[b said:
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Oh lordy I couldn't stand reading the entire thread, but I did read a good portion of it.
I myself find it funny how you had an All mighty god with all his wrath and fury raining upon the earth in the old testament, but in the new testament he is this lovely dovey god. It is funny how a book can change the way the entire religion is practiced. It is funny how a man written book and be the basis of a religion, and claim it is the word of God.
God has and always will be the same since the beginning of time to the end of time. The difference between the Old and the New testaments is simple...Jesus. The Old Testament was a list of rules and regulations that God provided His people so they could live Holy lives and be in connection with God. Obviously no one could obey these commandments and this created disconnections from God. God knew that the Old Testament wasn't going to be sufficient which is why it talks about the Messiah who would bring restoration and a true connection to God. Without the Old Testament there would have been no information about a coming savior or something to check the validity of Jesus.
If for the sake of argument you believe there is an almighty God, who can do anything and who created everything;
Then why is it impossible to believe that the same God helped the writers of the New Testament write the Books?
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are four separate Gospels that were written by four separate authors.
If the New Testament is a so called fairy tale, and man made meaning they just wrote anything they wanted and said it came from God;
Then why do all four books pretty much say the same thing about this man named Jesus Christ and his life? Why don't any of them contradict the character of Christ/God and what Christ said?
I think a major problem with accepting the Bible as true today is the fact that we live in 2006 AD and not 10 AD. Back in 10 AD they didn't have video cameras, they didn't have tape recorders and in fact they didn't even have a lot of things that we do today. Point is all they could have done to record this amazing event was write it in a book. This is also the same method lots of ancient historians used and we accept these old documents as truths. So why is it so hard to believe that this could be true as well?
[b said:
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Onto my opinion of the question that started this thread.
The devil was manifested by the Church as a scare tactic. Ever wonder why there is not many places in the bible that mentions satin or many of his other names? Because it was added! The pentagram, A satanic symbol? WRONG!! It is a pagan symbol for the god Venus and fertility. The pitchfork. Was it wielded by Satin? NO It was King Neptune's Trident. Turned into an evil symbol by the CHURCH to push forward its own religion. There are many other symbols made bad by Hollywood and the church to further there own devices. Satan was just another excuse to get you to church more and strengthen the church.
Everything is a conspiracy isn't it? Your first argument is just completely wrong. Pick up a Bible or do a Bible search. SATAN* is found loads of times from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Maybe you didn't find the scriptures because you were looking for SATIN
J/K I had to! You also do realize that SATAN and DEVIL aren't the only names the evil one goes by?
Here's some information about the Pentagram:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagram
I'm not sure if you are knowledgeable about the 2nd commandment:
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol.
Also as a Jew/Christian you're not supposed to be involved with New Age things such as witchcraft. So you can clearly see how the pentagram is symbolic of demonic things.
I don't see how an image of SATAN* with a pitch fork would further the Church. You mean teeth mashing and burning flames just wasn't enough? Yeah lets draw SATAN with a pitch fork that will scare everyone....
SATAN existed before the church existed...your claims are just rubbish.
[b said:
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This whole power struggle was invented! This whole good bad stuff was created to strike fear into people and pull them toward Christianity.
That is my opinion.
Believe what you want. It makes no difference to me.
Actually the battle between good and evil existed before Christianity. Read the Old Testament and you will see for yourself. In the meantime I think your opinion is pretty clear. There is something about Christianity be it an experience you had at some church, or the lifestyle of following Christ that you are unwilling to follow because you like the way your living now. That's fine and that's your choice and God still loves you. But if you're going to argue theology and the Bible please have some better arguments because everything you posted was your skewed opinion.