How do people want to grow and come closer to the Real God

In this world we see lots of religious groups and can find lots of people they believe in god/God. But we can wonder in which god or God they believe. The majority seems to believe in an other god than the God of the Bible. That god of the Holy Books is a Singular Spirit Being, though the god of the majority of Christians is for example a three-headed god who at moments does not know everything and can not do everything. The opposite, the God of the Bible is an All-knowing God Who is able to do everything. It is a god Who cannot be seen by man, who also can do nothing to Him. The god of those so called Christians is a god who was seen by many (though they did not fall death) and could be killed by man. This should have many wondering more about that non-eternal god who even did not know when he would be coming back or when the end-times would come. That last bit though being of very importance, because than it would be too late for people to change of idea or to come to God.

Jesus told many parables where he showed how careful we have to be not to miss the boat. He warned with his stories how when not being attentive we can miss his return and even worse miss our chances to enter the small gate of the Kingdom of God. Sharp-eyed we should be looking for the signs of that times to come.

In the capitalist world people come more under pressure and with many modern tools and electronic gadgets lots of people are drawn away from the Eternal Divine Creator God. People have become convinced they themselves can create the world how they want it and can do whatever looks best for them, to make them richer. The majority came to love the world and want to be full part of that world, they think they can manage and control.

In this world not many are willing to confess with their mouth the sent one from God who came to save the world. Not many are willing to believe that man would have been taken out of the dead. they should know we are given a chance to be saved.

Romans 10:9 UKJV That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in yours heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

The majority do not want to see how Jesus is that “sent one from God” by whom we can come closer to God because he is the way to God.

John 14:6-7 UKJV Jesus says unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me. (7) If all of you had known me, all of you should have known my Father also: and from henceforth all of you know him, and have seen him.

God provided the Book of books to guide us and to allow us to grow in knowledge of God and of Christ. But not many people are interested in taking up those books and to read them. They prefer to follow their own traditions and if they want to believe and go to church, they prefer to go to a church where not to much of their free time is taken up and where they do not have to listen to much of those old writings. How more entertainment there is given in their church how more they love it. Readings from Scripture are of no interest to them.

Jonah and the giant fish in the Jami’ al-tawarikh (c. 1400), Metropolitan Museum of Art

Also concerning doing something for God and Christ not many feel called to take steps to go preaching about bad or good times and about the Kingdom of God. Some who may hear something, do more like Jonah, who instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God bade him, disliked the work, and went down to Joppa to escape from it. At all times there have been occasions when God’s servants shrank from duty or even went to teach other things than the Scriptural matters, because those things were much more liked and got more attention. That should remind us of Demas who could have been  a potential champion in the New Testament. He travelled and ministered with Paul on several missionary campaigns. At the moment he was most needed by Paul, the waffling man bolted and sought pleasure over sacrifice; temporal delight over eternal gain. Had he stayed the course in faithfulness his name would be held in high esteem today, but now we see that he was disgraced.

In this world we can see many people who say they are Christian but have taken an other god than Jesus. For many Jesus is their god and blinded by human doctrines they do not manage to hear the words of Jesus when he tells about what he is doing and by Whose Power he is doing all those incredible things.

Many people also want to reap their own deeds, like Jonah did, being filled with their own ways. Instead of playing the Jonah, man should better listen to the Words of God and to the words of His many messengers and prophets, like Moses, Abraham, Isaiah and Jesus. Unless you wish to have all the waves and the billows rolling over your head.

By listening to those words, notated in the Holy Scriptures we are given the opportunity to learn more about all those who worked for God and can come to see and learn how we too can come closer to God, like they also came very close to God.

It is by our willingness to read those ancient books, and by following those words for what they tell, and not for what human beings like theologians want people to believe there should be written, that we can come to understand how everything fits the Plan of God and how we can find the Only Real God Who is One and not two or three.

From history we should know that it is man’s pride which always has brought his fall down. From looking at man’s evolution we should learn about the rise and fall of historic civilisations and what it tells us about our own growth.

Collapse can be defined as a rapid and enduring loss of population, identity and socio-economic complexity. Public services crumble and disorder ensues as government loses control of its monopoly on violence.

Virtually all past civilisations have faced this fate. Some recovered or transformed, such as the Chinese and Egyptian. Other collapses were permanent, as was the case of Easter Island. Sometimes the cities at the epicentre of collapse are revived, as was the case with Rome. In other cases, such as the Mayan ruins, they are left abandoned as a mausoleum for future tourists. {Are We On The Road To Civilization Collapse?}

Those living in the beginning of the 21st century should come to see that they are the ones living in a time spoken about on several occasions in the Scriptures. The Book of books warns us for these times, and it is up to us to see it or to ignore it.

And while our scale may now be global, collapse appears to happen to both sprawling empires and fledgling kingdoms alike. There is no reason to believe that greater size is armour against societal dissolution. Our tightly-coupled, globalised economic system is, if anything, more likely to make crisis spread. {Are We On The Road To Civilization Collapse?}

Man should come to see that he made a mess of it all. He got the right to handle the creation and to show god that he could manage and govern it rightly. Man had doubted God His position to Master it all. Now it is getting high time we come to agree that God is the Most Righteous to govern the universe.

People became increasingly specialised but also very disconnected from the production of food and basic goods. They thought they could play for God, and many did feel as if they were  god. There disrespect for God’s creation made that they even did not come to see how they were destroying their own universe.

Think of civilisation as a poorly-built ladder. As you climb, each step that you used falls away. A fall from a height of just a few rungs is fine. Yet the higher you climb, the larger the fall. Eventually, once you reach a sufficient height, any drop from the ladder is fatal. {Are We On The Road To Civilization Collapse?}

Many passed the Jacob’s ladder and most people got blinded by the many theories from scientists and theologians, instead of listening to the Words written down in the Book of books and showing proper respect for the divine Creator and His creation.

Reflecting about how everything came into being and how so many things went wrong, showing a willingness to listen to what is written in the bible, people can come to know the Only One True God. And that is what we all should do urgently!

It is God’s Will that each individual shows were his or her heart wants to be and if he or she is willing to accept the Eternal Elohim Hashem Jehovah as the Only One true God.

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Preceding

Tri-union gods and Pagan, Christian, Muslim and Jewish views on the Creator God

A King who wanted to extol a King above all kings

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Additional reading

  1. Creator and Blogger God 9 A Blog of a Book 3 Blog about Prophecy
  2. Science, belief, denial and visibility 1
  3. Only One God
  4. God is one
  5. Is there no ‘proof’ for God? (And why that statement is not as smart as you might think.)
  6. 3rd question: Does there exist a Divine Creator
  7. A 1st reply to the 4th Question Who is God 2 A Singular Supreme Spirit Being
  8. Trinity matter
  9. Denominationalism exists because?
  10. Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #1 Abrahamic religions
  11. Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #2 War on God’s Plan, Name and title
  12. Back from gone #2 Aim of godly people
  13. Back from gone #4 Your inner feelings and actions
  14. Responsibility bigger than those who talk about worldly matters
  15. Prophecies over coming days
  16. Honest-hearted people are losing faith in humanity and humanity losing faith in God
  17. Decrease in church attendance not only a recent feature #3 The German Scare
  18. Do you really know what you say you believe in?
  19. Entrance of a king to question our position #2 Who do we want to see and to be
  20. Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God
  21. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
  22. People Seeking for God 6 Strategy
  23. People Seeking for God 7 The Lord and lords
  24. O God, How Long? ~ Psalm 74
  25. Responsibility bigger than those who talk about worldly matters

Tri-union gods and Pagan, Christian, Muslim and Jewish views on the Creator God

Yesterday we looked at those who have questions about God and how the Christadelphians try to give them an answer and offer a platform where questions can be asked.

When you look at the world of those who claim that they worship the True God, we may find Jews, Christians and Muslims. Though by the Christians and Mohammedans questions may arise. Next to Christianity we can see Christendom where there are people who call themselves Christian, and often consider themselves part of Christianity, though do not really follow the teachings of Christ (the Kristos) Jesus, whose original name is Jeshua from Nazareth, from the tribe of king David. Those so called Christians do believe in a tri-une god, like before the time of Jesus there have been also many others who believed in some three-une or three-headed gods, but of which the Bible say that they are false gods and that there is Only One True God, the God of Israel, Who is One (and as such not two, three, eight or more).

trinity-doctrine-found-in-most-pagan-religionsOf those trinitarians there are who do not seem to know about other three-headed gods, and others who claim that their tri-union god is different because he would be having all the same qualities in each personality. Though than then they do seem to miss that the god they claim to be omnipotent, omnipresent, and as omniscient all knowing, at certain points said he did not know it, though they claim he would never lie. If god knows everything (what God does) and Jesus would be God than Jesus would know when he would come back, he would know when the end-times are, he would know who would be saved, he would know who would be seated next to him, he would know he is a spirit, though he clearly stated he is no spirit and does not know all those matters, because it is only known to the Spirit God, Who has no beginning, can not be tempted, can not be done any thing by man, can not die, though Jesus was tempted many times, was killed by man (or faked his death), was three days in hell (not exactly a place for God to be), was taken out of the dead (God never be able to be death would not exactly be under the dead, is it not?), would have been taken in to the heaven to come to sit next to God (though when Jesus is God then he would sit on his own throne never next to himself but at the place of himself).

Dattatreya
Dattatreya or Dattā, deity by people from India and Nepal, having Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in him

Those Christians who think their tri-union god or tri-une godhead is different than the other three-headed gods, like several tri-une Hindu gods (a.o. Brahma, Trisiras and Dattatreya);

Triglav - a Slav three-headed warrior god
Triglav – a Slav three-headed warrior god

or European Slav and Celtic gods like Ambisagrus or Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Nantosuelta, goddess of nature, the earth, fire, and fertility in Gaul, Triglav the three-headed warrior god, or Thor, should think twice and compare the attributes contributed to those gods and theirs, which seem to be very similar.
In several pagan religions we do find a trinity with a god father or god mother, a god son or a god word and a god spirit or god light or god thought or soul.

The Bible also speaks of such trinitarian gods like Nimrod. The Word of the One True God calls him

“a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah”

We can see that in 4th C.C.E., at the Council of Nicea of Constantine Christendom simply picked up the idea of tri-une gods to win over the pagans. They suddenly made YHWH Jehovah, Jesus and the Holy Spirit 3 persons in one godhead.

brahma-creator-god-forom-hinduism
Tri-une Hindu god who is considered the creator god, but also by other groups has four faces. He is also known as Svayambhu (self-born), Vāgīśa (Lord of Speech), and the creator of the four Vedas, one from each of his mouths

Question is if tri-une gods like the creator god Brahma or the Indian Mandhata represent the same Creator God Jehovah, but just under an other name?

Maybe similarities between Kama and Cupid, Vishwakarma and Vulcan and Indra and Zeus may lead many to hastily conclude that Hindu mythology is similar to Greek mythology. It is said that the Greeks believed in polytheism, the belief in many gods, but many Hindus say they believe in one god and as such should belong to monotheism. For them like for trinitarian Christians their god is one god who appears in different forms. For Hindu religious people their one god shows the world the different aspects of the supreme Brahmanthe supreme existence or absolute reality, avatars or incarnation of this deity on earth, like certain Christians take Jesus as the incarnation of their god or of their supreme being. In the earliest Vedic literature, all supernatural beings are called Asuras, mythological lord beings. in the Vedic religion of India and in later Hinduism, one of many gods, often roughly divided into sky, air, and earth divinities on the basis of their identification with the forces of nature. In the pantheistic systems that emerged by the Late Vedic period, the devas became subordinate to the one supreme being. 

We can see that those who want to defend the Trinity search for their answers in a lot of philosophical human tangle of thought, like in the article “The Trinity Logically Defended” where they go into numerology (a thought of man) instead of using God’s Word to show their way of thinking would be right. The writer Renassault, at Reasoned ruminations, claims the other tri-une gods may not exist whilst his tri-une god exist, though he does not evince it at all, nor does he give any proof the other deities would not exist. For him moreover, the philosopher who popularized Nominalism to the present day, the  medieval French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician Peter Abelard, considered the past and future to be just as non-existent universals as numbers, so do we have to accept that the past nor the future exist? And what has this to do with the reality of a tri-une god or with the existence of the Real One God who created the being and the elements man uses to divide time?

The writer of the above mentioned article The Trinity Logically Defended says he is not arguing that what he says proves there must have been a God who created everything/something at all. But he writes

I’m only pointing out that the answer is the same logically consistent answer as how the Trinity can be true and non-contradictory. If the cause that originated the universe was eternal, why did it create the universe in this way? Randomly and arbitrarily you say? But if there were an infinite number of possible random variations, like Zeno’s Paradox, how was one even “picked”? {The Trinity Logically Defended}

For him the answer of it all lies in or deals with the Trinity. He also does not seem to believe man would ever be able to follow God’s commandments. With that thinking he implies God demanded from the start something He knew man would never be able to keep, which makes of this God a very cruel God.

For that writer the God

Father is the source of the Trinity and the Son and Spirit both have their source in the Father, yet without a point in time being created. The three person all have the same Will—that of the Father, they cannot contradict each other, or operate independently, they only do the Father’s will. {The Trinity Logically Defended}

In many other faiths where they worship a three headed god they also claim their gods being from the same source and having the equal powers, having the same will. He claims his tri-union god cannot contradict each other though we see Jesus claiming God is greater than him, which would be a contradiction if Jesus is that same God. At one point Jesus also prays to God and says that he wants that the Will of God shall be done and not his (Jesus) will. In case Jesus is God it shall always God’s or his will.

Nowhere does he proof that

Christ also confesses He has a second another will–that of a human. {The Trinity Logically Defended}

In several defences of those who believe in a tri-une god, we never come to see a real logical explanation or a real clear Biblical explanation of that three-headed construction. Having another will than that of God would make the god those trinitarians adhere not having a god of the same will, like the other trinitarian gods in polytheism.

A monotheist religion should only be called this way when it really has one (mono) god as the main figure to be worshipped. Jews, Christians and Muslims claim to be part of the monotheist religions.

It is not bad to have a look at what those religions teach about their God. At the end of 2016 two websites got to see the light of this world. One tries to look at the God of the Muslim world in comparison to the God of the Christian world. That new site, dares to pose many questions and wants people to look at possible answers many communities offer for the questions which are on many believers and non-believers lips. Questiontime-Vragenuurtje is there for you to ask your questions and to go in dialogue. A Lastige Vragensteller or a Troublesome Inquirer takes the floor and shall bring quotes for the Quran as well as the Christian Bible to put answers from Scriptures in the spotlight.

question-time-20161201-opening-day

Some of the vital questions already posed are:

  1. The first question: Why do we live
  2. 2nd question: What or where is the beginning
  3. 3rd question: Does there exist a Divine Creator
  4. Is there no ‘proof’ for God? (And why that statement is not as smart as you might think.)

and some of the answers already posed:

  1. Looking for answers on the question Is there a God #1 Many gods
  2. Looking for answers on the question Is there a God #2 Pantheon of gods and celebrations
  3. Have no other gods besides Me
  4. Nature Is A Reflection Of God

Immanuel Verbondskind looks at the difference between the Jewish tradition and Christian faith and the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Who according to the Holy Scriptures was also the God of rabbi Jeshua, Jesus Christ and his disciples, though the tri-une god of many Christians would never be the God of the Jews.

immanuel-theme-able-20161226-1630-5

Immanuel started at his site to explain that having the name Immanuel does not mean that person is God.  After having looked at “Called Immanuel does not mean to be Jesus being God” he opened with a series on how to read the Holy Scriptures, this with the idea that to come to know the Real True God and to find out who Jesus really is, he thinks it is “Best to read and study the Bible

Immanuel Verbondskind shall look at the teaching of the different Christian denominations and compare them to the teachings of the Jewish rabbi Jeshua, better know today as Jesus Christ. Jesus and his disciples their knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures plays an important role in how shall be looked at the distortions which may have come into Christendom. Immanuel shall take those basic Judaic Scriptures and examine what the chosen pupils of Jesus made out of it and what they wrote down in the Messianic Scriptures, better known by many Christians as the New Testament. He shall not be averse to look at Jewish traditions and other Jewish literature or theological works, comparing it with Christian theological works and Christian traditions to find out how they fit in the way of thinking of the Messiah Jeshua, the Christ Jesus.

Both new blogs should be a good asset to come to know the divine Creator and to come to know how Jehovah God relates to Jesus and Jesus to the world.

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Preceding

A Start for looking at the unseen and the treasure to look forward to

Relating to God is it possible

Can you question the existence of God

Are there certain books essential to come to faith

A King who wanted to extol a King above all kings

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Find a.o.

  1. Christadelphian Yuku Platform
  2. Trinity matter
  3. Questiontime-Vragenuurtje
  4. Immanuel Verbondskind

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Additional reading

  1. Only One God
  2. God is only One
  3. Attributes to God
  4. Glory of only One God Who gives His Word
  5. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
  6. Christianity without the Trinity
  7. Hellenistic influences
  8. Germanic mythological influences up to today’s Christmas celebrations
  9. Our World: Jewish and Christian traditions of elders
  10. Denominationalism exists because?
  11. Silence, devotion, Salafists, quietists, weaponry, bombings, books, writers and terrorists
  12. Jesus three days in hell
  13. Eostre, Easter, White god, chocolate eggs, Easter bunnies and metaphorical resurrection
  14. Revelation 1:8 – Who is Speaking?
  15. How did the Trinity Doctrine Develop
  16. History of the acceptance of a three-in-one God
  17. Altered to fit a Trinity
  18. It happened on May 2 295
  19. 1691 years ago on June the 20th in 325
  20. Necessity of a revelation of creation 2 Organisation of a system of things
  21. Framework and vehicle for Christian Scholasticism and loss of confidence
  22. How Did Jesus Become White? By Richard Stockton
  23. Problems correspondents have with the Trinity Doctrine

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Further reading
  1. Three-headed gods
  2. Three Headed Hindu God Shiva :Tri Mukhi Hindu Lord Mahadev
  3. Lakshmi Maa
  4. Triglav – The Three Headed God
  5. Pokristjanjevanje alpskih Slovanov
  6. Is God comprised of three persons, or is He just one person?
  7. The Trinity: paganism or Christianity?
  8. The History of the Development of the Trinity Doctrine
  9. Trinity And Pagan Influence
  10. James White and John 1:1 Regarding “Was”
  11. John 1:1,2 – The Word was Mighty
  12. John 4:26 – EGO EIMI and Jesus’ Claim to be the Messiah
  13. Luke 1:35 and the Trinity
  14. The Real Reasons for Not Believing the Trinity
  15. The God of Jesus
  16. Questions for those who believe in the Trinity
  17. “If God Exists”
  18. Who Created God and What Existed Before Him
  19. The Trinity Logically Defended
  20. Christianity – Nature of God
  21. A Perfect Example of Acedia
  22. Edward Gibbon on religion in the Roman Empire
  23. The Lie of White Identity
  24. Njord God of… Fire?
  25. Henotheology!
  26. Twelfth Night & Wassail
  27. Christmas: a miracle of understanding
  28. Merry Christmas 2016
  29. Surah 16:71 – How Could The Creator Be Compared to created?
  30. How is that God? Objections and Responses to the Argument From Change
  31. Reblog: Many Gods

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Can you question the existence of God

The Question Is What Is the Question?
The Question Is What Is the Question? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You may wonder if there really exist a God. You have all reason to question His existence and to check if you are feeling right or thinking the right way. We are even  requested to examine our own faith. It is important to know what you want to believe, what you want to take for the truth.

Lots of people  are looking for answers in their life. Many of them also have an inner feeling that sometimes frightens them. They do not know where to look at for what is troubling their inner soul.

They might think others have a catchphrase, a cliché, or a phrase to throw around lightly, but all should know that the matter of the Divine Creator is not something to take light hearted. It is serious business.

All people should know that we were created in the image of the Divine Creator for a good reason. We are expected to have fellowship with Him. But we also must know that from the beginning the great deceiver himself was there – doing everything he could to separate us from our Creator and from each other. It is that adversary which troubles our hearts and makes us wandering about on this globe where we can see so much trouble and suffering, all because so many are not living according to the wishes of the Most Divine and by doing so they are making a mess of it.

But then Who is that Most Divine? Who is that Divine Creator? Who is the Originator of everything what we see around us?

That are good questions we should pose ourselves.

We have all reason to wonder if there really can exist Some One Who can heal the brokenhearted and set captives free. [Psalm 34:17-18 and John 8:36]. And if He really can move mountains and change lives [Psalm 97:5 and Colossians 3], or can cause the rise and fall of nations [Psalm 33: 8-12].

Do you know there is even a place where you can ask such questions or have your thoughts running free. On the net there is a message board or forum where your questions are welcome.

Christadelphian Forum (started August 2016)

While there is no quick fix, God’s Word is clear and the message is simple.

At the place Christadelpian where many people may exchange ideas easily hopefully many will bring forth some good subjects also. To start off the following opening articles can be found

  1. Welcome to Christadelphian
  2. Places of interest to get more knowledge about God
  3. Places of interest to get more knowledge about God
  4. Christadelphian a Christian
  5. A god, The God and gods
  6. How do you look at religion
  7. What or which god are you looking at and going for and who or what do you want to worship
  8. Christianity and Religiosity in Europe

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Preceding

Relating to God is it possible

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Additional reading

  1. 3rd question: Does there exist a Divine Creator
  2. Looking for answers on the question Is there a God #1 Many gods
  3. Looking for answers on the question Is there a God #2 Pantheon of gods and celebrations
  4. Have no other gods besides Me
  5. When feeling sad, not sure of there being a Divine Creator
  6. Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God
  7. Science, belief, denial and visibility 2
  8. The Question is this…
  9. Pascal’s Possibility
  10. The Presence of God
  11. Not staying alone in your search for truth
  12. What I Hope For Is What You Hope For
  13. God Our Refuge
  14. Jehovah steep rock and fortress, source of insight
  15. Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1:1-7 Help from God our Maker
  16. On the Edge of Believing
  17. Ideas about Religiosity
  18. Religions and Mainliners
  19. Christians, secularism, morals and values
  20. Engagement in an actual two-way conversation with your deities
  21. Nature Is A Reflection Of God
  22. People Seeking for God 5 Bread of life
  23. People Seeking for God 7 The Lord and lords
  24. Lord in place of the divine name

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Further reading

  1. Addressing the God Paradoxes
  2. Does God Exist?
  3. Does God Exist? The Moral Argument, Part 1
  4. How do we know God exists?
  5. Change Happens. Does that Mean God Exists?
  6. Existence of God
  7. Quote 24: Existence of God
  8. “If God Exists”
  9. Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 30
  10. Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 32
  11. Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 34
  12. Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 35 + Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 35
  13. Steve Fuller on Proofs for God’s Existence: An Interview, Eugene Loginov
  14. Does God Exist? Summary Video
  15. Quest for God 2
  16. Can Atheists Know That God Does Not Exist? by Garland M. Robinson
  17. Theism Is Ill-Defined
  18. What is God Like? Attributes of God
  19. Ontological Argument For God’s Existence: Anselm of Canterbury

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Are there certain books essential to come to faith

When we are looking for God and want to find Him are there certain books in which we should belief and follow?

Parinirvana Buddha
Parinirvana Buddha (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many people create themselves gods. We can see that in how people have idols and sometimes go so far to worship those human beings. There are also people who take elements from nature as their god and they speak or pray to trees, sun, stars or look for a god behind everything that happens in nature, and as such have a god for the rain, wind, thunder, sky, or even for each day of the week.

But when we look how those gods respond or what they can do we see that something is lacking. It is always questionable what those gods can do and what they really provide.

Though there is One God Who is superior to all those gods and can do much more than they. About Him is a lot written down throughout the years. But one particular library is very trustworthy and should be best referred to. When we consult that library of Books of books we can find the Word of that God of gods, Who is most reliable.

White-collar criminal defense lawyer Joel Cohen questions if the Bible’s factuality is essential to faith.

Many people wonder if one can trust what religious people say about the Bible. Is there reason to believe in the factuality of the Bible’s contents, and that the Almighty God Himself was its Author?

Cohen writes:

Indeed, to worship God as religion demands, must one believe that God actually performed the acts attributed to Him; must we accept as authentic His purported interactions – His Creation of the universe and mankind, the plagues that He visited on Egypt, His splitting of the Red Sea and His conversations with mankind, Moses, Abraham and David.  More to the point, must we obdurately accept them in the particular and peculiar ways described in the Bible? {Is the Bible’s factuality essential to faith?}

A bible from 1859.
A bible from 1859. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It all depends how you want to look at that Book of books. In which way do we have to look at those different writings, and take them as stories or real reviews of what happened at the earlier times? Several people do find that we have to take those Biblical accounts as morality plays or anecdotal narratives, created by human beings without God’s help or involvement.

When you take a closer look at them, you will find strange things, which would shed a light on those writers, they normally would hide for others.

We may choose to believe that God dictated nothing whatsoever to Moses, and merely instructed a spiritually inspired Moses to write of the Creation.

writes Cohen and continues

We may choose to believe that all that God really wants from mankind is for it to live a conventionally moral life based on civility, charity and love of one’s fellow man.  That a moral life is not only the sine qua non to a life of faith, but is also its sole prerequisite.  We may believe that all of the meticulous laws of animal sacrifice (morphed, upon the Temple’s destruction, into communal prayer), the Sabbath’s sanctity and kashrut were fashioned by man himself in order to nationalistically (if you will) create a “culture.”  Perhaps even, a culture that designated this particular Society as having been chosen, while others were not. {Is the Bible’s factuality essential to faith?}

Today we have different media and we always can pick up what is written or filmed before. At the old times there were no sources people could consult and not all where so literate they could read the stones or scrolls. For that reason passing the word form one generation to the next mostly was done in the aural way and history had to be so compressed or said in such manner people could easily remember it.

Orality, epic singer [Credit: Courtesy of John Miles Foley]the first and still most widespread mode of human communication. Far more than “just talking,” oral tradition refers to a dynamic and highly diverse oral-aural medium for evolving, storing, and transmitting knowledge, art, and ideas. It is typically contrasted with literacy, with which it can and does interact in myriad ways, and also with literature, which it dwarfs in size, diversity, and social function. {Encyclopaedia Britannica}

What is so special about that aural tradition, that not likewise other aural stories, these stories kept the same over centuries.

Nicolas de Largillière, François-Marie Arouet dit Voltaire (vers 1724-1725) -001.jpg
François-Marie Arouet (1694 – 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire, a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. – Portrait by Nicolas de Largillière, c. 1724

Even Voltaire, who wanted to destroy the Bible and distributed pamphlets against that book, had to confess that he could not imagine that when there would be a watch that there would not be a watchmaker. Looking at mankind and the plants and animals around us, and when you get to know how wonderfully they are made it would be very strange to believe there would be not a Master Inventor or Maker behind them, providing this life. When those people grew up and multiplied from one generation to an other, they carried with them the stories of their families. To their next of kin they brought stories from kings (Solomon) herdsman (David), man who could tell about things which happened many years later and as such were visionaries (Isaiah, Zacharia), fisherman (John) doctor (Luke), publican (Matthew), scholar (Paul) etc..
That collection of stories written on 3 continents: Africa, Asia and Europe, under different circumstances: in desserts, humble homes, palaces, prisons, etc., written in three languages, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, became the first translated Great Book, and became the most translated and reprinted book in the world, a best-seller of all times.

Voltaire is death. His house and the printing machines became again used, this time to print bibles.

Interesting to note is that those writers also told not such nice things about themselves. Proud being inherited by man you would expect their visions would be contributed to themselves. But more than 3800 times the writers do say that their words do not come form them but from the Higher Power God, the Adonai Elohim Hashem Jehovah.
Every time we read:

Jehovah, god, said to me

or

The word of the Most High, Jehovah God, came to me

Naturally you could assume they were telling lies; But how could they tell about things which had not happened yet and could use names which did not mean anything yet at the time they lived?

Would such liars than be able to produce such special writings which can inspire so many people and can bring forth so much goodness? Bitter sources cannot bring forth sweet waters.

The 40 different writers of the assembly of books, written over a period of more than 1500 years, also never contradict each other. This whilst they wrote about one of the most sensitive subjects on earth: God.

Though many rabbis as well as priests and ministers say it does not matter if the Bible is written under the guidance of God or if their congregants want to read the Bible with skepticism, or see it as somewhat of a work of historical/Biblical fiction.

In the monotheist religions we have seen several groups which started to put more accent on human writings and gave preference to keep to human doctrines instead of holding to the clarity of the simple words written in the books of the Bible. This created many schisms in those religious groups and even made it possible that certain people came to consider themselves still monotheist though they started worshipping what they call a tri-une god, three gods in one.

The man of justice correctly looks at the real question

what do the rabbis themselves believe? Do they say aloud “it doesn’t matter” because they recognize that defending the Bible’s stories to moderns simply won’t (or can’t) be effective, leaving congregants to turn elsewhere or pay less attention to what observant Jews tend to believe?  Or is it because they, themselves don’t believe in their authenticity? {Is the Bible’s factuality essential to faith?}

In the Catholic Church we can find many examples of people who call themselves “theologian” and do not believe in God. For them being part of an institution which pays for their living is very handy. Also for the other priests we can ask the same question as for the Jewish rabbe or the Muslim imam when they utter either in their sermon or tete a tete that a Holy Scripture account’s authenticity “doesn’t matter,”

do they immediately then mutter to themselves: “But yet it happened”?  And, really, does it and should it matter if an observant rabbi/teacher doesn’t himself believe in exacting fashion that the Bible is God’s literal Word transmitted by God to Moses at Sinai? {Is the Bible’s factuality essential to faith?}

If you want to get to know the only real God, in a way it does not matter if you believe it or not that the Bible is God’s Word. But it is essential to come to see and understand what happened to mankind and to get to know Who is behind it all.

Do you want to take it as an allegory or metaphor, that is your good right, but then also dare to take the words written in it to take for what they (literally) say. For example when there is written “the son of God“, do not think in your head “god the son” because that is not at all what is written there. Only by accepting the words like they are written down, saying what they are saying and not what some theologians may want you to believe what should be implemented by that saying.

God is a god of order and clarity who does not tell lies. When those writers claim to have written down what God ordered them to write down, we may expect that they did not write down lies but wrote what was meant to be said. Then we also should not fix our eyes on one phrase but look at all the phases being connected with each other and in unison with each other. As such we should always look at the text in contexts with the sayings at other places in that Holy or put or set apart Book of books.

Joel Cohen asks

Can we, ourselves, determine what the Bible truly means to us?  While it may be controversial or provocative to articulate it that way, that’s exactly what’s at stake. And, lest it go unsaid, this decision, dilemma if you will, is not limited to Judaism.  How different is it that the Fathers of the Church, years after Jesus’s time, dictated that Jesus is actually part of the Holy Trinity (part of God Himself) , even though the Christian Bible never said that.  Yet, would a modern Christian remain in good standing, if he doesn’t believe (or, at least state he believes) in a Triune God? {Is the Bible’s factuality essential to faith?}

Real lovers of God should come to see how certain people prefer to be off this world, instead of being of God, following God His advice and wise Words.

When you shall take the historical books and the Bible, you shall come to see that the idea of a three-headed god does not come from Jesus, nor from somewhere in the bible but from those people who wanted to live in peace with the Roman leaders and came to an agreement with emperor Constantine the Great.

You also than come to understand what it means to be from the world or of the world, to belong to the world and what it is to be living in this world being of God or to belong to God.

Those people whose lives are steeped in faith – split so that approximately 50% said they accepted the Bible’s account; the other 50% did not, will have it more difficult to see the light and come to the truth.

Then, after everyone had opened their eyes, the moment of truth arrived:  I asked those who had only  “confidentially” acknowledged that they didn’t believe the Bible’s account to raise their hands in full view of the now eyes-wide-open congregation.  Only a handful raised their hands.  How does one explain this?  For me at least, the overwhelming majority of those “non-believers” of the Red Sea story who sat on their hands were comfortable in their belief, but only privately.  They apparently didn’t want their community to know; essentially, they didn’t want their neighbors to think “less” of them. {Is the Bible’s factuality essential to faith?}

Lots of people are afraid to talk openly about what they really believe. Lots are convinced that one’s faith is a very personal thing, and should remain so.

People might believe in only certain things their religion places before them, irrespective of whether the Author is divine. But even if they don’t believe in all of it, they remain believers in God, as well as believers in the importance of faith in their lives. {Is the Bible’s factuality essential to faith?}

says Joel Cohen.

We do believe that in case you are wiling to read and study the Bible as a book to come to enlightenment and to learn about the Most High Divine Creator of all things, it shall offer you enough insight to come to understand that it is really the Word of God, and that there is really only One True God of gods, Who is One, and that we do have a sent one from God who is one mediator between God and man.

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Preceding article: All about love, not needing disasters

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Please find additional reading:

  1. Looking for Answers
  2. Words to inspire and to give wisdom
  3. Wisdom not hard to find nor hiding in remote places
  4. Coming to understanding from sayings written long ago
  5. From the very early beginning of the universe
  6. Possibility to live
  7. People Seeking for God 1 Looking for answers
  8. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
  9. Did the Inspirator exist
  10. Necessary to be known all over the earth
  11. Do you believe in One god
  12. God is one
  13. God of gods
  14. Only one God
  15. A God between many gods
  16. Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God
  17. The Trinity – the Truth
  18. Christianity without the Trinity
  19. For those who believe Jesus is God
  20. Believing what Jesus says
  21. Jesus Christ Waiting For An Invitation
  22. Bible, sword of the Spirit to come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man
  23. The Almighty Lord God of gods King above all gods
  24. God giving signs and producing wonders
  25. Jewish and Christian traditions of elders
  26. An uncovering book to explore
  27. The Need to Understand Genre
  28. Genre – Playing by the Rules
  29. Why think that (4) … God would reveal himself in words
  30. Why think that (5) … the Bible is the word of God
  31. The Word of God in print
  32. A way to look for Christ, the Bible, Word of God
  33. An unbridgeable gap
  34. Inspired Word
  35. Book of books and great masterpiece
  36. Bible, God speaking words profitable for doctrine, for reproof and for correction
  37. Challenging claim
  38. Challenging claim 1 Whose word
  39. Challenging claim 2 Inspired by God 1 Simple words
  40. Challenging claim 3 Inspired by God 2 Inerrant Word of God
  41. Challenging claim 4 Inspired by God 3 Self-consistent Word of God
  42. the Bible – God’s guide for life #1 Introduction
  43. the Bible – God’s guide for life #2 Needs in life
  44. the Bible – God’s guide for life #3 Fast food or staple diet
  45. the Bible – God’s guide for life #4 Not to get the best from our diet– or from ourselves
  46. the Bible – God’s guide for life #5 What is God like
  47. the Bible – God’s guide for life #6 Case example – King Josiah #1
  48. the Bible – God’s guide for life #7 Case example – King Josiah #2 Lessons from Josiah’s experience
  49. the Bible – God’s guide for life #8 Looking to Jesus #1 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus
  50. Authority of the Bible
  51. No other god besides Jehovah who gives all explanation
  52. Creator and Blogger God 8 A Blog of a Book 2 Holy One making Scriptures Holy
  53. Unread bestseller
  54. Written down in God’s Name
  55. Bible, God’s Word to edify (ERV)
  56. Absolute Basics to Reading the Bible
  57. Colour-blindness and road code
  58. Who Gets to Say What the Bible Says?
  59. Vision And Mission By The Word Of God
  60. Theologians and a promised Spirit to enlighten us
  61. Background to look at things
  62. Gone astray, away from God
  63. The very very beginning 2 The Word and words
  64. Necessity of a revelation of creation 3 Getting understanding by Word of God 1
  65. Necessity of a revelation of creation 6 Getting understanding by Word of God 4
  66. Necessity of a revelation of creation 7 Getting understanding by Word of God 5
  67. Necessity of a revelation of creation 8 By no means unintelligible or mysterious to people
  68. Necessity of a revelation of creation 9 Searching the Scriptures
  69. Necessity of a revelation of creation 10 Instructions for insight and wisdom
  70. Necessity of a revelation of creation 11 Believing and obeying the gospel of the Kingdom of God
  71. Necessity of a revelation of creation 12 Words assembled for wisdom and instruction
  72. Necessity of a revelation of creation 13 Getting wisdom
  73. Necessity of a revelation of creation 14 Searching the scriptures
  74. God’s forgotten Word 2 Lost Lawbook 1 Who has still interest
  75. God’s forgotten Word 3 Lost Lawbook 2 Modern scepticism
  76. God’s forgotten Word 4 Lost Lawbook 3 Early digressions and Constantinic revolution
  77. God’s forgotten Word 5 Lost Lawbook 4 The ‘Catholic’ church
  78. Looking on what is going on and not being of it
  79. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #4 Words in Scripture
  80. I can’t believe that … (4) God’s word would be so violent
  81. To find ways of Godly understanding
  82. Engagement in an actual two-way conversation with your deities
  83. Luther on Being a Theologian: Oratio, Meditatio and Tentatio
  84. Are Science and the Bible Compatible?
  85. Bible containing scientific information

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