Replies

The trick is to read it in context. It's not any different than reading anything else save for the occasional need for assistance on deep spiritual matters that no man can determine on his own in the first place.

It is quite a spiritual thing to change the way a possible Christian views the bible. To change his perception fo the bible from the Living and Active Word of God to one of 3 possible inputs in a very convoluted religious puzzle is a major victory for the Adversary.

Now here's the rub that should be a dead giveaway after all this time. The deep spiritual issues are resolved in a christian through the spirit. They are pursued and gotten wrong in wannabes because they apply logic and reason and try to figure it out on their own. Thus, Catholicism doesn't understand the nature of sin or of much anything else. It's tripped up by multiple baptisms because it doesn't understand the difference. etc.

It is interesting how little time it actually takes to disciple a new Christian in the right direction when their hearts have been prepared to learn. A Lutheran friend of mine pointed out that through the Holy Spirit a Christian isn't magically endowed with knowledge, but he does have a supernatural discernment that will keep him from lies. It's an interesting thought. I've always wondered what would have been the outcome in my discipleship if I had hooked up with a JW or LDS or RC when I first got saved.

The problem largely is that God puts in everyone a sense of what is right and wrong. Given the opportunity to know the right path, people will choose it or not. But the choice is theirs. If they have the truth or the opportunity to know the truth and they reject it, they are still responsible for it. I had a girlfriend that thought if she refused to listen to things she wasn't responsible for them. When bills come due you can ignore them all you want, if they aren't paid, they shut your lights, water, phone and cable off and eventually come after you. Funny how that works.

As far as circumstance is concerned, environment has very little to do with anything. Choices are choices. America didn't come about because people were trapped by circumstance. America came about because people did something about circumstance that was balanced heavily against them. One can rattle off every excuse under the sun. But Jesus came down and overcame greater odds than anyone on earth since or before him. There are no excuses. People may think otherwise; but, fools will tell themselves anything so they can believe the gun they've cocked and put to their own head is unloaded - even after chambering a round..