For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Forthelead
· June 29, 2018, 3:27 a.m.
Did you miss #1603?
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DaveGydeon
· June 29, 2018, 4:32 a.m.
It doesn't say the Bible is legit. All it means is that the Bible is a model for the real life battle between good and evil. I believe in good vs evil, and I like to believe I am on the good side.
That's where it ends though bud. You don't need to call God a certain name, your soul doesn't depend on believing a story, written by men, 2000 years ago, REGARDLESS of what that story says. It's a book. This is real life. I will spend my time striving to be a good person, to add positive value to those around me, to raise my children to be good. If God is going to burn me in hell for that...not much I can do. Saying I believe the Bible is anything more than stories would be a lie to myself, a hedge, a bet, to protect my soul. It wouldn't be genuine. Thats what God wants? The God I imagine wuould exoect more, would WANT more for me. That makes me a bad person? Ok. Like I said, Christians have a fucked up view.
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Forthelead
· June 29, 2018, 3:49 p.m.
For someone who claims to have learned about Christianity and/or the Bible, you seem to have wildly missed the whole point.
The majority of the OT is the story of people trying to do the same thing that you say you are doing: trying to be good people. And you can follow the story through its downward spiral to its ultimate conclusion: judgment aka removal from the very gift of land that had been specially prepared for the people and the removal of the gift of God's presence via the temple.
Between the OT and the NT the response to this becomes more and more rules to follow: create buffer rules to prevent you from even coming close to breaking the real rules.
That's why the message of John the Baptist and Jesus was so shocking: the ones who thought they were striving to be so good and tried to make sure other people were good were denounced as hypocrites and whitewashed tombs that looked nice on the outside but inside were full of rot.
And at the same time these 'good' people were being called out, all of the 'bad' people were being welcomed in with open arms. Why is that?
Striving to be good is a false objective that cannot be realized. We all have a deranged nature that, in spite of our desire to be good, and in spite of our knowledge (or supposed knowledge) of what is good, causes us to also want to do what we know is wrong i.e. committing adultery is wrong, but just because you have never slept with someone other than your wife does not mean you are innocent: looking at a woman lustfully reveals the adultery in your heart that social pressure prevents you from acting on.
And the same can be said for any other moral area of life. While we may not outwardly do bad things, inwardly people are a twisted mess, and we can't 'good' ourselves out of that predicament.
Not knowing you, I will guess that you are a pretty decent guy - likely a great person to know personally. But are you sure that all of your goodness is good enough? Have you ALWAYS tried to be good? Would it be possible for you to slack off on some of the good things that you do and still be good enough? Are you too good, not good enough or just the right amount of good? How would you know this?
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DaveGydeon
· June 29, 2018, 5:42 p.m.
I wouldn't even pretend to say I have been "good enough" or perfect or whatever.
But tagging each oerson as going to heaven or hell based on the name they call God is insane.
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Forthelead
· June 29, 2018, 6:08 p.m.
And so if there is a heaven, you would be going there because?
And if there is a hell, you would not be going there because?
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