Why did God forgive our sins?

You will know the answer to your question when you die physically, or if you are still physically alive when Jesus comes again.

So did he tell you which three were the most important personally?Or does scripture give details of the relative importance of each commandment somewhere?I am genuinely interested to know on what basis you make the claim that the three you cite are the most important 3.

Ok, this is going to get really boring, but I have to ask you why this will be so. It seems to me like we're going in circles here. I ask you why you are correct, you quote something from the bible. I point out there is no evidence for this, and you refer to this. I'm pretty sure you will now quote from the bible again, can't you see this is getting you nowhere? Unless you can provide real evidence, you might as well give up, because otherwise there's no point in me repeating time and again: "what's your evidence for this?".

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I hunt for the truth

When that famous theologian Larry King was once asked if he thought Christianity was the one true religion, he replied,"If the resurrection of Jesus is true, all bets are off!"Since you seem not to believe in the resurrection of Jesus, for you all bets are still on the table.For those who have believed and received, all bets are off.Blessings

The first commandment deals with your relationship with God (Matt 22:37).The second commandment deals with your relationship with your fellow man (Matt 22:39).On these two commandments rest all the commandments given by the law and the prophets throughout Scripture (Matt 22:40).Then Jesus gave a new commandment to His disciples, "that we love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34)This kind of love commandment cannot be understood or obeyed by those who do not know His nail scared hands and feet.

Yes, I will quote Scripture again and again, for I am just the messenger, but God's word is the message. God's Spirit is the One who will convince you, if you can be convinced.

You might as well say that if you believe the prophet Mohammed was right then all bets are off.The resurrection of Jesus Christ or the words of Mohammed can only be taken on faith.So once again I am none the wiser and in severe danger of that whole lake of fire thing (or whatever equally horrific alternative any other potentially correct religion describes for non-believers).If only God would stop with this silly, and all too easily abused, faith game he might give the majority of humanity a fighting chance at achieving the destiny he apparently desires for us.Otherwise I fear he is doomed to disappointment.Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.

OK. But I am still unclear as to whether the bible explicitly tells us the relative importance of the commandments (I was not aware that this is so) or whether the three that you have cited are your own personal ordering.If I asked several biblically knowledgeable Christians which the three most important commandments were according to the bible would they give the same answer as you did?

Somehow I knew this would be your answer. No it doesn't. It's plain and simple. You are dodging the true meaning of the scripture and supplying your own interpretation. I've looked at literally hundreds of interpretations of Matt 7:13-14 and they all agree. Jesus is talking about the narrow gate through to eternal life and the last time I checked, that meant entry into Heaven.Can you find even one translation of Matt 7:13-14 that agrees with your particular interpretation? My guess is that you can't. Until you can, your personal interpretation of Matt 7:13-14 holds no water.You're perverting scripture to suit your personal needs and you know it. 2003! That was 6 years ago! The data that I presented you with is up to date and not 6 years old.Once again you are twisting information to suit your own needs. The current rate is approximately 27 abortions per minute. Your figure of 88 per minute is outdated and can no longer be used.My refutation of this issue STANDS. Then you Sir are a false prophet. You're a real chuckle ICANT. You can play completely dumb about scripture when it suits your needs, can't you.Yes, there will be a great number of souls in Heaven, but that great number is still the few referred to in Matt 7:13-14. There will be a great deal more that will find destruction and end up in hell. Which sounds awful familiar since you are creating your own interpretation of Matt 7:13-14 that is not supported by current Christian belief. Which contradicts what Jesus says in Matt 7:13-14. So, either Jesus is wrong or you are wrong. I have and you know it. You cannot find scripture that supports your own personal claim that more people will go to Heaven than hell. Scripture, on the other hand agrees with my central statement, that more people will go to hell than to Heaven and thus the system creates more misery than it does joy.Cheers,
--Caldron68

I'm with Huntard on this. The thread has gotten stagnant.First we are told that man cannot judge God by what is wrtten in scriptures, God is above mans judgement. When I pointed out that it goes both ways, if you cannot draw a judgement from scripture that God seems to do wicked and evil things, then you cannot draw a judgment that the things God did are good.I was given an answer by Bertot that further proves my point.He says, So sure, they decide that God is good. Yet when others make a decision based on the totality of the scriptres and determine God to be evil, we are told that we are not allowed to draw such a judgement to begin with. So if they decide God is good based on the totality of the scriptures, thats ok. If we decide based on the totality of the scriptures that God is evil, we are told we can't judge God to begin with. Anyone seeing the problem here...?Seems quite hypocritical.John and ICANT are playing the "I know more than you" angle with the "My way is the right way" attitude. They basically hold to the opinion that God is good because the scripture says God is good, and how do we know the scriptures are right, well, because the scriptures tell us they are right. When a number of us show the circular logic in this and how this type of belief is not based on anything other than personal faith, we get told that we'll find out after death. Anyone that cannot see it as they do will burn in a lake of fire...of course after we are long dead and no one can verify.IMO it becomes comepletely pointless at that point to even reply to such childish arguments. Arrogance, fear tactics, circular logic, "its right cause it says its right" type of beliefs. Is this the hallmark of being Christian...? Is this the way you have to think in order to accept these religious stories and believe in God...? Personally, I don't care if it is or isn't. But, if you are a person of faith that follows blindly like this then you should care, and look within yourselves to see if this is truly the right way to have faith.I still commend Straggler, Caldron and Huntard for making an attempt to debate against such arrogant and illogical PoV's. But, it seems like it's reached a point of no return and the only way to conclude this debate is for all of us to collectively die and then reconvene somewhere in the after-life. I suggest we meet at a strip club in hell; I'm assuming there's gotta be one or two strip clubs near the Lake-o-Fire. I'll get us a table and a bottle of Grey Goose to get us started. Sadly, there is no weed in hell. Edited by onifre, : No reason given.

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"All great truths begin as blasphemies""I smoke pot. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your mouth."--Bill Hicks"I never knew there was another option other than to question everything"--Noam Chomsky

John 20:26-29 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."Your problem is that you don't believe the veracity of the Bible authors. For those of us who do, faith becomes substance, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27).Blessings

Jesus clearly declared the first commandment was the great commandment, and the second was like it (Jesus words, not mine). Then Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment, "to love one another as I have loved you." Until then Jesus had taught from Scriptures that had previously been given and written down, explaining what they really meant. But in John 13:34-35 Jesus said this was a new commandment. I do not find anywhere else in the NT where Jesus qualifies His words as a new commandment.So this is my reasoning why I believe these three commandments are the most important. If you can find better ones, go fo it.Blessings

No such thing! We do deserve the right as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to tell unbelievers what the Scriptures really say and mean. This directive has been given to us by Jesus in Matt 28:18-20. But somehow unbelievers think they can teach others what the Bible says and means without being a disciple of Jesus.

Point taken. You're right, I'm wrong. Well shit, why didn't I realize that from the beginning?Silly unbeliever that I am, I must have thought I had as much a right to an opinion as you have when you read something I try to understand it. I see now that I'm wrong and I should listen to those like you, who know more than I on these matters.Tell me though, how does one become a believer if one is an unbeliever...?Would not the unbeliever have to read the Bible first, then judge it to be good, then lay his faith on it thus becoming a believer...?So, lets see if I follow. If I read the Bible and determine, on my own, that it is the true word of God, I am right. And in turn that gives me the right to tell others that I am right and they are wrong. However, if I determine, again, on my own, that it is not the word of God, then I am wrong and have to shut up about it.So, the only ones who get it right are those that determine it is right and believe it...?And thats not a "My way is the right way" attitude...?

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"All great truths begin as blasphemies""I smoke pot. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your mouth."--Bill Hicks"I never knew there was another option other than to question everything"--Noam Chomsky

So far, so good. Then you say this. First, you can't determine "on your on" that the Bible is the true word of God.John 6:43-44 Jesus answered and said to them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day."Second, you have every right as an unbeliever to reject the Bible as God's word. But then you don't have the right to try to teach the Bible to others. That priviledge is reserved for believers.1 Cor 2:11-14 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.Third, the one thing you can do as an unbeliever is to honestly ask God to help you with your unbelief (Mark 9:24). Then God enables unbelievers to do this:John 6:28-29 Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."It's as simple and as difficult as that.BlessingsEdited by John 10:10, : added third explanationEdited by John 10:10, : No reason given.