Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
Whoever said I'm relying on their words? I'm just reporting someone else's opinion. I never said I believed them, I never said I disbelieved them, all I did was say "Did you know there are these Christians who believe the only miracle was the resurrection?". Why do I need to study the Bible for myself? Their opinion exists, and I reported on it. I don't give a monkey's how Biblically sound it is, I'm just reporting the fact that person X has opinion Y.
If I've understood their idea rightly, the idea is that God/Jesus wouldn't need to do any miracles - if he wants something done, he only has to do a single miracle and it's done. The only absolute necessity is the resurrection, the rest never happened - they're just-so stories designed to embellish Jesus' character.
Anyone who wasn't in Jerusalem didn't see this happen. Native Americans, Chinese, Europeans, you and me... we were no more there than aliens were.
Wait, what? Why would that prevent him from doing it for aliens? Surely God, being omnipotent, can do whatever he wants? If he wants to do another live/die/resurrect thing so that he can save a different planet of intelligent beings, what's going to stop him?
The same can be said of "undiscovered" tribes in the Amazon. Neither they nor aliens have any idea a Jew called Jesus was crucified 2000 years ago.
You are assuming other worlds exist, for which there is no evidence.
If God created other intelligent worlds they would each be required to be perfect as God is perfect and not fall into sin (a rejection of God's will), because this would then require Jesus to die over and over again to redeem each world, which is highly unlikely.
I suppose he could. But it doesn't mention anything in the bible about aliens or that they were created somewhere else. Yet the bible mentions Christ died for all mankind and all creation yearns for Christ to come back. God says that we are unique and created in his image. You would think that when the bible says that God created the heavens and the earth he would also say Mars or what ever other planet had life. He wouldn't keep this from us as he is talking about all creation. He would have said and i have created other beings that also will be saved or include them in the all creation. The bible also says that Christs sacrifice was performed once and for all. Now if it was only on our planet then the relevance would not be the same for another planet. Like i said it really needs to be an intervention into our history and life so that we can see and relate to it. Otherwise it just seems so distant and not personal. From that moment when Christ rose from the dead and the holy spirit came the disciples went out and preached the Gospel. Its like the focal point was the Cross and from that sprang the revolution that was spread to all mankind. People died for that belief and it was personal.
But the bible says that the end will not come until all have heard the message of salvation. There is something about all people having a sense in their hearts that there is a god of some sort. Many people may interpret that as making their own Gods or idols. But they have this sense that there is something. This is what the bible says that all creation knows of God and yearns for the fulfillment of when it can be set free when Christ returns. It also says that all mankind knows that God created them in their hearts whether they block it out or use some other way to interpret it.
God will judge according to the individuals situation I guess. So those who didnt hears the gospel before Christ may be judged differently. But all are judged according to whats in their hearts and only God knows this. God is not cruel and he loves us and he is fair and Just. But he is the only worthy and righteous God who can know what is in our hearts and can judge man. I dont know how God thinks in this sense and neither does man. Our understanding is limited to how we see things and judge things. I'm sure God has a way of knowing what is right and fair.
Jesus is sufficient for all here on earth. As far as aliens are concerned he would have to go and die for them as well. But the bible doesn't mention aliens or that there are other people to save.
Sure - but aliens can do that too. The only difference between Native Americans and aliens is that aliens live further away. It took X years before Native Americans learned about this middle-eastern religion, and it'll take Y years before aliens do. But distant alien cultures are no different from distant human cultures: either they learn about Jesus X years later, or they'll die and be judged fairly anyway.
Would he? The Bible is mostly about three things: the history of the Jews, the laws of the Jews, and God's relationship to man. It doesn't seem to be concerned with aliens.
But not until it reached them. God was quite happy for the Native Americans to go unawares for 1500 years before the missionaries came. Couldn't it be that, in God's plan, Christianity starts on Earth and spreads to other aliens?
Maybe it does. Maybe God bases his timeline on Earth. Maybe 'Earth' used to mean 'all of creation', so the 'Earth' won't end and become the 'New Earth' until everyone in/on 'Earth' believes - but 'Earth' means 'universe' in today's language. For the Hebrews, who thought the world was flat, and the Greeks, who thought the world was the centre a crystal sphere, 'universe' wouldn't make sense.
Sure, but then what's the point of evangelism? Of Christianity? Of Jesus, even? If people are judged fairly anyway, it doesn't matter if you've heard of Christianity or not.
Why is Jesus only sufficient for people on Earth? Why isn't Jesus sufficient for aliens on other planets? If God has the whole universe to save, wouldn't it be more efficient to do it all via Jesus?
No it is also about the promised messiah. The old testament leads through the line of holy men that God had chosen to Jesus. Gods covenant with Abraham that a great nation would come from him and from that nation a savior. All the laws and sacrifices of the old testament were made complete by the sacrifice of Jesus.
In genesis God mentions the heavens as in the universe, the stars planets and the earth. He mentions the animals and he mentions creating man in his own image. These things are about the beginning of things and how he created everything. It is the complete story and I think he would have mentioned it somewhere. There are many other cross over areas that would not make sense if there were other creatures in the universe. Jesus was born in Jerusalem on earth and not else where. The Jews will re establish the temple here on earth as part of the end times. The Jews will be attacked and persecuted in the end times and not on another planet. It all happens here and through our history.
Well the bible does say the end will not come until all have heard the message of salvation. So there must be still some or maybe all have heard now and it is closer than we think. For Christianity to start here and spread throughout the galaxy would take eons. I think all will be said and done on earth by then. Many of the signs are happening now and the end will come well before that happens. Thats the other thing the aliens cannot see the signs and know what is going on with the end times. The bible says that these things will happen on earth not anywhere else and the final battle will happen with us and on earth. The anti Christ will be on earth and all the other things that will happen.
Maybe It could, but i really dont know completely. It just seems that we are the only ones and its all centered around us. What some have said though is that Satan could use the cover of being an alien as a way to introduce himself on earth. He has to be able to do great signs and wonders and he has to win many over. What better way than as a friendly alien with all his cronies.
Everyone can still be judge according to whats in their hearts and what they knew and didn't do or did do. Each person may have a certain consciousnesses that is different from others. Its like if a person knows more about a certain thing then they are held more accountable. Their responsibility is greater because they should have known better.
Well God claims to be the only God. The bible claims there will be false religions and false Christs and many will be fooled. The bible claims that all of creations know there is a God and that he is the creator. The bible says we are only saved by believing in Christ as our savior. So anyone who denies Christ is rejecting God. I dont know how God assesses will be saved and whats in peoples hearts. I dont think its as black and white as what you say.
The bible says Matthew 22:14 "For many are invited, but few are chosen."
He is sufficient for all. I just personally think we are the only ones. All the events have happened here on earth and I dont think they could be repeated over and over again throughout the galaxy. It is not a repeat of some movie but real events. God gave his only son and it wasn't a easy thing to do. Jesus suffered as a man and went through all that and this wasn't easy either. I think it also demeans the one act. But certainly any one in the universe can see and hear this message and be saved.
Also remember time dilation. As I understand it the Large Hadron Collider runs particles at 99.9% the speed of light, they actually exist for 1 second, but at the speed of light they exist for 20 seconds to us observing them.
This means if we send someone off on a 20 year there, 20 years back (40 year round trip) travelling at 99.99% the speed of light... while for those travelling only 40 years has passed.... but by the time they get back to Earth ... 800 years will have passed (my calculations are not acurate but simply based on a ratio of 20-1 )... so a 40 year round trip at near light speed will result in their return so much later than when they left that human kind may not even exist anymore, let alone anyone they knew still being alive.
Those waiting on their return would almost be like those guys from the Hitch Hikers Guide.... and the information they bring back IF humans are still around would probably have been figured out anyway.
This is just one inherent problem with sending people off into space at distances only achievable by travelling at near the speed of light.
Scary huh
