http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943 It's the age old response: &quot;If you are a good person, raise your family right, obey the laws, then you'll goto Heaven.&quot;. Well that doesn't sound right. Didn't God say something about that? Yes he did. In fact one of the most famous piece of Scripture in the Bible tells us that is simply not true. &quot;For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God and NOT AS A RESULT OF WORKS, so that nobody shall boast.&quot; - Ephesians 2:8-9 What this verse here is saying is self explanatory. It is explaining that it is by the grace of God that you shall be saved through your faith and that no matter how great of works you have done, no matter how well you raised your family, no matter how generous, kind, or gracious or are, and even if you have never even gotten as little as a traffic infraction or cheated on your spouse, you will not be saved. You are saved and only saved through your faith alone. If you have faith that Jesus Christ came here through God and died for our sins, and that you repent your sins and invite him to take over your life, then you are saved. There are some things I found while reading one of my favorite verses in the Bible(Rev. 3:20): &quot;You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in with him. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.&quot; -Revelation 3:17,19-20,22 The scripture above is very clear. 3:17 says that the man who says &quot;I am rich, I need NOTHING!&quot; God says you do not realize yet how wretched and pitiful you really are. He also says to be earnest and repent your sins in verse 19. Obviously verse 20 one of the most famous verses in the Bible for witnessing is one of my dear favorites. God stands at the door of your heart and knocks, but will you answer his knock? Or will you leave him outside of the door waiting? And verse 22 is very clear stating that he who has an ear let him hear. That means that he who has an ear and decides not to hear is at fault. We can see a little bit about unbelievers who will not repent. But the question is, those who believe they can goto Heaven on their good works, do they believe in God? Well, yes. Most of the time. Otherwise they wouldn't even mention the word Heaven. So isn't that faith? Well, yes and no. They may believe there was this God and this God who died on a cross and there is a heaven and a hell but they do not repent their sins or invite the Lord into their lives. Thats the key point. Believing alone does not get you saved, faith without works is dead(James 2:20), but works without faith is also dead. Now the most difficult part. What happens to these who are unsaved because of their lack of faith? Revelation tells us that as well. Read: &quot;He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, &quot;I am making everything new!&quot; Then he said, &quot;Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.&quot; He said to me: &quot;It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-their place will be on the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.&quot; -Revelation 21:4-8, 22:7 &quot;Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.&quot; -Revelation 3:3 This is a very scary picture indeed. It is what personally upsets me and scares me the most. So repent your sins, have faith in God that he sent his only son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, and invite him to take over your life. Live with him. And answer the knock on the door of your heart. Because eternal life comes through faith, not by good works. It's the age old response: &quot;If you are a good person, raise your family right, obey the laws, then you'll goto Heaven.&quot;. Well that doesn't sound right. Didn't God say something about that? Yes he did. In fact one of the most famous piece of Scripture in the Bible tells us that is simply not true. &quot;For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God and NOT AS A RESULT OF WORKS, so that nobody shall boast.&quot; - Ephesians 2:8-9 What this verse here is saying is self explanatory. It is explaining that it is by the grace of God that you shall be saved through your faith and that no matter how great of works you have done, no matter how well you raised your family, no matter how generous, kind, or gracious or are, and even if you have never even gotten as little as a traffic infraction or cheated on your spouse, you will not be saved. You are saved and only saved through your faith alone. If you have faith that Jesus Christ came here through God and died for our sins, and that you repent your sins and invite him to take over your life, then you are saved. There are some things I found while reading one of my favorite verses in the Bible(Rev. 3:20): &quot;You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in with him. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.&quot; -Revelation 3:17,19-20,22 The scripture above is very clear. 3:17 says that the man who says &quot;I am rich, I need NOTHING!&quot; God says you do not realize yet how wretched and pitiful you really are. He also says to be earnest and repent your sins in verse 19. Obviously verse 20 one of the most famous verses in the Bible for witnessing is one of my dear favorites. God stands at the door of your heart and knocks, but will you answer his knock? Or will you leave him outside of the door waiting? And verse 22 is very clear stating that he who has an ear let him hear. That means that he who has an ear and decides not to hear is at fault. We can see a little bit about unbelievers who will not repent. But the question is, those who believe they can goto Heaven on their good works, do they believe in God? Well, yes. Most of the time. Otherwise they wouldn't even mention the word Heaven. So isn't that faith? Well, yes and no. They may believe there was this God and this God who died on a cross and there is a heaven and a hell but they do not repent their sins or invite the Lord into their lives. Thats the key point. Believing alone does not get you saved, faith without works is dead(James 2:20), but works without faith is also dead. Now the most difficult part. What happens to these who are unsaved because of their lack of faith? Revelation tells us that as well. Read: &quot;He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, &quot;I am making everything new!&quot; Then he said, &quot;Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.&quot; He said to me: &quot;It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-their place will be on the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.&quot; -Revelation 21:4-8, 22:7 &quot;Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.&quot; -Revelation 3:3 This is a very scary picture indeed. It is what personally upsets me and scares me the most. So repent your sins, have faith in God that he sent his only son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, and invite him to take over your life. Live with him. And answer the knock on the door of your heart. Because eternal life comes through faith, not by good works. en-us This is all well and good, but the problem I have with what you say is that fundamentally you believe that whatever is written in a book thousands of years old, where the vast majority of writings were incorporated by whoever happened to be in power at specific point in time all written hundreds of years between is in some way factual.&nbsp; This seems to be a really naive and narrow minded point of view.&nbsp; I can pick up any book and point at things and make arguments for or against what is says and make all kinds of interpretations.&nbsp; This doesn't make any of it fact.&nbsp;&nbsp; The vast majority of religions on the planet would disagree with you if you make any claims as to the King James bible being fact or in any way true.&nbsp; There are religions vastly older than Christianity and to dismiss them because you were raised or convinced to believe a certain way is arrogant and silly.&nbsp; Just by virtue of the fact that you are willing to take things on &quot;faith&quot; without any hard evidence you are hypocritical to dismiss any other beliefs.&nbsp; This is the problem with the religious righteous.&nbsp; It breeds nothing but fear, violence and contempt for people who don't believe the same.&nbsp;&nbsp; The time for belief in the mystical is about at its end and good riddance. http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116113 http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116113 This is all well and good, but the problem I have with what you say is that fundamentally you believe that whatever is written in a book thousands of years old, where the vast majority of writings were incorporated by whoever happened to be in power at specific point in time all written hundreds of years between is in some way factual.&nbsp; This seems to be a really naive and narrow minded point of view.&nbsp; I can pick up any book and point at things and make arguments for or against what is says and make all kinds of interpretations.&nbsp; This doesn't make any of it fact.&nbsp;&nbsp; The vast majority of religions on the planet would disagree with you if you make any claims as to the King James bible being fact or in any way true.&nbsp; There are religions vastly older than Christianity and to dismiss them because you were raised or convinced to believe a certain way is arrogant and silly.&nbsp; Just by virtue of the fact that you are willing to take things on &quot;faith&quot; without any hard evidence you are hypocritical to dismiss any other beliefs.&nbsp; This is the problem with the religious righteous.&nbsp; It breeds nothing but fear, violence and contempt for people who don't believe the same.&nbsp;&nbsp; The time for belief in the mystical is about at its end and good riddance. Hello,<br /> <br /> I've heard the argument made by you made by so many others about how the fact that the bible is quote &quot;a thousand years old&quot;, while that is true, what does that have to do with anything? Have you ever picked up and read a Bible before? Or do you just listen to &quot;the vast majority of religions on the planet&quot;? The Bible is old true, but the incredible thing about it is that it still applies to all of us today. The vast majority of the religions on the planet would disagree with me claiming that the Bible is correct? Like who? The Mormons? The Catholics? The Muslims? The Jews? Well I'll mind you that when Jesus was on Earth and was making his presence known, I can guarantee you that &quot;the vast majority of people on earth&quot; more than likely disagreed with what he was doing. Healing, teaching, drawing crowds, especially on the Sabbath, which was the reason why they persecuted him.<br /> <br /> It seems like you have a fetish or a twisted belief in thinking that age is a virtue when it comes to a belief or faith. Sure other religions have been around longer than Christianity, I do not doubt that. Take Judaism for example, around much longer than Christianity. While a person with much age is more than likely wiser and has gone through more and therefore is much more intelligent than that of a younger being, while that is true from a human growth perspective it does not necessarily make it correct in every situation. But does it make it true? Does it make it the most correct and the only way? No. While other religions would disagree with Christianity, I'll mind you that Christianity has the largest followers among any other religion. Just in case you may want to argue from a statistics position. But back on topic. Just because many religions have been around longer, and may not agree with something, does not mean it is true. And yes you can take almost any book and point things out. But the question is this, is that book you are picking up written by God? Our one and only savior? Unless you are picking up a Bible then no.<br /> <br /> I think you have a distorted view of Christianity and how God's word has interpreted many things. &quot;the vast majority of writings were incorporated by whoever happened to be in power at specific point in time all written hundreds of years between is in some way factual.&quot; That is what you wrote. This in itself is incorrect. Take the book of Jeremiah for example, Jeremiah was not in &quot;power&quot; over anyone or anything. He was a child and a believer of Christ who God chose to be a prophet for Jerusalem. And rightfully so. He predicted many things including the destruction of Jerusalem and most of Israel correctly long before it happened. He was not in power at that specific point in time. Or take the book of Revelation, it was written by John who was in prisoned in jail. Doesn't sound like someone who was high in power. But you have to understand is that while actual men have written many of the books in the Bible, God was just using them to write what he needed to interpret. Many things in the Bible have come true. Like the fall of Jerusalem that I just explained which was predicted by Jeremiah, or how Isaiah predicted Jesus' birth AND death. And then you obviously have the story of the flood. You have things in Revelation and throughout the Bible that have been predicted and have come true.<br /> <br /> I am not saying that you will not find a single book in the Bible that was written by someone who was high in power, you will find some. But you claimed that &quot;the majority of writings&quot; were, you are wrong. And your argument about faith without hard evidence is also a distorted and twisted view as well. You don't want to understand that God's word IS factual, and is correct and is 100% without fault in any way shape or form. You can continue looking until the day you die but you will never find anything in God's word that is wrong or incorrect any in any way. And if you agree with that, then you can find many points in his own word which he gave to us as guidance in order to grow closer in a relationship with him and live as he did, point out that you need to have faith. That is obviously the whole point with ANY religion you will find. Just like Ephesians 2:8-9 says &quot;For by grace you have been saved <strong>through faith</strong>&quot; not of your works, or of anything else you do, but of <u><strong>faith</strong></u> and <u><strong>faith</strong></u> alone.<br /> <br /> Here, think of faith in a different way, look at it like this for example: Faith is the key that opens the door to heaven. You know, you could have a key ring with a lot of keys on it, they all look somewhat alike. But I'll tell you this, if you go to the front door of my home, you could try all different sorts of keys except the right one, and they would not open the door. The right key to heaven is called faith...saving faith. That is what will open the door to heaven. There is nothing else in the world that will open that door.<br /> <br /> The point here is that you cannot have any evidence. Because of there were evidence then there would no longer be any need for faith, you would not truly believe in God. God didn't leave evidence for the very simple reason that if people found hard evidence then they would flock to him <strong>because </strong>of that evidence alone. He wants you to have faith, otherwise there is simply no point. &quot;Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.&quot;(John 6:47).<br /> <br /> Here, I'll give you another simple example of faith.<br /> <br /> Say your in a room and you spot a chair in the corner, do you believe that that chair exists? Do you believe it will hold you? It is not holding you now. How can you prove you believe it exists and can hold you? By sitting on it? Well let that chair represent Jesus Christ. Many people believe He existed, but they do not have eternal life because they are trusting in their own good works to get them to heaven. Faith is not temporal nor is it a mere intellectual ascent. Faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.<br /> <br /> &quot;But without faith <strong>it is impossible to please Him</strong>, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.&quot; (Hebrews 11:6)<br /> <br /> &quot;He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.&quot;<br /> -John 3:36<br /> <br /> <br /> God bless you brother! :) http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116122 http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116122 Hello,<br /> <br /> I've heard the argument made by you made by so many others about how the fact that the bible is quote &quot;a thousand years old&quot;, while that is true, what does that have to do with anything? Have you ever picked up and read a Bible before? Or do you just listen to &quot;the vast majority of religions on the planet&quot;? The Bible is old true, but the incredible thing about it is that it still applies to all of us today. The vast majority of the religions on the planet would disagree with me claiming that the Bible is correct? Like who? The Mormons? The Catholics? The Muslims? The Jews? Well I'll mind you that when Jesus was on Earth and was making his presence known, I can guarantee you that &quot;the vast majority of people on earth&quot; more than likely disagreed with what he was doing. Healing, teaching, drawing crowds, especially on the Sabbath, which was the reason why they persecuted him.<br /> <br /> It seems like you have a fetish or a twisted belief in thinking that age is a virtue when it comes to a belief or faith. Sure other religions have been around longer than Christianity, I do not doubt that. Take Judaism for example, around much longer than Christianity. While a person with much age is more than likely wiser and has gone through more and therefore is much more intelligent than that of a younger being, while that is true from a human growth perspective it does not necessarily make it correct in every situation. But does it make it true? Does it make it the most correct and the only way? No. While other religions would disagree with Christianity, I'll mind you that Christianity has the largest followers among any other religion. Just in case you may want to argue from a statistics position. But back on topic. Just because many religions have been around longer, and may not agree with something, does not mean it is true. And yes you can take almost any book and point things out. But the question is this, is that book you are picking up written by God? Our one and only savior? Unless you are picking up a Bible then no.<br /> <br /> I think you have a distorted view of Christianity and how God's word has interpreted many things. &quot;the vast majority of writings were incorporated by whoever happened to be in power at specific point in time all written hundreds of years between is in some way factual.&quot; That is what you wrote. This in itself is incorrect. Take the book of Jeremiah for example, Jeremiah was not in &quot;power&quot; over anyone or anything. He was a child and a believer of Christ who God chose to be a prophet for Jerusalem. And rightfully so. He predicted many things including the destruction of Jerusalem and most of Israel correctly long before it happened. He was not in power at that specific point in time. Or take the book of Revelation, it was written by John who was in prisoned in jail. Doesn't sound like someone who was high in power. But you have to understand is that while actual men have written many of the books in the Bible, God was just using them to write what he needed to interpret. Many things in the Bible have come true. Like the fall of Jerusalem that I just explained which was predicted by Jeremiah, or how Isaiah predicted Jesus' birth AND death. And then you obviously have the story of the flood. You have things in Revelation and throughout the Bible that have been predicted and have come true.<br /> <br /> I am not saying that you will not find a single book in the Bible that was written by someone who was high in power, you will find some. But you claimed that &quot;the majority of writings&quot; were, you are wrong. And your argument about faith without hard evidence is also a distorted and twisted view as well. You don't want to understand that God's word IS factual, and is correct and is 100% without fault in any way shape or form. You can continue looking until the day you die but you will never find anything in God's word that is wrong or incorrect any in any way. And if you agree with that, then you can find many points in his own word which he gave to us as guidance in order to grow closer in a relationship with him and live as he did, point out that you need to have faith. That is obviously the whole point with ANY religion you will find. Just like Ephesians 2:8-9 says &quot;For by grace you have been saved <strong>through faith</strong>&quot; not of your works, or of anything else you do, but of <u><strong>faith</strong></u> and <u><strong>faith</strong></u> alone.<br /> <br /> Here, think of faith in a different way, look at it like this for example: Faith is the key that opens the door to heaven. You know, you could have a key ring with a lot of keys on it, they all look somewhat alike. But I'll tell you this, if you go to the front door of my home, you could try all different sorts of keys except the right one, and they would not open the door. The right key to heaven is called faith...saving faith. That is what will open the door to heaven. There is nothing else in the world that will open that door.<br /> <br /> The point here is that you cannot have any evidence. Because of there were evidence then there would no longer be any need for faith, you would not truly believe in God. God didn't leave evidence for the very simple reason that if people found hard evidence then they would flock to him <strong>because </strong>of that evidence alone. He wants you to have faith, otherwise there is simply no point. &quot;Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.&quot;(John 6:47).<br /> <br /> Here, I'll give you another simple example of faith.<br /> <br /> Say your in a room and you spot a chair in the corner, do you believe that that chair exists? Do you believe it will hold you? It is not holding you now. How can you prove you believe it exists and can hold you? By sitting on it? Well let that chair represent Jesus Christ. Many people believe He existed, but they do not have eternal life because they are trusting in their own good works to get them to heaven. Faith is not temporal nor is it a mere intellectual ascent. Faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.<br /> <br /> &quot;But without faith <strong>it is impossible to please Him</strong>, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.&quot; (Hebrews 11:6)<br /> <br /> &quot;He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.&quot;<br /> -John 3:36<br /> <br /> <br /> God bless you brother! :) <p>Too much of anything is bad for everyone, religion included. </p> <p>About that chair analogy...I know that chair exists because I can see it with my own eyes right this minute, but I've never seen Jesus Christ.</p> <p>We all have a right to believe whatever we want to, if you want to believe as fact in a book that has been rewritten over the centuries that's fine, if I want to believe in what I can see and logically deduce in the here and now then that's fine too. Whatever gets us through life, it's a tough adventure.</p> http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116125 http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116125 <p>Too much of anything is bad for everyone, religion included. </p> <p>About that chair analogy...I know that chair exists because I can see it with my own eyes right this minute, but I've never seen Jesus Christ.</p> <p>We all have a right to believe whatever we want to, if you want to believe as fact in a book that has been rewritten over the centuries that's fine, if I want to believe in what I can see and logically deduce in the here and now then that's fine too. Whatever gets us through life, it's a tough adventure.</p> Hey rm6,<br /> <br /> <br /> The analogy of &quot;too much of anything is bad for everyone, religion included&quot; is a one sided opinion. How do you know that too much of anything is bad for someone? Have you done anything in order to back that claim up? And yes you may be able to visibly see that chair, but how do you know that it will hold you? How do you know that when you stop in front of that chair and sit down that it will hold you? By trying to sit on it, correct? Of course! Have you ever had any type of relationship with the Lord?<br /> <br /> Yes you most certainly have the right to believe in anything that you want to believe. God calls us to do the work of an evangelist but if you don't want to believe or accept him then there isn't anything else that I can do for you besides to pray that he will open your heart one day to him. And your claim about the Bible being &quot;rewritten&quot; over centuries is incorrect. Unlike the Book of Mormon, the Bible has never been altered, changed, modified, or corrected because of error or to fit into our society. It was and has always been the same, and it still applies to all of us today.<br /> <br /> Your statement about &quot;whatever gets us through life&quot; is interesting. Because our life here on earth is so very short, but our life with God is an eternity. And once you are through the &quot;tough adventure&quot; as you put it, you will have to answer to God. When he asks you &quot;What did you do with the days of life that I gave you? How did you honor and glorify me?&quot; then I suppose to will have to answer that for yourself.<br /> <br /> Do you believe in heaven and hell? I'm just curious.<br /> <br /> You know we are all sinners. We have all fallen short of Gods perfect standard. Which is exactly why you need Christ! Man is a sinner...I'd like to ask in your opinion, what is sin? Well to me sin is anything that opposes to the contrary of what God teaches. It can be done in thought, action, word, or deed. Jesus said &quot;For <u><strong>all</strong></u> fall short of the glory of God&quot;(Romans 3:23). The Bible also says that &quot;There is not a just man on earth who does good and does no sin&quot;(Ecclesiastes 7:20). Everyone has sinned, and every man, women, elder and child have sinned. Not just you and I, but people throughout all of history, for example the President, Church leaders, Pastors, and even the Pope have all sinned...with the exception of Jesus Christ.<br /> <br /> It's like this: Catalina Island is about twenty-six miles off the coastline of Los Angeles. Let's imagine for a second that everyone were to line up on Los Angeles' coastline and attempt to jump all the way over to Catalina Island. Some because of their physical ability and training would jump further than others, but nobody would actually make it all the way over. We would all fall short of the mark. It is the same way with God. We have all fallen short of God's perfect standard.<br /> <br /> Man cannot save himself. &quot;For there is a way that seems right to a man, but in it's end is the way of death&quot;(Proverbs 14:12). Do you think you can rely on yourself in order to get into heaven? Maybe just follow your heart rather than pray and have a relationship with the Lord? &quot;The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can trust it?&quot;(Jeremiah 17:9). We do not direct our own lives, we can do nothing apart from God.<br /> <br /> God clearly states that heaven is a free gift. &quot;For the wages of sin is death, but the <u><strong>free</strong></u><strong> <u>gift</u></strong> of God is eternal life&quot;(Romans 6:23). Then you also have Ephesians 2:8-9 which I have repeated here a few times over. So you see there is no price that one needs to pay to obtain eternal life with our savior.<br /> <br /> Let me show you this way, for example: Suppose I were to give you my watch(or any valuable object that is handy) as a gift and you were to pay me for it, would it still be a gift? No, it wouldn't. That's the nature of a gift - you can't pay for it or it is not a gift anymore. It is the same with God's offer of the free gift of Heaven. You can't pay God for it, it is free!<br /> <br /> So what we understand through study of the Scriptures is that Heaven is not earned nor deserved. &quot;You have been saved, not on the basis of good deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy&quot;(Titus 3:5). There is not a single person that can earn Heaven, and there is neither a single person who deserves Heaven. Christ died for us. He was beaten, tortured, and nailed onto a wooden cross. What have we done for him lately? We do not bring anything to the table. &quot;But God demonstrates his loves for us in this: While we were sinners, Christ died for us.&quot;(Romans 5:8). Which is why we do not deserve heaven. But as you can see it is according to his mercy that he offers this to us as a free gift if we just bring him into our lives and accept him through faith.<br /> <br /> Hopefully I have cleared some things up here for many of you. And I hope by reading more that the Lord has inspired you to read about him and enter into a relationship with him. It has drastically altered and changed my life forever. I just want that for all of you. That is why the Lord has me write these articles I believe. I just thrive to see many of you come to know him in a personal way. I pray for you all.<br /> <br /> <font color="#000000">&quot;I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the <em>life</em> which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.&quot;<br /> -Galatians 2:20-21</font> http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116206 http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116206 Hey rm6,<br /> <br /> <br /> The analogy of &quot;too much of anything is bad for everyone, religion included&quot; is a one sided opinion. How do you know that too much of anything is bad for someone? Have you done anything in order to back that claim up? And yes you may be able to visibly see that chair, but how do you know that it will hold you? How do you know that when you stop in front of that chair and sit down that it will hold you? By trying to sit on it, correct? Of course! Have you ever had any type of relationship with the Lord?<br /> <br /> Yes you most certainly have the right to believe in anything that you want to believe. God calls us to do the work of an evangelist but if you don't want to believe or accept him then there isn't anything else that I can do for you besides to pray that he will open your heart one day to him. And your claim about the Bible being &quot;rewritten&quot; over centuries is incorrect. Unlike the Book of Mormon, the Bible has never been altered, changed, modified, or corrected because of error or to fit into our society. It was and has always been the same, and it still applies to all of us today.<br /> <br /> Your statement about &quot;whatever gets us through life&quot; is interesting. Because our life here on earth is so very short, but our life with God is an eternity. And once you are through the &quot;tough adventure&quot; as you put it, you will have to answer to God. When he asks you &quot;What did you do with the days of life that I gave you? How did you honor and glorify me?&quot; then I suppose to will have to answer that for yourself.<br /> <br /> Do you believe in heaven and hell? I'm just curious.<br /> <br /> You know we are all sinners. We have all fallen short of Gods perfect standard. Which is exactly why you need Christ! Man is a sinner...I'd like to ask in your opinion, what is sin? Well to me sin is anything that opposes to the contrary of what God teaches. It can be done in thought, action, word, or deed. Jesus said &quot;For <u><strong>all</strong></u> fall short of the glory of God&quot;(Romans 3:23). The Bible also says that &quot;There is not a just man on earth who does good and does no sin&quot;(Ecclesiastes 7:20). Everyone has sinned, and every man, women, elder and child have sinned. Not just you and I, but people throughout all of history, for example the President, Church leaders, Pastors, and even the Pope have all sinned...with the exception of Jesus Christ.<br /> <br /> It's like this: Catalina Island is about twenty-six miles off the coastline of Los Angeles. Let's imagine for a second that everyone were to line up on Los Angeles' coastline and attempt to jump all the way over to Catalina Island. Some because of their physical ability and training would jump further than others, but nobody would actually make it all the way over. We would all fall short of the mark. It is the same way with God. We have all fallen short of God's perfect standard.<br /> <br /> Man cannot save himself. &quot;For there is a way that seems right to a man, but in it's end is the way of death&quot;(Proverbs 14:12). Do you think you can rely on yourself in order to get into heaven? Maybe just follow your heart rather than pray and have a relationship with the Lord? &quot;The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can trust it?&quot;(Jeremiah 17:9). We do not direct our own lives, we can do nothing apart from God.<br /> <br /> God clearly states that heaven is a free gift. &quot;For the wages of sin is death, but the <u><strong>free</strong></u><strong> <u>gift</u></strong> of God is eternal life&quot;(Romans 6:23). Then you also have Ephesians 2:8-9 which I have repeated here a few times over. So you see there is no price that one needs to pay to obtain eternal life with our savior.<br /> <br /> Let me show you this way, for example: Suppose I were to give you my watch(or any valuable object that is handy) as a gift and you were to pay me for it, would it still be a gift? No, it wouldn't. That's the nature of a gift - you can't pay for it or it is not a gift anymore. It is the same with God's offer of the free gift of Heaven. You can't pay God for it, it is free!<br /> <br /> So what we understand through study of the Scriptures is that Heaven is not earned nor deserved. &quot;You have been saved, not on the basis of good deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy&quot;(Titus 3:5). There is not a single person that can earn Heaven, and there is neither a single person who deserves Heaven. Christ died for us. He was beaten, tortured, and nailed onto a wooden cross. What have we done for him lately? We do not bring anything to the table. &quot;But God demonstrates his loves for us in this: While we were sinners, Christ died for us.&quot;(Romans 5:8). Which is why we do not deserve heaven. But as you can see it is according to his mercy that he offers this to us as a free gift if we just bring him into our lives and accept him through faith.<br /> <br /> Hopefully I have cleared some things up here for many of you. And I hope by reading more that the Lord has inspired you to read about him and enter into a relationship with him. It has drastically altered and changed my life forever. I just want that for all of you. That is why the Lord has me write these articles I believe. I just thrive to see many of you come to know him in a personal way. I pray for you all.<br /> <br /> <font color="#000000">&quot;I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the <em>life</em> which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.&quot;<br /> -Galatians 2:20-21</font> Ok I'll bite.<br /> <br /> <br /> <em>I've heard the argument made by you made by so many others about how the fact that the bible is quote &quot;a thousand years old&quot;, while that is true, what does that have to do with anything?<br /> <br /> </em>Taken out of context of what I said?&nbsp; Nothing at all. <br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;Have you ever picked up and read a Bible before?<br /> <br /> </em>Yes.&nbsp; Which one were you referring to by the way?&nbsp; Did you know there is more than one Christan Bible?&nbsp; No?&nbsp; Oh let me clue you in.&nbsp; There's the bible the Catholics have that has lots of stuff (12 of the 14 books of the Apochrypha) that the Protestants decided to remove.&nbsp; Then there's the one the Jews use which is only half the size of yours.&nbsp; Then there's the Eastern Orthodox one that has different stuff in it that the rest decided to leave out too.&nbsp; And thats just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.<br /> <br /> <em>&nbsp;Or do you just listen to &quot;the vast majority of religions on the planet&quot;?<br /> <br /> </em>No I actually take the time to learn a little about them instead of preaching to everyone who will look at me that I have all the answers because its in this book that I read all the time.&nbsp; Even though I have no idea where it really came from because I'm not interested in the history of it.<br /> <br /> <em>&nbsp;The Bible is old true, but the incredible thing about it is that it still applies to all of us today.<br /> <br /> </em>In your opinion. (note the key word... that being OPINION).&nbsp;&nbsp; You certainly think it applies to you but thats all you can say.&nbsp; You can't speak for anyone else.&nbsp; No matter how much you think you're right.<br /> <em><br /> The vast majority of the religions on the planet would disagree with me claiming that the Bible is correct? Like who? The Mormons? The Catholics? The Muslims? The Jews?<br /> <br /> </em>As well as the Hindu's, the Buddhists, and countless others.&nbsp; The Jews don't follow the new testament.&nbsp; The Mormons follow the Book of Mormon and only study the Christian bible in passing -- Its not a big part of their religion.&nbsp; The Muslims follow the Koran.&nbsp; Of all the ones you listed only the Catholics follow &quot;The Bible&quot; and as I pointed out earlier many other &quot;Christian&quot; religions have different Bibles.&nbsp; So what exactly was your point?<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;Well I'll mind you that when Jesus was on Earth and was making his presence known, I can guarantee you that &quot;the vast majority of people on earth&quot; more than likely disagreed with what he was doing. Healing, teaching, drawing crowds, especially on the Sabbath, which was the reason why they persecuted him.<br /> <br /> </em>If you were as well read about other religions besides the one you apparently fanatically preach about, you would know that almost every other religion has their &quot;Jesus&quot; figure.&nbsp; The martyr that died for everyone is not a unique idea to Christianity.&nbsp; And how do you know that Jesus is real person in history who did all those things described in the new testament?&nbsp; Where you there?&nbsp; Oh.. wait.. it's written in The Bible so it MUST be true!&nbsp; It doesn't work that way.<br /> <em><br /> </em> <em>It seems like you have a fetish or a twisted belief in thinking that age is a virtue when it comes to a belief or faith.<br /> <br /> </em>Fetish? Do you even know what that word means? :)&nbsp; Twisted belief?&nbsp; These are not the words someone who is capable of independent thought, reason or any sort of logic.&nbsp; These are the typical sorts of phrases used by the religious fanatic in order to play on peoples emotions.&nbsp; Nice try though. ;)<br /> <em><br /> Sure other religions have been around longer than Christianity, I do not doubt that.<br /> <br /> </em>I'm glad because unlike everything else you say this is one of the few verifiable facts.<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;Take Judaism for example, around much longer than Christianity. While a person with much age is more than likely wiser and has gone through more and therefore is much more intelligent than that of a younger being, while that is true from a human growth perspective it does not necessarily make it correct in every situation.<br /> <br /> </em>Wisdom and experience do not equal intelligence.&nbsp; Intelligence is an inherent trait.&nbsp; You can't become &quot;more intelligent&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; You have whatever intelligence you were born with. Wisdom comes from experience.<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;But does it make it true? Does it make it the most correct and the only way? No.<br /> <br /> </em>Of course not.&nbsp; Thats not the point.&nbsp; The point is you are preaching your religion as if it is fact.&nbsp; It is not.&nbsp; Its your (not so humble apparently) opinion.&nbsp; Thats the point.&nbsp; There is no fact in anything you preach.&nbsp; Its all about &quot;faith.&quot;&nbsp; Which by definition means&nbsp; belief not based on proof.&nbsp; While thats all well and good, don't sit on your high horse and try to say that your way is the best, or the only way or the single right way.&nbsp; Its just one way.&nbsp; It works for you.&nbsp; Great.&nbsp; Most of the planet disagrees with you.<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;While other religions would disagree with Christianity, I'll mind you that Christianity has the largest followers among any other religion. Just in case you may want to argue from a statistics position.<br /> <br /> </em>This is just flat out wrong and incorrect -- also known as fallacy.&nbsp; Statistically speaking most of the world is NOT Christian.&nbsp; If you are talking about western civilization then you would be correct.&nbsp; However Mid- and Eastern civilization FAR FAR outnumbers the people of the western world.&nbsp; And they are for the vast majority NOT Christian.&nbsp; If you can make such a ludicrous and uninformed statement about a KNOWN FACT why on Earth should anyone listen to your religious preachings?&nbsp; If you can't even get simple facts correct, I question your knowledge about your own religion.<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;But back on topic. Just because many religions have been around longer, and may not agree with something, does not mean it is true.<br /> <br /> </em>And the converse of that is also true.&nbsp; Just because your religion is newer does not make it true.<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;And yes you can take almost any book and point things out. But the question is this, is that book you are picking up written by God? Our one and only savior? Unless you are picking up a Bible then no.<br /> <br /> </em>I defy you to prove your book is written by &quot;God&quot;.&nbsp; You can't.&nbsp; Its just that faith thing again. I consider your book just another book. All the Muslims say the Koran is written by &quot;God&quot;.&nbsp; So do you disagree with that?&nbsp; Why are they wrong and you right?&nbsp; Are there two books written by &quot;God&quot;?&nbsp; Or three?&nbsp; Or ten?<br /> <br /> <em> I think you have a distorted view of Christianity and how God's word has interpreted many things.<br /> </em><br /> That would be incorrect.&nbsp; My view is objective and hence not distorted.&nbsp; You cannot possibly be objective if you truly believe all this.&nbsp; Its pretty clear from what you preach that your view is the distorted one.&nbsp; You can't even get basic things about your OWN religion correct as I am about to point out...<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;&quot;the vast majority of writings were incorporated by whoever happened to be in power at specific point in time all written hundreds of years between is in some way factual.&quot; That is what you wrote. This in itself is incorrect.<br /> <br /> </em>This is absolutely correct.&nbsp; Just FYI incorporation does not mean the same thing as write.&nbsp; You obviously had no clue what I was talking about based on your pointless reply.<br /> <br /> The Bible, this book that you seem to know the contents of so well yet are apparently completely ignorant of its history or how it ended up in your hands, is actually made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament.&nbsp; The Old Testament was pretty much done being written by about 500 BC or so all in Hebrew.&nbsp;&nbsp; The New Testament was done somewhere during the first century AD and was written in Greek.&nbsp; Around 315AD the Bishop of Alexandria picked 27 books to be considered &quot;The Bible&quot; and threw out all the other writings that were up to that point considered The Bible.&nbsp; It wasn't until about 382AD that the Bible was translated to Latin.&nbsp; By around 500AD the Bible was translated into hundreds of languages.&nbsp; Then the Catholic Church&nbsp; (the only &quot;Christian&quot; religion at the time) decreed in 600AD that the Bible will only be available in Latin and anyone with a copy that wasn't in Latin was executed.&nbsp; Since only the priests were educated in Latin and most people couldn't speak it, this gave the Catholic Church some pretty impressive power. So until about 1300AD when John Wycliffe came along, the Catholics had complete control of The Bible.&nbsp; Throughout all this gospels were added. Removed.&nbsp; Changed.&nbsp; Meanings lost in translations.&nbsp; If the Bible was really written by &quot;God&quot; then what you are holding is most certainly not it.&nbsp; This is truly the cliff notes version of events but feel free to actually pull your head out of your scriptures and learn a little.<br /> <br /> <em>&nbsp;Take the book of Jeremiah for example, Jeremiah was not in &quot;power&quot; over anyone or anything. He was a child and a believer of Christ who God chose to be a prophet for Jerusalem. And rightfully so. He predicted many things including the destruction of Jerusalem and most of Israel correctly long before it happened. He was not in power at that specific point in time. Or take the book of Revelation, it was written by John who was in prisoned in jail. Doesn't sound like someone who was high in power. But you have to understand is that while actual men have written many of the books in the Bible, God was just using them to write what he needed to interpret. Many things in the Bible have come true. Like the fall of Jerusalem that I just explained which was predicted by Jeremiah, or how Isaiah predicted Jesus' birth AND death. And then you obviously have the story of the flood. You have things in Revelation and throughout the Bible that have been predicted and have come true.<br /> <br /> </em>As you clearly did not understand what I wrote you wasted a lot of time with this paragraph.&nbsp; But I'll just point out that what YOU have to understand is just because you BELIEVE &quot;God&quot; was using people to write a book doesn't make it true.&nbsp; Your idea is no more valid than mine that says thats bologna.&nbsp; Why he couldn't just snap his fingers and say here it is like he supposedly did for Moses and the 10 Commandments would be a good question for you to ask him.&nbsp; Let me know what he tells you. ;)<br /> <br /> <em>I am not saying that you will not find a single book in the Bible that was written by someone who was high in power, you will find some. But you claimed that &quot;the majority of writings&quot; were, you are wrong. And your argument about faith without hard evidence is also a distorted and twisted view as well. You don't want to understand that God's word IS factual, and is correct and is 100% without fault in any way shape or form. You can continue looking until the day you die but you will never find anything in God's word that is wrong or incorrect any in any way. And if you agree with that, then you can find many points in his own word which he gave to us as guidance in order to grow closer in a relationship with him and live as he did, point out that you need to have faith. That is obviously the whole point with ANY religion you will find. Just like Ephesians 2:8-9 says &quot;For by grace you have been saved <strong>through faith</strong>&quot; not of your works, or of anything else you do, but of <u><strong>faith</strong></u> and <u><strong>faith</strong></u> alone.<br /> <br /> </em>So let me get this straight.&nbsp; You are saying that I don't want to understand that God's word is factual, correct and 100% without fault in any way shape or form so thats why I think it isn't but it really is?&nbsp; REALLY?&nbsp; WOW I'M CONVERTED!&nbsp; No. Wait.&nbsp; Sorry.&nbsp; I have a mind that is capable of logical and reasonable thought.&nbsp; Everything you say completely comes down to &quot;its that way because I believe it!&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp; Many people in insane asylums say the same thing. ;)<br /> <em><br /> </em> Here, think of faith in a different way, look at it like this for example: Faith is the key that opens the door to heaven. You know, you could have a key ring with a lot of keys on it, they all look somewhat alike. But I'll tell you this, if you go to the front door of my home, you could try all different sorts of keys except the right one, and they would not open the door. The right key to heaven is called faith...saving faith. That is what will open the door to heaven. There is nothing else in the world that will open that door.<br /> <br /> Faith means belief without proof. Its that simple.&nbsp;&nbsp; I call that questionable sanity to put it politically correct. ;)<br /> <br /> The point here is that you cannot have any evidence. Because of there were evidence then there would no longer be any need for faith, you would not truly believe in God. God didn't leave evidence for the very simple reason that if people found hard evidence then they would flock to him <strong>because </strong>of that evidence alone. He wants you to have faith, otherwise there is simply no point. &quot;Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.&quot;(John 6:47).<br /> <br /> That makes no sense at all.&nbsp; There is no point if you don't have faith?&nbsp; No point in what?&nbsp; If he wanted to make sure you got Heaven he would give you proof assuming the point is to get to Heaven.&nbsp; If he doesn't care one way or the other then I could why he would just leave you to doubt. ;)&nbsp; And that is assuming that &quot;he&quot; exists of course.&nbsp; Its a good thing our courts don't work that way!<br /> <br /> <em> Here, I'll give you another simple example of faith.<br /> <br /> Say your in a room and you spot a chair in the corner, do you believe that that chair exists? Do you believe it will hold you? It is not holding you now. How can you prove you believe it exists and can hold you? By sitting on it? Well let that chair represent Jesus Christ. Many people believe He existed, but they do not have eternal life because they are trusting in their own good works to get them to heaven. Faith is not temporal nor is it a mere intellectual ascent. Faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.<br /> </em> <br /> The chair is a poor example if you are trying to explain faith.&nbsp; The chair is real.&nbsp; I can touch it.&nbsp; I can test it.&nbsp;&nbsp; You can't test your faith.&nbsp; The only way you'll ever know if you are right is to die.&nbsp; And then of course you won't be able to tell anyone anything.&nbsp;&nbsp; Here's a better example of faith.&nbsp; You believe you can move a mountain, because in the bible it says (I paraphrase) if you truly believe without a doubt you can move mountains you can, even though no one has ever done that with the millions of faithful around.&nbsp; So go move Bear Mountain with the power of your faith and I'll believe you. ;)<br /> <br /> &quot;But without faith <strong>it is impossible to please Him</strong>, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.&quot; (Hebrews 11:6)<br /> <br /> &quot;He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.&quot;<br /> -John 3:36<br /> <br /> <br /> God bless you brother! :)<br /> <br /> Which God?&nbsp; Yours or one of the other ones? :)<br /> <br /> By the way, you don't have to bother to respond unless its for your own benefit.&nbsp; Its pretty clear you are not really capable of intelligent arguments and it will all come back to &quot;faith&quot; so I have no further interest in this discussion.&nbsp;&nbsp; Its impossible to argue with a zealot.&nbsp; They don't have to rely on facts or proof. ;) http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116324 http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116324 Ok I'll bite.<br /> <br /> <br /> <em>I've heard the argument made by you made by so many others about how the fact that the bible is quote &quot;a thousand years old&quot;, while that is true, what does that have to do with anything?<br /> <br /> </em>Taken out of context of what I said?&nbsp; Nothing at all. <br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;Have you ever picked up and read a Bible before?<br /> <br /> </em>Yes.&nbsp; Which one were you referring to by the way?&nbsp; Did you know there is more than one Christan Bible?&nbsp; No?&nbsp; Oh let me clue you in.&nbsp; There's the bible the Catholics have that has lots of stuff (12 of the 14 books of the Apochrypha) that the Protestants decided to remove.&nbsp; Then there's the one the Jews use which is only half the size of yours.&nbsp; Then there's the Eastern Orthodox one that has different stuff in it that the rest decided to leave out too.&nbsp; And thats just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.<br /> <br /> <em>&nbsp;Or do you just listen to &quot;the vast majority of religions on the planet&quot;?<br /> <br /> </em>No I actually take the time to learn a little about them instead of preaching to everyone who will look at me that I have all the answers because its in this book that I read all the time.&nbsp; Even though I have no idea where it really came from because I'm not interested in the history of it.<br /> <br /> <em>&nbsp;The Bible is old true, but the incredible thing about it is that it still applies to all of us today.<br /> <br /> </em>In your opinion. (note the key word... that being OPINION).&nbsp;&nbsp; You certainly think it applies to you but thats all you can say.&nbsp; You can't speak for anyone else.&nbsp; No matter how much you think you're right.<br /> <em><br /> The vast majority of the religions on the planet would disagree with me claiming that the Bible is correct? Like who? The Mormons? The Catholics? The Muslims? The Jews?<br /> <br /> </em>As well as the Hindu's, the Buddhists, and countless others.&nbsp; The Jews don't follow the new testament.&nbsp; The Mormons follow the Book of Mormon and only study the Christian bible in passing -- Its not a big part of their religion.&nbsp; The Muslims follow the Koran.&nbsp; Of all the ones you listed only the Catholics follow &quot;The Bible&quot; and as I pointed out earlier many other &quot;Christian&quot; religions have different Bibles.&nbsp; So what exactly was your point?<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;Well I'll mind you that when Jesus was on Earth and was making his presence known, I can guarantee you that &quot;the vast majority of people on earth&quot; more than likely disagreed with what he was doing. Healing, teaching, drawing crowds, especially on the Sabbath, which was the reason why they persecuted him.<br /> <br /> </em>If you were as well read about other religions besides the one you apparently fanatically preach about, you would know that almost every other religion has their &quot;Jesus&quot; figure.&nbsp; The martyr that died for everyone is not a unique idea to Christianity.&nbsp; And how do you know that Jesus is real person in history who did all those things described in the new testament?&nbsp; Where you there?&nbsp; Oh.. wait.. it's written in The Bible so it MUST be true!&nbsp; It doesn't work that way.<br /> <em><br /> </em> <em>It seems like you have a fetish or a twisted belief in thinking that age is a virtue when it comes to a belief or faith.<br /> <br /> </em>Fetish? Do you even know what that word means? :)&nbsp; Twisted belief?&nbsp; These are not the words someone who is capable of independent thought, reason or any sort of logic.&nbsp; These are the typical sorts of phrases used by the religious fanatic in order to play on peoples emotions.&nbsp; Nice try though. ;)<br /> <em><br /> Sure other religions have been around longer than Christianity, I do not doubt that.<br /> <br /> </em>I'm glad because unlike everything else you say this is one of the few verifiable facts.<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;Take Judaism for example, around much longer than Christianity. While a person with much age is more than likely wiser and has gone through more and therefore is much more intelligent than that of a younger being, while that is true from a human growth perspective it does not necessarily make it correct in every situation.<br /> <br /> </em>Wisdom and experience do not equal intelligence.&nbsp; Intelligence is an inherent trait.&nbsp; You can't become &quot;more intelligent&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; You have whatever intelligence you were born with. Wisdom comes from experience.<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;But does it make it true? Does it make it the most correct and the only way? No.<br /> <br /> </em>Of course not.&nbsp; Thats not the point.&nbsp; The point is you are preaching your religion as if it is fact.&nbsp; It is not.&nbsp; Its your (not so humble apparently) opinion.&nbsp; Thats the point.&nbsp; There is no fact in anything you preach.&nbsp; Its all about &quot;faith.&quot;&nbsp; Which by definition means&nbsp; belief not based on proof.&nbsp; While thats all well and good, don't sit on your high horse and try to say that your way is the best, or the only way or the single right way.&nbsp; Its just one way.&nbsp; It works for you.&nbsp; Great.&nbsp; Most of the planet disagrees with you.<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;While other religions would disagree with Christianity, I'll mind you that Christianity has the largest followers among any other religion. Just in case you may want to argue from a statistics position.<br /> <br /> </em>This is just flat out wrong and incorrect -- also known as fallacy.&nbsp; Statistically speaking most of the world is NOT Christian.&nbsp; If you are talking about western civilization then you would be correct.&nbsp; However Mid- and Eastern civilization FAR FAR outnumbers the people of the western world.&nbsp; And they are for the vast majority NOT Christian.&nbsp; If you can make such a ludicrous and uninformed statement about a KNOWN FACT why on Earth should anyone listen to your religious preachings?&nbsp; If you can't even get simple facts correct, I question your knowledge about your own religion.<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;But back on topic. Just because many religions have been around longer, and may not agree with something, does not mean it is true.<br /> <br /> </em>And the converse of that is also true.&nbsp; Just because your religion is newer does not make it true.<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;And yes you can take almost any book and point things out. But the question is this, is that book you are picking up written by God? Our one and only savior? Unless you are picking up a Bible then no.<br /> <br /> </em>I defy you to prove your book is written by &quot;God&quot;.&nbsp; You can't.&nbsp; Its just that faith thing again. I consider your book just another book. All the Muslims say the Koran is written by &quot;God&quot;.&nbsp; So do you disagree with that?&nbsp; Why are they wrong and you right?&nbsp; Are there two books written by &quot;God&quot;?&nbsp; Or three?&nbsp; Or ten?<br /> <br /> <em> I think you have a distorted view of Christianity and how God's word has interpreted many things.<br /> </em><br /> That would be incorrect.&nbsp; My view is objective and hence not distorted.&nbsp; You cannot possibly be objective if you truly believe all this.&nbsp; Its pretty clear from what you preach that your view is the distorted one.&nbsp; You can't even get basic things about your OWN religion correct as I am about to point out...<br /> <em><br /> &nbsp;&quot;the vast majority of writings were incorporated by whoever happened to be in power at specific point in time all written hundreds of years between is in some way factual.&quot; That is what you wrote. This in itself is incorrect.<br /> <br /> </em>This is absolutely correct.&nbsp; Just FYI incorporation does not mean the same thing as write.&nbsp; You obviously had no clue what I was talking about based on your pointless reply.<br /> <br /> The Bible, this book that you seem to know the contents of so well yet are apparently completely ignorant of its history or how it ended up in your hands, is actually made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament.&nbsp; The Old Testament was pretty much done being written by about 500 BC or so all in Hebrew.&nbsp;&nbsp; The New Testament was done somewhere during the first century AD and was written in Greek.&nbsp; Around 315AD the Bishop of Alexandria picked 27 books to be considered &quot;The Bible&quot; and threw out all the other writings that were up to that point considered The Bible.&nbsp; It wasn't until about 382AD that the Bible was translated to Latin.&nbsp; By around 500AD the Bible was translated into hundreds of languages.&nbsp; Then the Catholic Church&nbsp; (the only &quot;Christian&quot; religion at the time) decreed in 600AD that the Bible will only be available in Latin and anyone with a copy that wasn't in Latin was executed.&nbsp; Since only the priests were educated in Latin and most people couldn't speak it, this gave the Catholic Church some pretty impressive power. So until about 1300AD when John Wycliffe came along, the Catholics had complete control of The Bible.&nbsp; Throughout all this gospels were added. Removed.&nbsp; Changed.&nbsp; Meanings lost in translations.&nbsp; If the Bible was really written by &quot;God&quot; then what you are holding is most certainly not it.&nbsp; This is truly the cliff notes version of events but feel free to actually pull your head out of your scriptures and learn a little.<br /> <br /> <em>&nbsp;Take the book of Jeremiah for example, Jeremiah was not in &quot;power&quot; over anyone or anything. He was a child and a believer of Christ who God chose to be a prophet for Jerusalem. And rightfully so. He predicted many things including the destruction of Jerusalem and most of Israel correctly long before it happened. He was not in power at that specific point in time. Or take the book of Revelation, it was written by John who was in prisoned in jail. Doesn't sound like someone who was high in power. But you have to understand is that while actual men have written many of the books in the Bible, God was just using them to write what he needed to interpret. Many things in the Bible have come true. Like the fall of Jerusalem that I just explained which was predicted by Jeremiah, or how Isaiah predicted Jesus' birth AND death. And then you obviously have the story of the flood. You have things in Revelation and throughout the Bible that have been predicted and have come true.<br /> <br /> </em>As you clearly did not understand what I wrote you wasted a lot of time with this paragraph.&nbsp; But I'll just point out that what YOU have to understand is just because you BELIEVE &quot;God&quot; was using people to write a book doesn't make it true.&nbsp; Your idea is no more valid than mine that says thats bologna.&nbsp; Why he couldn't just snap his fingers and say here it is like he supposedly did for Moses and the 10 Commandments would be a good question for you to ask him.&nbsp; Let me know what he tells you. ;)<br /> <br /> <em>I am not saying that you will not find a single book in the Bible that was written by someone who was high in power, you will find some. But you claimed that &quot;the majority of writings&quot; were, you are wrong. And your argument about faith without hard evidence is also a distorted and twisted view as well. You don't want to understand that God's word IS factual, and is correct and is 100% without fault in any way shape or form. You can continue looking until the day you die but you will never find anything in God's word that is wrong or incorrect any in any way. And if you agree with that, then you can find many points in his own word which he gave to us as guidance in order to grow closer in a relationship with him and live as he did, point out that you need to have faith. That is obviously the whole point with ANY religion you will find. Just like Ephesians 2:8-9 says &quot;For by grace you have been saved <strong>through faith</strong>&quot; not of your works, or of anything else you do, but of <u><strong>faith</strong></u> and <u><strong>faith</strong></u> alone.<br /> <br /> </em>So let me get this straight.&nbsp; You are saying that I don't want to understand that God's word is factual, correct and 100% without fault in any way shape or form so thats why I think it isn't but it really is?&nbsp; REALLY?&nbsp; WOW I'M CONVERTED!&nbsp; No. Wait.&nbsp; Sorry.&nbsp; I have a mind that is capable of logical and reasonable thought.&nbsp; Everything you say completely comes down to &quot;its that way because I believe it!&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp; Many people in insane asylums say the same thing. ;)<br /> <em><br /> </em> Here, think of faith in a different way, look at it like this for example: Faith is the key that opens the door to heaven. You know, you could have a key ring with a lot of keys on it, they all look somewhat alike. But I'll tell you this, if you go to the front door of my home, you could try all different sorts of keys except the right one, and they would not open the door. The right key to heaven is called faith...saving faith. That is what will open the door to heaven. There is nothing else in the world that will open that door.<br /> <br /> Faith means belief without proof. Its that simple.&nbsp;&nbsp; I call that questionable sanity to put it politically correct. ;)<br /> <br /> The point here is that you cannot have any evidence. Because of there were evidence then there would no longer be any need for faith, you would not truly believe in God. God didn't leave evidence for the very simple reason that if people found hard evidence then they would flock to him <strong>because </strong>of that evidence alone. He wants you to have faith, otherwise there is simply no point. &quot;Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.&quot;(John 6:47).<br /> <br /> That makes no sense at all.&nbsp; There is no point if you don't have faith?&nbsp; No point in what?&nbsp; If he wanted to make sure you got Heaven he would give you proof assuming the point is to get to Heaven.&nbsp; If he doesn't care one way or the other then I could why he would just leave you to doubt. ;)&nbsp; And that is assuming that &quot;he&quot; exists of course.&nbsp; Its a good thing our courts don't work that way!<br /> <br /> <em> Here, I'll give you another simple example of faith.<br /> <br /> Say your in a room and you spot a chair in the corner, do you believe that that chair exists? Do you believe it will hold you? It is not holding you now. How can you prove you believe it exists and can hold you? By sitting on it? Well let that chair represent Jesus Christ. Many people believe He existed, but they do not have eternal life because they are trusting in their own good works to get them to heaven. Faith is not temporal nor is it a mere intellectual ascent. Faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.<br /> </em> <br /> The chair is a poor example if you are trying to explain faith.&nbsp; The chair is real.&nbsp; I can touch it.&nbsp; I can test it.&nbsp;&nbsp; You can't test your faith.&nbsp; The only way you'll ever know if you are right is to die.&nbsp; And then of course you won't be able to tell anyone anything.&nbsp;&nbsp; Here's a better example of faith.&nbsp; You believe you can move a mountain, because in the bible it says (I paraphrase) if you truly believe without a doubt you can move mountains you can, even though no one has ever done that with the millions of faithful around.&nbsp; So go move Bear Mountain with the power of your faith and I'll believe you. ;)<br /> <br /> &quot;But without faith <strong>it is impossible to please Him</strong>, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.&quot; (Hebrews 11:6)<br /> <br /> &quot;He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.&quot;<br /> -John 3:36<br /> <br /> <br /> God bless you brother! :)<br /> <br /> Which God?&nbsp; Yours or one of the other ones? :)<br /> <br /> By the way, you don't have to bother to respond unless its for your own benefit.&nbsp; Its pretty clear you are not really capable of intelligent arguments and it will all come back to &quot;faith&quot; so I have no further interest in this discussion.&nbsp;&nbsp; Its impossible to argue with a zealot.&nbsp; They don't have to rely on facts or proof. ;) <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"> <p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Msgherzi, Did you post that here because you can't get anyone to listen to your preaching out in the real world?</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Well if your god is so judgmental because I work myself hard all week and I want to sleep in on Sunday morning and not drag myself to sit in church, otherwise I am a great person, but will let a murder or rapist in just because he decides he had "Faith" before they pull the switch then I guess I won't get in. Oh Well ...and anomonous anoymous ...Thank You! Great Response</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </font> http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116332 http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116332 <font face="Comic Sans MS" size="2"> <p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Msgherzi, Did you post that here because you can't get anyone to listen to your preaching out in the real world?</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Well if your god is so judgmental because I work myself hard all week and I want to sleep in on Sunday morning and not drag myself to sit in church, otherwise I am a great person, but will let a murder or rapist in just because he decides he had "Faith" before they pull the switch then I guess I won't get in. Oh Well ...and anomonous anoymous ...Thank You! Great Response</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </font> Hello,<em><br /> <br /> Yes.  Which one were you referring to by the way?  Did you know there is more than one Christan Bible?  No?  Oh let me clue you in.  There's the bible the Catholics have that has lots of stuff (12 of the 14 books of the Apochrypha) that the Protestants decided to remove.  Then there's the one the Jews use which is only half the size of yours.  Then there's the Eastern Orthodox one that has different stuff in it that the rest decided to leave out too.  And thats just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.<br /> <br /> </em>Ah, my mistake. I am referring to the Holy Bible.<br /> <br /> <em>No I actually take the time to learn a little about them instead of preaching to everyone who will look at me that I have all the answers because its in this book that I read all the time.  Even though I have no idea where it really came from because I'm not interested in the history of it.<br /> <br /> </em>Sarcasm? I am not referring to or saying that I have all of the answers, thats something you came up with. Not interested in the history of it? Well apparently now I suppose you know me really well.<br /> <br /> <em><br /> </em><em>In your opinion. (note the key word... that being OPINION).   You certainly think it applies to you but thats all you can say.  You can't speak for anyone else.  No matter how much you think you're right.<br /> <br /> </em>Obviously you have never actually read a Bible, have you? You cannot just pick up a Bible with the mind-set of thinking that everything is incorrect. Because therefore you have already made up your mind. It's not my opinion, it is the opinion of everyone who has read a Bible and actually tried to divulge the information and making a real attempt to understand it.<br /> <br /> <br /> <em>As well as the Hindu's, the Buddhists, and countless others.  The Jews don't follow the new testament.  The Mormons follow the Book of Mormon and only study the Christian bible in passing -- Its not a big part of their religion.  The Muslims follow the Koran.  Of all the ones you listed only the Catholics follow "The Bible" and as I pointed out earlier many other "Christian" religions have different Bibles.  So what exactly was your point?</em><br /> <br /> No, what was your point? You made the statement originally with absolutely no backing. Are you trying to suggest that there is some type of truth in numbers? So just because many other religions say something is wrong means it is? So if people starting jumping off bridges and said that it is somehow good for you, does that mean that you would agree just because that is what everyone says? I think you need to elaborate on that statement.<br /> <br /> <em>If you were as well read about other religions besides the one you apparently fanatically preach about, you would know that almost every other religion has their "Jesus" figure.  The martyr that died for everyone is not a unique idea to Christianity.  And how do you know that Jesus is real person in history who did all those things described in the new testament?  Where you there?  Oh.. wait.. it's written in The Bible so it MUST be true!  It doesn't work that way.<br /> <br /> </em>Well I hate to ruin your day, but it <u><strong>does</strong></u> work that way. Of course I know that other religions have their own martyr, but since you apparently think you know me better than myself you jumped to a conclusion that I don't know rather than asking me like anyone else normally would. I can jump to the same conclusion in saying that you have not studied nor know anything about because the difference between other religious martyrs and Jesus Christ is just that, was their martyr Christ? No. The Muslims have Mohammed, is he God? No. That's the difference. But then again you love to deny Jesus so go ahead.<br /> <br /> <br /> <em>Fetish? Do you even know what that word means? :)  Twisted belief?  These are not the words someone who is capable of independent thought, reason or any sort of logic.  These are the typical sorts of phrases used by the religious fanatic in order to play on peoples emotions.  Nice try though. ;)<br /> <br /> </em>Yes, I know what the word means, do you? In case you are not aware of it, it has two meanings. Not only does it have the sick perverted meaning that you are referring to it also has another meaning "an object of irrational reverence or obsessive devotion". Why didn't you know that? I am not even going to comment about your "thoughts" about how I used the word "twisted belief" because apparently you're upset about <u>something</u>.<br /> <br /> <br /> <em>Wisdom and experience do not equal intelligence.  Intelligence is an inherent trait.  You can't become "more intelligent".    You have whatever intelligence you were born with. Wisdom comes from experience.<br /> <br /> </em>I'm sorry but you are incorrect on this as well. Let's read what the dictionary says "<em>capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.</em>" a capacity for learning...how interesting. Since you claim that intelligence is something you are born with and cannot gain. Correct me if I'm wrong, please. Give me your definition of intelligence, wisdom, and knowledge.<br /> <br /> <em>Of course not.  Thats not the point.  The point is you are preaching your religion as if it is fact.  It is not.  Its your (not so humble apparently) opinion.  Thats the point.  There is no fact in anything you preach.  Its all about "faith."  Which by definition means  belief not based on proof.  While thats all well and good, don't sit on your high horse and try to say that your way is the best, or the only way or the single right way.  Its just one way.  It works for you.  Great.  Most of the planet disagrees with you.<br /> <br /> </em>Haha, I'm sorry please forgive me but I just have to laugh at a lot of the things you say. "Most of the planet disagrees with you". Funny. Did you survey the whole planet? Oh I'm sorry, you represent the whole world. My mistake. But my question to you is this, what type of proof are you looking for? Do you even believe in God? Or his word? Because there is archeological to prove many things in the Bible to be correct.<br /> <br /> <em><br /> </em><em>The Bible, this book that you seem to know the contents of so well yet are apparently completely ignorant of its history or how it ended up in your hands, is actually made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament.  The Old Testament was pretty much done being written by about 500 BC or so all in Hebrew.   The New Testament was done somewhere during the first century AD and was written in Greek.  Around 315AD the Bishop of Alexandria picked 27 books to be considered "The Bible" and threw out all the other writings that were up to that point considered The Bible.  It wasn't until about 382AD that the Bible was translated to Latin.  By around 500AD the Bible was translated into hundreds of languages.  Then the Catholic Church  (the only "Christian" religion at the time) decreed in 600AD that the Bible will only be available in Latin and anyone with a copy that wasn't in Latin was executed.  Since only the priests were educated in Latin and most people couldn't speak it, this gave the Catholic Church some pretty impressive power. So until about 1300AD when John Wycliffe came along, the Catholics had complete control of The Bible.  Throughout all this gospels were added. Removed.  Changed.  Meanings lost in translations.  If the Bible was really written by "God" then what you are holding is most certainly not it.  This is truly the cliff notes version of events but feel free to actually pull your head out of your scriptures and learn a little.<br /> <br /> <br /> </em>Allow me to ask you where did you learn your History from? Did you actually read history? Or did you just read what you wanted to read? That is a question only you can answer. Okay so you claim that books of the Bible has been changed, added, and removed. Okay, well, where is your historic evidence? You want to talk to me about showing you proof. Well, show me proof. Show me where the Bible has been modified? You can't because that never happened.<br /> <br /> Thousands of early Christian writings and lexionaries (first and second century) cite verses from the New Testament. In fact, it is nearly possible to put together the entire New Testament just from early Christian writings. For example, the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (dated 95 A.D.) cites verses from the Gospels, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Titus, Hebrews, and 1 Peter. The letters of Ignatius (dated 115 A.D.) were written to several churches in Asia Minor and cites verses from Matthew, John, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. These letters indicate that the entire New Testament was written in the first century A.D. In addition, there is internal evidence for a first century date for the writing of the New Testament. The book of Acts ends abruptly with Paul in prison, awaiting trial (Acts 28:30-31). It is likely that Luke wrote Acts during this time, before Paul finally appeared before Nero. This would be about 62-63 A.D., meaning that Acts and Luke were written within thirty years of ministry and death of Jesus. Another internal evidence is that there is no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Although Matthew, Mark and Luke record Jesus' prophecy that the temple and city would be destroyed within that generation (Matthew 24:1-2,Mark 13:1-2, Luke 21:5-9,20-24,32), no New Testament book refers to this event as having happened. If they had been written after 70 A.D., it is likely that letters written after 70 A.D. would have mentioned the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy. As stated by Nelson Glueck, former president of the Jewish Theological Seminary in the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, and renowned Jewish archaeologist, "In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written between the forties and eighties of the first century A.D." <p>With all of the massive manuscript evidence you would think there would be massive discrepancies - just the opposite is true. New Testament manuscripts agree in 99.5% of the text (compared to only 95% for the Iliad). Most of the discrepancies are in spelling and word order. A few words have been changed or added. There are two passages that are disputed but no discrepancy is of any doctrinal significance (i.e., none would alter basic Christian doctrine). Most Bibles include the options as footnotes when there are discrepancies. How could there be such accuracy over a period of 1,400 years of copying? Two reasons: The scribes that did the copying had meticulous methods for checking their copies for errors. 2) The Holy Spirit made sure we would have an accurate copy of God's word so we would not be deceived. The Mormons, theological liberals as well as other cults and false religions such as Islam that claim the Bible has been tampered with are completely proven false by the extensive, historical manuscript evidence.</p> <br /> <p> </p> <br /> <p><em>This is just flat out wrong and incorrect -- also known as fallacy.  Statistically speaking most of the world is NOT Christian.  If you are talking about western civilization then you would be correct.  However Mid- and Eastern civilization FAR FAR outnumbers the people of the western world.  And they are for the vast majority NOT Christian.  If you can make such a ludicrous and uninformed statement about a KNOWN FACT why on Earth should anyone listen to your religious preachings?  If you can't even get simple facts correct, I question your knowledge about your own religion.</em></p> <p> </p> <p>Do I even need to say anything here? Obviously you have proved not only do you not know anything about God's word, or Christianity, OR history, but you don't even know anything about statistics either. I'll point this out in such simple terms that even you will be able to understand it.</p> <ol type="1" start="1"> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Christianity">Christianity</a>: 2.1 billion<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Islam">Islam</a>: 1.3 billion<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Nonreligious">Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist</a>: 1.1 billion<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Hinduism">Hinduism</a>: 900 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Chinese">Chinese traditional religion</a>: 394 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Buddhism">Buddhism</a>: 376 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#primal">primal-indigenous</a>: 300 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#African">African Traditional & Diasporic</a>: 100 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Sikhism">Sikhism</a>: 23 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/largecom/Juche.html">Juche</a>: 19 million</li> </ol> I have gotten this from more than one source. And I ask you this, where is your source? But it's a "KNOWN FACT" as you so nicely put it that Christianity is not the largest religion as far as followers/population is concerned. Apparently the only known facts are yours and the whole planet is really you, isn't it?<br /> <br /> <br /> Look, we could argue until God returns. In the end you will have your beliefs, and I will have mine. You will be wrong, but I will be correct. But let's hypothetically imagine something for a second. Lets say you are right. God's word isn't true, Christianity is wrong, and Jesus didn't die for our sins. You're right and I'm wrong. That when you die you don't goto heaven or hell and are not under God's judgement. Fine. Now lets imagine a hypothetical view from your position, let's say I am right. Just imagine for a second that I am right. Then in that case you will be going to hell and I will not. So therefore I lose nothing, do I?<br /> <br /> "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 10:33<br /> <br /> So I am going to take a guess and say that you don't believe in God. You don't believe that Jesus died for our sins. You could either be an atheist, or a darwin believers, agnostic, etc. Okay so let's say you don't believe in God. And I'm just guessing that by the way. So you say that there is no God, let me explain this to you.<br /> <br /> The earth rotates at 1,000 miles per hour. If it were 100 miles an hour, our days and nights would be then times longer and our planet would alternately burn and freeze. Vegetation could not live. If the earth were as small as the moon, the power of gravity would not be so sufficient to hold atmosphere and we could not breathe. If it were as large as Jupiter, Saturn, or Uranus, gravity would be so strong it would make human movement almost impossible. If our plane were as near to the Sun as Venus, the heat would be unbearable. If it were as far away as Mars we would have snow and ice every night, even in the warmest regions. If the oceans were one-half their, we would only have one-fourth the rainfall that we do now. If the oceans were just one-eighth larger, our average rainfall would be four times what it is and this would be an uninhabitable swamp. Water freezes solid at thirty-two degrees. It would be disastrous if the oceans were subject to that law; the amount of thawing in the polar regions would not balance out. Ice would accumulate throughout the centuries.<br /> <br /> You have only to look at the miraculous construction of the human body or consider the cycle of life. Plants give off oxygen and take in carbon dioxide. Man and animals use the oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. To believe that there is not a great Creator and Controller of the universe is like believing you can take a handful of detailed parts of a watch, throw them up in the air and have them come down in the form of a finely precisioned Swiss watch.<br /> <br /> Do you know what the probability of this "just happening by chance" are? <font class="content"><font color="">The mathematical probability of a SINGLE CELL coming about by chance is 1/10340,000,000, the fraction 1 divided by 1 followed by 340 million zeros. </font></font><font class="content"><font color="">And then this cell must live long enough to reproduce.</font></font><font class="content"><font color=""> And then the reproduced cell must live long enough to do the same.</font></font><font class="content"><font color=""> And then more "accidents" must happen to cause more complexity.</font></font><font class="content"><font color=""> And then more "accidents" must happen to cause more complexity.</font></font><font class="content"><font color=""> And long before the first "accident" evolution is nothing but a silly, mystical fairy tale. But, let's hope you're just an agnostic and not an evolutionist.<br /> <br /> But the whole evolution probability is totally a side from the point. Somehow, I think you have been offended in one way or the other. Which is understandable because the word of God can be very very offensive to a non-believer, especially if they are told that they are going to hell. I'm sorry to say this to you, but if you do not believe in God and that Jesus came here and died for the sins of you and I, then you will be going to hell. It's very simple. There is no hiding or beating around the bush here.<br /> <br /> You are not arguing with my view point, or my opinion, your arguing with God and his word. I want to clarify that. I may be typing and we may be interpreting different things in a different way, but when it comes down to brass tax you are debating with God, not me. Your heart is hard and you have turned your back on God. The Bible, God's one and only <u>true</u> word is completely accurate. It prophesies or predicts many things that come true right down to the smallest detail (Read Psalm 22:1, 16-18). Many false prophets have come into the world to deceive many, and they have succeeded in that. Satan controls this world. Just to inform you of that. This world is not controlled by God because of the sin and wickedness that it harbors(sp?). Satan has done a great and spectacular job in convincing many people of so called faults and errors with God and his word, including yourself. But God makes the facts very clear, if you're willing to open your eyes and ears and mind and heart and truly look for them.<br /> <br /> There are more than 300 such prophecies or ramifications of prophecy in the Old Testament, such as that Christ would be born in Bethlehem, He would be of the lineage of David, he would be born of a virgin, he would be betrayed by one of his followers for thirty pieces of silver, not twenty-nine, and that the thirty pieces would be used to buy a potter's grave.<br /> <br /> It has been described this way. The odds of only <strong><u>eight</u></strong> of these 300 prophecies being fulfilled in any one man are one to the seventeenth power. Unless you are a mathematician that may not mean very much, but let me describe it this way. Suppose you were to cover the state of Texas with two feet of silver dollars. Take one silver dollar, mark it, throw it back into the stack, cover it over and then blindfold a Texan and have him go to any place and pick out one silver dollar. The chances of his picking up the one silver dollar that you marked are the same odds that any <u><strong>eight</strong></u> of these prophecies would be fulfilled in any one person, and yet more than <u><strong>300</strong></u> were fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.<br /> <br /> Another thing, I will not apologize if you have been offended. It is the word of God, not mine. But I will say this, if you are wrong about your statistics, wrong about your history, wrong about your definitions, and so on, perhaps you are wrong about God? Perhaps Satan has made your heart <strong><u>so</u></strong> hard that nothing will soften it and nothing will take the wool off your eyes.<br /> <br /> I am not responding for personal gain, but that perhaps you might see God for who he <em>really </em>is and not for who you make him out to be. There isn't anything that I nor anyone else can do for you, you've made up your mind.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </font></font>"First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30511"></span>They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30512"></span>But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30513"></span>By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30514"></span>By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. <p><span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30515"></span>But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30516"></span>The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.<br /> </p> <p><span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30517"></span>But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. </p> <p>Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30519"></span>as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30520"></span>But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. </p> <p> <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30521"></span>So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30522"></span>Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30523"></span>He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. </p> <p> <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30524"></span>Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. <span class="sup" id="en-NIV-30525"></span>But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen."</p> <p>- 2 Peter 3:3-18<br /> </p> <br /> God bless you! http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116347 http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/msgherzi/11943/#c_116347 Hello,<em><br /> <br /> Yes.  Which one were you referring to by the way?  Did you know there is more than one Christan Bible?  No?  Oh let me clue you in.  There's the bible the Catholics have that has lots of stuff (12 of the 14 books of the Apochrypha) that the Protestants decided to remove.  Then there's the one the Jews use which is only half the size of yours.  Then there's the Eastern Orthodox one that has different stuff in it that the rest decided to leave out too.  And thats just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.<br /> <br /> </em>Ah, my mistake. I am referring to the Holy Bible.<br /> <br /> <em>No I actually take the time to learn a little about them instead of preaching to everyone who will look at me that I have all the answers because its in this book that I read all the time.  Even though I have no idea where it really came from because I'm not interested in the history of it.<br /> <br /> </em>Sarcasm? I am not referring to or saying that I have all of the answers, thats something you came up with. Not interested in the history of it? Well apparently now I suppose you know me really well.<br /> <br /> <em><br /> </em><em>In your opinion. (note the key word... that being OPINION).   You certainly think it applies to you but thats all you can say.  You can't speak for anyone else.  No matter how much you think you're right.<br /> <br /> </em>Obviously you have never actually read a Bible, have you? You cannot just pick up a Bible with the mind-set of thinking that everything is incorrect. Because therefore you have already made up your mind. It's not my opinion, it is the opinion of everyone who has read a Bible and actually tried to divulge the information and making a real attempt to understand it.<br /> <br /> <br /> <em>As well as the Hindu's, the Buddhists, and countless others.  The Jews don't follow the new testament.  The Mormons follow the Book of Mormon and only study the Christian bible in passing -- Its not a big part of their religion.  The Muslims follow the Koran.  Of all the ones you listed only the Catholics follow "The Bible" and as I pointed out earlier many other "Christian" religions have different Bibles.  So what exactly was your point?</em><br /> <br /> No, what was your point? You made the statement originally with absolutely no backing. Are you trying to suggest that there is some type of truth in numbers? So just because many other religions say something is wrong means it is? So if people starting jumping off bridges and said that it is somehow good for you, does that mean that you would agree just because that is what everyone says? I think you need to elaborate on that statement.<br /> <br /> <em>If you were as well read about other religions besides the one you apparently fanatically preach about, you would know that almost every other religion has their "Jesus" figure.  The martyr that died for everyone is not a unique idea to Christianity.  And how do you know that Jesus is real person in history who did all those things described in the new testament?  Where you there?  Oh.. wait.. it's written in The Bible so it MUST be true!  It doesn't work that way.<br /> <br /> </em>Well I hate to ruin your day, but it <u><strong>does</strong></u> work that way. Of course I know that other religions have their own martyr, but since you apparently think you know me better than myself you jumped to a conclusion that I don't know rather than asking me like anyone else normally would. I can jump to the same conclusion in saying that you have not studied nor know anything about because the difference between other religious martyrs and Jesus Christ is just that, was their martyr Christ? No. The Muslims have Mohammed, is he God? No. That's the difference. But then again you love to deny Jesus so go ahead.<br /> <br /> <br /> <em>Fetish? Do you even know what that word means? :)  Twisted belief?  These are not the words someone who is capable of independent thought, reason or any sort of logic.  These are the typical sorts of phrases used by the religious fanatic in order to play on peoples emotions.  Nice try though. ;)<br /> <br /> </em>Yes, I know what the word means, do you? In case you are not aware of it, it has two meanings. Not only does it have the sick perverted meaning that you are referring to it also has another meaning "an object of irrational reverence or obsessive devotion". Why didn't you know that? I am not even going to comment about your "thoughts" about how I used the word "twisted belief" because apparently you're upset about <u>something</u>.<br /> <br /> <br /> <em>Wisdom and experience do not equal intelligence.  Intelligence is an inherent trait.  You can't become "more intelligent".    You have whatever intelligence you were born with. Wisdom comes from experience.<br /> <br /> </em>I'm sorry but you are incorrect on this as well. Let's read what the dictionary says "<em>capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.</em>" a capacity for learning...how interesting. Since you claim that intelligence is something you are born with and cannot gain. Correct me if I'm wrong, please. Give me your definition of intelligence, wisdom, and knowledge.<br /> <br /> <em>Of course not.  Thats not the point.  The point is you are preaching your religion as if it is fact.  It is not.  Its your (not so humble apparently) opinion.  Thats the point.  There is no fact in anything you preach.  Its all about "faith."  Which by definition means  belief not based on proof.  While thats all well and good, don't sit on your high horse and try to say that your way is the best, or the only way or the single right way.  Its just one way.  It works for you.  Great.  Most of the planet disagrees with you.<br /> <br /> </em>Haha, I'm sorry please forgive me but I just have to laugh at a lot of the things you say. "Most of the planet disagrees with you". Funny. Did you survey the whole planet? Oh I'm sorry, you represent the whole world. My mistake. But my question to you is this, what type of proof are you looking for? Do you even believe in God? Or his word? Because there is archeological to prove many things in the Bible to be correct.<br /> <br /> <em><br /> </em><em>The Bible, this book that you seem to know the contents of so well yet are apparently completely ignorant of its history or how it ended up in your hands, is actually made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament.  The Old Testament was pretty much done being written by about 500 BC or so all in Hebrew.   The New Testament was done somewhere during the first century AD and was written in Greek.  Around 315AD the Bishop of Alexandria picked 27 books to be considered "The Bible" and threw out all the other writings that were up to that point considered The Bible.  It wasn't until about 382AD that the Bible was translated to Latin.  By around 500AD the Bible was translated into hundreds of languages.  Then the Catholic Church  (the only "Christian" religion at the time) decreed in 600AD that the Bible will only be available in Latin and anyone with a copy that wasn't in Latin was executed.  Since only the priests were educated in Latin and most people couldn't speak it, this gave the Catholic Church some pretty impressive power. So until about 1300AD when John Wycliffe came along, the Catholics had complete control of The Bible.  Throughout all this gospels were added. Removed.  Changed.  Meanings lost in translations.  If the Bible was really written by "God" then what you are holding is most certainly not it.  This is truly the cliff notes version of events but feel free to actually pull your head out of your scriptures and learn a little.<br /> <br /> <br /> </em>Allow me to ask you where did you learn your History from? Did you actually read history? Or did you just read what you wanted to read? That is a question only you can answer. Okay so you claim that books of the Bible has been changed, added, and removed. Okay, well, where is your historic evidence? You want to talk to me about showing you proof. Well, show me proof. Show me where the Bible has been modified? You can't because that never happened.<br /> <br /> Thousands of early Christian writings and lexionaries (first and second century) cite verses from the New Testament. In fact, it is nearly possible to put together the entire New Testament just from early Christian writings. For example, the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (dated 95 A.D.) cites verses from the Gospels, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Titus, Hebrews, and 1 Peter. The letters of Ignatius (dated 115 A.D.) were written to several churches in Asia Minor and cites verses from Matthew, John, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. These letters indicate that the entire New Testament was written in the first century A.D. In addition, there is internal evidence for a first century date for the writing of the New Testament. The book of Acts ends abruptly with Paul in prison, awaiting trial (Acts 28:30-31). It is likely that Luke wrote Acts during this time, before Paul finally appeared before Nero. This would be about 62-63 A.D., meaning that Acts and Luke were written within thirty years of ministry and death of Jesus. Another internal evidence is that there is no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Although Matthew, Mark and Luke record Jesus' prophecy that the temple and city would be destroyed within that generation (Matthew 24:1-2,Mark 13:1-2, Luke 21:5-9,20-24,32), no New Testament book refers to this event as having happened. If they had been written after 70 A.D., it is likely that letters written after 70 A.D. would have mentioned the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy. As stated by Nelson Glueck, former president of the Jewish Theological Seminary in the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, and renowned Jewish archaeologist, "In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written between the forties and eighties of the first century A.D." <p>With all of the massive manuscript evidence you would think there would be massive discrepancies - just the opposite is true. New Testament manuscripts agree in 99.5% of the text (compared to only 95% for the Iliad). Most of the discrepancies are in spelling and word order. A few words have been changed or added. There are two passages that are disputed but no discrepancy is of any doctrinal significance (i.e., none would alter basic Christian doctrine). Most Bibles include the options as footnotes when there are discrepancies. How could there be such accuracy over a period of 1,400 years of copying? Two reasons: The scribes that did the copying had meticulous methods for checking their copies for errors. 2) The Holy Spirit made sure we would have an accurate copy of God's word so we would not be deceived. The Mormons, theological liberals as well as other cults and false religions such as Islam that claim the Bible has been tampered with are completely proven false by the extensive, historical manuscript evidence.</p> <br /> <p> </p> <br /> <p><em>This is just flat out wrong and incorrect -- also known as fallacy.  Statistically speaking most of the world is NOT Christian.  If you are talking about western civilization then you would be correct.  However Mid- and Eastern civilization FAR FAR outnumbers the people of the western world.  And they are for the vast majority NOT Christian.  If you can make such a ludicrous and uninformed statement about a KNOWN FACT why on Earth should anyone listen to your religious preachings?  If you can't even get simple facts correct, I question your knowledge about your own religion.</em></p> <p> </p> <p>Do I even need to say anything here? Obviously you have proved not only do you not know anything about God's word, or Christianity, OR history, but you don't even know anything about statistics either. I'll point this out in such simple terms that even you will be able to understand it.</p> <ol type="1" start="1"> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Christianity">Christianity</a>: 2.1 billion<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Islam">Islam</a>: 1.3 billion<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Nonreligious">Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist</a>: 1.1 billion<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Hinduism">Hinduism</a>: 900 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Chinese">Chinese traditional religion</a>: 394 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Buddhism">Buddhism</a>: 376 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#primal">primal-indigenous</a>: 300 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#African">African Traditional & Diasporic</a>: 100 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Sikhism">Sikhism</a>: 23 million<br /> </li> <li><a href="http://www.adherents.com/largecom/Juche.html">Juche</a>: 19 million</li> </ol> I have gotten this from more than one source. And I ask you this, where is your source? But it's a "KNOWN FACT" as you so nicely put it that Christianity is not the largest religion as far as followers/population is concerned. Apparently the only known facts are yours and the whole planet is really you, isn't it?<br /> <br /> <br /> Look, we could argue until God returns. In the end you will have your beliefs, and I will have mine. You will be wrong, but I will be correct. But let's hypothetically imagine something for a second. Lets say you are right. God's word isn't true, Christianity is wrong, and Jesus didn't die for our sins. You're right and I'm wrong. That when you die you don't goto heaven or hell and are not under God's judgement. Fine. Now lets imagine a hypothetical view from your position, let's say I am right. Just imagine for a second that I am right. Then in that case you will be going to hell and I will not. So therefore I lose nothing, do I?<br /> <br /> "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 10:33<br /> <br /> So I am going to take a guess and say that you don't believe in God. You don't believe that Jesus died for our sins. You could either be an atheist, or a darwin believers, agnostic, etc. Okay so let's say you don't believe in God. And I'm just guessing that by the way. So you say that there is no God, let me explain this to you.<br /> <br /> The earth rotates at 1,000 miles per hour. If it were 100 miles an hour, our days and nights would be then times longer and our planet would alternately burn and freeze. Vegetation could not live. If the earth were as small as the moon, the power of gravity would not be so sufficient to hold atmosphere and we could not breathe. If it were as large as Jupiter, Saturn, or Uranus, gravity would be so strong it would make human movement almost impossible. If our plane were as near to the Sun as Venus, the heat would be unbearable. If it were as far away as Mars we would have snow and ice every night, even in the warmest regions. If the oceans were one-half their, we would only have one-fourth the rainfall that we do now. If the oceans were just one-eighth larger, our average rainfall would be four times what it is and this would be an uninhabitable swamp. Water freezes solid at thirty-two degrees. It would be disastrous if the oceans were subject to that law; the amount of thawing in the polar regions would not balance out. Ice would accumulate throughout the centuries.<br /> <br /> You have only to look at the miraculous construction of the human body or consider the cycle of life. Plants give off oxygen and take in carbon dioxide. Man and animals use the oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. To believe that there is not a great Creator and Controller of the universe is like believing you can take a handful of detailed parts of a watch, throw them up in the air and have them come down in the form of a finely precisioned Swiss watch.<br /> <br /> Do you know what the probability of this "just happening by chance" are? <font class="content"><font color="">The mathematical probability of a SINGLE CELL coming about by chance is 1/10340,000,000, the fraction 1 divided by 1 followed by 340 million zeros. </font></font><font class="content"><font color="">And then this cell must live long enough to reproduce.</font></font><font class="content"><font color=""> And then the reproduced cell must live long enough to do the same.</font></font><font class="content"><font color=""> And then more "accidents" must happen to cause more complexity.</font></font><font class="content"><font color=""> And then more "accidents" must happen to cause more complexity.</font></font><font class="content"><font color=""> And long before the first "accident" evolution is nothing but a silly, mystical fairy tale. But, let's hope you're just an agnostic and not an evolutionist.<br /> <br /> But the whole evolution probability is totally a side from the point. Somehow, I think you have been offended in one way or the other. Which is understandable because the word of God can be very very offensive to a non-believer, especially if they are told that they are going to hell. I'm sorry to say this to you, but if you do not believe in God and that Jesus came here and died for the sins of you and I, then you will be going to hell. It's very simple. There is no hiding or beating around the bush here.<br /> <br /> You are not arguing with my view point, or my opinion, your arguing with God and his word. I want to clarify that. I may be typing and we may be interpreting different things in a different way, but when it comes down to brass tax you are debating with God, not me. Your heart is hard and you have turned your back on God. The Bible, God's one and only <u>true</u> word is completely accurate. It prophesies or predicts many things that come true right down to the smallest detail (Read Psalm 22:1, 16-18). Many false prophets have come into the world to deceive many, and they have succeeded in that. Satan controls this world. Just to inform you of that. This world is not controlled by God because of the sin and wickedness that it harbors(sp?). Satan has done a great and spectacular job in convincing many people of so called faults and errors with God and his word, including yourself. But God makes the facts very clear, if you're willing to open your eyes and ears and mind and heart and truly look for them.<br /> <br /> There are more than 300 such prophecies or ramifications of prophecy in the Old Testament, such as that Christ would be born in Bethlehem, He would be of the lineage of David, he would be born of a virgin, he would be betrayed by one of his followers for thirty pieces of silver, not twenty-nine, and that the thirty pieces would