Is this a contradiction or am I reading it wrong? Genesis 5:28

[Angrboda]

Buddha lied.

[The Grand Nudger]

That’s fine, I would imagine that everyone would say that they are trying to be a good reader and that they try not be biased.

What I wanted to know is, do you believe that Jesus is a savior for mankind?
Are you a christian? What is your religion? Do you believe in any god?

IMHO far too many people do not really want to be good readers. Those include believers who seek confirmation for the doctrines of their denomination and disbelievers whose only real interest is in debunking it as if it were a scientific paper or academic history. Yes, I am a Christian but I do not see how that matters. You do not have to be a believing Bhuddist to treat the Lotus Sutra with respect.

Well, your specific and contemporary christian faith certainly matters to any discussion of people reading their current beliefs into the literary product of dead contributors. Reconstructionists run into this all the time.

Still, I agree, it's not a scientific paper or an academic history. The idea that magic book is either of those things or even in the wheelhouse of those things is laughable. Ofc, it seems like the believers themselves will be the first to forget this and so invite correction from a skeptic, just as you introduced "good reading"....

[Ferrocyanide]

That’s fine, I would imagine that everyone would say that they are trying to be a good reader and that they try not be biased.

What I wanted to know is, do you believe that Jesus is a savior for mankind?
Are you a christian? What is your religion? Do you believe in any god?

IMHO far too many people do not really want to be good readers. Those include believers who seek confirmation for the doctrines of their denomination and disbelievers whose only real interest is in debunking it as if it were a scientific paper or academic history. Yes, I am a Christian but I do not see how that matters. You do not have to be a believing Bhuddist to treat the Lotus Sutra with respect.

I don’t know about the details about Buddhism.
I was just asking what you believed.
The only piece of information you gave is that you are a christian and you also say that that does not matter. However you are here, talking to people once in a while about christianity.

I don’t see what the big deal is. You don’t want to answer?

[Neo-Scholastic]

I was just asking what you believed. The only piece of information you gave is that you are a christian and you also say that that does not matter. However you are here, talking to people once in a while about christianity. I don’t see what the big deal is. You don’t want to answer?

Sorry, I thought professing Christianity was sufficient answer. Perhaps an answer more relevant to this thread would be that many years back I had a visionary experience concerning the Scriptures...it's very difficult to put into words. For me the Scriptures felt alive somehow...like directly confronting the Otherness. And I think the supernatural context of the ancient Middle East lends to its depth and strangeness. Anyways, that's speaks only to my personal motivation and was not meant to be a testimony. IMHO anyone who says they understand the bible is full of shit. To me the more I learn about it the deeper and stranger and IMO more beautiful it gets. So I do think literal-minded people are missing out on quite a bit.

And I also just think applying rigorous criticism to a superficial reading of biblical text is not appropriate, kind of like nit-picking the grammar of a casual conversation. You don't have to be religious to believe that.

[Angrboda]

[arewethereyet]

I was just asking what you believed. The only piece of information you gave is that you are a christian and you also say that that does not matter. However you are here, talking to people once in a while about christianity. I don’t see what the big deal is. You don’t want to answer?

Sorry, I thought professing Christianity was sufficient answer. Perhaps an answer more relevant to this thread would be that many years back I had a visionary experience concerning the Scriptures...it's very difficult to put into words. For me the Scriptures felt alive somehow...like directly confronting the Otherness. And I think the supernatural context of the ancient Middle East lends to its depth and strangeness. Anyways, that's speaks only to my personal motivation and was not meant to be a testimony. IMHO anyone who says they understand the bible is full of shit. To me the more I learn about it the deeper and stranger and IMO more beautiful it gets. So I do think literal-minded people are missing out on quite a bit.

And I also just think applying rigorous criticism to a superficial reading of biblical text is not appropriate, kind of like nit-picking the grammar of a casual conversation. You don't have to be religious to believe that.

You had a vision - seems kinda magical.

[Ferrocyanide]

I was just asking what you believed. The only piece of information you gave is that you are a christian and you also say that that does not matter. However you are here, talking to people once in a while about christianity. I don’t see what the big deal is. You don’t want to answer?

Sorry, I thought professing Christianity was sufficient answer. Perhaps an answer more relevant to this thread would be that many years back I had a visionary experience concerning the Scriptures...it's very difficult to put into words. For me the Scriptures felt alive somehow...like directly confronting the Otherness. And I think the supernatural context of the ancient Middle East lends to its depth and strangeness. Anyways, that's speaks only to my personal motivation and was not meant to be a testimony. IMHO anyone who says they understand the bible is full of shit. To me the more I learn about it the deeper and stranger and IMO more beautiful it gets. So I do think literal-minded people are missing out on quite a bit.

And I also just think applying rigorous criticism to a superficial reading of biblical text is not appropriate, kind of like nit-picking the grammar of a casual conversation. You don't have to be religious to believe that.

Yes, that is a better answer, it is a more specific answer.

You say that:
“So I do think literal-minded people are missing out on quite a bit.”

Do you believe that there was a literal Jesus, that he was magically implanted into Mary?

[Neo-Scholastic]

I believe Jesus of Nazareth was both the Son of Man born from Mary and simultaneously the "monogenis" one-of-a-kind son of God, the Word of John 1. Now, maybe we could parse that out over several threads but the short answer is perhaps.

[Fake Messiah]

The short answer is you don't know what you believe in.

[Ferrocyanide]

I believe Jesus of Nazareth was both the Son of Man born from Mary and simultaneously the "monogenis" one-of-a-kind son of God, the Word of John 1. Now, maybe we could parse that out over several threads but the short answer is perhaps.

Do you believe that Jesus did magic tricks such as:

Mark 3:1 KING JAMES VERSION
And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. {3:2} And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. {3:3} And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. {3:4} And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. {3:5} And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. {3:6} And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.