My experience was similar to yours except that I was a committed atheist for a shorter period of my life. The Bible is our book. We need to embrace it. If you read the Bible as a believer, the truth contained therein will speak to you in ways that you will understand.
I used to believe in evolution until I found out that it is impossible.
The for equation of evolution is "First there was nothing and then it exploded, and now we have everything." In mathematical terms it's 'nothing X something = everything.' Well gee that's about a stupid as it gets. And this crap is taught in
public schools with taxpayer dollars.
The Biblical definition of Creation says this in Gen 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Everything must go to the very beginning, which is, where did space, time, matter and energy come from? Biological Evolutionists like to start their theory at the safe point when the earth was already formed and full of the primordial soup. I always take the discussion to the beginning. Where did the earth come from?
As long as you believe in Christ and his being crucified, being our intercessor to the most wonderful God, and live in obedience to His word, that's what He wants. Don't let man distort God's Word.
I wrote a position paper explaining to my colleagues why I was not taking the vaccine and in that process I found my “theism”. I have appreciated this site for expanding my critical thinking and allowing embracing God/theism. Human mind is complex and a one size does not fit all.
I'm afraid those MANY ways lead to your personal destruction. In Jesus' own words, there is only ONE way...
5 Thomas *said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?"
6 Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:5-6 (NASB)
I also spent much of my life thinking there were many ways, until I read the gospel of John, repented and became a believer in Jesus.
When Jesus says: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father except by Me." (John 14:6), that is a Truth claim exclusive to Jesus Christ. All "religions" do not lead to this conclusion, and "religions" that do not ascribe to this unique and exclusive Truth claim are not of Jesus Christ.
"There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12)
Jesus Christ as the Creator of all precedes the Tao, and as the passage from John chapter 1 is quoted "And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Any good that there is in this world is only so on account of the Person of Jesus Christ. It is no wonder that other religions might borrow from or be informed by the moralities embodied in the Person of the Prime Mover.
Even atheists often find themselves borrowing their sense of morality from what are at their root Christian principles, however, while they may borrow Christianity to have a standard at all by which to measure right and wrong, their worldview is inherently devoid of such a standard, defining what is "good" essentially in terms of what is what they perceive - rightly or wrongly - o be "good" for them, and advances themselves, regardless of the possible expense to others (Malthusian materialism), and it is not the equal of Christianity, which by contrast is based in love and self-sacrifice on behalf of others -- principles as embodied in the life, the example, the eternal sufficiency of the sacrifice of, and the person of Jesus Christ.
No other religion on its own is comparable to Christianity is this regard.
Jesus Christ is not to be found in all walks of life. For instance, Jesus Christ is not present in the walk of life chosen by a thief, a liar, a prostitute, or a murderer - just to mention a few.
You say I offer nothing but Scripture, but at least I offer something upon which to base what I am saying - quoting the Words of the Prime Author of the Christian faith.
You say that "Biblical Christianity offers a useful understanding, but not a complete one," but without meaningful discussion, this is a pregnant statement that exists without substance. Feel free to elaborate.
"Jesus Christ IS the Tao. and IS IN every human, regardless of their path."
Respectfully, Jesus Christ is God.
Where Tao may be translated as "the way," as I noted earlier, this would be something that was adopted by I Ching directly from the identity of the Prime Mover of all Creation as Jesus Christ claims, "I am the way, the Truth, and the Life."
Tao does not claim to be the embodiment of Truth and Tao is not the giver of Life. It is something less, and therefore, the Tao is not Jesus Christ as you have claimed.
The Spirit of Christ does not live in all men even as I gave examples of in my last posting, and I will not belabor again here.
"what I mean by incomplete is that the bible does not describe all of history or science"
The Bible beginning in Genesis is history. Jesus Christ established Natural Law at the beginning of time, and Natural Law is the predicate to all Laws of Science within which the study of true science may flourish. Again, as John 1 says: "And He is before all things and by Him all things consist." Let that sink in.
"some info it leaves out is still true, and is covered by other religions..."
What do other religions cover that is truthful and foundational to life that he Bible does not?
re: the Theory of Everything --- is a movie from 2014 about the life and philosophy of the atheist Steven Hawking, and is taken from a term he coined. You are correct to say that Christianity is not something defined by an athesit philosopher who has upon his passing met his Creator and at this moment likely sees the world and this life very differently from what he contemplated in life.
So, it's like God is at the top of a mountain and we each take a different path to get to Him? What if instead of this, He comes to us? If you find that idea attractive, you should really learn more about Jesus. *disclaimer: I didn't come up with that analogy on my own. I read it somewhere and thought it was great
I too used to interpret the Bible according to my own views and "knowledge." I believed the Bible to be stories that were shared by mouth and eventually written down. Like a game of telephone, the original message being distorted and embellished.
It is my opinion that if you are reinterpreting the Bible, the God of your Bible is a false God.
God's own finger wrote the 10 Commandments (Exodus 31:17-18), and he says he did it in 6 days, not 6000 years. The 10 Commandments are The Law given by the Supreme Law Giver. They are not open to private interpretation.
Read the text of the 4th Commandment regarding the keeping of the Sabbath, Exodus 20:11. There is no translational mis-understanding between Hebrew and English in this context.
Jesus Christ is described as the Creator of the entire Universe (John 1:1-5), and also described as the Author and finisher of our Faith (Hebrews 12:2). It is up to us to read what The Author has written Himself quite plainly, and to trust what He has said is Truth.
Jesus Christ is "The Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father except by Me." (John 14:6) This is a truth claim which you choose to believe as a celebration of the certainty of your eternal salvation, or not, -- choosing instead to die in your sin without claiming Christ's free gift of eternal life, that His own sacrifice on the cross made possible - done, as it was, on your behalf.
Raised in the Southern Baptist church, rebelled at an early age, mostly agnostic bordering on atheist for years, especially through my alcoholic years... found AA and a spiritual way to live, finally came to understand that some Higher Power had been guiding my life all along, and here many years later, 33 years clean and sober, have found God again. That's the Reader's Digest version.
I’ll see your being brought up in a Southern Baptist Church and raise you a Reformed Southern Baptist upbringing.😜😂 While I love my parents dearly and I really do believe they are both genuine Christians as evident by the way they live their lives, Reformed Southern Baptist churches are something I am very glad to not be involved with anymore to say the least. My childhood best friend and I have had many discussions of how we’ve had to deprogram ourselves from the “cult like” mentality of the church we were raised in. I ascribe to the fundamental and basic theology I was raised with, but the actual function of the church (for lack of a better way to describe it) is what I disagree with. I have watched almost every single person I grew up with in my childhood church “lose their way” and so far, not many of them have found their way back. By the grace of God, He opened my eyes after my daughter was born.
Interesting. Well, like I said, there are just as many different paths to God as there are people seeking Him. Every single person has a unique set of circumstance, personality, spiritual depth, spiritual calling, life crises, and so on. It's almost like God has laid out our individual paths from birth, knowing exactly what each of us need to get to Him.
I personally believe strongly in Reincarnation. I believe that all religious paths are ‘but ways to feel the elephant’ if you follow my bad metaphor. If asked, I will respond I am a Christian as that is the path most appealing to me, however I am in no way dogmatic and do not believe in the “must do’s” of traditional Christian religions. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. I believe God is able to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and is the still, small voice within. The grandness of existence is impossible to put into human terms or words. If you find a way that works for you and harms no one else, then that is what is most important, IMO. I do not worry about my soul at death. I believe I shall arrive with full awareness to one of God’s many mansions.
The Bible is divinely inspired which means that God's hand guided it. I too used to hold the same beliefs as you do about the Bible. But now, I see that cannot be the case.
Read your Bible and spend time with the Lord asking for wisdom and discernment to see what is True.
The Bible is a huge collection of books written by men over probably centuries. It was written by men, and has been edited and translated by men. Many books have been left off (censored) by men.
John 1 KJV 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jesus Christ lived so that God could give us His Word in the flesh. Nothing is more important than for you to know the way back to your Creator. He made sure that you know the way, without excuse. The reason why you can't see God is because haven't let Him into your life.
the organized theivery of the organized churches many of which are evil to the very core.
Change the word "many" to "most," and we agree 100%. The spirit of religion is not the same thing as the Spirit of God. Ignore what the churches teach and read the Word yourself, letting the Spirit teach.
I'm still an atheist and don't ever foresee that changing short of finding myself in a foxhole. But I'm very pro-Christian. The values of Christianity and secular morality are one and the same. Except you don't need to read centuries worth of philosophical literature on morality to explain why murder, theft, rape, etc.. is objectively evil. If God says it's evil, it's evil. So it doesn't matter if you get to a sound moral system through faith or logic, it just matters that you get an accurate moral compass. Leftwing atheist fail to do this and lose all sense of morality.
I believe the Bible is an amazing book. It's just not historical. I simply could not believe that the Bible was a complete contrivance of Man, so I looked further.
Not my website, but my username is based on my beliefs.
I am an atheist in the truest sense of the word. I am NOT anti-theist. You can believe in God all you wish. I care NOT what you claim you believe. I care how you ACT.
Tell me, on what do you base your perception of good and evil?
Muslims believe they are doing GOOD by killing off those who don’t follow Islam. Who are you to say they are wrong if they believe they are in the right? Where do you stem your morals from? What is “good” in your eyes may be “evil” in another persons eyes.
Do you really need religion to tell you that it is wrong to kill other humans unless you're under the threat of them killing you?
Do you really need religion to tell you that it is wrong for adults to fuck children?
Do you really need religion to tell you it is wrong for a human to eat a human; unless under dire circumstances when another human is already dead?
Genuinely curious. Do your morals really come from religious documents or do you simply know them based upon understanding reciprocity and the non-aggression principle?
I base all my beliefs off ten rules for life, it’s not religion to follow set guidelines made specifically for us. All the things you listed, there are people out there who think ALL those things you think are evil are good. The main point is, how do YOU decide what is actually right/wrong?
You do see that these are merely: rules of ownership, fit for slaves? I have to give St Paul but also St Peter some credit for taking the slavery out.
I never thought I would be arguing by the scriptures ....
Gal. 5:4.
You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
You do recognize the principle. Living your live according to LAW has a consequence.
Based on this step, the next step in human liberation is the declaration of independence. When considering the grievances, it becomes quite clear that LAW is not a savior at all. Sometimes you really have to go to the most basic of principles and discard the LAW.
[..]We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, that in order so secure these rights governments are instituted among men[..]
Allow me to add a couple of observations:
The highest authority as recognized under the declaration of independence is the rise of the individual man being gifted with the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
In terms of morality: that is all you need to know. Everything else flows from there.
However, I could do you one better:
There are 7 laws in nature you can observe.
Mentalism.
Vibration and frequency.
Rhythm.
Gender and gestation.
Polarity.
cause and effect.
transmutation.
Viewing life with this in mind leads to morality. See, this is the foundation of Christian BEHAVIOR: what you wish other people will do onto you, do onto them equally.
This concerns observation, determination, declaration of will, and acting according to it.
Correct observation can only happen in the NOW from a pure soul state: love,joy, peace. In the NOW-space all is. Nothing more, nothing less.
I am = GOD. = NOW
It is very simple. It requires no songs, no miracles, no bed-time stories, or meeting once a week to compare clothing.
In terms of good and evil, there is low and high frequency. Which all lead up to cause and effect. Evil consequences are due to evil causes, low frequency causes.
And causes are found in the mind.
This ties in with everything Q wrote about thinking for yourself, to be critical, rational, investigative, to ask questions.
And whatever else is beyond out 3 dimensions .... that is a matter of personal experience.
Think about it, bro. All them ancient mayans, the sun no come out from behind the clouds, so you have to appease it. And then it just grows until you have rivers of blood trying to keep Big Red happy.
Amazing what things people will believe in place of the One Who created them.
Yes, satan also taught their bretheren how to build the pyramids, how to refine metals so that they could kill each other with the byproducts, animal sex and many other sophisticated things.
Really, there is a simple way, above all else, to guarantee your way to Heaven. You have to KNOW that God is the creator of man. That Jesus is the Son of God. That He died for your sins.
Get that stuff down and a lot of the rest is differing religions or points of view, but without it, you’re going to the hot place.
Trying to live a Christ-like existence is good. And the goal that you can never reach, but it’s not the key to the gates.
My experience was similar to yours except that I was a committed atheist for a shorter period of my life. The Bible is our book. We need to embrace it. If you read the Bible as a believer, the truth contained therein will speak to you in ways that you will understand.
The Book of TRUTH. Amen
I used to believe in evolution until I found out that it is impossible. The for equation of evolution is "First there was nothing and then it exploded, and now we have everything." In mathematical terms it's 'nothing X something = everything.' Well gee that's about a stupid as it gets. And this crap is taught in public schools with taxpayer dollars.
The Biblical definition of Creation says this in Gen 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Which is more plausible?
Everything must go to the very beginning, which is, where did space, time, matter and energy come from? Biological Evolutionists like to start their theory at the safe point when the earth was already formed and full of the primordial soup. I always take the discussion to the beginning. Where did the earth come from?
As long as you believe in Christ and his being crucified, being our intercessor to the most wonderful God, and live in obedience to His word, that's what He wants. Don't let man distort God's Word.
I wrote a position paper explaining to my colleagues why I was not taking the vaccine and in that process I found my “theism”. I have appreciated this site for expanding my critical thinking and allowing embracing God/theism. Human mind is complex and a one size does not fit all.
Not true, in John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
He also said in John 8:24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
So either Jesus is telling the truth and He is the only way to God, or He is a liar.
I'm afraid those MANY ways lead to your personal destruction. In Jesus' own words, there is only ONE way...
5 Thomas *said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" 6 Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:5-6 (NASB)
I also spent much of my life thinking there were many ways, until I read the gospel of John, repented and became a believer in Jesus.
Love it! My Dad was an atheist until he started reading the book of Matthew and at chapter 11, the Lord saved him! ❤️
When Jesus says: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father except by Me." (John 14:6), that is a Truth claim exclusive to Jesus Christ. All "religions" do not lead to this conclusion, and "religions" that do not ascribe to this unique and exclusive Truth claim are not of Jesus Christ.
"There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12)
No, all "religious" roads do not lead to Christ.
Jesus Christ as the Creator of all precedes the Tao, and as the passage from John chapter 1 is quoted "And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Any good that there is in this world is only so on account of the Person of Jesus Christ. It is no wonder that other religions might borrow from or be informed by the moralities embodied in the Person of the Prime Mover.
Even atheists often find themselves borrowing their sense of morality from what are at their root Christian principles, however, while they may borrow Christianity to have a standard at all by which to measure right and wrong, their worldview is inherently devoid of such a standard, defining what is "good" essentially in terms of what is what they perceive - rightly or wrongly - o be "good" for them, and advances themselves, regardless of the possible expense to others (Malthusian materialism), and it is not the equal of Christianity, which by contrast is based in love and self-sacrifice on behalf of others -- principles as embodied in the life, the example, the eternal sufficiency of the sacrifice of, and the person of Jesus Christ.
No other religion on its own is comparable to Christianity is this regard.
Jesus Christ is not to be found in all walks of life. For instance, Jesus Christ is not present in the walk of life chosen by a thief, a liar, a prostitute, or a murderer - just to mention a few.
You say I offer nothing but Scripture, but at least I offer something upon which to base what I am saying - quoting the Words of the Prime Author of the Christian faith.
You say that "Biblical Christianity offers a useful understanding, but not a complete one," but without meaningful discussion, this is a pregnant statement that exists without substance. Feel free to elaborate.
"Jesus Christ IS the Tao. and IS IN every human, regardless of their path."
Respectfully, Jesus Christ is God.
Where Tao may be translated as "the way," as I noted earlier, this would be something that was adopted by I Ching directly from the identity of the Prime Mover of all Creation as Jesus Christ claims, "I am the way, the Truth, and the Life."
Tao does not claim to be the embodiment of Truth and Tao is not the giver of Life. It is something less, and therefore, the Tao is not Jesus Christ as you have claimed.
The Spirit of Christ does not live in all men even as I gave examples of in my last posting, and I will not belabor again here.
"what I mean by incomplete is that the bible does not describe all of history or science"
The Bible beginning in Genesis is history. Jesus Christ established Natural Law at the beginning of time, and Natural Law is the predicate to all Laws of Science within which the study of true science may flourish. Again, as John 1 says: "And He is before all things and by Him all things consist." Let that sink in.
"some info it leaves out is still true, and is covered by other religions..."
What do other religions cover that is truthful and foundational to life that he Bible does not?
re: the Theory of Everything --- is a movie from 2014 about the life and philosophy of the atheist Steven Hawking, and is taken from a term he coined. You are correct to say that Christianity is not something defined by an athesit philosopher who has upon his passing met his Creator and at this moment likely sees the world and this life very differently from what he contemplated in life.
So, it's like God is at the top of a mountain and we each take a different path to get to Him? What if instead of this, He comes to us? If you find that idea attractive, you should really learn more about Jesus. *disclaimer: I didn't come up with that analogy on my own. I read it somewhere and thought it was great
I too used to interpret the Bible according to my own views and "knowledge." I believed the Bible to be stories that were shared by mouth and eventually written down. Like a game of telephone, the original message being distorted and embellished.
It is my opinion that if you are reinterpreting the Bible, the God of your Bible is a false God.
I do not say this with any malice in my heart.
God's own finger wrote the 10 Commandments (Exodus 31:17-18), and he says he did it in 6 days, not 6000 years. The 10 Commandments are The Law given by the Supreme Law Giver. They are not open to private interpretation.
Read the text of the 4th Commandment regarding the keeping of the Sabbath, Exodus 20:11. There is no translational mis-understanding between Hebrew and English in this context.
Jesus Christ is described as the Creator of the entire Universe (John 1:1-5), and also described as the Author and finisher of our Faith (Hebrews 12:2). It is up to us to read what The Author has written Himself quite plainly, and to trust what He has said is Truth.
Jesus Christ is "The Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father except by Me." (John 14:6) This is a truth claim which you choose to believe as a celebration of the certainty of your eternal salvation, or not, -- choosing instead to die in your sin without claiming Christ's free gift of eternal life, that His own sacrifice on the cross made possible - done, as it was, on your behalf.
Welcome to theism!
We all come to fairh in our separate, unique ways. You would be amazed at how I came to mine.
Raised in the Southern Baptist church, rebelled at an early age, mostly agnostic bordering on atheist for years, especially through my alcoholic years... found AA and a spiritual way to live, finally came to understand that some Higher Power had been guiding my life all along, and here many years later, 33 years clean and sober, have found God again. That's the Reader's Digest version.
I’ll see your being brought up in a Southern Baptist Church and raise you a Reformed Southern Baptist upbringing.😜😂 While I love my parents dearly and I really do believe they are both genuine Christians as evident by the way they live their lives, Reformed Southern Baptist churches are something I am very glad to not be involved with anymore to say the least. My childhood best friend and I have had many discussions of how we’ve had to deprogram ourselves from the “cult like” mentality of the church we were raised in. I ascribe to the fundamental and basic theology I was raised with, but the actual function of the church (for lack of a better way to describe it) is what I disagree with. I have watched almost every single person I grew up with in my childhood church “lose their way” and so far, not many of them have found their way back. By the grace of God, He opened my eyes after my daughter was born.
Interesting. Well, like I said, there are just as many different paths to God as there are people seeking Him. Every single person has a unique set of circumstance, personality, spiritual depth, spiritual calling, life crises, and so on. It's almost like God has laid out our individual paths from birth, knowing exactly what each of us need to get to Him.
I personally believe strongly in Reincarnation. I believe that all religious paths are ‘but ways to feel the elephant’ if you follow my bad metaphor. If asked, I will respond I am a Christian as that is the path most appealing to me, however I am in no way dogmatic and do not believe in the “must do’s” of traditional Christian religions. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. I believe God is able to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and is the still, small voice within. The grandness of existence is impossible to put into human terms or words. If you find a way that works for you and harms no one else, then that is what is most important, IMO. I do not worry about my soul at death. I believe I shall arrive with full awareness to one of God’s many mansions.
I believe in God and some kind of afterlife based on some incidents in my life.
I believe the Bible was written by men to control other men, and our Anglo culture embraced it to our detriment.
It destroyed the warrior spirit of White peoples.
The Bible is divinely inspired which means that God's hand guided it. I too used to hold the same beliefs as you do about the Bible. But now, I see that cannot be the case.
Read your Bible and spend time with the Lord asking for wisdom and discernment to see what is True.
The Bible is a huge collection of books written by men over probably centuries. It was written by men, and has been edited and translated by men. Many books have been left off (censored) by men.
It was written as God wanted it to be. God was in control of every word put into the Bible.
John 1 KJV 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jesus Christ lived so that God could give us His Word in the flesh. Nothing is more important than for you to know the way back to your Creator. He made sure that you know the way, without excuse. The reason why you can't see God is because haven't let Him into your life.
I can see God perfectly. You are making assumptions about me that have no basis in reality. I see with God almost daily.
What I don't believe in is your written dogma, and the organized theivery of the organized churches many of which are evil to the very core.
the organized theivery of the organized churches many of which are evil to the very core.
Change the word "many" to "most," and we agree 100%. The spirit of religion is not the same thing as the Spirit of God. Ignore what the churches teach and read the Word yourself, letting the Spirit teach.
I'm still an atheist and don't ever foresee that changing short of finding myself in a foxhole. But I'm very pro-Christian. The values of Christianity and secular morality are one and the same. Except you don't need to read centuries worth of philosophical literature on morality to explain why murder, theft, rape, etc.. is objectively evil. If God says it's evil, it's evil. So it doesn't matter if you get to a sound moral system through faith or logic, it just matters that you get an accurate moral compass. Leftwing atheist fail to do this and lose all sense of morality.
Well said👌
Allan Kardec's "The Spirits Book" blew my mind.
No, I am an atheist, but I am not stuck.
I believe the Bible is an amazing book. It's just not historical. I simply could not believe that the Bible was a complete contrivance of Man, so I looked further.
This website lays out the basics.
https://solarmythology.com/
Not my website, but my username is based on my beliefs.
I am an atheist in the truest sense of the word. I am NOT anti-theist. You can believe in God all you wish. I care NOT what you claim you believe. I care how you ACT.
Tell me, on what do you base your perception of good and evil?
Muslims believe they are doing GOOD by killing off those who don’t follow Islam. Who are you to say they are wrong if they believe they are in the right? Where do you stem your morals from? What is “good” in your eyes may be “evil” in another persons eyes.
Genuinely curious.
Muslims are religious. I am not.
Morals are easy. Religion corrupts morals.
Do you really need religion to tell you that it is wrong to kill other humans unless you're under the threat of them killing you?
Do you really need religion to tell you that it is wrong for adults to fuck children?
Do you really need religion to tell you it is wrong for a human to eat a human; unless under dire circumstances when another human is already dead?
Genuinely curious. Do your morals really come from religious documents or do you simply know them based upon understanding reciprocity and the non-aggression principle?
And how did you get the understanding of right and wrong placed in your heart and in your mouth?
I base all my beliefs off ten rules for life, it’s not religion to follow set guidelines made specifically for us. All the things you listed, there are people out there who think ALL those things you think are evil are good. The main point is, how do YOU decide what is actually right/wrong?
10 rules .... you mean the 10 commandments?
You do see that these are merely: rules of ownership, fit for slaves? I have to give St Paul but also St Peter some credit for taking the slavery out.
I never thought I would be arguing by the scriptures .... Gal. 5:4.
You do recognize the principle. Living your live according to LAW has a consequence.
Based on this step, the next step in human liberation is the declaration of independence. When considering the grievances, it becomes quite clear that LAW is not a savior at all. Sometimes you really have to go to the most basic of principles and discard the LAW.
[..]We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, that in order so secure these rights governments are instituted among men[..]
Allow me to add a couple of observations:
The highest authority as recognized under the declaration of independence is the rise of the individual man being gifted with the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
In terms of morality: that is all you need to know. Everything else flows from there.
However, I could do you one better:
There are 7 laws in nature you can observe.
Viewing life with this in mind leads to morality. See, this is the foundation of Christian BEHAVIOR: what you wish other people will do onto you, do onto them equally.
This concerns observation, determination, declaration of will, and acting according to it.
Correct observation can only happen in the NOW from a pure soul state: love,joy, peace. In the NOW-space all is. Nothing more, nothing less.
I am = GOD. = NOW
It is very simple. It requires no songs, no miracles, no bed-time stories, or meeting once a week to compare clothing.
In terms of good and evil, there is low and high frequency. Which all lead up to cause and effect. Evil consequences are due to evil causes, low frequency causes.
And causes are found in the mind.
This ties in with everything Q wrote about thinking for yourself, to be critical, rational, investigative, to ask questions.
And whatever else is beyond out 3 dimensions .... that is a matter of personal experience.
Be careful of the spirits you are tuning into. And giving permission to. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man for a reason.
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-Chapter-1/
I'm not attacking you, I'm being sincere. Very sincere. All your questions, and many, many more, will be answered in this one book of the Bible.
I just looked at this website. I only read a bit and bookmarked to look at it further. Very interesting!
Many pagans have traveled that same road. Do you do the child sacrifice thing like them?
How many times did your parents drop you on your head?
Think about it, bro. All them ancient mayans, the sun no come out from behind the clouds, so you have to appease it. And then it just grows until you have rivers of blood trying to keep Big Red happy.
Amazing what things people will believe in place of the One Who created them.
Attacking people when they trustingly open themselves won't win many friends. Or converts.
Teaching history and the Word of God is "attacking?"
Starting out by suggesting that the person you're talking to is a ritualistic murderer is attacking. Usually a conversation stopper, imo.
You really belief that these people held such ...eh... primitive notions while constructing one of the most sophisticated calendars?
I could do the same to you ..... but I won't, as that is my choice to make.
Yes, satan also taught their bretheren how to build the pyramids, how to refine metals so that they could kill each other with the byproducts, animal sex and many other sophisticated things.
I honestly don't see much evidence of God, but there is plenty of evidence of Satan.
https://qagg.news/?q=satan
I do know Good from Evil.
I see glimmers, but most certainly not from an all-powerful being watching over us.
The vast majority of what I can see is Evil.
.
I want to believe. We need to belief. This is vital, and yet I struggle.
America, its principles, and its law were gifted to a righteous people, because only a righteous people could keep her.
Really, there is a simple way, above all else, to guarantee your way to Heaven. You have to KNOW that God is the creator of man. That Jesus is the Son of God. That He died for your sins.
Get that stuff down and a lot of the rest is differing religions or points of view, but without it, you’re going to the hot place.
Trying to live a Christ-like existence is good. And the goal that you can never reach, but it’s not the key to the gates.