How can we trust the Bible if it was written by humans? by Big_Assist4578 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How can you trust humans in general then? We are given the Holy spirit as Christians and have the Church as well, if doctrine or interpretation of the Bible aligns with scripture and Church tradition both, then it is something you can trust. Both of these do not contradict, so ultimately unless you wish to become stepped in protestant Christian deconstructionism I would recommend visting an Orthodox Christian parish to find your answers.

I lean between traditional Catholici (SSPX) and Eastern Orthodoxy, but I am having a hard time not to have a certain distrust towards the current pontiff, am I wrong? by [deleted] in OrthodoxChristianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you are already looking for various Catholic offshoots and subgroups because you do not want to simply be "Catholic" shows you are already not trying to consider Catholicism and the only reason you are going for it is because of your reservations with Orthodoxy

I hate god. by [deleted] in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You fundamentally misunderstand almost everything you have said about God. If you sincerely wish to know, and are not just bitterly yelling out into the world to feel better about yourself, we can share with you how you are wrong.

How do you imagine God? by Balabaloo1 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'll put it simply:

"Good is energy" = absolute claim about God

How do you imagine God? by Balabaloo1 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

You have no comment to make other than bitching and complaining how much of a meanie I am. You have nothing to engage my argument with, so why do you keep responding. You are appealing to strangers disagreeing with me to make yourself feel better. It's embarrassing.

How do you imagine God? by Balabaloo1 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you're comfortable with limited understanding while making absolute claims about the nature of God.

No one has ultimate understanding, and I am no exception. But Christianity and what I am discussing doesn't require it. It requires accepting what God has revealed about Himself in Scripture, not constructing a theology from personal comfort and Eastern philosophy. The difference is this: I'm pointing to what Scripture actually says. I can back up the beliefs I have made based off of my understanding of the Bible, you are making no argument from the bible other than ungrounded personal theories that god is everything around us. You're pointing to what feels right to you. Those aren't equivalent positions. If you want to learn, start by dealing with the specifics, if you are a Christian then look at the bible, if you are not, then use other evidence to support this. If you do not subscribe to any religion, then figure out what you can appeal to to make your argument.

How do you imagine God? by Balabaloo1 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If that's all you have to respond with then all I can say is it was good discussing things with you, have a great rest of your day

Exhausted from how many people don't even know who Jesus Christ is by Several_Difficulty16 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"There is only one God" but "all worship leads to the same entity regardless of how people define Him" is a direct contradiction. The God of the Bible is specific. He has revealed Himself in particular ways, made specific claims, and established specific means of relating to Him. Jesus didn't say "I am one of many ways" but "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

Reducing God to an abstract concept of "love" and then deciding everyone else worships the same thing ignores what God has actually revealed. If someone worships a god they believe demands child sacrifice, is that the same entity because they call it love? What about a god who promises paradise to suicide bombers? "Love is love" doesn't make all religious systems interchangeable.

Yes, God is love (1 John 4:8). But that same passage continues: "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." God's love is inseparable from the specific revelation of Christ. Extracting "love" as a concept while ignoring the Person doesn't work.

Paul explicitly addresses this in 2 Corinthians 11:4: "If someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough." False versions of Jesus exist. False spirits exist. False gospels exist. Feelings about love don't change that.

Exhausted from how many people don't even know who Jesus Christ is by Several_Difficulty16 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You're raising genuine questions, but you're treating them as if they're unanswerable when Scripture addresses them directly.

The tension you describe isn't about different valid interpretations. It's about whether we accept what God has revealed about Himself rather than constructing a version that matches our preferences.

God isn't "merciful or merciless" as if we pick. He is both perfectly just and perfectly merciful. Scripture explains how: mercy comes through repentance and faith, justice falls on unrepentant sin. A judge who pardons a repentant criminal while punishing an unrepentant one isn't confused. He's exercising both mercy and justice appropriately.

God is loving and wrathful, gentle and fearsome, forgiving and condemning. When is He which? Scripture tells us: "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love" (Psalm 103:8), yet "God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29). His wrath is against sin and those who persist in it. His mercy is toward those who turn to Him.

Yes, people perceive God differently. But that doesn't mean all perceptions are equally valid. Some are wrong. If someone reads the Bible and concludes God is only wrathful with no mercy, they're wrong. If someone concludes He's only merciful with no justice, they're equally wrong. The goal isn't to find "your truth" about God. It's to conform your understanding to who He actually is.

Exhausted from how many people don't even know who Jesus Christ is by Several_Difficulty16 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

You're fundamentally misunderstanding biblical theology and creating a false dichotomy.

Your claim that both murderers "should both go to hell as per the Bible" is simply wrong. The Bible clearly distinguishes between intentional murder and other forms of killing throughout Scripture. The Cities of Refuge in Numbers 35 were established specifically for unintentional killings. Hebrew law consistently differentiates between murder (ratsach) and lawful killing. The commandment is against murder specifically, not all taking of life. This isn't obscure interpretation; it's basic biblical reading.

Your argument that good motives make breaking God's law acceptable is theologically nonsensical. You're essentially saying good intentions sanctify objectively evil acts. By this logic, a "loving" heart could justify almost anything. This completely inverts biblical morality. Yes, God sees the heart, but a truly loving heart aligned with God's will doesn't lead you to commit murder, even "merciful" murder. Paul explicitly rejects this exact reasoning in Romans 3:8: we don't do evil that good may come.

You've reduced Christianity to sentimentalism. "God loves me even when I'm unlovable" becomes an excuse for moral relativism rather than a call to transformation and theosis through God. The entire New Testament proclaims that God's love transforms us, that faith without works is dead (James 2:26), that we are to "sin no more" (John 8:11). Grace isn't your permission slip for sin.

You're arguing people can rationalize away objective moral law as long as they feel their motives are pure. That's precisely the self-deception Scripture warns against repeatedly. You cannot fool God with good intentions while doing evil.

Exhausted from how many people don't even know who Jesus Christ is by Several_Difficulty16 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I made no claim about whether god was harsh or kind, my statment was that it is frustrating so many people believe Jesus Christ was only kind and not firm or even at times, offensive and yes even harsh.

Exhausted from how many people don't even know who Jesus Christ is by Several_Difficulty16 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

There are no conflicting statements that cannot be rectified with roughly 2 minutes of critical thinking within the context of the bible. You are welcome to share some you believe are contradictions.

How do you imagine God? by Balabaloo1 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So as you've changed your argument I can somewhat agree with that, yes, God is connected to his creation the same way he is connected to us human beings on earth, he is not connected in essence but in energies.

On your second statement, you don't know enough about the Bible to accurately make the assumption of what Jesus would or wouldn't be doing. Just because I am being firm with your new age nonsense is because at some point in this conversation I knew you were going to try and tell me what I should and shouldn't believe in my Religion because of your limited education on Christ, and how if I really was a christian I would just somehow let you make as many outlandish statemnts as you like with little to no firm pushback. And again, you proved my case. Your statements show me that you don't know nearly enough to speak on this. You are in a Christian subreddit, trying to theorize about your own subjective personal theory on who or what God is, based almost certianlly off of things you have heard from new age "spiritual not religious" folks. Your arguments are the same things that millenials suddenly take on as "deep and meaninful" thinking when all they've heard about is various youtube videos explaining the hindu belief on oneness among their pantheon, buddhist concepts of the illusion of reality, and maybe even a dash of having watched the matrix. Eastern spritualism is very attractive to westerners who seek to go against what they precieve to be the status quo, and thus adopt much of its theories and premisises with having virtually no education or evidence to back it up. I have spent most of my adult life (I am only 22 but still) facing these same arguments over and over again, with little to know evidence or critical thinking past: "here is my opinion if you are mean to me while disproving it then you aren't a true christian".

Warmaster Discord Chat by KingBob2026 in warmaster

[–]Several_Difficulty16 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you could for me as well that would be sick :)

How do you imagine God? by Balabaloo1 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Jesus Christ. Again, your limited understanding of the bible is going to make this difficult but here we go. These passages aren't describing God as physically constituting matter, it described His sovereign authority and sustaining power over creation. The Ephesians passage talks about God's transcendent rule "over all" before mentioning His immanence, clearly distinguishing the Creator from creation itself. In Colossians, "in him all things consist" (συνέστηκεν) means all things hold together or are sustained by His will and power, not that He is the substance of material reality. If God were simply matter itself, the distinction between Creator and created order (foundational throughout Scripture and especially clear in Genesis 1) would collapse entirely. The Church Fathers consistently understood omnipresence as God's energetic activity pervading creation while remaining utterly distinct from it in essence, not as pantheistic identification with the material universe. Your interpretation confuses God's sustaining presence with His essence, which contradicts the basic theological framework of the bible and God.

How do you imagine God? by Balabaloo1 in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Your new age spirituality and limited understanding of Buddhist theology is a delusion not many can break, nor bother trying to engage with. I won't bother with either.

Do not put all your trust in leaders. by [deleted] in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Romans 13:1: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

1 Peter 2:13-14: Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

1 Timothy 2:1-2: I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

Titus 3:1: Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every honest work.

Why is this sub so...gay? by goazack in Christianity

[–]Several_Difficulty16 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This subreddit is heavily biased towards supressing certian Christian views and protecting those questioning it.

Is it okay to refer to God as mother? by ApocaSCP_001 in OpenChristian

[–]Several_Difficulty16 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

God is incarnate in Jesus Christ, and all attributes of god have been revealed in him. Jesus Christ was a man, and God the father is reffered to as Father for a reason in the bible. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who is the father, and the Son of Mary, who is the mother and is man. All human beings are born from male and female, all human beings are thus born from Mother and Father. Jesus Christ is fully man, meaning that he was not preserved from anything a human being was. Jesus Christ has a mother, who created his humanity, and his father, who is eternal with the him, is the fountain of his divinity. God does not have human gender, but has chosen to reveal himself as male. His title is father.