The signs Mark 16 ,including protection from Snakes ' Were to validate the accompanying message . As God has always done. Moses is the best example of this . Jews require a sign .
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Its Good news .
- Thread starter John1.12
- Start date
When Paul is bitten by a snake ahd survives, its a sign to him God is still with him .
The Constitution of the Mosaic Law was only given to the ancient nation of ancient Israel.
The other nations basically did Not have the opportunity to seek the God of the Bible.
Even before Columbus, American Indians lived and died without knowing the God of the Bible.
Not in the context its given . To sinners .
Rom 1 .18 onwards gives the example, that everyone is without excuse .
The message is at Mark 16:18 that snake handlers would recover. How many never recovered ???
all those that were preaching to the Jews at that time ,would have that Gift . Its Signs to Jews ,accompanying the message.
17And these SIGNS shall follow THEM that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18THEY shall take up serpents; and if THEY drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt THEM ; THEY shall lay hands on the sick, and THEY shall recover .
None would have been hurt .
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
There very well might not be a second chance.
40: O MY SERVANT! Free thyself from the fetters of this world, and loose thy soul from the prison of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come to thee no more. The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 36
I meant the bible says there is no second chance .
The word “Gospel” means “good news”
Paul clearly defines the Gospel for us. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Vs. 3 Christ died for our sins
Vs. 4 And that he was buried
Vs. 4. He rose again the third day
According to the Scriptures.
They had believed it. Vs. 1
Received it and stand on it
There are many who try to change the Gospel
By limiting it
– only certain nationalities
-- only certain races
-- only certain people (chosen by God)
By adding to it.
-- Works (keeping the ten commandments, obeying the
golden rule etc.
-- Baptism
-- Other church additions
- Lord’s supper
- Church membership
By taking away from it.
-- No resurrection
-- No atonement ( his death meant nothing)
Paul warned against changing the Gospel in any way. Gal. 1:7-9
The Gospel is Good news
I. It demonstrates God’s love for us.
Rom. 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
InChrist
Free4ever
I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts, You have posted several lengthy points. I’m sorry, but I think you have included too much for me to respond to in one post. My time is limited. If you want to choose one thought or point at a time, that would work better.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
Why would it matter who said it?
Where in the Bible does it say that?
Moonjuice
In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey
I've determined that the writings of Baha'u'llah are writings of Baha'u'llah, not the writings god. Probably because I was easily convinced by your title "The Writings of Baha'u'llah" (you seem like a trustworthy fellow).
If you want to know why the world hasn't already converted to the Baháʼí faith, or Islam, or LDS, or any religion based on the teachings of a prophet, its really not that difficult to grasp. Ask yourself why don't you believe Mohammed is the last and final prophet? Why are you not convinced by Joseph Smith's story? Or Moses for that matter - his own followers sometimes didn't believe him.
IMO, like any other supernatural claim, the default position should be to reject the claim until sufficient evidence is presented to convince you. In this case, these fellas want us to believe that the creator of the universe wants to deliver a message to the entire human population, and the best way to do that is to only tell a single person the good news, alone, in private. History has proven this is a terrible way to communicate a salvation message to an entire population effectively. This forces us to put our faith in the messenger, rather than god directly. Which to me only further proves there is no way an intelligent creator would do this.
If you are convinced Baha'u'llah's writings, what convinced you? If you can share something in particular from those writings, I'd be happy to take a close look and explain specifically why they are not convincing me any more than any of the competing claims.
Moonjuice
In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey
No problem, I'm happy to share. You asked what do I propose, that is the short answer. Feel free to respond to whichever point you'd like to respond to. Maybe the one you most adamantly disagree with will save you some time.
Please tell, what do you mean with “concept of sin”?
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
God does not write because God does not have human hands. That is one reason God uses Messengers but there are other reasons I won't get into right now, but I can explain that later if you want me to.
I believe that Mohammed is the last and final prophet of the Prophetic Cycle of religion, and that is what Mohammed meant when He said He was the Seal of the Prophets, but I do not want to go off on a tangent right now since that would take a lot of explaining. Suffice to say that the Bab and Baha'u'llah ushered in an entirely new religious cycle which is called the Cycle of Fulfillment because all the prophecies of past religions, including the Bible, will be fulfilled during this religious cycle.
I believe that Moses was a Messenger of God, but I do not believe all the stories in the Old Testament are literally true. I do not believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet, I believe he was a seer, as that is according to the authoritative writings of the Baha'i Faith. Once one accepts the claim of Baha'u'llah, they accept the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, but that is another long story.
That is the way it has always been done, God has always used Messengers to communicate, and it has succeeded in accomplishing what God set out to accomplish, even though it does not appear that way from a 'limited' human perspective.
Once one believes/knows that the Messenger was sent by God, putting our faith in the Messenger it is the same as putting our faith in God, because we believe/know that the Messenger was God's Representative on earth.
Initially, it was not Baha'u'llah's Writings that led me to become a Baha'i. I explained that in a post that it was because of the facts surrounding the Baha'i Faith that I initially became a Baha'i, and I explained to adrian009 what happened after that. Here is that post:
adrian009 said:
Does historical fact matter or should religious myth be accorded the same status as fact? We’re discussing religion after all. How important are facts to you within your religious belief or worldview? Does it really matter? Why or why not?
Facts are more important to me than anything else, and that is why I became a Baha'i in the first place. The first thing I did when I heard of Baha'u'llah back in 1970 was look in the Encyclopedia Britannica to find out of Baha'u'llah was a real person. After that I read whatever books had been published about the Baha'i Faith at that time and I read the Writings of Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha, but what really convinced me that the Baha'i Faith was true was Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era because there were a lot of facts in there.
Emotions can be very misleading so I rely upon facts. As I always tell people, I never had any mushy-gushy feelings towards God or Baha'u'llah; I just know that the Baha'i Faith is the truth from God for this age because of the facts surrounding the life and mission of Baha'u'llah and because the theology is logical.
It was only 43 years after I had become a Baha'i that I connected with the Writings of Baha'u'llah on both an intellectual and an emotional level when I read Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh for the first time with serious intent, and that is when I realized without a doubt that Baha'u'llah was speaking for God. My life has never been the same since. Before that I had believed in God and I knew Baha'u'llah was a Messenger of God; after that I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that God existed and Baha'u'llah was His Representative for this age. Such was the effect that little book had upon my heart and mind. In the Preface to the paperback it says:
“Gleanings is a book for meditative study. It is not a book of history and facts, but of love and spiritual power. No one can understand the faith of the thousands of martyred followers of the Bab, unless he catches the spirit of this book. No one can appreciate why thousands of Baha’is give up the comfort of settled homes and move into strange countries to tell the people about Baha’u’llah, unless he clearly glimpses the spirit of this book.” Gleanings
And now that I have clearly glimpsed the spirit of this book I guess I am a lifer.
#22 Trailblazer
That passage implies that God is evil. I'm not sure this is good news.
Jeremiah Ames
Well-Known Member
yes, but it’s dangerous to presume what that means.
thinking logically, one could surmise that a loving God would not “create” a place of punishment or torment
then one would have to ask: what exactly is this special place that the unrepentant go to, and exactly HOW does it come about
a study of the ENTIRE Bible, not just salient verses, can give us all the answers, but before seeking answers, one must seek the Lord first