Helpmabob

Hi John – You didn’t say what you thought the answer might be when I asked you :Nevertheless, I will give you another slant:

I do not follow ‘rules’ in the reading or interpreting of the bible, although what exactly you mean by rules is impossible to establish, in the absence of a reply from you to the above.

Before I became a christian, I read the bible alone, diligently, seeking answers to the meaning of life. I don’t recall feeling burdened by rules at that time, but there was something intangible driving me to find answers.

Now as I read, the Holy Spirit guides me, interprets and illuminates the text, and shows how it can apply to me in these days. I also discuss with other Christians at bible study group. There is a glorious revelation of the wrath, majesty and love of God, in the past, present and future. I praise God as I read.I am as upset as anybody about those things. Man could have installed tsunami early warning systems, and earthquake proof buildings. You know, like we have in the west?

At the week-end there was an explosion here in the UK at a petrol storage depot. It was heard in Holland, and an unprecedented number of people here were up early on a Sunday morning wondering what on earth happened. It’s still burning. What happened has been described as the biggest event in Europe since the Wars. Number of deaths = 0 (zero). This was because it occurred at 06:00 on a Sunday. No-one was there. This christian country survived unscathed.

pharoah

Most Christians assert that the Holy Spirit guides them as they read the Bible. Yet we have thousands of denominations and strife within denonimations. Very rarely will any 2 Christians completely agree on their interpretation of the Bible. Why would the same Spirit be telling Christian A one thing and Christian B something completely different?

The most damning problem is that there are quite a few passages within the bible that most Christians admit they don't understand. Why hasn't the Holy Spirit revealed the meaning of the these passages? Wasn't it supposed to guide believers into "all truth"?

All evidence points to the conclusion that there is no Spirit guiding anyone when they read the Bible. Every believer either interprets it to fit their own or their organization's preconceived notions. If a Spirit was guiding every believer then there simply wouldn't exist a multibillion dollar Christian book industry interpreting the Bible.

JPD

It is, in its entirety, all within your mind, and has no relationship whatsoever to physical reality. Your response to the effects of natural disasters is one answer but doesn't answer a more fundamental one, if you like, as in, what is God doing if not interfering in nature? Or, is it the case that these are purely natural events that have no connection to anything "deeper" and that this has nothing to do with God, ie. God is powerless in this respect? Or, does God exist in any manner whatsoever, and, if so, should you be muddying his character with your half-assed grasp of reality?

This predominantly Christian country if you don't mind. I, and many who live here, are not Christian, so to call it a Christian country is a smear upon its good name. Whenever I hear the word Christian I recoil in horror at the nonsense/disturbance to follow. Your assertions are a shining example of the banal and inane belief system it actually is.

Tigers!

Dear Joan
If he made them clear would you follow them?

John A. Broussard

Earlier, you said:
What I'm trying to find out, with no success so far, is how you discover what the guidelines are and how you distinguish them from commandments.

Let me put it in the form of a question.

How do you discover what the guidelines are, and how do you distinguish them from commandments?

Thank you.

John A. Broussard

I'm going to make a guess as to how Helpmabob will answer.

The lack of clarity is a test of faith. The worse the evidence, the more credit you get for believing. If you believe in the face of evidence to the contrary, you get the most credit of all.

If it were completely clear, if god showed up in your living room every morning, and mooned you the way god did to Moses, you would get no credit at all for believing.

I hope that explantion alleviates your anxiety while waiting for Helpmabob's reply.

John A. Broussard

Again (I'm just guessing of course) Joan would follow them but would get absolutely no credit for doing so. See my prior post.

John A. Broussard

Ever heard of the Lisbon earthquake? 18th Century.

It happened while people were in Church. Tens of thousands died. Any explanation for the difference betwen what happened in that Christian country and what happened in the Christian country you described above?

If you want something closer to today, try the September Katrina hurricane which destroyed Christian churches (and believers) all along the southern coast of the U.S.

Please explain why god would spare Christian England and curse Christian America.

JPD

:huh: Many events take place with dreadful consequences at different times of the day and year. A particular time presents a set of advantages and disadvantages, benefits and costs in terms of the challenge it presents. As for surviving unscathed, well, how about those carcinogenic molecules floating along, some of which could find their way into living systems and trigger cancer? Once you start off down the track of "Oooh, look, another example of God's grace" we can steer you in the direction of many events that have taken place which, if considered in the same context would have people saying "Oooh, look, another example of God's vileness". This is why it is worthless as an assertion. Aren't rainbows beautiful? Aren't earthquakes deadly? Stuff happens. No superstition. Humans love to find patterns which they interpret to have a deeper significance than they actually have.

Dean Anderson

Are you saying that if God hadn't told us not to work on Sundays, then there would have been more people there looking after the place and the accident could have been prevented?

Therefore it's God's fault that it exploded spreading polluting and carcinogenic fumes over much of Britain (and probably a chunk of Belgium and Holland, the way they are blowing).