" I need someone who will look me in the eye and tell me how to find forgiveness because I am running out of time!"
The utube - scene from ER - below - brings out the danger of poor teaching in much of the church - in that it doesn't give the answers that people need for salvation. People are lost because much of the church has stopped preaching the message of: Jesus as the atonement for our sins!
The result? Well just look at the mess of the world we live in!
The result? Well just look at the mess of the world we live in!
Comments
This is so right on and I still have a hard time with believing it.
The pastor at my church delivers some of the best sermons I have ever heard and follows up with the worst alter calls possible.
This is what I have to listen to every week whether the Gospel is preached or not:
God loves you and wants you to live forever. If you will ask Christ into your heart and accept Jesus as your Saviour, He will come into your heart and change your life. Listen; He stands at the door of your heart knocking to come in. Won't you invite Him into today?
AAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHH
So tired of hearing that. I know that one day I'm going to stand up and say to the congregation of about a 1000 folks:
"The Bible teaches that, because of sin, we have all fallen short of God’s standard and glory. Sin is defined in the Bible as transgressing God’s moral Law, the Ten Commandments. The Bible also teaches that it is appointed man once to die and then the judgment. The moment you die, you will stand before the Creator and be judged according to His standards. Scripture is clear; all liars will have their place in the Lake of Fire. No blasphemers, adulterers or thieves will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That is the penalty for sinning against a Holy and Righteous God. But God, rich in mercy and wisdom, has provided a way for you to avoid the penalty of your sins. God sent His Son Jesus Christ to Earth. Jesus walked a perfect sinless life and went to the cross for your sins. He died a horrible and brutal death to atone for your sins. They took Him down from the cross after God’s wrath for your sins had been totally satisfied. They buried Him and three days later, God raised Him from the dead so you could have forgiveness of sins and eternal life in Heaven. You broke God’s Law, Jesus paid your penalty. The Bible says that if you repent of your sins and put your trust in Christ to save you, He will. He will send the Holy Spirit to dwell in you so you can live a godly life for Him."
I mean really - is that so hard to do each week?
Your comment has been deleted for two reasons:
(1) Your blog name is totally offensive and actually impossible
(2) You abbreviated a swear word - I will not have any suggestion of a swearing on this blog what so ever.
If you wish to post under another name without swearing, your point of view might be registered.
Neil
If you use
Neil,
Thank you for caring and for praying :-) It means a lot to me :-)
PS--The Word of God is never unhelpful ;-)
1492 we discovered that the world was not flat
around 1600, with the invention of the telescope, we discovered that the Earth was not the center of the universe
around 1700, with the invention of the microscope, we discovered that diseases were casued by germs, bacteria, viruses, and not by evil spirits or demon possession
around 1800 we discovered that the heart pumped blood and is not the center of all thought and emotions
that the brain is the center of all thought and emotions
1900 we discovered how to harness electricity and use the wind to fly
1970 we discovered that there are over 125 billion galaxies similar to our own
Yet in 2008 we still believe want to believe what people wrote down on papyrus 2000 years ago, whom knew very little, only what they had heard themselves told as true
Why can't you people figure out that the Bible is nothing but a collection of handed down myths and urban legends, because you are so afraid of hell that you cannot even think straight.
Oh BTW, be sure to delete this responce, we wouldn't want anyone to read this, heaven forbid don't use swear words the Bible is full of them, but that's ok!
(1) No Christian is afraid of hell (period)
(2) The Bible states that the world is spherical in shape
(3) All illness is a result of the fall
(4) All your other facts amazing though they are point to a creator God - thank you!
(1) No Christian is afraid of hell (period) (without a threat of hell there would be no believers)
(2) The Bible states that the world is spherical in shape (not true, people feared falling off the edge of the earth, up until 1492)
(3) All illness is a result of the fall (wrong again, illness is caused by germs and bacteria and viruses, no doctor uses the Bible to cure diseases)
(4) All your other facts amazing though they are point to a creator God (wrong again, it points to 2000 year old ignorance)
No you are wrong!
It points to 2000 year old ignorance, what you are worshipping is words written down by ignorant sheep herders.
Another thing, we now know is that rainbows are caused by the prism effect of water vapor crystals reflectivity in light rays, not a promise by a god not to flood the earth.
The Bible was written under pure human ignorance. You just will not admit you're wrong, you've been mislead, we all have been mislead by Biblical teachings.
How sad. Do you believe anything in the Bible is true? I assume by now you have anwered in your own mind 'No'. Then what do you think the point of the list of names (hundreds of them)in the book of Chronicles is. Lets start there - what was the point? I will tell you the reason: the people of the Hebrew faith were accurate recorders of History - they took great pride in their accuracy. These names are not made up.
More on that when you reply (as long as you reply in a respectful way).
Neil
Let me ask you this, Have you ever noticed that the names, Adam and Eve or Cain or Abel for that matter have to my knowledge never been repeated or used by any other peoples or tribes, although all those descendants supposedly sprang forth from, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, do you not see how ironic that Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel are just common names?
Take for instance, Genesis Ch. 10 - Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, Gomer, Magog, Ashkenaz, Riphath, Togarmah Javan, Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, Dodanim, Ham, Cush, Mizraim, Phut, Canaan, Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabtechah, Sheba, Dedan, etc., etc.
All anyone would have to do is add descendants names to those names already previously mentioned to make it look like they were great book keepers.
But my point really is, the commonality of the names Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, nowhere else is their names applied to another person, yet their names appear to be from English origin, not Arab, nor Egyptian origin, whereas most other names are from Arab or Egyptian origin.
Another observation I have made is the common names in the NT, is Mary, Paul, Peter, Luke, John, all common names of English origin, not Arab names, not Egyptian names, but common English names.
The name Jesus is not of Arab descent, but of Spanish origin.
I almost know you'll say well god can call them anything that he wants to, but that is not my point.
The point is, it seems ironic that the names that we are intended to have the most belief in, they just happen to be common names, and of English origin.
Yet in light of all of this discussion, I want you to realize that the people whom wrote the Bible had no formal education, they had no medical knowledge, they thought that diseases were caused by demon possession or witch spells or gods wrath, they had no way to communicate, no 911, their only available resource was to pray, that's all they knew to do.
When you go to the hospital, the first thing the doctors do is not open the Bible for advice and start praying to cast off demons and witch spells, they start taking blood samples and xrays.
If the Bible is inspired by a god, then he knew nothing about the brain, the word brain is nowhere in the Bible.
They thought the heart was the center of all thought and emotion, and millions of people today believe this, but it's just NOT True!
The heart reacts to what the eyes and ears hears, messages that is sent to the brain in order for the brain to send more adrenalin to the heart and muscles, called flight or fight syndrome, this flight or fight syndrome is what the people whom wrote the Bible thought was their heart telling them what say, do and think.
The heart is a pump, it does not speak, hear, think, or wax cold, melt, jump for joy, sing, cry, cheat, or talk to god or jesus, nor can anyone invite god or jesus into their heart.
Metaphorical phrases are used for emotional appeal to manipulate people into making an emotional decision that they would not normally do..it's called brainwashing and it's all based upon a lie, we've all been lied to by using the contents of the Bible.
I won't repeat the argument about the names - but it is a historical fact that ancestry has always been important in the Hebrew faith and they would record their ancestry as carefully if not more carefully than we would today. They took a kind of pride in their ancestry. Read the book of Josephus for details.
Let me take you to the Prophets. Isaiah 53 for example can be describing no other than Jesus himself. It not only describes his suffering and death on the cross, but also his resurrection. v11 says 'After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life'. When I read that to young girl a few weeks ago she thought that this was about the resurrection of Jesus. She was correct in her assumption.
There is not a serious historian alive that would deny the life of Jesus and the fact that he died by crucifixion - anyone who has taught you otherwise is a liar.
Independent historians have for example looked at the writings of Polycarp who was a disciple of John (don't know the Hebrew translation of his name) who saw Jesus die on the cross.
History records Polycarp as being burnt alive. He had the option of declaring Ceasar as Lord or dying in a fire. If only Polycarp would make this declaration and offer a small pinch of incense to Caesar's statue he would escape torture and death.
His reply was ""Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" Steadfast in his stand for Christ, Polycarp refused to compromise his beliefs, and thus, was burned alive at the stake.
Polycarp clearly trusted in his friend John and believed that what he had told him about Jesus dying and rising from the dead was true. So much so that he was prepared (like many other Christians from AD 33 onwards) to face death, rather than deny him.
If you're that wrong about something so simple as this, I assume that you have no idea what you're talking about.
If such a simple thing as a name can be converted to another name simply by translation, then who can say that any other word, idea, or parable can also be mis-translated.
I know, it's the whole infallible word of god!
Why would god's holy words need to be translated, could not god nor jesus speak english, were they that illiterate?
And thanks for not addressing this issue:
They thought the heart was the center of all thought and emotion, and millions of people today believe this, but it's just NOT True!
The heart reacts to what the eyes and ears hears, messages that is sent to the brain in order for the brain to send more adrenalin to the heart and muscles, called flight or fight syndrome, this flight or fight syndrome is what the people whom wrote the Bible thought was their heart telling them what say, do and think.
The heart is a pump, it does not speak, hear, think, or wax cold, melt, jump for joy, sing, cry, cheat, or talk to god or jesus, nor can anyone invite god or jesus into their heart.
Metaphorical phrases are used for emotional appeal to manipulate people into making an emotional decision that they would not normally do..it's called brainwashing and it's all based upon a lie, we've all been lied to by using the contents of the Bible.
Oh yeah BTW, the heart does not have a door, in case Jesus comes knocking on your heart's door.
Here's a good Biblical quote Deuteronomy 10:16, "Circumsise the foreskin of your heart."
Now there's some wise godly wisdom...lol