Sorry. Responded before my first coffee. I apologize. Methodist when I go, which is not often enough, but obviously my views are not endorsed by Methodism.
I know it's been brought up already, but here it is again... You're right!!! The devil doesn't make anyone do anything! You do evil things (sin) because you want to do it, it comes straight from your heart! ....... ....... .......
Doesn't really work that way. The Pope gets consensus, but yes, can make an Executive Order. That's the way organizations, armies and businesses work who have a top exec. The organization of the Catholic church is not as unique as you make it out to be. You're infatuated with the term "papal infallibility." It really just means he can change the church's doctrines/laws at will...like an Executive Order. The only difference is the Church is concerned about moral laws, not civil laws. So, many people get their panties in a wad when the Pope say Abortion is wrong. They are saying that for their own Church. Just ignore it if you don't agree. If you're a Catholic, then you might have a dilemma when you disagree with your the Church doctrines. I don't get way you seem so concerned that the Pope and the Cardinals define moral laws for their Church, by continuously interpreting the Bible and updating those interpretations to present issues, as civilizations grow. It's really quite simple and very organized. The organization of the Catholic Church is what many other religions don't like. They think it's too formal with antiquated symbolism and rituals with no room for true faith, which is a very fair complaint. But all old religions are that way: Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.
Read my post about the name Lucifer or check the Wikipedia entry on Lucifer. If you still don't get it ask and I will explain. Though I think for a pure Bible literalist, the fact that the author of Luke conflate the two may be enough to prove me wrong. It is just one sentence, so it doesn't say everything dirrctly, but it does kind of hint some aspects of the full back story, I guess. It sort of says he's a fallen angel, but not the rest. heypartner, I think you are arguing way past the point I was trying to make when I brought it up, so let's move on.
Well you can't skip the Earthly toil but you can go straight to Heaven when you die. All you have to do is accept Jesus and the sacrifice he made. Jesus was/is the Lamb of God. The blood of the Lamb of God washes away all sins. All you have to do is accept it.
I can understand a universe that develops human life dispassionately. But it makes no sense to me that an omnipotent sentience could come up with this bull**** out of infinite possibilities and think yeah, this is the way it should go down.
Heaven could be like an arcade, and Earth is one of the games. Maybe you'll choose to be a different creature on a different planet next time, now that you've experienced the bull humans goes through on planet earth.
Or you could believe that all of humanity is already saved by Christ's actions and that individual acceptance is situational and contextual, depending on access to the Gospel. But that's a debate for another thread
You're trying to make those two verses go together... Lucifer is only mentioned ONE time in the entire bible and when Lucifer is mentioned it's real easy to make the interpretation that they are talking about a man... Some say Lucifer is referring to the King Of Babylon. And some say Lucifer is referring to Adam because both he and Jesus are referred to as the son of the morning ---> the beginning and the end... Also, these religions are a spin-off of how the ancient Egyptians worshipped and they worshipped the stars and planets. Jesus is the sun, Satan is Saturn, and Lucifer is Venus. The Vatican even spent billions of dollars on a telescope that's in Arizona and named it Lucifer.
But I require evidence that the claim is within reality. I know, I know... such an evil request does deserve an eternity of being tortured.
You make it sound so simple. Depending on your denomination, you might also be forced to accept a few or all of the these things: - earth is 8-10K yrs old - reject evolution - hate gays - slavery is ok - oppose abortion - etc and all the other baggage that comes with the bible. Accepting him changes your world view in so many different aspects (good or bad). It is basically a lifestyle change and for what, the promise that you MIGHT go to a good place after you die? That seems like an unfair proposition.
This is only a strict, literal interpretation. Don't be so ignorant about the freedom of interpretation allowed (and encouraged) in religions. The Catholics do not believe the Earth's age is defined by Genesis. Nor do they reject revolution. What you are missing is that even Genesis says God created the world in 6 days. No where does it define how long a God day is. Could be billions of Earth years. Stop criticizing all religions by assuming everyone believes the strict, literal interpretations of oral history put into book form.
Okay because the Jews had a perfect concept of Jesus? and that concept maintained until ~0 AD and they signified Jesus as the Sun? Genesis 1 actually goes against the idea that the Sun is prominent as the "Light" existed before there was a Sun showing the Sun has nothing to do with it. If you don't think Isaiah 14 is an allusion that's fine I wasn't going for Lucifer just info about Satan's fall which Luke does mention explicitly.
Jews...??? I said ancient Egyptians who worshipped Horace the sun god who were around long before the so called Jews. And there are other ancient civilization who had deities who were born of virgins and crucified as well like in India. And from the ancient people is where you get the religions you worship today. I didn't say what I think... I was just bringing up the different interpretations. What I think is people are foolish for putting their faith in anything the Vatican has had their hands on. Christians are all bent out of shape about homosexuals when they have been worshipping a picture of Jesus which is actually a picture of a homosexual European (Cesare Borgia). Go figure... Lol..
