Love me or else (Where is it now?)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Tuesday, December 18, 2012, 18:46 (4140 days ago) @ David Turell

People try to spin the bible to fit their own beliefs. Why spin a book that doesn't need to be spun? This is part of what is warned against in the story of the serpent. Satan took some of the truth, left off the inconvenient bits, and then presented it as whole truth. Religions, as institutions, are notorious for this. The Hellfire doctrine which Hy referenced is one such case. They use the lake of fire reference to create this concept of an eternal torment, but leave off the part in Rev 20:14,15 where it plainly states that this is refrencing a second death. They also completely ignore the multiple times in the bible that it plainly says that the dead are conscious of nothing, nor are they capable of any action. Another good example is that of the Trinity. They take a statement designed to show unity of purpose between Yeshuah and YHWH, personify the Holy Spirit, and then use it to make the statement that they are all the same entity despite the fact that the entire book states otherwise. -Hy, I am not trying to be preachy. You are free to believe however you choose. All I would ask is that you educate yourself by reading the source text, cross referencing multiple translations, and getting a basic understanding about the original languages used before swallowing what people tell you. The bible is much akin to science in this one regard: if you want to get knowledge and understanding out of it you have to do the leg work. If you just swallow what everyone tells you then you will not only be ignorant of what is really there, but you will also have a lot of misplaced angst and hard feelings about something that have no basis or foundation in reality. Just like millions of people swallow the theory of evolution hook, line, and sinker, and run around thinking that they swung from trees after swimming in the seas and sitting in the the dark as a mushroom, if you swallow every line about faith that someone feeds you then you will run around blaming God for things he never did, slandering him with wild groundless accusations, and generally feeling resentment and bitterness for imagined slights.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.