The Cookout

I have not but I plan to read the whole book as well, I have an Amplified Bible (somewhat easier to read and understand).

I had to for a class, but that was a long time ago. I need to re-read it.

I have a few times, it's the reason I don't do religion anymore.

I have read it though about four times and make it a habit to read some daily.
2 Timothy 3:16

I avoid the KJV because it is written in early English when many words had completely different meanings than they do today. A modern language version that restores God's name as originally intended, ( Psalms 83:18) is the most accurate.

sourgrapes said:

Curious to see if anyone here has. I have not but I am working on it now. Got myself a new KJV bible and I am reading it almost daily. I want to actually read the entire thing instead to cherry-picking and reading the same few chapters and verses over and over again. I just have to stick with it. I have been slacking the last few days cause of work. Trying to read it every night though.

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It typically takes over a year to read and absorb the text.

I have read the New Testament and most of the Old. To read the Old, there are a lot of things dealing with ancient culture that you don't understand. But I still have tried to read it.
The Bible talks about serpent-looking angels in Heaven surrounding God's Throne. No wonder when an angel appears to people, their first words are, "Don't fear me."

Anyhow here is a scholarly version of Genesis.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R24WZ4Hvytc


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t-7exqSLpw



Below is the video about the appearance of angels



There are many more videos illustrating passages from Dr. Michael Heiser's books.

If you want to discuss, I'm open to all discussion because this is a favorite subject of mine.

TheHarmattan said:

I have read the New Testament and most of the Old. To read the Old, there are a lot of things dealing with ancient culture that you don't understand. But I still have tried to read it.
The Bible talks about serpent-looking angels in Heaven surrounding God's Throne. No wonder when an angel appears to people, their first words are, "Don't fear me."

Anyhow here is a scholarly version of Genesis.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R24WZ4Hvytc

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t-7exqSLpw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw2LCTQHMUI

Below is the video about the appearance of angels

Genesis 3a: The Serpent

Thanks to scholars Ben Stanhope and John Walton for reviewing this video. John Walton doesn't agree with the main points of this video, but he was still nice...

www.youtube.com

Genesis 3b: The Fall

Thanks to scholars Ben Stanhope and John Walton for reviewing this video.Join us at: http://www.inspiringphilosophy.orgTo help support this ministry click he...

www.youtube.com

There are many more videos illustrating passages from Dr. Michael Heiser's books.

If you want to discuss, I'm open to all discussion because this is a favorite subject of mine.

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My starting point is 2 Timothy 3:16. Everything needed to understand the Bible is within the text itself.

The theme of the Bible is revealed by the first two items in the Lord's Prayer. After understanding that, it becomes easier to see the procession of events from Genesis, and the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures through the Christian Greek Scriptures (New Testament) down to Revelations.

Jay said:

Never have and never will as I do not follow anything that tells me what to think of the world rather how to think about it.

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I have studied Satanism in the past just to know what I was going up against. I learned a lot about the structure and the philosophy behind someone joining a group and becoming a Satanist. What was the draw?

Firstly, as I assume that you already know, that Satanists do NOT worship Satan. They look to him for inspiration. They figure that this being was in the highest ranks of God's Order and decided to leave, i.e., kicked the hell out! LOL
They praise Satan for following his own path and that they should do the same.

Their motto is "Do What Thou Wilt". Think of anything and if you want to do it, then do it. Horse dating? Approved! Beheading the first person you see in the morning? Approved. If you want a husband or wife in the 3rd grade? Approved!

Satanists worship themselves and all the desires that they can fulfill in this life and in their minds they feel like that is OK.

If you think you're going to be neutral in this spiritual war, you got another think coming. The choice that you think you are making has already been made for you.

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
- Jesus in Matthew 12:30

Are you going to "Do What Thou Wilt"?

When I was a toddler, after we returned from Europe, we spent some time in Los Angeles, where my younger brother was born.

My family was on friendly terms with movie star Jayne Mansfield, I think my father knew her husband from the military or something.

Suddenly we stopped going to her house. I heard my folks talking about how Jaynie (her nick name) was involved in "that mess". Years later I found out that she had been in the church of Satan.

Matthew 25:41 describes the complete and final destruction of Satan and his followers, symbolized by their being thrown into a lake of fire.

Yes & I used to know it word for word, when I was young. Have no idea what was added or taken away, but I'm guessing the new King James Version is what's being constantly revised.
Studying the Quran & Torah now & realizing that I'm overly angry & in need of stern discipline. I let emotions take over. Instantly, when I continuously see my people being murdered, since the age of 5.
Joining my husband & learning the way of life through Allah's teachings, I'm sure discipline will be mastered.

Jay said:

How can you speak that as undeniable truth when the institution of Christianity can't even agree on the truth. You have 6 major denominations.

Catholicism
Protestantism
Eastern Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy
Restorationism
The Church of the East

Each of these major denominations have major differences in the story of Christianity, they do not agree. You have Chalcedonian and Non-Chalcedonian denominations, Trinitarian and Non-Trinitarian, and etc. Christianity doesn't even have its story straight so how can you proselytize a truth that is not unified?

If a remote is the color red, it is a fact. I cannot interpret it as any color other than red and be factual. So if the Bible is fact why do all these churches disagree on it? Not only do Protestants disagree with Catholics, they even disagree with each other which is why you have Lutherans, Anglicans, Baptists, Pentacostals, Adventists, etc.

We can easily look at the Ecumenical Councils to see how the story was shaped by the will of man. I was planning on making a thread on this but you got me talking about it in this thread.

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It's OK to differ if I'm reading your post correctly. Some put more emphasis on certain things and others do the same.
what's the problem?
I haven't researched two on your list, but if I have to make a single point about them, it would be that Jesus is God and He died for our sins and risen from the dead.

That is the whole Gospel in a single sentence.

You are trying to get into the weeds without first going to the field.

Jay said:

How can you speak that as undeniable truth when the institution of Christianity can't even agree on the truth. You have 6 major denominations.

Catholicism
Protestantism
Eastern Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy
Restorationism
The Church of the East

Each of these major denominations have major differences in the story of Christianity, they do not agree. You have Chalcedonian and Non-Chalcedonian denominations, Trinitarian and Non-Trinitarian, and etc. Christianity doesn't even have its story straight so how can you proselytize a truth that is not unified?

If a remote is the color red, it is a fact. I cannot interpret it as any color other than red and be factual. So if the Bible is fact why do all these churches disagree on it? Not only do Protestants disagree with Catholics, they even disagree with each other which is why you have Lutherans, Anglicans, Baptists, Pentacostals, Adventists, etc.

We can easily look at the Ecumenical Councils to see how the story was shaped by the will of man. I was planning on making a thread on this but you got me talking about it in this thread.

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That is a great question that has been answered in Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds (or tares). It describes a time period after the death of the last Apostle when the apostasy would flourish, choking out true Christianity. Matthew 13

Jay said:

Yes but not all Christian denominations believe this and they have their own scriptures to back it. I believe it was Emperor Marican of Rome who convened an Ecumenical Council to determine the divnity of Jesus and even they didn’t agree the compromise was to say he was both God and Man at the same time to ease the critics on both sides. That is a point of contention for non-trinitarian churches because they feel it was made up by Rome for political reasons. There were so many competing thoughts at the time and the Empire decided which was canon. Mind you this was 250 years after Jesus died so the book many are reading is based on speculation from Romans on a guy that died 250 years in the past 100s of miles away.

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Jay said:

Yes but not all Christian denominations believe this and they have their own scriptures to back it. I believe it was Emperor Marican of Rome who convened an Ecumenical Council to determine the divnity of Jesus and even they didn’t agree the compromise was to say he was both God and Man at the same time to ease the critics on both sides. That is a point of contention for non-trinitarian churches because they feel it was made up by Rome for political reasons. There were so many competing thoughts at the time and the Empire decided which was canon. Mind you this was 250 years after Jesus died so the book many are reading is based on speculation from Romans on a guy that died 250 years in the past 100s of miles away.

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The ancient scribes would count every letter to make sure that nothing had been changed. The Dead Sea Scrolls have been invaluable because they are such early transcriptions.

Hebrews 4:12 describes the Bible as the word of God. Logically, wouldn't he be able to ensure that it has been accurately preserved?

Jay said:

Yes but not all Christian denominations believe this and they have their own scriptures to back it. I believe it was Emperor Marican of Rome who convened an Ecumenical Council to determine the divnity of Jesus and even they didn’t agree the compromise was to say he was both God and Man at the same time to ease the critics on both sides. That is a point of contention for non-trinitarian churches because they feel it was made up by Rome for political reasons. There were so many competing thoughts at the time and the Empire decided which was canon. Mind you this was 250 years after Jesus died so the book many are reading is based on speculation from Romans on a guy that died 250 years in the past 100s of miles away.

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I hope you don't think that I could read the Mind of God, but if you ask a certain person on this board that say that they are God, you would get an answer. LOL Just kidding.

Seriously, to be a Christian you must believe that Jesus is God and He died and Rose from the dead. Full stop.
So, if we are talking about Christianity that's fine. If you are going to talk about Arianism and other philosophical attributions then let's talk about them in their true hermeneutics. Besides I can rest assured that Jesus was and continues to tell the truth when He Said in John 16:12, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."

More is coming

Jay

Please understand that I am not even trying to convince you that you should believe. Let me state that clear and plain.

It is impossible for you to come into the understanding if God hasn't led you to do so.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
- Jesus in John 6:44

Jay said:

This is a false statement.

If you are to be a Christian PER THE ROMAN EMPIRE you must believe that Jesus is God an He died and Rose from the dead. When the Roman Empire decided that was going to be the Canon, the African Christian churches instantly said "HELLLLL NO" and that created the major branch of Chalcedonian vs. Non-Chalcedonian Christianity.

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Plenty of people have studied the exegetical proofs in Scripture to understand it before Constantine was even born. The second point is that all will bend the knee to Jesus and His Lordship. You don't have to right now and that is an Act of Grace, but in the end, everyone will.

I state again, trying to help you believe when you haven't been called is an impossibility on my part.

I read the New Testement. When I started the old I didnt get past 2nd Chronicles. The New Testement was a better read. To me.

No thank you. I was never into science fiction novels

Full disclosure: im agnostic

I read it back in 2010. 3 chapters a day i think it was and you can finish it in 365 days. The Bible I was using had a checklist to follow to get through each day's chapters. Only book I find helpful or useful is the book of proverbs.

TheHarmattan said:

Firstly, as I assume that you already know, that Satanists do NOT worship Satan. They look to him for inspiration. They figure that this being was in the highest ranks of God's Order and decided to leave, i.e., kicked the hell out! LOL
They praise Satan for following his own path and that they should do the same.

Their motto is "Do What Thou Wilt". Think of anything and if you want to do it, then do it. Horse dating? Approved! Beheading the first person you see in the morning? Approved. If you want a husband or wife in the 3rd grade? Approved!

Satanists worship themselves and all the desires that they can fulfill in this life and in their minds they feel like that is OK.

If you think you're going to be neutral in this spiritual war, you got another think coming. The choice that you think you are making has already been made for you.

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There is some validity to their motto. You paint it in a negative light and of course, it could be taken into a negative direction but it's unlikely that one could build an army to genocide entire races of people because those people won't do what they want to do.


Christians and Satanists are really just 2 sides of the same coin to an extent. Both will claim to hold the right way to live and that's the problem with both. Neither knowingly worships God in this mode but both do.

Service to self is ultimately service to God because the Self is God. Simultaneously, service to the other is also service to God because the other self is also God. Herein lies the fault of each, they both serve God but they do not see him in themselves or the other.

The difference is suffering. The Satanists way causes suffering to self because the pursuit of desires only leads to suffering because they can never be obtained to satisfaction. You never actually get what you're chasing because the desire only reinvents itself. Ironically though, the Christian way is the easiest way to cause the most suffering because it appears infallible. The safest place for the devil (the ego) to hide is in the church. You tend to cause suffering by judging yourself and others for not properly upholding the "rules".

Truth is, nobody's doing anything "wrong". Everybody's worshiping God.

TheHarmattan said:

I hope you don't think that I could read the Mind of God, but if you ask a certain person on this board that say that they are God, you would get an answer. LOL Just kidding.

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My ego hopes you're talking about me, lol. Because I did say I am God, but I also said Jesus is God and you are God and so is everybody else. If all of us knew we were God and could access the entirety of the mind of God (us), there would be no point to this entire experience of life. In fact, there would be no experience at all because there would be nowhere to go, no one to meet and nothing to do. God would not be able to perceive or interact with anything other than God. Of course, that is actually what we're doing anyway but we are largely unconscious of it so as to have an experience of something.