Questions about the bible/Christianity

[Xena]

First, you should've said a few things in less offensive ways, I don't think some of that stuff is 'just' indirectly offensive to Xena.

indeed, but I'm not going to show any emotion on the matter.

[Lag]

I can't prove anything, I know.
And, I feel kind of dumb now, since you said "If faith makes one's life worth living, I mean he is completely happy because of a direct result of that, then what's the harm in that?"

I guess I didn't think as much about that as I should have.

[Allea]

Wow! I never read Free 4 All til I posted something here that seemed popular and then I saw this thread which is right up my alley... (Yes I live in an alley and I'm homeless...I just inherited a nice lap top) *giggles*
Anyway...
I'm American Indian.
I have no interest in religions or Gods that the western world knows.
Even though I live in the western world as did my slaughtered ancestors decades and centuries ago.
Alot of replies here seem to be on the Christianity part of your post but you also said 'Bible' in your topic title.
The bible is a great and wondrous source of historical, mythological and fable filled wisdom.
As far as Christ goes...if it brings people contentment, I would rather people be happy whether it be in Christ or Buddha or Little Green Men.
I capitalized Little Green Men in case anyone actually worships them...I didn't want to offend...
I believe Christ was one of the greatest philosophers that ever lived...
Spinoza, Neitzsche, Francis Bacon, Aristotle...great philosophers also.
Each person can agree or disagree with any one of them, but either way, it doesn't detract from their wisdom.
Okay...I rambled enough now...I have to go curtsy and feed the peasants cake or whatever us princess' do...
Thanks for a good topic though, I like your mind...it's kind of cute.


Edit to add: After reading back more closely I think I missed something that was deleted by someone who said something bad.
Sorry if posting here brought a topic back up that I should have not.

[Xena]

So those could be the reasons why there are so many christians all over the place. We did have a thread about this earlier so I think Xena would be in a position to answer all your questions..

Ah, so I do exist? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

Edit to add: After reading back more closely I think I missed something that was deleted by someone who said something bad.
Sorry if posting here brought a topic back up that I should have not.

if your refering to me, I deleted my OWN post's, because I found what someone else said completly offensive. I could have just got angry, But I thought total indifference was a more amicable method. What I said was about what the bible tell's about the comming of the end.

and lagwagon_87, dont worry, I've had alot worse said/done to me.

[Lag]

Xena, I think... I WAS a little too hard on opinions etc. about all this stuff...
But anyway, according to you, or the bible... when is the world supposed to come to an end?

[Xena]

But anyway, according to you, or the bible... when is the world supposed to come to an end?

God sent King Nebuchadnezzar a vision some 2 and a half thousand years ago, in 606/605 B.C.E. about the terrifying statue, He summoned His wise men, and magic practising priest's, He asked them, I had a vision, I cannot remember what was, but I want you men to interpreted the vision anyway.

Now these men, despite thier power's of divination and Spiritism, could not possibly tell the King what It meant, this was god's plan, he wanted Daniel, his servent to show the King what the vision meant. The King decided that all the wise men of Babylon should be put to death if they could not interprate this dream, so it was time for Daniel to use what God had told him, To speak one of the most important prophecy's Recorded.

The Prophecy of the immence image!
Daniel told the King what the dream was:
�You, O king, happened to be beholding, and, look! a certain immense image. That image, which was large and the brightness of which was extraordinary, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was dreadful. As regards that image, its head was of good gold, its breasts and its arms were of silver, its belly and its thighs were of copper,its legs were of iron, its feet were partly of iron and partly of molded clay.You kept on looking until a stone was cut out not by hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and of molded clay and crushed them.At that time the iron, the molded clay, the copper, the silver and the gold were, all together, crushed and became like the chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away so that no trace at all was found of them. And as for the stone that struck the image, it became a large mountain and filled the whole earth. ~ Daniel 2:31-35

But wait, the king would only spare the lives of daniel and the other wise men, if the dream was interpreted, This is were the prophecy comes in.

The diffrent sections of the immence image was reprisentations of world powers.
The head of gold being Babylonia from 607 B.C.E.
The Breasts and arms of silver being Medo-persia from 593 B.C.E.
The belly and thighs of copper being Greece from 331 B.C.E.
The legs of Iron being Rome From 30 B.C.E. Which was carried on to become The Anglo-American world power, From 1763 B.C.E. These both are represented by The legs of iron.
The feet of iron and moulded clay being Us in the politicly divided world we are in now.

Here is Daniel's descriptions of each part:
The head of Gold:
You, O king, the king of kings, you to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the might, and the strength and the dignity,and into whose hand he has given, wherever the sons of mankind are dwelling, the beasts of the field and the winged creatures of the heavens, and whom he has made ruler over all of them, you yourself are the head of gold. ~ Daniel 2:37-38

The Babylonian dynsty fell in October 5/6, 539 B.C.E. When the Medo-Persian army took the seemingly impregnable Babylon and executed King Belshazzar (who was the ruler at the time) With this, he head of gold ceased to exist.

The Breasts and arms of silver:
�And after you there will rise another kingdom inferior to you ~ Daniel 2:39

This was the Medo persain World power, Who were represented by silver, They were ruled by Darius the Mede, shortly after Cyrus became joint ruler, then Darius died, Cyrus became sole ruler, then after him came 12 other Kings: Artaxerxes I, Cambyses II, Bardiya (Possible called Gaumata) Darius III ect. Until 331 B.C.E When Alezander the great at Gaugamela, Crushed the Medo-persains.

The belly and thighs of copper:
and another kingdom, a third one, of copper, that will rule over the whole earth. ~ Daniel 2:39

This was The Grecian empire, After his victory at Gaugamela, Alrxander went on to take the persian capitals Babylon,Susa,Persepolis and Ecbatana.
But Alexander died aged just 32, But indeed Conquered the world. After his death his empire was divided into four territories, each ruled by one of his generals, But in 30 B.C.E The last of the Grecian dynasty ruling in Eygpt, Fell to the Romans.

The legs of Iron:
And as for the fourth kingdom, it will prove to be strong like iron. Forasmuch as iron is crushing and grinding everything else, so, like iron that shatters, it will crush and shatter even all these. ~ Daniel 2:40

The Roman's were like Iron, that crushed, Destroying all reminants of the Greeks.
They showed no respect for God's kingdom, They Put Jesus to death on a torture stake in 33 B.C.E, in an effort to shatter christianity, Rome persicuted the Jesus' deciples, moreover, The Roman's destroyed the Jerusalem and it's temple in 70 C.E.
In 1763 C.E. Britain Was no longer part of the Roman empire, but became the British empire, The Britannia that ruled the seven sea's. By 1776 its 13 American colonies had declared thier independence in order to set up the United states of America, Later, Britain and the United states became parteners in both war and peace, Thus, the Anglo-American combination came into exitence. Like the Roman's it has proved "Strong like iron" Exercising iron like authority. Thus the legs of iron include the Roman empire and the Anglo-American world power.

The Feet of moulded Clay:
And whereas you beheld the feet and the toes to be partly of molded clay of a potter and partly of iron, the kingdom itself will prove to be divided, but somewhat of the hardness of iron will prove to be in it, forasmuch as you beheld the iron mixed with moist clay.And as for the toes of the feet being partly of iron and partly of molded clay, the kingdom will partly prove to be strong and will partly prove to be fragile. Whereas you beheld iron mixed with moist clay, they will come to be mixed with the offspring of mankind; but they will not prove to be sticking together, this one to that one, just as iron is not mixing with molded clay. ~ Daniel 2:41-43

The succession of world powers represented by the various parts of the image in Nebuchadnezzar�s dream began with the head and extended down to the feet. Logically, the feet and toes of �iron mixed with moist clay� would symbolize the final manifestation of human rule that would exist during �the time of the end.�

At the dawn of the 20th century, the British Empire ruled over every fourth person on earth. Other European empires controlled millions more. But World War I resulted in the emergence of groups of nations in place of empires. After World War II, this trend accelerated. As nationalism developed further, the number of nations in the world grew dramatically. The ten toes of the image represent all such coexisting powers and governments, for in the Bible the number ten at times signifies earthly completeness.�Compare Exodus 34:28; Matthew 25:1; Revelation 2:10.

Now that we are in �the time of the end,� we have reached the feet of the image. Some of the governments pictured by the image�s feet and toes of iron mixed with clay are ironlike�authoritarian or tyrannical. Others are claylike. In what way? Daniel associated the clay with �the offspring of mankind.� (Daniel 2:43) Despite the fragile nature of clay, of which the offspring of mankind are made, traditional ironlike rulerships have been obliged to listen more and more to the common people, who want their say in the governments ruling over them. (Job 10:9) But there is no sticking together of authoritarian rule and the common people�no more than there could be a uniting of iron with clay. At the time of the image�s demise, the world will indeed be politically fragmented!

The Dramatic Climax!

Consider the climax of the dream. Daniel told the king: �You kept on looking until a stone was cut out not by hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and of molded clay and crushed them. At that time the iron, the molded clay, the copper, the silver and the gold were, all together, crushed and became like the chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away so that no trace at all was found of them. And as for the stone that struck the image, it became a large mountain and filled the whole earth ~ Daniel 2:34-35

By way of explanation, the prophecy continued: �In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite; forasmuch as you beheld that out of the mountain a stone was cut not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the copper, the molded clay, the silver and the gold. The grand God himself has made known to the king what is to occur after this. And the dream is reliable, and the interpretation of it is trustworthy.� ~Daniel 2:44-45.

What, though, is the modern-day significance of Daniel�s trustworthy interpretation?

When �the appointed times of the nations� ended in October 1914, �the God of heaven� established the heavenly Kingdom by enthroning his anointed Son, Jesus Christ, as the �King of kings and Lord of lords.� (Luke 21:24; Revelation 12:1-5; 19:16) So it was that by divine power, not by human hands, the Messianic Kingdom �stone� was cut out of the �mountain� of Jehovah�s universal sovereignty. This heavenly government is in the hands of Jesus Christ, upon whom God has conferred immortality. (Romans 6:9; 1 Timothy 6:15, 16) Hence, this �kingdom of our Lord [God] and of his Christ��an expression of Jehovah�s universal sovereignty�will not be passed on to anyone else. It will stand forever. ~ Revelation 11:15.

The birth of the Kingdom took place �in the days of those kings.� (Daniel 2:44) These were not only the kings pictured by the ten toes of the image but also those symbolized by its iron, copper, silver, and gold parts. Although the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires had passed away as world powers, their remnants still existed in 1914. The Turkish Ottoman Empire then occupied the territory of Babylonia, and national governments were functioning in Persia (Iran) and Greece and Rome, Italy.

God�s heavenly Kingdom will soon strike the symbolic image on its feet. As a result, all the kingdoms pictured by it will be broken to pieces, bringing them to an end. Indeed, at �the war of the great day of God the Almighty,� that �stone� will strike with such crushing impact that the image will be ground to powder and the wind of God�s storm will sweep it away like the chaff of a threshing floor. (Revelation 16:14, 16) Then, like the stone that grew to mountainous size and filled the earth, God�s Kingdom will become the governmental mountain that will affect �the whole earth.� ~ Daniel 2:35.

Though the Messianic Kingdom is heavenly, it will extend its power toward our globe for the blessing of all obedient inhabitants of the earth. This stable government �will never be brought to ruin� or be �passed on to any other people.� Unlike the kingdoms of dying human rulers, �it itself will stand to times indefinite,� forever. (Daniel 2:44)

The End of this world rulership , and the comming of god's kingdom will not be late, It will come when it is time.

[KnightofNachos]

Is he supposed to look like a female pleasuring device?

[EvilRyu]

Whats the difference between the Catholic Christianism and the Orthodox Christianism?

And why Christianism seperates into 2?Whats the real reason to that?

[Great Mizuti]

i don't know (the spliting up thing)
other then that i have know clue, because, personally i think that it is all a pointless waste of time
if i have offended any one then TOO BAD

[Skinner8]

I rather doubt you did...

[pkt-zer0]

i don't know (the spliting up thing)
other then that i have know clue, because, personally i think that it is all a pointless waste of time
if i have offended any one then TOO BAD

Yeah, don't even bother to try looking tactful or intelligent. That way you'll surely be able to offend someone. Right.

I believe the reason why the Christian Church got divided was basically an issue of politics, the Byzantian Empire seeking independence from the Pope... or something. I didn't really like history, so not much remains in my memory about that kind of stuff right now.

[Ryan]

Im also questioning my faith. Theres a song out there that resides something along the lines of(Talking about God here) "Slow to anger, Rich in compasion". But then Jenn pointed out to me that in the bible it says(God again) "And he who sins will feel the wrath of god, and will pay the ultimate price, punishment is the only way". Now, thats not how they worded it, but I couldnt remember exactly the correct saying, but it does say something along the lines of that. And one more thing, in my opinion, most of the stuff in the bible is Bullshit, its been re-translated over the past 1,000+ years, so really, theres no telling what happened back then.

Im Christian BTW.

[Skinner8]

The Bible might be wrong as hell about a lot of things, but that doesn't in any way mean that God doesn't exist. Silly atheists need to understand that.

[Ryan]

I have no doubt that God didnt exist, Im only saying, that with eveything that happened back then, might not be all entirely true.

[Lag]

I got WAY confused about Xena's last post.
And is there proof that Jesus came back to life? This sounds stupid... but I don't trust people from 2000 years ago, since they weren't smart at all compared to people now. I think they might have just made up a story to scare everybody or make them believe in Jesus' powers and God.
I really don't know. I still have lots to know about God etc etc. before I can really choose my religion, I guess.