I have to agree with that.Originally Posted by GundamGuy
Whether or not a God exists I'm not really sure how it affects my life or what I should do.
Banned
I have to agree with that.
Whether or not a God exists I'm not really sure how it affects my life or what I should do.
The legend of
Have you always felt like that?
Raaagghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... hh..
Banned
No, it's more of a realization I have come to over time.
Especially if you look at older Christianity threads you will find me in its defense.
The legend of
Well I wish you well in finding the truth.
Raaagghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... hh..
*Insert kool title here*
It shouldnt. If you belive in this "God" or those Gods it shouldnt make a diffrence on how you act or treat other people, but sadly it does some times.
Banned
Very interesting you asked that question and had very little to say in response...
However, I might as well ask the question, what exactly does Christianity mean to you in your life?
Turn ∀ Turn
What is the Truth... Everything is relative... including truth.
The legend of
Well, when I was younger, I didnt want all this.
One day, my brother, Was seriously injured, very nearly died, I cryed and prayed (something which I didnt normally do out of want) For my brother to be ok. My brother pulled through.
since then, ive understood what my elders have told me, that only those with the right heart condition, will Jehovah reveal the sacred secrets of the bible. So I do not belived I was brainwashed, I was offered hope, hope of living forever, here on earth after Armagedon, and I accepted it.
Now my assigment in life is to find others who will listen, And also help them gain hope. If they do not wish to listen, I can not force them.
But I do this person to person, face to face.
Raaagghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... hh..
The legend of
TRUTH
The Hebrew term �emeth�, often rendered �truth,� may designate that which is firm, trustworthy, stable, faithful, true, or established as fact. (Ex 18:21; 34:6; De 13:14; 17:4; 22:20; Jos 2:12; 2Ch 18:15; 31:20; Ne 7:2; 9:33; Es 9:30; Ps 15:2; Ec 12:10; Jer 9:5) The Greek word a�le�thei�a stands in contrast with falsehood or unrighteousness and denotes that which conforms to fact or to what is right and proper. (Mr 5:33; 12:32; Lu 4:25; Joh 3:21; Ro 2:8; 1Co 13:6; Php 1:18; 2Th 2:10, 12; 1Jo 1:6, 8; 2:4, 21) A number of other original-language expressions can, depending upon the context, also be translated �truth.�
Jehovah, the God of Truth. Jehovah is �the God of truth.� (Ps 31:5) He is faithful in all his dealings. His promises are sure, for he cannot lie. (Nu 23:19; 1Sa 15:29; Ps 89:35; Tit 1:2; Heb 6:17, 18) He judges according to truth, that is, according to the way things really are, and not on the basis of outward appearance. (Ro 2:2; compare Joh 7:24.) Everything that emanates from him is pure and without defect. His judicial decisions, law, commandments, and word are truth. (Ne 9:13; Ps 19:9; 119:142, 151, 160) They are always right and proper, and they stand in opposition to all unrighteousness and error.
Creation�s testimony. The creative works testify to the fact that God exists. But, according to Paul, even certain of those people who �knew God� suppressed this truth. Rather than serving God in harmony with the truth concerning his eternal power and Godship, they made idols and worshiped these. Not being real gods, idols are an untruth, a lie or falsehood. (Jer 10:14) Hence, these persons, though having the truth of God, exchanged it �for the lie and venerated and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the One who created.� Their turning to the falsehood of idolatry led them into all kinds of degraded practices.�Ro 1:18-31.
In contrast to man�s sinfulness. The degraded practices of non-Jews and the disobedience of the Jews to God�s law in no way brought harm to the Creator personally. Instead, his truthfulness, holiness, and righteousness stood out in sharp contrast, and this to his glory. But the fact that man�s wrongdoing makes God�s righteousness stand out in even greater prominence provides no basis for claiming that God is unjust in executing an adverse judgment against wrongdoers. Being a creation of God, a person has no right to harm himself by sinning.
The above is the argument that Paul used in his letter to the Romans, saying: �If our unrighteousness brings God�s righteousness to the fore, what shall we say? God is not unjust when he vents his wrath, is he? (I am speaking as a man does.) Never may that happen! How, otherwise, will God judge the world? Yet if by reason of my lie [compare Ps 62:9] the truth of God has been made more prominent to his glory, why am I also yet being judged as a sinner? And why not say, just as it is falsely charged to us and just as some men state that we say: �Let us do the bad things that the good things may come�? The judgment against those men is in harmony with justice.� (Ro 3:5-8) God has delivered his people, not for a course of sin, but for a life of righteousness, that they may glorify Him. The apostle says later in his letter: �Neither go on presenting your members to sin as weapons of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, also your members to God as weapons of righteousness.��Ro 6:12, 13.
What is the meaning of the statement that Jesus Christ is himself �the truth�?
Like his Father Jehovah, Jesus Christ is �full of undeserved kindness and truth.� (Joh 1:14; Eph 4:21) While on earth, he always spoke the truth as he had received it from his Father. (Joh 8:40, 45, 46) �He committed no sin, nor was deception found in his mouth.� (1Pe 2:22) Jesus represented things as they really were. Besides being �full of truth,� Jesus was himself �the truth,� and truth came through him. He declared: �I am the way and the truth and the life.� (Joh 14:6) And the apostle John wrote: �The Law was given through Moses, the undeserved kindness and the truth came to be through Jesus Christ.��Joh 1:17.
John�s words do not mean that the Law given through Moses was erroneous. It, too, was truth, conforming to God�s standard of holiness, righteousness, and goodness. (Ps 119:151; Ro 7:10-12) However, the Law served as a tutor leading to Christ (Ga 3:23-25) and had a shadow, or prophetic picture, of greater realities. (Heb 8:4, 5; 10:1-5) Providing a shadow, the Law, though truthful, was not the full truth and, therefore, had to give way to the realities that it foreshadowed. This point is emphasized by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians: �Let no man judge you in eating and drinking or in respect of a festival or of an observance of the new moon or of a sabbath; for those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ.� (Col 2:16, 17) Accordingly, �the truth came to be through Jesus� in the sense that he put the things foreshadowed by the Law into the realm of actual truth. As he himself was no shadow but the reality, Jesus was �the truth.� Jesus also became �a minister in behalf of God�s truthfulness� in that he fulfilled God�s promises made to the forefathers of the Jews by ministering to the circumcised Jews and proselytes.�Ro 15:8; see JESUS CHRIST (�Bearing Witness to the Truth�).
Similarly, the apostle Paul�s reference to �the truth in the Law� does not imply that there was any falsehood in it (Ro 2:20) but shows that the Law was not the full truth.
�The Spirit of the Truth.� The spirit that proceeds from Jehovah God is pure and holy. It is �the spirit of the truth.� (Joh 14:17; 15:26) Jesus Christ told his disciples: �I have many things yet to say to you, but you are not able to bear them at present. However, when that one arrives, the spirit of the truth, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak of his own impulse, but what things he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things coming.��Joh 16:12, 13.
God�s spirit would teach them everything they needed to know to carry out their work, recalling and opening up to their understanding things they had previously heard from Jesus but had not understood. (Joh 14:26) God�s spirit would also declare to them �the things coming.� This could include bringing to light the significance of Jesus� death and resurrection, as these events were then yet future and were among the things that his disciples did not understand. (Mt 16:21-23; Lu 24:6-8, 19-27; Joh 2:19-22; 12:14-16; 20:9) Of course, God�s spirit later also enabled Christ�s followers to foretell future happenings. (Ac 11:28; 20:29, 30; 21:11; 1Ti 4:1-3) Being �the spirit of the truth,� God�s holy spirit could never be the source of error but would protect Christ�s followers from doctrinal falsehoods. (Compare 1Jo 2:27; 4:1-6.) It would bear witness to the truth regarding Jesus Christ. From Pentecost 33 C.E. onward, God�s spirit bore witness by helping Jesus� disciples to understand the prophecies that clearly proved that Jesus was the Son of God. On the basis of these prophecies, they bore witness to others. (Joh 15:26, 27; compare Ac 2:14-36; Ro 1:1-4.) Even before Pentecost, though, �the spirit of the truth� had been bearing witness to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God (1Jo 5:5-8), for it was by this spirit that Jesus was anointed and enabled to perform powerful works.�Joh 1:32-34; 10:37, 38; Ac 10:38; see SPIRIT.
God�s Word Is Truth. God�s Word presents things as they really are, revealing Jehovah�s attributes, purposes, and commands, as well as the true state of affairs among mankind. God�s Word of truth shows what is required for one to be sanctified or made holy, set apart for use by Jehovah in his service, and then to remain in a sanctified state. Hence, Jesus could pray respecting his followers: �Sanctify them by means of the truth; your word is truth.� (Joh 17:17; compare Jas 1:18.) Their obedience to the revealed truth of God�s Word led them into sanctification, the truth being the means by which they purified their souls. (1Pe 1:22) Thus they stood out as �no part of the world� that did not adhere to God�s truth.�Joh 17:16.
�Walking in the Truth.� Those who desire to gain God�s approval should walk in his truth and serve him in truth. (Jos 24:14; 1Sa 12:24; Ps 25:4, 5; 26:3-6; 43:3; 86:11; Isa 38:3) This would include abiding by God�s requirements and serving him in faithfulness and sincerity. To a Samaritan woman Jesus Christ said: �The hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for, indeed, the Father is looking for suchlike ones to worship him. God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.� (Joh 4:23, 24) Such worship could not be based on imagination but would have to conform to what is in harmony with the actual state of things, consistent with what God has revealed in his Word about himself and his purposes.
Christianity is �the way of the truth� (2Pe 2:2), and those who assist others in furthering the interests of Christianity become �fellow workers in the truth.� (3Jo 8) The entire body of Christian teachings, which later became part of the written Word of God, is �the truth� or �the truth of the good news.� Adherence to this truth, �walking� in it, is essential if an individual is to gain salvation. (Ro 2:8; 2Co 4:2; Eph 1:13; 1Ti 2:4; 2Ti 4:4; Tit 1:1, 14; Heb 10:26; 2Jo 1-4; 3Jo 3, 4) In the case of those who conduct themselves aright, the truth�the conformity of their ways to God�s Word and the actual results of their course�testifies to the fact that they are examples worthy of imitation. (3Jo 11, 12) On the other hand, a person who departs from the basic teachings of Christianity, either by conducting himself improperly or by advocating false doctrine, is no longer �walking� in the truth. This was the situation of those who insisted that circumcision was necessary in order for one to gain salvation. Their teaching was contrary to Christian truth, and those who accepted it ceased to obey the truth or walk in it. (Ga 2:3-5; 5:2-7) Similarly, when the apostle Peter, by his actions, made an improper distinction between Jews and non-Jews, the apostle Paul corrected him for not �walking� in harmony with �the truth of the good news.��Ga 2:14.
�A Pillar and Support of the Truth.� The Christian congregation serves as �a pillar and support of the truth,� preserving the purity of the truth and defending and upholding it. (1Ti 3:15) For this reason it is especially important that those entrusted with oversight in the congregation be able to handle �the word of the truth� aright. Proper use of God�s Word enables them to combat false teaching in the congregation, instructing �those not favorably disposed; as perhaps God may give them repentance leading to an accurate knowledge of truth.� (2Ti 2:15-18, 25; compare 2Ti 3:6-8; Jas 5:13-20.) Not all qualify to do this kind of instructing, or teaching, in the congregation. Men who have bitter jealousies and are contentious have no basis for bragging about their being qualified to teach. Their claim would be false. As the disciple James wrote: �Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show out of his fine conduct his works with a mildness that belongs to wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and contentiousness in your hearts, do not be bragging and lying against the truth.��Jas 3:13, 14.
For the Christian congregation to be �a pillar and support of the truth,� the members thereof must, through fine conduct, manifest the truth in their lives. (Eph 5:9) They have to be consistent and undeviating in right conduct, as if �girded about with truth.� (Eph 6:14) Besides maintaining personal purity, Christians must be concerned about congregational purity. When emphasizing the need to keep the Christian congregation clean from the defilement of lawless persons, the apostle Paul wrote: �Clear away the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, according as you are free from ferment. For, indeed, Christ our passover has been sacrificed. Consequently let us keep the festival, not with old leaven, neither with leaven of badness and wickedness, but with unfermented cakes of sincerity and truth.� (1Co 5:7, 8) Since Jesus Christ was sacrificed only once (compare Heb 9:25-28) as the reality of the Passover lamb, the entire life course of the Christian, comparable to the Festival of Unfermented Cakes, should be free from injuriousness and wickedness. There must be a willingness to remove what is sinful to maintain personal and congregational purity and thus to �keep the festival with unfermented cakes of sincerity and truth.�
Raaagghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... hh..
Resident Wrestling God
Xena I pm'd you about all the gods etc you still havent got back to me whats the answer and also answer where is heaven exactly if its not in the clouds and would you believe in a spirit realm?
Banned
Not to be offensive or anything, but why assume that without prayer your brother would've died?
Many "good" "devout" Christians pray for many things I am sure, but I don't believe those are answered prayers.
If a God acts in our world, then how can this be a good/just God given the things that occur? Also, what does that leave for free will? We must submit to this God in order for things we wish to occur to occur? The only possible conclusion I can draw is that if there is a God, he does not act in this world.
I for a long time wanted to believe in Christianity. But in everything that has happened, I never had a reason to believe. And even at this point I don't discount the possiblity of a God existing, but I don't see how it can make my life different.
We don't need a divine force to direct us which way to go. Even if we were created, we were created with will such that we could choose our own path. Thus either way I should do the best things that I can, in order to help other people, that are living, suffering in this world. Regardless of whether or not we were created. Good will still be good regardless of whether or not a God proclaims it.
The legend of
Ill answer the PM tommorow.
I have these Pre-written.
HEAVEN
The Hebrew sha�ma�yim (always in the plural), which is rendered �heaven(s),� seems to have the basic sense of that which is high or lofty. (Ps 103:11; Pr 25:3; Isa 55:9) The etymology of the Greek word for heaven (ou�ra�nos�) is uncertain.
Physical Heavens.
The full scope of the physical heavens is embraced by the original-language term. The context usually provides sufficient information to determine which area of the physical heavens is meant.
Heavens of earth�s atmosphere. �The heaven(s)� may apply to the full range of earth�s atmosphere in which dew and frost form (Ge 27:28; Job 38:29), the birds fly (De 4:17; Pr 30:19; Mt 6:26), the winds blow (Ps 78:26), lightning flashes (Lu 17:24), and the clouds float and drop their rain, snow, or hailstones (Jos 10:11; 1Ki 18:45; Isa 55:10; Ac 14:17). �The sky� is sometimes meant, that is, the apparent or visual dome or vault arching over the earth.�Mt 16:1-3; Ac 1:10, 11.
This atmospheric region corresponds generally to the �expanse [Heb., ra�qi�a`]� formed during the second creative period, described at Genesis 1:6-8. It is evidently to this �heaven� that Genesis 2:4; Exodus 20:11; 31:17 refer in speaking of the creation of �the heavens and the earth.�
�Midheaven� and �extremities of heavens.� The expression �midheaven� applies to the region within earth�s expanse of atmosphere where birds, such as the eagle, fly. (Re 8:13; 14:6; 19:17; De 4:11 [Heb., �heart of the heavens�]) Somewhat similar is the expression �between the earth and the heavens.� (1Ch 21:16; 2Sa 18:9) The advance of Babylon�s attackers from �the extremity of the heavens� evidently means their coming to her from the distant horizon (where earth and sky appear to meet and the sun appears to rise and set). (Isa 13:5; compare Ps 19:4-6.) Similarly �from the four extremities of the heavens� apparently refers to four points of the compass, thus indicating a coverage of the four quarters of the earth. (Jer 49:36; compare Da 8:8; 11:4; Mt 24:31; Mr 13:27.) As the heavens surround the earth on all sides, Jehovah�s vision of everything �under the whole heavens� embraces all the globe.�Job 28:24.
Spiritual Heavens
The same original-language words used for the physical heavens are also applied to the spiritual heavens. As has been seen, Jehovah God does not reside in the physical heavens, being a Spirit. However, since he is �the High and Lofty One� who resides in �the height� (Isa 57:15), the basic sense of that which is �lifted up� or �lofty� expressed in the Hebrew-language word makes it appropriate to describe God�s �lofty abode of holiness and beauty.� (Isa 63:15; Ps 33:13, 14; 115:3) As the Maker of the physical heavens (Ge 14:19; Ps 33:6), Jehovah is also their Owner. (Ps 115:15, 16) Whatever is his pleasure to do in them, he does, including miraculous acts.�Ps 135:6.
In many texts, therefore, the �heavens� stand for God himself and his sovereign position. His throne is in the heavens, that is, in the spirit realm over which he also rules. (Ps 103:19-21; 2Ch 20:6; Mt 23:22; Ac 7:49) From his supreme or ultimate position, Jehovah, in effect, �looks down� upon the physical heavens and earth (Ps 14:2; 102:19; 113:6), and from this lofty position also speaks, answers petitions, and renders judgment. (1Ki 8:49; Ps 2:4-6; 76:8; Mt 3:17) So we read that Hezekiah and Isaiah, in the face of a grave threat, �kept praying . . . and crying to the heavens for aid.� (2Ch 32:20; compare 2Ch 30:27.) Jesus, too, used the heavens as representing God when asking the religious leaders whether the source of John�s baptism was �from heaven or from men.� (Mt 21:25; compare Joh 3:27.) The prodigal son confessed to having sinned �against heaven� as well as against his own father. (Lu 15:18, 21) �The kingdom of the heavens,� then, means not merely that it is based in and rules from the spiritual heavens but also that it is �the kingdom of God.��Da 2:44; Mt 4:17; 21:43; 2Ti 4:18.
Also because of God�s heavenly position, both men and angels raised hands or faces toward the heavens in calling upon him to act (Ex 9:22, 23; 10:21, 22), in swearing to an oath (Da 12:7), and in prayer (1Ki 8:22, 23; La 3:41; Mt 14:19; Joh 17:1). At Deuteronomy 32:40 Jehovah speaks of himself as �raising his hand to heaven in an oath.� In harmony with Hebrews 6:13, this evidently means that Jehovah swears by himself.�Compare Isa 45:23.
Angelic dwelling place. The spiritual heavens are also the �proper dwelling place� of God�s spirit sons. (Jude 6; Ge 28:12, 13; Mt 18:10; 24:36) The expression �army of the heavens,� often applied to the stellar creation, sometimes describes these angelic sons of God. (1Ki 22:19; compare Ps 103:20, 21; Da 7:10; Lu 2:13; Re 19:14.) So, too, �the heavens� are personified as representing this angelic organization, �the congregation of the holy ones.��Ps 89:5-7; compare Lu 15:7, 10; Re 12:12.
Raaagghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... hh..
Turn ∀ Turn
Xena thanks for that... but no... None of that says what is the true Truth.
Who decides what is True.
Resident Wrestling God
Hmm once again interesting theories and I look forward to your PM I always liked the idea of Greek and Egyptian gods however the Christian God is sorta 50-50 with me I believe there is a higher power but maybe not your god.
Banned
One can't decide what is true. Truth is an inherent property of truth.
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