What do you believe?

Do you believe the Bible to be fact? Are Christians to live life strictly as the Bible has instructed them to do so? Do you agree that man wrote the bible and men are flawed? Do you believe if you break one of the ten commandments you will go to hell? Is...

there an unforgivable sin? If you are a Christian, do you believe those who are Jewish, Buddhists, Atheists, Pagans, and all those who are not Christians are going to hell? In other words, are you a believer in one true religion above all others? Let your opinions and beliefs roll with this one. I want to hear it all.

Oh, one correction. Judas DID write a book for the Bible. It was omitted...

Actually the Earliest copy of the Gospel of Judas to be found Was written between 230 AD and 330 AD it is mentioned by Irenaeus in between 130 and 180 AD However, it is uncertain whether this text mentioned by Irenaeus is in fact the same text as the Coptic “Gospel of Judas” of the extant fourth century text, and there remains no solid evidence for an early Greek version.
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the final stage of the Egyptian language.
You also have The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene dating to the 3rd century
And the Gospel of Thomas dating back to 140 AD
All three books are considered Gnostic ( A Radical Christian group of the early church) works.
All for Gospels in the Bible were wrote in the life time of the people credited with writing them and have physical documents dating to that time. . .
Matthew 40 - 65 AD
Mark 40 65 AD
Luke around 60 AD
John 70 to 100 AD
If The Gospels of Judas, Thomas and Mary Magdalene were wrote in their life time would God not see fit to Save fragment of them from the decay of time also?

Not unless he wanted it to disappear too...

If God want's it to disappear it will just like Sodom and Gomorrah

...and 'Atlantis' too?

What I do know about Spirituality is that I don't have all the answers. Although most major religions contain elements of truth, I don't believe they accurately answer the basic questions of "who are we?" and "why are we here?” I do believe in something beyond ourselves, but how can I be so sure of what exactly that is? I don't think I'll know until I'm dead. I think whatever it is, is extremely complex and our understanding of it as physical beings is limited. It would be like trying to explain electricity to a dog. He may see, feel and benefit from electricity, but is never going to understand the science behind it. Getting to your questions, no I don't believe in hell, especially within the Christian context because it was adopted from the much older Zoroastrianism. Leaders found that the message of Hell worked quite well in controlling the masses. Men did write the bible, The Ten Commandments were earthly laws also written by men, and I don't know about an unforgivable sin, but I do believe that if one commits spiteful suicide he or she is thrown right back into another incarnation without being able to have input in his or her life. Although I don’t think all organized religion is bad, its foundation is made up of a penchant for power, control and money. Anybody that doubts this should definitely do some research on the history of Christianity and the real reasons behind the Christian Crusades. This being said, I have no problem with Jesus, he was a cool Hippie. I just have issues with Christianity as a movement.

A few other thoughts…….

When does religion stop being regarded as truth and become myth?

Achaemenid era (648–330 BCE) Zoroastrianism developed the abstract concepts of heaven, hell, personal and final judgement, all of which are only alluded to in the Gathas. (Wikipedia)

That's a WHOLE other discussion, my dear. The difference between TRUTH and BELIEF. I can't remember which thread started it, but Mr. mealy-meal, thumper, committedchristian and myself DEFINITELY discussed it at length.

The Sir RNEALW Sir. . . . Hey did it rain in DFW today. . . . It pour along the Red River. . .

Yeah, well it looks like 'MEAL'

And yes, we got almost five inches where I live, and a kitten...

A new question inspired from dolce84...Did you know that some of the Christian beliefs, such as Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny are taken from Pagan traditions? Seriously. Easter is representative of the goddess Eastre (unsure of the spelling) and the egg is a symbol of something. Christians had to change those traditions into something that had meaning so it wouldn't be as though Christians were worshiping a different God. There is a lot more to this. Do the research. There are a lot of traditions Christians practice and the origin and history came from Paganism. Where in the bible does it say Jesus was born on December 25th? If my memory serves me right, the bible mention his birth being in the warmer months. I know, I know, in different parts of the world warm months could be during the cold months for the US. If I was a Pagan, I would laugh at Christians. But, alas, Pagans don't laugh. They are very kind and accepting people, and they DON'T worship the devil.

I have a question totally off the specific subjects. Who invented the Trinity? I don't need an explanation of what the three components are that make up the Trinity. I am talking about the denominations of Christianity that hold the Trinity in such high regard. That explanation of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit being One, is not found in the bible. Who decided to give it a name? To me, that is just another way man interprets the bible in his own way.

Last thing, dolce84, thank you for answering my questions.

Regarding Easter: Originally a festival of Spring, bunnies represent sex, eggs represent fertility.

Many scolars believe Jesus was born in August or September since those are the months Shepard would be in the fields at night so the sheep would eat more and fatten up for the winter months. in the winter months the sheep would be in a fold at night to keep them safe from preditors.

The idea of the Trinity as stated, is not mentioned in the bible. The trinity was a concept that was adopted in the first Council of Nicea.

Dolce84 would you please explain
(Mat 28:19) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
(2Co 13:14) The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And why can sin aginst Christ be forgiven and see against God be forgiven but Sin against the holy spirit not be forgiven
Mar 3:28 "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,
Mar 3:29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"--
Mar 3:30 for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

A concept invented by someone...not found in the the bible. Interesting. What are some other "concepts' created that are not found in the bible? Hmmm.

Do you really want us to start WW3 here?

*cough* rapture...

I just post the questions.

Well I'd give you the list but. . . Well ok one. . .and I know someone is going to blast me for this. . . . Salvation thru prayer alone.

rnealw :

I should have said that the Trinity is not defined in the bible. None of the above passages define what the trinity is. On a further note, none of the listed passages use the term "trinity".

"Neither the Old Testament nor New Testament uses the term "Trinity," though Trinitarians believe the concept is implicit in various biblical passages." (Wikipedia)

My Question: How does mention of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit imply the idea of the trinity? The trinity is defined by the idea that all three are really the same being. One could interpret the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as three separate entities by merely reading the scriptures mentioned by rnealw.

"The doctrine of the Trinity is the result of continuous exploration by the church of the biblical data, argued in debate and treatises.[1] It was expressed in early writings from the beginning of the second century forward.[1] The First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD established a nearly universal Trinitarian dogma and expressly rejected any alternate beliefs, which it considered heresies." (Wikipedia)