The “truth as an absolute” is your version of the absolute, that you believe you know by testing. Some people claim to know something totally else by testing.
I may be wrong here, but my understanding is that Jesus actually came 200 years later then prophecy.
Also, what is a legitimate prophesy? And how can you know from text that has been transfered by copying by hand for hundreds of years to and from different languages. I am sorry, but no guarantees.
That does not seem legitimate, and seems like you are beging to get the answer you want like I have already stated.
exactly. That is life, most things are not certain. We can either except that and live good lives regardless, and use the blueprint for life that we find and believe is true for us. It is totally different when someone starts to think they found some blueprint that everyone should be a part of. That is ignoring the very human condition that we are all apart off, and I think that is dangerous at times, and usually quite annoying.
Keeping it in context seems to be an excuse to “manipulate it” to give it the answers you want.
I think many people want answers, but to me, how you live your life is more important that what you profess to believe.
Anyways, have a lovely summer. I am in the Idaho dessert, melting at the moment. I think I am going to go jump in the river in an hour or so.
I did not say people cant be wrong. But if we can all be judged then truth is absolute and we know the difference between good and evil. This is the knowledge that was passed to us by the apple. Stop and think. When you lie dont you know that your lying? Same goes for when people do evil. They know they are but instead of dealing with it they try to ignore it in some vain attempt to justify their selfishness.
There has NEVER(except 1) been a prophecy that gives you a date and time. And I believe the reason for that is because we have such a large amount of say in what does on down here on earth. The freedoms we have because of free-will has surely given God pause to wait for a time longer. There is only 1 specifically defined time. And that is when the abomination of desolation appears on the temple mound and claims to be sovereign. then the final 7 years will be started. And I am willing to bet that it will still not be specific to the day!
Then you have not understood what I meant. When Jesus was asked about prophecy He said, “So that you might see and believe.” What does this mean? It means that its a great Proof of God and the Bible. Now you can believe why lucifer has inspired so many people to lie about Prophecy. The best way to hide the truth is to clutter it up with a pack of lies! Now people dont know what to believe and we already know people dont want the truth handed to them and they certianly will not get off their own laurels to find the truth.
I am not sure I understand what you mean. Knowing the truth of Prophecy is NOT required for salvation. But it is nice to know for those who care to know. And I dont think if someone gets prophecy wrong they will be any worse for wear either. The bible already states that very very few will understand.
So are you saying that taking it out of context is better? Perhaps you should rethink your comment. The bible is written in a specific dialect and time. We must understand that when we read it or it will never be understood correctly. This is why a lot of research in science does not get translated to engrish. Because we often missuse words to mean something they do not (one for tentative). Science must be exact and specific or we risk destroying the context and completely lose sight of it.
Yes that is a common belief. The Bible specifically says that if you do not have Faith in Christ that nothing you do even if all you ever did was good and kind, then you will never be justified and you will not be saved.
Christ said there is NO OTHER name given under heaven where by man may be saved. This is a deal breaker. This means that Christianity is WHOLESALE exclusive of all other religions or beliefs! All that is left is to find out if Christianity if wrong or right.
I estimate that only about 5% of humanity has a clue…
Satan wants moral, emotional, civil and mental anarchy. Within disunities, exploiters can easily target the self-conflicting mass and exploit it. Satan doesn’t attack you, he tries to make you attack eachother. Satan doesn’t lie to you, he tries to make you lie to eachother. Satan doesn’t tempt you, he tries to make you tempt eachother.
Sorry for the really late reply. Its been busy in real life lately.
What I mean by that is that I seek to know the truth and abide in my faith. I may not always be correct but neither do I intentionally use or abuse the label of Christian.
Many people go to church just to attend to look good about it. = False Christian.
Many preachers use the word for $$ profit. = False
Then we have the twisters and abusers for power and authority. = False
Most people in most any religion fall under one of those 3 definitions! It is the rare bird and institution that does not follow this generalization.
Therefore I will not use the Word for profit, to look good, nor to obtain power or glory. I use it to help myself and others seek salvation. I myself am not perfect and pray for God to guide my steps. I know many things others do not care to know. But as surely as I open my mouth there are those who are fake and hate the truth that do stand against me.
That shows about much you know about Nietzsche. Don’t misunderstand Nietzsche’s words like how some Christians interpret their bible - literally. Actually Nietzsche was complimenting Jesus ( and Jesus should be happy about that).
Christian might mean any one who believes and follows what Jesus believed and taught. In my opinion, if someone who lived before Jesus’ time, believed and followed the same principles as Jesus, then he/she can be called a Christian. In that sense, Jesus can be called a Christian.
It is like calling Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and many others as existentialists even though that philosophical movement started only decades after they all died.
I would thusly say that you do not know that much about what it means to be a Christian either. Specifically, being Christian is not about following Christs example. You can follow Christ’s example all your life and never be a Christian.
Its about accepting Christ as your Savior. Thats being a Christian! That is the primary defining point of it! Obviously Christ is not in danger of damnation and requires no salvation! Therefore Christ IS NOT A CHRISTIAN!
Didnt think it was that hard of a concept to understand or explain!
How can you do two mutually exclusive things at the same time? (seeking to know the truh and abiding in your faith) If you are abiding by your faith, you already have a truth given by your faith (which obviously is a subjective truth). If you seek to know THE truth (which is objective), you are not abiding by your faith anymore.
If philosophy is considered as seeking the truth and religion is considered as abiding by faith, then as someone said:
“Philosophy is all questions which can’t be answered, whereas religion is all answers which cannot be questioned”.
Abiding by faith = I have all answers, found truth and I will stick to it
Seeking the truth = I have to ask questions to find the truth
If you view truth as subjective how is that YOUR SUBJECTIVE truth can rival mine? Further more how can they contradict?
I offered no contradtion. Once again you show that you do not comprehend. You also show that you know just about nothing concerning God, Judaism, or Christianity. The Bible says to question all things. Are you sure you are qualified to post against my knowledge of my own religion? Try reading the Bible a little bit first.
Definition of Christian is very subjective. You think that accepting Christ as your Savior is Christian. I found the following definitons among the others at dictionary.com.
Christian:
Manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus; Christlike.
One who lives according to the teachings of Jesus.
If Jesus lived according to what he taught, then that would make him a Christian. In my opinion, Christ is like the word Buddha, a symbolic form for certain noble qualities not some human being walked on the Earth ( or on water sometimes).
To the main question: I call myself Christian, although I’ve explained my beliefs to several others who do as well and recieved…disapproval…on several occasions. So I’ll say that I most likely fit your idea of a theist and moral relativist with a focus on unity and love.
How do you know that’s what “faith” means to him?
How do you know that’s what “seeking the truth” means to him?
It seems like you’re using your personal definitions to deduce things about someone else, who is definitely talking about very personal subjects, which means he’ll be using personal definitions of his own. (this is one of the many difficulties of religious topics, I think)
To use your definitions: If faith only deals in subjective truth, and philosophy in unreachable objective truths, how do they conflict? Wouldn’t those truths apply to very different aspects of a person’s beliefs, such that they would actually complement one another? The contradiction occurs when both truths are put into the same plane (Creationist “science” is an extreme example), but you don’t know whether he is doing this or not.
Faith:
Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
So, abiding by faith means you already believe in some truth and saying seeking truth while abiding by some faith is contradictory.
And please know that the atheists and the agnostics read Bible more in depth and critically than the Jews/Christians so that they can attack and make fun of the people who believe.
I have already explained why those definitions do not match. Because it ALL hinges upon what Christ said! Any who denies me so shall I deny to the Father. Therefore the deffinition is not really open to interpretation. Did you know that 5 of the 7 churches will perish? Most Christians are not even Christians. You really are not following what I am saying are you?
A PAGAN can (some do) live according to Christs teachings… would you consider them a Christian? Some even act Christ-like as well.
In all examples Christ can not be a Christian. He cannot follow Himself for He is the Sheppard. How is it that you cannot understand this?
He is not Christ-like… He IS Christ! He also does not live according to HIS teachings. He lives according to His Father.
In no circumstance will you EVER be correct when calling Christ a Christian. It is only possible for people to be Christians and NO OTHERS!
Faith is just the starter, there is no requirement to ignore truth and certianly is no expectation of never questioning. God wants questions, and is thusly stated plainly. You see faith and questioning are NOT opposite of each other.
It is in no way contradictory for faith to seek truth. So let me explain something to you.
In the begining if you wish to Seek God you will need faith first. After this faith you question it, and if you do so in honest seeking of the truth then guess what? Your faith is rewarded by PROOF! when you recieve this proof your faith is increased!
You are using that definition incorrectly. In no way does that definition specifically mean to be exclusionary to logical proof or material evidence. It is stating that it DOES NOT have to rely on proof or material, in no way does it state that it cannot.
Yes I do know that atheists read the bible to provide attack. They read it in vain. The bible specifically states that its secrets are kept from unbelievers. So nutballs claiming contradictions bothers me not in the least. When I read the bible in a purely secular logical fashion I saw many contradictions as well.
Many scientific research in german never gets translated to english because once it is… there research become diluted due to the structure of engrish and therefore mistakes and missunderstandings are made.
here is an example.
Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.
That sentence can be taken 2 ways. Now hopefully you can begin to see something here.
I follow more so a sense of Zen Buddhism, Taoism, and Western scientific brainwashing. So, I don’t really know. I am only 21 but I cringe at the thought of being one of those people who “finds” god later in life. I would much rather prefer to destroy all the falsehoods than get caught up with the proper naming game.
After the next first 10 posts I stopped reading, for we all lost track.
What a wonderful mind you have. Accepting the way of the west and the east, making it into one.
I think we have found that the religion of the east and the west are one. Therefore, Jesus and God are one. And perhaps my topic of the difference between " you" and " I", are one. Yet, there are differences, but those are illusions. =D>
How did you find that the religions of the East and the West are one? And even if you had found so, how does that make Jesus and god as one. What if, if both the Eastern and the Western religions are flawed?
Actually, the Eastern religions are far more advanced in their philosophies than their Western counterparts which has a very poor description of the universe. For example, when the West was ( and in someplaces still is) believing that the world was only few thousands years old, the Hindus believed for a long time that it is at least few billions of years old. And most will agree that Buddhism is too rational to be called a religion. Above all, the Eastern religions have no problem with the evolutionary theory whereas the Western religions are dead against that. Eastern religions are not organised (like Chirstianity) and does not belong to to any one ethinic group (like Judaism).
So, it is unfair to put the Western and the Eastern religions at the same level.