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  1. Doubting Brutus

    The nature of Jesus

    There's no need for that. I'm thinking on what's been said.
  2. Doubting Brutus

    The nature of Jesus

    Can you explain where Jesus affirms these things. I'm not saying he doesn't its just not clear to me that he does from reading the NT. Let me put it this way, when I read the words of Jesus I find it far more plausible that he talks about he and the father being one he is speaking in the same...
  3. Doubting Brutus

    The nature of Jesus

    Time and again I hear Christians talking about the following essential doctrine... 1. Jesus is fully god. 2. Jesus has always existed. 3. Jesus (as part of the trinity) created the universe. 4. Jesus lived a perfect life. I am not getting why this is essential. Why could Jesus not be adopted...
  4. Doubting Brutus

    Are there mainstream Christian churches that treat the devil as figurative?

    I think that's a very serious question. The NT seems pretty unequivocal that Jesus encountered Satan. Whether that Satan is the same as the devil I can't be sure. The Satan that tempted Jesus seems less like the lord of darkness and more like the traditional emissary of God we see in the OT...
  5. Doubting Brutus

    Are there mainstream Christian churches that treat the devil as figurative?

    What is the modern Anglican attitude? What do the Methodists believe these days? Are all modern Evangelicals literalists when it comes to the devil? The reason I ask is that I'm currently reading C. S. Lewis' classic Mere Christianity and he talks about the devil with complete earnestness. Its...
  6. Doubting Brutus

    Jesus and his family

    But this isn't a regular family. This is the 'Holy Family'. Joseph and Mary literally heard from God. God told them who Jesus was. What on earth would posses them to forget that 35 years before God had given Mary a child and told Joseph that this child was extremely special? Its not enough to...
  7. Doubting Brutus

    Jesus and his family

    I was listening to a talk by Gary Habermas on Youtube where he went through his minimal facts approach. At one point, when he was discussing the minimal fact of early sources he got into Paul's visit to the apostles in AD circa 38-40. He said something which has been bothering me. Habermas was...
  8. Doubting Brutus

    Mixed messages on sin

    Excuse my lack of response, I'm doing a lot of thinking and I'm happy to just hear what you all have to say.
  9. Doubting Brutus

    Mixed messages on sin

    I think so, is that the case for most protestant denominations and Roman Catholic? Its already been pointed out to me that the Eastern Orthodox church takes a different view.
  10. Doubting Brutus

    Mixed messages on sin

    I've been researching the subject a little bit and I'm confused. When Christians talk of 'our sins' are they talking about the Sin we're born with or the little sins/transgressions that we commit every day? When one is baptised, christened.etc is it our inherited sin we're washing away alone or...
  11. Doubting Brutus

    Hello all

    I really want to thank everyone for their very kind welcome. Despite having my only two threads closed I've found them both incredibly helpful. There will always be those who doubt a seeker. I know in my heart how sincere my quest is. I would say today and yesterday have seen big steps forward...
  12. Doubting Brutus

    Did you have to give up any moral principle or belief when you find Christ?

    Now I'm negging? This is turning bizarre. You're buzzing around trying to find a fight and I'm not sure why. To try to back up amidst all this hyperbole we agree on the dictionary definition what we disagree about is emphasis. Bigotry has always and forever (at least where I'm from) been the...
  13. Doubting Brutus

    Did you have to give up any moral principle or belief when you find Christ?

    the fact of having and expressing strong, unreasonable beliefs and disliking other people who have different beliefs or a different way of life: religious/racial bigotry That's from The Cambridge online dictionary. The emphasis in the MW definition is on overly strong identification with a...
  14. Doubting Brutus

    Did you have to give up any moral principle or belief when you find Christ?

    Bigotry is holding a particular group of people to be inferior, defective or otherwise undesirable based on an arbitrary or highly prejudicial set of criteria. One can't wriggle out of the problem by claiming it is the behaviour that is condemned when the behaviour is an essential characteristic...
  15. Doubting Brutus

    Did you have to give up any moral principle or belief when you find Christ?

    Well, if I'm understanding some of the responses I've had then, yes. If telling someone that their consenting, loving relationship is an abomination isn't bigotry then I don't know what is. I know a gentleman that is Gay. He is a lovely man. He is married to a man and they have two children...
  16. Doubting Brutus

    Did you have to give up any moral principle or belief when you find Christ?

    Getting back to my original post, that creates this enormous stumbling block for seekers like me. The moral code I'm supposed to adopt seems worse than the one I have. The one I have is based on love, compassion and understanding. The one being offered is based on. . . definitely not those...
  17. Doubting Brutus

    Did you have to give up any moral principle or belief when you find Christ?

    But one is not promiscuous by nature. You are free to remain faithful, be unfaithful or have some integrity and negotiate a mutual separation with your partner in order that you can see other people without committing adultery. Those options are not available to someone who is gay. They are not...
  18. Doubting Brutus

    Did you have to give up any moral principle or belief when you find Christ?

    C'mon, that's an appalling comparison. Be better than that.