To Innocent Christians I encountered an odd person here who claimed to be follower of Jesus...

ArishMell · 70-79, M

I don't understand the remark about "removing" The Prophet Mohammed, since he lived some centuries after Jesus' time. He could not have been "removed"!

The Jesus / Isa name is simply a matter of language. 'Jesus' is only a European Latin version via Greek of his original Aramaic. Just as, for example, Pierre, Piotr and Peter are the same name in French, Russian and English respectively.

The OT books were in early forms of Hebrew and/or Aramaic; and long pre-date the Christian faith that adopted a selection of them. They were the Ancient Hebrews' ideas, the foundations of Judaism; which uses roughly the same selection but in a different order. They were not the only books but most of the rest, sometimes called the "Apocrypha", survive only in fragments. We cannot know what influenced the choices for the Torah and the Old Testament, nor who chose them, apart from perhaps matching the intended dogma.

The earliest preachers - the Apostles - would most likely have written in Aramaic, Jesus' own language. There is nothing written by Jesus because he was not trying to found a religion! Irrespective of any Divine credentials, he was Jewish, as were his Disciples; and Christianity evolved much later from their teachings. If the Romans had not converted to that, after first cruelly oppressing it, it's would likely have remained a minor Jewish sect, possibly still frowned upon by the descendants of the Temple elders who wanted Jesus
dead.
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You (Laddu) do have a point about men with beards.

It is too easy to judge people by mere appearance, though Muslims themselves don't help when the most viciously bigoted of their preachers all sport luxurious face-fungus as if a trade-mark, and fascists like the Taliban order all men to grow beards.

I don't suppose all Muslim men grow beards, either, and most are not trying to overthrown everyone else's cultures.

saintsong · 41-45, F

The one true God of the Heavens and the Earth gave me a vision of the cross when I had sold my soul to the devil...First I felt what felt like rain drops all over my skin which really was His blood washing my sins away physically even though invisible. Then I could hear absolute terror screams from Hell when all of my clocks had stopped in my house like as if I was taken to another time and place. Then I saw a vision of the cross which was accompanied by a loud cracking noise like rocks splitting! CRACK!!!! In an instant the screams stopped, in that moment I could smell the sweetest aroma fragrances Ephesians 5 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 2 Corinthians 2 triumph in Christ
…14But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. 15For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one, we are an odor of death and demise; to the other, a fragrance that brings life. And who is qualified for such a task?…I can literally smell this sweet smelling fragrance get caught up in my thoughts it kindof smells like Lialacs but better!!! That was just the begining of my journey, the whole bible came alive over the years, it's words being made true in spirit and power and truth thus causing me to believe in it's truth and authority.....Now I can hear Angels singing even as I type this, it's lovely sounds like Heaven.....Allah never saved me, Buddah never saved me, no Seik never saved me......The God of Heaven and Earth gave me over to Jesus Christ of the Bible, and I can feel His hand on my shoulder, and NOBODY could ever snatch me out of His Hands...I am right where I belong, I am saved and blessed and happy in love! That is just part of my story, if I were to write a book it would be a replica of the Bible because it was already written so long ago. Hallelujah!

ArishMell · 70-79, M

A good point, questioning if claiming to have received "revelations" is claiming some sort of Divine characteristics. I do not question that they sincerely have had some deeply inspiring thought, but do not believe it any more divine than the claims of other types of "revelation" or "visitation".

Historically, those other claims were more common among Roman Catholics and I think the Church does now investigate such claims rather than accepting them blindly. Most are spurious, such as hallucinations, wishful thinking or by lack of investigation. An example of the last was a church icon stained with, supposedly, Christ's blood, but in reality, bat droppings!
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More widely though, your question and a lot of the answers have pointed to so many people whoo are religious imagine their own faith, or their own interpretation of it, is the only "true" one.

Of course it isn't. It is "true" only to its sincere followers, and there are several major faiths and many interpretations of them around the world so no one belief can monopolise the "truth" claim.

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It is refusing to accept that variety, refusing to accept others find hold alternative beliefs valid for them, that is at the heart of so much distress, selfishness and cruelty.

By religious beliefs - which are only personal opinions about something mystical - I include agnosticism and atheism.

- Agnostics doubt any deities but do not deny them because they say the existence of any gods is neither provable nor improvable.

- Atheists simply deny any such beings exist - and are sometimes challenged by religious fundamentalists to "prove" that, yet cannot "prove" their own case! (The challenger's fall-back defence that their faith is described in ancient books, merely cites the belief.)

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Sadly there are many hard-line types claiming to be "Christians" on SW who cannot see this. Instead they divide everyone into just two categories, "Christians" and "Atheists". The latter must therefore, in their view, be not only atheists but also agnostics, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Wiccans... Some are even deeply sectarian: I recall one professing to be "Christian" with his as the only "true" religion, trying to say the Church of Rome is not Christian!

Diotrephes · 70-79, M

@hippyjoe1955

Given that English didn't exist when the Bible was written...... Yeah the New Testament was written in Greek and the old was written in several forms of Hebrew which is understandable as no language is static for thousands of years. The Hebrew Moses Isaiah spoke was very different than the language that Adam spoke.

The Bible was written in Latin by a committee funded by the Catholics. All other versions are translations. You couldn't find an authentic Greek language version written before 700 AD for all of the gold in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Pfuzylogic · M

You should have attended Sunday School because your knowledge of Jesus is lacking islamic dewd.

Jake966 · 56-60, M

You have a lot to learn about God and the Bible if you really want to understand it

ImperialAerosolKidFromEP · 51-55, M

I think you'll find a lot more Christians think it was also written in Greek and Hebrew than those who think it was written in English

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