What Dictates What You Believe?

[Robert Pate]

I have always allowed the Bible to call into question what I believe. The Bible is the only accurate source of information for the Christian. I allow the Bible to dictate what I believe and you should to.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" 2 Timothy 3:16.

All cults have one thing in common, they all have writings other than the Bible. They all place their writings over the Bible. This is where they go wrong and this is what causes them to believe doctrine that is contrary to the scriptures. What they do is they place man's word over God's word. They pervert the scriptures with the word of man.

It is very difficult to reach people that are into writings other than the Bible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Calvinist have the Canons of Dort as their source of information because it supports predestination. The Bible does not support predestination. The Bible supports the doctrine of justification by faith apart from the works of the law. If you believe in justification by faith you will not believe in Calvinism.

The Catholic religion does NOT allow the Bible to dictate what they believe. The Catholic church is their source of authority and information and not the Bible. The biggest problem with the Catholic church is that there is nothing in the New Testament that resembles Catholicism and then there are many, many scriptures that are contrary to the Catholic religion.

The main reason that we should let the Bible dictate what we believe is because the Holy Spirit is present in the scriptures. Like 2nd Timothy says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God". When the apostles wrote the Bible they were being inspired by the Holy Spirit. I believe the Bible and I believe all of it. If there is a scripture that I don't understand it is probably because I have not studied it enough.

 

[Robert Pate]

It is the work of Satan to place man's word over the word of God.

God told Adam that if he ate of the tree of good and evil that he would die, Genesis 2:17, and what did the serpent say to Eve?

"And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die" Genesis 3:4.

Eve chose to believe the devil lie and ate of the tree and gave some of it to Adam. All of the cults and false religions have chosen to believe the devils lie. They have replaced God's word with the words of the devil.

 

[iouae]

To repent means to change.
Most folks believe that when they find Christ for the first time, they repent then, and that's that.

I believe repentance is a daily, 24 hour, lifelong part of the Christian walk. That includes repenting of false doctrine, as and when we spot it. We are all on that learning curve. Yet most Christians believe that they are 98% along the curve with only 2% to go. This proves we all see through a glass darkly. The truth is that most Christians with 25 years church-going experience behind them are barely 10% along the curve with 90% yet to learn. Yet here they are being wrong at the top of their lungs in so many posts. And posting (and knowledge in general) is just 1% of what being a Christian is all about (knowledge puffs up, love builds up 1 Cor 8:1). Being a Christian is about how we live and LOVE. I am the first to admit being a babe in Christ and seeing through a glass darkly, even though I have a few Christian miles on the clock.

Never be satisfied with yourself the way you are. Neve encourage folks to "be themselves". We all have to "Be Christ" i.e. when one cannot tell us apart from Christ, then we truly will have attained.

 

[Nick M]

Technically, Eve was fooled. Adam rebelled. But I don't want to change the subject. I believe what I do because it is true. When we can't see or have no record, that is when we go with the Bible. Like with the creation. I know evolution didn't happen because Moses said "six days".

 

[Prizebeatz1]

What Dictates What You Believe?

I think a lot of people believe out of fear. Fear of not going to heaven, fear of not living up to an image of being a Christian, fear of facing the emptiness inside they would feel if they let go. But he who tries to save their life will lose it. Of course most will not admit any of this because they are too proud. Add the peer pressure and the need to hold on to avoid feelings of worthlessness and we have a winning formula for the enemy to run amok posing as the good guy. It doesn't matter how good we think it is, that action of holding onto something, anything, the intense attachment... that is the force that tricks us into identifying with feelings of separation from God.



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[iouae]

I think a lot of people believe out of fear. Fear of not going to heaven, fear of not living up to an image of being a Christian, fear of facing the emptiness inside they would feel if they let go. But he who tries to save their life will lose it. Of course most will not admit any of this because they are too proud. Add the peer pressure and the need to hold on to avoid feelings of worthlessness and we have a winning formula for the enemy to run amok posing as the good guy. It doesn't matter how good we think it is, that action of holding onto something, anything, the intense attachment... that is the force that tricks us into identifying with feeling of separation from God.



Sent from my iPhone using TOL

Lets look at just one thing you mentioned, viz. feelings of worthlessness.

Does God ever call folks "worthless"? Yet so many Christians feel this. Or does God ever say walk around all the time feeling guilty. Yet Christians walk around with a nagging feeling of guilt, worthlessness, and unworthiness. These are all false beliefs which should go.

I regard myself as a family member. Should little Johnny who is the youngest member of a family feel that he is somehow not worthy of being in that family. Yet, our Father loves us more than earthly Fathers. So why all the self-doubt in Christendom? It has to be false belief systems.

 

[Epoisses]

To repent means to change.
Most folks believe that when they find Christ for the first time, they repent then, and that's that.

I believe repentance is a daily, 24 hour, lifelong part of the Christian walk. That includes repenting of false doctrine, as and when we spot it. We are all on that learning curve. Yet most Christians believe that they are 98% along the curve with only 2% to go. This proves we all see through a glass darkly. The truth is that most Christians with 25 years church-going experience behind them are barely 10% along the curve with 90% yet to learn. Yet here they are being wrong at the top of their lungs in so many posts. And posting (and knowledge in general) is just 1% of what being a Christian is all about (knowledge puffs up, love builds up 1 Cor 8:1). Being a Christian is about how we live and LOVE. I am the first to admit being a babe in Christ and seeing through a glass darkly, even though I have a few Christian miles on the clock.

Never be satisfied with yourself the way you are. Neve encourage folks to "be themselves". We all have to "Be Christ" i.e. when one cannot tell us apart from Christ, then we truly will have attained.

The Christian experience of sin, repent - sin, repent - sin, repent is hell on earth and the result of unbelief. Eventually Christians need to come to the place where they trust that Jesus has forgiven them of all sin. The great truth of the gospel is that all sin has been washed away by the blood of the Lamb.

 

[Prizebeatz1]

What Dictates What You Believe?

Lets look at just one thing you mentioned, viz. feelings of worthlessness.

Does God ever call folks "worthless"? Yet so many Christians feel this. Or does God ever say walk around all the time feeling guilty. Yet Christians walk around with a nagging feeling of guilt, worthlessness, and unworthiness. These are all false beliefs which should go.

I regard myself as a family member. Should little Johnny who is the youngest member of a family feel that he is somehow not worthy of being in that family. Yet, our Father loves us more than earthly Fathers. So why all the self-doubt in Christendom? It has to be false belief systems.

I know I am not the only one to feel this way. It's only a matter of degree of intensity. The self-doubt was created by lack of knowledge of the soul which is the source of genuine self-worth. Being a Christian and believing in Jesus were a few of many ways I was trying to compensate for and resisting the empty feelings of worthlessness. I didn't know any better. I thought the worthless feelings were normal because everyone else was living with them too.

The system is designed to threaten us with guilt and shame if we don't believe. There is a ton of fear underneath this. I didn't want to face it because I didn't know how. I was terrified of the unknown, the possibility of going to hell and of letting go of my beliefs. No one wants to be made to feel that. I went through months of feeling like I was going to be swallowed by Satan. Picture yourself in this mother of all blackest of all voids with a sinking feeling in your gut having just let go of your belief in Jesus. I fully expected to be sent to hell and anticipated eternal torment but in the end I got the reverse. It was all just fears that had been ingrained in me since I was young. Now I know God gave us the soul for a reason. I wish someone would have told me this before.


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[Robert Pate]

To repent means to change.
Most folks believe that when they find Christ for the first time, they repent then, and that's that.

I believe repentance is a daily, 24 hour, lifelong part of the Christian walk. That includes repenting of false doctrine, as and when we spot it. We are all on that learning curve. Yet most Christians believe that they are 98% along the curve with only 2% to go. This proves we all see through a glass darkly. The truth is that most Christians with 25 years church-going experience behind them are barely 10% along the curve with 90% yet to learn. Yet here they are being wrong at the top of their lungs in so many posts. And posting (and knowledge in general) is just 1% of what being a Christian is all about (knowledge puffs up, love builds up 1 Cor 8:1). Being a Christian is about how we live and LOVE. I am the first to admit being a babe in Christ and seeing through a glass darkly, even though I have a few Christian miles on the clock.

Never be satisfied with yourself the way you are. Neve encourage folks to "be themselves". We all have to "Be Christ" i.e. when one cannot tell us apart from Christ, then we truly will have attained.

Don't wear yourself out trying to be like Christ. You can never be like Christ because you have been born after Adam. Relax and accept the fact that you are a sinner, a saved sinner. Christians are called to live their lives before God as sinners. Always in need of grace and forgiveness.

 

[Crucible]

It is the work of Satan to place man's word over the word of God.

God told Adam that if he ate of the tree of good and evil that he would die, Genesis 2:17, and what did the serpent say to Eve?

"And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die" Genesis 3:4.

Eve chose to believe the devil lie and ate of the tree and gave some of it to Adam. All of the cults and false religions have chosen to believe the devils lie. They have replaced God's word with the words of the devil.

Well since the whole world is reconciled, why would it matter what anyone believes, here? :chuckle:

 

[Robert Pate]

Well since the whole world is reconciled, why would it matter what anyone believes, here? :chuckle:

You are very confused, but all will be made clear to you in the judgment.

 

[Word]

Don't wear yourself out trying to be like Christ. You can never be like Christ because you have been born after Adam. Relax and accept the fact that you are a sinner, a saved sinner. Christians are called to live their lives before God as sinners. Always in need of grace and forgiveness.

If God is your Father you will be like God.

As Jesus Christ said of the children of God.

Matthew 5:48
Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

 

[Robert Pate]

If God is your Father you will be like God.

As Jesus Christ said of the children of God.

Matthew 5:48
Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

The law demands perfection. Problem is we don't have it to offer.

Paul said that the law is our school master that brings us to Christ.

 

[Word]

The law demands perfection. Problem is we don't have it to offer.

Paul said that the law is our school master that brings us to Christ.

God demands perfection. God is not a law.

God demands holiness.

Who cares what Paul says.

Paul is a murderer. A murderer of the children of God.

Jesus said...

Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.


Why are you teaching
that which is contrary
to Jesus Christ?

 

[Prizebeatz1]

God demands perfection. God is not a law.

God demands holiness.

Who cares what Paul says.

Paul is a murderer. A murderer of the children of God.

Jesus said...

Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.


Why are you teaching
that which is contrary
to Jesus Christ?

This is the attitude of the personality. God has no demands. God is utmost fulfillment, utter satisfaction, maximum contentment, total fullness. There is no desire and no lack. What we think is contrary to Jesus Christ is actually contrary to the mentality of man. Man has the need to overcome feelings of deficiency, worthlessness and not being good enough. It is the personality that does this by wanting, grasping, clinging, fighting, resisting, holding, pushing, etc. Perfection is already accomplished in the soul. The path to the soul involves letting go of trying to attain perfection and allowing perfection to attain us instead.

 

[Word]

This is the attitude of the personality. God has no demands. God is utmost fulfillment, utter satisfaction, maximum contentment, total fullness. There is no desire and no lack. What we think is contrary to Jesus Christ is actually contrary to the mentality of man. Man has the need to overcome feelings of deficiency, worthlessness and not being good enough. It is the personality that does this by wanting, grasping, clinging, fighting, resisting, holding, pushing, etc. Perfection is already accomplished in the soul. The path to the soul involves letting go of trying to attain perfection and allowing perfection to attain us instead.

If I can prove any of this you have said to be untrue
can I have all your blessings?

 

[patrick jane]

To repent means to change.
Most folks believe that when they find Christ for the first time, they repent then, and that's that.

I believe repentance is a daily, 24 hour, lifelong part of the Christian walk. That includes repenting of false doctrine, as and when we spot it. We are all on that learning curve. Yet most Christians believe that they are 98% along the curve with only 2% to go. This proves we all see through a glass darkly. The truth is that most Christians with 25 years church-going experience behind them are barely 10% along the curve with 90% yet to learn. Yet here they are being wrong at the top of their lungs in so many posts. And posting (and knowledge in general) is just 1% of what being a Christian is all about (knowledge puffs up, love builds up 1 Cor 8:1). Being a Christian is about how we live and LOVE. I am the first to admit being a babe in Christ and seeing through a glass darkly, even though I have a few Christian miles on the clock.

Never be satisfied with yourself the way you are. Neve encourage folks to "be themselves". We all have to "Be Christ" i.e. when one cannot tell us apart from Christ, then we truly will have attained.

Good luck with all that

 

[Nick M]

I think a lot of people believe out of fear.

Do you really believe that?

And for the record you ignorant fool, Christianity is an exchanged life, not a changed life. No one has done good, no, not one. The Lord Jesus Christ did good on my behalf, obedient unto death. God the Father accepted his work on my behalf, saving me through grace.

 

[Prizebeatz1]

Do you really believe that?

And for the record you ignorant fool, Christianity is an exchanged life, not a changed life. No one has done good, no, not one. The Lord Jesus Christ did good on my behalf, obedient unto death. God the Father accepted his work on my behalf, saving me through grace.

Of course. If you are honest you will agree. Get real. We're terrified to let go of our beliefs. How else is the personality going to stay alive? but what it thinks is death is actually the beginning of true life. It has things totally in reverse. It finds anything to hold onto and resists letting go at all costs. It bites and clenches and scratches, teeth and nails all the way through to the bone. It figures it's better to hang on to something than to not have anything even if that something is bad, no matter the consequences. When it runs out of ideas, beliefs, thoughts and images to hold onto it just makes stuff up because it is the father of lies.

The personality uses unconscious judgement to pretend it can control the world. Adam and Eve bit the fruit once but we bite the fruit and never put it down. We don't know when to stop. We fall further and further away with each judgment and we are not even aware of it. The personality says to us: surely you will not die if you eat this fruit. For example, because of our tendency to judge everything, we determine it would be very bad to let go of our beliefs, our identity, our thoughts, our minds so we hang on for dear life (remember Jesus says he who tries to save their life will lose it and vice versa). THAT is the adversary. It is the personality trying to control things to ensure its survival. It judges its feelings of lack of control, deficiency, and the spaciousness of what is infinite and eternal, as bad without even thinking about it. It's automatic and that seamless undetectability ensures we will not taste the Kingdom.

The personality hides behind thoughts and beliefs because it is a coward. It doesn't want to be spotted because that would blow its cover (who told you you were naked in the first place?) which might cause us to question and possibly become aware of the anger, guilt, rage, shame, madness, hatred, insanity, chaos, turmoil, doubt, mayhem, and feelings of worthlessness it is trying to cover up. We think all this is normal because it's the way the world has always been. So we make up beliefs to take it all away because we don't know how to deal with it. We pretend the beliefs work but the feelings are just swept under the rug where they fester and grow stronger and more out of control. They come out unconsciously as we drive a little more aggressive, become verbally abusive, and put others down to make ourselves feel better for trading our infinite and eternal value of the soul for the identity of the personality.

Accepting the status quo is simply buying into the falsehood and adding fuel to the fire. Why should our children have to suffer from all this? It is not what God intended. It is what the personality intends and we are unconsciously identified with the enemy. The need to believe in the personality as all of who we are is what separates us from the infinite and eternal part of us. This false identity displaces the true identity of the soul and we kick God out of the equation (forgive them for they know not what they do). The effects are written in history as warfare, for example. The personality is what Jesus points to when he says: "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).

 

[KingdomRose]

I have always allowed the Bible to call into question what I believe. The Bible is the only accurate source of information for the Christian. I allow the Bible to dictate what I believe and you should to.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" 2 Timothy 3:16.

All cults have one thing in common, they all have writings other than the Bible. They all place their writings over the Bible. This is where they go wrong and this is what causes them to believe doctrine that is contrary to the scriptures. What they do is they place man's word over God's word. They pervert the scriptures with the word of man.

It is very difficult to reach people that are into writings other than the Bible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Calvinist have the Canons of Dort as their source of information because it supports predestination. The Bible does not support predestination. The Bible supports the doctrine of justification by faith apart from the works of the law. If you believe in justification by faith you will not believe in Calvinism.

The Catholic religion does NOT allow the Bible to dictate what they believe. The Catholic church is their source of authority and information and not the Bible. The biggest problem with the Catholic church is that there is nothing in the New Testament that resembles Catholicism and then there are many, many scriptures that are contrary to the Catholic religion.

The main reason that we should let the Bible dictate what we believe is because the Holy Spirit is present in the scriptures. Like 2nd Timothy says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God". When the apostles wrote the Bible they were being inspired by the Holy Spirit. I believe the Bible and I believe all of it. If there is a scripture that I don't understand it is probably because I have not studied it enough.

You are consistently spouting off your own ideas as if your beliefs came from the bible! And people go right along with your ideas. Your little jab at JWs (which you label as a "cult") is a lie, pure and simple. We do not have "other writings over the Bible." For a hundred years we used the King James Version, and even now we'll use any version a person wants to use. I have told you this, but you won't listen. You are the one perverting the scriptures and placing men's ideas over God's.

I have asked you to explain certain scriptures but you decline to do so, even though you say that you believe ALL of the Bible. Can you tell me how the following verses agree with your idea that Jesus is God Almighty?

All from the Gospel of John: Chapter 5:19,30; Chapter 6:38; Chapter 8:28,29; Chapter 12:49,50; Chapter 14:24,28; Chapter 17:3; Chapter 20:17