read: the hiram key; the second messiah; james the just & christian origins; the templar revalati & james the brother of jesus.
Yep, Im christian and I always will be. MBH and the fan, all I have to say is…well said. God bless everone, and I mean everyone, of you.
The fan,mbh,justin you guys got it right. All I can say to the non-believers is, do what one of the believers mentioned. Diligently study the teachings of Christ with an open mind and do as Jesus teaches. Pray with an honest heart to understand and know the truth of the Bible. We can only expect Christ to save us and reveal His will to us (through the New Testament)if we truly acknowledge that we are sinners and cannot by doing good works alone, go to heaven. ONLY if you have sincerely given it a shot, can you speak with any authority on the subject. Just like a person needs to give a new training program an honest go before he/she knows if it will work! Remember there are hypocrites everywhere. Some will tell you they are hardcore trainers but never workout. Some will tell you they love Christ but you can tell by their deeds and actions they don’t study His Word or live by it!
In His Service --LW
While you are at it, you might try to fathom, “In the beginning, God created the Heavens.” Who created God? Who decided when it was the beginning?
Back to Hathor. Hathor says that if you vote Republican, you shall keep the money that you earn. Hathor says that the United States stands alone among nations. Finally, Hathor asserts that the Coal Miner’s Daughter is one of the worst films ever made.
Oh, one more thing the New Testament was translated by King James directly from the original Greek. Some of the newer translations have more of man’s reasoning woven through them and are not copied as strictly from the original documents.
My pastor is a Greek scholar, missionary and fluent in several languages. He has had several convincing sermons on the accuracy of the King James version, compared to the NIV, American standard and others. My brother is a High School teacher and Greek student. He learned Greek to study the N.T. in its original language. He can confirm the total agreement of facts within the many books of the Bible. Which as history confirms, were written by many men (many could have never known each other)over a period of more than a few lifetimes! Is not that a little bit eye-opening? Most authors have a hard enough time not contradicting themselves in one book!!
Later --LW
On the slope of Lake Titicaca, there is a shrine to Hathor. The shrine is carved in the shape of a large bovine. When you enter the shrine, you must pay a penalty. You must renounce blaming others for your faults. You must take full responsibility for your actions. Then you are ushered into a large room that is full of cows. There you learn the peace that comes with living the lifestyle of a cow. You eat when you want, you defecate where you are, then when you are tired, you flop to the ground. If you wander outside of the given perimeter, you immediately open your eyes as wide as you can and run around aimlessly until someone shepards you back into the center of your living space. At the end of a predetermined period of time, you are skinned and eaten. There is real logic to that existence.
The obvious and undeniable conclusion is that there is no historical evidence whatever that the Jesus of Christianity was an historical person. For example, these writers, who lived at the time that Jesus supposedly lived, left a library of Jewish and Pagan literature, in which not one mention of Jesus or of his apostles or his disciples appears: Arrian, Plutarch, Apollonius, Hermogones, Appian, Damis, Aulus Gellius, Appion of Alexandria, Philo Judaeus, Petronius, Juvenal, Quintilian, Silius Italicus, Phlegon, Pausanias, Dio Chrysostom, Favorinus, Seneca, Dion Pruseus, Martial, Lucanus, Statius, Phaedrus, Florus Lucius, Columella, Lysias, Theon of Myrna, Pliny the Elder, Paterculus, Persius, Justus of Tiberius, Epictetus, Ptolemy, Valerius Maximus, Quintius Curtius, Valerius Flaccus, and Pomponius Mela. McDowell cites Otto Betz, author of What Do We Know About Jesus?
(1968) as concluding that “no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non-historicity of Jesus” (p. 9). Betz is either disingenuous
or unaware of the work of Charles F. Dupuis, Robert Taylor, David F. Strauss, Kersey Graves, John M. Robertson, Thomas Whittaker,
Robert Arthur Drews, Peter C. A. Jensen, William B. Smith, L. Gordon Rylands, P. L. Couchoud, and John E. Remsburg.
The ten sources cited are McDowell’s only evidences outside the gospels for the existence of Jesus as an historical person.
Except one, and here he planted the seeds of his own destruction, because it is the key to how the cult of Christianity was
constructed.
Hey, Mr. Tolerant, I have begun a new instrument, I now play the harp. I sing and harp all day long. I sing, “Hathor the wise and all-knowing, Hathor the cleanser, Hathor will save all.” I found a group of friends who sing along. We eat nutritious foods all day long. Occasionally we mate. Then we harp and sing, harp and sing, until the sun goes down, then we sleep. We dream harp-filled melodies. Then when the sun comes up it starts afresh.
The King James is a version not a translation. Do some of your own research. It was written for a King who wanted it to read the way he intended, not God.
The N.T. was written in the commonly spoken language at the time of it’s writing. That way it could be understood. Doesn’t it make sense that if God requires us to live by the bible, he would give it to us today in a language we would understand.? The King James is not understandable to us today (ie, shrambles in the King James version refers to a meat market, what would you have assumed shambles means today?). The King James also promotes the Trinity, which is not a bible teaching and the writers of the N.T did not believe it, nor did the first century Christians teach it. It wasn’t until the Council of Nicea, that the “Church” formally accepted it. That was apostasy as prophesied by Paul and Peter. The other thing about the King James version is that it used to contain God’s name, but only four times, not the seven thousand plus that it appears in the original language. Now it isn’t there at all. Tell me, how can you worship and have a relationship with someone you call by a title? It is much more difficult.
I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has changed my life ever since I have accepted his sacrifice on the cross for my sins. I am a firm believer in the Bible. Why would a loving God give us a poorly translated book to learn about Him? We can trust the Bible! The bible isn’t a scam, it isn’t mistranslated. This is the truth. Now, you can believe what ever you want, but your belief doesn’t change the facts. Put your faith and trust in Him now, so when He comes back, you won’t be ashamed. That day will come…For all of you who are struggling in life, or just searching for the answers… Jesus is the key to all your problems.
Though I’m not a christian, I don’t see why it matters whether or not he really existed. He could just as effectively be an analogy, i.e. Abraham (Check out the national geographic about Abrahamic religions for some words about it).
For some interesting though not exactly believable at times reading that casts a totally different light on christ’s life and times, one could check out holy blood, holy grail.
If the Bible is the literal word of God, and you must devote yourself to Jesus and His teachings, what happens to all of the people who lived before the Bible was written? Where do worshipers of the Koran go?
Now, back to Hathor. Hathor, the celestial bovine, can feed us both physically and spiritually. Hathor’s milk can sustain us in times of crisis. Only through Hathor, can we reach nirvana.
Where would Jesus have been without the milk of Hathor? Remember, in most of Jesus’ early depictions, a cow was nearly always present. Therefore, Hathor’s children fed Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. You could say that Jesus’ teachings were nourished through the milk of Hathor. The peace that Jesus preached, was possible because his body possessed the milk of Hathor. I am going to leave now and find my gold-inlaid Hathor-inscribed Harp and make sweet Hathor music.
Holy Blood-Holy Grail is a very interesting book. I read it nearly 20 years ago and just recently came across it again while going through some old boxes. While a lot of the the book is highly speculative, it is an intriguing theory on the historical Jesus and the early Church.
“The comparison to my “believing” in weight training and someone suggesting a weight training book to me is not analagous to “believing” in mythologh, superstition, the divinity of J. Christ, etc.” Ok hooker you realy need to concentrate. I wasn’t making the arguement that they are ‘analgous’ in the sense of science. Sigh. That what not even what we were discussing. If you’re going to start changing the subject of debate, please leave me out of it. The point we WERE argueing what that just because someone already believes in something doesn’t mean they shouldn’t continue to study up on it. Remember your own “preaching to the choir comment?” You asked why christians would bother reading a book on christianity. My point was that just because you have already concluded your knowledgeable in a subject does not preclude you from continual study. Hence, I asked if you continue to read articles on weight training. I wasn’t a guestion of belief you, or I, bought up. It was the odd and weird reaction that people would would continue to study a subject they enjoy. Please dont’ try the old switch and bait tatic again.
Ok. From what I’m hearing from the “true believers” here is that all that is necessary to go to heaven is to believe in Christ. If that’s the case, I have a hard time believing that if I happen not to believe in Christ, but I live a good life of loving, caring for others, helping my fellow man, etc. I would not go on to an afterlife. Whereas I could rape and pillage, steal, covet everything in sight, etc. (basically shatter all 10 Commandments), yet believe in Jesus, ask for forgiveness and I’m good as gold. Is that right? Do none of our actions in this life matter at all, other than simply believing in someone I’ve never met? Please, I’m not trying to be a smartass here, I would really like some direct answers.
Geez, I’ve been too busy to respond. Was very busy with that last response. I’m not a speed typer, but that’s what I tried to do. Sorry if it’s not very legible.
What? Why are you addressing me with talk of a divine cow? Your satire isn’t funny. Not because I’m offended. Honestly, that’s not it. ‘Hathor’ just wasn’t very witty. Trust me, I would have given you an A if it showed any true wit or humor. But, you get a D instead.
In short, I don’t read the king James version. There are far newer versions which employ large committees of proffesionals in their respective languages. They use the oldest and most regarded documents for their ‘modern’ translations. Remember while the bible was yet to be bound together as a volume of books, the documents and letters were circulating through churches. In short, they didn’t just turn around and translate the King James to todays english.
I’ll have you know, sir, that Hathor the celestial bovine is an ancient Egyptian God. He predated your Jesus by about 2500 years. Look it up. I am not trying to be witty. I honestly believe in the virtues expressed by Hathor. Hathor teaches extreme patience coupled with a pragmatic approach to life. Only do what one must. However, eat as much as is possible. I must excuse myself in order to harp my way to sleep.
Disclaimer: I haven’t read any of the messages
in this topic, and I’m really not interested.
So don’t bother flaming for what I write
below, because I’m not going to see it. Anyway, I just thought the following was
pretty funny:
Seen printed on the front of a t-shirt:
Have you forgotten Jesus?
Seen printed on the back of the t-shirt:
Don't you think it's about time you did?