John 3:16 (belief)

@rajk999 said
Again how many times do I need to answer.
I believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God.
God sent his son to die for the sins of the world.
Those who believe in Jesus Christ will have eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
To believe in Jesus Christ means following Jesus's commandments.
Failure to follow the commandments of Christ means that belief is dead.

With this post, you are basically claiming that you follow Jesus' commandments....yet, you choose to remain silent on exactly how you are accomplishing it.

Do you realize that if Christians shared such information, it could help other people. This forum is a much better venue to discuss such matters than on a barstool, as you seem to endorse.

@chaney3 said
With this post, you are basically claiming that you follow Jesus' commandments....yet, you choose to remain silent on exactly how you are accomplishing it.

Do you realize that if Christians shared such information, it could help other people. This forum is a much better venue to discuss such matters than on a barstool, as you seem to endorse.

You must be a relative of sonship. You lack reading and comprehension skills. In which line am I claiming that I follow Jesus's commandments? Even so it is my prerogative if I do, to remain silent. According to Christ, listen to and follow the teachings of the prophets.

Further the fact that you think the internet is a good place to chat about personal business shows that you have a least a few loose screws. Tighten them.

@rajk999 said
You must be a relative of sonship. You lack reading and comprehension skills. In which line am I claiming that I follow Jesus's commandments? Even so it is my prerogative if I do, to remain silent. According to Christ, listen to and follow the teachings of the prophets.

Further the fact that you think the internet is a good place to chat about personal business shows that you have a least a few loose screws. Tighten them.

You are being quite foolish.

One doesn't need to divulge personal information about their life in order to state that they visit a nursing home to visit elderly sick people, for example.

Jesus gave examples to His disciples regarding what shows that one is following His message.

You are over exaggerating the "personal internet info" bit to avoid what??

Maybe you don't do anything, and that's the real reason?

@chaney3 said
You are being quite foolish.

One doesn't need to divulge personal information about their life in order to state that they visit a nursing home to visit elderly sick people, for example.

Jesus gave examples to His disciples regarding what shows that one is following His message.

You are over exaggerating the "personal internet info" bit to avoid what??

Maybe you don't do anything, and that's the real reason?

So you do know what Jesus said to do. Go do it.

@kellyjay said
After thinking about this I believe you are right here about this text, and I am wrong.

Yes...Finally...Thank you.

That said, you should ask yourself why - if you have in fact received the spirit of truth - it took so much to get you to see and accept the truth.

Think about John 14 and how Jesus explicitly stated that keeping His commandments is a condition for receiving the spirit of truth.

@chaney3 said
You are being quite foolish.

One doesn't need to divulge personal information about their life in order to state that they visit a nursing home to visit elderly sick people, for example.

Jesus gave examples to His disciples regarding what shows that one is following His message.

You are over exaggerating the "personal internet info" bit to avoid what??

Maybe you don't do anything, and that's the real reason?

Do you really not understand what's going on with this thread?

This type thing has played out many times before on this forum.

The Christians on this thread were unable to formulate a reasoned refutation of what I posted in response to your OP. So they created ad homs directed at the person making the claim as a logically fallacious way of avoiding having to admit it. They've used a similarly disingenuous tactic with rajk999.

So far as I've seen, rajk999 and I are the only ones on this thread who have addressed your OP and the Christians on this thread not only haven't addressed it, they've resorted to making one ad hom after another and to making false accusations.

How can you not understand this?

@kellyjay said
I believe in God, I believe the attributes of God are as described to us in scripture. He is all knowing, therefore there isn't a single particle in the entire universe He isn't completely aware of it in total, where He doesn't know all about it, how it interacts with all other parts of the universe, and so on. I believe He is all powerful there isn't anything that resist Hi ...[text shortened]... rthless to Him, they could be real I freely admit that, but don't see any reason they are necessary.

I read your post and I think it describes what you believe well, but it doesn't answer my question. What I meant was does your position that one cannot pick and choose which parts of the Bible to take literally lead you to take the Genesis stories literally? Also how do you fit books like Ecclesiastes into that?

@thinkofone said
Yes...Finally...Thank you.

That said, you should ask yourself why - if you have in fact received the spirit of truth - it took so much to get you to see and accept the truth.

Think about John 14 and how Jesus explicitly stated that keeping His commandments is a condition for receiving the spirit of truth.

I think it is possible that it may not have been a direct quote of Jesus looking at the context. That I think I was wrong about and you were correct, so sorry my bad.

New believers received the Holy Spirit, there wasn't a proving time to see if they were going to live righteously enough. No one disputes we should be keeping Jesus' commandments, the dispute is not that, but how are we made righteous, on our own without Christ because He isn't necessary, or with Christ?

@kellyjay said
I think it is possible that it may not have been a direct quote of Jesus looking at the context. That I think I was wrong about and you were correct, so sorry my bad.

New believers received the Holy Spirit, there wasn't a proving time to see if they were going to live righteously enough. No one disputes we should be keeping Jesus' commandments, the dispute is not that, but how are we made righteous, on our own without Christ because He isn't necessary, or with Christ?

You seem to have missed the point of my last post. I figured it was likely a bridge too far for you.

At least after much effort on my part you finally were able to see and accept the truth about John 3:16. Doesn't make sense that that would have been the case if you have in fact received the spirit of truth. Unless you believe the spirit of truth is a largely ineffectual spirit in which case you don't understand what Jesus is saying below.

John 3
3Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
6“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

@thinkofone said
You seem to have missed the point of my last post. I figured it was likely a bridge too far for you.

At least after much effort on my part you finally were able to see and accept the truth about John 3:16. Doesn't make sense that that would have been the case if you have in fact received the spirit of truth. Unless you believe the spirit of truth is a largely ineffectu ...[text shortened]... God.”
6“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

I accept it is possible that Jesus didn’t say that. The truth of the text doesn’t diminish regardless if Jesus or John said it.

@kellyjay said
I accept it is possible that Jesus didn’t say that. The truth of the text doesn’t diminish regardless if Jesus or John said it.

Thought it might be worth another try. Clearly not.

As to your comment, it never ceases to amaze me how so many Christians don't value the words Jesus spoke while preaching His gospel more than they do - especially given how He repeatedly emphasized the importance of those words and warned against false prophets. Yet it is Jesus that they call "Lord".

@kellyjay said
I think it is possible that it may not have been a direct quote of Jesus looking at the context. That I think I was wrong about and you were correct, so sorry my bad.

New believers received the Holy Spirit, there wasn't a proving time to see if they were going to live righteously enough. No one disputes we should be keeping Jesus' commandments, the dispute is not that, but how are we made righteous, on our own without Christ because He isn't necessary, or with Christ?

Jesus never said anything about this doctrine which you constantly repeat:

.. how are we made righteous, on our own without Christ because He isn't necessary, or with Christ?

This is a false doctrine designed by your church to elevate themselves.

@thinkofone said
Thought it might be worth another try. Clearly not.

As to your comment, it never ceases to amaze me how so many Christians don't value the words Jesus spoke while preaching His gospel more than they do - especially given how He repeatedly emphasized the importance of those words and warned against false prophets. Yet it is Jesus that they call "Lord".

I believe in God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit and these three are one in complete harmony with each other. So if One of them says or does anything it will be in complete agreement with the each other. Jesus said He and the Father were One, again in complete harmony, you see Jesus you see the Father.

You reject that? You think that if the Holy Spirit leads someone to write something in scripture, that is less than if one of the writers quote's Jesus words?

You put your interpretation of the Word over the Word itself, if you dislike it, it must be wrong?

Deuteronomy 6
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ..."

John 10:30
I and the Father are one.”

John 14:9
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?