Bible’s purpose is to show the way to salvation
By Lethbridge Herald on December 24, 2021.
The letter from Edna Mackenzie in the Dec. 15 paper does not seem to convince the people who wrote comments about her letter to believe the Bible, or even that there is a God. I have read many times “there are so many gods.”
No there is only one God, the Lord God. I’ve also read there are so many Bible translations.
Well, it means all the same, only written at different times by different people.
The main purpose of the Bible is to show people the way of salvation to everlasting life by believing and accepting the Son of God Jesus Christ, for there is no other way.
It is also He who has created everything that is created, nothing is created that He did not create.
And if beautiful nature is not convincing – the amazing insects, so fast and so powerful for their size.
If people could make flying machines that could take off and land like an insect or a bird, you would really have to fasten your seatbelts.
And ever noticed that every creature is perfect, no improvements necessary, no older or fancier newer models like by man-made things? Everything was perfect from creation.
God used many different people from different walks of life to write His Bible, and stories line up for us to compare different Bible books in the old and new testaments so that we can see that His word is true and help us to trust and believe in Him.
Who is going to Heaven or who go to Hell? Well, Hell is full of sinners, but so is Heaven also – the difference is to trust in Jesus.
In these last times before Jesus comes back, some people are mocking, saying “When is He coming back?” Well Jesus said when nobody expects it – like a thief in the night, first the Gospel good news has to be preached around the whole world to everybody.
John Van Liere
Coaldale
14-13
Mr Van Liere, this letter is virtually a “copy and paste” from a letter you wrote over three years ago. As I remember it “Everything is happening as planned, He controls everything” was a key mantra – not unlike a key component of Ms Mackenzie’s letter. One striking observation of yours was reminding everyone of the “frog (or toad) found living in solid rock.” Testament to what I really don’t know but you somehow linked that to proof of biblical fact.
Now here we are years later and am surprised that no reference was made to COVID now making its way around our planet – no doubt God’s doing also.
Your belief in the literal truth of the Bible is your choice and no doubt brings comfort to you and other believers but for many millions around the world who are equally convinced of their belief , their own faith is their source of comfort and well being. For many others a belief in any deity is unimportant , perhaps seeing beauty in nature, the natural world and indeed the Universe being more than enough.
Waiting for the “good news” to be received and accepted by over 7 billion people before He returns (see your last paragraph) means a long, very long wait indeed. But then again 4.5 billion years is a pretty long time that has already passed since our earth’s creation! Clearly, patience is His virtue.
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John, I’m glad that your Christian beliefs bring you comfort and joy for the future afterlife. I respect your opinion but would ask that you consider something that you wrote.
Quote: “Who is going to Heaven or who go to Hell? Well, Hell is full of sinners, but so is Heaven also – the difference is to trust in Jesus.”
If this is so, do you believe that anyone whom is not a Christian, is doomed to spend eternity in hellfire? Is this fair? If the Italian Mafia in days gone by went out and murdered someone on Friday but attended a Christian church on Sunday, asked for forgiveness and believe in Jesus as their saviour, do they get a free pass into heaven upon their death? Sounds a bit unfair to me. Do Jews burn in hell? Do other people that perhaps believe in God but are not of the Christian belief, scream in agony for eternity? One last thing. If I put enough money in the collection basket on Sunday, does that buy me some favors in the afterlife? Asking for a friend.
John VL
Doug thanks for your comment ,I can see your confusion .
my letter is just basics to find the way to life everlasting,
my letter was made shorter by the editor ,maybe because of not enough
room ,this was left out ”sinners we all are ,can we keep going on sinning? the Lord said “if you love me keep my commandments “.
this was right after ”trust in Jesus” .in the Bible is the whole list of people
that are not going to Heaven if they are not changing the way they live in
all kinds of sin ,but that will not even safe , we have to love the Lord God
with all our heart ,soul, mind and strength ,and your neighbor [all people]
as yourself . good works or money do not bring people in Heaven.
John if you provided undeniable proof that YOUR God existed and not the thousand that humans have made-up or invented eons before I and others could take you serious and I would be one of your first converts.
Your book has been written by old men with grey beards with great cannabis near-by.
John ,the first writer of the Book or Bible was educated in ancient Egypt universities ,actually he was adopted into the Pharaoh family, a very smart man. and there was a doctor and many more intelligent people that even predicted the future ,like Israel becoming a nation again after the Jews have been all over the world for 2000 years ,happened 73 years ago.
John ,the universe is timed like your truck engine ,some planets turn clockwise others counter clockwise and with different speeds all to make life for us here on earth possible ,you think this is happening without a very intelligent being or God.
And to find out if God exist , call on God or Jesus and sooner or later you will find out that He is/was listening ,it might be a lifesaver.
Does not matter where you go on this planet you will find a culture with their own Religion or Religions. They all claim that their book or books are the true word of God! Does this not seem to you more like a man-made construct? To any logical person with thinking powers between their ears this should and would be their conclusion. If there is a deity or high-power why would they allow so much confusion on their existence on this planet? What did we have here before science? Yes Religion answered all our questions. Prove to me there is a God and I will be one of your first converts!
John if you don’t believe now ,this is what the Bible said in
Philippians 2:10-11, not to scare you,
2:10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow
– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –
2:11 and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
You did not answer my question! Maybe because you and I know you can’t! For now I will stay on the agnostic side of the fence until you can prove undeniably there is a God.
John I don’t think that I can help you ,you just have to wait .I hope it won’t be to late for you then.
it would be a most curious supreme being that would prefer to “save” a believer that does good deeds only so as to be saved, whilst condemning an agnostic or atheist that does good deeds without pretense and motivated purely by their heart.
the issue i most have with most holy book versions of “god” is that god always comes off as an egotistic, vengeful, nasty, threatening, itty bitty of a being. pretty much the caricature is an amalgamation of the very worst qualities associated with power and the pettiest humans. and certainly quite different from the undying wisdom attributed to jesus, and to much of the buddhist outlook.
Biff , God/Jesus is a loving Father and Savior ,you can read this throughout
the Bible ,but right now Satan the devil is the god/prince of this world and
together with the fallen angels the demons they make live miserable here,
God allowed this because he has given people a free will to decide who to
follow ,Jesus or Satan ,but the time for Satan is coming to an end .
[ the devil came to kill steal and destroy ]
We are waiting for Jesus to defeat the devil and bring peace on earth.
i appreciate your desire to share your belief. but surely you must be able to acknowledge that “god’s” lover as per the bible is conditional. conditional love is a human condition, and not something i would expect of the most evolved light being.
Well the “waiting” could be a very long time. Why? Simple really. Our planet founded over 4 billion years ago amidst a relatively young Universe , itself spawned life a few billion years after its birth. God waited until all this life sprouted our ancestors a few million years ago , finally emerging as an upright , almost “modern” human around 200,000 years ago .
Since then we have migrated around the planet , destroying each other and the land multiple times.
God either is indeed very patient or simply has no idea when the human caused carnage will end.
Satan on the other hand seems to be winning these battles waging for thousands of years long before Christ joined the human family a couple of thousand years ago. And they (the wars) continue on.
Stories of inspiration and virtue litter Biblical thought and Jesus along with others have inspired mankind throughout history.
The faithful accept biblical words as literal truth , that is why it is called “faith” , no matter the religion being followed.
Extracting words from the Bible to mesh with the idea of a Satan who as with any mythological bad guy, is finally defeated in the final battle is just that – a “myth”.
As stated in my first comment above, you are free to believe this story line as do others worshiping different deities but offering salvation from your focused world for all mankind makes no sense , other than fulfilling an inspirational story arc.
Keep believing if you must but continuing to reference a book written by multiple authors over a short time – line is quite simply without foundation. Nothing you have said in these comments or any of your previous letters supports the notion of an all powerful , sometime malevolent , sometimes benevolent creature overseeing his or her creation.
John ,thanks for your comments ,however it does not make cense to me ,how can anybody check if four billion years is true?
The story of Jonah in the fish ,and Nineveh was believed to be just a fable in the Bible ,until 1842 when Nineveh was discovered by a French archeological excavation in what used to be Assyria ,it has been a great and beautiful city ,was saved after they repented when Jonah warned them ,but perhaps destroyed centuries later.
And proof that there has been a worldwide [Noah] flood ,on all high mountains are seashells like clams ,
Dr Mary Schweitzer has found several times soft tissue in T-rex bones in Montana ,hard to explain for a evolution believing scientist ,75 million year old tissue and blood cells ,even 4400 years what we Christians believe is a long time . John you still remember the frogs still alive in sandstone after the same time when they were encased 20ft down in the right temp and moisture.
Have a nice day John
It’s called “science” – repeated multiple times with multiple different laboratories world wide using different techniques.
No one has said the flood has not happened but you believe, based upon previous letters that Noah’s Ark’s remains are found on Mt Arafat – completely without foundation. As to the “frog” , that too has been disproven countless times but yet you still cling to the myth. That said “sandstone” used to be “solid rock”, at least according to you.
And BTW, Jonah was “swallowed by a whale”, not a fish. At least keep the myth alive with correct references.
Your observation concerning the T. rex samples actually reaffirms science’s conjecture that these samples are “75 million” years . They are called fossils!.
The discovery of Nineveh in Iraq means absolutely nothing, other than a once great city has been unearthed and someone called Jonah once referenced the then flourishing metropolis.
Please , as others on this thread have asked, give credible examples of why you consider amongst other things that the “Christian” view is that “4,400 years” is a long time.