Mr.Chick can stick his kindergartin cartoons up his ass. I went to Sunday school briefly in my youth. It was the most repulsive and morbid system of guilt inducing mmythological propganda imaginable. I was beat over the head constantly how Jesus died for my sins and that I should feel guilty about it. I wouldn't even be born yet for close to 2,000 thousand years. Yet I was somehow guilty and owed him rependence for the rest of me life or would go to hell according to the crap I was being fed. According to my smiling indoctrinators, there was no escape for me.
About three doses of that, and I was through with it. It was an attempt to cripple me and leave me beating myself senseless with a neurotic whip. I got the hell out.
Mr.Chick can stick his kindergartin cartoons up his ass.
He'll have to do it in Heaven now. Mr. Chick has gone to his Eternal Home.
I went to Sunday school briefly in my youth. It was the most repulsive and morbid system of guilt inducing mmythological propganda imaginable.
I was beat over the head constantly how Jesus died for my sins and that I should feel guilty about it. I wouldn't even be born yet for close to 2,000 thousand years. Yet I was somehow guilty...
Interesting perspective. I felt pretty much the same way; I wondered why *I* was being indicted for a "sin" *I* hadn't committed...
....Until something clicked, the light-bulb went off, and I fully understood the context. I believe I was about age 21.
As to "mythical," the word is defined either as:
1) "Allegorical" 2) "False or fictitious" an "over-exaggeration" 3) "Traditional historical story which explaining a natural or social phenomenon."
The Bible has been proven to cite actual and factual historical people, places, events, AND date accurately -- WITH corroborative evidence and eyewitnesses.
IF one dismisses the Bible as a source of "history," you may as well dismiss most or ALL sources of "history" for the last 2000 or more years.
Oddly, one could make the case that there is MORE corroborative, true Biblical evidence of events presented and preserved...than by our contemporary Media (which indeed report lies and "myth.")
I was beat over the head constantly how Jesus died for my sins and that I should feel guilty about it. I wouldn't even be born yet for close to 2,000 thousand years. Yet I was somehow guilty...
Interesting perspective. I felt pretty much the same way; I wondered why *I* was being indicted for a "sin" *I* hadn't committed...
....Until something clicked, the light-bulb went off, and I fully understood the context. I believe I was about age 21.
You should have stayed with it instead of letting the superstition obsessed bastards wear you down.
You should have stayed with it instead of letting the superstition obsessed bastards wear you down.
How can one be "worn down" by The Truth?
You know Robert -- it's often taken many a Believer several years to sort through obstructions, barriers, half-truths, and propaganda to finally reveal The Truth. Our biggest obstruction to truths are often our own obstinate ego.
It's similar to a young person sorting out whether it's the Dems or Republicans who actually represent freedom, America's best interests, or the US Constitution. Many people have discovered late in life that they'd been deceived by the Democrat Party and Leftist Media -- especially in recent years.
Back to our discussion -- it's been the Deniers and Detractors of historically proven corroborated scriptural facts and testimony who have been "worn down"...by a steady torrent of lies and ignorance; The victims, their faith and logic held captive and removed via "Stockholm Syndrome" re-programming.
This technique of gaslighting Bible truths, of actual history and of people with un-developed faith is very similar to that used by Democrats/Marxists on HS or college-age kids. The Leftist Media brainwashes them or the uninitiated in much the same manner.
We both know those agenda-driven institutions frame, manipulate, and falsify the data in order to take full advantage of their prey -- a Captive Audience. Many never recover.
Many of the weak-minded and indifferent to the truth are never able to shake their indoctrination, whether political or in the realm of faith. Only the strong, the informed, or those committed to The Truth break free. Better late than never.
Many of the weak-minded and indifferent to the truth are never able to shake their indoctrination, whether political or in the realm of faith.
Really? So explain how Jesus was born. Hint: according to Christian doctrine, he was not born of the flesh like all others. While you are at it ... he died in the flesh, crucified on a cross. Explain why God required this unnatural occurrence to convince you to abandon reason of and about the world around yourself.
Only the strong, the informed, or those committed to The Truth break free. Better late than never.
Hint: according to Christian doctrine, he was not born of the flesh like all others. While you are at it ... he died in the flesh, crucified on a cross.
Uh, yes, Jesus WAS born "of the flesh." He was a Man. God in the flesh. And THAT is exactly what the Bible teaches.
Only the strong, the informed, or those committed to The Truth break free. Better late than never.
While you are at it ... he died in the flesh, crucified on a cross. Explain why God required this unnatural occurrence to convince you to abandon reason of and about the world around yourself.
Jesus came to die
#10) To destroy hostility between races
The suspicion, prejudice, and demeaning attitudes between Jews and non-Jews in Bible times were as serious as the racial, ethnic, and national hostilities today. Jesus died to create a whole new way for races to be reconciled: he has broken down the dividing wall of hostility making peace through the cross (Ephesians 2:14-16).
It is impossible to build lasting unity among races by saying that all religions can come together as equally valid. God sent his Son into the world as the only means of saving sinners and reconciling races. Only as the races find this reconciliation will they love and enjoy each other.
#9) To give marriage its deepest meaning
Gods design was never for marriages to be miserable, yet many are. Thats what sin does it makes us treat each other badly. Jesus died to change that. He knew that his suffering would make the deepest meaning of marriage plain. Thats why the Bible says, Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25).
Gods design for marriage is for a husband to love his wife the way Christ loves his people, and for the wife to respond the way Christs people should. This kind of love is possible because Christ died for both husband and wife.
#8) To absorb the wrath of God
Gods law demanded, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:5). But we have all loved other things more. This is what sin isdishonoring God by preferring other things over him, and acting on those preferences.
The seriousness of an insult rises with the dignity of the one insulted. Since our sin is against the Ruler of the Universe, the wages of [our] sin is death (Romans 6:23). Not to punish it would be unjust. So God sent his own Son, Jesus, to divert sins punishment from us to himself. God loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiationthe wrath-absorbing substitutefor our sins (1 John 4:10).
Then God publicly endorsed Christs accomplishment by raising him from the dead, proving the success of his suffering and death.
#7) So that we would escape the curse of the law
There was no escape from the curse of Gods law. It was just; we were guilty. There was only one way to be free: someone must pay the penalty. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13).
The laws demands have been fulfilled by Christs perfect law-keeping, its penalty fully paid by his death. This is why the Bible teaches that getting right with God is not based on law-keeping: A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:16). Our only hope is having the blood and righteousness of Christ credited to our account.
#6) To reconcile us to God
The reconciliation that needs to happen between man and God goes both ways. Gods first act in reconciling us to himself was to remove the obstacle that separated him from usthe guilt of our sin. He took the steps we could not take to remove his own judgment by sending Jesus to suffer in our place: While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son (Romans 5:10). Reconciliation from our side is simply to receive what God has already done, the way we receive an infinitely valuable gift.
#5) To show Gods love for sinners
The measure of Gods love is shown by the degree of his sacrifice in saving us from the penalty of our sins: he gave his only Son (John 3:16). When we add the horrific crucifixion that Christ endured, it becomes clear that the sacrifice the Father and the Son made to save us was indescribably great!
The measure of his love increases still more when we consider the degree of our unworthiness. God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Our debt is so great, only a divine sacrifice could pay it.
#4) To show Jesus own love for us
The death of Christ is also the supreme expression that he loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). It is my sin that cuts me off from God. All I can do is plead for mercy.
I see Christ suffering and dying to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). And I ask, am I among the many? And I hear the answer, Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus paid the highest price possible to give mepersonallythe greatest gift possible.
#3) To take away our condemnation
The great conclusion to the suffering and death of Christ is this: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). To be in Christ means to be in relationship to him by faith. Christ becomes our punishment (which we dont have to bear) and our worth before God (which we cannot earn).
The death of Christ secures freedom from condemnation for those who believe that Christ has served their death sentence. It is as sure that they cannot be condemned as it is sure that Christ died!
#2) To bring us to God
Gospel means good news, and it all ends in one thing: God himself. The gospel is the good news that at the cost of his Sons life, God has done everything necessary to captivate us with what will make us eternally and ever-increasingly happynamely, himself. Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).
#1) To give eternal life to all who believe on Him
Jesus made it plain that rejecting the eternal life he offered would result in the misery of eternity in hell: Whoever does not believe is condemned already....the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:18, 36).
But for those who trust Christ, the best is yet to come. No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9). We will see the all-satisfying glory of God. This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3).
For all these reasons and more, Christ suffered and died. Why would you not embrace him as your Savior from sin and judgment, and live with God eternally?
If you are moved to embrace Gods Son in this way, tell God in words like these:
Dear God, Im convinced that Jesus suffered and died for my sins. I gratefully trust in him now as my Lord and my precious Treasure and the only way Ill ever receive your forgiveness and your promise of eternal life. Amen.