My Christian family will often complain when I talk about Yahweh. They say "I only worship God!" meaning the Trinity. However, that word "god" is not semitic, and it applies to so many pagan Gods first and foremost simply due to the history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/*Dy%C4%93us - this is the root of the word they use, and I don't think most Christians mean this definition. They mean the god who entered into covenant with Israel through Abraham and then the gentile world through Jesus. So, when they say "god" they are meaning Yahweh. They can dance around it all that they like, but the claim that the god of the Israelites is also Jesus and also the Creator, and also the Holy Spirit... this is a tall order for me to accept. It is much easier for me to accept our native faith, and that Jesus is a teacher from the Levant, and Yahweh is a tribal god no different than many others found in history.
Also it's debateable whether Yahweh was considered the creator. Originally he was a piratical storm god, El was the more level headed creator and bringer of justice.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Not really. You cannot come to Jesus Christ unless the Father in Heaven draws you.
Otherwise mankind would rather not be bothered by the reality that each and every one of us has been created by God and will be held accountable to Him at the final judgment. We will have no excuse or argument before the Holy One. None of us will measure up. We have to come through the blood of Jesus; there has to be a reckoning for our wicked hearts. Jesus paid that penalty so that we could be saved.
As far as egalitarianism is concerned, there’s one issue that matters:
Romans 3:23-25
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
We don't need an instruction from a god to know that family is good and should be supported, it's self evident. That said there are numerous morality tales in native european religion supporting this principle. Those who transgress against the family are destroyed. Indeed, such transgressions were considered some of the most important dramatic material and edge case/nuances give us stories such as Oedipus and Orestes.
That also answers the second part, the charge that we don't have moral messages in our religion. The reality is that it's full of them. We just don't have an equivalent to the 12 commandments, but even in Christianity moral instruction extends beyond those anyhow.
Very good
This was perfect. One thing i hear christians say is their god created everything, the universe, nature, etc. What is their god's name?
Thank you!
My Christian family will often complain when I talk about Yahweh. They say "I only worship God!" meaning the Trinity. However, that word "god" is not semitic, and it applies to so many pagan Gods first and foremost simply due to the history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/*Dy%C4%93us - this is the root of the word they use, and I don't think most Christians mean this definition. They mean the god who entered into covenant with Israel through Abraham and then the gentile world through Jesus. So, when they say "god" they are meaning Yahweh. They can dance around it all that they like, but the claim that the god of the Israelites is also Jesus and also the Creator, and also the Holy Spirit... this is a tall order for me to accept. It is much easier for me to accept our native faith, and that Jesus is a teacher from the Levant, and Yahweh is a tribal god no different than many others found in history.
Also it's debateable whether Yahweh was considered the creator. Originally he was a piratical storm god, El was the more level headed creator and bringer of justice.
Thats why I call him a tribal god, it seems like he was elevated
John 1:1-13 (ESV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
sounds like egalitarian bullshit to me
Not really. You cannot come to Jesus Christ unless the Father in Heaven draws you.
Otherwise mankind would rather not be bothered by the reality that each and every one of us has been created by God and will be held accountable to Him at the final judgment. We will have no excuse or argument before the Holy One. None of us will measure up. We have to come through the blood of Jesus; there has to be a reckoning for our wicked hearts. Jesus paid that penalty so that we could be saved.
As far as egalitarianism is concerned, there’s one issue that matters:
Romans 3:23-25
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
I'm a bit confused by some of these questions.
We don't need an instruction from a god to know that family is good and should be supported, it's self evident. That said there are numerous morality tales in native european religion supporting this principle. Those who transgress against the family are destroyed. Indeed, such transgressions were considered some of the most important dramatic material and edge case/nuances give us stories such as Oedipus and Orestes.
That also answers the second part, the charge that we don't have moral messages in our religion. The reality is that it's full of them. We just don't have an equivalent to the 12 commandments, but even in Christianity moral instruction extends beyond those anyhow.