Hi, what could cause the doubt?

The Jesus that I know (of the Bible) different from that religion teaches / says this one thing that sets it apart.

Love your enemies pray for those who persecute you.

I think, for those who lived long enough in Christianity will understand this;

The nature of the flesh or carnality, the natural reaction is to strike back when being offended.

The devil love this. The devil is all about destruction (kill, steal & destroy). How many have the devil has instigated people to kill or harm others thinking they're doing God a favor? Even this phrase is recorded in the Bible.
And Yet God tells us to do something that is really mind boggling if not weird.

Why love enemies who persecute or wants to harm you even? 

It caused me to think this God is different from all others.

God has repeated told us, VENGEANCE "BELONGS" to HIM alone.

In overall perspective, it helped me to understand only God is qualified to dispense judgement if not vengeance. We human with limited knowledge who do not know everything hence is utterly unqualified. To be able to dispense judgement, you must know the facts and you must know everything that is going on to the best of your knowledge, else it will be flawed judgement. Only God has that kind of knowledge but a complete one A-Z.

This has given me the perspective the God that I've come to believe in and live in is the right one and different.

I  believe the 'Jesus' i know is true and real because i take time to study scriptures and ascertain for myself, at the same time believing that God will help me.
i believe that God will not judge me for trying but He will judge me for being lazy and dead spiritually.
So ask me anything specifically about Jesus and i will try to answer.
That, according to scriptures is 'dead faith'. i believe dead faith is what it is dead, and it will not result in life.
Faith requires obedience. Yes, we will go wrong and sin. But we will still try to be discipline according to God's will.
This is the thing. There are not many VERSIONS. But there are many translations. Translations are, translations.
They are not perfect in the minute non fundamental details. However, in the essentials of the faith, they are generally consistent.
So if i had to study a subject, i will try to go back to the original languages that the original texts were written in and study those.
No English or any language will perfectly translate the Hebrew language. There is no possibility for word for word translation.

I cannot judge the 90% that you mention. Only God knows them. I can only say that most will just follow what is taught to them. And often not checking the bible themselves.

2nd: i believe it is ongoing process. That's why Paul warns us of faith shipwreck and it being a long distance race. Discipleship is a life process.

3rd: As i said, we are reading translations and for most fundamentals, they are consistent.
God gave His message in Hebrew. The Jews understand it.    We can also learn.
The most important thing is that God demonstrated everything He mentioned in His word in the Messiah named Jesus.
All the hundreds of prophecies.

He used Israel, the smallest and insignificant nation at the time, to demonstrate His love, power and will.
So He used their language to deliver His message. The message of salvation through His Messiah. This message is the same in all the notable translations.

1st Read carefully. I cannot judge any of them God does that. You said 90% of CHRSITIANS were worshipping the false version. i was replying to this. And i do not think 90% are worshipping the wrong version! 
So what if they think Jesus has blue eyes? Will that bring them to hell? I dont know.

2nd. No. Jesus was not lying. Faith is an ongoing process. You can turn your back on Jesus too. You cannot just take ONE verse and interpret anything.

3rd. All the bibles are imperfect TRANSLATIONS. Yes. I am sure the message of the Messiah is same in most known translations.
You seem to make your mind about what you think you know.
Show me the passages on instant salvation. And i will show you passages about faithful obedience to God.

Neither it is right to allow the rapist to continue what he is doing, wouldn't right on his part wouldn't it?

He would be sinning against God to do that.

So how do you balance out? You can bring the person elsewhere to a proper organization to be counselled and fed.

And what are going with your multitude of Presumptions?

It is perfect in it's original texts. Which is something you do not seem to comprehend.

Not as if there is only ONE scholar to teach you? The same can be said of the ENGLISH, MALAY, CHINESE Scholars who teaches another person. How can that person trust them?

He has provided in the way He deems fit and right.  I understand His message translated in English. And the Chinese understands the message in Chinese.
It may not in the way YOU want it. But it works.

There are lots of depth in the fundamentals. Who told you in your presumption that it can be described in a few pages?
Presumptous, are you not?

Again. The Jews understood it. We understand it in the English transmitted message. The world understands it in their respective languages. Waht's wrong with that?

Thought you were going to leave it at that. 
Your presumptions is tiresome.
Not to mention silly.
If the scriptures did not work, how come the bible is the best seller in history? Not to mention the number of believers whose lives are changed by it.
Presumptuous.
End of. Checking out.

Seriously, what point do you want to prove here?
Have you done any deep research yourself regarding on your questions?

Regardless of what version of translations, the most important thing is to understand the context, understand the message, and the meaning behind it.

Various translation are available to help people to understand the message and the context of the message.
Even to understand the scriptures will take efforts and time.
Starts with KJV, and if you don't understand, refer to others translation, then go back to KJV and so on.

Start with a prayer to God for understanding and guidance with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Then only everything will fall in to the right places and we'll begin to understand the true message which has been revealed to us through the Holy Spirit of Truth.
All take time and efforts.
Do your research first. If you don't know how or where to start, then ask.
Once you done this, then make your own conclusion.
God gave us "free will" to make own decision, your choice so make a wise one.

Else why Jesus speaks in parables most of the time? - Matt 13:13
John 10:27-28

Through parables, Jesus can communicate with the people who are ready to listen.
God's words are precious and only available to those who wants to sincerely know and seek of Him.

If you're trying to turn conversations into debates, and to win debates, you're wasting your time and other people's time.

"A good story doesn’t mean that everyone will understand."

I'm not sure what's your point tbh?
You're not being clear about it. Just straight to the point. I can't read your thoughts.

And let me clear here about having different version of translation; it is a method of "reference" to help me to understand words by words and the meaning of words/scriptures.
Nothing funny. I'm just sharing one of my methods of reading the Bible. Different people, different way of study/learn.

"You even got the reason as to why Jesus communicate with Parables wrong. So why should I even bother?"
Please read my post again and tell me what are the "wrong" part you're talking about?
I've included the Bible verse and I've linked it as well.
All you have to do is just click it and read to understand.

To sum it up, if you don't understand and have no intention to even try to understand what's being communicated to you, you don't and will not understand.
Plain simple, no nonsense at all.

So why are you here at the first place if you're already harden your heart?
If you're trying to troll around, you're really wasting your time and other people's time, and wasting post.

Of course, after this. You are just going to run to others for protection like the others. Expected.
Protection from what?
The only protection I have is from my Father in Heaven.

Anyway, I've no intention of "gang up" anyone here, I have better things to do.
I'm new to the thread and I'm here to learn from others about their sharing and thoughts, that's all.
I have a long way to go.

So you can keep your assumption to yourself.
I don't know you, you don't know me. Let's keep it that way. Easy.

If you have any traumas or bad experiences, share it here. It's a forum.
If you get help from others, be grateful, else just chill and move on.

No wonder people do not take Christianity seriously.
I do take it very seriously. Do you?

"A good story doesn’t mean that everyone will understand."

For Christians, our source and guidance comes from the Holy Bible. Any other books, religious teacher or prophet that contradicts the Holy Bible, we will consider it false teachings.

For Christians, our core believes are,
- Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God.
- Christ is the Messiah and saviour of mankind as promised and foretold in the old testament.
- that Christ was crucified on the cross of Calvary and He arose on the third day. This demonstrates that Christ defeated death which until today no man or religious teacher has demonstrated.
- the many miracles that Christ have performed during His ministry on earth. Such as healing the sick, resurrecting the dead and many more.
- Believers must believe and apply the blood of Christ in order to gain forgiveness of sins.

Any other books or individuals that contradicts our core believes are considered false. Only through Jesus Christ alone you will gain eternal life in heaven as promised in the Holy Bible.

Believing in Moses freeing the Hebrews from slavery or Jesus as a good man and messenger of God is not enough. Our covenant is in the blood of the perfect lamb Jesus Christ. There is no other way to heaven except through the blood of Jesus Christ.

No other religion emphasize on the blood except Christianity. Other religion says you must do good to make it to heaven. Christianity is the opposite and claimed that no amount of good works will save you. You can give all your money to charity or donate one of your kidney to a person in need. Still you will end up in hell if you do not acknowledge that Christ is the Son of the living God and that He sheds His blood on the cross so that we can be saved.

Men think that as long as their good works is more than their bad, they will be able to enter heaven. This is very wrong thinking and teaching.

Imagine if a heart surgeon drive recklessly and cause the death of another person. He goes up to the judge and tells the judge to set him free as he has save many lives as a surgeon. The surgeon thinks that by saving many lives it is ok to take away just one life in return for his freedom. If the judge listen to the surgeon and sets him free, what is your opinion of the judge? Would you think highly of such judge?

God is the perfect judge. Every sin or crime committed, SOMEONE has to pay the price. The Bible teaches clearly that all have sin and fall short of the glory of God. This means no man is perfect and men CANNOT atone for their sins let alone the sins of the world. Only Jesus Christ being the perfect sacrifice can offer Himself to take the penalty for the sins of humanity.

It is very important to grasp the basic meaning of Christianity. If you apply the blood of Christ in your life than you are be safe. This is the promise that the Holy Bible gives. Only by faith in Christ. If you don't believe then you can continue doing charity and good works. At the end of your life, your work is NOT perfect in the eyes of God as no man is perfect. Only Christ is. You can tell God how much you have donated or many hours you spend in an orphanage home, but men will never be able to meet God's perfect standard.

But as Christians, we must change our ways once we embrace the teachings of Christ. This means to change from our past life and to a new life under Christ. If you do criminal activity to get rich then you should stop it completely. If you cheat your customer just to earn more money, then you should stop doing it. If you hate you boss before this and always thinking or hurting him then you should stop thinking about it. If you're an alcoholic before this then you should stop doing it.

Its not easy. That is why we must constantly read the Bible and seek the help of the Holy Spirit. Try to understand what is God's plan for us.

true Christian this, true Christian that,    . . . . yeah, I agree that we should always be humble, but what we shouldn't do, is to check our brains at the door, before entering church 

do you notice all the highlighted parts in red?

'weak', 'don't use wisdom' ( might as well say = dumb), a 'nobody', 'wretched soul'. In a nutshell, basically self-denigrating.

YOU portray the psyche of the modern day Christian to the tee.

But that is to be expected, as the pulpit teaches against any sound epistemology, even critical thinking.

It does not teach that faith should be based on evidence; it teaches that faith should NEVER be based on evidence. (blue)

Walk by faith and not by sight, right?

Reliable reasoning, principles of analysis & formal logic is explicitly condemned & frowned upon all over scripture.

It is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. And I will reject as spurious the discernment of the discerning.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the investigator of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since through its wisdom the world did not know God, in God’s wisdom He thought it was a good idea to save the believers through the foolishness of His teaching. Because the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks search for wisdom, but we teach Christ crucified. - 1 Cor 1:19-27

Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”[a]; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile. - 1 Cor 3:18-20

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. - 1 Cor 8:1 -2


Some better examples, the Bible teaches that God punished Zacharias, by striking him mute, merely for requesting evidence - Luke 1:18-20

Doubting Thomas is appeased by such a request, but immediately is shamed by having those who believe without evidence praised as better than him - John 20:24-29

The rich man begging Abraham to send Lazarus to give his relatives evidence enough to believe is shamed for even asking, and told the scriptures should be evidence enough -  Luke 16:19-31   Rich Man & Lazarus

When the Jews ask “for a sign” (otherwise known as evidence), Jesus condemns as immoral the very idea of asking for evidence
- Matthew 12:38-39    The Sign of Jonah

Human “reasoning” must therefore be “cast down” along with everything else that is held up against “the knowledge of God” and in their place we must “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. Right? That's what you have been taught, right?

That is why the unbelieving world view us as kooks & crackpots. You can have faith, but please don't practice blind faith.

Ask questions. As believers, it's okay for us to ask questions.

Okay, good nite guys, church 2molo 

Ooops, sorry man, just saw your post to me.

I understand what you're saying, but here's the difference.....I can't "faith it".

Sorry, but I really can't. The material world is more real to me than the spiritual. Which is exactly the oppo of what the bible says.

Can you walk on water? I can't. I know you can't either. & I dunno anyone who can. 

Have you seen amputees regrow their limbs at healing rallies?

Have you heard an ass speak? How about a talking snake?

How about angels? Have you seen satan before? How about heaven or hell? 

Dreams & visions are not good enough. Just mind tricks.

I need solid evidence. Unfortunately, there's simply not enough evidence for the christian god. 

Evolution on the other hand, provides mountains of evidence. That we are a slow grinding process happening over thousands of generations.

Life is random. And this life is all there really is. Some truths are very hard to swallow, but it is what it is.

The afterlife is just a human construct. It's superstitious beliefs started by ancient Egyptians 6000 - 7000 years ago. That's 5000 B.C. !

Antiquated fairy tales that have managed to survive into modernity due to human superstition.

​I wasted so much of my life being duped by Christianity 

I know better now.

Christianity is built on the visions, dreams and fantasies of 1st century zealots, who couldn’t distinguish between their hallucinations and reality.

They knew nothing about evidence and labored under the misapprehension that what went on their own heads, was as real as what happened outside them.

Look, if you can hear the H.S. speaking to you, you better have yourself checked for schizophrenia  . That's all I'm saying.
https://infidels.org/library/modern/richard...rier-ntcanon/#6

http://www.talkorigins.org/origins/postmonth/1996.html

Ooops, sorry man, just saw your post to me.

I understand what you're saying, but here's the difference.....I can't "faith it".

Sorry, but I really can't. The material world is more real to me than the spiritual. Which is exactly the oppo of what the bible says.

Can you walk on water? I can't. I know you can't either. & I dunno anyone who can. 

Have you seen amputees regrow their limbs at healing rallies?

Have you heard an ass speak? How about a talking snake?

How about angels? Have you seen satan before? How about heaven or hell? 

Dreams & visions are not good enough. Just mind tricks.

I need solid evidence. Unfortunately, there's simply not enough evidence for the christian god. 

Evolution on the other hand, provides mountains of evidence. That we are a slow grinding process happening over thousands of generations.

Life is random. And this life is all there really is. Some truths are very hard to swallow, but it is what it is.

The afterlife is just a human construct. It's superstitious beliefs started by ancient Egyptians 6000 - 7000 years ago. That's 5000 B.C. !

Antiquated fairy tales that have managed to survive into modernity due to human superstition.

​I wasted so much of my life being duped by Christianity 

I know better now.

Christianity is built on the visions, dreams and fantasies of 1st century zealots, who couldn’t distinguish between their hallucinations and reality.

They knew nothing about evidence and labored under the misapprehension that what went on their own heads, was as real as what happened outside them.

Look, if you can hear the H.S. speaking to you, you better have yourself checked for schizophrenia  . That's all I'm saying.
https://infidels.org/library/modern/richard...rier-ntcanon/#6

http://www.talkorigins.org/origins/postmonth/1996.html