My entire outlook on life is walking in faith with Jesus. I actually spend very little time thinking about the end times because I know I am saved. As for Hal Lindsey, he is not a prophet from God. He can't predict the future. What he did in his books was show all the prophecies that have been fulfilled and basically guessed about a timeline for the rest of the prophecies. I do not put any faith in Hal Lindsey. I simply say his books a very good resources for prophecy. His only mistake was guessing dates. I put my faith in Jesus and the Bible. Nobody knows for sure when Jesus will return. All I know is that almost all the prophecies that needed to be fulfilled before the tribulation have been fulfilled. There are many more prophecies that will be fulfilled during the 7 years of tribulation.
lol, a god day. that's cool and all, but doesn't the biblical creation basically say man came into existence 'as is'? that is what i am arguing about, man's evolution vs. man's creation. the time table doesn't really affect this discussion. for all we know, it could've taken god 9 billion years to make man, but instead of us evolving, he was just concentrating real hard while on the celestial crapper, and then boom, out we came, just as we are today. they are incompatible, as far as i can tell.
So cml750, does god sending jesus constitute god changing his immutable mind or was that his plan all along? What's your stance of free will? Do you think of the old testament god like an angry drunken god and the new testament god as a sort of hippie god that loves everyone or does his personality change not send up any red flags for you? I find your posts fascinating.
<iframe title="Youtube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uX-Aldx-LM0#t=1m02s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So, one of my favorite jokes is: When God made the universe, it took him 6 days. The stars, our sun, the moon, earth....then shaping the Earth. The rivers, the valleys, the mountains the oceans....the plants, the animals. And after all that, He liked His creation. He liked what He saw. And He said this is good. And on the sixth night He was tired. But before He rested, He then realized than He forgot about Texas. It was still flat with no shape at all. God says to Himself; darn nab it, I'm too tired. I'll do Texas in the morning; I need some sleep. Next day, God wakes up to finish Texas then realizes it has crusted over ...flat...as hard as a rock...cannot be shaped into mountains and valley's like Colorado. He says..."Oh shoot. What will I do." Then in God's infinite wisdom He says, "I know, I will make people who like it that way."
not really. Just ask your nearby Catholic priest that question. It's oral history...by man....time and place. Catholics don't take this so literally.
So if a person spends his life doing good deeds....but he doesn't believe in any religion....he wouldn't be saved?
If he never knew about choice, then he would be saved. If he explicitly knew and rejected faith, then why should he be "saved" if he consciously rejected the notion. anyhow, "save" is a human concept. so is "religion." just do good, and let the cards fall. if your issue is with "faith," you might not want to argue about it. it's unfair to.
It depends how you look at the bible. I think in the end it's not up to any person who is "saved" or not. The early Christians thought very little about that. It's also in the bible that Those who know love know God. So certainly a person who spends their life doing good deeds knows love. Again it's in the bible that the Kingdom of Heaven is inside of you. So it isn't really a place that you go, which turns the whole idea of "saved" and end times around for some folks. It's what the bible says, but everybody is going to focus on different parts of the bible and have different ideas on what it means. I think when coupled with the messages Jesus gave people and the way Jesus lead his life, that what I mentioned above is more in line with what I believe to be Christianity than sending souls to heaven or hell, or end times and all of that. I could always be wrong just like the end times heaven and hell Christians could. Either way it isn't for me to judge. I believe I need to follow my faith, and conscience. I have so much work to do on that, that I don't really have the time or energy to tell others they are going to hell or won't be saved.
Interesting. Let's say you knew about the choice, and rejected, but the reason you rejected it is linked to circumstances. So you met the wrong people, or you read something which you didn't know is not true, or you have some kind of mental issues from being abused as a child, or youv'e been through some kind of loosely relevant trauma. Even more common: what if you were born into a super conservative Islamic Pakistani family in some village somewhere and you were aware of the choice, but you've only seen Christianity through the eyes of an imam and you know that everyone around you believes the punishment for apostasy is execution? On a separate note, what if you discovered that there are problems with the accuracy of the bible? does that 'excuse' you?
I think it's a little disingenuous to say that "creation theory" doesn't involve man spontaneously being created out of nothing into his present day form. That seems to be the majority accepted understanding, at least. If you want to bend and stretch it to encompass other things, then that's fine, but at least acknowledge that you're tossing aside traditional "creation theory" in the process. And, especially in the context of this thread, I think it is safe to say the OP is presenting this question to us as "did man come into being spontaneously as is" or "did man evolve from a lower life form"? Otherwise, why would he pit the two ideals against each other? So, I'm just trying to play by his rules, because otherwise this thread doesn't make a lot of sense.
Not sure what you are saying. Faith is all that matters. In secret or other. And I said nothing about one religion being better than another. I in fact said "religion" is a human invention...as well as the notion of being "saved." I'm pretty sure Alanis Morissette would not care if you were one religion or another. Maybe we are getting off topic....I think it is unfair to argue about someone's "faith." Everyone has their way, and it crosses all religions and belief systems. cheers.
Uh, did you see the first response to the post...by Juan Valdez. OP might have wanted this to be cut and dry...but it isn't. OK, that's fine, but the Catholic church does not buy into "creation theory" by your definition. So why can't I say that? Am I not allowed to say that?
It's as cut and dry as he wants it to be. Unfortunately, he didn't define the parameters very clearly. But, like I said, it seems fairly logical that the only reason he would pit the ideals against one another is if they were competing/incompatible ones. At least, I know that is how I would frame the question, because otherwise, you're just going to end up with the mess we've got now, running around in circles. So yeah, if made to choose between the theory that man came into existence exactly in his present form by the hand of god OR the theory that man came to be by evolving from lesser life forms (regardless of where life originated, be it from god or not, and also regardless of any divine plan or intent), then which would you choose? That is my interpretation of his question. Otherwise, like I said, you end up with two ideals that aren't incompatible, and therefore, the question is rendered moot, and I doubt it was the OP's intention to ask a moot question.
You're right we are getting off topic, nevermind. I was just wondering about the dynamics of being saved in a case where your personal circumstances led you to reject faith.
