GuitarWizard

Life with no end ?


Space with no bounds ?


And what about Armageddon,
the lake of fire,the mark of the beast ?


Am I supposed to feel good about all this ?

When Christ comes.

I would like to encourage everyone no matter what your experience is with (religion) and take a closer look at the history of the lives of some of the people that lived at the time of the origin of faith within Christianity.

And see why thay chose to believe in God if you really want a true understanding of what compels people to believe in and embrace something that is not easily explained .


And I would like to present (The Bible) yea that's right not my own spin are pastor Dave are another individual to deliver me a sermon but the word's that were recorded and event's that had so significant of an impact on people that it changed their lives forever more.


My goal is to submit scripture for open debate and to say that their is so much to the book that it is literally impossible to understand the full meaning of every scripture with a God like wisdom from my own experiences.



But the more I strive to understand it by true research and interpretation's of parables and the like the more question's I find awnserw's to as well as discover more question's to ask, vary much like studding the living world around us the more we learn the more we understand the more we grow.


So we all know who Jesus is right ? I would like to take a closer look at the people that surrounded him like (Simeon ) their are people described by a certain gift are trait that thay posses like healing,Loving,Trusting,Visionary,and Simeon is remembered intistingly enough,not for leading nor for preaching nor loving,but rather for looking.

And was one of the first to be apart of the birth of Christ so what kind of person was he I guess a good interdiction would be to take a look at (Luke 2:25) that seems like a good start.

What are your thought's on that scripture ? (Luke 2:25)

Comicsartist

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

(To make things easier)

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nroberts

Question: is this to be done with one single source, the Bible, or with multiple sources? You see...I've seen historical accounts that utterly disagree with the accounts laid forth in the Bible and raise some very important questions about others. In other words, the Bible as a historical document seems rather without much credibility to me.

Here's one for example: The Bible states that the whole world was covered in darkness for three hours after Christ's death. Why did none of the contemporary historians at the time record this event while having recorded less phenominal events by a great number? You'd think someone would have noticed.

Comicsartist

Maybe it was the author's opinion that the world was a bit darker due to the death of Jesus? You gotta remember, at the time of His death, no one thought He was going to return. The disciples all ran and Peter denied Him. Only when they saw Him with their own eyes was the foundation laid and courage restored to His followers.

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nroberts

That would be reasonable but the author isn't very good at getting his point across then. For that matter we could even wonder if the story ever happened if it, itself, isn't just allegory invented by some author to put forth an idea. I mean, if that's the way it is with part, why not the whole?

That said, let's consider other things. Do you believe the miracles that occured in Acts are tellings of things that really happened or some sort of metephor for something?

If the former, this also raises the question as to why it wasn't documented elsewhere. Certainly rumors of magic occuring would have attracted the eye of historians. Why didn't they check out this Jesus fellow or the people that followed, performing equally great miracles?

If the latter, what, exactly, really IS real in the Bible then?

But that's just put forward. I'm gone for the weekend.

Comicsartist

That is the ultimate question, isn't it? Much of the Bible is a matter of faith and faith alone. It's too hard to tell what parts are metaphorical and which parts are literal. But just because some parts are allegorical doesn't mean the whole is. As for me, I'd like to believe in miracles, and I think I've seen at least one in my life, but if they are definitively real or not is another story. I don't know.

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The_Heretic

If you're asking about apolcalyptic traditions, they come into being when a society is pushed to the brink either by environmental factors [the Aztec, the Maya, etc.] or when invaded and facing irradication at the hands of another civilization.

Zoastrain descriptions of an apocalypse [the origins of Judaism and Christian versions] came about as a result of Alexander's invasion of Pursia. The 1st Jews later to been as followers of Jesus reached this point as a result of Roman occupation. The end times emphasis in Christianity saw a resurgence during the bubonic plague, again with the American Civil War as well as WWI.

The Lakota and Cheyenne developed the Ghost Dance as an apocalyptic belief when facing, what they took to be total annihilation by the U.S. They went so far as to belief that Ghost shirts worn in battle would protect them from bullets [specifically from bullets].

So it's far from unusual for an "end of the world" belief structure to slip into any religion when the conditions lend themselves to a cursory appearance of confirming it.

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John McCain: "He's in Iraq... with a few centuries to kill."





You won't fight for the Bill of Right? Fine! I won't fight for you in the ballot box!

GuitarWizard

I will allow other sources of study material to be balanced in discussion but in the intrist of the sure volume of material we could cover I would ask that the external source material would apply to the specified scripture in question and that it not just be a quote but a full frame reference in it's entirety anotherwords the full idea of the external author that pertains to the biblical recorded account to a chosen scritpure.

And I will also take in scriptures of intrist to you as well for the next topic to study I know their are many questions regarding evidence of factual accounts that many people have devoted their lives to finding the truth and we can certainly put those ideas on the table and to the test for discussion.


But looking at Simeon and his importance from a faith stand point becomes important to me and others now non believers and believers alike in the fact that the way he waited for the arrivial of Christ is considered a model for how we should wait for the second coming of Jesus Christ .

And non believers wounder were we get that from why do we wait for someone who died a vary long time ago and the reason I'm bringing this thought into play is so a non believer can have a full understanding of are logic as pertains to the account's that happed as we know them to be from wrighten word of the gospel.

So that a person can see from example from the perspective of the author which often times reflects present time ideas in the way we precieve are lives and decisions we make based on the events that shape and mold are lives.

For example moving on to the next scripture (Luke 2:27) the actual text speaks to you in a vary ordinary way .

Quote And he came by the spirit into the temple:and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law.

So the author makes a curios statement "Promted by the spirit he came to the temple.'Simeon apparently had no planes to go to the temple.God,however ,thought otherwise.but what is unclear is wether Simeon understood or not,we don't know.

And what we don't know was how the prompting happend how did the spirit work ? through a neighbor,an invitation from his wife,a nudging within the hart.

How is that behavior any different than today ?

How many times has an event happened that has changed your course of action are your planes that you made for that day.

Well that is what happened with him something changed to make him go to the Tabernacle because he had no planes to go at first so in one way of putting it God led him in a direction.

And that wasn't the first time God spoke to him (Luke 2:26) God told him the future through the holly Spirit.

And it was revealed unto him by the Holly Ghost,that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

Again how that was reviled is unclear but what is clear is that in later scripture he was vary aware of the coming of Jesus Christ and even looked for him and set aside a day to find him ahead of time.

He was "constantly expecting the Messiah" Luke 2:25 He was living in expectation of the salvation of Israel.

And what would make a person back then wait just as faithfully as a person in modern times if not for some (Promting) someware in are lives that might give validity maby by some unkown outside influance.

How human is that for a person living back then and a person living now my point being that we still behave vary much the same way and that is vary interesting to me.

What are your thought's ?

The_Heretic

Seems to me more about being promted by certain feelings. I tend to be less literal about the concept of waiting for Jesus to return, and think of it as more like seeing Jesus-like aspect emerge within the believer instead.

__________________

John McCain: "He's in Iraq... with a few centuries to kill."





You won't fight for the Bill of Right? Fine! I won't fight for you in the ballot box!

GuitarWizard

Good observation Heritic and point of view there are a number of suggested ideas with regards to "feelings as well that I would like to speak abought I just wanted to acknowledge your post and I'll be back tomorrow to comment more but I must say I am excited to share an indepth study with you guy's .

Because even if you might be a non believer in "God" but are a respective fan of book's and literature the bible is an extraordinary example of the wrighten word and history.