do i have to believe everything the bible or the church says?

Question

now..please dont try to explain n e thing..but
do i have to believe everything the bible says is true? what if i dont like something thats in there because i feel it contradicts the way i feel about god? liek i feel god is the perfect, nicest, most caring, generous, understanding...blah blah blah person/whatever there is. os in the bible, when it says he destroyed and entire city or 2 and whats us to 'praise him'..do i have to believe that? cause destroying and entire city and innocent people doesnt seen like the god i want to believe in. so do i have to listen to every word?? or can i still believe in god and jesus but not everything the bible says

Answer 1

I see faith and the use of the Bible as an ongoing journey. Not everything is as it seems when you read--every time you read the Bible you get a new sense of the Word, and since you will be in a new place each time you read, that's the really exciting thing about it. You don't ever really "arrive" but it's rather an entire series of "ah-hahs" throughout your life. Part of the OT is the story of the rise of Abrahamic faith--that's what life was like in that time; but much of the OT is about prophecy, so focus on that. Our walk in faith can't always be exactly what we want it to be, but we wake up every morning and decide to follow Christ and try (but never succeed) to be more like Him. So, good luck in your walk in faith--give up on religion if you must but never give up your faith in God and Jesus! Your relationship with the Lord is the most important aspect of your faith.

Answer 2

What God does, He has a reason for it. Those cities, or the Canaanites were exceptionally wicked and God had them wiped off the earth because of their wickedness. They were given the chance to change to obey God and they refused. Those people knew better, but refused to do better. They brought their destruction on themselves.
Churches, and what they prescribe, I would be extremely careful. The Bible itself, it is the word of God, and should be obeyed. There is sufficient record from secular sources that prove the validity of the Bible to say that whether they like it or not, even unbelievers under write the validity of the Bible as the true word of God.

Answer 3

You can believe in Jesus and his goodness. But on his goodness you have to ask yourself why were there so many wars in the name of Jesus. The bible itself is a bitter pill to swallow. This went on even after the bible was written. And of course it's changed many times depending on who was ruling the times. Men wrote the bible, skipping what they thought was irrelevant or did not serve them in order to have a hold on it's people. Women were worth less then the cattle. I can go on and on. But as history mentions barbarians, heathens and pagans, Christians were the ones to bring these barbarities on non Christians, you also have to remember that the Christians were just as barbaric or more so than other religions. Hell wasn't even part of the bible, men wrote that into the bible in order to keep the masses frightened and in line.

Is it not so that the winner always rights the story?? I don't believe in the blind leading the blind. I tend to use my common sense.

Just like the Moslem's have been condemned for the radicals. Or the KKK, using the bible to spew their hate.

We need common sense and love for our fellow neighbors regardless of where they come from or their beliefs. Whatever makes a better person, isn't it always welcome

Answer 4

Yes because every word of the Bible is from God. The church is a different story, as long as the teaching can be backed up by scripture then you can beleive it.

In the question of the cities that were destroyed, (i think you are referring to Sodom and Gomorrah) the people may seem innocent in our eyes, but they were unworthy in God's eyes.

We need to trust that God knows what he is doing even if we do not understand it. That is faith.

God loves all of his creation, but sometimes the creation condemns itself. God is just and deals punishment and reward where it is due, in his eyes. We must remember that God's ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not ours.

I hope that helped.

God Bless

Answer 5

No, you don't. The Bible was written by man over a span of many centuries. The stories in the Bible are meant to be allegorical, not a literal retelling of historical truth. Take meaning from the words of the Bible, if that's your goal, but don't accept them as the truth of history.

And no matter what anybody on the Christian right tells you, nothing in the Bible you're reading came directly from the mouth of God. Even if it did, it's been translated several times. I doubt very much that it carries the same idea-for-idea message that the original scrolls did.

Answer 6

Simply put, we were given by God with brains, the image, and the freedom like that of himself, therefore we interpret and believe what we see according to our logic and reason. The bible and church has been set by some of our ancestors to guide us on the right path, but we are given the freedom to believe them or not.

Answer 7

Depends on what the preist is saying. I believe in The kingdom of God is inside you, is all around you. God Bless you.

Answer 8

Believe bible, yes, church, no, for that is man.

Think of G_D like a parent, for we are His children. If you do something wrong, your parents punish you to teach you right from wrong. They might put you in time out, they might spank you they might take something away. Even though they are punishing you, they never stopped loving you.

The punishment is actually love, what is called hard love. For they love you so much they want you to do good and right so bad. That they are willing to do that act of punishment, which effects them as well, more than you even, in hopes to make you a better person.

Sure you might have a sore back side from a spanking... but the parent who did the spanking wants to puke cause their gut is flipping so bad for the fact they resorted to spanking. And they resorted to it for their lack of teaching ability to make you see. They will beat themselves up longer than your back side hurts.

Same with G_D. That shows true love, pure love.

And remember, material items is not life or anything. And people over time do put too much umphf on material items. Few examples of G_D at work trying to make people turn back to Him instead of material.

Hurricanes in Florida, over n over. Yet they don't learn, they just keep rebuilding and cursing the sky that G_D controls.

The Cali. wild fires, hitting all those expensive homes. Removed the wealth in a matter of minutes to show that families and others are more important. But most won't grasp it for long and get right back to material items again.

He even tells us to give up our worldly possessions to come to Him. But most are tricked by Satan to believe those material items is what life is all about. Its not.

Plus remember what you see as "death" is not death. We are in jail now, as you sit there you are in jail. You are a spirit in a flesh body, that is your jail. What we call death is the removing of the jail. If someone gets out of actual "jail" today are we sad? So what you think are innocent souls being killed are actually innocent souls being released from jail, to be back with Him.

Sure we mourn for we are still in jail.

Answer 9

A Christian has to believe in Christ. After that its a matter of how far your faith will take you.You should only believe what you feel is true to your personal faith and not what anyone else tells you.

Answer 10

You don't have to do anything you don't want to do,God made you a free willed agent, He gave us all the right to choose, Though he does admonish us to choose life...