40 Protestants attempting to remove books from the OT
The Jewish Apocrypha, as Jerome and others realized long before Martin Luther, was never part of the "OT," was never Jewish Scripture
1 why are there so many contridictions in the Bible?
There aren't any
An example of this is where God talks and almost condones slavery of other people, but in the New Testament, Jesus talks about loving everyone, including your enemies?
Were u saying u shouldn't love slaves?
Another thing that confuses me is the fact that a lot of Christians say that the Old Testament is as relevant today as the New Testament is. Why is it relevant today that i own a slave and that I am allowed to strike him because he is my property?
Christ owns you, if you've been bought by Him, in the New Testament
And then it goes on to say that if I strike my slave and he dies immediately, I will be punished. But if I strike him and he only dies a day or two later, then I cant be punished because he is my property. If it is not meant literally for it to be relevant today, then what is the meaning of this?
allegorically.
What exact portion?
And why does God make Revelation so difficult to understand?
Cuz He wants people to depend on Him
Why cant it be written in such a way that we can understand what he is trying to show us?
Come! Let him who's thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely, Rv 22:17
3 if God wants us to come to him out of our own free will, why cant he make things a little more simple so that we can make an informed decision?
Cuz's already simple as can b
certain things...I cant get my head around and make a decision about
then give 'em to the Lord
about Revelation...the symbolism of the Horse
which horse?
4 that God wrote the Bible? That's a peculiar attitude that you seem to find only in the various post-Reformation churches.
i myself'm unaware of anyone, anywhere, who teaches that God wrote the Bible in the sense of pen, pencil or word processor. Which's evidently what the gentleman in post 4 means
the Bible was written by men not God. They may have been inspired by God
Unlike dear James the Persian, the Bible-writer Paul was definite that "all Scripture's God-breathed," as its source. But what God and Paul really want to do supremely is to write God, in Christ, as Spirit, into our hearts, 2 Corinthians 3:3; Jeremiah 31:33; Psalm 45:1, 13-14, 17
but they certainly weren't dictated to
Not audibly in most cases: no
the Bible was never intended to be understood outside of a well defined oral Tradition that was passed down through the Church
If dear James Persian thinks his Tradition of which he writes is so defined, to say nothing of well-defined, then perhaps he might care to say what it is? (If he hasn't in part yet---i'm only up to post 6 as i write this.) Then, we ourselves could, perhaps, if it's permitted in James' Tradition, compare them ourselves: his Tradition, with the prophets' and apostles' written Scriptures. To quote authority, the Lord Jesus often in the 4 Gospels said "It is written..."
it's only when you throw out that Tradition, which is what the Reformers did, that you start to have problems of interpretation like this.
Some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying, Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they don't wash their hands when they eat bread. And Jesus answered and said to them, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? Matthew 15:1-3
The Tradition of the Church is pretty clear on what it means but, for this very reason it remains the only book of the New Testament that is not read in the Liturgy.
i guess that may make sense to religion: Don't read what's clear
6 Rapture that everyone talks about. What is it really?
Enoch was taken up in Genesis 5. The Lord Jesus was taken up, ascended, too. That's what i mean by "rapture" in this context
I have been told that it is before Jesus returns, where people will just disappear. They are there one minute, and the next not. Is this a story that people make up or is it correct?
Perhaps if u walk with God. "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him" Genesis 5:24
9 that Christians will be taken away by God so that they don't have to suffer the Tribulation before Judgement Day.
4 nonsensical heresies like the Rapture...
9 (19th century) and dangerous heresy. has absolutely no basis in either Scripture or Holy Tradition and was completely unknown to the Church for its first 1800 years
According to 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 Revelation 3:10 12:6-17 14:14-16 and Luke 21:36 most Christians alive then will pass through the tribulation of Antichrist's time. Becuz they fail to walk with God as much as Enoch and others did.
Like James says: this is contrary to the predominant and popular view of "rapture" mostly seen and heard in America.
Which, however dangerous even, doesn't make the "popular view" we're condemning
"heresy." Since it doesn't pertain to Christ's person or redemptive work
the originator of he belief never even claimed to get it from the Bible but rather from the visions of a woman called Margaret MacDonald.
If dear James the Persian's referring to the dear Christian John Nelson Darby, then James's mistaken. In that Darby, like James, realized that "disappearing" is in the Bible, although John Nelson Darby was mistaken that rapture prior to Antichrist will be "free." Additionally, the dear sister in Christ, Margaret MacDonald, received the "vision" from her Lord that the "sign of the Son of Man which will appear in heaven" in Matthew 24:30, was none other than the Son of Man Himself. Which's a wonderful vision. I too got help from her in that regard.
Thanx
