12-year-old, forced to marry, dies in childbirth
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Questioner wrote:A Christian is a person who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ, and no other. Jesus Christ did NOT write the books of the OT.
Jesus is God. God divinely inspired the books of the old testament. He wrote it.
Questioner wrote:Jewish writers were inspired to write down those stories, but being fallible human beings, they wrote imperfectly.
Why do you say this? God inspired them but they didn't write the inspirations correctly?
Questioner wrote:Jesus did in fact come to change the way people were understanding and interpreting the law. So trying to follow the OT teachings is a dangerous and confusing journey. It is full of error and misinterpretation, and is best read as a history of the Jewish people.
They only one who can misinterpret the scriptures is the reader. The scripture don's misinterpret themselves.
Questioner wrote:For guidance on how to live, a true Christian reads the 4 gospels for the instructions Jesus Himself gave. Even those 4 gospels, having been written quite a few years after the death of Jesus have some minor errors and differences. But there is also quite a bit of congruence among the gospels as to what they say Jesus Himself said and taught.
If the Bible is written by God through man. God is all powerful. The Bible should be inerrant.
If the Bible makes mistakes on one part how can we trust it on any other?
So the Bible is inerrant there is only mistranslations (from one language to another), misinterpretations (mistakes), and purposeful distortions (To fit ones personal agenda).
Psalm 119:160
Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.
Romans 3:1-4
1What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
2Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
3For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
E. J. Young, in his classic work on the inspiration of the Bible, gives us good definition of inerrancy: “By this word we mean that the Scriptures possess the quality of freedom from error. They are exempt from the liability to mistake, incapable of error. In all their teachings they are in perfect accord with the truth.
http://bible.org/seriespage/bible-inerrant-word-god
Questioner wrote:From the teachings of Jesus, it is clear that He was a reformer, and a humanitarian. All of his acts and teachings show us that the way to Him is through love of other people.
Also a sacrificial lamb, Salvation. That's why the Jewish sacrifices are no longer needed. The atonement for the sins of human kind has already come!
We don't need an animal to pay for our sins. Jesus did.
He also was clear that civil values and laws did not necessarily have much to do with religious values and laws. In fact, He specifically said, "Render unto Ceasar the things that are Ceasar's and to God the things that are God's."
Pay your taxes. Dedicate your life to God.
So the true Christian does not try to use the legal system to force his or her religious beliefs on other people. Jesus NEVER tried to force His teachings onto other people. He went out to fields, mounts, and other non-religious places to teach, and those interested were welcome to come. He did a lot of teaching through example and parables. So the true Christian must read the gospels, think carefully about what Jesus said and what He did and try to understand what He wanted His people to do.
We are not to force our beliefs on others. Aka become Christian or die. But we are not to stand for injustice. We are hear to fight the darkness and shine the light.
We aren't forcing a murderer to become religious when we execute him for his crimes. Nor when we erect laws safeguarding the lives of innocent unborn children.
If someone has a problem with justice they can deal with it in jail.
It Is pretty clear that He wanted us to chase after good works and not money, fortune or fame. To the extent we treasure His words and example and try our best to follow it, we are Christians.
True. God and Jesus are one in the same. So follow him.
We are saved literally (in our personal lives) and figuratively (in our spiritual lives) by accepting Jesus into our hearts and committing ourselves to following His will.
True mostly. We are not saved "figuratively". We are literally saved spiritually. We are literally saved from our slavery to sin on Earth physically.
(Ephesians 2:8-9) - "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast."
We are saved by faith alone. However true faith results in action.
If I believe I am going to get hit by a truck I will jump out of the way!
I won't just believe and stand there.
James 2:19-20
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
We are called to spread the gospel and be loving.
Mark 1:17
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
A Christian is not perfect. If we were perfect we would not need salvation.
Matthew 26:73-74
73After a little while, those standing there came up to Peter and said, “You really are one of them too—even your accent gives you away!” 74 At that he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment a rooster crowed
In the final analysis, we must always ask, “What saith the Scriptures?”, not “What saith man?”
http://bible.org/seriespage/what-must-o ... cts-237-41
