How is one supposed to find answers when..?

Question

I'm just really confused. I don't know what to believe or whose side to choose! I mean, what are we supposed to believe when we know the Bible obviously have been motified and there could be and are thousands of unpublished sacred manuscripts lying in a tomb or buried deep inside the sands of Egypt?! With all the modification the Church has done before our generation into the Holy books..there are a few missing pieces that they forgot to fix. Like, Adam and Eve had sons.. okay. Now.. you take that information and ask.. then if they only had sons, how did humanity come into being? See? And you find these answers in the texts of which were banned from the Bible. I really would like to find my grace. Really. Salvation. Jesus. Call it whatever. But how are we supposed to accept truth when it's hidden from us? How do we find what WE believe, and not what Dan Brown wrote about Mary Magdaline? How do we know Jesus really died on the cross when ancient Egypt came before Christianity?

MissGiggles:

I was only referencing Dan Brown as an EXAMPLE. Yes, he states his work is fiction. But Mary Magdalene has been known publicly as well as her role as Jesus's companion for as long as history can recall. Mr. Brown is just ONLY one of the MANY who has published non-fiction/fictional books about the subject.

THANK YOU.

Answer 1

Biblical literalism is a trap. The collection of trivial details bogs you down and keeps you from seeing the message in the scriptures. Do not worry about how many children Adam & Eve had, or how many times Abraham & Sarah tricked a foreign leader into believing they were not married. It doesn't matter. Focus on what the stories MEAN. What do they say about how God is? How do they describe people's reactions to God? THOSE are the answers.

What would be the significance of Jesus having biological descendants? Would they be special people? Would they have supernatural abilities or require reverence? Why would we not be able to identify them? The idea is theologically meaningless if "we are all God's children".

There are many books recently brought to light that never made it into anyone's scriptures. Some are just mindless adventure stories with familiar characters. Some are pious embellishments of stories we already know. And some complicate theology for the sole purpose of creating divisions between believers and "better" believers.

Occasionally, a new insight may be revealed in a random verse, but we have the essentials. If God really cares for his creation, we have the essentials. God created an orderly, comprehensible, "good" world. God loves and cares for creation, especially the poor and powerless. Do you think God will judge you based on what you "know"? Or do you think God might be more interested in how you treat "the least of my brothers"? The prophet Amos warned: "If you wish to offer [God] holocausts, let justice flow like water..."

The only "truths" that get "hidden" are the ones that threaten some people's power, and those truths are not well hidden. (Sometimes, even a non-believer can figure them out.) Stop looking for the ultimate explanation that "saves" you and start living as if you already knew it. Use the brain and your heart God gave you and stop looking for a magic solution.

Answer 2

Have you actually read the Bible?

As far as how do we know that the Bible is truth, even over all the translations, and modifications...We believers believe that the Bible contains all that we need to know, by God making sure all the important stuff is in their. It is a faith thing.

Secondly Adam & Eve did not just have sons! Genesis 6:4 says:
After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years and he had other sons & daughters.

You are very foolish if you believe what another human says and not what God says. We believe that the Bible came into existence with divine intervention! God knows everything, 1 John 1:1:In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

What humans have been hiding is the Truth that is contained within the pages of the Bible. Even Catholics would rather have you dependent on the Church than the True Word of God. Read the Bible in this order, Start with the Book of Romans, then read the gospel Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. Then read the rest of the New Testament, and then the Old in order. If after reading & searching it for truth you find none, then at least you know what everyone else is talking about.

I find people who want to talk about what its pages of the Bible contain without ever having read it are like those who try to tell you how good a restaurant is without ever having eaten there!

Answer 3

The only thing I can tell you is Dan Brown stated very clearly on his website that his book is a work of fiction. So u know new Jesus if u still believe in him was single.
I saw a news show that proved to me that Jesus was a made up story based on the fact that some of the dudes who wrote the Bible wanted to make Cesar angry. There was a rumour going around that Cesar had a birth magical birth too.

Answer 4

When you trully decide that you believe in God and all his power, you have no trouble believing that He kept the parts of His word that you needed in order to live for Him in a place you can find them. I belive God has the power to do anything He wants, He can make sure we get what we need, which happened to just be the 66 books we know as the Bible now days.

Answer 5

You see...

Thats why I am an ex-christian and agnostic now.

because with as much modification that has been done....(and i have been studying this quite extinsively) it really is hard to trust the church and religion. and most christians will tell you that the books that are left out are not "god breathed" but fail to realize that you can cross reference the missing books with the books in the bible that have been canonized.

and there are more books than just the "apophryeca" missing...actually over 200 and not all of them are "gnostic".

gotta love blind faith....

Answer 6

You make a very astute observation.

Before I read a particular verse in the Bible, I review the theme of God, the theme of Jesus, and the overall theme of the Bible.

If any verse conflicts with those themes, then I run straight to my Greek/Hebrew study bible.

And just what is the overall theme of God, Jesus, and the Bible?

Harmony is harmony. Disharmony is the only sin against God.

Answer 7

dive in to the world of a life in Jesus Christ and start looking for the answers if you need them. People will be able to answer those questions for you, but the real truth is a life in which Jesus is a strong componant. That is the truth that will really convince you.

Answer 8

Sometimes there are no answers (at least rational ones). Perhaps this IS the information you need to decide on.

Answer 9

The Bible reveals enough for us to understand the main theme (redemtion through faith in Christ.) We do not need to know all of the details. We will get the rest of the answers when we get to heaven.
Genesis 4:17 says, "Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch." Who was his wife? It is implied in the biblical text that Cain married one of his sisters. Several facts lead us to this conclusion.
First, it is clear that Adam and Eve had a number of children. Genesis 5:4 says, "After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and DAUGHTERS" Since Adam and Eve were the first man and woman, and since God had commanded them (and their descendants) to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28), it seems reasonable to conclude that Cain married one of his many sisters. It is also possible that he married a niece or even a grandniece.
One must keep in mind that in the early years of the human race there were no genetic defects that had yet developed as a result of the fall of man. By the time of Abraham, God had not yet declared this kind of marriage to be contrary to His will (see Genesis 20:12). Laws governing incest apparently did not become enacted until the time of Moses (Lev 18:7-17; 20:11,12,14,17,20,21). Hence, there was no prohibition regarding marrying a sister (or niece or grandniece) in the days of Cain.
To learn more on this subject you can go to http://www.answersingenesis.org

We are saved by grace, not by works, so that no one can boast.
We are saved by grace alone. Recall that in Acts 16:31 the jailer asked Paul and Silas how to be saved. They responded, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." The jailer believed and immediately became saved.
Close to 200 times in the New Testament salvation is said to be by faith alone - with no works in sight. Consider the following:
John 3:15 tells us that "everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."
John 5:24 says, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."
In John 11:25 Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies."
John 23:46 says, "I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness."
John 20:31 says, "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
If salvation were not by faith alone, then Jesus' message in the Gospel of John - manifest in the above quotations - would be deceptive, stating that there is one condition for salvation when there are allegedly two - faith and works.
I must emphasize that we are saved by faith for works. Works are not the condition of our salvation, but a consequence of it We are saved not by works, but by the kind of faith that produces works.

Eph 2:8-10 God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this: It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

The Bible's accuracy and reliability have been proved and verified over and over again by archaeological finds produced by both believing and no believing scholars and scientists. This included verification for numerous customs, places, names, and events mentioned in the Bible.
One among many examples is the fact that for many years the existence of the Hittites (a powerful people who lived during the time of Abraham) was questioned because no archaeological digs had uncovered anything about them. Critics claimed the Hittites were pure myth. But today the critics are silenced. Abundant archaeological evidence for the existence of the Hittites during the time of Abraham has been uncovered.
Bible scholar Donald J. Wiseman notes, "The geography of Bible lands and visible remains of antiquity were gradually recorded until today more than 23,000 sites within this region and dating to Old Testament times, in their broadest sense, have been located." Nelson Glueck, a specialist in ancient literature, did an exhaustive study and concluded: "It can be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverter a biblical reference." Well-known scholar William F. Albright, following a comprehensive studies, wrote: "Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details, and has brought increased recognition of the value of the Bible as a source of History."

There are more than 24,000 partial and complete manuscript copies of the New Testament. These manuscript copies are very ancient and they are available for inspection NOW. there are also some 86,000 quotations from the early church fathers and several thousand lectionaries (church-service books containing Scripture quotations used in the early centuries of Christianity). In fact, there are enough quotations from the early church fathers that even if we did not have a single copy of the Bible, scholars could still reconstruct all but 11 verses of the entire New Testament from material written within 150 to 200 years from the time of Christ. Bottom line: The New Testament has an overwhelming amount of evidence supporting its reliability.

Answer 10

it is all so confussing ain't it, so just you believe in what your science teacher teaches at your school, at least they can provide sum kind of evidence, come on how can you believe sum book with all of it contradictions confussing ain't it,,