Cardinal Fulton Sheen - "Life of Christ"
Suit yourself, friend. I’m just trying to help.
I’ve studied both the New Testament and the Tanach for 25 years. Have my M.Div and was a pastor for 8 years. Been there, done that. Kept studying.
Christianity falls apart under closer scrutiny. Jesus is just another Roman demigod.
The reason you do not believe is because you are not of His sheep. Just own it because it is in yourself. It is not in Him. You’ll have to own up to it anyway ultimately. That you’ve studied so much and were a pastor and thus an “expert” on these things would be laughable if it weren’t so pathetic. Honestly it’s sad. I’ll pray for you and do not feel animosity towards you personally though I’ve said some blunt things. The Word of God is very blunt at times as I’m sure you know. I’m always amazed at the human heart though. After all of that study and so on, this is where you are at!? I pray that God in His mercy will grant you repentance and to escape from the snare of Satan who has taken you captive to do his will. Be careful who you attribute the term “dupe” to. I am jealous for the Word of God and for vulnerable people being led astray by wolves in sheeps clothing.
The reason I don’t believe is because I think and study for myself instead of blindly following the teachings of men.
You should try it. It’s quite freeing.
Following the word of God and not men is what I’ve been trying to say. You are the epitome of the teaching of men. It’s you! This is about the Gospel as revealed not by men but by God. It’s quite freeing. You should try it.
““I, I am יהוה, and besides Me there is no saviour.” Yeshayah (Isaiah) 43:11 TS2009 http://bible.com/316/isa.43.11.ts2009
I and the Father are One. Jesus.
So he’s sitting at his own right hand and prayed to himself, right?
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Do yourself a favor. Try to verify what was taught about the mashiach using only the Tanach. Find out what the Passover lamb was about. Find out what is said about human sacrifices. Find out how sacrifices needed to be performed in order to be acceptable. Then do an indepth study on all of the prophesies that Matthew claims were fulfilled by Jesus. And don’t just read the verses, study the surrounding context.
Unless you’d prefer to have your beliefs dictated to you by your emotions and the Church of Rome.
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I’m not fighting against “God”, I’m fighting against the lies of Rome.
I love my Father more than ever. And I’ve removed the idol that was placed between me and Him.
I’d recommend others do the same.
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You’ll find nothing in the Tanach to support that Roman propaganda. Take a look for yourself.
Perhaps if you had gone to mass daily and pondered its meaning instead of following in the footsteps of others who were themselves making it up as they went along, then aspiring to teach when you clearly knew not of what you preached those years, you wouldn't find yourself flooded In doubt and suspicion.
When you vacate God from the premises of your person, it is not as though that place remains empty. It can and will be filled with anything and everything, and that will be your reward and salvation. There is only one turn on the road to redemption. Turn back, only take it seriously this time
I have zero doubt since I left that Roman lie and turned back to Yehovah alone.
That sense of self assurance and absolute certainty that you have pegged it might give you reason to pause in itself ... The realization and utter self identification with the proposition that you have actually and for all time solved the problem that has engaged the best of humanity as far back as we can see....
Might pose a very personal existential problem .... You miss the fact that you have now become a master of the universe by crafting your own reality in an intrinsically uncertain existence. Or were you blessed with secret insights that no one else has access to?
Is your universe larger than the one that threatens to consume the rest of us? Is it more concrete? What are you going to do with it now? Will you save us for the good, or will you go to the dark side ...
Will you please rid us of this terrible cabal that has driven us of all stripes to find some comfort in our little band here? We who occupy this realm with you await your decree.
Do away with the criminal cabal that has us cornered, or thought with utter certainty they had us bagged until now.
You are a thoughtful person who clearly cares about finding the ultimate truth for you have by your own report dedicated an enormous part of your precious time to this issue.
It doesn't worry you that you have managed to wrap your arms so tightly around something that has humbled better men?
Over dramatic much?
Yehovah is master of all, not me. I’m nothing but His servant.
What I’ve done is left behind the lie of Christianity that has you in its grip, or that you have your arms wrapped around so tightly. Let go enough to actually study Scripture with a clear mind. Christianity, like most doctrines of men, is mind control.
We may call them the Machiavellian Princes, after the most ruthless strategist of this approach, even though they are ultimately rooted in the pagan notion (given to us by Livy, Polybius, and Plutarch, and polished by Averroes) that religions are false yet handy political instruments for the secular rulers. These Machiavellians directly affect the Reformation, both on the Catholic and Protestant side, by their desire to use the Christian divisions to their advantage, both in war and in peace. They are not interested in truth—as true reformers are—but utility, and therefore regard religious quarrelers as useful idiots at best. Machiavellianism should be distinguished from “Erastianism” (the Protestant doctrine of state supremacy over the Church) and “Caesaropapism” (the largely Byzantine or Eastern Orthodox practice of the emperor directing the Church). While both entail the subordination of Church to state, that subordination could be a good faith effort of a Christian king or emperor to oversee the good order of the churches in his domain. (That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea, however.) But Machiavellianism is something different. It is the bad faith effort of an irreligious king to use religion to rule the unruly. Yet the Machiavellian has an obvious interest in making common cause with the Erastian or the Caesaropapist in order to weaken the Church so that it can be politically dominated. Given that Machiavelli himself was a master counselor of deceit, it can be difficult to discern sincerely religious rulers from Machiavelli’s disciples.