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  1. #1
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    If a book came out today

    If a book came out today and the author said, God told him what to write, would you believe it? or would he be a nut job?

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    #2
    Since it seems that you may not be aware, that which you called a book or best known as the bible is composed of 66 different books with many having the same messages with 40 different authors.
    Christ was very clear that there would be many claiming to be Him.
    BTW, such book was already written and is known as the book of mormons by Joseph Smith claiming that an angel appeared to him in Manchester, NY hill cumorah.

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    #3
    Rexico….I’d like to hear your thoughts on your question and why you think that way.

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    #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Chisco View Post
    Rexico….I’d like to hear your thoughts on your question and why you think that way.
    Understand, I don't have position to sell. I don't know. I just wonder why the standard for belief is different. Joseph Smith? con man. A new book today inspired by God. Nut job.
    A book written thousands of years ago, by unknown authors, that is copies of copies of translations of copies, that has been added to and taken from, with no originals. The perfect word of God. There has to be something I am missing. This seems to be a group of people that know the answer.

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    #5
    Quote Originally Posted by digthemup View Post
    Since it seems that you may not be aware, that which you called a book or best known as the bible is composed of 66 different books with many having the same messages with 40 different authors.
    Christ was very clear that there would be many claiming to be Him.
    BTW, such book was already written and is known as the book of mormons by Joseph Smith claiming that an angel appeared to him in Manchester, NY hill cumorah.
    Why do you not believe Joseph Smith?

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    #6
    Heck, if we are going to wade into this pool, we might as well see what is in the deep end.

    What about the Apocrypha or the pseudepigrapha?




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    #7
    I think it's a great question. I might be taking a different angle with it than Rexico intended, but here's why I think it's a good question.
    Mainstream christianity teaches that God is consistent, ever present, never changes, and speaks to those seeking him today the same as he did in the days of Noah. Based on that, if God spoke to me and gave me a message that might conflict with some modern church doctrine, would it be believed? I'll predict it wouldn't.

    Exibit A
    In 1987, right here in Tulsa, Oral Roberts announced that God spoke to him and said if he didn't raise 8 million dollars by the next month, he would be "calling him home." That's right, God threatened to take oral's life if he didn't raise enough money. I vividly remember the outrage from local church leaders including my own. "God would never say that" was being shouted from pulpits far and wide. If you truly believe God still speaks to people, what would give anyone the authority to determine what God might or might not say? It was/is amazing to see men act as Gods editor.

    To answer the question; yes, you would be considered a nut job and a mislead heathen.

    Yep, we believe God speaks to people as long as it's within the boundaries of what our church allows him to say.

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    #8
    Quote Originally Posted by digthemup View Post
    Since it seems that you may not be aware, that which you called a book or best known as the bible is composed of 66 different books with many having the same messages with 40 different authors
    He's not referencing the bible. He said, "If a book came out today."

    Take your offended pants off, relax, read, comprehend

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    #9
    If the book adds to, conflicts with, or takes away from God’s Word as provided in the Bible (KJV), I would not believe the information. See Deuteronomy 4:2, Deuteronomy 12:32 and Revelations 22:18-20.

    Personally, I have never had God speak directly to me. I believe the Holy Spirit quickens my heart and directs me to areas of the Bible to answer my questions and, in some cases, answer my prayers.

    If it’s simply a book with no relation to the Bible…. whether it’s true or not would be between that person and God.

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    #10
    About 13-14 years ago, my wife suffered a ruptured aneurysm in her brain. After surgery, as she lay in a coma, I prayed across her over her bed, asking God to spare her, and "give her back to me."

    We were in the room alone. Just she and I. She was hooked up to life support, with tubes running in out of her everywhere. As I prayed, I heard a voice, an audible voice (as least it seemed to be that to me) speak to me. "You're praying for the wrong thing." I looked around and verified. No one else. Just her and me. I said, out loud, "Praying for the wrong thing? What do you mean?" The voice answered me. "Genesis Chapter 22."

    What? Genesis Chapter 22? What does that mean. Then as I racked my brain it came to me. Genesis Chapter 22 is where Abraham is called upon to sacrifice the thing he loves the most. His only son, Issac. He was to do this to prove how much faith he had. Not to prove anything to God. God already knew how much faith Abraham had. He had given it to Abraham. It was to prove to Abraham, how much faith he had.

    Suddenly I understood. I have come to call this my "Abraham moment." I either trusted God or I didn't. I changed my prayer right then. I realized that I had no right to ask for my wife back. She didn't belong to me. She belonged to Jesus. She had given herself to Jesus, long before she ever heard of me. I changed my prayer. I thanked God for the time I had had with her, I praised Him for all He has done for us, and simply asked "Thy will be done." "BUT....If you don't need her. I do. But I will praise you either way."

    She got better and is still with me today praise God.

    I wrote no books. I have shared this story, I don't know how many times. In it (I believe) that God spoke to me. He gave me a message. "Trust Me." He wanted me to share that message with others. I've tried to do that.

    So. Do you believe me? Or am I a nutjob?

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    #11
    Quote Originally Posted by CajunBass View Post

    So. Do you believe me? Or am I a nutjob?
    The honest answer for me would be that I don't know you well enough to say if I believe you or not. I have no reason to believe you're lying yet I also have no idea about your honesty as a person that would indicate you're telling the truth. Posing your question to other Christians would probably result in almost all of them believing you. But they believe you because you're story is in perfect alignment with their beliefs.

    Here's a question for you. If someone in another part of the world who follows a different religion with different teachings and different standards told you a similar story about their interaction with their God, would you believe them?

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    #12
    Quote Originally Posted by CajunBass View Post
    Do you believe me?
    Wholeheartedly. So glad your wife is still here with you.

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    #13
    Quote Originally Posted by HoustonG View Post
    The honest answer for me would be that I don't know you well enough to say if I believe you or not. I have no reason to believe you're lying yet I also have no idea about your honesty as a person that would indicate you're telling the truth. Posing your question to other Christians would probably result in almost all of them believing you. But they believe you because you're story is in perfect alignment with their beliefs.

    Here's a question for you. If someone in another part of the world who follows a different religion with different teachings and different standards told you a similar story about their interaction with their God, would you believe them?
    I'm going to cop out and say, I don't know. And I really don't.

    What I have come to realize is that I'm not even sure what reaction I should expect out of others I've told the story to. Even here, today, what did I expect someone to say? It's not supposed to be about "me," it's supposed to be about glorifying God, yet I ask "Do you believe me?" Why should you believe me? I'm some guy on the internet.

    I'm going to have to pray about this myself now. I think I was trying to shine a light on myself. Thanks for pointing that out to me, even if that was not your intention.

    Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

    And Rex. Keep asking questions that make us uncomfortable. Make us work at it.

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    #14
    Quote Originally Posted by HoustonG View Post
    The honest answer for me would be that I don't know you well enough to say if I believe you or not. I have no reason to believe you're lying yet I also have no idea about your honesty as a person that would indicate you're telling the truth. Posing your question to other Christians would probably result in almost all of them believing you. But they believe you because you're story is in perfect alignment with their beliefs.

    Here's a question for you. If someone in another part of the world who follows a different religion with different teachings and different standards told you a similar story about their interaction with their God, would you believe them?
    Then why do you say Rexico’s question is a “good question”? You don’t know the person who wrote the hypothetical book nor do any of us on this board. It’s a very broad question lacking substance and detail (as you require and as we all would require). I don’t know Rexico but it seems his questions are designed as attempts to question the faith of believers. However, as Cajun said above, it brings me to study the Bible more.

    Bottom line is I have faith that God provided us His Word through the Bible and that Word is alive and well today. If something is wrong with certain interpretations of the Bible, I fully believe the Holy Spirit will alert me to it.

    And yes….I Praise God for Cajun’s life event and believe him fully.
    Last edited by Chisco; 07-13-2021 at 08:27 AM.

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    #15
    Quote Originally Posted by HoustonG View Post
    He's not referencing the bible. He said, "If a book came out today."

    Take your offended pants off, relax, read, comprehend
    I will excuse you since you have not been around enough to know what the OP is been posting about, but if you read my entire statement, I hope that you noticed that I referenced the book that Joseph Smith wrote claiming that the 'angel moroni inspired him to write'.

    Now, the 'take off your pants' is a little peculiar, since I hope you are not contemplating on a ' brokeback mountain moment'.

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    #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Chisco View Post
    Then why do you say Rexico’s question is a “good question”? You don’t know the person who wrote the hypothetical book nor do any of us on this board. It’s a very broad question lacking substance and detail (as you require and as we all would require). [ I don’t know Rexico but it seems his questions are designed as attempts to question the faith of believers.] However, as Cajun said above, it brings me to study the Bible more.

    Bottom line is I have faith that God provided us His Word through the Bible and that Word is alive and well today. If something is wrong with certain interpretations of the Bible, I fully believe the Holy Spirit will alert me to it.

    And yes….I Praise God for Cajun’s life event and believe him fully.
    The questions are for my benefit, I really don't know how to ask them better. You said you don't know the person who wrote the hypothetical book, do we know the writers of the books in the Bible? The Bible has been copied, translated, and those translations have been copied with no originals. Why did God chose to leave this important messages to bronze age tribesmen, that didn't know about germs,
    or atoms, or where the sun went at night? then go silent. Could these writings be the "feelings" of these writers, just as the feelings you get? I hope I get some answers, that make me say good! I never thought of that.
    When this thread is done and look back to see if anyone gave answers.

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    #17
    Quote Originally Posted by HoustonG View Post
    Here's a question for you. If someone in another part of the world who follows a different religion with different teachings and different standards told you a similar story about their interaction with their God, would you believe them?
    Yes, it is precisely what GOD did with Abram when he was back with his father in Ur, and GOD asked him to remove himself from those surrounding sending him to a different land.
    Abram obeyed GOD fully trusting in Him to the point of GOD changing his name to Abraham, calling him His friend, and making a covenant with him sworn in GOD's own name giving him an heir at a very old age by a very old wife, Isaac.

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    #18
    Quote Originally Posted by CajunBass View Post
    I'm going to cop out and say, I don't know. And I really don't.

    What I have come to realize is that I'm not even sure what reaction I should expect out of others I've told the story to. Even here, today, what did I expect someone to say? It's not supposed to be about "me," it's supposed to be about glorifying God, yet I ask "Do you believe me?" Why should you believe me? I'm some guy on the internet.

    I'm going to have to pray about this myself now. I think I was trying to shine a light on myself. Thanks for pointing that out to me, even if that was not your intention.

    Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

    And Rex. Keep asking questions that make us uncomfortable. Make us work at it.
    There was nothing at all wrong about the story you told or your reason for sharing it. Nothing in your story made me think you were trying to shine a light on yourself, actually I took it as quite the opposite.

    I also don't agree that you being a guy on the internet should in any way make you less legitimate. Don't people put a lot of faith in writings that we're penned by mere shepherds and people of other lowly professions?

    The OP's question simply addresses the fact that people are willing to put faith in God based on the writings of men who said God instructed them. We don't know them, how credible they were, what their arterial motives might have been, or their integrity, yet the words they wrote are supposed to be assumed unquestionably to be the words of God.
    It's actually an interesting insight into human nature when you consider how critical people would be of someone present day saying they are dictated by God to write certain things. Is it because we think that to be legitimate a person would have to be wearing sandals with a bed sheet draped over their shoulders like we see in paintings or stained glass windows? Is it just to ridiculous to picture God speaking to someone who's wearing nikes, wranglers, and an Izod polo?

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    #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Chisco View Post
    Then why do you say Rexico’s question is a “good question”? You don’t know the person who wrote the hypothetical book nor do any of us on this board. It’s a very broad question lacking substance and detail (as you require and as we all would require). I don’t know Rexico but it seems his questions are designed as attempts to question the faith of believers. However, as Cajun said above, it brings me to study the Bible more.

    Bottom line is I have faith that God provided us His Word through the Bible and that Word is alive and well today. If something is wrong with certain interpretations of the Bible, I fully believe the Holy Spirit will alert me to it.

    And yes….I Praise God for Cajun’s life event and believe him fully.
    The question is actually excellent in my opinion. You see, it's a question, not a statement. The question doesn't state an opinion or push me in any certain direction by stating anything absolute. Do you see the difference?

    Yes, rexicos questions are absolutely meant to challenge your faith and to see what your reasoning is behind your beliefs. What's wrong with that? There's really no excuse for being such a fragile snowflake just because someone asks a question that makes you uncomfortable. Remember, your faith is also supposed to make you courageous, not weak and easily offended.

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    #20
    Quote Originally Posted by digthemup View Post
    I will excuse you since you have not been around enough to know what the OP is been posting about, but if you read my entire statement, I hope that you noticed that I referenced the book that Joseph Smith wrote claiming that the 'angel moroni inspired him to write'.

    Now, the 'take off your pants' is a little peculiar, since I hope you are not contemplating on a ' brokeback mountain moment'.
    Hey there dig! I knew that would get a response out of you. What is this brokeback mountain you speak of? Never heard of it.

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