JCMS

Since we don't have a recorded picture of Jesus face anywhere, how do we know this is Jesus' face? I have a picture of Jesus right there on my living room wall. He's tall and has long flowing blonde hair with the most perfect germanic facial features I've ever seen Plus he's wearing a wonderful long flowing dress. What do you mean we don't know what He looks like? I stand corrected No..no...no..... Jesus has dark brown curly hair (flowing) and has an olive complexion and beautiful brown eyes... he's holding a lamb and there is a lion at his feet.... I have no clue who you are talking about - but this is what Jesus really looks like. WAIT - WE ARE ALLLLL WRONG.... my friend Liu from China says that Jesus is of smaller build, has Asian features and black straight hair, brown eyes.... Gee.... Glad we are getting this all worked out!! You guys are all too funny.

This photo and small caption are from the Associated Press, on front page of today's Yahoo News. http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/ph...cbc75d45fc97be/ I, for one, think it's pretty cool.

I can already imagine that Heaven is an amazingly beautiful place. I'd like to see a glimpse of hell, just to see exactly how bad it is. For me, I feel it'd motivate me even more to turn from my sin, and walk as closely with God as possible.

I have never heard of vegetarian being a religion... and I've never seen it argued that the Bible "taught" vegetarian practices. A vegetarian is simply someone who does not eat meat, for any range of reasons, like myself.

I was able to Google it and find the YouTube video too. That was absolutely AMAZING!!

This is exactly why I became a vegetarian. I just couldn't continue to support the cruel, inhumane abuse and slaughter of God's beautiful creatures in factory farms.

My fears... Rejection by the Lord. Not being a good Christian. Not making it into Heaven, and going to hell instead. ... And roaches. They creep me out.

I've actually seen that quote several times before. Does that mean someone who is an athiest, and somehow finds, and finally believes in God, cannot be saved? Actually, I re-read the quote. Does that mean someone who is a Christian, but leaves and becomes fully athiest, believing in no God what-so-ever, and then 20 years later comes back to Christianity, cannot be saved?

There is nobody in inner court that are not saved. Your question would do better in outer court. Actually, my question IS for Christians. Those who lost there way even 20 years ago, but are now saved, God-loving Christians. I'd like to know their process. Then again it may be in the wrong place, I wasn't sure where to post in initially. You can move it to whichever forum you think it fits best.

Anyone here ever deconverted as a Christian? (Went from being a Christian, to giving it up, and becoming athiest, agnostic, or a non-Christian religion, ect.). How did that go? What was the process, how long did it last, and what was the process of finding your way back to Christianity?

It's sad... I never seen more judgemental attitudes, until I became a more active Christian. And sadder yet, non-Christians are quicker to lend a helping hand without passing judgement, than almost any Christian I've met. Now that's sayin' something.

Great reply, I fully agree. And to those who were wondering how I could be shocked, and say that this happens often, I guess because it just baffles me. It doesn't baffle me that someone can be a Christian and become an athiest. Doesn't baffle me that an athiest can become a Christian. The part that made me stop and go, 'wow', was because this was a preacher for 17 years. Someone who spent their life preaching the word of God everyday for nearly two decades. It's just harder for me to comprehend how someone can become so... lost, after being so... what's the word... "involved" in his faith, as a preacher anyway. That probably didn't come out the way I meant it, but hey, I tried.

Older article, but interesting nonetheless. ...I have to question *how* a 17 year veteran preacher can deconvert into an athiest over the course of 4-5 years. That's just mind-boggling for me. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2004/nov/13/f...her_deconverts/ Don't talk to Dan Barker about God, Jesus or the Bible. He doesn't believe in any of them. It's kind of surprising for a man who maintained a touring, Christian musical ministry for 17 years, including eight years of full-time, cross-country evangelism. But Barker, 55 -- and an atheist since 1984 -- says his story is not all that unusual. "It's very common, (but) you just don't hear about it. I have about 25 stories of other clergy who have lost their faith and are now atheist or agnostic. They have to keep preaching, because that's what they do. It would shatter their world," he says. Barker, author of the 1992 autobiography "Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist," will speak Wednesday at Kansas University about his "de-conversion" from evangelical Christianity to non-believer and the issue of separation of church and state. His talk is sponsored by the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics, a KU student group. Barker is also co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Madison, Wis. "We wanted to have kind of a substantial event in the fall this year to spread awareness of our group. We wanted to do something that would be a little special," says Stephanie Kirmer, 20, a junior from Topeka and past president of the student group. "Dan (Barker) comes from such a fascinating and unique background, we thought this would spike interest in the community. It definitely has." Denied funding The pastor-turned-atheist's upcoming visit has sparked a degree of controversy at KU. The group's request for $1,250 in funding from the Student Senate to help pay for Barker's campus appearance was recently rejected, says Andrew Stangl, 19, president of the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics. "The bottom line is they decided SOMA is a religious organization seeking money to fund a religious speaker. In the spirit of keeping neutrality in those matters, they decided it would be inappropriate to give us the money we had requested," Stangl says. The group plans to pay for Barker's appearance using $200 that the Senate gives to student organizations that are officially registered with KU, plus some of the group's own savings. Barker has declined his usual honorarium and is only receiving money for his travel expenses, according to Stangl. "He's been so unbelievably awesome in dealing with this," Stangl said. "He's just an incredible individual." Human reason, kindness Barker's falling away from his Christian faith was a gradual process that lasted four to five years. He publicly announced his atheism in 1984. "It's like having a large debt canceled -- 'Wow, this is great.' There's no more fear of hell or judgment, no more pessimism about human nature, no more guilt about thinking for yourself," he says. In addition to being the author of four books about "freethought" (a term sometimes used to describe atheism and agnosticism), Barker has also written many songs about this subject. Among their titles are: "Friendly, Neighborhood Atheist," "You Can't Win with Original Sin" and "God-Less America." Barker says that since becoming an atheist, nothing has taken the place of Christianity in his life. "Nothing has to. You can live a really good life without a former belief system or religion," Barker says. "In my case, I do have -- instead of a former faith -- an extreme confidence in human reason and in kindness. Because what else is there?"

Actually, there has been a lot more data collected since the 80s. According to the article you site, the results were inconclusive. It is not an open and shut case. There's also talk that the cloth has had repairs done to it throughout its history, and there's speculation that the carbon dating was done, whether purposefully or not, on a piece of the cloth that had been repaired and not on an original piece. Either way, I think the find is an amazing one, and I personally lean more towards it being authentic. Of course, no one is 'worshipping' the cloth to call it a cloth idol. For Christians, it's an awesome find to see a photo of what could be the actual cloth that our Messiah was wrapped in after his crucifixion.

Extremely interesting article! Thank goodness God is in control!

I like that one! Me too! I thought that one was wonderful.

Other than Psalm 37:4 - Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. There is: Job 22:26 - Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God. Psalm 22:8 - "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." Psalm 35:9 - Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation. Psalm 111:2 - Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Psalm 112:1 - Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands. Psalm 119:174 - I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight. Isaiah 61:10 - I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Hope that helps.

Thanks everyone for all the replies, they were extremely helpful and gave me a lot more understanding of that verse and its meaning. I also agree with travelerr, BlindSeeker thank you so much for investing so much time into such wonderful, well-written replies. They were very helpful and full of knowledge.

Hi all, hope I have this in the right area. If not, please forgive me in advance. I'm extremely curious as to the meaning of Matthew 27:46. Matthew 27:46: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I don't understand this verse, for many reasons. 1, being that Jesus is supposed to not only be the son of God, but God himself. If he is God himself, why is he calling out to God? Isn't that an indication that the two are separate? And secondly, Jesus coming to earth was to fulfill prophecy written in the OT. Jesus knew what his mission was on this earth, and the future events that would take place. Why did he feel that he was being forsaken by God? That whole verse throws me off, or am I reading it completely out of context?

"May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership." - Psalm 109:8 NIV. Wow... gotta say, I'd like to have a bumper sticker like that.

Believer, absolutely fantastic post. And, to be honest, it couldn't have come at a better time. I was having a bad night tonight due to people just as you described. And boy, is it a test of patience! Praise God, I've diverted my desire to dive into the conflict, and instead focused on Bible scriptures today. Spent more time lurking at Worthy today than I have in a long while. to you and a wonderful post.

Wow, that is so amazing. I love how you can see the scanned copy of the original, and then read the translation on the side. 1600 years old... that is phenominal.

A notebook is good for traveling, but why use it when you have a computer? Word or notebook is a great way to store ideas and scripture. Many times faster and you don't have to worry about where you wrote what .. you have a search function in Word. I use many tools when studying His word. Here is a link to a few. Bible Gateway, this allows me to search scripture, copy and paste and use different versions when others use different versions. Scripture4all allows you to download an interlinear bible where you can see how scripture was written in the original text, including to ability to see what was added to the bible for clarification. Strongs Concordance and Lexicon allows me to get the very basics on the meaning of a word or phrase, but I take the number and do a deeper search in a complete word study dictionary in either Hebrew or Greek. Think of studying this way ... a carpenter can build a house with just a saw, ruler, hammer and nails. Yet, a carpenter who has better tools can build a better house and faster. Very wonderful reply, thank you so much for those links. I was actually googling bible study tools online awhile back, but couldn't figure out which ones were the better ones to try. Glad you have experience with these, and shared the links, I will definitely check them out.

I know everyone studies their Bibles differently, so I was wondering how do you study yours? I'm looking for ways for me to be able to retain and understand verses a bit better. Typically, I just read a passage, and meditate on it. But lately, I've been thinking about getting a notebook and writing down parts of verses that I feel are profound for me, or ones I have questions about, and study them in detail. I feel this would give me a better undertaining of the Lord's word, and help me retain the verse better. I'm still learning as I go, when it comes to studying my Bible. I'd love to hear the routine others have when they study their's.

Very good scripture quote, thank you for that. And I think, more than anything, that I should just take his Word for what it is, and quit trying to "decode" it. I know, that in the end, His will and His plan are perfect, and are set in stone for a reason.