Both are part of one thing. Ok here's the christian interpretation: Jesus died to bury sin. And he resurrected so we could have life in Him. Now, quick answers to other questions: Why the wars in the Old Testament: You cannot judge the people from 4,000 years ago from the standards set up by today. Before, if you were strong, your God was the true one. And people were ruled by violence against other countries. With christianity (well, at least in theory) we're supposed to preach other countries, not making wars to them. Well, at least that's what the Papal Encyclicas say. Yeah i know, the crusades, yadda yadda. But political acts cannot be defined as "Church teaching". (Sidenote: you'd have to understand the term "ex-cathedra" to know what papal infallibility is really about) Anyway, all of that comes to this: Wars are not in God's "ideal plan". I accept this as part of the christian teachings.
Of course I can. They were barbaric and I have no reason to say "Oh, well, times were different back then, so raping a civilian populace is ok." Please note I'm referring to literally interpreted bibles when I talk about war. Deuteronomy 20:16-18 (NIV): However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them--the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--as the LORD your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God. Thats right. It's God Teaching. Unless of course you decide to interpret the Bible (or Quran I might add) literally.
you can't just brush over the crusades as if they weren't important. They weren’t just political acts – most of those who fought in the crusades did so to “stamp out the infidels” for not believing in the “one true religion”. that could just be be people saying "woops! but God didn't mean it!" Fair enough, it was people who started these wars, but they used god as an excuse (e.g. the crusades). If a religion can in any way promote war, then go on to say "love thy neighbour" there is something seriously odd going on.
Very good guestion Nephilim. In fact, I confess I'll have to come back to this question later in order to formulate my thoughts. It was the wicked who commited these atrocities. God may choose not to interfer with these evils, but he has never done anything unjust. At the beginning of the forum, you said you believed in God, so I take it you don't believe in this LIBG. Do you believe in a non-literally interpreted biblical God or what? If you want to believe you're Napolean, go right ahead! We both have our own beliefs, and I could just as easily say whatever you believe in may not be so. Everyone should be allowed the privilege of worshipping whatever and however they desire. Bingo. Yes I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'm impressed by your knowledge of my faith. Most people only know the common misconceptions of Mormonism. Well, at least we agree on something.
I believe that under the direction of God, no they can't, and they didn't, make mistakes on the doctrine. Granted, there may be some errors in the grammer, but not the doctrine.
You'd be surprised at what a grammatical error can do. It could change the whole meaning of a passage. :anime: What language was it translated from?
Could you give an example of this? I believe it was written in Egyptian, but I wouldn't bet on it. I'll have to check that.
When you write a report, let's say start with the rough draft, and then you move on to the better draft, the final draft, and through the transition you made a spelling error and are thus marked off for it, yes, you could say that there was an error in your grammar, however that is grammar of the document thus making the document faulty. Thus, in turn, yes, it was both the grammar and the doctrine that had mistakes. But, y'know, I could just be biased against it all considering there was a mistranslation that had people thinking Moses was a devil. But that's just me.
I am not talking about spelling errors. I'm sorry I can't give any examples, but as I don't keep the book to which I'm referring to in my locker or anything, I'll have to wait until I get home from school to be anymore specific. Please explain.
But it was LIB God who... -destroyed Soddom and Ghomorrah -destroyed NEARLY EVERY LIVING THING ON EARTH in a flood (killing MILLIONS) -tormented Egyptian civilians based on the actions of their leader who he was influencing anyway!! Theres even more, but those are the big three. I've said it before, but I believe in a far different concept - that of two dieties, one male, one female, who together form the "Godhead" (which is the highest power). As far as the OT goes, I dont believe it to be accurate regarding Gods intent or even Gods remote involvement. "And it was on that day that The First Citizen of The Empire began his rule..." I know that but you can't state it as 100% verified truth. Eh. I get around.
Double negatives that would cancel each other out, but are missed so the sentence comes out meaning the opposite. Pronouns that are incorrectly hooked up with their adjacent(hope that's right) nouns. Silly little stuff like that. People can take the tiniest things and twist their meaning. I'm not entirely sure on how the Egyptian grammatical structure works, and most likely it has almost no connection with the English so none of the aforementioned grammatical errors could occur. I do believe that the hieroglyphics stand for sounds that form words. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and Aramaic. The New Testament mostly in Greek. Why Egyptian?
Through one phase of translation of the Bible, those translating it had mistaken the Hebrew word meaning "rays of light" for the Hebrew word meaning "horns" so it was written that Moses had horns protruding from his head; since that had been released artists have portrayed Moses looking like a devil, or just with rams horns coming from his head (namely one such artists being the sculptor Michelangelo). I believe it was Exodus (34:29). It was later corrected, however there are still countless works with the Demon-Portrayed Moses. And I know very well you are not talking as limited as spelling errors, though I suppose if you want to be that anal-retentive and picky about comparisons and the such there's no point even bothering to debating with a closed-minded individual.
Claim does not equal reality; I could claim to be under direction of the invisible pink unicorn hiding under my bed but that doesn't mean I am.
I'm really sorry about how that sounded, I did not mean it like that. Trust me I would never guestion your intelligence. BotticelliLover can testify that I find you and Nephilim_X some of the few truly intelligent people on this forum. I have been waiting for an intellectual debate like this for quite awhile.
Okay, I'm home, so first things first. An example of the grammatical errors in the scriptures would be "and I make it with mine own hand", which in correct English should be "and I make it with my own hand" See, the message doesn't really change. And back to a past question: I pray frequently so that I can learn to recognize God's influence. Besides "by their fruits ye shall judge them." I have never felt tempted to do anything contrary to my beliefs by this feeling. This feeling offers me comfort, inspiration, and support when I need it.
Technically speaking "and I make it with mine own hand" is grammatically correct. That would be like saying that "colour" is an incorrect way of spelling "color". Thus making that point just a bit null and void. And it might just be me but if Demons, Evil Spirits, etc. were so bad at manipulation, seduction, etc. that everyone who was tempted, manipulated, and seduced by them knows such and that it is wrong and says "HEY WAIT I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS!", they'd be out of business. ;P Fact of the matter is, it seems that certain people just like to undermine and belittle these evil spirits saying "OH I HAVE SO MUCH FAITH, THEY CANNOTZ HARMZ MEZ!" or the likes. S'silly. S'just plain silly!
Great, I wasted how many responses to this? Story of my life. So, I guess the question is how can you tell if your being manipulated by a demon or not?
Depends on what exactly you're asking as it is worded strangely. If you mean how can I, myself, tell that I'm not being manipulated... I simply cannot. And I'll admit that. And I'll also admit that if I am then it really isn't bothering me because I'm comfortable with what I do. If you mean in general how can a person tell if they are being manipulated or not, maybe they just CAN'T. But, ahh, Hell, since when has anyone ever let something be so simple?
