What do you object to regarding Christianity and Jesus?

[emeraldgirl]

I know my redeemer lives! That's the crux of it all. Once you meet Jesus, you KNOW that you KNOW. That is something those who have never met Him do not know.

I don't worry about it. I do, however want to introduce you to Him!

Blessings!

Floatingaxe, I believe you are well-intentioned, but your post is the type that partly drove me to apostacy. No answers, just a lot of fluff. Can't explain why God would do this or that, but Woohoo! isn't Jesus great! It's Christianity's inability to give plausible answers to tough questions that is most damning, IMO. Although I've read a few books and websites that at least try to answer.

If you even just take one question that I posed, I bet you can't answer it. I'll bet you don't have an answer as to why God would require perfection, but create us fallible. Does it bother you that God would "have" to send Jesus to be tortured and murdered to free you from the penalty of a system He created? Why can't the wages of sin be drinking Chamomile Tea? "To cleanse thyself from sin, drink Chamomile Tea twice a day."

[Floatingaxe]

I know my redeemer lives! That's the crux of it all. Once you meet Jesus, you KNOW that you KNOW. That is something those who have never met Him do not know.

I don't worry about it. I do, however want to introduce you to Him!

Blessings!

Floatingaxe, I believe you are well-intentioned, but your post is the type that partly drove me to apostacy. No answers, just a lot of fluff. Can't explain why God would do this or that, but Woohoo! isn't Jesus great! It's Christianity's inability to give plausible answers to tough questions that is most damning, IMO. Although I've read a few books and websites that at least try to answer.

If you even just take one question that I posed, I bet you can't answer it. I'll bet you don't have an answer as to why God would require perfection, but create us fallible. Does it bother you that God would "have" to send Jesus to be tortured and murdered to free you from the penalty of a system He created? Why can't the wages of sin be drinking Chamomile Tea? "To cleanse thyself from sin, drink Chamomile Tea twice a day."

Unbelievable! Well for starters, blood is the requirement for sin. The washing of blood is the perfecting. God requires perfection as He cannot consort with sin. He is incapable of it.

Yes it does cause pain for me to know that Jesus was sent to die for my sin! That is why I have repented and taken up His free offer of forgiveness. To spurn it is even more of a wounding for Him. To take up apostacy is to say goodbye to life forever. Accepting His plan for redemption puts me in relationship with the God of the Universe! My evil is paid for, and I am deemed righteous...Now I have JOY!

God has done ALL the work for us. There is nothing we can do to gain acceptance or forgiveness apart from accepting His free offer. What a great deal!

[TheProcess]

What is being missed in this whole discussion is that trying to evaluate and judge God's actions is a little crazy. God is the omniscient and eternal one. How can we judge anything that He chooses to do as good.

God is love, unconditionally. Seeing this work in my life, I find can find no fault with God. What I have read and heard in His Word has rung true for me in my life and in my reflections on life. So, to me, yes--God is good and God never lies.

If, "trying to evaluate and judge God's actions is a little crazy", then how do you know that the Bible isn't filled with examples of the Bible God acting in an completely immoral way? I mean, if we aren't in a position to judge, then how would you know? You want to say that we can't judge the behaviour of God, but you also want to make the pronouncement that God is "love".

You can always be skeptical about our ability to judge the ethics of a Deity, but I can't see why we wouldn't be able to do it. On the theistic hypothesis, our moral intuition comes from God (theists often claim this at least) and I can't see why we couldn't use this moral intuition to judge scripture to make sure that it is in keeping with coming from a morally good God. And this seems like a good idea: so that we aren't deceived by immoral "scripture" that didn't really come from a divine source. Wouldn't God want us to judge the ethics of supposed scripture in this way?

And Christians seem to accept this in practice. Do Christians not judge the ethics of Allah? They certainly do, so how can they then say that the ethics of their own God shouldn't be judged?

[Floatingaxe]

Allah doesn't exist. Why would we contemplate "it"??

[TheProcess]

Unbelievable! Well for starters, blood is the requirement for sin.

Are you thinking of Hebrews 9:22, "without shedding of blood is no remission"? If so, as I have pointed out recently, the New Testament is in error when it says this. Blood sacrifice was one way to atone for sin in the Old Testament, but it certainly wasn't the only way.

[Floatingaxe]

Unbelievable! Well for starters, blood is the requirement for sin.

Are you thinking of Hebrews 9:22, "without shedding of blood is no remission"? If so, as I have pointed out recently, the New Testament is in error when it says this. Blood sacrifice was one way to atone for sin in the Old Testament, but it certainly wasn't the only way.

Sin is always atoned for by the shedding of blood..even Adam and Eve--God killed an animal and made a covering...as a foreshadowing of the covering of Jesus' blood for us.

[TheProcess]

Unbelievable! Well for starters, blood is the requirement for sin.

Are you thinking of Hebrews 9:22, "without shedding of blood is no remission"? If so, as I have pointed out recently, the New Testament is in error when it says this. Blood sacrifice was one way to atone for sin in the Old Testament, but it certainly wasn't the only way.

Sin is always atoned for by the shedding of blood..even Adam and Eve--God killed an animal and made a covering...as a foreshadowing of the covering of Jesus' blood for us.

As one example:

But if he be not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon: for it is a sin offering. (Leviticus 5:11 KJV)

The sacrifice of flour doesn't involve the shedding of blood, does it?

[secondeve]

In another thread I posted to TheProcess

Why not just list to us the things you find immoral? Tell us what parts you dont like. Lets discuss those things.

I would like to have a civil, open, discussion into the things that TheProcess finds immoral about Christianity (his words). Any one is welcome to post their objections about Jesus for discussion. I encourage all believers to post in this thread too. All to His praise and glory.

The word 'immoral' isn't one I'd apply to Christianity. The reasons I don't believe, with the possible exception of some attitudes towards homosexuality, have nothing to do with Christianity being moral or immoral and everything to do with the fact that I don't think the Bible is true. As mentioned, the only thing I have to contribute to the specific 'immoral' discussion is homosexuality, which I'll talk about now - I just wanted to explain that this isn't the reason why I disbelieve the Bible.

OK, so. From my own observation, I would say that homosexuality is, almost always, an innate tendency. There isn't a gay gene, but there are other reasonable ways in which this is possible.Some people choose it after experimentation, because they swing both ways, or because of something traumatic in their lives, but mostly my belief is that no choice is involved. There are lots of people who don't want to be gay, but nonetheless have those urges - if it was just as simple as choosing, then I can't see how this could happen to the extent it does. Homosexuality, when between two consenting adults, hurts nobody. And yet Christianity percieves it as sinful and immoral, which, as I don't believe most people have a choice, is a belief I can't condone.

[emeraldgirl]

Unbelievable! Well for starters, blood is the requirement for sin. The washing of blood is the perfecting. God requires perfection as He cannot consort with sin. He is incapable of it.

That IS the point, floating ax! WHY is blood the requirement to atone for sin! God requires perfection, yet he did not create perfect beings. That is my whole point. Have you ever thought past the bible verse long enough to wonder WHY DOES BLOOD ATONE FOR SIN???

[Floatingaxe]

Unbelievable! Well for starters, blood is the requirement for sin. The washing of blood is the perfecting. God requires perfection as He cannot consort with sin. He is incapable of it.

That IS the point, floating ax! WHY is blood the requirement to atone for sin! God requires perfection, yet he did not create perfect beings. That is my whole point. Have you ever thought past the bible verse long enough to wonder WHY DOES BLOOD ATONE FOR SIN???

Of course I have. Any thinking individual would. God is a mystery, but my thoughts on the matter come from Leviticus 17:11...

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.

Our eternal life is based upon the giving up of Jesus' lifeblood. Blood is life. His Blood brings Eternal Life. I didn't question it once I realized this, as God is sovereign.