I know a girl that used to claim that she was an agnostic (which means that she does not know if god does or does not exist) So I was a little suprised when the girl became short with me when I would speak of how JESUS is the CHRIST. At that point Is started to realize that a small number of people were actually ignorant that god exists, instead I feel that many people use ignorance as an excuse. What I mean is that christianity (following after the model of JESUS) is anti-selfishness, not all church-goers follow what is in the Bible. But if a person desires to follow after the teachings of JESUS that person is required to put there desires on the back shelf (by the way I like to think that I try to show others Love, but I must continuely deny my natural feelings.
The truth is that most non-christians say that they do not know (that there is a god) but the realiety is that most people do not want there to be a god, because that would mean that there is some sort of a code to live by. So I smile at the fact that you did some research about JESUS. (As a side note I want to tell you that The GOD of the Bible says that
-If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.- (Jeremiah 29:13)
What I am worried about is the fact that 'we humans' have a decietfut and wicked heart so I am concerned that you will be decieved into thinking that you are diligently searching.
Its true that for thousands of years the Bible was not yet translated into English. The first partial translation into English would have been with Wiliam Tynsdale (not the King James) I have respect for Tynsdale because the man was driven with a passion that turned him into an outlaw https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/store/dvd/4737d/gods-outlaw-the-story-of-william-tyndale (I again smile because I have requested information about Tynsdale for christmas)
The Bible is completely flawless, but what is not flawless are the translations. The Bible was origionaly written in 3 languages (mainly two) It would be like saying that the first part of the U.S. constitution was written in the Hebrew language, and the second part was written in the Greek language. (Right now I am forgeting the exact number, but the Bible was written over the time span of like 1,500 years. I am also forgetin right now the number of authors of the Bible (There was only one AUTHOR that was GOD, but GOD inspiered like 57 diffrent people to dictate the Bible) Most of these people were not well know to each other (that is to say that the Bible was not written in a certain monistery) I do not know as much about Hebrew Language (but the words need to be read from right to left) But a more accurate way to translate what is said in the 10 commandments is 'thou shall not murder' which as you pointed out is quite diffrent than 'excuting' someone.
I feel that I am a little more equiped to talk about the Greek language, and the origional Greek writtings looked like this. -ALLOFTHELETTERSWEREPUSHEDTOGETHERWITHAHAIRSWIDTHAPARTANDEACHBOOKWASABIGRUNONSENTENCE-
I am not really interested in text criticism (but there are people that devote ther lives to discovering how to make the Bible easier to understand) But I want to point out something that I think is funny. There are people that try to claim that the Bible is completely filled with errors that have been placed in translations. But what thoes people do not know is that in 1947 some sheaperds fond some old writtings called the dead sea scrols. The funny part is that the writtings had been left untouched (Since about the time of JESUS) and many of the writtings mirror what is said in the Bibles that we have https://blog.oup.com/2017/04/contemporary-significance-dead-sea-scrolls/
Another piece of information that I want to include is that 'if' JESUS was not the SON of GOD, then the man was a crazy liar (how do you call a fraud a good man) Then a person would need to explain the odd phenomanon of people that are ready to die for a crazy man.
In this writting I would like to include one more piece of information. I have not read all of the writtings of Flavius Josephus. But I have read some of what this historian from antiquity wrote...and perhaps you will think that it is intresting also http://www.ultimatebiblereferencelibrary.com/Complete_Works_of_Josephus.pdf :)
I wouldn't say that christianity(or any other relegion for that matter) is not anti-selfishness.
People don't want to accept that after death they will be completely gone and are scared by that. thought
So they flee to religion which tells them that whatever they do their 'soul' will live on forever(may it be in heaven or hell). And since god is all-forgiving it really doesn't matter if you strictly follow his rules or not, you will land in heaven.
So I would say believing in a god is really selfish.
Even if you strictly follow the rules you are in fact selfish, because your only motive is getting a pleasureful afterlife for yourself and not actually helping others.
It is not different at all from doing it for money or reputation.
By the way there is no such thing as selfless behaviour. Everything that seems selfless is actually selfish.
People help other people not for nothing, but for one of the following two simple reasons(Actually these two reasons are responsible for everything you do):
I can't explain the phonemon, but I can give you another example of it: Adolf Hitler.
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I do not feel that many people understand how to be a christian. Every demon in hell believes that there a God, and they all know that eternity is a fact, however they are still selfish. The small child does not want to share anything because it thinks that he/she is the center of the universe. So when people do not want to follow the rules as stated in the Bible we need to ask why.
Matthew 22:36-39
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Through deductive reasoning we can understand that if the Bible can be sumed up by saying 'Love GOD, and Love mankind' we can see that any violation against the Bible is a violation that is against LOVE.
As a Bible believing Christian that is why I see (true) Christianity as being anti-selfishness (because a person can not demonstrate Love and remain selfish) A person can pin the label of christian on themselves and do all kinds of things (the crusades can be an example) Actually you have dug up a subject that is very important for people to know. '(True) Christians have a heart change, the world does not understand that. Other religions can just wear a pin that says I am this or I am that. I think that is why people do not understand what I mean when I say that 'radical islam and non-radical islam' does not exist. I once lived and worked with a group of muslims from the country of Turkey, I soon found out that they were muslims because they were born into a muslim culture. But I knew more about the quran (muslim holy book) than they did. And I found out that only muslims that follow there religion are radical.
So this country is filled with christians (at least they wear the pin that says that they are christians, but I do not feel that the majority of thoes 'christians' try to follow the Bible, but according to the Bible (true) Christianity is anti-selfish or demonstrates Love.
Many supporters of the nazi party followed Hitler out of fear, but people would 'jump in front of a bus' for JESUS. Some people were physicaly safe but then they stuck there necks out for JESUS. You are correct in saying that both JESUS and Hitler had followers that died, however many people tried to move beyond Hitlers reach while many Christians could have avoided physical death but they were so convinced that they died for the cause.
Of course that is not the only reason that Christianity is diffrent from everything else, but it is one way.
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Everything you do is selfish.
This is a neurological fact.
Your brain is biologically determined to attempt to reach the highest state of happiness for yourself(which is selfish).
And for some reason(probably because you are scared from the fact that humans evolved from one-celled organisms) it makes you happy to believe in god and follow everything that is written in an old book.
If you would redefine selfishness as doing something which hurts your environment to make you happy(which is probably what you meant by that in the first place), I would agree with you.
And where would you get that from? Just because a few muslims started their own crusade doesn't mean they are all bad. The quran has similar issues as the bible and will also be misunderstood by those who want to misunderstand it.
By the way:
Although you seems to think that you are a good christian, I can prove to you that you aren't, because you don't value god's creation the earth and try to help humanity destroy it.
Actually Hitler and Jesus are much more alike then you think.
Hitler tried to get rid of most religious thoughts in his country.
That created a huge spiritual hole in the society which he then filled by making praising himself and his ideology the new culture.
So a lot of people had kind of a spiritual bond to him(and voted for him).
Many of his kind of brainwashed followers then were willing to die for him and his ideology.
Sure it's not exactly the same as Jesus, but Hitler and Jesus both (ab-)used the same mechanisms of the human brain.
Jesus did as far as I can tell mostly positive things with his power(like telling the people to follow certain good rules).
I personally think that christianity is not really different from other religions.
Buddhism for example tells you to help others so you will be helped if you were to get in a similar situation, which also leads to a positive behaviour towards the rest of society.
The only great difference there is is that you were taught to believe in christianity and probably got raised with the bible and didn't learn to be skeptical towards what your parents told you.
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