Part 37 of Post Your Tough Questions Regarding Christianity

The fact that the tomb was empty is not a fact. It's just a claim.
The fact that there was a tomb is not a fact. It's just a claim.

 

It's a yes or no. Is there a city called Bethlehem? How about Israel? How about Syria? How about Nazareth? Do those places exist?

 

Gee, I don't know. How many Vikings wrote about their travels? How many sailors on Columbus' ships wrote about their travels?

 

I am not nearly as much a Bible scholar as you are. I doubt you are as much a Bible scholar as Martin Luther. Here is what he had to say...

http://vho.org/aaargh/fran/livres9/Luthereng.pdf
Martin Luther On the Jews and Their Lies (1543)

Wherever could he, a Christian Bible scholar and lover of Jesus, have gotten those ideas?

My emphasis above.

 

There is also a town in New York called Sleepy Hollow. Is that evidence for the existence of Ichabod Crane?

We even know how he looked in his final moments...​

 

Yes, there is a city called Bethlehem, and the history of the city is fact.

 

Isn't that city named Bethlehem in Pennsylvania?

 

What credentials ?

Paul never met Jesus and did not even become a Christian until years after the death of Jesus.
Neither was Paul part of the Church of Jerusalem - Founded by the disciples and led by James (brother of Jesus).

James called those who followed Paul's "Salvation by faith alone" doctrine "Foolish". James 2.

Paul made stuff up as he went along and his teachings often did not jive with the teachings of Jesus.

Some of the things Paul said were used by future theocracies to justify the creation of hell on earth.
For example: Romans 13

This is abject nonsense and certainly not "inspired". The US would not exist if the revolutionaries had not rebelled against the British - the ordained servant of God. Do you think Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and every other genocidal maniac was the ordained servant of God ?

Do you think that every Governing authority should be obeyed regardless of how absurd their edicts are.

I understand Paul's rational for writing this passage. He was trying to make Christianity less threatening to Roman Rule.
Good on him for that but his words are not inspired.

 

The nature of belief in literature is given a label, Fiction, Non fiction, poetry, romance, erotica, science....etc.
We then have theological texts which have their own designation because they do not fit into the others...including Non fiction.

Any well educated and rational person easily recognizes what this means.

 

He certainly didn't get those ideas from the teachings of our Lord Savior Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace & love.

Martin Luther as we know played an important role in the formation of Protestantism. But it's sad to say that his great contributions were also impeded by his unwarranted and unbiblical hatred of the Jewish people. And so yes, Martin Luther was guilty of anti-Semitism, which begs the question how could he have been that way being a faithful follower of Christ?

Well because it's a fact that believers in Christ are still natural-born sinners like everyone else and retain the sin nature even after becoming a follower of Christ. But just because Martin Luther was in error on one subject does not deny that he was right on others. Conversely, just because he was able to teach God's absolute truth does not mean that everything he said was absolute truth.

Our Lord Savior Jesus Christ the Prince of peace & love commanded us to love our enemies.

We Read in Scripture:

Teaching about Love for Enemies

"You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." ---Matthew 5:43-48 NLT

We also learn from Scripture that even when our Lord Savior Jesus Christ was dying an agonizing torturous slow death hanging on the cross He pleaded to God the Father to forgive those who were doing this grave injustice to Him.

We Read in Scripture:

"Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing." And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice." ---Luke 23:32-34 NLT

 

Jesus was a nice guy, so anybody who rejects him must be nuts and is signing their own death warrant, he offered them a chance to get off death row but they blew it..

 

Joseph Smith was nuts..

 

There you go again mate, trying to make your "quotes out of context" consp-theory fly, so aerodynamics is obviously not your strong point..
Do you really think people decided to "invent" Christianity, knowing it'd get them killed by the snooty priests?

 

For example Mohammed is in a box in Medina but Jesus is not..

 

Nice try mate but no..
"Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard" (Matt 27:65)
so that sinks your "stole the body" consp-theory..

 

But mate, Christianity is not about money or control..
"Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit...Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them, not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (2 Cor 2:17,1 Peter 5:2-3)

 

Then why do they ask people for money?

 

"God" says to give 10% of your income to the church?

 

'Quotes out of context' is not a conspiracy. It's a fact. And no-ione on here has yet come up with a reasonable denial. Perhaps no-one can read?

Why has the event of this king (supposedly Jesus) riding on an ass not seen god 'cut of the chariot from Ephraim' , the horse from Jerusalem and the battlebow. Zech. 9. Perhaps it was because Ephraim was long gone. And the Battle bow would be seen again in Jerusalem 4 decades after the death of this king. A verse out of contecxt.

Was Jesus name Israel Hosea 11:1. Was he called out of Egypt. No. Israel was. Did Jesus sacrifice to Baal, burn incense to graven images? No. Israel did.
In verse 1 Hosea uses the term son, in the singular. This happens often in the OT when god refers to Israel. Israel - the nation. He then turns to the plural - what they as individuals had done. Hosea returns to the singular. My son shall not return to Egypt, but he will be subject to Assyrian rule. Fortunately, or unfortunately for Christian interpretation, this could not happen to Jesus as the Assyrians had long disappeared. Another verse out of context.

I could deal with more but Christianity could not stand further investigation of the OT. Even now it's having to accept it got some things wrong. Lucifer in Isaiah is no longer the devil but a Babylonian emperor who thought himself all powerful - but wasn't. Many modern students are looking at the OT in the light of events, theology and culture to see its real meaning. Just as one needs to know Shakespeares time to really understand ( not necessarily to enjoy) some of his plays

If you take verses out of context you can 'prove' all sorts of things.

Another fact Quote Do you really think people decided to "invent" Christianity, knowing it'd get them killed by the snooty priests?[/QUOTE]

Many early Christians deliberately committed acts to get themselves killed thinking they would be martyrs and go straight to heaven. The church had to stop this by decreeing that this constituted 'suicide' not martyrdom.

But of course you doubt History.

 

Wrong. Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Acts chapter 9.

 

Therein lies the problem with religions. A person rises to power within a religion. He then uses his interpretations of the tenets of his religion to proclaim anything he wants to. He makes these proclamations "In the Name of God". His God Fearing followers believe his words carry the blessings of the God.

There have been countless atrocities carried out, not for a Leader or for a Country, but for a God. Because "In the Name of God" carries a much stronger message than the others.

Hitler realized this and used the words of Martin Luther to inflame Christian Germans to slaughter millions of Jews, in Germany and other Countries.

You may call it a subversion of Jesus' teachings, but that does not alter the facts.

 

Are you saying that because the Bible is correct of the existence of locations that we can verify exist and existed by other independent sources, that it must also be correct in its extraordinary claims about magic that can't be verified anywhere else?

 

Anyone who would torture a person for eternity for temporal sins is not a nice guy. They are the biggest monster that could possibly exist.

Even Hitler as evil as he was couldn't torture Jews for all eternity. Jesus is infinitely more evil than Hitler.

 

Why weren't Jesus and his followers nuts?

 

I don't see how you can use the word "unwarranted". He carefully justified the reasons for his beliefs in a 40,000 word treatise.
I don't see how you can use the word "unbiblical". He writes...

• Whoever reads the Bible cannot draw any other conclusion.

He cautions...

• In this way they lost God and his word and now no longer have any understanding of the Scriptures.
• Therefore, dear Christian, be on your guard against the Jews, who, as you discover here, are consigned by the wrath of God to the devil, who has not only robbed them of a proper understanding of Scripture, but also of ordinary human reason, shame, and sense, and only works mischief with Holy Scripture through them.

These words are clearly directed toward Jews. However, the implication is clear. If one doesn't see it the same way as he does, it is because he has been misled by Satan and, therefore, can no longer understand scripture correctly.