Rabbi Hillel - “Whoever has acquired the words of the Law has acquired the life of the world to come.” not the world now, note.
And you just backed up your position by quoting some people who, at least in the quotes, seem to agree with you.
You don’t respond to my points, but as usual repeat yourself.
Yes, I absolutely acknowledge that some Gnostics and quite a few people from other systems of belief take the Bible as mythical. Great, but the Bible does not present itself this way.
You reach conclusions based on your judgment of past personal experience. What kind of approach do you have to the Bible? You pose your personal approach as understanding and succeeding those in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim tradition. Don’t insult Augustine with your assumptions. I know this is difficult for you, but the creation of the cosmos limits the power of God. You think that the belief in a being that created the cosmos entails a belief in the supernatural. Tell me what you see in Sagittarius and Virgo this March and get back to me.
As for the others contributing, Baptism and ceremonial supper replaced all old rituals to show respect and faith in Christ. Salvation in faith and not works, although works will show the strength of your faith over time.
There are claims of being psychic in physical healing and then there are psychic claims of spiritual rebirth from those who have not experienced it and so cannot comment on it but will attempt to.
I could quote scripture all day but in this contemporary atheism, there are people who say my quoting of scripture weakens my argument.
I will avoid scripture for the sake of those absent of salvation. Read into it brethren, have fun with the depth.
Greatest thinks that supernatural thinking is impossible. I find this hysterical and he has conflicting premises throughout this thread. Look for it and you will find it, along with repetition and aggression. You can look for the truth yourself or rely on other people.
I have not learned what Jesus and the Bible have taught me, but I will.
Yes. There may be some who have different metaphysics, but the vast majority, including the vast majority of the experts within the Abrahamic religions believe this.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, sanctioned by Pope John Paul II, has this to say on the issue of the changing of the Ten Commandments:
The Church, the “pillar and bulwark of the truth,” “has received this solemn command of Christ from the apostles to announce the saving truth.” “To the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce moral principles, including those pertaining to the social order.”
According to Roman Catholicism, moral issues are dictated by the Ten Commandments—but not the Ten Commandments as found in the Bible.
Rome’s Ten Commandments are defined by Augustine, the Catholic Church father:
The division and numbering of the Commandments have varied in the course of history. The present catechism follows the division of the Commandments established by St. Augustine, which has become traditional in the Catholic Church.
What an amazing confession!
The Ten Commandments defined by Augustine, rather than defined by Scripture, form the basis for Catholic morality.
Are you saying that in the act of creating the cosmos God got weaker? Or are you saying that to say that God created the cosmos is to posit a weaker God than the real God?
Do you believe God did not create the universe?
It doesn’t entail any particular belief in the supernatural - beyond that of believing in a transcendent being (at least in Christianity) who can do pretty much anything and is not bound by material laws. Bringing up astrology is to bring in something that is not relevant.
Supernatural is a term plagued with all sorts of metaphysical problems, but in terms of the Greatests position, and his use of supernatural, of course God, as posited in the Bible is supernatural.
How can or do you justify saying that the bible does not show itself as a myth, when it begins with a talking serpent and donkey, and seven headed thingamabob?
If the supernatural were real, then you would have to see a matrix or Mandelbrot set universe and that puts God over God over God, — endlessly. That is a Gnostic Christian theme. An argument really against the supernatural. It followed the ancient intelligentsia just as it does today.
Care to tell us what revelation turned God from an abstract for you and into a reality? When did you have your vision and apotheosis?
It may not matter given the, what, 3 other sets of big 10 that are in the bible and likely a rendition from the Book of the Dead.
That aside. Catholic morality shoes a root of inquisitions and a dislike for freedom of religion and that puts their moral position as way below the secular.
Simple. There are more than 2, I think 3, sets of commandments in scriptures. Since the originating myth of the Jewish holy books is known to be from Sumer and Egypt, it follows that the ten commandments are a rendering of the commandments in The Book of the dead. None are the same and the O.T. Jewish set is a real ball breaker. No I no longer have a link to it so you will have to confirm these facts for yourself.
I had only read the Tibetan Book of the Dead. There is much discussion in my house regarding comments on this subject here on the Forum and it has taught me not to become complacent.
There are two laws.
The Law of Ten Commandments, and
The Ceremonial Law.
On Mount Sinai, Moses received both the law of God and a precise set of instructions for the sacrificial system and these were to form the basis of the religious ceremonies of the Israelites.
God wrote the Ten Commandments
And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God (Exodus 31:18).
The two tables of stone were placed inside the Ark of the Covenant.
Moses wrote the ceremonial law, or book of the law
This law of types and ceremonies was written by Moses in the book of the law
And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee (Deuteronomy 31:24-26)
and this was placed beside the Ark.
These two sets of laws, the one moral and the other ceremonial, were entirely different and served different purposes.
“The whole trend of the Book of the Dead is thaumaturgic, as its purpose is to guard the dead against the dangers they have to face in reaching the other world. As in most mythologies, the dead Egyptian had to encounter malignant spirits and was threatened by many dangers before reaching his haven of rest”. Enclyopedia.com
Scripture doesn’t mean anything all by itself, each church, and individual attempts to ascertain what the authors intended by it, and it’s matter of some debate/discussion.
every church has its interpretation and believes it’s the right one.
From my understanding, what separates Catholics from protestants is not that they have an official interpretation, but that they believe their interpretation is absolutely authoritative, indisputable, revealed, and any other interpretation is not and errant.
They believe only the Catholic Church’s interpretation, saves.
There was a time when Protestants believed that God created the earth in six literal days, but now many have adopted the theory of evolution like Rome. Many Protestant churches have rejected the Flood and Creation accounts of Genesis, calling them myths and today, Protestantism as a whole is dead and no longer what it used to be.
While the Church during apostolic times held the Scriptures in high regard, under the rule of the Papacy, the Scriptures were lost sight of and Scriptural doctrines were replaced with traditions. Some of the unbiblical doctrines established and “Christianized” by the Roman Catholic Church were celibacy of priests, purgatory, confessions to priests, Indulgences and the infallibility of the Pope. The Pope is the world’s highest religious authority, however, this status has not been achieved on the basis of truth but on the basis of compromise.
Protestantism (in October 2017)and other world religions, by their own admission, have joined forces with the Roman Catholic Church and by submitting to Rome’s authority they are acknowledging the Pope’s leadership and also acknowledge his doctrines. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the Church, “Mother and Teacher”and claims to be the mother of all the churches.
True unity is based on the Word of God and the dominion of God.
Ecumenical unity is based on shared “spiritual” experiences and the power of human leaders.
When studying the Bible, we must compare Scripture with Scripture, “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line: here a little and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). We must remember that the Bible is not one book but 66 books written over a period of 1500 years. That very fact allows us to use the Bible to interpret itself. We must not ignore parts of the Bible that don’t suit us, or discard portions of the Bible as not applicable, or add our own words to it.
But equally important is to look at the verse in context with all other verses on the same subject.