Full disclosure, I have no religious beliefs in this area at all, I did not have a religious upbringing, other than my own personal research and study, but this area (historically verified facts, doctrines from various faiths, and so on) has been an interest of mine for a very long time. And with that, as I prefer actual discussion to closed off rhetoric and evangelical postulating...
Look people can come on here and make fun and post things like this is 'the most blah blah blah" that they want. It changes nothing.
Well, you're right. Saying that your statement was the most asinine, the most blatantly incorrect, the most ill-informed doesn't change anything. Your statement was still the most ill-informed, blatantly incorrect, and asinine seen. Even if it wasn't called out as such, it would still be. Then again, there is power in recognition... but you thinking it is "making fun", or incorrect as well doesn't change things either. You're still completely demonstrably incorrect.
God, Jesus (the Word) and the Holy Spirit were together from the beginning of time. God created the first man and woman. When sin entered the world the plan for the salvation of man began.
This is a theological belief, Jason, not a statement of fact. The fact that you don't seem to be able to differentiate between those two states of being doesn't make it any less so.
The plight and stories of the Jews throughout history including their scriptures are the story of God's plan for salvation and Jesus is the hero of it.
No, the stories of the Jewish people throughout history (as told through their scriptures and other sources) tell of their relationship with God, some parts of it are stories of past, some parts are prophecy of future comings, and none of it specifically deals with Jesus (from a Jewish perspective). There are prophecies of a Messiah, but that's not taken as Jesus in the Jewish faith, therefore you cannot state that the Jewish scriptures have "Jesus (as) the hero of (them)".
All of scripture points to Jesus.
Now, here's the fun part.... you do realize, of course, that what we have as the New Testament books (and other gospels and apocryphal stories) are not eye witness accounts, yeah? They were written for a particular agenda, which altered depending on the target audience and the time and context of the surrounding world, and part of those agendas included sculpting and altering the narrative to fit the prophecies? I mean, the whole thing with the census was not historically correct, the dates are completely wrong, certain historical figures are used in ways that don't fit historical accounts (which King Herod is being referenced, for instance?), locations were changed, timing was changed, reasons and events were changed, the lineage of Jesus was constructed to give him a direct line from King David, although there isn't much evidence outside of the self-supporting claims found within such documents, and so on. As a result, the only way you can say that all of scripture points to Jesus is if you change the events of Jesus' life to fit scripture, in order to create the effect that "all of scripture points to Jesus".
In other words, no.
The Bible is ONLY about Jesus and Jesus is the only thing that is meant by the Bible. The Law is meant to show men and the world that they are dead eternally in sin without Jesus.
Really? How are you going to back that one up, Jason? Book of Job? Book of Exodus? Lots of good people there, true followers of Gods Word, going from Abraham through Moses and on... but because they had the misfortune of predating Jesus' life, they are dead eternally in sin? Does that sound like a loving and reasonable God to you? And how does the story of Job, for instance, have anything to do with Jesus? It's not even really dealing with sin, it's about human limits to acceptance, and what happens when faith is tested... nothing to do with Jesus, when it comes down to it.
And while the Christian interpretation of the spiritual doctrines known as the Bible is dominantly about the message of Jesus Christ, that doesn't mean that the entire thing is only about Him.
You run to and fro gathering information but never gaining in knowledge.
Well, as "knowledge" is the gathering and pooling of information, I'm pretty sure the pithy comment you were going for was that people "run to and fro gathering information but never gaining in wisdom"... but that's an aside. More importantly, you seem to be grabbing hold of a single idea, and not allowing yourself outside of it... which leads, not only to a lack of wisdom, but also a lack of knowledge and information.
You people who claim lineages to the fold and even having worked in the ministry need to clear yourselves as I am doing.
There's a lot of things that you seem to think everyone else should do, Jason, and you have been less than convincing in any of them. Evangelical preaching really isn't what this place is for. For confirmation of that, see the TOS, specifially:
AdminTeam said:
Section 6 : MartialTalk Policy on Religious Tolerance
Religion is an important part of the lives of many of our members, and we believe it is important that people be given the opportunity to express their religious and spiritual beliefs in their online lives. This goes for all faiths, equally.
Our members are welcome to express themselves spiritually in all of our forums here.
At the same time, people must be aware that not everyone will share those same beliefs.
We expect our members to show tolerance of others beliefs in a non-judgmental manner.
Naturally this means that any kind of blatantly excessive religious posting or attempts to convince other people that their religion
(or lack thereof) is wrong simply cannot be allowed. Such posts damage the community at large because they can be disruptive.
Our forums are full of a diverse group of people with many different beliefs, and people must respect that
diversity. To keep things as fair as we can we ask that people not make large numbers of posts of a purely religious nature on non-religious threads.
At the same time, if people see threads that involve individuals praying with each other or otherwise sharing to help each other deal with a difficult situation, please remember that people who choose to share their religious feelings in the context of providing support for others should be given that opportunity (as long as it is not intentionally disruptive to other non-religious threads).
If you don't agree with their beliefs, then simply don't participate.
Some communities solve this "religious tolerance" issue the easy way. They simply ban all cases of religious expression. While we could do this also, it flies in the face of what we are trying to provide here – an open forum for all kinds of dialogue, information and support.
MartialTalk welcomes people of all faiths and does not condone the wholesale condemnation of a faith or the defamatory general characterizations of a faith, based on the actions of a few.
Members are welcome to their opinions however we must insist that they be posted in such a manner as to not condemn an entire group for the negative actions of a few.
Such actions may run afoul of our hate-speech policies and will be dealt with as such.
Please be respectful of your fellow members, who may believe differently than you, yet are still human beings with the right to believe as they do, the same as you and I.
Note the underlined.
Stand for what you know is true or either learn the Truth today.
But what is Truth? Is Truth unchanging Law? We both have Truths, are mine the same as yours?
In other words, what you're espousing here conflicts badly with what I understand to be true. I find it impossible to take something as "true" when the only evidence it has to rely on is itself. There is no testing of religious truths, therefore they are subjective, and, to my mind, only a "truth" in terms of a persons individual relationship with themselves, and any deity they may believe in. Now, you can have your truth, but you really need to understand that your truth is only THE TRUTH when it comes to you... to me, it's a strong belief you hold that I have no basis or need to have myself.
All people will bow their knee and stand one day before king Jesus to make an account for how they dealt with him.
And what would happen if He turned to you and asked why you denied his Jewish heritage? Or if you don't stand before Him at all... Again, Jason, this is purely a matter of belief for you. The only evidence is that those who believe it think this is what will happen.
Jesus's sacrifice on the cross and his blood wil make you right forever with God.
If it happened, if he existed, and if what is claimed by Christian texts is correct. There's a lot more "if's", but there's no need to clutter this up too much...
There is NO other way to the father except through Jesus.
Which is a Christian ideal, not a universal one. It's not even a universal ideal throughout the various faiths that worship the same God. It's great you have faith, but dude, you're sounding like a crazy missionary at this point...
God sent Jesus so that all people might be saved. All you need to do is to call on Jesus and you will be saved.
According to people who wrote stories well after Jesus died, who never met Him, and decided to make claims of what He did, what He said, and more. Every time you get a comment of "Jesus said...", the reality is "how do you know?" Because the only evidence we have is that people who never met Him put the words in His mouth.
Please stand on notice that the Truth has been told to all of you now and you will not have any excuses on that day.
No excuses, but then again, to me, none of this is the truth... so I don't have much concern, when it all comes down to it.
I wash my hands of this issue and anyone who chooses to willfully act in rebellion against the gospels, God and Jesus Christ.
Jason Brinn[/QUOTE]
Good for you. You make a good Pontius Pilate... of course, you do realize that the way Pilate is portrayed in the Gospels, even down to the ceremony of releasing a prisoner at Passover, has no real correlation with historical accounts or facts, yeah?
Of course, I don't think I'm "acting willfully in rebellion against the Gospels, God, and Jesus Christ", as I don't see anything there to act willfully against. To me, there is no God, Jesus, if He existed, was just a person who was a charismatic leader of a particular group of Jewish people around two thousand years ago, who has been blown out of all proportion for a variety of reasons (showmanship among them... did you know that the first real followers of Jesus, those that actually knew him, didn't have anything about miracles, resurrections, being the Son of God, or anything else, and it was a separate group, whose connection was the leader of the group claiming to have seen a vision of Jesus, although he never met him, that came to be the basis of the Christianity we know today? Basically, they had a more appealing story with better tricks and a lot more showmanship, and that's why they "won"... nothing to do with historical accuracy, or even connection...), and the Gospels are deliberately chosen texts to convey an agenda, rather than the single, universal truth of anything.
If you want a more complete understanding of the differing portrayals of Jesus, read the Qu'ran (which focuses far more on Jesus' Mother than the Bible does... say, here's a question, who is referred to as the "Immaculate Conception", in the older forms of the story? Here's a hint: It's not Jesus), the Ethiopian Bible, which includes longer forms of Genesis, among other texts, the so-called apocryphal texts, and more. You'll find stories of Jesus as a child, which aren't in your Bible at all, including him getting upset with another kid, and killing him, creating clay birds, the seemingly forgetting them, allowing them all to die, we get to see a temper on the young Jesus, and more (so your claim earlier of the Bible containing all of Jesus' life was blatantly incorrect... and held a lot of leaps of logic which has no support in the texts themselves, which you were called on, but couldn't answer...). At the moment, you're spouting rhetoric without the knowledge of the larger picture that others have. Your faith is wonderful... but it's not the only expression of Christianity, nor indeed necessarily the "right" one for most. You really should accept that.
As to the thrust of the thread, whether Jesus had a wife, personally I think that He would have had one. I'd be rather surprised if He didn't, really. When we have arguments of "well, where's the reference?", the thing to remember is that it would have been considered such a normal, expected part of His life that there'd be no point. On the other hand, if He wasn't married, at the age of 30, that would have been worthy of note. We could also point out that the stories we have of His life are rather scant, a series of short episodes, many of which take place as he is out ministering, so it's entirely likely that, unless the wife was Mary Magdalene, she wouldn't have needed to be mentioned at all. And even if it was Mary (very plausible), mentioning her as His wife isn't really needed either...
Right, I think that's it for now.