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From: ken@qantel.UUCP (Ken Nichols)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Understanding the Bible
Message-ID: <179@qantel.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-Aug-84 20:09:16 EDT
Article-I.D.: qantel.179
Posted: Wed Aug  8 20:09:16 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Aug-84 02:25:03 EDT
Organization: MDS Qantel, Hayward CA.
Lines: 60


ME> Of course reading the Bible 52 times in a year would be worthless to you.
ME> Your mind is not going to understand it, because you are spiritually blind.

>     I can't figure out from your message whether  you're  really  serious  or
>not.   The inability to understand the "word of god" before you believe in god
>seems to be a kind of catch 22.  You can't understand till you  believe.   You
>can't  believe  till  you  understand.   You  expect  people to figure out god
>without reading the bible?  How are they supposed to reach this salvation  and
>get their holy spirit?  You can't be serious.

O.K.  So, maybe I got a little carried away.  To much flame and not enough
brain.  Of course the common man can understand a small portion of the Bible.
At least enough to be saved.  But the person I was replying to did not see
what value the Bible had because he got nothing more out of it.  The point I 
was trying to get across was that only the Spirit can reveal the deeper 
mysteries (ie. beyond salvation) of the Bible to man.

ME> God does not reveal the truths of the Bible to unbelievers, that would be
ME> throwing "Pearls before the Swine" as it says in Mathew.  Only the
ME> Holy Spirit given at salvation will cause you to understand the Bible. With
ME> this understanding you could read it 522,000,000 times and still find
ME> something you've never seen before.

>     I love that "pearls before the swine" stuff.  Anyone who doesn't  believe
>as  you  do  is  a  pig?   Is it any wonder there are religious wars.  Not all
>christians are like you but most have a real blind spot.  There  are  lots  of
>reasons  I'm  no  longer  a christian but the "holier than thou" attitude most
>*professed* christians have is  one  of  the  biggies.   If  I  were  still  a
>christian I wouldn't want a spiritual bigot like you defending my belief.

>Jerry

Hey, I didn't write it, Jesus said it.  As for you being a pig, the statement
is not meant to be taken literaly.  It's figurative.  Just as you don't give 
something of priceless worth to someone who does not care to know its value, so
God does not reveal the priceless treasures of his Word to someone who doesn't 
believe the simple truths of the Bible.

As to you no longer being a Christian, I'm afraid I'll have to offend you by 
saying that either you still are a Christian, but are out of fellowship with
God, or you never were a Christian in the first place.  Once you have excepted 
the free gift of God in the form of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross you are saved
once for all.  You can't just drop God completely out of your life if you
are really saved.  

I agree that a "holier than thou" attitude is a problem that a lot of
Christians have (who said I was perfect).  My statement, however, was not
a personal attack on anyone, I was just quoting the Bible and letting the
Spirit lead.  On the other hand I am sort of a bigot because I believe that
anyone who does not believe the fundamentals of the Christian faith (mostly
concerning Jesus Christ) will perish in Hell.  But then that wasn't my idea
either, it was God's.

                                   A bigot for Jesus,
"...holding forth the              Ken N.
word of life..."                   ...!ucbvax!dual!qantel!ken
Phil 2:16 
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