jossshr

I would check out the following verses: Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus commanded his disciples to teach in his name Mark 6:7-13 Jesus gave them authority and sent them out to teach even during his ministry John 13:15 He commands them to do as he did because they have witnessed it, how could we follow his example since we can't witness it John 14:4 Jesus doesn't say where he is going here but that the disciples knew. Yet he wants the rest of the world to know him. How are they supposed to know him without the apostles teaching John 14:26 No one would know what Jesus said had it not been for the Holy Spirit coming down on these men. We know these men had the HS from Acts so they are validated to teach from experience through the Holy Spirit Also the fact that their teaching was from God is validated by their ability to do miracles.

Well cjrose, I guess I need to clarify what I was saying. Of course their actions have consequences but what you and eve are talking about are human made consequences. Meaning of course you are held accountable by the police if you murder or steal. But that system was set up by humans to keep order. What I am saying is that overall in humans there is a general idea that it is good to do somethings and bad to do other. Now if we are the product of evolution then we should see that same sense of morality in the animal kingdom, but it is not there. So somehow every human being was given a sense of morality. How do you explain that without a divine influence? this thought comes from CS Lewis in mere Christianity and he explains it much better than I. Try reading the first section of that book if my bumbling does not come across right (as it must not have in my first reply)

I guess what I still don't understand is why do you value other people if they are just another type of animal who won't be around for more than a few years? Why would you even have morals? I would seek pleasure at every moment and the thoughts of others would be inconsequential cause I'll be dead soon as will they. If my actions have no consequences then who really cares what I do? I would only do what I want at every moment. How do you explain this universally accepted code of morals (i.e. its bad to murder, steal, etc.) that is not present in any other species? Was there a point in time where someone sat all of humanity down and said this is wrong and this is right? Thanks for your post. I really enjoyed it.

I don't think we can say that he didn't have a choice because we have a free will. I think the question you need to ask is whether or not he believed that Jesus was the Messiah from the beginning. It would seem that Judas was never really that great of a guy, since he stole from the disciples' moneybag, but that does not mean he was always bad. Just cause you stole doesn't mean you can't go to heaven. I read that the Greek word used in Matthew for when Judas said he betrayed Christ "does not indicate sorrow for moral obliquity and sin against God, but annoyance at the consequences at an act or course of acts and chagrin at not having known better" The quote is from the study notes on Matthew at soniclight.com So the writing would seem that he just regretted the decision, not felt it was morally wrong. Of course I don't know if just regretting the outcome is enough to commit suicide. So I effectively didn't say yes or no here...sorry cjrose I should be finised and publishing an article on Judas' death on Monday on my site www.churchhopping.com, hopefully you can catch up and release yourself from purgatory

At no point did I express my opinion on the subject, nor say that I doubted anything. i have been doing the research and have an opinion, but did not express it here because I wanted to see what others had to say. So I don't know where you are seeing my doubts. Even if there were doubts, has nothing ever been written where the author presents the facts of the story and leaves you to draw your own conclusion? And if it is the truth then why would we shelter someone from certain things? If it is the truth then it doesn't matter because it will be proven true. Are you truly seeking if you do not look at both sides or are you just being led down a path with a blinfold?

Your thoughts on Judas' death. In Matthew 27:3-10 it says that he gave back the money, hung himself, and the chief priests bought the field. In Acts 1:18-19, judas bought the field, fell headlong and his bowels burst. I think the usual explanation is that he hung himself, the branch broke and his body burst. How about the field though? I think I have an explanation for this but wanted to see what you guys think?

Interesting theory CJ. I hadn't thought of that one. I figured they still had more of the "super gene" that Adam may have had, to give him all possible DNA. But the giants survival due to the climate is a good thought.

The KJV was the original English translation more than 400 years ago. It does not use more recently discovered manuscripts. If you really want an authority then you might want to check out the NASB or the ESV which are more updated literal translations. The King James actually has a lot of questionable translations mainly because it is so old. The passage I referenced in my previous post is one of them, but it has Mark 16:9-20 just like all other bibles but with a footnote

I'm not attacking the canon. But you may want to research the Comma Johanneum. It was in the KJV and NKJV yet with the more recent translations such as the NIV, ESV and NASB, it has been taken out. So God didn't take that piece out for a couple hundred years.

Actually two of the most important and oldest manuscripts don't have that portion of Mark and the context of what is said seems kind of wierd I found this article about it when researching.

Not to spam my site, but I recently did a lot of research on the giants of the OT and wrote about them in three parts. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Basically there are four main groups of giants: Nephilim, Anakim, Emim and Rephaim. Part three tells all the references to the giants in the bible. Hope this is useful to anyone.

I am writing a new article on my site about the ending of the book of Mark. There is a lot of evidence that the book of Mark ends at 16:8 and that 9-20 were not written by Mark. I wanted to get some of your thoughts on this if you have heard about it. Most Bibles have a foot note after Mark 16:8 if you want to check it out.

The only problem I have with this question is that the Bible makes God out to be pretty spectacular and hopefully enough so that finding other people is not my first concern in heaven. Just sitting and gazing at God's glory should take up the majority of eternity. Then again eternity is a long time, so I'll probably find some people I'd like to hang out with.