Replies

>>I just have a problem with biblical “literalists” who pick and choose just what parts of the bible they want to take literally and what parts they want to interpret.<<

You mean, just as you have done, trying to pull one over and get a “gotcha”?

I do not pick and choose. “All scripture is breathed out by God and is useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.” 2 Tim 3:16. I believe in the totality and authority of Scripture, breathed out by God, every word the truth.

Either you believe Scripture is the word of God, or you don’t. There’s no middle ground. You can’t say you love God, but reject his holy and inerrant word.

John 14:15 - “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments.”

Luke 6:46 - “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, but not do what I say?”

Mt 7:21 - “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.”

Are you doing God’s will by disbelieving in the truth of his word? Are you doing God’s will by creating a god in your heart that suits your sin?

>>You have a lot of nerve calling me a “hater of God”.<<

Sorry, but the Bible is abundantly clear that there are only two distinct groups of people. Those in Christ, and those out of Christ. Sheeps and goats, wheat and tares, hot or cold. Lovers of God and his law, or haters of God and his law. Righteousness in Christ, or unrighteousness in unrepentant sin.

Romans 8:7 - “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.”

Romans 1:28-30 - “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.”

Matthew 12:30 - “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

John 3:36 - “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God on him.”

I John 3:10 - “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”

Acts 17:30-31 - “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Ezekiel 18:4 - “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.”

Romans 2:5-8 = “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life, but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”

>>Judge not lest ye be judged - whatever measure you use to judge me will be used to judge you.<<

I’m not judging you. God’s word is. His word is truth, it cannot lie, and you stand guilty under it’s judgment if you do not have Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. And only a corrupt judge would let the guilty go free.

Either you’re with him, or you’re against him. There is no middle-ground.

The good news is, you don’t have to be against him. He loved the world so much that he sent his only Son (John 1 - “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”) to take the punishment of sinners and die upon the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:21 - “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Sinners cannot appear before God without a savior. Christ took the punishment so that we could be set free from the bondage and condemnation of our sin and appear before God cloaked in the righteousness of Christ.

If you believe in your heart that Christ died for your sin, you can turn to him in repentance and faith and he will be faithful and just to save you.

2 Corinthians 6:2 - “For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you,and in a day of salvation I have helped you. “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Sorry buddy - but YOU called me a "God-hater", God didn't. For your information I am a Christian and always have been. When I point out verses in the Bible that contradict each other - that does not make me a "God-hater".

Who are you to decide who is a Christian and who is not? All your talk does nothing but avoid the issue of the contradictions in the Bible - of which there are many.

I have no problem with them because I know that God will judge each person one at a time. He will not base his judgment on whether someone has found contradictions in the Bible or not.

For instance - Matthew says about the death of Judas: "And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself."

The Acts of the Apostles says about the death of Judas: "Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

Obviously both of these versions cannot be correct. he either hung himself OR he fell and "burst asunder".

Me pointing out this inconsistency does NOT make me a "God-hater". Are we just supposed to pretend these contradictions don't exist?

I do not believe God will judge us on whether we noticed an inconsistency in the Bible or didn't.

You, of course, can believe whatever you want.

As I said in my previous post - it is not up to you to decide if I am saved or not. That is God's decision, not yours NOR yours based on which Scriptures you decide are important or which you decided aren't.

Luke 14:26 says: "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." yet John 4:20 says: "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar" and John 3:15 says: "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."

So first Jesus says you MUST hate your brother or you "cannot be my disciple" and then says if you hate your brother you are a "murderer".

I have no problem with these inconsistencies, becaue I know what Jesus meant by these statements - but I am not a Bible literalist. Those who insist that the Bible means word for word exactly what it says and is NOT open to any interpretation must have a bit of a problem when the words of Jesus say two opposite things.

Your opinion that I am a "God-hater" means nothing to me (or to God). It is not your place to make that decision. That is between me and God - not you.