@Volunteer,
Volunteer;38189 wrote:There is only one Bible. There are two testaments. Both are congruent. The new testament did not abolish the old.
Your remark indicates you mistake denominations within Christianity with being a Christian and God's Word. Being a member of a Christian denomination does not necessarily mean you are a Christian.
It sounds more like you like freedom from religion and religious conviction. Asd long as government is independent of God's values, government will be amoral and serve no one but evil. God's Word provides God's values.
Chistianity and Judaism are technically not religions. They are relationships with God based on one of the covenants/testaments.
Rather a government that is governed by God fearing folk, than one dictated by something like a Bible Party USA, totally disregarding and dismissing any others who may believe differently, which is their right by The Constitution of the USA....you would, in fact, dissolve that right, in lieu of allegiance to your philosophy....Christian Fascism, so to speak.
In response to your assertion that "Christianity and Judaism are technically not religions"
Wikipedia, which has more credibility than you cites, " Judaism and Christianity are two closely related Abrahamic religions that in some ways parallel each other and in other ways fundamentally diverge in theology and practice. Whereas the article on the Judeo-Christian tradition emphasizes continuities and convergences between the two religions, this article emphasizes the widely diverging views held by Judaism and Christianity.
As with the article on the Judeo-Christian tradition, this article makes generalizations about Jewish and Christian beliefs and practices. Nevertheless, neither religion is monolithic. There are also individual variations among believers in both religions.
Each religion has an ethos, that is, an internal description of its raison d'?tre. The ethos of Christianity is to provide all human beings with what it holds to be the only valid path to salvation (John 14:6, Great Commission, Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus, Solus Christus). Christians believe people are, in their current state, sinful. Christians believe that Jesus was both the Son of God and God the Son, God made incarnate; that Jesus' death by crucifixion was a sacrifice to atone for all humanity's sins, and that acceptance of Jesus as the Christ saves one from judgement (John 5:24) and gives one Eternal life (John 3:16). Christians believe that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6). His famous sermon from a hill representing Mount Zion is considered by many Christian scholars to be the antitype [1] of the proclamation of the Old Covenant by Moses from Mount Sinai. See also Catechism.
Judaism's raison d'?tre is to carry out the Covenant between God and the Jewish people. The Torah (lit. "teaching"), both written and oral, both tells the story of this covenant, and provides Jews with the terms of the covenant. The Torah thus guides Jews to walk in God's ways (Deut 30:16), to help them learn how to live a holy life on earth, and to bring holiness into the world and into every part of life, so that life may be elevated to a high level of sanctity (Lev 19:2, Imitatio dei). This will allow the Jewish people as a community to be a "light unto the nations" (Isa 42:6, 49:6, 60:3) (i.e., a role model) over the course of history and a part of the divine intent of bringing about an age of peace and sanctity where ideally a faithful life and good deeds should be ends in themselves, not means. See also Jewish principles of faith."
The Bible is also open to interpretation...if not, why is there the need for different sermons from different clergymen, on different days of the week, in different churches, to different congregations? Seems there are differing POV's, when it comes to scripture, and it's meaning, and message. Given that, how can there be agreement within a so-called Bible Party of USA...I'm an Episcopalian, by birth....I wouldn't necessarily subscribe to C.O.G.I.C. (Church of God in Christ)...the Episcopal Church in American, is, essentially "Anglo-Catholic", and its' doctrine is very similar to that of the Catholic Church...so if I believe differently than you...how could we coalesce under one religious/political ideology? We could not...hence ecumenism, is a slow work, hardly in progress.
So what you talking about ain't about a hill of beans...know what I mean?
And please refrain from trying to explain what I mean, and what I said...I am fully capable of expressing myself, clearly and concisely....you do you, and let me do me.