I can think of a few people who are gonna be kinda upset with me after reading this, but as I've said before, anything that is on my mind for more than a few days winds up here. Call it a kind of catharsis if you will; all I know is that after I put my thoughts down here, the thoughts leave my mind and that's that. And what I'm gonna write about tonight - and this is BEFORE I go sailing with my old friend, Sailor Jerry - is sure to ruffle a few feathers and surprise a few people.
Oh, and Sailor Jerry is my favorite brand of spiced Navy rum, by the way.
OK, enough of the small talk. Let's get down to business.
By the title of today's writings, I guess you've figured out that I'm gonna talk about the Holy Bible. IMHO, the Holy Bible is one of the two most mis-interpreted and mis-read writings in the history of mankind. (The other one is the United States Constitution, if you must know.) It is my opinion that no other published book of writings has had the impact on the worldwide population as the Holy Bible; the Constitution comes in a poor second. The Bible has been the source of inspiration and salvation for untold millions of people, yet it has also been the source of several of the longest and most fruitless wars in the history of mankind. (Of course, I'm talking about the Crusades here.)
And the thing about it all that strikes me the most is that all of the tales told in the various books of the Bible are nothing more than word of mouth! There is not one physical piece of proof that ANYTHING in the Bible actually took place, yet this book remains the driving force behind one of the largest religions in the world.
Let's get a few things straight right now: yes, I believe in God. Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ. Yes, I believe in a "life after death" (although not knowing what that life is gonna be like scares the living crap outta me at times). All three of these things are taught in the Bible. But after that.....
I guess it's because of my lifelong career in Law Enforcement/Security that makes me the way I am, but I have a strong belief in physical evidence. The sad fact of life is that people lie. Period. Every single one of us drawing a breath today has, at least once in our life, told a serious lie to someone else for one reason or another. We're human, after all. Tell me I'm wrong and I'll call you a liar.
Physical evidence doesn't lie. Ever. It can't. Physical evidence is proof that something happened, and that it happened in a certain way. Physical evidence can be manipulated by man, but the evidence itself doesn't lie. Period.
We know that dinosaurs existed. We have proof - they're called "fossils."
We believe that Jesus Christ existed, yet we have no proof.
Scientists tell us that life started out as a single cell organism which, over a period of billions of years, evolved into man as we know it today. (My only question is, where did that first single cell organism come from?) I'm not so sure I believe that.
The Bible tells us that God created man out of the earth, and that he created woman out of man's rib. I'm not so sure I believe that, either.
The Bible tells us that God destroyed the Earth with a great flood in order to start over again, after telling Noah to gather two of every living creature - male and female, of course - and put them on a boat to save them. The Bible even gives the dimensions of the Ark that Noah was ordered to build.
Somehow, I just don't see Noah ever being able to build a boat big enough to get every single living species of animal and insect on it, nor can I imagine him and his family surviving the trip.
I also don't go along with the story of the Tower of Babel and that being the source of all the different languages throughout the world. I just don't go along with that. I think language, like everything else, just evolved differently in different parts of the world.
These are the two most prevalent things that come to mind when I start thinking about the Bible, the stories in it, and whether or not they're true. (We won't even talk about Noah living to be more than 900 years old. Yeah, I know, they measured time differently in those days! Crap.) Do I believe the stories in the Bible? Not all of them, no. I also don't know where life started, how life started, or how it will end. Mankind's life, that is - not mine. I believe the Lord has already decided on the day and hour of my death, and I'm just going through the days until I get there. As for mankind in general, hell, I don't know, but I don't think it's gonna be anything like Revelations says it's gonna be.
But putting all of this aside, I absolutely do with all my heart and the thing we call a soul believe in God, His power, and Jesus Christ. I absolutely believe in a life after death, although I don't believe that you have to jump through all of the hoops here on Earth that some religions say you do in order to "be saved." I know life came from somewhere; I just don't know where or how. And really, when you get down to it, it's not all that important that I do. All I need to know is that there is a God, He is watching out over us, there is a life after death, and I don't have to earn my way into His domain which we call Heaven. My simple belief in Him is enough.
As for not having any physical evidence to back up these beliefs...well, that's why they call it "faith."
IHC
7 comments:
Brother, you hit the nail on the head in my opinion. I agree with you that faith is the most important thing to have and that the Bible cannot be taken literally at all.
What confuses the hell out of me is these Christians who will sit there and argue that the story of Noah is true because they measured time differently back then will, in the same breath, argue that evolution is impossible because the Bible says God created the world in seven days...and they cannot seem to understand the contradiction in that statement! But, you already knew that, didn't you?
Good writing my brother, once again we agree!!!
I know my writing is gonna strike a few nerves out there - it already has with one of Gina's workmates - but I call 'em as I see 'em. I have no problem with other people's beliefs and respect them; all I'm asking is that people respect mine.
And by now, there should be no big surprise that you and I are gonna agree on a hell of a lot of things!
Ok, out of sincere love........
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by INSPIRATION OF GOD, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
It isn't enough to believe IN God, but we must believe ON. Even the devil believes IN God.
Yes, we are all liars. "...let God be true, but every man a liar..." Romans 3:4
You either have to believe the whole Bible or none of it. If you choose not to believe it and everything in it holds true, you'll be in big trouble in the end. On the other hand, if you choose to believe it and it all proves to be false, what have you lost?
You really have to have faith to believe in anything, whether Jesus or evolution. Both take faith to believe. You probably have faith that you'll wake up tomorrow and go about your life as usual. That takes faith. Everything doesn't have physical proof. Someone can love you and you may not see any physical proof. Does that mean that their love doesn't exist? Our limited, human minds cannot comprehend everything. Some things we just have to believe with faith.
There are many different religions and beliefs and "hoops" that many say you need to jump through to be saved. It's all part of the devil's deceit. Salvation is so simple that people can't accept it. People have trouble just accepting a free, undeserving gift, without feeling like they have to do something for it. Salvation isn't like that. It's free. No works, no strings attached. It's all about love. It's all about Jesus taking my place, my deserved punishment, for me. You don't have to confess to man. You just believe in your heart and confess with your mouth to God. That's all.
I grew up in church and had a head knowledge of God, but never "knew" Him in my heart. That is a big difference. Knowing Him with your head and with your heart. It's with the heart that man believeth. So 27 years later I truly met Him with my heart. It was different than anything I had ever known. It wasn't just the Bible stories anymore that I had grown up learning in Sunday school.
www.drdino.com has great videos, questions, and answers about physical proof and creation that may be of interest to you.
I pray this will be of help to you and clear your doubts, giving way to complete understanding of the truth.
Julie,
I'm going to be blunt because sometimes it's the only way I know. Hope you have thick skin, because this is one of those "sometimes."
Who says I have to believe ALL of the Bible or NONE of it? The people who wrote the Bible? You? Once again, MAN is dictating something to me that he perceives I have to do in order to "earn" my way into the Lord's kingdom - a kingdom over which MAN has ZERO control. If I choose not to believe parts of the Bible I don't think God, who by the very Bible of which we are speaking says is a forgiving God, will have much of a problem with it.
And please spare me all of the talk about "the devil" and "the devil's deceit," because I don't believe in the devil. I also don't believe in Hell, Purgatory, Eternal Damnation, all of that man-made nonsense. I refuse to believe that a God who loves us as much as He does would condemn His own children to eternity in a "lake of fire" just because we didn't "toe the line." That just flies right in the face of a "loving and forgiving God," and since I happen to believe in a loving and forgiving God I'm gonna throw the BULLSHIT flag on that one.
And I have NO interest in ANY propaganda put out by ANY organized church, thank you very much, so I won't be going to any website and listening to or looking at anything. As I said, I have a very hard time believing all of the nonsense that MAN has attached to God and His realms, both earthly and heavenly.
I've known God all my life; however, the depth of my knowledge of Him and my appreciation for Him has grown with my maturity and life's experiences. I have NO trouble believing in him, nor do I have any doubts about Him. Doubts about the stories MAN tells about that era in Earth's history, yes, but doubts about God - nope. None.
And I somehow get the feeling that YOUR "complete understanding of the truth" is vastly different than mine. I'm also quite sure that I'll never see the "truth" as you see it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking what you believe or your faith or the depths of that faith. It's just not what I believe, and there's nothing that any mortal man or woman could EVER say that will change my mind.
It's ok, Cowboy. I don't take it personal. Just tryin' to help.
So if you only believe parts of the Bible, how do you decide which parts are true and which parts are lies?
Man didn't "write" the Bible and all of the "stories". The Holy Spirit told man what to pen.
So you believe there is only good and no evil? God, but no opposing force?
Don't get me wrong. I don't have complete understanding of anything in life. I learn something new everyday.
God doesn't condemn us to hell. He has given us a free will. It is our choice to accept or reject. We choose our own destiny.
You're missing a vital point, that point being there's nothing to "help" me on.
I don't look at the Bible as being part-truth and part-lies; rather, I look at it as being part-believable and part non-believable. There's a difference in saying "I don't believe you" as opposed to saying "I think you're lying to me." Someone can be telling you an absolute truth about something, but if you've never had the same experience or just don't think it's possible, then what you're being told isn't a lie - it's hard to believe. For you, that is - for the telling, not so much.
Such is the case with the Bible, specifically the Old Testament.
As for the Holy Spirit "telling man what to write," I have a VERY hard time believing that. One of the main reasons is that the Bible was not written by one man; rather, it's a collection of works and stories by a collection of men. That one fact works both ways - it serves to validate the works since more than one person had a hand in it, yet at the same time it's kinda hard to reason why the Holy Spirit didn't pick just one person and task him with writing the whole thing.
And as someone who has worked in the Law Enforcement and Security field for my entire life, I most certainly do believe in good and evil, but not in the God vs. Satan sense. Like I said, I don't believe in the devil or hell, but that's not to say that MAN isn't evil - because as a species, he most certainly can be.
As for that last bit about God not condemning us to hell but rather letting us choose our own destiny, let me ask you this: if that's true, then why does MAN say in the Bible that MAN wrote at the direction of the Holy Spirit that in order to make it to Heaven you have to "be saved" or you'll be doomed to eternal damnation? How is that "having a choice?"
See what I mean?
The choices are:
1. Accept Christ's free gift of salvation and spend eternity in Heaven.
2. Reject Christ and spend eternity in hell.
John 12:44-50 Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me:
And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therfore, even as the Father and unto me, so I speak.
John 3:16-21
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
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