Capt. Haddock, I was listening to a podcast today and the commentator was saying that there are several things in the Bible that can be disagreed on that do not affect core doctrine. I agree with that statement to a degree. I don't follow the OT to the letter since this would require me to give up pork, stone people who have committed adultery...

Truth be told Jesus cut all of the commandments down to 2 Love God, Love your neighbor as yourself, oh 3 if you include tell people as a commandment. It's my belief that the Holy Spirit informs us when we have done wrong. To be honest I don't live life wondering if I'm breaking one of the laws of Moses. But I automatically know when I've done something wrong.

I accepted Christ when I was eight, and later on in my life I decided that I wanted to do things my way. I walked away from God because I wanted control of my life, but everytime I did something wrong I knew it instinctivly. I paid the price for trying to control my own life. And when I decided that my wasn't really working for me, I felt that much more ashamed to come to God and repent.

I don't feel the smallest hint of arrogance in saying that I've searched and found, and you just haven't yet. Because in the eyes of a believer a non-believer is lost. As a believer I should have a heart for those who don't know Christ, and I should be ready, willing and able to share Christ with them.

When you consider Jesus statement about the harvest being ready, but the laborers few, you get a better idea of how crucial it is to share what you believe. What happens to crops that are not reapped? They eventually rot, and are tossed aside. The crops that are reapped, however, are used to feed, and enrich. My job is just to plant the sead, and that I will do as best I can.

Yes, generalisations are rarely helpful and, when negative, can be offensive.

Well, you say 'we', but I don't get the impression that you think this, from your posts. So who is 'we'? The members of the forum, for example?

I'm certainly not looking for reasons or excuses to be bad. Christians to not have a monopoly on goodness.

I think that most of us, who have been brought up in a loving caring environment, do too.

I think some people may feel that those who ask questions and seek truths are searching for God.

I simply think that we should question pretty much everything. We cannot simply take everything 'on trust'.

There are more questions than answers - that's how it is and how it is meant to be, because of the complexities of the world and the way our brains work.

I find the idea that a loving God would want good, decent people to rot in hell, just because they are not sure whether or not Jesus is son of God, pretty obnoxious.

And I want to be sure that I have asked people who believe this to confront their thoughts, explain them and consider if they are fair, kind, rational, true, probable, possible, false, logical, etc, etc.

I want them to ask themselves if they could possibly be wrong; could they have misunderstood?

Satan has been mentioned a few times - how he deceives, etc. Well, how do we know that some of the supposed God-given ideas were not really Satanic hoaxes?

We talk about going to heaven, but we have to accept that many of our loving friends won't be there - they'll be burning in hell because they are atheists or agnostics or Wiccans.

We want to be in the good place with God - yet this God slaughtered the Amalekite babies and flooded the earth. He sacrificed his own son for the sins of the world that he allowed to happen.

I am seeking logical answers. If I can find some that make sense, then maybe I'll change my position on some of these matters, but just because I ask questions does not mean that I am expecting answers.

Never said they did PDM. What I meant by that is simple. We, refers to humanity as a whole. (Remember this comes from the POV of a creationists) From the very beginning mankind has sought to disobey God, and do away with God's law. God creates man, and man creates lesser gods who are easier to appease.

Once again you miss the point. It's not about being good. You might be the nicest person on earth I don't know, but you are still imperfect. The Bible teaches in James 1:14(NLT)

"Temptation comes from the lure of our own evil desires. These evil desires lead to evil actions, and evil actions lead to death. So don't be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.
Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above, who created all heaven's lights."

So from my POV and the POV of Christianity, the only way to attain perfection is through the perfectness of Christ's sacrifice. According to Isa 64:6 "We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away."

What exactly does all this mean? Simple we can't work our way into heaven. Nothing we do can get us into heaven. It's what was done on our behalf that saves us.

This is a really good site that I go to for those hard to answer questions.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v22/i1/creation.asp

Not to say I don't question what I read, but I like to read what others have to say on various Christian topics.

' .. what we're all searching for is to prove God wrong. Because if there is no God, then there is no sin. And if sin doesn't exist, then there isn't a hell, and we can pretty much rest easy and do what we want ..' [Believer]

'We, refers to humanity as a whole.' [Believer]

But I think that you are wrong - entirely wrong.

Who are all these people who are denying thje existence of God just so that they can be sinful without worrying about it?

'From the very beginning mankind has sought to disobey God, and do away with God's law.'

How do you know?
What beginning, exactly?

'It's not about being good.'

Why isn't it?
Who says it isn't?
If everyone was 'good' the world would be a much better place.

I know that you will answer 'the Bible', but it has been shown, on this thread I think, that Christians tend to use and accept the bits that fit with their own experiences of Christianity.

You and I were not there when the scriptures were written. We don't know that they were God-given or God-inspired.

origanally posted by Believer.
What exactly does all this mean? Simple we can't work our way into heaven. Nothing we do can get us into heaven. It's what was done on our behalf that saves us.

So if your already saved ....does this mean you can lead a life without any concern of your actions on others?

[quote]Originally posted by ladybird: So if your already saved ....does this mean you can lead a life without any concern of your actions on others? [/quote]No. that is not what that means. We are accountable to God for our actions and we will face Him on judgment day. We are required to follow the Law and as Believer has already pointed out, Jesus summarized the Law into two, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "this is the great and foremost commandment. "the second is like it, 'you shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” (Matthew 22:37-39). Jesus clarifies that neighbor is not those you love but also your enemies. If you love them, you will not do harm by them. We fail to this all the time. Jesus gave us an example on the cross, as He was dying He said about those that were crucifying Him “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”. Do we Christians follow these commands to the letter? The answer sadly is no.