Do you think God loves you? Why?

[Masterblaster]

Hello

Make the case for a loving God!

Start with your best indication that this is, in fact, the case. Use example, scripture,doctrine, personal belief, whatever.
I will debate to the contrary, and I will no doubt, have help.
Give it your best shot!

[Masterblaster]

Hello William

You say - "Continuing with the theme you have introduced, Biblical Jesus said that this was the place that fellowship begins (and then never ends) between The Father and each individual Son.
Until then, one is only ever a "potential Son"

Sorry,W, not a clue what you are on about. What version of the Bible are you using that says anything like this. Give quotes. I do not understand.

[Masterblaster]

Hello William

You say - "I use my mind to contemplate "God" and as an Agnostic, (re your position of belief) understand that God being "personal" or not for the individual is an individual thing and as you have pointed out, your particular use of the Bible doesn't get you there."

You have not got a God that loves you by wishing for it. Choosing a personal relationship with God is fine but that is not a loving God. You can use cartoons to depict God but that is just for instruction. You should move on from that over time.

[The Tanager]

It would be natural for the writers of the Gospels to have individual methods and styles but the actual words of Jesus should retain absolute consistency.
If they do not know the words then , do not pretend that you do and therefore present the message in a different manner.

Quoting people’s phrasing back then was not that big of a deal. There was care taken to get the message right, but not exact words. Plus Jesus probably taught in Aramaic and these are written in Greek, so translation has to come in as well. The phrases chosen don’t conflict in the core concepts and so I see no reason to think these are mis”quotes”.

I was listening to band members of Nirvana talking posthumously about Kirk Cobain. Not one of them said ...one day Kurt said this ".......".Why was that?

Because they didn’t view Kurt’s message in the same way the disciples viewed Jesus or other religious or secular leaders’ messages are shared by their followers.

Mark2:14 And after the delivering up of John, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God 15and saying, “The time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near; repent and believe in the gospel.”


John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Well ,which is it, near or far, here or up there.

One must take context into account here. In Mark 2, we have Jesus beginning his mission and talking about how God’s reign has drawn near the Jews who have been waiting for it. In John 18, Jesus is correcting Pilate’s misunderstanding that his movement is a political one, saying his kingdom is different than that.

[JehovahsWitness]

...

Mark2:14 And after the delivering up of John, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God 15and saying, “The time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near; repent and believe in the gospel.”

John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Well ,which is it, near or far, here or up there. ....

1. God's kingdom is a government.

2. It is not "of this world" meaning it does not come to power through military conquest or political endeavor. Its existence would come by means of divine [heavenly] mandate.

3. It was "near" in the first century as in its King [Jesus] and representative was right there amongst them. it was "far" in that it would be many centuries before it would be set up.

RELATED POSTS


Are we to understand the Kingdom to be a LITERAL government that will rule over this literal planet earth?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 30#p865630

What do Jesus' words "the kingdom is within you" mean?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 34#p865934

To learn more please go to other posts related to...

GOD'S KINGDOM , THE 144, 000 and ...THE BOOK OF REVELATION

[Masterblaster]

Hello The Tanager

Thank You for your efforts here. I honestly think that you make a short list of very poor apologies

You say:
-There was care taken to get the message right, but not exact words.

You say -
Because they didn’t view Kurt’s message in the same way the disciples viewed Jesus or other religious or secular leaders’ messages are shared by their followers

You say -
Jesus is correcting Pilate’s misunderstanding that his movement is a political one, saying his kingdom is different than that.

.So they put it in commas anyway?
.Disciples and friends are not band members?
.You really think that Jesus is clarifying a point to a henchman?

It was John-Paul who was clarifying a point.

[Masterblaster]

Hello The Tanager

Dialogue commas in the Bible?

You are an experienced contributor to this forum.
Answer 1 question for me to aid clarity.

The Bible is often referred to as ' the written word of God' My son believes this and he views skeptics in the same way Scottish people view midges. He suffers them to go away. I know what this view of the Bible is about.

There are dialogue commas all over the Old and New Testament. You said that the words are not the actual words but there is an effort towards accuracy. You said - "There was care taken to get the message right, but not exact words"
Look at Genesis 18 and God having a chat with Abraham.
This is my question.

Are these comma enclosed words in the Bible the words of God or an interpretation of same?

[William]

[Replying to Masterblaster in post #21]

Hello William

You say - "Continuing with the theme you have introduced, Biblical Jesus said that this was the place that fellowship begins (and then never ends) between The Father and each individual Son.
Until then, one is only ever a "potential Son"

Sorry,W, not a clue what you are on about. What version of the Bible are you using that says anything like this. Give quotes. I do not understand.

If you are unaware of what biblical Jesus talked about most often, or have never read such a thing in the Bible, then what did you mean by writing "I'm with Jesus, my Leader..."?

You say - "I use my mind to contemplate "God" and as an Agnostic, (re your position of belief) understand that God being "personal" or not for the individual is an individual thing and as you have pointed out, your particular use of the Bible doesn't get you there."

You have not got a God that loves you by wishing for it.

I certainly can agree with that as my studies through the Agnostic perspective have shown me that there is work involved for any who choose that particular path.

Choosing a personal relationship with God is fine but that is not a loving God.

How would you know that if you have never believed it possible?

You can use cartoons to depict God but that is just for instruction.

You should move on from that over time.

Really? Assuming this is a true prophesy, where is it I shall move on to?

[TRANSPONDER]

I liked that cartoon.

[The Tanager]

.So they put it in commas anyway?
.Disciples and friends are not band members?
.You really think that Jesus is clarifying a point to a henchman?

1. It is my understanding that the original Greek doesn't have punctuation for quotes. And that ancient writers, Christian and non-Christian, were concerned with keeping the message unchanged, but didn't think that required verbatim quotes.

2. Perhaps I misunderstood your analogy between Jesus' friends and Kurt Cobain's friends in relation to why they would want to quote their teachings?

3. I really think Jesus was talking to Pilate about truth.

Are these comma enclosed words in the Bible the words of God or an interpretation of same?

I believe that God inspired humans to write the words collected in the Bible, so it is the truth God wanted to convey to these people and not just what humans thought about reality.

[Masterblaster]

Hello The Tanager

You say - "I believe that God inspired humans to write the words collected in the Bible, so it is the truth God wanted to convey to these people and not just what humans thought about reality."

You get full respect from me for your honesty on this, The Tanager. Now if we could get other people to move to this point we might get somewhere.Thank You for answering my question directly.

Here it is for others.

"Are these comma enclosed words in the Bible the words of God or an interpretation of same?"