Overall Message of Christianity?

What is the overall message of Christianity? With so many contradictions in it, the Bible cannot be read literally, so how can we tell what the overall message of the damn thing is?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

1.) Humans have dominion over the planet.
2.) Women are inferior and should be submissive to men.
3.) No matter what you do you are bad, evil worthless crap (because of original sin that had nothing to do with YOU) so you should be eternally grateful to Jesus since anything good you go comes through him.
4.) Because of number 3, pride is a horrible sin since it take away from what Jesus should be proud about.
5.) If you are suffering in pain in this life to such an extent that you can no longer bear life and kill yourself, you will not be comforted in the afterlife, you will continue to suffer for eternity.
6.) Everyone is equal, but some people are ignorant and stupid so need help to understand that they are wrong and need to be saved by converting them to Christianty (even if it takes torture and murder).
7.) All science is bullshit, since it was discovered by feeble human minds that are unable to understand the ways of God... Except of course if teh science SUPPORT what the Bible says, then it's brilliant.
8.) The Bible is the word of the God almighty and should be taken literally... Except where it should be taken as metaphor.
9.) All other religions (oder and newer) are crap, even though Christianity was based on these religions in an effort to build a religion that will appeal to the masses and keep the power within the Roman empire through the shameless process of blatant self-serving syncretism.
10.) I am going to Hell.

Did I miss anything?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Love of course.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Um... about # 2. Are you sure that is the case? Or is it just YOUR OWN justification to show how bible doesn't make sense in that God created women later than men. When Eve was created out of Adam, it shows that they need one another, that "oneness" as one calls it.

# 3... Again, that ignorance and nescience of yours are too much to bear. It is not that anything good we do is necessarily bad, but nothing compared to HIs holiness and Goodness. It's like a criminal giving you a cup filled with dirty water and saying "oh look how good and righteous I am."

# 4... Wrong terminology. Not "pride" but arrogance. Pride and arrogance are of different degree.

# 5.... This is purely based on which side you are on. If you are a Christian, you'd see suicide as morally wrong because you believe that God gave you life and He's the only one that should take it away.

# 6.... What a blatant interpretation.

# 7.... That's your own overgeneralization, perhaps caused by your own nescience. Please, learn to set the boundaries correctly.

# 8.... Well, some of the passages are so obviously literal and some of them are obviously metaphorical. This deals with Kantian thought, empirical absolutism and transcendental relativism. This one was actually pretty good. not bad.

# 9... Where did you get this junk? I think your brain is filled with worthless junk yourself. Syncretism? Perhaps you are rather referring to Christianity in Axum. Bah. Nice try there.

I advise you to come up with better questions next time.

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

But I enjoyed reading them all.

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

If the message is from God then it is -

Do as I command or I will torture you for eternity.

 

Really? I believe in free will and therefore, I must say this is false. It is the men that have free will and send themselves by not believing in God.

 

one, can you provide a less biased, less bitter reply?

 

From a PM I just sent someone:

You are guilty of sin from birth because of Original Sin.
We can NEVER live up to Jesus' example no matter how good we live.
We are lowly creatures that need constant supervision and relentless condemnation.
Look at my reply to the next point for reference in the following...
The Seven Deadly Sins all go against the grain of human nature.
Not a single person can live an entire life without experiencing some (or ALL) of these emotions.
It is not the acting upon them that is is sin, it is simply experiencing them.
It is impossible for a human beiong to NOT sin according to these rules.
It's a stacked deck.

The seven deadly sins:
NUMBER ONE: Pride
2: Avarice/Greed
3: Envy
4: Wrath/Anger
5: Lust
6: Gluttony
7: Sloth

Again, NUMBER ONE is PRIDE.
It is a sin to experience pride.

And if you are in so much pain that you can no longer bear life, then you will be punished for an eternity.
Where's God's compassion there?

In the history of the world, more people have dies by the hands of Christians in the name of God than ANY OTHER REASON.
War, disease, other murders, natural disaster, NONE compare.
It is not my interpretation or my opinion.
It is FACT.

No, not my ignorance, Christians' ignorance to sciance nature and reasoning.
Any science that contradicts the Bible is declared as heresey, lies or misunderstanding of the ways of God (read your history books and current events).
But Christians are very quick to scream that the Bible supports the Big Bang.
They search for historical clues to the events in the Bible and parade around anything that could imply they were true.
Christian apologists recruit scientists to explain how it is possible (or even plausible) that events actually occurred, but when Gallelieo opposed the Church with his scientific findings that refuted the Church's belief at the time he was placed under house arrest and remined there till his death.

And who is to say what is obvious?
When science advances and Biblical "fatcs" are under scruitiny the ones that were considered literal were then changed to metaphorical.
Science of convenience.

History.
Is it a coincidence that all Christian holidays coincide with holidays of the pagan counterparts?
Is it coincidence that you can find teachings from the bible in other religious texts that are far older (sometimes almost verbatim)?
Is it coincidence that the names, stories, dates and symbols of Christianty have almost identical counterparts in older religions?

Look around.
Listen to what everyone (not just Christians) have to say.
Look at the evidence abound.
Open your mind, dump out the propaganda and fill it with knowledge.


You didn't attempt to refute numbers 1 and 10.
I guess you agree with them?

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

Can we get an explaination that doesn't bash the religion or prostlitize it either?

 

Well, as for number 10, that's your personal saying and I have no say whatsoever. As for Number 1, I do agree.

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

I am quoting the holy book of the religion and facts supported by documented history.
The facts may be biased.

 

'


So, what's the problem?

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

What are you talking about?
The bible totally says that.
Thats why christianity is a scam against nature.

Drlounatarianism answers everything

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

Answer for the original question:

John 15:17
"17 "This I command you, that you love one another."

John 13:35
"35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." "

1 John 4:7-8
"7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. "

1 John 4:12
"12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. "

1 John 4:16
"16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."

John 15:12
"12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. "


There is more... but I guess that's enough...


Cris,

God message is: If you are not like me, you won't want to be in my midst. I'm Love, joy and peace. If you seek those things, you will find Me. If you seek misery, hate and sadness, you will receive it, not from Me, but from the one that is opposed to Me. I give only life. No death comes from Me. But the one oposed to Me (Satan) who is everything that I am not will give you those things, if you want them. It is your choice. Knock and the door shall be opened. Seek and you shall find. Whatever you want, that you will receive.

 

one_raven,

Number 2:

God did NOT ordain those things. Men did them by their own. And for some scriptures you MUST go back to the greek, because the Catholic church screwed up with all the verse about women. There is one that they clearly took out a part of it, because of what it said. It is this one:

John 8:3-11
"3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court,
4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 "Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?"
6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.
7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.
10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?"
11 She said, "No one, Lord." [And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."] "

The one in brackets was taken off the Bible by the Catholics. They used a lot of scripture to control people and get money out of people and this continue nowdays for many people. But God's Law is very clear concerning those things, and you can read the Law much clearly in the four Gospels, since Jesus studied the Laws more then anyone else. Besides, Jesus was sinless, what was totally different from everyone before and after Him. This is very important since the "wages of sin is death" and "death" includes: confusion, misery, lies, selfishness, deceit, hatred, etc. So Moses may have lied. But Jesus never lied. The Law is very clear in Him. Also:

Matthew 19:3-10
"3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?"
4 And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,
5 and said, 'FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'?
6 "So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."
7 They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?"
8 He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.
9 "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery."
10 The disciples said to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry." "

This CLEARLY show us how the Laws of Moses worked and the mechanics of the Old Testament Laws. There is a HUGE difference between Old Testament and New Testament, and the list of differences goes far beyond the scope of what I can post in a single thread.

Answer for number 3 coming later...

 

VERY nicely put Truthseeker

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

Re: Answer for the original question:

Truth,

The above quotes tell humans to love one another, but what about the contant demands by God the the Jews kill neighboring tribes in the Old Testament? Since you most likely are a Christian, answer me these three:

1) Why is there so much talk about hell in the "good news"
2) Jesus was sent to save the world from its sins, but people can still go to hell because of their sins. How is this so?
3) If god wants everyone to enter heaven why does he let so few in? Remember that few are going down the straight and narrow path.

 

Number 3

God does not condemn us. The enemy does. And we do ourselves. The world condemns itself.

I don't think so...

Ephesians 4:20-24
"20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."

Colossians 3:9-11
"9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him--
11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. "

God does not condemn us. And we do need supervision. Just look at how messed up we are nowdays...

Let's go through condemnation, since you seem to not understand it very well...

Romans 8:1-11
"1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. "

Now, verse by verse:

1. "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
   What does that mean? Well, if you go to the verse I've put up there (Ephesians and Colossians), you will see that our sins are justified through Christ. Christ in Greek means "to be overflowing with the Spirit of God". So Jesus has bring the Spirit of God into the world. When Adam and Eve ate from that tree, they gave the whole world to Satan. So when Jesus came, He took it back to us. SO now, whoever believes in what He has done receives from Him eternal life, which is the fruit from the Tree of Life, the very Tree that Adam and Eve didn't eat from. When God said: "in the day you eat from that tree, you will die" (not exactly with those words) He was saying that their spirits would become sinfull and dead. There is a lot more about that, and I can only say everything about it if I write a whole book.
   
   Who condemns? Satan does. And we also do. He want you to believe that is God. God doesn't want us to feel guilty. He sees us as His own little children. It is written:
   
   James 1:13-17
   "13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
   14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
   15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
   16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
   17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. "
   
   So this verse basically says: whoever believes that Jesus has the fullness of God and gave that to us, shall not feel condemned. Because if you have the fullness of God, you have no condemnation.
   
2. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."
   The Law of sin and death is the old Law of Moses. That Law said: you reap what you sow. If you sow death, you will reap death. Therefore, DO NOT sow death.
   
   The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the New covenant. It says: you are saved by faith. No weapon shall prosper gainst you. If you sow death, you won't reap spiritual death. Whenever you make a mistake, you will be helped by God and by Jesus, your High Priest in Heavens. So all things that you do shall prosper.
   
   Galatians 3:11-12
   "11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
   12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM." "
   
   This is the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament.
   
   So the verse basically says that all those who believes and receives the Christ in them will not perish but have everlasting life.
   
   John 3:16
   "16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. "
   
3. "For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, "
   Before we have to follow the Law. The Law was like standing below an umbrela. As long as you were below the umbrela, you were not soaked by the rain. It was based on your actions.
   
   But when Jesus came, He did it for us. He basically said to God: I Love them and I die for them. And God, following the rules of the universe, said: Your Love for them has set them free.
   
   Basically, Love accomplish all things. Love is above the Law, above the rules of this universe. Read 1 Corinthians 13 and you will see it there. We were under the Law, and now we are under Love. That is the difference between the New Testament and Old Testament.
   
4. "so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
   So here, he is saying that we are not sinners anymore. So whoever is a Christian has put a new self, in the likeness of God. Again, back to Colossians and Ephesians.
   
5. "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit."
   This one is comparing the mid sets of Christians and unbelievers. I could go to an extended explanation on mind sets and fruits of the Spirit and fruits of flesh, but I will only give a verse. I could write another whole thread about that.
   
   Galatians 5:19-26
   "19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
   20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
   21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
   22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
   23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
   24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
   25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
   26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. "
   
6. "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,"
   Now, concerning about death, death in all those passages means not the physical death, but the spiritual death, the second death.
   
7. "because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,"
   What is of the flesh, is not of God. Very simple.
   
8. "and those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
   Because the flesh is oppoesed to God.
   
9. "However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him."
   Whoever has the fullness of God, has God in Him.
   
   1 John 4:16
   "16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. "
   
10. "If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness."
    Again, everlasting life with Christ; second death without Him.
    
11. "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."
    So Christ is the fullness of God's Spirit, so whoever has Christ, has God.
    [/list=1]
    
    
    First, where it is written those "seven deadly sins"?
    Secondly, it does not go against those who has the fullness of God. Therefore, those who are in Christ have their nature changed.
    
    God created us in His nature, but we chose to change our nature when we ate from the Truth of Knowledge. Between life and knowledge, we chose knowledge and that's all that the world has. But Christians already ate from the Tree of Life, and that's what they've got, the fullness of God in them. Their nature has changed. They have out a new self. Go back to my first quotes for that (Ephesians and Colossians).
    
    
    True.
    
    
    True.
    
    
    True.
    
    
    That is also true.
    
    HOWEVER, all those that has the fullness of God in them (Christ) has put on a new self and now we are like Him, who made us.
    
    Ephesians 4:20-24
    "20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
    21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
    22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
    23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
    24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."
    
    Colossians 3:9-11
    "9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
    10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him--
    11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. "
    
    1 John 4:16
    "16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. "

 

eddie monkey,

They weren't following God's will. Look at Bush today. He says: "I'm a Christian. I follow God's will. God bless America."

God doesn't Love one and despise the other. God Loves all. The fact that God blessed the Jews because Abraham had faith, doesn't mean that they were superior. But they though themselves as supperiors.

And the story is repeating again. Take a look at "War of Evil Against Evil" for more about that.

Hell is simply the absence of God.

It depends on wheter you believe in what He said or not. If you believe in Him, you are able to receive what He promised for you, but if you don't believe He has a gift for you, how can you receive it if you don't first believe He is giving it to you?

He wants everyone in. When Jesus talked about the narrow gate, He was talking to the Jews, because the Jews HAD to follow the Law to become like Him and rest in His presence. When Jesus came, He provided it for us, as long as we receive it. If we say: "no, I don't want that", then you won't receive it: your choice. He is putting it in your hands. "Here, everlasting life for you." If you throw it away, it is your won choice.

 

Number 4

Zack_Kinney's reply:

Your reply:

Pride is only a sin when directed to yourself. It is arrogance, like Zack said.

Christans are Christ-like by definition. We don't necessarily act like it, but we are made in His likeness. Some more verses to expalin that...

Romans 5:14-15
"14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a [Or foreshadowing] type of Him who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. "

1 John 3:2
"2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. "

This is the reason why Christians don't act like they should:

Galatians 5:16-17
"16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. "

The thing is that a lot people don't walk by the Spirit, even Christians. So the flesh has more significance and they are carried away by those desires. However, if you walk by the Spirit, then you walk like Christ, you have the fullness of God.

We are like Him by faith. He said that He made us like Him, so we ARE like Him. When we believe it, we start acting like it. For this reason, it is written:

Galatians 3:11
"11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

For this reason we are no longer under the Law, but above it. Because the Law is only for those that don't have His nature. The Law was only created because people wouldn't follow it. The Law was created to be followed. But when Jesus died for us, whoever believes in Him became like Him and now, as long as you believe you are like Him, you will act like it. Because if you don't believe you are like Him, how can you act like Him?

Number 5 next...