1. I read many spiritual books, I know many people who are spiritual teacher and who can freely communicate with God, I can myself communicate with God to some degree through meditation too. (Every person has the ability to do so, but again bible doesn't teach how. Do I need to tell you why?) This is how I find out the truth for myself. I don't understand how can someone claim they know all the truth if they read nothing but bible.
2. There's no such thing as sin. What is "sin"? Wrong doing against other human being? You tell me. Something church came up with to keep people guilty and therefor in fear? God can not get hurt or offended, but many people get hurt and offended on behalf of God. Look at T-Bones post. Perfect example.
3. Lol It doesn't. Just because religion teaches that, doesn't make it true.
There have been a lot of good post since I last posted yesterday, and I am going to try to address as many of them as I can in this post real quick. I have a busy schedule today and I don't know if I will be able to participate here much today.
Concerning whether or not a stillborn child or infant or young child dying and the fate of their soul. Many of you have this picture of God as being this giant prick who is just looking to smite people at the first opportunity. In my Bible I read that God is love, and this is the core of Jesus' life and teachings. While we are all born with a predisposition to often choose our interest over others, and choosing wrong over right, young children are pretty innocent in that they don't know any better. Outside of the Catholic church, and I think they have backed off of this, a child that has died has done nothing to deserve damnation and goes to be with God.
Speaking of the Catholic church it does not make the rules for every Christian. There was a little incident known as the Protestant Reformation that broke the church, and as a result many Christians do not really give two craps about the Pope or any other Catholic institution or ideal. The Bible is clear that man needs no other mediator between Him and God since Jesus wiped away our sins. This too touches on some theology that I don't have the time to get into right now.
Maverick, concerning your post about knowledge and faith. Faith does not have to be blind faith. My faith is based on what Jesus did on the cross, which I read about in the Bible. My faith is based on what has transpired since then in my life personally, as well as other natural revelations concerning God. Do I know for sure that Jesus is the Savior? No, but I am not ignorant of what He did, and I choose to put my trust in what He did. Does that make sense? When I wrote about ignorance of the Gospel, I meant in the case of someone who had never heard of Jesus death and resurrection before. I hope this helps.
Bigironkiller. Yes man brought sin into the world, but he didn't have to, he chose to. God also gave him to tools to not bring sin into the world. Jesus already died for sins, and when He returns it will be to rid creation of the source of all sin (which is not mankind).
Bryan, the scripture that you mentioned sounds like Old Testament Jewish Law. I imagine that scripture is found in either Deuteronomy or Leviticus, but I do not know for sure and I don't have the time to look at the moment. Regardless if this scripture is in the Bible, it is definately going to be a part of Jewish Law. After the Exodus from Egypt the Jews became a theocracy, and they had very strict laws concerning diet, religion, etc. If this was a law understand it applied to ancient Jews, not Christians or even modern day Jews.
Bigironkiller. Concerning your question about ignorance and faith. I believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, even though I didn't personally witness it. I don't see how this makes me ignorant of anything else though.
Dmitri, were you ever a part of the church? It seems as though you have had some experiences either with your family or some other exposure. Regardless it has left you pretty bitter and with little understanding of Christianity.
Again the Bible does not discourage communication with God. Jesus constantly tells us to pray, as He did.
What is sin? It is essentially anything short of the perfect righteousness of God. Sin not only hurts us but it hurts the people around us. Murder, war, rape, politicians:aargh:, these are all the byproducts of sin. I would love to hear your ideas on good and evil.
No one needs to live in fear of God, I don't. If we are all God then was Hitler, Sadaam Hussein, Jeffrey Dahmer, were they all God too? Does Ghandi and Mother Theresa have to rub elbows with these guys for all eternity?
I don't claim to know all of the answers, and I don't just read the Bible, but it seems that you are certainly sure of your beliefs, so why is it better that you are sure of your beliefs but it is bad that me and Oz are sure of ours?
That is all I have for now, hopefully I can come back to this thread later.
