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To: presently no screen name
no screen name,

I admire your conviction. To be able to place such devoted and unyeilding faith in the Bible is impressive. However, I am left wondering about just one thing.

If you are so devoted to the word of God, so convinced of its truth, righteousness, and veracity, why do you own a computer?

Jesus makes it very, very clear that in order to be his follower you MUST give up everything you own.

Luke 12:33, Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
Luke 14:33, So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 6:19, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.
Matthew 10:9-10, Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
10 Nor scrip for [your] journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.

Matthew 19:20-24, The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go [and] sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come [and] follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Mark 10:20-23, And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

Luke 18:22, Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.


Now, if you do not own a computer, or a house, or anything else for that matter and are sitting clothed in a rough-spun robe in a public library somewhere using their computer, I will have the utmost respect and admiration for you dedication and commitment to living the word of God.

However, if you DO own any of these things, I have to ask you why? How? How can you rationalize that here, in all of these passages, Jesus (and these are the quoted words of Jesus, the Lord thy God here) is not speaking the absolute, literal truth that you should completely give away everything you have, BUT you can be completely and totally certain that the passages in Genesis ARE the unvarnished, complete and total honest-to-goodness truth?

I ask this question to every single devout creationist here. How can you pick and choose out of the Bible which is literal truth and which not?
64 posted on 12/11/2006 5:39:45 PM PST by 49th (Freedom is the distance between Church and State)
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To: 49th
How can you pick and choose out of the Bible which is literal truth and which not?

The Holy Spirit is The Teacher.

In your following scriptures, Jesus was showing the rich young man - his heart is where his treasures are - money/possessions. The thought of giving it all up made him turn away. Jesus used that to show the rich young man where his heart is - and it wasn't on the things of God.
Matthew 19:20-24, The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go [and] sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come [and] follow me. 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. 23. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

I have a computer/house/car/clothes/jewels, etc. My heart isn't in 'my things'. To some, money/house/car/jewels are their god. Their things define them.

We are all created with a 'void' and some feel the next purchase or the next person will fill that void - make them happy - always searching but only God can fill that void - then you feel fulfilled. You then realize it's not the things/people/events/careers that bring fulfillment, it's God's love.

God wants us to prosper, even as our soul prospers But HE must be first in our life, one must want Him. He said, "Seek the Kingdom of God first, and all these things will be added to you". God provides and you cannot out give God.

Our heavenly Father created us to have a personal relationship w/Him. Without that, one can't claim to 'know' God. They may say God exists but void of knowing Him. When you know Him, you know Truth, for HE is Truth.
78 posted on 12/11/2006 7:16:55 PM PST by presently no screen name
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To: 49th; presently no screen name
How can you pick and choose out of the Bible which is literal truth and which not?

*Literal* and *true* are not the same things. Why do you try to force Christians into a box of having to believe every single word of the Bible is *literal*? That is such a commonly used evo tactic used to try to discredit Christians and Christianity.

All you're doing here is misapplying what Jesus said to specific individuals in specific circumstances, to believers everywhere and then demanding to know why they don't follow instructions given to someone else. Trying to manipluate a Christians behavior by bludgeoning them with Scripture figuring that they can't argue whenever someone quotes it at them is pretty dispicable.

84 posted on 12/11/2006 8:55:44 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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