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Pastimes : Ask God -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mark silvers who wrote (20353)	8/26/1998 11:40:00 PM
From: John S.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39621

Hello Mark, Jumping in here again. <<To say that it is possible to come up with just one answer using scripture interpreting scripture, is somewhat difficult to prove, IMO>> I had mentioned earlier II Peter 1:19-20 where it says no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Doesn't this indicate from scripture that there is only one meaning? We could misinterpret scripture especially when relying upon our own wisdom. That doesn't make the bible wrong, but our interpretation. The most basic scriptures in Old and New Testaments on salvation are not clouded issues but are clearly laid out. All point to Christ. If this is the case, how we view the bible does come down to faith. We can either accept it completely or not at all. If one part of it is untrue then how can we accept the remainder? Jesus was either who He said He was or He can be viewed only as a tremendous fraud. Think of the lives that have been surrendered and sacrificed to Him in faith by those that heard His witness on earth personally and then those that followed His teachings afterwards. Doesn't it boggle the mind just in sheer numbers? All this for a lie? Jesus or Jeshua is not saying I am sort of the way or kind of the truth but is declaring Himself as an absolute. He is from human standards either a complete truth or a complete lie. He was either God in the flesh, Immanuel, the Messiah, our only hope of salvation as He clearly laid out or a lie. Then such is the bible, it is not possible for it to be a half truth. It is either an absolute or a fraud. What good would be the bible if it contained lies or sort of the truth but not quite all of it? By faith I know God, my saviour to be true as is His word. I or any other here cannot impart this faith to you, that is between you and God's leading by the Holy Spirit and whether you can believe Him and His word. Living a good life as you say is taught by many religions as well as by Christianity. The bible says that such a life style is not sufficient to have salvation. It declares that is only possible through Christ. Another absolute, either truth or a lie. If a truth, then very much hangs in the balance. If a truth, then Satan is as real as God and he will hate God's word because it exposes him for what he is, the enemy of God and you. He will naturally use any means possible to water it down or attempts through science to disprove it. There are also scientists and archeologists that support and use their knowledge to prove the bible as true. Mark, now that I read your post regarding some of your heritage I would ask you to please read Isaiah 53 in the Old Testament or I'll print it out if you like. I'd like to hear your opinion as to those verses compared to Christ as seen in the NT if you would. May God bless you and lead you into all truth, John

To: mark silvers who wrote (20353)	8/28/1998 4:58:00 PM
From: IN_GOD_I_TRUST	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39621

Mark (from Bob), I'm going to focus on your closing statement of your last post. <<If someone does nothing more than become a follower of the basic premises of the Bible, they will end up as having been a good, decent person, and most likely a productive citizen. If that is the least of what we accomplish, we will have lived good lives. Where we will disagree is here. I think the same can be accomplished by following the tenets of most, if not any of the major religions.>> The key is the definition of "good decent person". That definition is based on perspective. Charles Manson has a different definition than most. The people I work with have hundreds of different definitions of a "good, decent person". So, in these other religions, what is the definition of "good,decent person"? The Bible's primary purpose is not to make us "good, decent" people but to show us how to be saved. The rules in the Bible are established in part to show us that we ARE NOT "good, decent" people but sinners. As a matter of fact, the bible makes it clear that we are and will always be anything but "good, decent" people. Once we are on God's side and believe in Christ, He will improve us but we will always be sinners and fall short of "good and decent". "Good, decent" is defined as perfectly obedient to God. Christ was good, none of us will ever be. Bob