What is your opinion of Jesus?

[Ajax]

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Matthew 16:27

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not because of works, lest any man should boast"
Romans 3:28 "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."
Galatians 2:16 "...yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified."

Just to remind you that apart from "he will repay each person according to what he has done", Jesus also said: "For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished" (Matthew 5:18).
Even Jesus' brother confirmed this.. "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." (James 2:24)

Really fed up with the huge number of contradictions in the Bible..Unbelievable!!

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not because of works, lest any man should boast"
Romans 3:28 "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."
Galatians 2:16 "...yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified."

Just to remind you that apart from "he will repay each person according to what he has done", Jesus also said: "For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished" (Matthew 5:18).
Even Jesus' brother confirmed this.. "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." (James 2:24)

Really fed up with the huge number of contradictions in the Bible..Unbelievable!!

There is no contradiction imho, someone may a good soul as a result of realizing God within, that is sufficient, they do not need to prove it to anyone.

 

[Ajax]

There is no contradiction imho, someone may a good soul as a result of realizing God within, that is sufficient, they do not need to prove it to anyone.

What about someone with a good soul but without God within?

Very strange you find no contradiction. Jesus and James say exactly the opposite from Paul.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

What about someone with a good soul but without God within?

Very strange you find no contradiction. Jesus and James say exactly the opposite from Paul.

The soul is the God within, regardless whether a person is aware or not aware of it.

 

[Ajax]

The soul is the God within, regardless whether a person is aware or not aware of it.

So you mean that people who don't believe in the Christian God, have no souls?

 

[Ben Dhyan]

So you mean that people who don't believe in the Christian God, have no souls?

No, they have souls but are not aware of it at the mental level.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

The internal evidence supports these early dates for several reasons. The first three Gospels prophesied the fall of the Jerusalem Temple which occurred in A.D. 70. However, the fulfillment is not mentioned. It is strange that these three Gospels predict this major event but do not record it happening. Why do they not mention such an important prophetic milestone? The most plausible explanation is that it had not yet occurred at the time Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written.”

I would say an even more plausible explanation is that they were written after the destruction of the Temple, but the authors wanted the stories to seem prophetic to an audience that would have known that the Temple had been destroyed.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Yes, Mt is the most Jewish gospel but it's relation to contemporary Judaism is complex. There are also signs of separation from Jewish synagogue and it's leadership at that time.

Relevance? I was responding to your assertion:

... First Christian writings were by Paul and Gentile Christians. There are no eyewitness accounts. Nothing contemporary from Jerusalem or Galilee. [emphasis added - JS]

Either:

• you were excluding gMt from the list of first Christian writings, or
• you were asserting that its author was a "Gentile Christian.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

The only response I have is what do you believe in yourself? Will you save you?

This doesn't help me understand what you were asking about in the OP.

I'm not saying I go to Jesus because I feel lost or confused I'm saying my belief came from my very own death and what I saw isent explainable. Your entitled to your own beliefs and your own desires and that's your choice but I lived something you never even came close to experiencing.

Okay...

Your OP asked other people for your opinions. Was it your intent from the beginning to make the discussion about your near-death experience?

 

[wellwisher]

I'm curious on why people don't believe in Jesus?

It has to do with the human ego; will and choice.

One historical significance of the symbolism of Jesus, that is overlooked, is connected to Jesus dying on the cross. What his death symbolized, among other things, was the sacrifice of the gods. Before Jesus appeared, only the gods, children of gods; semi-gods or new gods could kill other gods. Humans could not kill the gods. The idea of humans now able to kill the son of God; kill Jesus, meant that the age of the gods among us, had come to an end.

This separation of the times, is written in time, as the transition from BC; before Christ to AD; Anno Domini. The gods were no longer among the humans; inner self was separated by a wall, since the human ego was ready to lose its training wheels. The inner self; gods, are still there, but separated. Jesus said, you cannot come where I am going. The gods had left the stage.

Jesus also said, I have not come to bring peace, but division. Each household will be divided. This sense of, even family division, was due to the ego and the onset of more individual ego will and choice. This was amplified, after Jesus, since without the gods among them, what had once held cultures together, on the same page; cultural gods can see and hear you, the collective superego starts to lose unity; Rome declines to base degeneration due the ego choice and will.

The change went from the once collective evidence of groups; cultural holy books and rituals, into faith, which is a more individual ego endeavor. The training wheels were taken off humans, leading to the dark ages. The ego was initially unsteady and had to relearn to steady itself into the Middle Ages, and then in the Reformation, Age of Discovery and Age of Science, to the present

To the faithful, God still exists, but is separated. However, one can still connect to God through faith; inner self. While to the disbeliever, there are no miracle from the gods among us, to convince the ego; what it can see. The ego, without faith and without tangible evidence, is even more separated and more self contained. This is all part of the evolution of human consciousness; onset of AD=version 3.0. Today we have version 3.4, while is ready for the latest version or 4.0.

 

[Ajax]

No, they have souls but are not aware of it at the mental level.

I have bad news for you...there is no such thing as soul. There is no need for an invisible, immaterial and vague soul. The human brain is proven to be responsible for all the attributes given to soul.

But you didn't answer my question earlier in relation to faith vs works, which you didn't find contradictory. What do you think will happen to people who are just, never hurt anyone and are loving to others, but they don't believe in the Christian God?

 

[Mock Turtle]

It has to do with the human ego; will and choice.

One historical significance of the symbolism of Jesus, that is overlooked, is connected to Jesus dying on the cross. What his death symbolized, among other things, was the sacrifice of the gods. Before Jesus appeared, only the gods, children of gods; semi-gods or new gods could kill other gods. Humans could not kill the gods. The idea of humans now able to kill the son of God; kill Jesus, meant that the age of the gods among us, had come to an end.

This separation of the times, is written in time, as the transition from BC; before Christ to AD; Anno Domini. The gods were no longer among the humans; inner self was separated by a wall, since the human ego was ready to lose its training wheels. The inner self; gods, are still there, but separated. Jesus said, you cannot come where I am going. The gods had left the stage.

Jesus also said, I have not come to bring peace, but division. Each household will be divided. This sense of. even family division. was due to the ego and the onset of more individual opinions; ego will and choice. This was amplified, after Jesus, since without the gods among them, what had once held cultures together, the cultural gods can see and hear you, the ego starts to lose unity; Rome declines to base degeneration due the ego choice and will.

The change went from the once collective evidence of groups; cultural holy books and rituals, into faith, which is a more individual ego endeavor. The training wheels were taken off humans, leading to the dark ages. The ego was initially unsteady and had to earn to steady itself; Middle Ages and the future; The Reformation, Age of Discovery and Age of Science.

To the faithful, the God still exists, but is separated. However, one can connect to God through faith. While to the disbeliever, there are no miracle from the gods among us, to convince the ego; can see, so the ego, without faith and evidence, is more separated and more self contained. This is all part of the evolution of human consciousness; AD=version 3. Today we have version 3.4, ready for version 4.0.

On the other had, crucifying was a common practice for dealing with many criminals in Roman times, so wasn't it a bit odd that Christians chose this particular image as a signifier for their religious belief? As to being perhaps - you are criminals for not thinking properly - and as to accepting evidence without sufficient provenance? And so it seems as to will and choice - believing or not believing implicitly in religious texts - such as why would one choose the Bible over the Qur'an, or any other such belief?

 

[Ajax]

It has to do with the human ego; will and choice.....While to the disbeliever, there are no miracle from the gods among us, to convince the ego; can see, so the ego, without faith and evidence, is more separated and more self contained. This is all part of the evolution of human consciousness;

The internet is responsible for this, not the human ego. It opened people's minds and offered knowledge which was restricted before. Every priest could say anything he wanted before. Now people can read in seconds any part of Bible, read opposing comments and judge by themselves. That is why atheism and agnosticism has risen dramatically in the past 20 years

 

[Firenze]

Obviously, Matthew didn’t consider the passage of Isaiah 7:14 to have “hidden“ meaning, but believed the it accurately applied to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, I do.

And that makes both of you wrong. I find it astounding that any honest Christian would be oblivious to the well known problems with the virgin birth verses. Here are the undisputed facts:

The Hebrew word used in this verse is 'almah' - which everywhere means simply 'a young woman of child bearing age'. If the Hebrew author had meant to describe her as a 'virgin', he would have used the word for virgin that is used in every other case in the OT where a virgin needs to be described. That word is 'bethulah'.

What history records is that when the Tanakh was being translated from Biblical Hebrew to Koine Greek, (becoming the Septuagint) the translator screwed up - and for 'almah', used the word 'Parthenos' - which describes a virgin. It was a simple, and now well recognized, ERROR of translation. The author of Matthew, clearly ignorant of the Hebrew, went with this false translation, and apparently on his own - decided 'hey, it looks like we can claim a virgin birth for Mary!' And here we are. 2 billion Christians the unwitting victims of a scribes errant pen and a gospel authors ignorance.

I'm attaching documentation that confirms all this, and includes a discussion John Martyr is said to have had with a Jew that complained about this exact issue - the mistranslation of Almah to Parthenos.

How the Septuagint Made the Prophecy of the Virgin Birth Possible

[The following is an adaptation from the book The Cities That Built the Bible (HarperOne, 2016) by Robert R. Cargill, pages 147–153, reprinted with permission.] One of the most famous examples of a new biblical tradition that may have been created by a (mis)translation in the Septuagint (the Greek

bam.sites.uiowa.edu

 

[Firenze]

Someone reaching out to save those who are in trouble, headed for destruction is… offering help. Implying bribe or threat is nonsense.

Headed for the destruction designed by.... who again? I'm sorry, but it's sophistry to deny that your god doesn't present an either/or proposition. It's 'love' is anything but 'unconditional'. There is the condition of blind belief, followed by the dire consequence of eternal destruction if you don't meet the first condition.

 

[Redsilverxx]

That is a matter of belief, not a matter of fact.
Although I believe that Jesus was a perfect man, I don't believe that Jesus was the only perfect man who ever walked the earth.

Well answer this then have you ever met someone who hasent hated someone or hasent judged

 

[Redsilverxx]

Headed for the destruction designed by.... who again? I'm sorry, but it's sophistry to deny that your god doesn't present an either/or proposition. It's 'love' is anything but 'unconditional'. There is the condition of blind belief, followed by the dire consequence of eternal destruction if you don't meet the first condition.

God works in mysterious ways only know unto himself he doesn't try to control your life he wants you to choose him or the devil with your own free will otherwise he would have controlled you by now

 

[Redsilverxx]

It has to do with the human ego; will and choice.

One historical significance of the symbolism of Jesus, that is overlooked, is connected to Jesus dying on the cross. What his death symbolized, among other things, was the sacrifice of the gods. Before Jesus appeared, only the gods, children of gods; semi-gods or new gods could kill other gods. Humans could not kill the gods. The idea of humans now able to kill the son of God; kill Jesus, meant that the age of the gods among us, had come to an end.

This separation of the times, is written in time, as the transition from BC; before Christ to AD; Anno Domini. The gods were no longer among the humans; inner self was separated by a wall, since the human ego was ready to lose its training wheels. The inner self; gods, are still there, but separated. Jesus said, you cannot come where I am going. The gods had left the stage.

Jesus also said, I have not come to bring peace, but division. Each household will be divided. This sense of, even family division, was due to the ego and the onset of more individual ego will and choice. This was amplified, after Jesus, since without the gods among them, what had once held cultures together, on the same page; cultural gods can see and hear you, the collective superego starts to lose unity; Rome declines to base degeneration due the ego choice and will.

The change went from the once collective evidence of groups; cultural holy books and rituals, into faith, which is a more individual ego endeavor. The training wheels were taken off humans, leading to the dark ages. The ego was initially unsteady and had to relearn to steady itself into the Middle Ages, and then in the Reformation, Age of Discovery and Age of Science, to the present

To the faithful, God still exists, but is separated. However, one can still connect to God through faith; inner self. While to the disbeliever, there are no miracle from the gods among us, to convince the ego; what it can see. The ego, without faith and without tangible evidence, is even more separated and more self contained. This is all part of the evolution of human consciousness; onset of AD=version 3.0. Today we have version 3.4, while is ready for the latest version or 4.0.

I think I believe in Jesus because it's so obvious this world is torn between good and evil which is written in my KJV Bible the desert is flooded with water and fish which is written in the bible wars and diseases will come upon you but the lord tells only his followers not fear or what man can do to you but it's all written it's all happening over generation and generation and because my prayers wouldn't be answered if I prayed to a false god and I'm blessed

 

[Ajax]

Obviously, Matthew didn’t consider the passage of Isaiah 7:14 to have “hidden“ meaning, but believed the it accurately applied to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, I do.

Well, in this case you only have to read the chapter.
First of all the author says that the sign is for king Ahaz. Secondly he writes that a young woman IS already with a child (ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει), not will be with a child. Thirdly that before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

What is the point of giving Ahaz a sign that will happen centuries later? How would a sign that will happen centuries later reassure Ahaz? And who were the two kings who were looking to capture the land of Israel, at the time Jesus was a young boy?

Isaiah Reassures King Ahaz
In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzzi′ah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remali′ah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not conquer it. 2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with E′phraim,” his heart and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go forth to meet Ahaz, you and She′ar-jash′ub[a] your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, 4 and say to him....

It's the most obvious fraudulent attempt to connect an event to a prophecy, ever. And the most stupid one. The author of Matthew was an expert on these kind of attempts, but he was ignorant of Jesus' best friend's resurrection.

 

[InChrist]

....and about 2.5 million unnecessary killings (excluding the flood) in the Old Testament..

From your finite perspective; unnecessary.
An infinite, omniscient Creator would have all the facts.