Tag: bible

Which Church Would Jesus Choose?

The plethora of

Christian denominations

Dogmatic fake news

Clearly the person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church teaches.

Thomas Aquinas

Let’s pretend that you have a choice in choosing your own Christian denomination (45,000+ in the world). You visit several different churches throughout the year and make an informed decision as to which one just might lead you down that narrow path to eternal life. You agree with all of their doctrines (99 essential) and they’re using the correct version (there are many) of the Bible. You enjoy the people and the clergy. They teach and follow the Ten Commandments if that’s your thing. And they basically tick off all of your checkboxes of what you want from a church. You have chosen from thousands of Christian denominations, a church that you believe will make you Christian enough to meet Jesus’ commands (about 49 commands). Choose carefully because Jesus says that only a “few” will enter this narrow gate. What is the truth? What is fake news? Your choice!

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Hide-and-Seek God

Invisible God

If seeing is believing…

Why are you hiding?

 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

John 20:24-29 NRSV

Yes, I am a skeptic just like the Apostle Thomas. He doubted like I doubt now, but he got the proof he needed. I’m still waiting for God to show his face to me. I don’t necessarily wish to touch his wounds. Maybe having a beer or two with him would convince me.

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Weird Bible Verse #2

Do not sit where a

Menstruating woman has sat

Seven days unclean!

 When a woman has a discharge of blood that is her regular discharge from her body, she shall be in her impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. Everything upon which she lies during her impurity shall be unclean; everything also upon which she sits shall be unclean. Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening.

Leviticus 15:19-21 NRSV

Tampons weren’t invented yet so you gotta have rules for women on their periods. I kinda like the haiku version of this Levitical Law.

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No Confusion in Mother Goose

Can we truly know

Jack sees black where Jill sees white

Confusing Bible

Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other.

Abe Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address

I worked with a friend at Lowe’s who happened to be a Pastor of a local church. He caught me reading a book in the breakroom about one of the books of the Bible. His response was, “Why don’t you just read the Bible?” I had another Pastor friend who told me that I could not understand the Bible unless I was truly saved. I asked him how one is truly saved and he said, “It’s all right there in the Bible.” But, if I can’t understand the Bible until I’m saved…? Nevermind! Ever wonder why there are so many books out there that are titled, “What the Bible Really Says About ________?” And why are there so many Christian denominations (45,000 plus) in the world? And let’s not forget that there are hundreds of different versions of the Bible itself. No confusion that I can see!

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Keeping It Reel

God inspired men

Illiterate fishermen…

Inerrant Bible

– Acts 4:13, Inerrancy of the Bible

Augustine said that “…the authors [of scripture] were completely free from error.” Many Christians today believe that to be so but some reject that the Bible is inerrant. This adds to my confusion, of course. God inspired men and Jesus chose uneducated, illiterate fishermen to follow him (Acts 4:13). However, the authors of the Gospels were highly educated, Greek men. Most Christian Apologists will say that the Bible is inerrant only in the original autographs (manuscripts) which do not exist. If Jesus were around when the New Testament was written, I believe that he would have corrected the errors.

Image by Thomas B. from Pixabay