Ask a Christian Theologian

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PatientGrasshopper

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Erana said:
PatientGrasshopper said:
Erana said:
What, exactly, does the Bible say about other religions that worship the same God, specifically on the matter of cohabitation? (IE: Judaism and Islam?)
They don't really worship the same God even the Jews and Muslims will tell you that as well.
It IS the same God. Christians are really Jews who believe that Jesus is their Savior (Among the other things in the New Testament). Islam also worships the same God. They even acknowledge Jesus, but they believe that he was a prophet, not the Son of God.

To say that they worship different Gods is to say that Baptists and Catholics worship different ones.
The fact that they don't believe Jesus was God means that they don't worship the same Gods. Yes Christians and Jews have the same Old Testiment but the Christians' has been fulfilled while the Jews' hasn't.
 

Erana

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PatientGrasshopper said:
Erana said:
It IS the same God. Christians are really Jews who believe that Jesus is their Savior (Among the other things in the New Testament). Islam also worships the same God. They even acknowledge Jesus, but they believe that he was a prophet, not the Son of God.

To say that they worship different Gods is to say that Baptists and Catholics worship different ones.
The fact that they don't believe Jesus was God means that they don't worship the same Gods. Yes Christians and Jews have the same Old Testiment but the Christians' has been fulfilled while the Jews' hasn't.
... Exactly. It is the same God. They just go about worship in different ways. Even Mohaummed recognised that.
 

PatientGrasshopper

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Erana said:
PatientGrasshopper said:
Erana said:
It IS the same God. Christians are really Jews who believe that Jesus is their Savior (Among the other things in the New Testament). Islam also worships the same God. They even acknowledge Jesus, but they believe that he was a prophet, not the Son of God.

To say that they worship different Gods is to say that Baptists and Catholics worship different ones.


The fact that they don't believe Jesus was God means that they don't worship the same Gods. Yes Christians and Jews have the same Old Testiment but the Christians' has been fulfilled while the Jews' hasn't.
... Exactly. It is the same God. They just go about worship in different ways. Even Mohaummed recognised that.
No
You are not paying attention to what I am typing. They CAN'T be the same God because only Christians view Jesus as the son of God. He can't be both the son of God and not the Son of God.
 

Isaac Dodgson

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PatientGrasshopper said:
No
You are not paying attention to what I am typing. They CAN'T be the same God because only Christians view Jesus as the son of God. He can't be both the son of God and not the Son of God.
That's ridiculous, It is the same god, it's how they believe in it's existence that differs. Jews don't believe as jesus as the son of god, and christians do, but both still have the lord almighty. They both have the same god, but one group believes in it's existence in a different sense and disagrees with the other
 

PatientGrasshopper

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Isaac Dodgson said:
PatientGrasshopper said:
No
You are not paying attention to what I am typing. They CAN'T be the same God because only Christians view Jesus as the son of God. He can't be both the son of God and not the Son of God.
That's ridiculous, It is the same god, it's how they believe in it's existence that differs. Jews don't believe as jesus as the son of god, and christians do, but both still have the lord almighty. They both have the same god, but one group believes in it's existence in a different sense and disagrees with the other
It can't be the same God if you disagree on the aspect of that God on What part of HIM is God or not. That differs from different denominations of Christians in that they agree on who God is in this aspect but just disagree on certain little things
 

CIA

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Do you believe Atheism is a religion?

Also somewhere above you said that sin will always exist because it's inborn in humans. So do you also believe that intolerance is inborn? Following that logic do you believe that your own intolerance is not, in fact, a sin?
 

Isaac Dodgson

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May 11, 2008
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PatientGrasshopper said:
It can't be the same God if you disagree on the aspect of that God on What part of HIM is God or not. That differs from different denominations of Christians in that they agree on who God is in this aspect but just disagree on certain little things
So you're saying because one group believes that god is more than one entity, where as another believes that the SAME god is not more than one entity, that they both can't be the same god? Try thinking a little more abstract and less closed minded about it, and I mean such with the upmost respect. Religious debates tend to piss me off, because many i've had these debates with are closed minded, and stubborn in their ways, and I don't believe you to be so, sir.
 

PatientGrasshopper

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Isaac Dodgson said:
PatientGrasshopper said:
It can't be the same God if you disagree on the aspect of that God on What part of HIM is God or not. That differs from different denominations of Christians in that they agree on who God is in this aspect but just disagree on certain little things
So you're saying because one group believes that god is more than one entity, where as another believes that the SAME god is not more than one entity, that they both can't be the same god? Try thinking a little more abstract and less closed minded about it, and I mean such with the upmost respect. Religious debates tend to piss me off, because many i've had these debates with are closed minded, and stubborn in their ways, and I don't believe you to be so, sir.
If I say someone is left handed and you say they are right handed and they are not ambidextrous only one of us is right we can't both be right.
 

Isaac Dodgson

The Mad Hatter
May 11, 2008
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PatientGrasshopper said:
If I say someone is left handed and you say they are right handed and they are not ambidextrous only one of us is right we can't both be right.
That hardly relates. Christians believe that God is both one and three (Father son and the Holy spirit) But jews believe the same god to be just one, and not three and one at once.

It's complicated at best, but i've never talked to a jew who didn't admit to believing in the same god differently
 

CIA

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PatientGrasshopper said:
Isaac Dodgson said:
PatientGrasshopper said:
It can't be the same God if you disagree on the aspect of that God on What part of HIM is God or not. That differs from different denominations of Christians in that they agree on who God is in this aspect but just disagree on certain little things
So you're saying because one group believes that god is more than one entity, where as another believes that the SAME god is not more than one entity, that they both can't be the same god? Try thinking a little more abstract and less closed minded about it, and I mean such with the utmost respect. Religious debates tend to piss me off, because many I've had these debates with are closed minded, and stubborn in their ways, and I don't believe you to be so, sir.
If I say someone is left handed and you say they are right handed and they are not ambidextrous only one of us is right. We can't both be right.
Personally I think that all religions are worshiping the same thing: Life. I feel more alive thinking there is nothing after this than anyone who clings to relligion.

EDIT: So yeah its all the same god.
 

cleverlymadeup

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maximilian said:
cleverlymadeup said:
http://www.thenazareneway.com/ - hey they call the Nazarene a part of the Essenes
http://www.essene.com/ - another one
http://www.essene.org/Yahowshua_or_Paul.htm
http://minuteswithmessiah.tripod.com/question/nazarene.html


i could find more google has tons of links
Yeah, and there are no actual recognized religious professors or scholars behind any of them.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=essenes&x=0&y=0

a bunch of books have been written on the subject, i'm sure more than one scholar believes it :)

heck i do believe i've seen a thing or two on the history, discovery, pbs and national geographic about that exact subject, i do believe more than one person in it had a PhD behind their name or a Dr in front of it

oh and as for religious scholar, when is a reglious scholar required to tell history? i mean scientists and historians were able to explain what the 7 plagues of egypt and the pillars of fire and smoke where that lead them to freedom before the Jews spent 40 years wandering the desert, hey there's that crazy 40 number again

actually what i believe is irrelevant here and has nothing to do with the subject at hand, also i never said that about the old testament i simply asked why you said it was the law of god and yet you don't think it's correct or truthful. as for my knowledge, why not try search google and some history books and even your own bible
Actually, what you believe is important because you obviously subscribe to a fringe essene cult/understanding of the bible that no real scholar would ever take seriously - hence noone having heard of it before and it being excluded as a followed religion. Look at the original intention of this thread. Your "questions" were merely an invitation to you to start yelling about unproven, ridiculous Essene stipulation.
wrong YOU refuse to accept it, tons of scholars DO accept that theory about Jesus being an Essene

like i said there's tons of books on the subject written by ppl with PhD at the end of their name

Also, if this is the case, it means that you're here to aggressively convert me - in what is essentially an "ask a Christian thread". What I don't think is correct of truthful is pulling out numbers and massive generalisations from the bible and parading them as fact.
actually i'm not grabbing generalizations i'm asking you specific things that you're giving me the answer of plugging your ears and saying "LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU"

or you're totally ignoring my question

I don't read Winston Churchill's biography and assume he was a great prime minister because the biography ended on the 568th page. Additionally, if you're so "right", then this isn't the place to be "right" - it's a place to find out about Christianity, not Essene. Start an Essene thread and see how many people you get. But you won't, you just want to feed off this. Oh, and if anyone takes issue with me addressing Cleverlymadeup in this way, perhaps you'd like to PM him, or post in his essene thread to find the truth.
nope this is the correct place since there is a LOT to do with christianity, just because you don't think it's right doesn't mean it can't be brought up and asked of you

And now you're going to claim that I'm personally attacking you. I'm not, I'm just asking if you'd take your bizarre fringe belief and tiresome tone elsewhere as you clearly have no intention of contributing to the thread in line with the OP.
they aren't bizzarre fringe beliefs, there is a lot of credence to the claim

you have yet to answer the question about how you can say the bible is the word of god and truly christian and yet it's been changed so many times, which you say change and adaption of it makes it not christian
 

timm123

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To help clarify Hell from a different Christian perspective than Max's, I believe Hell exists as a place completely void of God, not as a place where his wrath eternally tortures people. People make a choice not to follow God during their life, and God honors that decision in death by putting them in a place completely devoid of Him.

As other posters have brought up, a place where people who don't believe in God are eternally physically tortured would accomplish nothing other than making God a malevolent being, which he isn't. The Bible describes God as loving as well as vengeful, and I believe that the constant reference to fire and pain in Hell throughout the Bible represents internal sorrow at the lost connection with God. You can't take the Bible's description of a lake of fire completely literally, for instance, the Bible also states that upon Jesus' return, he will arrive "with a sword in his mouth". Obviously, this doesn't mean that He will come gagging on a medieval weapon, that sword represents Truth.

I'm not a theologian and I may not fully understand everything, but this idea of Hell makes the most sense to me.
 

newguy77

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CIA said:
PatientGrasshopper said:
Isaac Dodgson said:
PatientGrasshopper said:
It can't be the same God if you disagree on the aspect of that God on What part of HIM is God or not. That differs from different denominations of Christians in that they agree on who God is in this aspect but just disagree on certain little things
So you're saying because one group believes that god is more than one entity, where as another believes that the SAME god is not more than one entity, that they both can't be the same god? Try thinking a little more abstract and less closed minded about it, and I mean such with the utmost respect. Religious debates tend to piss me off, because many I've had these debates with are closed minded, and stubborn in their ways, and I don't believe you to be so, sir.
If I say someone is left handed and you say they are right handed and they are not ambidextrous only one of us is right. We can't both be right.
Personally I think that all religions are worshiping the same thing: Life. I feel more alive thinking there is nothing after this than anyone who clings to relligion.

EDIT: So yeah its all the same god.
Actually, some religions that believe in one god, one part believe that Jesus was just a great prophet who died for his beliefs. Christians believe that Jesus is the only Son of God and therefore part of the three in one. Them not believing that Jesus is the only, true Son of God is what we majorly disagree with.
 

perfectimo

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maximilian said:
perfectimo said:
A few questions for the original post.

Can God sin?
God by definition cannot sin because sin is anything that is opposed to God. The bible tells us (in another context) that anything opposed to itself cannot stand - ie. that if God could sin it is pointless to worship Him because it undermines his power.
Did Jesus sin?
The Bible tells us that Jesus did not sin, but was tempted to do so. For Him to be God's son, he could not sin.
Were we all created in the image of God or were only Adam and Eve?
Essentially, created in the image of God is taken to mean physical shape and existence profile - which could be seen as the defining underlying properties as to why we're the most progressive/"human" thing on planet earth.
Do you know some people who you think are going to hell?
In align with my predestinarian theology, I cannot SAY for certain whether non Christians will be going to hell long term and from retrospect, because they might become a Christian. However, I can say that if you are NOT a Christian, then the result of that is hell.

I'll have some more questions later.
No worries, thanks for some good questions in the spirit of the OP.
I have some follow up questions now, I think you may see what I'm doing.

If I wanted to stop some bad people from things considered wrong by the Bible and kill them as a solution to this problem would that be a sin?

Is judging people a sin?

So do you believe we descended from Adam and Eve directly?
 

jordan.

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Tranka Verrane said:
jordan. said:
It's far more logical to suggest that intelligent matter comes from a super-intelligent source, or that even physicality comes from a super-physical source - as opposed to ex nihilo, nothing.
Wow again. Weakest. Argument. Ever. Think about what you are saying. It's more logical to suggest the universe was created by some deity than came from nothing because nothing can come from nothing. Er, so where did the deity come from? There are philosophical problems associated with the beginning of time but the addition of a deity doesn't solve any of them.
You mustn't have read my whole post.
Your response wasn't an argument, which I asked for. Punctuation doesn't make a point any better - if you read what I said you'd read you would have read this.

For existence, time to exist, there have to be universal, eternal constants.
For linear time to come into existence there has to be at least some kind of concept of eternity - suggesting that the source of all life does not require a beginning (because beginning implies linear law). You might think that the addition of a deity doesn't solve the problem of the existence of time, but the addition of eternity certainly does.

Once again, I'll suggest the challenge.
Can someone please disprove the Christian God.
Stop beating round the bush by accusing him of murder etc. 1st grade atheist insults - tackle the real issue.
Why doesn't the Christian God exist?
 

jordan.

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Nov 9, 2008
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Shiuz91 said:
What is the difference between the new and old testament.
Essentially nothing - both testaments are centred around the life, person and work of the man Jesus.
The Old in anticipation of his coming -
The New in response to his first coming and in anticipation of his second.

It follows a simple motif too:
The Bible starts with the beginning of the universe ends with its consummation and renewal.
The Bible starts with the allegorical depiction of a garden, it ends with the image of a City.