I'm amazed at the number of people who get hostile when one mentions anything about Jesus or God. There was an article on the web yesterday about money and how the bible was wrong. One quote it the article was " money is the root of all evil" and to prove the scriptures wrong the author quoted good rich people do with their money.
I'm glad they do but that isn't the quote. The correct quote is "the love of money is the root of all evil" Actually, money isn't even the focus of this quote. What is at stake is where or what we place our highest priorities on. Some people want to become great athletes so they use drugs to improve their chances or train so much they don't have time for family or friends. Some people want to be rich so badly they have committed murder. How about the person who so desires another person that they commit infidelity or worse. Wanting to have money or to be athletic, or to be with the person you love is not wrong. What is wrong is being so fixated on something or someone at the expense of life itself.
The second quote used in the article says that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven" This quote has nothing to do with being rich as the author believes but everything to do with what we place or priorities on.
You may have noticed I did not mention Jesus or God or religion once in my answer but the person who responded to my comments said, and I quote "jesus, jesus, jesus, why can't you religions types just shut up about jesus" Small "j's" were his, not mine".
I admit there is a possibility that there is no Jesus or no God. Maybe the day I finally admitted I could not dislodge the huge limb stuck in a tree and said "God, this is your problem" and the limb fell out of the tree was just a coincidence. Maybe the day I admitted I would never be able to get rid of the huge stump and said "God, this is your problem" and a man with a big chainsaw just drove up looking for wood and cut the stump up for me.
Maybe hen the doctors told me my wife just suffered a brain aneurysm and air lifted her to a larger hospital. That hospital also said she had suffered an aneurysm. Thirty two churches were praying for her. Even though two hospitals and four medical tests proved she had suffered an aneurysm the doctors could not find it. When my wife was suffering from double vision due to damage to her fourth cranial nerve and was told she would always have double vision, maybe it was just fate that caused her eyes to suddenly go back into focus.
I live from social security and when my wife was hospitalized we lost her income plus incurred all the medical bills. She had no income for over a year. I said I would put my faith in God to take care of us just as He promised he would. We paid all the medical bills, met all our monthly obligations,
and even paid in full our car payment, all our credit card bills, and all other bills except for one without assistance from anyone and without touching my savings account.
Time after time I have had my needs met at the exact tine they had to be taken care of when it was impossible for me to do so. You may believe it is just coincidence and you may be correct. Let me ask those of you who do not believe in God or Christ something. If you are correct and this life is all there is how will you ever know? If I am wrong and there is no afterlife then we are even. neither of us will know. But if you are wrong and I am right, then I get to spend eternity in heaven with my savior. You will get to spend eternity knowing that I was right and you were wrong.
When I was a young man I had my doubts too. I studied all the major religions and philosophies. I had to decide if God was real or not and if He was, whose God was He? Then when I decided He did exist and the God of Christians was the only one that was alive I had to decide witch church to belong too. I studied the bible and attended services from the Catholic church, the Lutherans, the Methodists, The Southern Baptists, the American Baptist, the Free Will Baptists, the Church of England, the Episcopalians, and a few I can't remember. The churches I did not get to attend I studied their doctrines and I made my decision based on which church came closest to teaching and practicing what I believe the bible was teaching.
No I will not condemn you or criticize you for being a non believer. I will tell you that Jesus is real and that he loves you and he died on the cross as payment of the penalty for your transgressions and if you accept His free gift you too can have eternal life. What you do with that knowledge is up to you. No, I will not tell you how to live, even if you become a Christian. That is God's job to clean you up, not mine.
I do know that what many people, even those who claim to be Christian, believe the bible says and what it really teaches is vastly different. For sure, many people can quote a few scriptures and many have a basic understanding of what the general concept of Christianity but few really study their bibles and pray asking for understanding. Asking for and receiving a different translation is not the key to understanding the bible. Study and pray are.
A good example would be the robe Jesus wore at His trial. Matthew says the robe was scarlet, Luke said it was purple, and John said it was purple. Mark said only that it was gorgeous . You can translated that all you want and you still come up with purple, scarlet, and gorgeous. You can't go my so-called biblical scholars who try to convince you that the purple was so faded that some thought it looked red and make all kinds of color charts to prove their point. The robe was dyed with Tyrian purple and Tyrian purple only gets brighter when exposed to sunlight and weather. God didn't forget what color the robe was nor did the men writing down the scripture make a judgment call as to what they saw.
We do sometimes when one of us thinks something is blue and another person swears it is green. No, each man saw what God wanted him to see. If you are a Christian contact me and I will explain the answer. If you are a non-believer then the answer is not what you need to be focusing on at the moment. Once you fully understand God's plan of salvation and accept that then you can move on in growing in truth.
If you continue to reject God then I wish you a long life.
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