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Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:01 pm
by Canuckster1127
smiley wrote:I can give you some sites that deal with Old Testament violence. Try this:

http://www.epsociety.org/library/articl ... id=45&ap=1

It should be noted that I think that the article is deeply flawed in many respects. However, it's good for a start.

Smiley,

Why do you feel the article is flawed? Do you agree with Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens and Harris? If not, then is there an article of other person whom you can endorse more enthusiastically?

Curious,

bart

Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 10:12 pm
by B. W.
smiley wrote:I can give you some sites that deal with Old Testament violence. Try this:

http://www.epsociety.org/library/articl ... id=45&ap=1

It should be noted that I think that the article is deeply flawed in many respects. However, it's good for a start.
What standard do the new atheists base their moral judgments on to say God acted wrongly anywhere in the OT since, to them morality is subjectively induced??

How can they define what makes the greatest good? Or the makes the greatest evil? If no objective standards exist?

Lastly, Smiely, what in your opinion makes the article you cited flawed?
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Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:28 am
by Byblos
Me thinks smiley be snickerin' behind our backs.

Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 8:55 am
by jlay
My experience with Smiley is he wants to introduce a lot of objections, but never offers an explanation or correction from his theology. he is quick to point out what he thinks is wrong, but rarely if ever offers his thoughts on what he believes to be right. The guy may very well have some great insights, but I couldn't tell you what they are.

Teen,
Thanks guys! But the answers I hoped that I wouldn't get basically telling me to "Just believe" came about. But other than that, you guys really helped me.
Not sure anyone has offered 'the' answer per se. There have been those who are trying to engage you to try and find where you actually stand spiritually, and just where and how these issues with these scriptures arose. as far as I can see, you haven't answered. some comments have been made about these specific scriptures and how you need to understand how to rightly handle the bible. context, audience, etc.

i don't see that anyone here has told you to simply, 'just believe.' Since you brought this issue to the forum it would appear that you are sincere about your concerns regarding your faith. However that sincerity can only be confirmed by your willingness to read the responses and respond to the specific points brought before you. Obviously there will be things you will have to dismiss and posters you will have to ignore because they are not really concerned about you and your life. Their posts usually speak for themselves. But there are those here who do take a sincere interest in you, your life, and your faith. But you must be willing to invest yourself in the discussion and examine yourself, and your conclusions critically and honestly. It is afterall your faith, and your life.

Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 9:32 pm
by Troublemakingteen
jlay wrote:My experience with Smiley is he wants to introduce a lot of objections, but never offers an explanation or correction from his theology. he is quick to point out what he thinks is wrong, but rarely if ever offers his thoughts on what he believes to be right. The guy may very well have some great insights, but I couldn't tell you what they are.

Teen,
Thanks guys! But the answers I hoped that I wouldn't get basically telling me to "Just believe" came about. But other than that, you guys really helped me.
Not sure anyone has offered 'the' answer per se. There have been those who are trying to engage you to try and find where you actually stand spiritually, and just where and how these issues with these scriptures arose. as far as I can see, you haven't answered. some comments have been made about these specific scriptures and how you need to understand how to rightly handle the bible. context, audience, etc.

i don't see that anyone here has told you to simply, 'just believe.' Since you brought this issue to the forum it would appear that you are sincere about your concerns regarding your faith. However that sincerity can only be confirmed by your willingness to read the responses and respond to the specific points brought before you. Obviously there will be things you will have to dismiss and posters you will have to ignore because they are not really concerned about you and your life. Their posts usually speak for themselves. But there are those here who do take a sincere interest in you, your life, and your faith. But you must be willing to invest yourself in the discussion and examine yourself, and your conclusions critically and honestly. It is afterall your faith, and your life.
The thing that did it for me was that god had to tend to the messed up society that humanity had become in the old testament, and things got better in the new testament.

Hang On, The Best Is Yet To Come

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:22 pm
by ZahavaGold
Well, you folks who feel your faith slipping are not alone. The great people of faith in Scripture had their dark, dark hours, lost faith at times, backslid, made a mess of things, and repented.

Israel's God has made no effort to hide this from us or to sugar-coat it. This lends extreme credibility to Scripture. In other words, He lets the good and the bad of His people's actions and character to be put on vivid display, without any phoniness or cover-up to make them appear as something they were not. They were mere humans who were given extraordinary powers from an indefatiguable Eternal God, to fulfill His purposes.

First off, let me state my case for which Bible IS the Bible.
The 1611 King James Bible is the only reliable text. If there is the Word of God on this planet, or if the truth is absolute, and an Oracle of the Great I Am exists, it can only be the 1611 King James Bible. Let me expound.

When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, along with various fragments of papyri, the "Great Isaiah' text was found in its entirety and matches the Book of Isaiah in the English KJB to a "T". This is no coincidence. The Masorites (a Jewish sect) who hid these particular scrolls in the caves of Qumran preserved the exact Hebrew words of the Jewish prophets by copying them meticulously. This copying and re-copying, word for word from the original papyrus scrolls of the prophets, had been going on all along, from the Hand of Israel's God, as He directed chosen men to place His Word onto paper. He did this so we would have a Guidebook for Life. His first scribe was Moses. Imagine Moses sitting down and writing the Torah, the first five books of the O.T., as the Lord personally dictates. Wow. Imagine David,, running for His life and at the same time catching Jehovah's words in a cave, and penning the Psalms. The Psalms contain an incredible amount of Messianic prophecy, btw.

Side Note: The Great I AM showed Moses the past, i.e. how He dealt with Job, how He created the heavens and the earth, what happened in the Garden, etc. Moses must have been exhausted and at times overwhelmed. Then Moses goes on to become the guy who comes down from the mount with the 10 Commandments. He watched God's Hand blaze these into stone tablets. I am mind-boggled at the tasks Moses performed for the Most High, the least of which was mentoring the Hebrews through the desert. I am a Hebrew myself and can tell you, they drove Moses crazy, irked God to wrath, and got quite a few of themselves killed in the process. "I AM" is God's most cherished moniker. It has a special ring to it because it's an impenetrable fortress of a name!

Back to the King James Bible:The New Testament Greek that was translated into English for the 1611 King James Bible is from the inviolate Textus Receptus. Textus Receptus means 'received text'.

Received from who?

From Israel's God as spoken directly to His apostles, Christ's disciples, who also were His scribes. Paul stands out as having the most epistles in the New Testament. These holy words were entrusted to mortal men, and you can bet your soul on them.

Now ....why so many other 'Bibles"? Logic gives us an easy answer. The devil has sought to dishonor, discredit, usurp, defame and vilify Israel's God straight away from the Garden to this day. The devil, apart from being a murderer and liar, is a master counterfeiter.

What better way to confuse God's Word to the masses than by creating endless 'versions', and counterfeits? I never say King James VERSION because it is the Bible, not a version. All of the other Bibles are versions and paraphrases. They distort, twist, confuse, delete and add to the original tenets of the faith. They are originated from corrupt texts called Vaticanus, Sinaiticus and Alexandria manuscripts. These are false and apostate texts. Here I will point a direct finger at the Roman counterfeit of Christianity known as Catholicism for the dissemination of these satanic, tainted manuscripts. As we near the end of time, false Bibles and their doctrines of devils proliferate. Hey guys, we have lots of unseen enemies, so get used to it.

To really hold steady in the faith, you need the right tools. Satan wants to rob our faith and render us powerless. I have been saved for 38 years and he never lets up on this DOUBT strategy with me. That it still works on me must have the devil laughing and my Saviour crying.

Yet Jesus' mercies are so enduring, I can always come back like a silly puppy and He loves on me.

I have fallen on my face, my heart bleeding in agony. Yet when I open the King James (where the word of a king is, there is POWER!... Ecclesiastes 8:4....I recover. It is an elixir of mental and spiritual healing, the well of nourishing truth that permeates even he blackest moments of my life. All my troubles, fears and trepidations seem to float away as I read these words of eternal life, and drink from the fountain of living water. This is why He gave a born-again Christian KING the great honor of translating His exact words into English. All for you and me. But I digress.

It stands to reason that the Great I Am would preserve His exact words to the prophets, as He promised to do, in ONE PLACE.

You can read up on why the 1611 King James Bible is the ONLY genuine Word of God on planet earth. I am just giving you a foundation from which to build. Once you read the real Word, your life will change. You will receive direct prophecy about your life, along with instruction and guidance. What you decide to do with this wellspring is your choice.

Let's address this thing called doubt. I personally believe that if a Christian never doubts, he never had faith. Christ Jesus had his moment of doubt and fear in Gethsemane. I do not espouse doubt as a way to achieve shining faith. I am merely saying IT HAPPENS and how you ride the tide of it determines how thou shalt fare in the battle.

Knowing you are in a BATTLE is half the battle won. Most believers are naive in the area of spiritual warfare and you must, must, must understand and recognize the strategies of your adversary, the devil. I have done my homework. Please do yours. Please commit thine heart to knowing the Great I AM by reading what He has to say to you.

When you doubt, grab the REAL Word, open it and ask Him to guide you to what He wants to say to you. His word is a refuge and a fortress. It does not contradict itself. It must be read and interpreted IN CONTEXT. An advanced, mature Christian often receives out of context words of prophecy for his life or other guidance, but this takes time to master and recognize.If you are new in the faith, just stick to staying in context. In due season, the Holy Spirit will show you deeper and more personal applications of the Word for your individual life.

Admittedly, I still find passages that confound me. No small wonder. This is the Oracle of He who inhabits eternity. His thoughts and ways surpass mine by leaps and bounds. I have a very high IQ but it pales in comparison to the vast Mind of God. How can we expect to understand everything? We can't.

He showed me something very rich the other day. He is a surgeon cutting out a life-threatening disease....sin. As I pondered the victories of my Hebrew ancestors in battle, and how He ordered them to KILL everything PAGAN down to the last animal of the enemies, it became obvious that this was the work of a skilled surgeon removing sin from around His chosen people, so they would not fall ill from it. Do you understand this now? His anger toward them was that even though they saw His mighty deliverances and miracles, they still hankered after the disease instead of taking His prescriptions.

What we perceive as a 'meanie' God in the O.T. is really a very precise and jealous God. He has these assets, the Hebrews, a tribe He created to bring the light of His word and His Messiah into a very satanic and bleak world. Does He not have the right to judge? Does He not have the wisdom to know exactly for what and why He uses these methods? Of course He does.

Remember, we are dealing with GOD, folks, and let's forsake bringing Him down to our level. And Jesus the Christ, while in the FORM of man, was no ordinary man. He had to be God. No MAN could keep the law perfectly (because you and I never could) and then be the perfect sinless lamb to buy our redemption. What a marvel. He died so that eternal death would PASS OVER those who were bought with His blood. Study the Jewish Passover,its origins, etc., so you can see exactly what Christ did at Calvary and why. I did my homework; do yours. You'll be the richer for it.

Abraham, David, Joseph, et al. Ordinary men transformed into heroes of faith but still, the Bible shows us their abject failures, sins, and loss of faith. They received promises from God that were IMPOSSIBLE and they were required to WAIT in faith to see these come to pass. Circumstances were in such contradiction to what God had spoken to them, promised them, that they were sore vexed to hang in there. If I AM says it will happen, it will happen. Promises can take the long way home so don't stray off the path....keep on trucking. I'm writing to myself as well as to whoever falls upon this letter.

Please don't tell me Abraham had perfect faith. I have stilled many a tongue by saying the following: Was it FAITH that propelled him into Hagar's bed? No, it was DOUBT. Did the Lord still come through and make him the father of many nations? Yes, He kept His promise even though Abraham defied Him. Did reaping and sowing come into play here? Ask any modern day Hebrew, and they will point to Hagar's son Ishmael, the father of the Arab nation, and their current nemesis.

However, the Grand Plan will still come to pass. Where am I in all of this, and why am I writing to you? Hmmmmm..... God has promised me a preposterously impossible thing, and I am still WAITING, over a year now. At the moment, the ways and means of this ever happening in the natural are stone, cold DEAD. Just like Jesus was before He rolled away the stone. OUR FAITH IS BASED ON THE RESURRECTION, THE HISTORICAL FACT, THAT THE GOD MAN CHRIST JESUS WALKED OUT OF THAT TOMB, ALIVE AND READY FOR BATTLE. So, become a warrior in His army!

Have I screamed, cried, doubted? Oh yes. He informed me that He has been trying me in the furnace of affliction for quite some time. This is not really what I want to hear, but His plan is the best plan, even if we buck like a charley horse under it. Better to relax and let Him have His way with you. He tests faith, tests it hard, very hard. He wants you to pass!

Maybe this is where some of you are feeling the heat. But gold only becomes pure bullion when it's subjected to extreme heat. All of the impurities are burned away. Our God is a consuming fire. Can you handle it? When he has tested you, you shall come forth as gold. It says this in the Book of Job. It is my personal verse and my name.....Gold.

Google: Youtube The Death of a Promise by David Wilkerson. I think this three part video series will help some of you. It really helped me even though 'the vison is yet for an appointed time' and today I cried and wept and doubted.

Hang on. He is never late.

Secret: The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. Study to show yourself approved. An ignorant Christian should be an oxymoron, shouldn't it?

And don't let Him catch you doing this: :sleep:

Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:04 pm
by Canuckster1127
Rich Deem has a good article and links to materials with regard to King James only arguments. We seem to get some KJV only supporters floating by on occassion and frankly it's such a ridiculous assertion that it's not worth the time to attempt to address and debate with everyone who attempts to stir the water on it. So, here's the article by Rich and the links for those who have questions about it and want to look for themselves.

Is the King James Version the Only Bible that a Christian Should Read?

by Rich Deem

This page is not an exhaustive look at the King James only controversy. However, I have been confronted with the "error" of my ways by a few web visitors who insist that the King James English Bible is the only version a Christian should read. This page mostly consists of a series of links to other (more thorough) pages.

A few introductory comments are in order. The Bible was written over a period of approximately 1500 years in three languages - Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Therefore, English (King James or other) is not one of the original languages of the Bible. Therefore, all English translations of the Bible will suffer somewhat from differences in languages, differences in idiomatic expressions, etc. Different translations tend to aim for either word for word (more difficult to understand) or thought for thought (less "accurate") representation of the original language. Most translations (including the King James version) substitute "inaccurate" translations of certain words so that the thought will be understandable to our culture. For example, Revelation 2:231 contains the Greek word nephros, which literally means "kidneys." However, the English sounds pretty weird when Jesus says, "...I am He who searches the kidneys and hearts..." The word refers to the deepest emotions and affections of man,2 and is more understandable in our culture when translated as "thoughts" or "mind."

Why did the translators of the King James Bible translate it into the common English of the time? They said that they wanted to make a version that everyday common folks (of the time) could understand. Obviously, King James English no longer qualifies as being the common language of our time, and would probably be rejected by those very translators if they were alive today.

Well, shall we get started? Here are the links.

•How The Bible Came To Us - If you don't have an good background regarding the manuscript evidence for the Bible, you should start here (You should know the difference between Byzantine and Alexandrian text types).
http://bit.ly/2Hbabu

•The KJV Translators Said THAT?!? - Some of the best arguments against KJV-onlyism come from the translators of the KJV!
http://bit.ly/BZBG2

•KJV Only? (King James Version Bible) - A letter pointing out many of the problems with the KJV.
http://bit.ly/Hrdlvm

•The NIV The Making of a Contemporary Translation - Isn’t the King James Version Good Enough? (The KJV and the NIV Compared) (PDF version)
http://bit.ly/jKki91 (note: it looks like this link modified from what Rich originally linked to. This link goes to a FAW page that includes many of the issues often raised with regard to Biblical translations)

•The KJV's Archaic Language - Pros and Cons - The good, the bad and the ugly of KJV English.
http://bit.ly/BZBG2 (note: this is the same page as one of the links above. It has modified since Rich made his original link and includes this and many other articles and resources dealing with KJV onlyism)

•John 1:18 - Why the NIV makes a stronger case for the deity of Christ than the KJV. (the link for this no longer exists.)

Resources1.The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust the Modern Translations? Minneapolis, Bethany House Publishers, 1995

2.Metzger, Bruce M. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1992

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Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:49 pm
by ZahavaGold
@ Canuckster: Rich Deem, far as I know, is not God. God knows where He preserved His Word. I believe many people can't grasp the real tenets of the faith because they are reading counterfeit Bibles. I am not advocating Bible idolatry and there is no need for sarcasm and derision. I know full well that Israel's Messiah is the ultimate revelation. He gave us His infallible Word for a reason. You might want to think that over.

God is not the author of confusion, ergo, for Him to have His Word in so many different versions is contrary to His nature. You have a whole congregation of believers, each reading a different Bible. That is the very picture on confusion! No wonder division exists in The Body.

Satan is very, very clever and attacking the WORD was his first known assault against the occupants of the Garden. It worked wonderfully then, It is still working wonderfully and this is why he has not abandoned this tactic to this day.
GreeK and Hebrew of course are different than English. A believer need not know these languages to comprehend the KJB. God is perfectly able to translate His Word from Greek and Hebrew into English.
I did not post this letter to stir controversy. Suffice it to say you are the one doing that. I posted it to help a hurting heart that may come across it and find it to be....real.

Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 5:05 pm
by ZahavaGold
@Canuckster: Hmmmmmmmm, very interesting. Prior to my post, the last post was in 2010. What suddenly drew you to this page after it has been silent for two years? I know I'm charismatic but this is really odd, lol. Staff member of the site? To my knowledge, this site has mostly, to my remembrance, used the KJB. I first found this site whilst searching for Hubble Space photos years ago and find it to be very reputable.

In any event, Shalom from Israel's Defender and God, Yashua ha Mashiach, The Lion of the Tribe of Judah!

Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 10:07 pm
by Canuckster1127
I am a volunteer moderator. I came to your post for two reasons. First I've posted on this thread before and am notified when new posts come. Second, you are a first time poster and your posts must be reviewed and approved by a moderator.

No mystery and no conspiracy, although it's somewhat revealing that that is where you go immediately.

Last I checked, you were not God either and all you have is the standard gobbledy-gook backward regressive circular logic that is typical of KJV only supporters. Apparantly you hit on our site from a Google search just looking for an opportunity to put up your cut and paste. I gave you the opportunity and responded. You're welcome to post on this issue if you wish but expect that you'll be challenged.

Welcome to the site. Glad you've appreciated Rich's material in the past. Opposing positions on things are permitted. Just read the board purpose and discussion guidelines and as long as you stay within them you're welcome.

Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 7:55 am
by CallMeDave
Troublemakingteen wrote:The site has helped me plenty but from reading certain verses in the bible it just seems very non-merciful and just plain cruel. I am now contemplating on becoming a Deist. Here are the verse I have read- DUET chap 22 vs 28-29 exodus 21:7 LEV 29:16




Please explain these to me.
For a good source book on these sorts of things plus alleged contradictions in the Bible, get WHEN CRITICS ASK book by Dr. Norman Geisler which covers over 600 Bible difficulties along with full explanation why they arent really a difficulty anymore. You can get a used copy at www.amazon.com cheap . Deism fails on many counts , is illogical, and irrational based on what we can deduce about the Creator from the physical evidences he has left behind --- God is interactive with us , and, is personal and knowable . That makes him Theistic and not Deistic .

Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:31 am
by ZahavaGold
@Canuckster: If you READ my post, you will SEE that I asked if you were a STAFF MEMBER. See it? Plain English, just like the KJB. Your twisted reasoning about how I came to believe the KJB is the infallible, plenary inspired, inerrant Word of God is just plain prejudicial and ugly. You have insulted my motives and my intelligence. I came to believe it because of research and the Holy Spirit's assurances. What business does a volunteer moderator have in replying to, challenging, and insulting people who post?

You apparently have some sort of hard-on against this Bible, as do many who are falling away from the faith. You prefer to read the Not Inspired Version (NIV). Yes, hard-on. Hard words to respond to a hard heart....yours.

I also wrote in that same post that I had LONG BEEN FAMILIAR with this site, having found it YEARS AGO while searching for Hubble Space telescope photographs. I said I found the site to be reputable and prone to using the KJB. Unfortunately, your attitude has changed my opinion. It's been years since I've been to this site. I will never return and will dissuade anyone I can from coming to it. I have my own site and will put you in the apostate watch section.

Your replies have been offensive and ungodly, to say the least. Is this how you discuss things with people you don't agree with?

Contrary to what you say, my case for the KJB is not 'ridiculous' nor is it 'gobbledy-gook'. I only briefly gave reasons why the KJB HAS TO BE the real Word, but in your pride and ignorance, you have shut off your mind and heart. Far more scholarly people than I could blow you out of the water on this issue.

You either don't know God personally as you claim, or there is some underlying problem in your 'theology' that you refuse to correct. God is not stupid, as you are. He said HIS WORD WILL NEVER PASS AWAY even though Heaven and earth will, and that HE WILL PRESERVE IT FOREVER. NOT IN 70 DIFFERENT FAKE BIBLES, BUT IN ONE REAL ONE. Makes sense if you KNOW HIM. I am using caps because you are a retard and maybe caps are easier for you to read.

Your hubris is unbelievable!!! You defy God! Your whole site then, is nothing but hypocrisy. I will not waste my time looking at the site contents because I'm sure I'll be appalled.

No, I didn't fish around looking for somewhere to place my letter. I randomly came to this site while doing a Google search on 'doubt' and decided to post my own experience. How dare you, you arrogant THUG from CANADA, reply to people the way you do?

PLEASE REMOVE MY POSTS ASAP. I AM ASHAMED TO BE ASSOCIATED IN ANY WAY WITH THIS SITE. IT HAS APPARENTLY GONE DOWNHILL, DOWN THE SLIPPERY SLOPE. And, since I now remember who Mr. Deem is, yuck. Also of course delete my 'membership' in this ridiculous and gobbledy-gook forum run by idiots. As I said, the forum was abandoned two years ago, likely because people found no help here.

I come along with a genuine testimony. Then you belittle me (maybe you're a JEW HATER?) Then stop being a 'Christian' because guess what? Jesus was totally and completely Jewish and you will be answering to Him shortly.

(I know who you are: not a volunteer moderator but Rich Deem. So, you are also a liar. I had an obnoxious run-in with you years ago and forgot about it until now. Had I remembered, I would never have posted, casting my pearls before swine).

Deem, I hereby deem you UNFIT to present the Gospel. Fail !!!

Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:42 am
by RickD
ZahavaGold, welcome to the site. :wave:

Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:22 am
by Byblos
Just a quick question, ZahavaGold. What happened to the millions of souls that came after Christ and before 1611 when the KJV was penned?

Re: I think I am losing my faith.

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:40 am
by Reactionary
Byblos wrote:What happened to the millions of souls that came after Christ and before 1611 when the KJV was penned?
Or, the millions of souls whose first language is not English, so they use non-English versions?