What would it take to make you a Christian?

[klutedavid]

Some people I suspect are open if they found some reasons to believe (evidence), and other people have reasons to disbelieve that would trump any evidence.

If you could take an unbeliever to church and Jesus appeared and spoke to that person. Then obviously that person could not deny that Jesus exists. So obviously if the evidence is strong enough then people will believe.

 

[dlamberth]

If you could take an unbeliever to church and Jesus appeared and spoke to that person. Then obviously that person could not deny that Jesus exists. So obviously if the evidence is strong enough then people will believe.

They may believe something, but not necessary in the way Christians do.

 

[klutedavid]

They may believe something, but not necessary in the way Christians do.

Granted and a very good point that you have made.

I suppose there are many people that are aware that Jesus exists, but live very worldly lifestyles.

There would also be folk who believe but do not bear the fruit.

 

[cloudyday2]

If you could take an unbeliever to church and Jesus appeared and spoke to that person. Then obviously that person could not deny that Jesus exists. So obviously if the evidence is strong enough then people will believe.

I saw Jesus in a church, but I eventually decided it was either a hallucination or a vision from the generic God that utilized Jesus as a potent symbol. In other words, if I had been an Aztec, then the generic God might have shown me a vision using jaguar or something.

 

[klutedavid]

I saw Jesus in a church, but I eventually decided it was either a hallucination or a vision from the generic God that utilized Jesus as a potent symbol. In other words, if I had been an Aztec, then the generic God might have shown me a vision using jaguar or something.

Ultimately can anyone know that anything is true?

 

[dlamberth]

Granted and a very good point that you have made.

I suppose there are many people that are aware that Jesus exists, but live very worldly lifestyles.

There would also be folk who believe but do not bear the fruit.

Or...they do bear fruit, even with different beliefs than do Christians.

 

[klutedavid]

Or...they do bear fruit, even with different beliefs than do Christians.

They may bear fruit but not the true fruit.

Satan has many alternate versions of the truth.

 

[cloudyday2]

I do not know what they mean.

But in Judaism if someone wants to convert it is discouraged,

Say you want to convert to Judaism, so you go to a Rabbi,
who will tell you "You do not need to, just live righteously."

So you go a second and third time, same answer.

But if you persist, and succeed in a halakh -ic conversion.

You are no longer a convert, Why?

because you did not change,

It is widely thought that you always was a Jew, (Jewish soul)

I know there is are some Jews who believe in reincarnation. I suppose a person might be a Jew in one life and a Christian in the next life. I wonder what defines a Jewish soul when it goes through different religions in different incarnations?

 

[cloudyday2]

They may bear fruit but not the true fruit.

Satan has many alternate versions of the truth.

So if a satanist gives you a cup of water and a Christian gives you a cup of water, it would seem to be the same fruit - especially if they are both attempting to be kind. How is one fruit truer than the other?

 

[cloudyday2]

What have you read of those Faiths? I see All of them are a path to our one God as they All teach of our One God, the same God of the Bible.

Why else would Christ say I have more sheep that are not of this Fold. That is clear that those worshipping God from other faiths were still sheep under the fold of Christ, even if they are yet to see it that way.

In the prayer before Communion preserved in the Didache, the bread symbolizes the gathering of grain into one loaf. One belief about the Messiah is that he must gather the Jews who have been scattered over history by the Assyrians and the Babylonians and by other causes.

So I suspect the historical Jesus may have been referring to his Messianic duty to gather the Jews of the entire world back into one nation rather than referring to Gentiles. (Of course I have read that there was also a belief among Jews that they should be a light to the Gentiles.)

 

[Robban]

I know there is are some Jews who believe in reincarnation. I suppose a person might be a Jew in one life and a Christian in the next life. I wonder what defines a Jewish soul when it goes through different religions in different incarnations?

The reincarnation of the soul, it is the same soul that for one reason or another has to come down again,

Not in the same body but in a body prepared for that soul.

A more complex question would be;

If a soul has to come down again, maybe hundred times or more,
each time in a different body,
which body will be resurrected?

At the time of resurrection the soul will reunite with the body.

Which body?

 

[klutedavid]

So if a satanist gives you a cup of water and a Christian gives you a cup of water, it would seem to be the same fruit - especially if they are both attempting to be kind. How is one fruit truer than the other?

I'm not sure if satanists run charities?

I don't think I have ever been helped by a satanist. I have been helped by Christians even when I was not a Christian.

 

[dlamberth]

They may bear fruit but not the true fruit.

Satan has many alternate versions of the truth.

They bear fruit. The substance of Christ is Universal in it's reach.

 

[dlamberth]

The reincarnation of the soul, it is the same soul that for one reason or another has to come down again,

Not in the same body but in a body prepared for that soul.

A more complex question would be;

If a soul has to come down again, maybe hundred times or more,
each time in a different body,
which body will be resurrected?

At the time of resurrection the soul will reunite with the body.

Which body?

Because the body is in the Soul, and not the other way around, at the time of the resurrection the body will awaken to it's true Self, which is Soul.

 

[cloudyday2]

I'm not sure if satanists run charities?

I don't think I have ever been helped by a satanist. I have been helped by Christians even when I was not a Christian.

"Socks for Satan"
"Diapers for Lil' Devils"
"Menstruatin' with Satan"
Those are all real charity efforts I found through google, so apparently satanists have charities.

Here is a quote from a different satanist group's website:

The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will.

About Us

And here is an article from the Patheos magazine about satanic charities:
The Satanic Temple Minnesota and AZ Launch New Charity Drives

 

[Sanoy]

What have you read of those Faiths? I see All of them are a path to our one God as they All teach of our One God, the same God of the Bible.

Why else would Christ say I have more sheep that are not of this Fold. That is clear that those worshipping God from other faiths were still sheep under the fold of Christ, even if they are yet to see it that way.

Jesus was the Christ "Annointed One". Annointed of the Holy Spirit. God has as many names, as there are virtues and attributes. God has Annointed His Messengers in those many names and the promise is that all those names become one in Christ.

This does not mean you will ever see the body of Jesus again as the flesh amounts to nothing. This means we will become aware that Christ is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the alpha and omega and as per prophecy, all the names of God merge as the 'Glory of God' at the end of ages.

John11:40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"

Regards Tony

I think all of those listed religions have encoded parts of God's nature, but all of them are not the way. Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life. Only through an enormous amount of equivocation do these religions not contradict each other at critical and fundamental levels.

Gentiles and Jews are the sheepfolds.

Right, God has anointed many of His messengers, but only one messenger was extant at creation, and through whom all things were made.

 

[dlamberth]

I think all of those listed religions have encoded parts of God's nature, but all of them are not the way. Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life. Only through an enormous amount of equivocation do these religions not contradict each other at critical and fundamental levels.

Gentiles and Jews are the sheepfolds.

Right, God has anointed many of His messengers, but only one messenger was extant at creation, and through whom all things were made.

Jesus was born 2000 years ago. I kind a think there's something else going on. One where the Light of God is Universal in it's reach and Cosmic wide in it's breath.

 

[Sanoy]

Jesus was born 2000 years ago. I kind a think there's something else going on. One where the Light of God is Universal in it's reach and Cosmic wide in it's breath.

Jesus was either mad, or the son of God. There is no way to include Him without excluding all else.

 

[cloudyday2]

Jesus was either mad, or the son of God. There is no way to include Him without excluding all else.

... or later gospel writers quoted Jesus saying things that he never said or added/removed context thus changing the meaning of his words, etc.

Think about how many times people have claimed you said or did something that you know you did NOT say or do. That happens to me fairly often and I'm still alive to see it. I can only shudder at what people might claim I said or did in 100 years or 1000 years if I was important enough to be remembered that long. Bart Ehrman said he rarely gives interviews, because he is always dismayed to see how the reporters muddle his words. (LOL, and I am probably muddling what Bart Ehrman actually said about people muddling his words.)

 

[Tony Bristow-Stagg]

Jesus was either mad, or the son of God. There is no way to include Him without excluding all else.

The other option is interpretation, what does it show or mean to be a Son of God? We can consider it is showing a relationship of the Son to the Father, as Christ said he who knows the Son knows the Father. Thus just like a son in this world grows and matures to become a father, so will the Faith of Christ grow and mature, if they see the Son in the Father. Christ the Son had more to tell us and as Christ the Father, the Spirit of Truth, we can be guided to all Truth.

But only when we accept the Father, who according to many prophecies about the end of ages, will the the 'Glory of God', or 'Glory of the Lord'.

Regards Tony