jSmitty45 Loc: Fl born, lived in Texas 30 yrs, now Louisiana

That is where you are wrong.

jSmitty45 Loc: Fl born, lived in Texas 30 yrs, now Louisiana

True.

Rose42

Not true of course. God h**es sin.l but not the sinner. You’ve been told many times you have no idea.

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

Describe your experience when God told you He "does not personally give a damn".

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

Wow! That's interesting. Do you have a credible, well documented and irrefutable source for such a statement,
or is this just your ill-informed opinion?

How do we know the Bible is authentic and true?
Regarding the authenticity of the Bible: The Bible was written in three different languages over a period of approximately 1500 years by more than 40 authors. Nonetheless, the Bible is unique in its unity of theme (man’s fall and ultimate redemption) from beginning to end. This unity is an internal evidence of the Bible’s Divine origin as God moved men to record His word. Another internal evidence is seen in its detailed prophecies relating to the nation of Israel, the future of mankind, the date when Messiah would first appear, where he would be born, what family he would come from, and how he would die and rise again on the third day. There are over 300 prophecies alone concerning Jesus Christ. For example, Daniel 9:24-27 pinpointed when the Messiah would appear: seventy weeks (490 years) after the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. The book of Micah disclosed that Messiah would be born in David’s town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Isaiah foretold that he would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14). The prophet Malachi predicted that Messiah’s coming would be heralded by someone like Elijah (Malachi 4:5-6). That person was John the Baptist.

BIRDMAN

P*******es

Coos Bay Tom Loc: coos bay oregon

All my exes changed their sexes https://youtu.be/FfVBQNcDaUw

Geo

So Zemirah, you jump in to defend Wolf Councilers h**e and name calling. You call it love and not h**e. And if I call it h**e ( language like filthy q***r) then I’m in full r*******n against God?
You said We all know what god had written down. If you think god wrote anything down then I feel sorry for you. You did say the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit, so maybe you were just rambling quotes about god writing the Bible and actually do understand. Wolf councillor quoted Leviticus and the Old Testament when I said said it was written by superstitious old Jewish men.
You chose to ridicule me by diverting my statement and suggesting that I meant the disciples of the New Testament so you could show your knowledge and infer that I was wrong. Deceitful but, I wouldn’t expect more from a “Holier than thou” who professes to know God because he read thousands of years old text from a time of bigotry, superstition, intolerance and ignorance that someone told you it was written by God. And you respond: Really? Wow!
Or inspired by God, the same way Gone with the Wind was inspired by the Civil War.
You defend hatred and call it common sense.
If you know god, then you should know something about him that was never written down in the scriptures, or do you just know what you’ve been told by someone as unscrupulous as yourself?

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

You torpedoed your entire argument in saying the Bible was "written by superstitious old Jewish men."
That is patently false.

Wh**ever bigotry, superstition, intolerance and ignorance that existed thousands of years ago,
it pales in comparison to that of today. The population of the United States today is greater than the entire world population at the time of Jesus.

Who wrote the Bible?
The Bible is the Word of God written for His people, spanning 66 books in the Old and New Testaments combined. It is the best selling book of all time with over 50 billion copies sold and distributed. According to Wycliffe Global Alliance, at least one portion of Scripture has been t***slated for 3,350 of the 7,099 existing languages; the Bible in its entirety has been t***slated in 683 languages.

Is the Bible like every other “sacred text” in world religions then? The answer must be an indelible, “no.” “Of course, you would say that,” some might respond skeptically, “All religions make the same boast. All of their books are written by their respective deities? Right?” Well, actually, no. There is a dramatic difference between the Bible and other collections of “holy” writings.

The Holy Bible Was Written by God

C.S. Lewis was not only the extraordinarily gifted writer of now-classic works such as Mere Christianity but one of the greatest medieval English literature scholars of his time, serving at both Oxford and Cambridge. In one of his essays, he wrote that the Bible was different from all the other books in the world. The other sacred texts that we read — and there’s no reason that we shouldn’t read them to learn more about what others believe – come off as something more akin to mythology. Mythology was a considered study of Dr. Lewis. In fact, the Chronicles of Narnia come out of C.S. Lewis’ command of the mythological genre, as well as C.S. Lewis’ faith. Lewis told the reader to consider the Bible alongside other sacred texts and folklore.

The Bible reads nothing at all like mythology. To be sure some of those books called the Apocrypha have a decided ring of fable. There is important historical content to be considered but the Apocrypha lacks the authenticity of the sixty-six books of the Bible. Thus, that collection of 15 books did not make it into the Canon of Scripture, recognized by the Church as divinely inspired. And that last phrase, “divinely inspired,” leads us to answer the question, “Who Wrote the Bible.” We are back to the original answer and that reply that you assumed I would give: the Holy Bible, containing sixty-six books was written by God.

Indeed, the celebrated, late Scottish Bible scholar, John Murray, of Westminster Theological Seminary, began his essay on the subject with a brilliantly simple but carefully crafted summary:

“CHRISTIANS of varied and diverse theological standpoints aver that the Bible is the Word of God, that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit and that it occupies a unique place as the norm of Christian faith and life.”

But as the Lord God ordains whatsoever comes to pass (or He couldn’t rightfully be the Almighty), He does so by means: secondary forces orchestrated by God to bring about His will. Thus, it is with the Bible. God wrote the Bible through 40 writers, possibly fewer or more depending on how one views the authorship identification in respective books (e.g., The Epistle to the Hebrews), in 66 books, across at least 1,500 years, and in both Near Eastern Ancient culture and the Greco-Roman culture of the first century. The singular message, the “scarlet thread” of t***h that binds each of the books together as one, the witness of Jesus of Nazareth, and the witness of the Holy Spirit all converge to make the Bible, alone against all other revered texts, a revelation of God to Man.

The Scriptures Self-Attest that the Bible is the Word of God

The Bible attests to the authorship of the Almighty in numerous places. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,” (Heb 1:1).

In fact, biblical writers write unequivocally that the Bible is divine over 3,000 times! Dr. Michael J. Kruger, a noted New Testament scholar, rightly affirmed, “the Bible bears evidence within itself of its own divine origins.”

One of those places of self-attestation is in the Psalms. Psalm 19 is one of the better-known Psalms of King David. The Psalmist composes a sacred song to the glory of God’s revelation to humankind. Psalm 19 is divided into two parts. The first part of the song says that we know God from (what theologians call) General Revelation. Consider verse one as it describes how we know God through creation: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

For six verses, David extols God for having revealed himself through creation. The second half of Psalm 19, beginning with verse seven, begins with these words: “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.”

Theologians call this way of knowing God as Special Revelation. In summary, Psalm 19 teaches that while we can know God through creation — standing in an open field and looking into the incomprehensibly deep and dark night-sky studded with innumerable stars, a million suns illuminating other unseen galaxies, twinkling like diamonds against black velvet — but we do not know God personally through this observable form of revelation. When David writes that the Lord is perfect converting the soul, he is saying that we recognize there is a God in general creation, but we come to know this God and His will for our lives through special revelation. This special revelation is the Word of God, “the law of the Lord that is perfect, converting the soul:” that is, the Holy Bible.

So, the Bible self identifies as a supernatural “word from another world.” But how do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?

What Does it Mean to Be Inspired by the Holy Spirit?

Peter, Paul, and the New Testament writers agree with Jesus: The Bible is the Word of God by virtue of His ministry through chosen vessels to reveal His intent. First, Peter says,

“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21 ESV).

Then, Paul writes unequivocally:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Does inspired mean that God mechanically directed the hand of each biblical author to record God’s own voice? Absolutely not. What is so marvelous about the Bible is that God’s Word comes to us through the personalities, the circumstances, the challenges, the joys and sorrows with people just like us. Just as God sent His only begotten Son to live the life we could never live and die the death that should have been ours, who rose from the grave on the third day, so God wrote the Bible. He revealed His Word to us in a way that we could understand, in a way that is accessible, and a way that is both beautiful and unified.

It is important to say that there is a difference between inspiration and illumination. The Word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit — God “breathed out” (2 Timothy 3:16) through the instrument of human beings. “Illumination” is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that helps us to understand and apply God’s Word. Faithful gospel preachers, therefore, were not inspired themselves or of their own accord. But it was the Holy Spirit illuminating their minds so that they could proclaim the inspired Word of God. Those of us who listen to the Word of God expounded, also, should pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit: that we “may hear, receive, and inwardly digest the inspired word of the Lord” (Collect [a gathering prayer] from the Book of Common Prayer).

Did God Write the Bible through Humans?

Yes, the Lord used human instrumentality to bring forth his own word. Of course, God could have spoken directly or “immediately,” but he chose to do so “immediately” — that is, through human agents. Therefore, we must recognize that these writers — prophets and priests, kings and servants, lawyers and fishermen, scholars and uneducated — wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Who Were the Old Testament Authors?

<SNIP>

Parky60 Loc: People's Republic of Illinois

One of the challenges of living a godly life in an ungodly world, is the pressure we face when the world perpetually exalts those who are evil, and expects the rest of us to applaud. As with Isaiah, we live in a culture filled with “those who call evil good and good evil” (Is.5:20). Jesus made it clear that “what is exalted among men is an a*********n in the sight of God” (Lk.16:15).

Making appraisals from a biblical perspective will not be popular, but necessary for those who walk with Christ. God’s heroes are not hailed by society. They never have been. They are those who are “afflicted and mistreated,” and yet Scripture extols them as those “of whom the world is not worthy” (Heb.11:37-38).

There are many spiritual reasons the world exalts those who defy God’s rules. Not the least of which is their sinful desire to mitigate the pangs of conviction. Members of society can feel better about their t***sgressions when their heroes are avant-garde sinners. Though they know “that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Rom.1:32). Sin is shameful. We should be remorseful when we fall. And we should certainly never applaud those who defiantly make sinning their habit.

LostAggie66 Loc: Corpus Christi, TX (Shire of Seawinds)

What do P*******es have to do with Juneteenth? Not a thing that I know of. It's a holiday in Texas where I grew up and nothing to do with Gay P***e recognition.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Geo, writing a response to any comment on an open forum is not "jumping in," - it is participating in a debate.

Wolf Counselor requiring my defense or assistance?

What a novel idea!!

"Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand." (Romans 14:4)

Wolf Counselor is competent to defend himself.

My response was an exercise of Christian Apologetics.

In understanding our role as Christians today, in Christ, we are all prophets as well as priests and kings.

We are called to defend the revealed word of God. (Jude 1:3).

The Old Testament prophets were men of varying ages who were directly called by God. The calls of a number of them are recorded explicitly for us.
Moses was called while tending his father in law’s sheep at Horeb (Exodus 3 & 4).
Samuel was called as a boy in the temple (1 Samuel 3).
Isaiah’s call is recorded at length in Isaiah 6.
Jeremiah was set apart from birth and called to proph­esy at about age 20 (Jeremiah 1:5ff).
Ezekiel was called while he was in exile in Babylon (Ezekiel 1 & 2).

In some cases, God’s call comes in the context of a vision or a dream (Numbers 12:6). Isaiah and Ezekiel are both given overwhelming visions of God in His splendor.
Sometimes God’s call comes “out of the blue.” Amos was a sheep breeder when “the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”

What is clear in each case is that these men of both the Old Testament and New Testament, were appointed by the LORD – they do not autonomously take this role upon themselves.

Sometimes we think that God loses His temper with His people because of their disobedience, and that the prophesied punishments are a ‘tit for tat’ reaction on His part. In fact, when the prophets speak about God’s impending judgement of His people, they are testifying that God is faithful to His promises. So, when the prophets condemn the behavior of God’s people and warn about His coming judgement, they always do so in terms of the cov­enant curses. They prophecy famine, infertility, disease, drought, oppression by their enemies and finally, exile, if the people continue in their unfaithful­ness (c.f. Deuteronomy 28:15-68).

These punishments are not God ‘lashing out’ at a people who have ‘ticked him off’ but a reminder that, even when God’s people are unfaithful, He will remain faithful – “if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).

The prophets’ words were intended to cause the people to consider their ways and return to God (e.g. Amos 4’s refrain “I gave you ... but you have not returned to me”). Thus God’s promised punishment was an instrument of His grace and the prophets’ warnings are a call to be faithful as God is faithful. If the people refuse to heed the prophets (and mostly they do), the prophets’ words still testify to God’s faithfulness and justice – even in punishing His own people.

FYI, the definition of derogatory [filthy] language and that of hatred [h**e speech] are each mutually exclusive.

As for the remainder of your diatribe, to receive the response that is its proper due, rewrite it in a cohesive manner.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Parky, the entire 1st chapter of Romans, after itemizing the sexual perversion of this age, in verses 28-32 contributes greatly to summarize Christian understanding of the evil reprobate mind that, as a result of this activity, is now prevalent within the cultures throughout the world today, and exceedingly so within the United States, - that with which we must contend as the full month of June celebrates and exalts godless perversion as a cause for shared p***e rather than the humble deep sorrow of contrition it should bring upon God's created mankind.

"Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a reprobate (debased, worthless, depraved) mind, to do what ought not to be done.
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-h**ers, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents.

They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless.

Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.

keepuphope Loc: Idaho

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Geo,

No one, within themselves and their own human abilities is capable of holiness.

God sees Christian as holy because their sins have been covered and permanently (as in eternally) erased by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, after we repent of them, and accept, by faith, Jesus' sacrifice on our behave.

My focus is Christian Apologetics, the defense of the word of God, as written.

I have no interest, inclination, time, or energy to ridicule anyone.

No one can "ridicule" you unless you choose to consider yourself ridiculed.

The definition of sin is full r*******n against God.

Where you stand on that spectrum only you and the God of the Universe know.

It's frankly unlikely that few others care.

Thank God when and if they do.

Your attempt at mind reading leaves a lot to be desired, possibly not your calling.

If it eases your mind, I assure you that the past magnitude of my own sins leave yours in the dust.

I thoroughly enjoy t***h telling, so any deceit you encounter is projected by your mind, never mine.

As for being unscrupulous, Hello. - to what end (?) - this is an open forum on a little known or frequented website!