@daydrops:

I don't believe the bible to be a textbook or law book that can just be referenced out of, it contains what it needs to contain for certain individuals who have the capacity to understand a part of it at a time in their lives..

"He who has ears let him hear" - Jesus. I don't think the bible will benefit everyone, whats written in it is just for the benefit for those who will read it and understand it or have the capacity in their lives to understand a certain part of it in their lifetimes and I think for any single man to understand the Christian God in his entirety would be implausible.

I think to try and discredit the bible wouldn't have that much effect on true Christians who base their faith on their connection with God..

@email468:

First off, don't take me the wrong way - I hate the modern conventional idea of Christianity, it becomes a purely social popularity contest and people who are into religion just so that they can sit on a high horse and tell people what they have done wrong. I am totally against this kind of Christian, I am also against the Christian who will try to convert and save everyone - I think its pointless and it just leads to resentment and dislike for Christianity and the Christian God. Christians who only focus on the bible and forget all about God which is the point of their religion I'm also against. Christians who have been brought up as Christians and have never questioned God, their religion and their beliefs I am against because a religion and belief should be your own and not inherited.

My point is, even as a Christian (if I can call myself that) I'm disgusted by the way alot of people who call themselves Christian act in their belief - I probably have more against modern Christians than most atheists do. This is because I believe in human error, people make mistakes, people can be deceived, people can be misled and thats why I never accept anything I hear as fact until I've had time to mull it over with the source material first.

As for prophecy and the future, Revelations is a bit abstract for me - Its best interpreted with the time that it was written in kept in mind and read in the language that it was written for. Its hard for us to make sense of what is written because it covers a man who is supposed to have had a glimpse at the future - not even the present, he is supposed to have seen a glimpse of the end times where technology has surpassed even what we have at the moment.

If we assume that the person who wrote Revelations was indeed John who wrote the book of John in the new testament then we can safely assume that he had not seen any modern technology - he had not even seen a car or a bicycle. He was on an island and he had never seen a gun, he had not seen gunpowder so imagine if you were to show someone like that an atomic explosion - helicopters and mass armies.. He wrote down what he saw, in his own words, a man who had never seen a clock describing machinery seen in the end times. That is why Revelations is so abstract and hard to understand, that is also why it is very interesting for theologians because it can be interpreted in so many different ways.

I prefer looking at what Jesus said to his disciples and the people for the coming of the end times, it is more direct, simpler and less abstract than what was written in Revelations and it was written before Revelations. It leaves hints of what almost all Christians quest to understand in their lives - God's plan. If we look at the bible we get this idea of the future:

Jesus says that there will be no signs given,

Matthew 6:14 - A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

So basically, Christians have to believe in God without the aid of a miraculous sign. But Jesus also acknowledges those that have to believe in something that they can never be completely sure of.

John 20:29 - Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

People will be misled by false prophets,

Matthew 24:24 - Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves

Matthew 24:11 - For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

This is extremely true today, there are multitudes of variations and sects of Christianity, and a multitude of religions out there. People have been misled, led to believe certain things that may or may not be true and people have become confused and many have just decided that they've had enough of all of it.

There will be war and rumours of war,
Matthew 24:6 - And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet

What Jesus tells his disciples and the people about the future is not pretty. The bible does not paint a pretty picture for the future, people are going to die, people are going to suffer and what happens has to happen - it is and has always been part of God's plan. That is why the Christian God's plan is so hard to understand because he brings both destruction and salvation in his wake.

As for faith, just think of it as a child that has to trust his parents because it knows no better.. The reason why faith is necessary in a child's life is because the child can not possibly understand the workings and consequences of an electrical appliance - the only thing it can do is believe blindly that touching loose electrical wires will kill it and consequently avoid it. It is submitence, accepting that we are not in control and forcing ourselves to believe in something that is impossible or implausible in our understanding. For Christians that means that if you ask for something you will receive it so long as you have faith;

Matthew 17:20- - And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Mark 11:23 - I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

Matthew 21:21 - Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.

Alot of emphasis has been placed on believing that you will receive what you are asking, regardless of the means, focusing only on the outcome.

Rules are there for the child so that it does not hurt itself, don't touch the stove when its on, don't eat before you go swimming, look before you cross the street, do this, don't do that - they are all there so that the child will have a better chance at survival. Laws in a country are also there to prolong our lives to a certain extent. Its the same with commandments and God's laws - they are there to ensure that you will have a better chance regardless of whether we understand the rule or law - obviously people now days understand the world a bit better than people of that time so less of God's laws apply, but the majority of them will always apply.

As for the moral question about why does God lets bad things happen and why does God allow suffering, loneliness, heartache, torment, blindness, aids, terrorism, plague, drought, disease and what ever you think is bad in this world? (Isaiah 45:7 - "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.")

That question is probably the oldest question in religion and the most answered. We will probably never get a real conclusion on that question until the end times (assuming that there will be an end times), but everything is, and has already been in his plan from the start so we will have to wait and see..

Anyway it seems that has taken me an hour to type lol, so I'm gonna take a break..