Off topic ( the bible)

v-6

v-6

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How many are reading the bible over again this year?
I am reading it again. read 112 chapters already
vern
 
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read it often, nut not often enough ;) No matter how many times you read it you'll find something you missed.
 
I am trying to read it from the beginning. It is going slowly.

Milt
 
I'm not a religious man... I am curious... Do Christians, Roman Catholics, JWs, Mormons, Pentecostals, etc... all read though the same Bible in its entirety? Some folks have mentioned that it gets them through the week... do you need the Bible to be spiritual and lead a healthy life? How does any given religion determine what is the correct interpretation from the passages/verses? I have no intention to form a debate, here... just asking questions.

Rick
 
Rick, No they do not all read the same Bible. Yes the Bible is needed to get us through the week and it is a necessity to lead a healthy spiritual life. I do not like debates either, and I dont want to start one here, but it says in the bible that the "Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates dividing soul and spirit, even joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." I have noticed how it is living and active...verses mean different things to me depending on what I am experiencing in my life at the particular time. I have often read the same verse hundreds of times and then read it for the hundred and first and it "fit" and I understood it differently.
The Bible is unique in many aspects. I could take the next five pages going through them here, but it is different and set aside from every other book and every other holy book on a multitude of levels. Christianity itself is unique among religions. I have spent years studying the history of Christianity and the uniqueness of the bible. I have found that it is completely set aside from all other religions, and it is accurate and reliable.

If you want more information or want to discuss this further, you can email me, or if you like, you can email me and I will give you my phone #.
I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Bible gives a true and accurate account of what actually took place.
 
Bailey Knives said:
Rick, No they do not all read the same Bible. Yes the Bible is needed to get us through the week and it is a necessity to lead a healthy spiritual life. I do not like debates either, and I dont want to start one here, but it says in the bible that the "Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates dividing soul and spirit, even joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." I have noticed how it is living and active...verses mean different things to me depending on what I am experiencing in my life at the particular time. I have often read the same verse hundreds of times and then read it for the hundred and first and it "fit" and I understood it differently.
The Bible is unique in many aspects. I could take the next five pages going through them here, but it is different and set aside from every other book and every other holy book on a multitude of levels. Christianity itself is unique among religions. I have spent years studying the history of Christianity and the uniqueness of the bible. I have found that it is completely set aside from all other religions, and it is accurate and reliable.

If you want more information or want to discuss this further, you can email me, or if you like, you can email me and I will give you my phone #.
I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Bible gives a true and accurate account of what actually took place.
Click to expand...

I've been thinking about Rick's questions, and was going to put something together... but wow, now you've said it all... and you've said it very well Mr. Bailey!:thumbup::)
 
I cheat a little and focus mostly on the red words in the New Testament. What can I say?

Of course not many of us here profess our love for Jesus and I have had people let me know that it bothers them here.

Too bad.
 
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Yup, good answer Matthew.

Here's an excerpt from an interesting article about the "inspired-ness" of the Bible:


BOOK OF GENESIS, CHAPTER ONE, VERSE 1

It is indeed strange to note that the number of Hebrew words in this verse is not 6, not 8, but exactly 7. Here the number seven is discovered by counting the words.

Now if a person counts the Hebrew letters in these seven words, he will discover that the number of letters divides perfectly by seven--is an exact multiple of seven. The number of letters in the seven words is not 27, not 29, but exactly 28, or 4 7's.

Each numerical "fact" or "seven" which occurs in the structure of the text is called a "feature"--a "numeric" feature". The first two have already been mentioned.

FEATURE ONE. The number of Hebrew words in this verse is exactly 7.

FEATURE TWO. The number of letters in the seven words is exactly 28, or 4 7"s. Now let us continue.

FEATURE THREE. The first three of these seven Hebrew words contain the subject and predicate of the sentence. These three words are translated--"In the beginning God created." The number of letters in these first three Hebrew words is exactly 14, or 2 7's.

The last four of these seven words contain the object of the sentence. These four words are translated-- "the heavens and the earth." The number of letters in these last four Hebrew words is 14, or 2 7's.

FEATURE FOUR. The last four Hebrew words consist of two objects. The first is "the heavens," and the second is "and the earth. The number of letters in the first object is exactly 7. The number of letters in the second object is 7.

FEATURE FIVE. The three leading words in this verse of seven words are "God"--the subject--and "heavens" and "earth"--the objects. The number of letters in these three Hebrew words is exactly 14, or 2 7's. The number of letters in the other four words of the verse is 14, or 2 7's.

FEATURE SIX. The shortest word is in the middle. The number of letters in this word and the word to its left is exactly 7.

FEATURE SEVEN. The number of letters in the middle word and the word to its right is exactly 7.

These seven--these numeric features or facts--are indeed strangely hidden "beneath the surface." They are truly beyond the view of ordinary readers of the Hebrew text and are discovered only by special investigation and counting.

The above are only a few examples of the many amazing numeric facts which have been discovered in the structure of this first verse of only seven Hebrew words. Literally dozens of other phenomenal numeric features strangely underlie the structure of this verse.

Examples of these newly discovered facts or numerical features should be pointed out from other passages before the reader learns how the facts scientifically prove that the Bible could not possible have been written by mere human beings alone, but that it is a supernatural, God-inspired, God-given book.

The following are examples of the newly discovered facts or "sevens" which occur in a peculiar manner beneath the surface of the Greek text of the first verses in the New Testament.
Click to expand...


For the full article, click here:

http://www.unleavenedbreadministries.org/?page=science
 
The best selling book of all time. Most homes have several copies of it. I admittedly dont read mine often enough but do go to our local bible believeing church every week.
 
Thank you for the response, guys. I find it fascinating to learn what inspires people to live their lives a particular way... Theists and Atheists alike. Folks who openly share their passions make it easier to understand... again, I thank you. I was raised Roman Catholic and moved away from the Church in my early teens. Through martial arts, I learned a bit about Eastern spirituality... then Native American when I began working primitive skills... and eventually a few "modern" religions found their way into my library. There was a time, not so long ago, when the very mention of religion had my eyes rolling and my mind shut. I still get surprised/frustrated/baffled at some of the things I hear and read but have come to learn that it is about interpretation of the information you are given. I had lists of all these direct quotes/verses from several Holy books showing how contradicting and immoral they were but everytime I presented one of these to a sincere believer, they had their own interpretation of it... and it was always much less brutal than mine... lol. There are misguided extremists in every corner of society (religion, politics, science... knifemaking, Ha!) and I think that's the true "cancer".... the human factor. People who feel compelled to force their will upon you are working against themselves and the very task they are trying to accomplish. Sharing knowledge and understanding is what it is all about... things will happen as they should.

Rick
 
Milt said:
I am trying to read it from the beginning. It is going slowly.

Milt
Click to expand...

Don't let Leviticus and Numbers get you down. If you find they bring you to a halt, I recommend skipping them and returning to them later.
If you can read from start to finish that's great though.
There are also daily reading programs that skip around but are designed to have you finish the whole book in one year. You might try that.
 
Rick Marchand said:
Thank you for the response, guys. I find it fascinating to learn what inspires people to live their lives a particular way... Theists and Atheists alike. Folks who openly share their passions make it easier to understand... again, I thank you. I was raised Roman Catholic and moved away from the Church in my early teens. Through martial arts, I learned a bit about Eastern spirituality... then Native American when I began working primitive skills... and eventually a few "modern" religions found their way into my library. There was a time, not so long ago, when the very mention of religion had my eyes rolling and my mind shut. I still get surprised/frustrated/baffled at some of the things I hear and read but have come to learn that it is about interpretation of the information you are given. I had lists of all these direct quotes/verses from several Holy books showing how contradicting and immoral they were but everytime I presented one of these to a sincere believer, they had their own interpretation of it... and it was always much less brutal than mine... lol. There are misguided extremists in every corner of society (religion, politics, science... knifemaking, Ha!) and I think that's the true "cancer".... the human factor. People who feel compelled to force their will upon you are working against themselves and the very task they are trying to accomplish. Sharing knowledge and understanding is what it is all about... things will happen as they should.

Rick
Click to expand...

For myself, having accepted Jesus Christ as MY personal Saviour, I try to have a personal relationship with him every day (through silent prayer all day long like a running conversation you might have with a friend who's always standing beside you). He has become a dear friend I can and do confer with on any subject. No, I don't bow my head all day long or go to my knees 100 times a day, I just carry on like anyone else, but I keep God close in thought and "spiritual conversation".

His spirit within me, helps to guide me, he lifts me when I am down, he shows me beauty where I might have previously missed it and so much more. When I have questions and concerns in this world, I can open to his word in the bible to study and it helps me make sense of whatever is going on.

I don't fret to much about anything in my life, because I know that if I am faithful to Gods word, then what ever comes my way will have a positive outcome for me in the long run... even if I can't see that positive in the moment.

Since we are all different individuals with different minds and understandings of the world, NONE of us will see ANYTHING in exactly the same way. I am SURE that I might read or hear a bible verse, and see it a bit differently than do ANY of my Christian brothers and sisters standing beside me in church. God gives THEM what THEY need from that verse, and he gives ME what I need from that same verse, and the result might be just a bit different to each of us.

It's hard to explain, but I can't imagine my life without Christ, and frankly, don't know how I survived as long as I did without Him. The "old Tim" was lost in a world of sin, just swimming around in circles. The "new Tim" is a much better person than he once was. I'm still a sinner, but I'm much more acutely aware of it (the sins I still commit), and I am truly convicted when I do sin, and repentance is much easier for me.

I "searched" for a long time (studied many religions and philosophies), before I became "Saved" by Christ and "born again" a new child of God.

My... one man's story. I hope it is of value to your questions and understanding Rick.

Best,
Tim

ON EDIT: I wanted to add something important. I write and converse about my own personal relationship with God, with no intent to try force my beliefs onto anyone else. It is not my job in this world to "Make" people become Christians. It is my job to offer information about what it takes to become a Christian if someone wishes to know how. I am not a "go door to door" kind of guy. I prefer to put up a sign next to my "open door" that says, "knock if interested".
 
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Rick Marchand said:
Thanks Tim.
Click to expand...

Your very welcomed Rick.

I do want to add that there is often a fair amount of confusion concerning the Christian's use/of between the books of the New and Old Testaments. We follow (try to live) the New Testament, and use the Old Testament as directed (by the New Testament) most often as a historical reference and guide to make understanding the New Testament easier... more contextual by seeing how God worked in the Old when his audience were primarily the Jews and Gentiles.

In the simplest of terms, if you look at the two books as different parts of an exciting movie, I see the Old Testament as the first two-thirds of the movie where the characters are introduced... the plot is laid out... the good guys and the bad guys roles are developed and defined, all which lay the necessary ground work for the final third of the movie where the exciting, happy ending comes.

Imagine if you'd walked in late to an exciting movie and only watched the end of it. You'd be left with a lot of questions and the happy ending might not make much sense since you didn't know what happened during the first two-thirds of the story.

Knowing the Old Testament, gives us the references necessary to understand and see why we need to "live" the New Testament.

Forgive my simplistic analogy of why/how Christians see/use the Old Testament because it really is insufficient, but it does help explain the value and place of the Old Testament for the Born Again Christian's life which is lead by the New Testament.

All the best in your own "travels",:)
Tim
 
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