I'm a Pagan, I don't believe in the bible being the only truth.

This young lady stated the following as well:
Try to convince me otherwise, here are the rules:
No quoting the bible AT ALL
No speak of hell and eternal suffering
None of that "I feel it is right" or "God did this in my life"
No "God told me" or "God/Jesus says.."
You may only use 100% provable facts (Cite your source, links prefered)
No "read the bible" stuff (I have twice already)
And NO Opinionated sites
Only cold, hard, provable facts (The old "we exist" and "look at everything around you" bits are not acceptable)

My answer:

From my gathering, your request is like asking me to make you a cake without an oven, flour, milk, butter or eggs. maybe I misunderstood you. I enjoy a good, honest, non-bashing discussion. This is not an attempt at humor either.

But I will try to raise some points.
First, I need a non biblical reason for an objective moral law innate in all humanity.
Secondly, there is the non-biblical accounts of Jesus' resurrection. (Tacitus or Josephus)
Third, the Cosmological argument. Robert Jastrow, founder-director of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies, said, "A sound explanation may exist for the explosive birth of our universe; but if it does, science cannot find out what the explanation is. The scientists' pursuit of the past ends in the moment of creation."**
These are just a few. Now before I get bashed by those outside of our conversation, I know that these are not indepth explanations. One line can never suffice for so grand a subject. Respond to this if it is of interest. Have a great day.

Source(s):

**"God and the Astronomers", pg. 105; Robert Jastrow

Is there any verse in the bible where Jesus says I am going to pay for your sins ?

This was asked my a Muslim.
Jesus said the following
"Obey the Commandments" (Matthew 19:17)
Why would he say that if he knows already he is going to pay for our sins ..what is the use of following the commandments then ?!! because whether you followed it or not you are already forgiven ?!!!

where is it in the bible that Jesus says I will pay for your sins?




My answer:

Isaiah 53:4 - Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].(B)
5But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
This is one of the Jewish Old Testament prophets 600 years before Jesus came prophesying of why the Messiah would die.
Luke 24: 27 - Then beginning with Moses and [throughout] all the Prophets, He went on explaining and interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning and referring to Himself...44Then He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything which is written concerning Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. 45Then He [thoroughly] opened up their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 And said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ (the Messiah) should suffer and on the third day rise from ([l]among) the dead,(B) 47 And that repentance [with a view to and as the condition of] forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
Those are the words of Jesus Himself to His disciples. Now let's see what His Apostles says. Paul, who persecuted and killed Christians before his conversion when met Christ; states this:
1 Corinthians 15:1 - AND NOW let me remind you [since it seems to have escaped you], brethren, of the Gospel (the glad tidings of salvation) which I proclaimed to you, which you welcomed and accepted and upon which your faith rests,
2 And by which you are saved, if you hold fast and keep firmly what I preached to you, unless you believed at first without effect and all for nothing. 3 For I passed on to you first of all what I also had received, that Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for our sins in accordance with [what] the Scriptures [foretold],(A) 4 That He was buried, that He arose on the third day as the Scriptures foretold,(B)

It's amazing how the bible has such a continuity.

Did the early Christians teach the Trinity?

The person who asked this also made the following quote:

Historian Arthur Weigall notes: “Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon, and nowhere in the New Testament does the word ‘Trinity’ appear. The idea was only adopted by the Church three hundred years after the death of our Lord.”—The Paganism in Our Christianity.

My Answer:

The Ante-Nicene Fathers

Author: Athenagoras the Athenian
Time of writing: 175-177
Topic: Trinity
Years before Nicaea: 148 to 150

“Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order, called atheists?”

“…that they know God and His Logos, what is the oneness of the Son with the Father, what the communion of the Father with the Son, what is the Spirit, what is the unity of these three, the Spirit, the Son, the Father, and their distinction in unity…”

Author: Theopholus, Bishop of Antioch
Time of writing: 180
Topic: Trinity
Years before Nicaea: 145

“In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom.”

Author: Clement of Alexandria
Time of writing: 195
Topic: Trinity
Years before Nicaea: 130

“…thank the Alone Father and Son, Son and Father, the Son, Instructor and Teacher, with the Holy Spirit, all in One, in whom is all, for whom all is One, for whom is eternity…”

Author: Tertullian
Time of writing: 213
Topic: Trinity
Years before Nicaea: 112

“Bear always in mind that this is the rule of faith which I profess; by it I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said. Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other. This statement is taken in a wrong sense by every uneducated as well as every perversely disposed person, as if it predicated a diversity, in such a sense as to imply a separation among the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit.”

“Still, in these few quotations the distinction of Persons in the Trinity is clearly set forth. For there is the Spirit Himself who speaks, and the Father to whom He speaks, and the Son of whom He speaks.”

“With these did He then speak, in the Unity of the Trinity, as with His ministers and witnesses In the following text also He distinguishes among the Persons…”

Author: Hippolytus
Time of writing: 205
Topic: Trinity
Years before Nicaea: 120

“Many other passages, or rather all of them, attest the truth. A man, therefore, even though he will it not, is compelled to acknowledge God the Father Almighty, and Christ Jesus the Son of God, who, being God, became man, to whom also the Father made all things subject, Himself excepted, and the Holy Spirit; and that these, therefore, are three. But if he desires to learn how it is shown still that there is one God, let him know that His power is one. As far as regards the power, therefore, God is one. But as far as regards the economy there is a threefold manifestation, as shall be proved afterwards when we give account of the true doctrine.”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” If, then, the Word was with God, and was also God, what follows? Would one say that he speaks of two Gods? I shall not indeed speak of two Gods, but of one; of two Persons however, and of a third economy (disposition), viz., the grace of the Holy Ghost. For the Father indeed is One, but there are two Persons, because there is also the Son; and then there is the third, the Holy Spirit. The Father decrees, the Word executes, and the Son is manifested, through whom the Father is believed on. The economy of harmony is led back to one God; for God is One. It is the Father who commands, and the Son who obeys, and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding: the Father who is above all, and the Son who is through all, and the Holy Spirit who is in all. And we cannot otherwise think of one God, but by believing in truth in Father and Son and Holy Spirit.”

Source(s):

A PleTo Autolycus, II:xv, (ANF 2:100-101)
The Paedagogus, III:xii, (ANF 2:295)
Against Praxeas, IX, (ANF 3:603)
a for the Christians, X, (ANF 2:133)
Against the Heresy of One Noetus, 8, (ANF 5:226)

Is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ a borrowed legend?

This question came from a gentleman named Solomon.
My answer:

No, it's a fact of history. To answer you and correct heathen princess, the bible itself is the greatest of ancient documents with over 5000 manuscripts. There is no close second, and if you guys would be intellectually honest, you would do the research and discover its truth. Also, another historical document is Josephus' writings. He states:
"Now there was about this time, Jesus, a wise man...a doer of wonderful works. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate...condemned him to he cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him. For he appeared to them alive again the third day...and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct to this day. (Josephus, AJ, 18.3.3) Josephus was not a Christian.
Also the Roman historian Tacitus, concerning Nero's persecution of Christians, states:
"Christus (Christ), from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate..." (Tacitus, A, 15.44)
By the way, the archaeological evidence of Pilate further validates the reliability of the New Testament.
You can accept or reject Jesus as savior, but to say he never existed or was not crucified is to deny the historical evidence.

Source(s):

Josephus, Antiquties of the Jews, 18.3.3
Tacitus, A, 15.44

Health Care

Thought I would share this email I received from Rev. Benny Still. This is so true.

Doctor's Letter to the Editor( Jackson , MS ) - Healthcare Issue

I found confirmation of this article in the Clarion Ledger in Jackson , MS before sending it on. Wish this was an article on the front page of every newspaper in America in large bold letters. I know that there are similar incidents in the ER of all hospitals.

This was a "letter to the editor" in yesterdays (August 29) Jackson, MS newspaper.

---

Dear Sirs:
"During my last night's shift in the ER, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient with a shiny new gold tooth, multiple elaborate tattoos, a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and a new cellular telephone equipped with her favorite R&B tune for a ringtone.
Glancing over the chart, one could not help noticing her payer status: Medicaid.
She smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and, somehow, still has money to buy beer.
And our president expects me to pay for this woman's health care?
Our nation's health care crisis is not a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. It is a crisis of culture - a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. A culture that thinks "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me".
Life is really not that hard. Most of us reap what we sow.

STARNER JONES, MD

Liberal Ideologies

I challenge you to read the following statements with an honest and reasonable mind. Now, I know you liberals could probably come up with your own list, but hey, this is my blog and I can post what I like (at least for now). By the way, this list was sent to me via email and here it is!
1. You have to be against capital punishment, but support abortion on demand.

2. You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.

3. You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than U.S. nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Chinese and North Korean communists.

4. You have to believe that there was no art before Federal funding.

5. You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by documented cyclical changes in the earth's climate and more affected by soccer moms driving SUV's.

6. You have to believe that gender roles are artificial but being homosexual is natural.

7. You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal funding.

8. You have to believe that the same teacher who can't teach fourth graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.

9. You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature, but loony activists who have never been outside of San Francisco do.

10. You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.

11. You have to believe that Mel Gibson spent $25 million of his own money to make "The Passion of the Christ" for financial gain only.

12. You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.

13. You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high.

14. You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, and A.G. Bell.

15. You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides are not.

16. You have to believe that Hillary Clinton is normal and is a very nice person.

17. You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been In charge.

18. You have to believe conservatives telling the truth belong in jail, but a liar and a sex offender belonged in the White House.

19. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag,transvestites, and bestiality should be constitutionally protected, and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.

20. You have to believe that illegal Democrat Party funding by the Chinese Government is somehow in the best interest to the United States

21. You have to believe that this message is a part of a vast, right wing conspiracy.

22. You have to believe that it's okay to give Federal workers the day off on Christmas Day but it's not okay to say "Merry Christmas."

Now, that is what it takes to be a good liberal.

Remember me

This is a piece written by Rev. Benny Still, Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Grand Bay, AL and a dear friend.

"When one of the thieves being crucified with Jesus acknowledged Him as the Son of God and Savior of all Mankind, he asked Jesus to REMEMBER him when He came into His kingdom. Jesus told him, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise!" (Luke 23:42-43)

In studying the ancient cultures of the day...and doing some background work on the word "REMEMBER," we discover that actually its connotation is the opposite of the word "DISMEMBER".

Here in the South, when something upsets us or frustrates us, often you'll hear us say, "that just tears me up!" When we are all torn up over something, we need time to somehow get ourselves back together. We back up and regroup and try to analyze the situation(s) and deal with our problem and "pull ourselves together!"

I've read that one of the punishments used for crimes committed in ancient times and in medieval times often involved the perpetrator being drawn and quartered--DISMEMBERED!!! Physically torn apart...torn to pieces resulting in their horribly painful deaths!

So, apparently the thief on the cross who trusted Jesus on that "Good Friday" so long ago knew that his life, for all practical purposes, was just about over...and that he had lived a life that resulted in the dismemberment of all that he held dear. For him to ask Jesus to "REMEMBER" him...tells me that he realized that Jesus could put him back together...wherever the pieces had been scattered...whatever the problems that had dismembered his spirit...he could totally rely on Jesus.

Some of you reading this may have lost limbs, appendages (fingers/toes/ears) etc. and you know of the phantom pain that such loss brings. Some of you have lost family members, seen children and grandchildren and spouses go astray. You understand personally what it feels like to have your soul/spirit/heart to be torn asunder...DISMEMBERED...if you will!!! May I suggest to you today as we get ready to celebrate the resurrection of our Master from the grave this Sunday morning...on Easter...that we ask Him to REMEMBER us too?

The late Dottie Rambo wrote, "Pick up the broken pieces and bring them to the Lord...He will put them back together and make your life complete...Just bring the broken pieces to the Savior's feet!!!!" What a joy to know that when we are "dis-membered" He is ready and willing to RE-member us and make our lives complete!!!

Happy Easter...and be sure and attend the Christian Church of your choice this weekend!