That is one of the deepest mysteries of faith. Before the death of christ, the priests were required to make blood sacrifice for the atonement of the people. We are all born with an original sin and that sin cannot be washed clean except through sacrificial blood. The blood constitutes a pact of faith between man and god. God loved us so much that he showed his love by making the ultimate blood sacrifice, sacrificing a part of his deity so that the atonement would last forever and that the blood sacrifice could end. With that sacrifice, he washed clean all the original sin that kept us and him apart, because god cannot be in the presence of the unclean...but he loved us so much he desired to make us clean so that we could be with him.alphamale said:
What does it mean to say we were all born with "original sin"? How can anyone who was just born have sinned? He didn't do anything yet! Why did God make the "ultimate blood sacrifice" - wouldn't a universal pardon have been just as good?jallman said:
Is it not enough that the rules were in place, but that God bound himself to the same rules and made his sacrifice for us? This conversation will spiral into some of the deepest mysteries of faith if you wish, but suffice to say that God is all powerful, but He is perfectly faithful to his own laws. We have the original sin of Adam and Eve upon us and we are inherently unclean by our flesh. The blood washes the flesh clean because it is a vessel of the Spirit. Rather than go through centuries of offering sacrifice for atonement, he gave a piece of his own deity, made it flesh and offered it in exchange as the greatest gift of love and sacrifice, washing us clean with the blood of his son, imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit.alphamale said:
I have no idea what this means.
Okay, it will be hard to keep this concise and not open the door to a thousand other questions, but I will try. God is a being of spirit. He is elevated above even the stars. We were his creation, ensouled with a choice and a freedom to fulfill our purpose or to squander the lives he gave us. The angels dont even have that blessing. If an angel offends god, he is cast out as rebellious. We offend god with our very flesh because we tainted our flesh in the garden of eden when we disobeyed god and by eating from the tree...we introduced shame to ourselves in the garden. For that, we were cast out of the garden, imperfect with the knowledge that our flesh requires flesh for every function. But unlike the angels, God gave us a means to wash that unclean sin and shame away with the spirit, the blood. I wont be offended if you find this more confusing than helpful...it is one of the most profound mysteries of faith and requires someone much more well spoken than me to explain.alphamale said:
God didn't make Jesus...Jesus volunteered.alphamale said:
How could you possibly know this to be true? I doubt if you were there. The Bible has been rewritten how many times? There is no way for anyone living today to know for sure what happen 2000 years ago, with or without a Bible.Rev. said:
And so, we come back to the question of faith...alex said:
He did not state what I was responding to as faith. He stated it as fact.jallman said:
there is neither evidence for or against his existence.alex said:
But there is evidence for contradicting theories. So which should be believed by people? The one without evidence, or the one with?star2589 said:
whichever a person feels most comfortable in believing, so long as he does not force the belief on another of differing conviction.alex said:
which contradicting theories?alex said:
Very cool.jallman said:
Science. There is more evidence that supports the scientific theories of our origins than there is for religion.star2589 said:
well, no science confirms or contradicts the existence of god. only the specifics, such as creationism.alex said:
Why thank you. I just want to point out that I am very mindful that one of the problems with religion is that most religions become tainted with the irrelevant belief that conviction involves infliction of beliefs upon others. I am in direct opposition to that way of thinking...I detest evangelists with a passion. A conversation such as this serves just fine as a way of letting your light shine...there is no need to go knocking on doors or passing out pamphlets or inflicting your personal spiritual convictions upon public policy. Simply live your life with respect for others and others will notice that there is something peaceful about you. If they decide to question, then they are inviting your input and if they dont, then they obviously have it worked out for themselves and to disrupt that comfort is tantamount to sin in and of itself.alex said:
So, we are all held accountable for something that we didn't do.jallman said:
Its no different belief than karma following you from life to life. I dont see so much venom toward that belief.MrFungus420 said:
Evidently, he's a sadist.alphamale said:
You would think so.
Cause some got into his good graces and kissed his ***.
He didn't die for sins. That's ridiculous, a 3rd party cannot forgive someone for something they do. That's a bit like if I were to punch you in the face, and I ask God for forgiveness, that's asinine. Only you can forgive me.
alphamale said:
Okay, kel, come on...you are pretty level headed so lets discuss this without all the venom, alright. Now, bear with me for a minute...kal-el said:
There is a major difference. Karma is supposed to be because of your actions, not anyone else's.jallman said: