Has Your life been better since becoming a Christian?

[systemstrike_7]

I'm not saying his word is fallible. I'm saying that the people who wrote and copied and translated his story over hundreds of years are fallible. Some with sloppy handwriting, some with lazy eyes, some with shaky fingers, some with agendas of their own. When the canon was accepted, it was judged upon how much each gospel conformed to the church's own beliefs.

[Floatingaxe]

I'm not saying his word is fallible. I'm saying that the people who wrote and copied and translated his story over hundreds of years are fallible. Some with sloppy handwriting, some with lazy eyes, some with shaky fingers, some with agendas of their own. When the canon was accepted, it was judged upon how much each gospel conformed to the church's own beliefs.

Oh my goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Trust God to preserve His Word! He is so able to do that, and has done so throughout the ages.

Mark 9:24

The father instantly cried out, "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!"

In Hebrews 1:

By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God's nature. He holds everything together by what he says---powerful words!

The God of the universe can hold planets in their orbits without wavering, so can He not keep His Word from adulteration? He wants us to know His Word--He makes it clear for us! It's a small thing for Him. It's a feeble mind that gets in our way, systemstrike. Move past that.

[maguschris]

I'm not saying his word is fallible. I'm saying that the people who wrote and copied and translated his story over hundreds of years are fallible. Some with sloppy handwriting, some with lazy eyes, some with shaky fingers, some with agendas of their own. When the canon was accepted, it was judged upon how much each gospel conformed to the church's own beliefs.

Oh my goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Trust God to preserve His Word! He is so able to do that, and has done so throughout the ages.

Mark 9:24

The father instantly cried out, "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!"

In Hebrews 1:

By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God's nature. He holds everything together by what he says

[Guest]

Well, my intellect begs me to leave behind such childish notions.

Scary statement from a "believer" especially when you look into The Word of God!

"Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." (Mark 10:15)

the God of the universe can hold planets ion their orbits without wavering, so can He not keep His Word from adulteration? He wants us to know His Word--He makes it clear for us! It's a small thing for Him. It's a feeble mind that gets in our way, systemstrike. Move past that.

"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." (Psalms 12:6)

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (Matthew 24:35)

The puzzle to my thinking is how any half-way intelligent human could imagine they can wrap their little minds around God and His abilities and how they could think they have anything that allows them to stand in judgment of God.

When His tells us something in His Word, it is the gospel truth.

If God talks about our hearts (or liver), then He is telling us the Truth!

Our evil little man hearts and tinny little man brains are not going to change The Truth one iota!

If we are to grow in Truth and Grace, we must accept His Word!

If we don't, we are lying when we say we belong to Jesus!

The Spirit of The Living God dwells not in us!

"Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." (2 Corinthians 3:3)

There's The Heart again and The Holy Ghost is writing The Word of God upon it!

So, for those who claim to belong to The Lord Jesus Christ, answer this question from your heart of hearts......

"...... What think ye of Christ? ......" (Matthew 22:42)

[Guest]

"He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered." (Proverbs 28:26)

[7thseal]

This is a practical question. If you have been a non-Christian for part of your mature life and a Christian for part of it, is your life better in physical ways? Is it worse in physical ways?

Mine has become better physically, after receiving salvation, in the sense that the burdens and worries of this life have been lifted from my shoulders and replaced with peace. I believe this in itself can add more years to ones life.

Has it become easier...nope actually its become harder because I've become aware of and have entered the spiritual war upon receiving salvation. Its a daily fight against Satan and his demonic followers. He will never let up until I enter into the presents of my Lord Jesus Christ. But with Christ as my foundation then I remain on solid grounds, and as much as Satan might try...I will not be removed.

[Guest shiloh357]

My next question would go like this:

If you answered "Yes" - in the practical sense, your life is better, does your faith then have a dependency on that being true? If you would answer *that* as "No", or if you answered "No" in the first place - your life is not better in practical terms, then why would you say "God is faithful"?

Why should we say that God is "faithful" when He allows us to suffer pain, when he allows us to make wrong decisions that bring about unpleasant (to say the least) consequences? Is God "faithful" when he allows us to be victims of someone else's thoughtless, irresponsible decision/actions?

The purpose of Christ coming to earth to rescue mankind from the bondage of sin, was not to make our lives better, but to make us better. God works from the inside out. He changes us, and though we still fall short of the ideal (which does not ever take Him by surprise), His grace is there to pick us up, forgive us and allow us to get back on the right track.

Why do we trust someone? Because our experience tells us that the person usually doesn't harm us and/or actively tries to make things better for us. If a person harms you, or doesn't protect you from harm they would be able to prevent, it is normal to withdrawl trust from that person.

Actually trust comes from a proven track record of faithfulness and integrity. What you are doing is "setting up" a faulty definition of trust, by narrowing the definition to fit your reason for rejecting God, or his existence.

God's faithfulness cannot be challenged on the grounds that I have not been perfectly safe, and spared every trauma, every heartbreak, every bit of physical pain. God's never promised to protect me from all of those things; He has NEVER promised that we will not suffer, that we will not face trials, betrayal, or heartbreak. Christian women just like nonChristian women still have pain and even sometimes die in childbirth. We are redeemed from the curse of the law, but not from the curse of the Fall.

Because God never promised us that we would shashe` to heaven on pillowy clouds and never face another problem or set back does not serve as an adequate test of His faithfulness. The test of His faithfulness should be applied to what He HAS promised, and in that way, His track record is spotless.

One of those promises is that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Jesus is the one person who will never break your heart. He does not give us the solution or the answer to suffering, rather He gives us Himself, and suffers with us. That is what makes eternal life so wonderful. Eternal Life is not a place or a state of being, or even a quality of life. When Jesus gives us Eternal Life, He gives us Himself.

[Guest shiloh357]

I'm not saying his word is fallible. I'm saying that the people who wrote and copied and translated his story over hundreds of years are fallible. Some with sloppy handwriting, some with lazy eyes, some with shaky fingers, some with agendas of their own. When the canon was accepted, it was judged upon how much each gospel conformed to the church's own beliefs.

Actually there are over 25,000 copies of the NT alone, and aside from some spelling errors, when these mansuscripts are compared, there is no variation. That is simple historical fact, that a lot of people who are not personally familiar with the manuscript evidence are not willing accept.

In fact, the Bible has more ancient manuscript evidence to support it's accuracy than do the writings of say, Plato or Pliny the Younger. The earliest copies of the NT go back to around 125 A.D. That means that there is only a 25 year time span between the earliest known copy and the original manuscript.

Compare that to the Tetralogies of Plato who lived in the 5th centry B.C. The earliest copy of the Tetralogies is 900 A.D. That is a time span of at least 1,200 years between the earliest known copy and the original, AND we only have 20 early manuscripts. Yet people will put more faith in the writings of Plato than the Bible.

Aristotle, Euripides, Demosthsenes, Pliny the Younger, Homer, Suetonius, Sophocles etc., none of the writings of these men of the ancient world have anywhere near the manuscript support for accuracy that the Bible has, and the timespan between their originals and the earliest known copies are far greater than the Bible.

[systemstrike_7]

I'm not saying his word is fallible. I'm saying that the people who wrote and copied and translated his story over hundreds of years are fallible. Some with sloppy handwriting, some with lazy eyes, some with shaky fingers, some with agendas of their own. When the canon was accepted, it was judged upon how much each gospel conformed to the church's own beliefs.

Oh my goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Trust God to preserve His Word! He is so able to do that, and has done so throughout the ages.

Mark 9:24

The father instantly cried out, "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!"

In Hebrews 1:

By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God's nature. He holds everything together by what he says

[systemstrike_7]

I'm not saying his word is fallible. I'm saying that the people who wrote and copied and translated his story over hundreds of years are fallible. Some with sloppy handwriting, some with lazy eyes, some with shaky fingers, some with agendas of their own. When the canon was accepted, it was judged upon how much each gospel conformed to the church's own beliefs.

Actually there are over 25,000 copies of the NT alone, and aside from some spelling errors, when these mansuscripts are compared, there is no variation. That is simple historical fact, that a lot of people who are not personally familiar with the manuscript evidence are not willing accept.

In fact, the Bible has more ancient manuscript evidence to support it's accuracy than do the writings of say, Plato or Pliny the Younger. The earliest copies of the NT go back to around 125 A.D. That means that there is only a 25 year time span between the earliest known copy and the original manuscript.

Compare that to the Tetralogies of Plato who lived in the 5th centry B.C. The earliest copy of the Tetralogies is 900 A.D. That is a time span of at least 1,200 years between the earliest known copy and the original, AND we only have 20 early manuscripts. Yet people will put more faith in the writings of Plato than the Bible.

Aristotle, Euripides, Demosthsenes, Pliny the Younger, Homer, Suetonius, Sophocles etc., none of the writings of these men of the ancient world have anywhere near the manuscript support for accuracy that the Bible has, and the timespan between their originals and the earliest known copies are far greater than the Bible.

Can you point me to a source where I can find this 125 manuscript? And do you not believe that almost a century of time is prone to legendary development? And who are we to know that these "canonical" gospels are not really "gnostic" gospels? In my mind, the Gospel of Thomas seems just as "canonical" as the other three. (I don't include John, I dislike John. He seems a bit anti-semetic and much more gnostic than Thomas.) I have a hard time believing that the life of Jesus was accurately portrayed by the gospel writers(whoever they were). I personally don't think Jesus would have agreed with just about any of the stuff that Paul wrote. Jesus was always faithful to Yahweh and the Jewish Law. He never said to stop practicing it, he just added on to it.