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  1. J

    The Credentials of Christ as the Promised Seed

    Most Christians view Isaiah 53 as prophesying the suffering and death of the Messiah, while many Jews see the "suffering servant" as referring to the course that the Jewish people as a whole have to walk. But couldn't both be true? If a prophesy really comes from God it should have enough...
  2. J

    Satan

    There is another OT passage which I think is referring to Lucifer/Satan, that is Ezekial 28:12-19. It starts out talking about the King of Tyre, but from the content appears to bear meaning on two different levels. "You were in Eden, the garden of God" and "You were anointed as a guardian...
  3. J

    God's opposition to homosexuality. Why?

    I couldn't find homoafetivity in the dictionary online. Does that mean something like affection between people of the same sex? You use the word "need" sex change operations. What is the standard by which you judge that someone would have that need? Again, I want to go back to the point of...
  4. J

    God's opposition to homosexuality. Why?

    I think this post touches on a point that most discussions largely ignore. I know not all agree, but many religious people believe that we are composed of both a spirit and a body. For many, when your physical body dies you continue on in a spiritual body in some kind of spiritual life...
  5. J

    God's opposition to homosexuality. Why?

    I'm not sure what you mean. Would you mind explaining a little more? I think we do have free will, which God will not supersede or overrule in order to take a short cut to the kind of world he wants to see. But that free will is in present circumstances bound within certain limitations that...
  6. J

    God's opposition to homosexuality. Why?

    Every person is created by God and is a child of God, but I don't think that means that God created homosexuality. It is possible that some people are born with a tendency to want to express love in a homosexual way, although I do think one's formative experiences in childhood may have a big...
  7. J

    God's opposition to homosexuality. Why?

    Well, I thought I gave it a good try. In reality, it is not just homosexuality, but also adultery and any form of sexual immorality that undermine God's ideal of love, in my view. All people seek after God in their hearts, but are pulled away from God by unseen forces that work on multiplying...
  8. J

    God's opposition to homosexuality. Why?

    So why is homosexual behavior grounded in love a misdirected love? And why should it receive such brutal condemnation? I would think god would be delighted that two people found so much love between them that they were moved to physically express it, even if it is between two people of the same...
  9. J

    God's opposition to homosexuality. Why?

    Are you speaking about someone who abstains from sexual activity, because they have homosexual inclinations, but they think that is wrong? Or are you speaking more generally, for instance, including those who abstain from sex because of a religious discipline, or those who just think that...
  10. J

    God's opposition to homosexuality. Why?

    Let me try. IMO if God is opposed to homosexual behavior, this can't be just some arbitrary dictate. It would have to do something with God's basic nature and his purpose for creating everything. What could that be? Inevitably this gets into a debate of the nature of God and his purpose, so...
  11. J

    Non Trinitarian Christians - Why Was Jesus Special?

    I believe Jesus was unique in that although a man, he was born without original sin. But to become Lord and Savior, it wasn't enough to be free of the original sin at birth. He also had to be victorious over all of Satan's temptations, (as Adam was unable to do). He became the first perfected...
  12. J

    If Adam had not sinned.

    Yes, both Adam and Eve bear responsibility for eating. But if the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is a symbol of Eve, then the fruit is a symbol of her love. Eve's love was eaten two times, and both times both she and someone else ate. If the second time it was Adam, her intended...
  13. J

    If Adam had not sinned.

    The Tree of Life also appears in Revelation Chapter 22. It's leaves are for the healing of the nations (22:2) and those who wash their robes (are purified of sin) can eat of the tree of life (22:14) So it is not God's will to permanently bar us from eating from the tree of life. By Adam and...
  14. J

    If Adam had not sinned.

    I agree that the destiny of all is heaven eventually, but begging to differ, it does matter very much whether Adam sinned. If he and Eve hadn't all the suffering of thousands of years wouldn't have taken place. Also, God himself has undergone great suffering due to the fall of Adam and Eve...
  15. J

    If Adam had not sinned.

    Yes, but not by himself. Without Eve and a family it wouldn't be heaven.
  16. J

    Why Abrahamic faiths struggle to coexist.

    In the case of the struggle between Islam and Judaism, I think the spiritual root is in the struggle and resentment between the two wives of Abraham, Hagar and Sarah. Their respective sons Ishmael and Isaac and their descendants inherited and carried on that struggle, over the central question...
  17. J

    Question on the death of Jesus

    Jesus was somehow in the position to redeem the mistakes of Adam. Because Adam had forsaken and turned away from God, to restore that God had to turn away from Jesus while he hung on the cross. Jesus could not feel the presence of God for the first time. But he had to maintain absolute faith...
  18. J

    Original Sin

    Jesus is reported by John's gospel to have said "You are of your father the devil and your will is to do his desires." He responded this way to the Pharisees claim that they were descendants of Abraham, by implying that their connection to Satan was a stronger more basic one. I think this is...
  19. J

    Original Sin

    I agree that there is an alienation from God, and that it is related to original sin. But the question arises, where did that alienation come from? Are we born with it? Is it our natural state? And I agree that the solution to the alienation has to do with love. But, if so, did anyone ever...
  20. J

    You're in heaven....now what?

    If it were like you say, it might get boring, but I think it's a lot more than that. We create our reality in heaven, and anything and everything good on Earth can be reproduced and improved upon in Heaven. There are mountains, trees, flowers, everything, just thousands of times more...
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