Dowell

You might want to read this study published by the Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association. It's study doesn't seem to be consistent with reincarnation, but correlates very strongly with what the bible teaches. That being said ones religious beliefs seem inconsequential to the experiences noted. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6172100/

Advancing to what? Who decides what stage you go to? Is it all random, or is someone in charge of ordering all this?

I am not sure I understand how reincarnation works. Does the spirit just hang around couples likely to conceive, and just pop in when the union occurs, or does it go on a waiting list somewhere. Is there a privacy issue here somewhere?

Not believing is only a temporary condition. In time all will believe. Unfortunately there are two types of people who consider themselves Christians. Those who want to be like God. They believe that they need to tell others how to live, and see all their transgressions, and constantly judge others. Let God be God. The others are the ones who want to be like Jesus, who believe that you should love your neighbour as yourself. Those who love and forgive. Jesus came to bring a light into the world. You don't have to walk in the light, but you might choose to walk in the light.

You say that the bible is the only book that speaks of Jesus, and immediately follow by mentioning Tacitus and Josephus. You don’t see a contradiction there? The topic is do you believe that Jesus really existed, and denigrated into attacks on the authorship of the bible, and God’s plan. Of course conspiracy theorists believe what they choose to believe no matter how compelling the evidence is. The theory here is that a small group of mostly illiterate Galileans got together, and conspired to spread throughout the world telling a story of a Redeemer. Their intent was to trick the world into loving their neighbour as themselves.

As I said I don't know if that is true, because I don't know you. It does seem that you have identify yourself with these people though. The passage you referred to I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things. “You heavens above, rain down my righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it; I, the Lord, have created it. This section is God telling Isaiah that He is anointing Cyrus the great to take possession of Mesopotamia, the holy land, and part of Europe, as far as Macedonia. Cyrus was a benevolent ruler who respected the people under his rule, and let them retain their customs and languages. He is biblically important, because he defeated Babylon, and returned the nation of Israel to their promised land. The God I believe in lets people make their own choices. I believe that He was hoping for better from mankind. You mentioned pedophiles and rapists, this is why there needs to be a temporary separation between God and man, so that the good can be separated from the evil.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/quantum-emotion-corp-announces-availability-143100091.html

I can respect that, but I am willing to let Charles Anthony be the judge of that. I was rather harsh and might have more to apologize for than you, so I ask for your pardon.

Of course algorithms are based on patterns that can be replicated. To obtain a truly random number you need to use a quantum random number generator, based on electron quantum tunneling.

I don’t know if you mistakenly think that I introduced this topic. I was simply responding to a post by SkyHigh. I don’t know if I am mistaken in assuming he has never read the bible, but his post seems to resemble the rantings of narrow minded people who cast aspersions on God’s plan and the christian faith while being entirely ignorant of the word of God. I can't comment on your morality, what I took issue with was your arrogance, and lack of respect.

Of course it is human nature to avoid an idea that challenges what you want to believe. History is full of examples people who rigidly hold on to commonly held beliefs, and shun any contrary ideas. They take comfort in the belief that everybody knows these beliefs to be true, and there is no need to support them. Unfortunately this is just an excuse for bad behavior, and to disrespect others.

Maybe you didn't understand the implications of this. Rigging the lottery is not part of His plan. Either you didn't get this, or I might have been mistaken in assuming English is your first language.

You think that God micro manages life on earth. You are wrong. You think that the evil things that happen in life are part of God’s plan. You are wrong. Bad things happen because man rejected God’s plan, not because of it. It is the separation of God and man that lets evil people to do evil things. Man chose the knowledge of good and evil over obedience and innocence, of course knowledge means choices, with choices comes consequences, consequences result in judgement. Jesus explained it in this parable: Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” The garden is growing wild, but just until the harvest.

Spiritual moral aspects of thought. Of course his teaching goes deeper than that. What he taught was more than moral thinking, it was moral living. He taught that we should be good neighbours, and good citizens in essence the wheat, not the tares. This is a result of his transformation after encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus. Before this encounter he dedicated his life to imprisoning and killing others, after he taught us to love support and care for others. Irrelevant to you, but not to all.

The Nile is very important biblically, I am glad that you believe it exists.

Of course you digress. The topic is, Do you believe that Jesus really existed ? It seems to have digressed into a debate on the validity of the bible, and a critique of the church. As to the topic Paul, and Luke were contemporaries of Jesus, as was Matthew. These were educated literate men unlike most of the apostles, who were Galilean fishers and others of humble origins who went on to change the world. Their teachings were preserved by their followers who wanted to preserve what they had been taught so they could share this knowledge with future generations. Jewish and Roman historians also believed that Jesus really existed.

I wouldn’t try to prove to you that Paul met Jesus, because I HAVE NO IDEA. The point is that you don’t either, even though uou stated that he hadn’t, with no basis in fact. That is classic denialism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denialism denialism is a person's choice to deny reality as a way to avoid a psychologically uncomfortable truth. The motivations and causes of denialism include religion, self-interest (economic, political, or financial), and defence mechanisms meant to protect the psyche of the denialist against mentally disturbing facts and ideas; such disturbance is called cognitive dissonance in psychology terms. As for the source of the New Testament. https://www.biblestudy.org/beginner/when-was-new-testament-written.html Amazing as it sounds, the entire New Testament was written down through the efforts of only eight men! Six of these were selected apostles of Christ. Three were eyewitnesses of his life and ministry (Matthew, Peter and John). Two were the physical brothers of Jesus (James and Jude). One of the New Testament writers, the apostle Paul, was specially called to serve the Gentiles and for three years was personally taught by Christ in Arabia. The last two of eight authors were Mark (who penned his Gospel under Peter's supervision), and Luke (who authored his Gospel and the book of Acts under the Apostle Paul's supervision).

It seems that this is not always true. It is a shame to build an immoral theology on an outright and demonstrable lie. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6172100/ Results Suggesting the Reality of Near-Death Experiences Lucid, organized experiences while unconscious, comatose, or clinically dead Near-death experiences occur at a time when the person is so physically compromised that they are typically unconscious, comatose, or clinically dead. Considering NDEs from both a medical perspective and logically, it should not be possible for unconscious people to often report highly lucid experiences that are clear and logically structured. Most NDErs report supernormal consciousness at the time of their NDEs. Near-death experiences often occur in association with cardiac arrest. Prior studies found that 10–20 seconds following cardiac arrest, electroencephalogram measurements generally find no significant measureable brain cortical electrical activity. A prolonged, detailed, lucid experience following cardiac arrest should not be possible, yet this is reported in many NDEs. This is especially notable given the prolonged period of amnesia that typically precedes and follows recovery from cardiac arrest. Scientists call these events near death, because they can't admit that people who have died can return to life. People who have no brain activity for extended periods of time are not near death, they are dead. To return, and have lucid recollections means that they did not stay dead.

It seems you are basing your assumption on a vague recollection of what you read years ago. The pharisees were constantly confronting Jesus, trying to prove Him to be a false prophet. Saul (later known as Paul) was one of the leaders, he was given authority to imprison, and even put to death the followers of Jesus. It seems that Jesus was very real to Paul. To state with certainty that he was never among those who contested with Jesus, and never went to hear Him speak doesn't seem to be all that well founded. You say the bible says that Paul never met Jesus, please provide your source, or admit that you posted something that you don't know to be true. Paul seeing the resurrected Jesus does not exclude him from having seen Jesus before His crucifixion.

You do believe however that Caesar existed.

Of course if you don't have knowledge on a subject it is best to ask those who do. Paul never met Jesus? You know this how? Multitudes of people went to hear Jesus teach, and thousands came to see him as He entered Jerusalem. How do you know that Paul was never among them. Paul did at the very least have a very intimate relationship with many who had met Jesus, persecuting them, and imprisoning many. A very intense relationship for one who never existed. Peter of course walked with Jesus, and the historians of that era knew that he existed.

I am guessing by your words that you have never read the bible, and are just spewing your own opinion based on this ignorance. Why not read the words of Jesus, and then make an informed post.

Some of the most credible menof thre time believed in Jesus. Peter was a leader of men, and became the leader of the early church. Unlike most powerful men diverted praise and adulation from himse;f to Jesus, even to the point that He was put to death rather than deny Jesus, and pay tribute to the Roman gods. Tradition holds that he requested to be crucified upside down, because he didn’t consider himself worthy of dying the same way that Jesus did. Paul, the most prolilfic wrier of the New testament who was instrumental in the formation and development of many of the major churces throughout Grece also testified to the life and teaching of Jesus. He also chose death over denying Christ/ Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.[He wrote: Nero fastened the guilt . . . on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of . . . Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome. . . .5 Perhaps the most remarkable reference to Jesus outside the Bible can be found in the writings of Josephus, a first century Jewish historian. On two occasions, in his Jewish Antiquities, he mentions Jesus. The second, less revealing, reference describes the condemnation of one "James" by the Jewish Sanhedrin. This James, says Josephus, was "the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he . . . wrought surprising feats. . . . He was the Christ. When Pilate . . .condemned him to be crucified, those who had . . . come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared . . . restored to life. . . . And the tribe of Christians . . . has . . . not disappeared

See you there then.

My faith is not in the church, it is in God. I can’t explain in a few sentences all that I believe, but Jesus gave us an insight with this parable. Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” What you believe is not what separates the wheat from the tares, it is how you live. Those who care for others, and treat them with the respect that they would want to be treated with themselves will be welcomed into God’s kingdom. Those who care only for themselves are the tares. They are the ones who cause the suffering that you alluded to. When our time on earth is over we will be reunited with our Father, or will not be.