Faith, God and Us. Which is yours ? ( Archived) (260)

you are my salvation Riya!!

That was not copy/pasted

God bless .. i mean the one that i believe in ..

You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3

You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other.Deuteronomy 4:35

Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Deuternonmy 4:39

This is what the Bible teaches me, this is what i know to be true. i could quote you much more if you want to learn. please just ask me.

Have you ever stumbled in believing in the faith ? ever doubted ?

Job 26:7 He is stretching out the north over the empty place, Hanging the earth upon nothing.

Isaiah 40:22 There is One who is dwelling above the circle of the earth, the dwellers of which are as grasshoppers, the One who is stretching out the heavens like fine gauze, who spreads them out lke a tent in which to dwell.


2 points of note in those scriptures quoted.

Firstly, the Job scripture has been dated as having been written about 3500 years ago.

How many farmers new the earth was suspended 'upon nothing' back then? That took another couple of thousand years to establish.

Secondly, Isaiah clearly states that the earth is a 'circle'. He said this 2700 years ago.

How could a simple oriental have known this?

Sure there were many erudite and ingenious minds back then, but this is extraordinary even for them, and positively remarkable for a non scientific man of God.

Nope, there's something fishy goin' on here!

hmm...

If you consider the civilisations of the yester yrs say the Mayans for example , even they had knowledge surpassing what we have today and this was much before us and in simpler times .. quite intriguing ..

So if the Egyptian beliefs of God and life after death are intriguing .. we have an exodus of proofs left behind to fascinate us about the same ..

Mythology for instance is so deeply embedded on our beliefs of religion that at times its quite difficult to belive if its fact or fantasy ..

True.

But on the points I mentioned, it's almost as if they just appeared out of nowhere Riya. There was no warning of a growing knowledge in ANY civilisation...no engravings, no writings.

Those two quite vivid statements of bright fact just appeared in the bible.

I find this fascinating.

Something else I found fascinating: most great civilisations of yester year have a flood story of sorts.

Mythical or not, it's a fascinating coincedence.

I didnt get the Isiah one entirely .. grasshopers in conjunction with ?

The 'circle of the earth'.

The original Hebrew word is 'chugh', which is also translated as 'sphere'.

I get it now ... amazing actually ..

Well... if we are to keep in account the 2 points you made and the other things in the scriptures like " there is just one God .. none other "
and more so almost every religious scripture stating the same ..

what would be the inference ?

The inference would be less 'inclusive' than I'd have hoped for!

Clearly there was no room for other gods within Judaism. Indeed, the Jews were famously monotheistic, and of course Christianity, by virtue of its roots follows a similar path...according to some!

I suppose the reasoning is: one God created all we know, so why should any other gods be worshipped and praised?

I suppose I can understand that.

no never!!! sometimes i get angry with GOD (that's allowed) when i didn't agree with HIM or get my way, but HE is my FATHER and i love HIM with ALL my heart & soul.
Let me tell you of just one story of how i know HE is real:
When my son & i were living in florida we lived about 40 miles apart, so we usually spoke on the phone every other day or so. well i had not heard from him one time for over a week & he was not returning my calls, so i was VERY worried & i decided to drive up to see him. only thing was i had an older car & wasn't to sure if i would make it all the way. the car was falling apart on me. anyway as i was driving to get on the inter-state 95 i said a prayer to GOD to keep me safe & to let the car make the drive. i no sooner said AMEN when my cell phone rang & it was my son telling me he was on his way down to see me.
so how can i ever doubt HIS existence????

I have had instances of that kind too. Not going in to detail makes you wonder though cos sometimes there simply is no logical explanation.

While not one myself, one thing I hear a lot of Atheists saying is (in not these precise words but flowing in this vein of logic, if you will): 'If it is to be taken as a given that there must be one being who is behind all things (or even beings), who must be behind the one being or beings? For this question must follow in the vein of the same logic etc.

And who then must be behind the one being or the beings behind the beings or one being? etc . .

They have a point. Namely that if we look at the world and think to ourselves ‘all this must have come from something’, we must then say to ourselves ‘the something all this came from also must have come from something’ - and then ‘the something from the something all this came from ALSO must have come from something . . . etc and i.e. into absurdity.

Also - never jump too quickly to accepting the things you read in The Bible today as proof that something 'fishy is afoot' since people could not possibly have known THAT all those years ago . . .

Something fishy is afoot, indeed . . .

Sir Isaac Newton (needless to say one of the greatest Geniuses that ever lived was a religious scholar par excellence more than he was anything else) wrote extensively about the notable corruptions and inconsistencies he found in The Bible despite being himself a devout believer . . .

Did you know that? That Isaac Newton wrote more about The Bible and Religion than anyone else and more than anything else he did? Probably not.

One Word: Suppression.

Anway it was good that his words were suppressed, he might have hurt some people's feelings with his findings. And we wouldn't want that now would we?

Good thread. But let us see if we can 'weave' some more!!

Is faith of God or is faith of man? This is one of my stumbling points often. Through the Bible, we have men of faith. But where did the faith orginate? We have Abraham a man of God. We have David, a man after
God's own heart. We have Jesus, the embodiment of God. But was it not God being faithful to these men, that made that them what they were? Or was it these men being faithful to God?

Faith is the substance of things unseen. A Bible passage. Yet all these men were seen and known. It seems to me...that real faith (if unseen) is more of God than man. For God is unseen as well. Thoughts?

I think religion has corrupted our innate spirituality..

I think religion is something that initially grew out of our inner sense of 'something out there' but was eventually harnessed as a means of controlling human nature as societies became more complex.. this served a practical purpose and probable served it well for sometime, until intelligent 'entrepreneurial' individuals clicked at just how effective religious manipulation can be... It is common knowledge that when the 'bible' was being compiled there was considerable debate by key religious figures as to what should and should not be included.... the people concerned clearly had an agenda in mind...

And the church... the Catholic Church in particular appears to have revilled in its power over the years and has done so to lucrative effect... the relatively recent requirement that Priest not marry e.g... this was among other reasons, was introduced to avoid the implications of succession law.. and in the past the Catholic Church used to actuall SELL 'Passports to Heaven'...

I always have and always will have an unwavering faith in God... but I have never been religious.. not even as a child..{in my pre-communion interview with the priest, I actually debated with him )...

Religion has over the centuries actually starved us of our spirituality, completely diverted our attentions... and given us licence to be judgemental of others and even persecute them that can't be good...

The only religion I would ever subscribe to is one which embraced everyone collectively worshipping our creater

I am still reading the replies and pondering .
Thankyou for the honest input . Good to see you post Ray .

The very great Isaac Newton studied the bible daily Ray, and indeed was in awe of it!

I had to re-read your post as I was so surprised by some of your assertions.

Newton did indeed value and cherish the scriptures.

BUT! He recognized that the message had been corrupted by organized relious establishments, as Aires has pointed out.

He wrote many a pamphlet critisizing clear falsehoods taught by the churches, but out of fear, and due to the climate of the day, didn't have them circulated widely.

So yes, I looked at Newtons example when considering the whole matter of spirituality...I voted in such a way on this pole!

None I believe in myself.