We are the gods..

[/B][/QUOTE]You're right. If you don't care what I, John, or anybody else here believe, then why should we care what you think?Anyway, I have read parts of your Bible, in English and Indonesian (my native tongue), and I don't know what's missing from the original text in Hebrew. Maybe you can show me a Hebrew Bible? Can you be sure if it's the _original text_?[/B][/QUOTE]Hi Andya! I hope that i can provide a bit of an answer. John, feel free to jump in; your site is tough b/c it looks like you've run in to a lot of Christians who aren't really sure why they believe what they do but if you want to throw some specifics at me, i'll do my bestest.
The current versions of the Bible are pretty close to the Hebrew. The main difficulties lie in translating from a language with 4000-6000 commonly used words (meaning, obviously, that multiple definitions exist on a larger scale) to a modern language with a far larger, and more specific, vocabulary. For example, i (and quite a few other OEC's) take issue with the current translation of YOWM ("day" in Hebrew) in Genesis 1. In English, we have two alternate yet perfectly valid (depending on context) definitions: 'day' as in 'daytime' or 'day' as in the 24-hour day. YOWM, on the other hand, can be translated as either of the previous, or as "age/era/epoch". Obviously, this has an effect on whether one feels that Genesis contradicts current calculations of the age of the universe! It does not, however, affect the underlying message of the passage - that God created the universe and in a particular order.
There aren't a great deal of passages left that aren't widely accepted as the best (and literally valid) translation. In this case, we see 'day' in the Bible instead of 'era' because in other locations, YOWM coupled with an ordinal (first, second, etc) does refer to one day. Understandable that this became the accepted translation. In total, though, the footnotes at the bottom of a scholar's Bible will be quite forthcoming with potentially alternate meanings in any applicable passage. Read on!

John, i'm interested in your site. Do you mind discussing some of your points in a little more depth? I'll try to start w/just the first few to keep this post digestible.
1. "Focus on the trivial".
--I'm sorry that you've encountered Christians who have given you this impression. Whoever said that a haircut is related to faith? My hair got pretty long for a while, and my family and friends were sad, but only because i look really bad with long hair. I do try to refrain from profanity, though. Yeah, i know that it's a cultural thing. But i've tried saying fuck and it didn't really make me feel any better, so i've stopped. If you want to, fine, but don't let it affect the way you think about spiritual things.
2. "Good deeds are pointless...All that is required to enter heaven is a confession of faith..."
---John 3:16 is true. However, belief in Jesus and forgiveness of sins should not be construed as a license to act in any fashion b/c forgiveness is expected at a later date. If I truly believe, then i will do my best to act as God has called me, and i will require forgiveness when i fail. If you see someone who calls themself a Xtian but is acting without regard to the words of Jesus, then what is the point? Show me someone who is casually counting on this forgiveness as a license to ill, and i'll show you someone who doesn't truly believe and will therefore be in a lot of trouble pretty soon...The point is that Jesus has promised to answer for those that answer for him now.
Is there anything that you can do to distance yourself from the foregiveness of God? No...but the Bible spends a whooole lot of time talking about those who say the right thing but harbor different thoughts within. Can a child molester be saved? yes. Can you? yes. Can i? yes. The Bible said that the wages of sin are death. We have all, at some point in our lives, acted in a purely selfish and hurtful manner. Some are worse than others, yes, but if God truly loves us as His children, then nothing should separate us from what the Bible says is infinite mercy...except surface-level actions that do not represent belief!
Lots of people will tell you that they believe, and all of them will fail you at some point. You sound like you are intelligent enough to figure out which have failed because they are human and which have failed because they don't really believe...
As an aside, please note that while God's mercy is available for those who, in their heart, need mercy because they failed despite their best efforts...mercy and forgiveness do NOT imply witholding of judgement! JUDGEMENT IS MINE, God said. So while we can be forgiven, it would be foolish (and illiterate) of us to think that we will not be held accountable for our actions.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by John:
My take on the matter is that doctrines such as this one undercut personnal responsibility for one's actions. I have heard this case made point blank by Christians on too many occasions to count.[/B][/QUOTE]That's unfortunate. More to the point, this is bigger than doctrine. It's funny to me to hear both christians and non-christians argue this point. I think we often overcomplicate things. One of my favorite passages is "judge a tree by the fruit that it bears". That's God's polite way of saying "you're smart enough to know that if it stinks, it's probably shit".But what hangs in the balance is eternal life. Elaborating on the passage I mentioned above, John 3:16, shows that this is the crux of what 'salvation' means to a christian. If God did create the universe, as the Bible claims, then He needs to exist outside of the dimensions that make up the universe. This is also referenced throughout the Bible as God says that He "was and is and is to come". As an aside, you will not find another god who claims this level of extra-dimensionality. Of course, to have created Time, one must live outside of time, rather than being subject to it. That's why, I think, God made sure that the point was emphasized, and it's also why I feel justified in giving less consideration to other gods when considering the Big Bang and who said "bang".But the slowly developing point is that the Bible notes that forgiveness is only granted to those who truly repent of their wrongs and truly attempt to pursue a relationship with Jesus. I, too, have heard different people of different faiths (not just christian) say some very shallow things. I think i'm smart enough to know shit from fruit, so i'm trying to follow the fruit. The difference, to me, is that i'm not required by God to be religious (i can't stand religion). The bigger difference is that, as opposed to any other faith, I have a relationship with someone who told me that he was beaten, whipped, and hung from a wooden cross by the nails in his flesh so that he could die for (and subsequently save) thousands of people that he never met. This kind of guy, I want to know better. It starts that simply...