[jeweluv]

I was brought up to be spiritual and very open minded. I love all people and respect all faiths as long as they worship peacefully. That being said, I have found myself dabbling in SO many realigions that I feel a bit lost.

About 8 years ago I found my way into the Catholic church, went through the program, was baptized and confirmed. Although there has always been a HUGE part of me that truly felt that JESUS came down in man form so that we could better understand GOD and what and how we should live, I never truly felt that my taking the bread, I was LITERALLY consuming his body. I also didn't feel that one should have to cionfess to another man but rather, only GOD himself. (this is JMO) Because I disagreed with some of the major points of Catholosicm, when I married my Jewish dh, I explored Juiasm a little. I liked the idea that mitsfah's, or good deeds, helped to move you up the ladder because I feel that doing good does stand for something. Well, I couldn't get JESUS out of my heart. I met my now, best friend, who was born again. Over time she taught me her faith and in her parish, they believe that one is born again and saved if you at any point in time accept JESUS as your savior and this is the only way you can get to Heaven. They believe that this is so gracious of GOD, because he only expects this. She quotes "our good deeds are like filthy rags" and therefore just knowing we are originated in sin and that the only way to eternal life, is through JESUS. If you do not accept JESUS, even if you are an amazing person, you still go to hell. Well, this kind of bothers me and makes me fearful. I have been saved but am now wondering if I believe that even if you are a good person, you can still go to hell if you don't accept JESUS. I am doing bible studies with my friend's father who is a pastor. They use the King James bible. It seems as if everyone has different interpretations of bibles etc. As I read scripture, right now I'm working on Genesis, I have learned and am being taught that the consequence for Adam and Eve disobeying is death. For a long time, something had to die or be sacrificed as a constant reminder and consequence for their disobedience. Finally, after a flood that wiped out almost evrything, GOD was gracious and sent his only son, who was also GOD but in man form, down to be the sacrifice so that nothing else had to die. Through him, and ONLY HIM, are we able to have eternal life which was offerred to us before Adam and Eve disobeyed. Are my getting this right?

So....here are my questions if anyone can help answer these?

1. The Old Testament was written by MOSES correct? If this is the case, then wasn't he the first one to have writing, not the Sumerians (like history books say?)? If this is so, than why doesn't everyone take this as fact? What is to be disputed? Why doesn't everyone believe this?

2. Who actually wrote the bible, when was it written, and are there more than one version, or are there just different interpretations of it? Why do some believe (my husband is one) that this book and the origins of Christianity was more or less a fantasy passed down from generation to genderation, twisted along the way, and that the bible is different then any history book because it was written millions of years later. In other wordsm what helps or prooves to Christians that this book is authentic? (I don't disagree with it, I'm just curious) My faith cannot truly grow if if I don't fully understand.

3. Since I have been dabbling with Born again, I find myself desperate to have my family accept Christ because I am fearful they will go to Hell. This is unsettling. But, as much as anyone says this may not be so, what if it is so? What if everyone will go to hell if they don't accept CHRIST as there savior? I know we should be grateful to him because he gave us the opportunity for eternal life and I know he has blessed my life so greatly and yet, I can't help but still feel a little intimidated. My friend's father, the pastor, is trying to teach me that Satan is subtle and that he will pray on our weaknesses and try and get us to look in the other direction so that more souls aren't saved. OPINIONS WELCOME! The KING JAMES bible does say that we are born again once we accept CHRIST and through him and only him, we can be saved. Does it say the sme thing in every bible? If so, then why do so many Christians believe so many different things?

4. My DH is an athiest and believes in evolution but doesn't completely discount that there could be a GOD. He says there is evidence of evolution; which I know and yet I can see that this is because there are simply remains left from an earlier time and that the body can change a bit but I still feel in my heart that we were mae in the image of GOD.


5. The bible was written millions of years after Christ? (The new testament? ) What about the Old testament? It was written by his apostles correct? (but they didn't actually know JESUS right?) .....and these people were guided bu the HOLY spirit right?


Last but not least, I really hope the end of the world is not anytime soon. Supposedly it is something no human will know or begin to recognize. I really enjoy my life here with my family and although I'm sure Heaven is divine, I can't help but fear, which I know is pointless, that I am going to lose them anytime soon.


Sorry, much help needed! I'll take whatever I can get!

In my heart I feel that JESUS was GOD and that he came down in man form. I feel that he showes us what true love was and how to be just, kind, and compassionate. I believe that this is how GOD REALLY IS but I hope that, given everyone is not born into Christian families, that he still accept people into the after life and does not condemn them to hell, for not necessarily "accepting" him. There are very good people in this world who would be going to hellbecause as stated before "our good deeds are like filthy rags." and...in the KING JAMES BIBLE that I am being taught from, it says that accepting CHRIST is the only way to get to heaven. Well, THIS IS DOWN RIGHT TERRIFYING! What if this is so? My friend and her family have been warning me not to get swayed because that is what Satan wants. I feel lost; I really REALLY do. I am spending my days in utter conflict. I feel like I don't know what to believe anymore and that if I believe the wrong thing, it is a sin or possibly I am being swayed by Satan etc, and there is HUGE risk to this because my family, who is not saved, could go to hell.

I have to be honest, as I walk through the world, I don't necessarily feel this huge connection to GOD all of the time. There is some sort of reality check that goes on for me that makes me feel very disconnected. I still believe there is a GOD and yet, I begin to feel that it is more of a concept beyond our undestanding.

HELP!

[Mattiez]

Hi and welcome to the board. I am glad you posted.
I think the questions you have a very common to most people.

It is a tall order for one post . So I am going to take a bit of time, put in some prayer and research and put together some detailed answers, as best I can. It will probably be tomorrow by the time I can fully get back with you. But I wanted you to know I haven't forgotten you.

Mattiez

[jeweluv]

Wow! Thank you so much!! xoxo

[Mami]

Welcome to the board and thank you for asking these questions. Please feel free to ask any other question, you may have.

I am pretty much getting ready to wake up my son for school, but I do want you to know you are not being ignored. Its just a lot of questions to summarize and like Mattiez said it will take time. I actually saw this last night but couldn't respond and I prayed over it.

[Mattiez]

Here is just a start to scratch the surface.
I am heading out but will be back latter.

First Hi and welcome to the board.
There are a lot of really nice ladies on the board and they will do the best to answer any questions you have. Please keep in mind that we do not have all the answers but can only talk with you about our personal beliefs and experiences and what the bible says about different topics.

Where to start……
I never truly felt that my taking the bread, I was LITERALLY consuming his body.
This belief is actually strictly a catholic belief. I would venture to say that 95% of the rest of prodistant (Christians who are not catholic) believe that this is a symbolic gesture of uniting with Christ and accepting his sacrifice for us.



I also didn't feel that one should have to cionfess to another man but rather, only GOD himself.
Again this is a Catholic belief, not generally held in the prodestant belief. Again your heart, and your sin and your confession is between you and God. If you have wronged another person, sinned against them, then you should go and make it right with that person and ask their forgiveness of course. Many times talking with another person helps us to see things more clearly and get valuable feedback but we need no other intercessor other than Jesus himself.
I know only some about Catholicism and even less about Judism, so I can’t be much of a help there. Sorry


I liked the idea that mitsfah's, or good deeds, helped to move you up the ladder
Most people do. Because good deeds alone allows people to be in control, to call all the plays and to decide when and how things are going to happen. Christians are “called to all good works” but these works are a product of God’s love for us, and His love flowing through us and out to others.


Here is an example. I used to start my day with a prayer (taken from a song) Lord, let me be a blessing to someone today. I meant it and I really felt like I was doing good. I would look for my good deeds to do during the day. One morning when I was praying, the Lord said, “You are so selfish” (I was totally taken back ) “What????!!!!” Then he showed me that I was saying this from a shallow love for the other person to get my pat on the back and get my warm fuzzy, not from a whole hearted, all out, God encompassing love for the well being of that other person. Instead He is teaching me to say something like, “What do you want for me (to do) today.” How does your spirit want to use me or have me do. Sometimes the unfolding of the day, through the leading of the Holy Spirit is completely opposite to what ever I could have guessed. Sometimes it is uncomfortable to step out on faith and to trust that God knows what he is doing. God’s ways are so much higher and more perfect than ours. I usually screw things up when I try and take control.


I hope I am explaining this OK, Please feel free to ask any question or Maybe I need to explain things in a diffent way.
More latter.
Mattiez

[Mattiez]

OK Part 2.

I still haven't gotten to all you question but I am working on it.

I hope this helps.

They use the King James bible. It seems as if everyone has different interpretations of bibles etc.

This is true. Most people do have different interpretations of the bible. That just goes along with people being people. People have different interpretations of just about everything. For me personally I prefer to use a non-King James version. Such as the International Standard version of the American Standard version. I also use the Living bible. Which is more a paraphrase of the bible than a direct translation. Most scholars say the KJV is the most technically accurate but my theory is, if you can’t understand what you are reading, what good will it do you? Go with something you can understand. Have you tried reading any other version?

1. The Old Testament was written by MOSES correct? If this is the case, then wasn't he the first one to have writing, not the Sumerians (like history books say?)? If this is so, than why doesn't everyone take this as fact? What is to be disputed? Why doesn't everyone believe this?

Only the first 5 books of the bible were written by Moses. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The rest were written by a slew of different people. King David wrote the Psalms, Solomon wrote Song of Solomon, and so on. The ability to write and read was around long before Moses. In fact, Moses grew up in pharoses’ palace where he was taught to read and write the Egyptian script and maybe other scripts too. Writing could well have started with the Sumerians or maybe even prior to them in other cultures. Some scholars believe that parts of the book of Job predates the books of Moses.

2. Who actually wrote the bible, when was it written, and are there more than one version, or are there just different interpretations of it? Why do some believe (my husband is one) that this book and the origins of Christianity was more or less a fantasy passed down from generation to genderation, twisted along the way, and that the bible is different then any history book because it was written millions of years later. In other wordsm what helps or prooves to Christians that this book is authentic? (I don't disagree with it, I'm just curious) My faith cannot truly grow if if I don't fully understand.

Lots of people wrote the individual books that were later put together and we now call the Bible. The bible didn’t exist as a whole, thousands of years ago. Individual books and accounts of daily life was written by different men. We believe these men, or groups of me, were inspired and directed by the Holy Spirit to write what they did. There are many versions or translations of the bible. Of course it wasn’t written in English. It was written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic and probably some other different languages. The first time all the books were officially translated into English and put together as a collection was to make up the King James Version of the Bible. This was done by a group of me in the year-------. Sorry, I can’t remember the year. At that time it was the new, modern, cool, version of the individual books. People could read it and easily understand it because that is how they wrote, read and spoke. Well, time has passed and we don’t speak that way anymore. Reading it and understanding it has become more and more difficult. So many modern day translations have been put out since. Some go back to the original text language and translate from there and some translate it from the KJV. If you are familiar with other languages (such as Spanish or French) you know a lot of times, things can not be directly translated one language to another. They have to be paraphrased or find something similar in the different language or culture.

The individual books of the Bible were written over many thousands of years. Some a long time ago and some around the time of Christ and some a bit later after his death. One thing the bible has going for it is that all the accounts (or most all, I am trying to think of an example that does not fit but can’t come up with one, but to try and be accurate I will say most all) were first had witnesses of the accounts actually recorded. People saw things that actually happened around them and they wrote it down. This is what historians call the Primary Source. Most history books only dream of having such primary source knowledge.

OK , I have to go for now, more latter.
I hope this is helping some.
Mattiez

[Mattiez]

Another few question tackled.

4. My DH is an athiest and believes in evolution but doesn't completely discount that there could be a GOD. He says there is evidence of evolution; which I know and yet I can see that this is because there are simply remains left from an earlier time and that the body can change a bit but I still feel in my heart that we were mae in the image of GOD.

Fortunately the two aren’t exclusive to each other. Life on earth adapts and changes. We all know that. When the bible talks about God creating heavens and earth. HOW did he do that? God created man. HOW did he do that? The HOW is what Christians sometimes disagree on. Some say it took God 7 (really 6 because he rested on the 7th) earth days. Some say God work through natural process and it took him 7 (6) “ages”. In the bible it says, count the day as a 1000 years and a 1000 years as a day. So does that mean it took God 7000 thousand years to create the earth? I have my personal belief on this. The creation of the world has been a real fascination of mine and I try to learn what ever I can on it. Because I love science and am fascinated by it. Science doesn’t’ negate God, science is God’s handywork. It is truly mind boggling. But I digress. The bible does says “let us make man in our image” In the likeness of God. I don’t believe this means that we LOOK like God (although that would really be cool, kind of an extra bonus ) But in the likeness, the same spirit, the same spark of life and power. You are made by and with the same power of God which ever way you choose to look at it.

5. The bible was written millions of years after Christ? (The new testament? ) What about the Old testament? It was written by his apostles correct? (but they didn't actually know JESUS right?) .....and these people were guided by the HOLY spirit right?

I think you have your time table a little off. Let’s do a time line check.

It is now 2012, A.D The Julian calander, which we use today, LOOSLY based it’s dates on the birth of Christ. The idea being Christ was born at year 0. We count up from there, till today, and back from there, into B.C. (Before Christ) times. Of course there is no year “0” and scholars puts him being born closer to 4 AD. But anyway when you are talking of 1000’s years, it is close enough. It has only been about 2000 years since Christ walked this earth.

Christ died when he was 33. Going with the timeline above, that would put him dieing around 33 AD (the didn’t really have the Julian calendar yet) Most of the books of the new testament were written shortly after his death. Lets say around 50 AD. The first books of the new testament Mathew, Mark Luke , John. These 4 men were disciples/apostles of Jesus. Walked with him and talked with him. The books were written shortly after his death by the men or for the men. Such books as Acts, Romans , Timothy, Revelations, were written by Paul. A follower of Christ right after his death. Many of these were letters to people or chruches when the believers were being persecuted.

The old testament was written before Christ was born. These books were written by prophets, kings, and lots of other people. There are many accounts of the presence of God and miraculous works performed by God. There are stories of battles, and love affairs, life and death. It also traced the history of Israel and the geology of the people. Along with this there are many prophesies of the Christ to come and the display of the might works of God. These writings were a documentation of what God has done and some were prophasies, through the Holy Spirit, of what God would be doing. The people who recorded such event weren’t just random individual God chose to revile and record his information. These were people who loved God and lived a life committed to him. We would say, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Please feel free to chime in. This is probably a jumbled mess, but I am doing my best. You have real question, you deserve real answers.
Mattiez

[Mattiez]

OK last one.
I saved the hard one for last.

3. Since I have been dabbling with Born again, I find myself desperate to have my family accept Christ because I am fearful they will go to Hell. This is unsettling. But, as much as anyone says this may not be so, what if it is so? What if everyone will go to hell if they don't accept CHRIST as there savior? I know we should be grateful to him because he gave us the opportunity for eternal life and I know he has blessed my life so greatly and yet, I can't help but still feel a little intimidated. My friend's father, the pastor, is trying to teach me that Satan is subtle and that he will pray on our weaknesses and try and get us to look in the other direction so that more souls aren't saved. OPINIONS WELCOME! The KING JAMES bible does say that we are born again once we accept CHRIST and through him and only him, we can be saved. Does it say the same thing in every bible? If so, then why do so many Christians believe so many different things?

The term born again is a very intimidating term and hard to get your mind around. Not a term I really like. Accepting Christ is simply giving yourself wholy over, mind, body, soul, thought, to God and his incredible love for us. Realizing that, even though we are not perfect and never will be we are loved, adored, forgiven of everything and we are incredible, unbelievable special to God. We have a spirit of God with wants to be with God and a desire to fellowship with him. When your spirit connects up with God it is like a circuit being completed, a light bulb coming on. WOW. This is God’s desire for you and all people. Without it we are all in darkness. What and were is Hell? I don’t know. What I do know is, I want what Jesus has.

Lots of Love for you and I guess my biggest advice for you would be just to talk to God about all your question. You can just ask him, You really can and he will answer you. You are a wonderful person and he loves you very much.

Lots of Hugs
Mattiez

[mamma_anna]

First of all, welcome to the board. I'm glad you're here and I hope you start posting more often. I'm looking forward to getting to know you.

You have great questions and I'm glad that you're asking them. God wants us to question things. He wants us to seek knowledge and struggle with the answers. I believe He wants us to come to faith in our own way and build a personal relationship with Him. It's why he made us all so unique and gave us free will.

I'm not going to even try and answer all your questions right now. Only because 1) Mattiez gave such great answers and I'd likely be repeating most of it. 2) I'm really sleep deprived right now so my answers would likely not make much sense.

Are you attending a church regularly right now? You mentioned a bible study, is that with a group or is it just you and the pastor? I'm thinking it might be a benifit to you to take a class or join a small group for new Christians from a couple of different churches so you can hear different perspectives and figure out how God best relates to you.

I personally find Catholics and Born Again Christians to sort of be on two more extreme sides of the spectrum when it comes to theology. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But there's a lot in the middle too. God will meet you where it's best for you. We all share a common faith in Christ and that's what matters.

Okay now I'm feeling like I'm rambling and not making sense. Like I said, I'm sleep deprived. I'm going to stop now before I really confuse you.

Pray over it!!! The Lord really loves it when we talk to him. Just be sure to listen too.

I'm praying for you.

Anna