this "religous" discussion is really getting
rediculous. it seems like everyone is spouting about
their beliefs, but funny, noone really knows what they
believe. everyone is confused, giving their own
definitions of atheist and agnostic, God, gods,
canaanites, sodomites. you people throw these events
around as if you wrote the book yourself. the Bible
is meant as a historical record to teach believers
about God and his people.
old testament vs. new testament.
the old testament is a historical background, much of
it being laws, promises from God (all of which were
fulfilled), wars, plagues, prophesy, etc. there were
only 10 commandments. the other laws that you speak
of were written in the book of leviticus and were
meant to keep people from going completely nuts and
killing and raping each other, much like the laws we
have today which don't seem to be stopping people.
the 10 commandments were given to moses by God to be
presented as "the law". he never said it's okay to
worship other God's. what you quoted as God saying he
is a jealous God, actually says,
"You shall not make for yourselves an idol in the form
of anything in heaven or on the earth beneath or in
the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or
worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous
God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers
to the third and fourth generation, but showing love
to a thousand generation of those who love me and keep
my commandments." Deuteronomy 5:8-10
God was very clear of why he wanted these rules to be
followed. not because he is harsh, but because he is
the creator of the human species. he knows what we
need better than we can even speculate what our needs
are.
the dead sea scrolls was a huge find for
archaeologists and theologians, because it was a
second written account of the events of the bible.
there were some stories that were not included in the
bible, but most of the ones written in the dead sea
scrolls are written in the bible as well. i suggest
you take to doing your own research on such things
rather than reading a book and basing all of your
arguments on anothers so called "facts".
the new testament is a fulfillment of the prophecy
that a messiah will come, be mocked, tortured and
broken for the sins of man. the prophecy from Isaiah
53. those of you who have Bibles, read it. it's a
prophecy of Jesus' life hundreds of years before he
was even born. not to mention that isaiah prophesied
the virgin birth in isaiah 7:14. read it yourself.
but back to the new testament.
it was said by someone that the new testament was
written mostly by people who didn't know Jesus.
well...i don't who told you that, but most of those
who wrote in the new testament knew Jesus quite well.
matthew, who wrote the book of matthew, was a tax
collector. Jesus met him on the street and later went
to his house to have dinner. matthew realized that
Jesus was the messiah and became one of the 12
apostles, and thus wrote his account of the events of
Jesus' life.
john mark, who wrote the gospel of mark got most of
his accounts from the apostle peter who was the first
to declare Jesus the son of God.
luke was a physician, theologian, philosopher and
writer who wrote the gospel of luke. his accounts
were second hand, mostly from the apostle paul. luke
also wrote th book of acts.
john, who wrote the gospel of john was an apostle,
referred to as "the disciple whom Jesus loved."
before Jesus was crucified he asked john to look after
his mother Mary and comfort her after he was killed.
11 books were written by the apostle paul, who was
chosen after Jesus was dead, but appeared to him on
the road to damascus. paul was on his way to
persecuting Christians so he definitely knew of Christ
and what he was teaching. paul was blinded for
several days, peter came to him and told him that he
was to be an apostle. paul went from being the one of
the greatest persecutors of the Christian faith to
being one of the most zealous presenters of the
Christian faith.
james, who wrote the book of james...are you noticing
a patter here?....is identified as the brother of
Jesus. James didn't agree with Jesus and opposed him,
but later became part of the church and wrote the book
of james.
peter, who wrote 1st and 2nd peter was Jesus closest
disciple. he's the first one Jesus came to, peter was
the first to follow. peter denied Jesus 3 times, but
when Jesus returned, he forgave him 3 times.
i feel a bit pious in writing into this discussion,
but i can't sit back and watch you people rip on
things that you don't seem to know anything about. if
you are curious about the bible, read it. if you
can't understand it, get a decent commentary. the
biggest problem with the Bible is that people
misinterpret it, claiming that it speaks directly to
them rather than telling stories. it is a powerful
book, i don't know. all i can say is read it if you
really want to know, but don't say things about it
that are untrue, especially when you don't know.
cade
"opinions are like kittens, always giving them away"
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