i love god

Stevepax,

I don't think that verse needs any interpreting.

Let's hear you interpret it Momma. Husker said "I don't think Jesus said the Jews were going to hell either".

So what's the intepretation, if it isn't that we're all going to hell if we don't believe in Jesus??

It means, "You wan't a piece of this, wiseguy...No, I didn't think so."

Mr. Stevepax Wrote:



Oh I know this one! This is an old one! Sorry, Mr. Stevepax, I am not falling for this one. It doesn't matter what the verse means to me that is important for you. What is important is what it means to you. :wink:

MA has caught on to the fact that any question pertaining to religion is a trick question.

An old what? Do you think you're being cute or something? It is important what the verse means to the Christians. It justifies to them why they have to go out and "save the world".

All faiths think they have the answer, and it is their duty to make sure everyone gets the word. That's why the religious are so busy killing each other "in the name of GOD".

Amazing how they don't want to get pinned down with their own beliefs.

Mr. Stevepax Wrote:



I am not trying to be cute, Mr. Stevepax. I am being honest with you. If I tell you what you think I should say, then what would happen? :wink:

So, I tell you the truth. I tell you what I believe for me. I cannot condemn anyone to hell, Mr. Stevepax. So, I am not going to make the statement you seem to think I should make.

I have tried to tell you that I am not a "Christianity at all costs" type of gal! I'm not. You have to decide what you believe. You have to decide what God's word says to you. I know what it says to me and for my life.

I hope that helped clear it up.

Lash's Religion:

Jesus didn't say the Jews are going to hell. He said something that people have interpreted to mean that.

Amen

Amen!

Not just the Jews ... Everyone who isn't a Christian!

Of course, all the other religions have their views as well. Momma acts like I'm trying to pull some kind of anti-Christian trick on her, but I was just pointing out the problems with her own dogma.

If my memory serves, Christ didn't make a demographical hell threat.


Amen

WHY JESUS CAME
By Dr. James MacDonald

There was a time when I was pretty negative about Christmas. I was a pastor
and a scrooge?-which creates some professional tension, if you know what I
mean. I just never got into the Christmas thing. It wasn't because of
anything in my childhood or with my parents; my problem was more on the
practical side. It just seemed like at Christmas you were always putting out
money you didn't have, to buy people presents they didn't need, and then
spending hours over their house drinking eggnog. By the end of December,
everybody is overfed and overtired and over-everything. From a pastor's
perspective, the worst part is you're trying to get people to focus on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and there's this big dude with that red suit blocking
everybody's view of the manger. That got on my nerves big time.

But I finally get the real joy of the season now and it blows away all of my
yuletide resistance. So let me be the first to wish you, Merry Christmas !
What made me change my mind? If you give me a couple minutes right now, I'll
share with you the best news you've heard in a long time…maybe ever.

Since I was a small boy I can remember singing, " Jesus loves me, this I
know, for the Bible tells me so ." Do you know the song? Do you know that
Jesus loves you? I'm not just asking if you know the information. More than
2 + 2 = 4; more than some impersonal factoid, do you know that Jesus loves
you? I don't mean know like you could recite a recipe for a Denver omelet.
I'm asking if you know what those ingredients taste like together? Have you
tasted God's love? Have you experienced God's love for you personally?

It's only been more recently in my life that I've known in my heart that God
loves me, that He loves me . I'm a little embarrassed to admit this. I mean,
why does a 45-year-old man need to know that God loves him? That's for kids,
right? How stunned I was not long ago to have God meet me in such a
powerful, personal way, and immerse me in this idea that He loves me !

I told you that Christmas turned around for me several years ago; here's
why: I came to experience and taste His love?-to know , not just with my head
but with my heart, that God loves me. The good news that I promised you is
this: God truly loves you, too !

I know what you may be thinking, "Well yeah, God loves me. I mean, God loves
everybody, and I'm part of everybody, and so here I am in this big city, in
this big world." Listen, God doesn't love you like He's looking down on a
football stadium full of people and says, "Yeah, I love that group over
there also."

How does God love you? Let me count the ways …. The Bible says that He has
engraved you upon the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16) and that He numbers
the hairs of your head (Matthew 10:30). The Lord tells us that He saves your
tears in a bottle (Psalm 56:8). Do you see? This is a message that is very
personal. It doesn't matter where you've been, it doesn't matter what you've
done, it doesn't matter what you've experienced?-God loves you. It doesn't
matter what you have thought about yourself or what other people may have
said about you?-God loves you . This is what God says about you! You are
honored, you are precious in His eyes, and He loves you! (Isaiah 43:4).
Isn't that a wonderful thing?

Maybe some of you are like, "Exactly how much love does God have for me?
Could you break it down for me?" Sure?-most often when the Bible attempts to
express God's love, it makes a beeline for the cross.

The cross of Jesus Christ is God's statement about how much He loves you.
Wait a minute, James. It's not Easter, it's Christmas! Yeah, but don't you
see how they're connected? When you think of the immensity of God's love,
the first thing the Bible often asks us to do is to consider the price that
was paid. "God so loved the world that He gave His Son " (John 3:16). "This
is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins. " (1 John 4:10)

What makes this love so amazing is that it is highlighted against the
backdrop of a debt that each one of us owes. At the core of God's being is
His holiness. In order for us to have any kind of relationship with Him, we
have to find a way to get our sins forgiven. Problem is, there's nothing we
can do to accomplish that?-it's way too big of a problem. We can't buy God's
favor, we can't work for God's favor, we can't ever be good enough to earn
God's favor. Some would argue that God's defining characteristic is love,
but if that was so, God could welcome us all into heaven and say, "Just
c'mon, we'll work it out when you get here." But God's holiness demanded
that sin be paid for before there could be any relationship, and then God's
love found a way. That's exactly why Jesus had to come. "In this is love,
not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
[payment] for our sins. " Because God is holy, He can't look on that sin?-it
must be covered. Jesus' blood covers our sin. Hebrews 9:22 says that
"without the shedding of blood there is no payment for sin."

I know, I know, some nice people want to hush me here, "You're getting blood
on the snow. Don't wreck Christmas!" But listen?-I don't want us to miss the
amazing truth about Christmas! Don't simply accept the glossy Christmas card
version of Jesus anymore, " Oh, Jesus, look at the sweet baby ." The truth
is so much more. Jesus, light and love incarnate, left heaven that first
Christmas night to be born a baby, to live a sinless life, to die in your
place, so that you could be forgiven of your sin?-a holy transaction made
possible by the amazing love of God. That's the message of Christmas. We
need a Savior and that's why Jesus came.

I proclaim God's love to you today. He loves you with an everlasting love
that words fail to describe. And I've got to say this: If you can't look to
a time when you turned from your sin and embraced Christ by faith for your
forgiveness, man, what are you waiting for?! You don't know when or even if
you'll have another opportunity to embrace Christ by faith, as the Lover of
your soul. Let this Christmas mark the decision that changes your life?-
forever . Step out of some generic understanding of love into this amazing,
committed love of the Lord for each of His own children through faith in
Christ. For more information, get to a church that tells you the truth about
your need and God's amazing love that reaches out to meet you.

The wonderful people in our congregation don't have to worry about me
"bah-humbugging" on Christmas anymore. I've got the real joy of the season
now and we raise the roof in our celebration?-real joy comes from receiving
the gift Jesus offers to each one of us. It's something we can't get
ourselves?-only a sinless God could give such a holy gift and only love would
make the way.

Accept God's love in the free gift of His Son?-do it by faith today and
you'll have the best Christmas ever.

Husker,

That is about the best post I have ever read! Thank you so much for that!

Revel,

I am sorry if I offended you. I did not mean to. I have had so many people ask me about that verse and others and they all expect me to say "that means you are going to hell if you don't do what it says." Revel, I won't do that. I believe God is the only one that can do that. I believe He puts His word on our heart to our understanding so, I have to let Him do that for you and everyone else.

Please accept my apology if I did offend you or think wrong of your intent. I am very sorry.

I don't know, but you could be right. The "devout" got the idea from somewhere though. In reality, I find that Jesus said very little, it was his flock that made up all the bullarkey!

Stevepax,

I am sorry you feel that way. If one would read the New Testament, you will find that Jesus said quite a lot. All of it quite beautiful too!

ALL of it is quite beautiful?


NEW TESTAMENT.
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is quoted as saying that he had come to bring the sword, to "set father against son and mother against daughter" (Luke 12:53) and called on his followers to "But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me" (Luke 19:27).


So....did he say this?

....Or was Luke a liar?

Do you know why He said that? Do you have any idea what the whole story is behind it?

Perhaps if you knew the whole story, it might make a bit more sense to you. Then again, perhaps not.

Maybe we should all give GWB the same benefit of the doubt?

It all sounds like fighting talk to me.

Please enlighten me as to how anyone can be justified in issuing such an awful command.

My Dear Lord Ellpus,

Did you read the complete story?