Spirit. In my foolishness I realize that the Evilone is a Master of Disguise and can make himself to appear like the Holy Spirit.. Years ago while praying the Chotki for others, I would see in my minds eye view a vision of a thin faced fellow wearing a rag turban. I thought he was a Saint coming to me when I prayed.. In my quest to determine who the Saint was, I ask my Spiritual Father about it.. He said that there has been occassions of this vision happen in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He said I must the vision Spirit by signing the Cross over myself. If it was evil it would leave, if not I was then Blessed. When I did as he suggested, the vision left me because demons can not tolerate the Sign of the Cross.. Fr Nectorius told me that the evilone me can appear to us as a Heavenly Image to fool us into false pride to think that we are worthy of having such Holy Imiages come to us.. Since my enlightenment, the vision has never returned which is why I do not trust the Spirit within and rely souly on the Church Fathers and the Church for discernment.

For those of us who find it most difficult to live a Christ like example, we have the Lives of the Saint to be an example.. They were sinners like we are now and in their lives they show us examples as to how we can over come the many obstacles the evilone places in our paths. After all, It is all about the Journey. We have control over our Journey, but the Heavenly Father has control of the end of that journey.

But as long as we strive to live a Repentent Life and look to God, the Church and the Church Fathers, our journey may not be as easy, but our end will me most rewarding.

 

[TripleJ]

Take out the part about good morals and #2 would have been the most appropriate answer for me...

 

[Penn]

Mike, I beleive it is, my Adult Sunday School teacher, who is also a Lay Pastor(does not have a degree in Theology), was talking about that subject a few weeks ago.

Mainly about how to tell(discern) a false prophet. As in your case, he advised that an "evil one" cannot tolerate the Sign of the Cross, and will disappear from view.

As for my line saying how the Bible can be a hard read, I also meant that many people have a difficult time accepting the Word of God:

Mark 8:35 "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the Gospel will save it."

Think about the implications of that statement.

If you've studied the Bible, it dawns on you what He means in entirety.

Couple that with a verse in John(which I don't have in front of me), in which Jesus says: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for rich man to enter the Gates of Heaven".

To wit: You've got to give yourself to Jesus Christ; and I think there's a lot of people out there, that read that in the Bible, and say - "whoa! I don't know if I can go that far!"

It means giving up most, if not all the pleasures we "take for granted" in our lives.

 

[zuchick]

Can a Society exist without "good morals"?

 

[TripleJ]

i don't think a happy society can exist without good morals

 

[zuchick]

Originally posted by justhangn
I'll give ya a can of worms....


I have a hard time believe everything written in a book that was written by people that thought the world was flat at the time.

IMHO, the church is there ONLY to help you interpret the bible, not preach to you what THEY THINK you should interpret from it.

Actually the Bible was written by those who were very aware the World is Round.. It wasn't until after the Roman left the Orthodox Churchs of God during the Great Schism of 1054 ad did Western Christianity conceive the idea the World is Flat..

In the Eastern part of the World the where Christianity began they had been studing the Stars for centuries.

 

[zuchick]

Originally posted by vraiblonde
I'll give you a flame, Penn! Just because you want to try and start a fight by judging someone else's beliefs, don't try and pass that off on Cari.

Back to the subject, I agree with Just - why take the writings of just a few as Gospel? The authors of the Bible were caught up in their own little world - they make no mention of anything else that was going on in the world at the time, probably because they'd have no way of knowing. The Bible was written and interpreted by man, and therefore fallable.

Still a good read, though, and it won't hurt anyone to follow the teachings of Jesus.

The reason there are only 4 Gospels is due to the Bible Canon. These four Gospels (Matt., Mark, Luke and John) were written to address their particular congregrations, but with the 4th or 5th Ecuminical Councils of the Churchs of God the 4 Gospels were marked as Divinly Inspired and noted as acceptable for use in the Churchs of God. There are only two ways to read the Bible, Literally or Spiritually. This is why one needs to seek the Wisdom of the Chruch Fathers and the Church for interpretation because the Bible forbids personal interpretation of the Word of God.

However one can believe as they will, but remember it is all about the Journey.

 

[zuchick]

Originally posted by vraiblonde
I'll give you a flame, Penn! Just because you want to try and start a fight by judging someone else's beliefs, don't try and pass that off on Cari.

Back to the subject, I agree with Just - why take the writings of just a few as Gospel? The authors of the Bible were caught up in their own little world - they make no mention of anything else that was going on in the world at the time, probably because they'd have no way of knowing. The Bible was written and interpreted by man, and therefore fallable.

Still a good read, though, and it won't hurt anyone to follow the teachings of Jesus.

The Bible was indeed written by Fallable Men who were Inspired by the Holy Spirit which makes their Inspired Writtings Infallable. The OT was written from the Oral Tradition of the Jews where the NT was written by those who knew or were Inspired by Christ's Works here on Earth.

 

[zuchick]

Re: A Can of Worms, eh?

Originally posted by penncam
On your first line: ...

Secondly...

I've said it before on here, there are way too many coincidences where prophesy comes true in the Bible for me to think it's fiction.
But look at the Dead Sea Scrolls: they were found in 1946. Among the finds was the the entire Book of Isaiah, written way before Christ, and translated again from Aramaic, I believe, by Theologians, and guess what? It translates practically word for word with todays' Bibles. So what does that mean?

penn

The reason the Dead Sea Scrolls and parts of the OT are alike is because they are both True.

 

[zuchick]

Originally posted by MDindef
Since authenticity is being debated, has anyone looked over the writings of Josephus?

He was an historian who interviewed several, and while he wasn't a "believer," his writings back up many of the New Testament accounts.

Josephus writting are Chronicals of Rome's Occupation of Isreal and many of his topics varify much of the Bible. IMHO

 

[zuchick]

Re: Re: A Can of Worms, eh?

Originally posted by SmallTown
If we're talking about the word of god, why wouldn't he whisper into someone's ear "Hey, i'll let you in on how I created everything...But I won't mention the world is round because I know the future and I love the looks on your faces when you find out the truth"

People always look to things for "security". Seems many people today are not affiliated with a certain religion because of the teachings of which ever holy book they follow. Rather, they go with one that makes them feel secure with their well being now, and what may happen after death. Quite often this means going along with whatever religion their parents are a part of. I just don't feel that just because by some freak chance I was born into a family whose religous background makes me one of the "chosen ones" is a realistic way to look at religion.

I personally do not feel that the god I believe in is an egotistical entity that wants his people to worship him in a certain building 3 or 4 nights a week ( or to play Bingo or go to war in his name )
There was a time as a kid that I tried to dismiss religion, and rely soley on science. As I gew older, I realized the constant "battles" between science and religion are a waste of time. My view on this is that god's world is well beyond our understanding. Yet, god offers us certain rules which we proclaim as science as a way to try and understand his creations, not his reasons.

But now that I have gotten completey off topic, I have forgotten the choices in the poll. I'll get back to ya on that one.

A better question is, considering God sent numbers of Prophets to the Jews and they rejected and killed them.. He sent His Only Begotten Son and He did things like healing the sick and raising the dead and many still refused to believe.. Why could we think that if God does whisper in our ears which He has, that we could hear Him which many don't.

I've had many who claimed they were Atheist, which I do not believe exists, ask me why God did not come to them and prove His Existance.. I simply tell them that I'm sure He has on many ocassion, but many simply can not believe what they see or attempt to rationalize what they have seen out of existance..

Believe me when I say, God does speak to each to each and everyone of us, but if you have no faith that He exists you will never hear or understand Him..

 

[zuchick]

Very true, "It means giving up most, if not all the pleasures we "take for granted" in our lives." One must reject this Sinful World and in doing so dies in Christ.. Such a death does not mean death into corruption or death in the Flesh.. It merely means that we must deny ourselves rewards here on this Earth, live a repentant life style and most of all comtemplate our end because if you think about your end (Spiritual Death into Eternity) you will be very cautious in sinning.

A Desert Father once wrote if a man remembers his end he will never sin..

The same goes for remembering God with each and every breath one take.. I'll admit it is not an easy task, but it can be done by Practicing the Prayer of the Heart. One can not go into Faith half way because Heaven or Hell is not a half way reward.. It is all or nothing..

 

[TripleJ]

looks like it is very close to being an even split with those that believe the bible is true as to those that do not believe it is true.