"If you are a Chirstian then you presumably believe that the God of the Bible is the one true god, there is no way to heaven other than by Him, and that the Bible is his revealed word."
Yes I do, and I believe the way to God is to obey Him and worship Him in a way that suits your style, I'm not saying go round and break every Xtain law, however I truley belive God exists and he has given us free will. I therefore choose to believe in Him, choose to worship Him and choose to follow his teachings, but not to exact circumstances. I dont know 1 Xtain who does that.
"Whilst it's true that "the bible was written so long ago and social times have changed", how can one mere mortal presume to know which bits still apply and which don't? Why is it the sexual ethics that have changed? Aren't you just tailoring your ideas of which bits still stand according to modern society and your/its values?"
Society become more open to new idea, and like I said, The NT is all about agapea, and I feel that God would now be more accepting of those issues. Put it this way, he has given us this freedom and feelings, if He didnt want this to happen in society then he would make it not happen.
"When the OT books got past their initial shelf life, God sent along Jesus to give us something more. If He felt it was time for us to move beyond the Bible's teachings He would have sent along someone new for a Third Testament. As that hasn't happened, surely the rules of the Bible still apply as written. That being so, it's not your - or any beleiver's - place to pick and choose which bits you think God really meant and which bits He's not got around to telling us don't apply any more."
I believe God will soon come down to Earth, within the next 150 years and I therefore believe that these rules will be changed for modern day society.
"And it is very clear in both testaments, sex outside marriage is a no-no and those who indulge shall be punished by the Lord."
Then so be it. I choose my partner over anyone else, even God. I struggled with the decision for a while and felt that we were too young to marry (plus finances) and that why shouldn't we share everything we have with each other? What differences does it make if we slept together on the first date and married 5 years later or slept together the night of the wedding? (Can I just add, I did not sleep with him on the 1st date, it was mearly an example)
"if we are to love one another then doesn't that mean accepting social change, accpeting each other for who we are and other beliefs?"
"No, not if those other beliefs oppose the will of the Lord and refuse his redemption. The Bible is very, very clear on that."
Again, I do not know 1 Xtain who follows everything down to a tea! God is very accpeting, he shall either accept me as the believer I am, or as the the so called sinner I am.
"somewhere in the OT it says that Xtains should only mix with Xtians"
"
I find this unlikely given that Chirstians didn't exist when the OT was written. As Jesus mixed with non-believers and told everyone to spread the word, it's not only OK but there's a clear obligation on Christians to spread the Word."
Maybe it is the NT then, a friend actually told me this,
"as a Xtain I still have a lot of issues with the Bible" is a contradiction. If you do not believe the Bible to be the divinely inspired revealed word of the one true God who sent Jesus as the Messiah, then you are by definition not a Christian."
I do believe it to be, it's just, like most Xtains, we have issues with social times.
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