Why would I support my view with scripture? I don't take the bible literally. I love have everything has to be supported by scripture to be true....

 

If you are talking about what GOD thinks then it does. If you don't believe in the bible or don't believe that every word in it is true then you shouldn't care what Josh Hamilton does. I guess we all can just make up the rules as we go along. Whatever I feel is right today that is what I'll do. It don't work that way. There is someone we all have to answer to someday and that is all that matters. Stop judging less ye be judged yourself.

^Have I read the entire bible? No, and have zero desire to do so.

 

Do I have a good understanding of it? I'd like to think so, I went through 12 years of Catholic schooling....

 

This is my problem with your argument. It is YOUR argument. I think there have been several comments, including mine, that states that it is not our decision how sins are graded. Jesus spoke about this in one of His many parables. Now, I realize that YOU have an opinion but did you live a perfect life and die for my sins? Did you give your opinions through devine thought to the authors of the Bible?

 

You state that you have completed 12 years of Catholic school. Even though I am Protestant, I can assume you that you believe that God is the authority of the universe. Is this true?

 

Just because you have completed Catholic High School makes you well versed in scripture and it's meaning is a weak argument. If this were true, you would realize that God makes the rules/law and we abide by it, period. Now, I am sorry that this post seems like an attack, but you are coming across very strong and opinionated without substance. Your only argument is based on your feelings. That is an opinion not fact. If you did not claim to have religious schooling and believe in God then we could argue my belief against yours but since we are from the same school of thought that their is a God and we are to obey him, you cannot hide behind what you think he wants. He is way too big for us to comprehend and He laid out what He wants us to do. If you believe in the Bible, you have to obide by all of it, not just some of it. If you want to pick and choose what to follow, that is your choice........good luck.

This is my problem with your argument. It is YOUR argument. I think there have been several comments, including mine, that states that it is not our decision how sins are graded. Jesus spoke about this in one of His many parables. Now, I realize that YOU have an opinion but did you live a perfect life and die for my sins? Did you give your opinions through devine thought to the authors of the Bible?

 

You state that you have completed 12 years of Catholic school. Even though I am Protestant, I can assume you that you believe that God is the authority of the universe. Is this true?

 

Just because you have completed Catholic High School makes you well versed in scripture and it's meaning is a weak argument. If this were true, you would realize that God makes the rules/law and we abide by it, period. Now, I am sorry that this post seems like an attack, but you are coming across very strong and opinionated without substance. Your only argument is based on your feelings. That is an opinion not fact. If you did not claim to have religious schooling and believe in God then we could argue my belief against yours but since we are from the same school of thought that their is a God and we are to obey him, you cannot hide behind what you think he wants. He is way too big for us to comprehend and He laid out what He wants us to do. If you believe in the Bible, you have to obide by all of it, not just some of it. If you want to pick and choose what to follow, that is your choice........good luck.

 

Your arguement has no more factual backing than mine. The bible is not a book that can be proven factually true. My interpretation of the bible is different than your's and many others. Nothing more, nothing less.

Your arguement has no more factual backing than mine. The bible is not a book that can be proven factually true. My interpretation of the bible is different than your's and many others. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

:popcorn:

These pictures were taken in January, right? Why didn't Hamilton go public with his relapse until he was busted???

 

It certainly justifies skepticism.

So all you hardcore Christians agree these actions are equally sinful?

 

I think there is a difference in sins...otherwise, why would God, in the Mosaic Law, have varying degrees of punishment depending on the transgression.

 

However, in the ultimate sense of eternity, there isn't a difference. God, through Christ, forgives all sin(s) the same way. You don't have to do more or less depending on whether you told a white lie, committed adultery, or murdered someone.

 

That's my opinion. Hope it makes sense.

I think there is a difference in sins...otherwise, why would God, in the Mosaic Law, have varying degrees of punishment depending on the transgression.

 

However, in the ultimate sense of eternity, there isn't a difference. God, through Christ, forgives all sin(s) the same way. You don't have to do more or less depending on whether you told a white lie, committed adultery, or murdered someone.

 

That's my opinion. Hope it makes sense.

 

Looking at the two bolded statements.

 

If a lack of forgiveness for the lying, the adultery or the murder all still get you sent to the lake of fire, then there cannot be a difference because they ALL end up with the same punishment.

Your arguement has no more factual backing than mine. The bible is not a book that can be proven factually true. My interpretation of the bible is different than your's and many others. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

And yet books that we study as factual in history classes and have LESS historical proof and copies of it, we take as factual.

 

This is the first website that popped up with the information but this information is widely known. Do you hold the same view on our historical knowledge of The Gallic Wars? The Roman Empire? Aristotle's works? Homer's Illaid?

 

http://www.missiontoamerica.org/history.html

We have copies of other ancient documents that are considered historically accurate. For example, Caesar wrote his history of the Gallic Wars between 50 and 60 BC. The earliest copies we have were made around the year 1000. We have ten copies from that time period. They are considered by historians to be accurate.

 

The Roman historian Tacitus wrote his Annals of Imperial Rome in about 115 AD. We have one copy of the first six books in this series. It was copied in about 850 AD. Books 11 through 16 are available in a copy made about 1050 AD. Books 7 through 10 are lost. The Annals of Imperial Rome is considered by historians to be accurate.

 

We have nine Greek manuscripts of first century historian Josephus' work titled, "The Jewish War." These copies were made in the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries. They are considered by historians to be accurate.

 

Aristotle lived around 350 BC. The earliest copy of his epic poems comes from A.D.1100 -- over 1,400 years after his death. We have five early copies of Aristotle's works.

 

We have eight copies, dated about 900 A.D., of the history of Thucydides. He lived in the mid-400's BC. Historians have long ago determined, based on these eight manuscripts created 1300 years after the original was written, that the history of Thucydides is accurate.

 

Homer's Iliad, the bible of the ancient Greeks, composed in 800 BC has an impressive 650 ancient Greek copies available -- the earliest is from the second and third centuries AD - 1000 years after the original was written.

 

So how does the New Testament compare with these universally accepted historical documents?

 

We have over 22,000 early copies of ancient New Testament manuscripts!

 

Numbers of copies: No other ancient historical documents come even close to being available in such large numbers (the Iliad is second with 650 copies) as is the New Testament.

 

Closeness to the originials in time: No other ancient historical documents are available in copies made so soon after the originals were written. (Most other documents are available only in copies made over 1000 years after the original.)

 

Contradictions: Other than a few minor differences in the Old Testament that are attributed to "typos" - none of which are related to fundamental doctrines or beliefs, there are no contradictions.

 

Archeology: Archeology has never contradicted anything in the Bible and has confirmed much of the Bible.

 

Continuing on....

 

Question three: Do other historical records mention Jesus? Yes!

 

Keep in mind that if all the documents we have from the first two centuries AD were collected and put on a bookshelf, they might take two feet of shelf space.

 

One of the best known references to Jesus is in Josephus's history titled Antiquities. (Flavius Josephus was born in AD 37 and died in AD 97).

 

Other ancient writers who mention Christ are Cornelius Tacitus (AD 55-120), Gaius Suetonius Tranquillas (secretary to Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138), and Pliny the Younger who was a Roman author and administrator.

 

Writting in the year AD 221, Julius Africanus quotes from a history of the Eastern Mediterranean written in about AD 52 by Thallus. Julius Africanus writes concerning the time of Jesus' crucifixion::

 

"On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun."*

 

In addition, the writings of opponents of Christianty such as Jews and Gnostics, confirm that Jesus was a real person. If they could, the best alternative for Christianity's enemies would have been to say Jesus never lived. But the evidence was too real and fresh--there were people still alive who knew Jesus or the Apostles. Their only alternative was to accept Jesus, but change his message.

This has gotten way off topic and more appropriate for P&R.