RE: Doesn’t mean I have to believe someone who claimed it happened...
Your destiny. Your choice.
Your ”expire on date” is running out bro.
You have a simple choice:
1. Entrust yourself to Him alone for salvation
2. Pay the price you deserve as a sinner and experience hell.
Choose wisely.
None so blind as those who cannot see. It is your choice.
What you say in general is true. However, I would advise you to read the case for Christ. A Harvard graduate and ivestigative reporter for Chicago Tribune wrote it. His wife became a Christian and he started investigating Jesus to prove to his wife she was being scammed. After meetings with secular, jewish and Christian experts in different areas, he became convinced the evidence points to Jesus being real. He became a minister. Has written many good books.
Why I share him as an example as he gives you evidence to support why he became a Christian. I grew up in a Christian family and always believed in the bible and Jesus. As I got older I thought I needed to explore actual evidence, quite frankly to have discussions with those who didn’t believe and handn’t been brought up as I had, the book reinforced my belief giving me real evidence beyond what I had always had faith in , but not validated.
I hope you take the time to read it. I believe having Christ in your life will be worth it.
You never donate to Freepathons, either.
Christ arose from the dead and is Risen. That transformation is everything.
We don’t explain it well.
A modern treatment attempted is in “Risen.” (Movie)
Well, I'll say just a few tangential comments. Jesus Christ came so we can reform OURSELVES. You can only help others, or even society, once we have reformed ourselves. People indeed look for saviors in our fallen world, which is impossible.
Also, once you are led by Jesus Christ, then you will be led by no one else. Its very liberating - every charlatan, politician, CEO, TV talking head just fades away. Everyone else loses credibility or the power to control you, and you are a fully independent and functioning individual.
Whoa. Baggin’ on Jesus the day after Easter.
Hey man, roll them dice. :^)
If you are sincere in your questions, you will seek out some scholarly folks (like a good pastor) to help you understand the Bible, and His gift of salvation to us. If you are just casting aspersions, you really dont want answers.
Speaking of Christianity, everyone is perfectly free to believe and accept Christ, believe and not accept Him, or to choose to not believe at all and ignore the whole thing. Till the end comes anyway.
Not so simple, speaking of Islam...
So what is your problem and why do you care what other people choose to believe?
Not believing something you’ve never read is understandable. I suggest you read The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel. Written by an atheist who set out to prove Christ was a fraud.
Don’t watch the movie. Read the book. The movie is not true to the book.
Example: “What must I do to be saved?” Jesus in the movie answered, “Sell everything you own...” In the book, he says, “Keep the commandments” and only when pressed further states, “If you would be perfect then...”
On the other hand, you might be glad you live in a society rooted in Christian ideals where you can criticize and mock the dominant religious tradition without being beheaded for your views.
> Belief in these mystical powers will get people to blindly follow. <
Do not make the mistake to think that because something is “mystical”, it must be false. As you noted, many folks ascribed almost mystical characteristics to Obama. And he was a total fraud.
On the other hand, electrons are also quite mystical. No one had ever seen a isolated electron, and no one ever will. Yet electrons most certainly exist.
So this “mystical” stuff can really go either way. Therefore, I suggest that you approach all such matters with an open mind, and explore all sides of the issue. Reject nothing out of hand.
Today, people see things that are part of the supernatural and they go crazy trying to explain it away. It’s so easy to create a video that shows someone doing something supposedly impossible now, everyone is a super-skeptic.
Which is fine. There’s not a lot of “supernatural” to work with anymore, anyway, thanks to entities such as the roman catholic church.
You have probably seen supernatural workings or events before, but your mind refused to consider that it was anything but a trick - someone was trying to take advantage of you, undoubtedly. Harumph. And you weren’t born yesterday.
So belief is still the problem. Some people want to believe that a person endowed with special powers by Nob, at some point in the past, walked on water. You want to believe that some day everyone will wake up to the fact that “none of that stuff ever happened.”
I like to examine my beliefs every so often and discard as many of them as possible. Belief has never helped me understand anything: You start with a hypothesis and reach a conclusion based on evidence; the conclusion may form the basis for future hypotheses. Belief is kinda where you stall out looking for the truth.
Also, movies suck. All of them.
The Israelites followed Moses out of Egypt because of his and his brother’s magic tricks - which they had for the most learned, incidentially, from their Egyptian masters.
Instead of trying to explain how those things could have happened via normal physical means - or explain that they never happened and all these people were just nuts - read the story and ask yourself how the Israelites could have managed to survive a two-generation-long trek in through the desert without something really extraordinary helping them. Yes, Moses and Aaron had leadership skills. But Nob wasn’t just sitting there giving them sage advice. He endowed them with the ability to perform miracles so that belief in their leadership would be a whole lot easier.
The Egyptians had magic, too - they’re pretty much the bosses of magic, even today. But Moses and Aaron had Nob on their side, too. So their magic won.
I’m not saying “you have to believe” - I’m saying “Don’t stall out while searching for the truth.”
Did I mention that all movies suck, yet? Just in case I didn’t...
LOL. OP bashes bible stories based directly on scripture from the Holy Bible while confessing complete ignorance of the contents of the bible.
You can’t make this stuff up.
OP should stick to Marvel comics movies. LOL.
I have a friend who’s an Orthodox priest. He confided in me once that he converted to Christianity after watching ‘King of Kings (Jeffrey Hunter version).’ So you may have watched the wrong Hollywood version of the Gospel...
Read "Les Misrables" and get back to me on that...
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.