WHy do you think God sent Jesus to earth to die for us? Do you believe in the Bible?
OK...FYI this is my last post on this subject. As I said, my beliefs, like yours, are personal. My relationship with God, like yours, is personal. I don't intend to put them all under a microscope for debate & defense, or get bogged down in theology. My bottom line is this: My being a Christian has everything to do with how I treat others and not so much how I interpret a passage of scripture, what I think about the Bible, etc. If you've seen the brilliant Albert Brooks film "Defending Your Life", that pretty much puts an exclamation mark on the way I believe. Now, about the Bible...I don't believe it to be the "word of God" per se, but rather the word of man's relationship with God, as written and understood by men, inspired by God. (I would describe John Irving's "A Prayer For Owen Meany" in much the same way). The apostle Paul (whom Joni put to music with "Love") also wrote so much bullshit (being a man of his times) it clouds a lot of his good stuff. But he was a man, flawed as are we all. So much of the Old Testament is a total train wreck, and it bogged down the people of its era so they forgot what a true relationship with God was about and imagined it to be nothing more than obeying a series of rules in order to "qualify" for oneness with God. I've always believed that that's why Christ appeared when he did - to try and re-direct people into what a relationship with God was really about and away from the laws & prejudices of man. Now, on to the music! ;~) Bob
