Ok I understand this post is going to cause controversy for anyone out there who does not believe in God or who does believe in God but are a part of a religion but im going to first start off by saying that I believe in God and I believe the bible but why is it so many doctrines and different religions have been formed from the one book? The answer is simple, confusion. If you read in ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. When I read this I asked myself why did paul pray for christians, who had faith in Jesus to also have wisdom to know him? Surely men that walked and talked with Jesus in those days didn't need wisdom to know him better but the truth is we all need wisdom to understand the truth that is christianity and what real christianity is all about. To fully understand it you must go back and start from the beginning, which in the bible is the first book of Genesis. To paint a clear picture of what our relationship is to God, why we are here in the first place and why calamities and disasters happen if God is really love. If you have ever asked yourself any of these questions then keep reading, i'll do my best to answer them.
In the beginning the bible tells us that God created the earth and everything in it and lastly God created man, Adam. God created man last because he wanted the earth to be perfect in everyway for man to enjoy. He also wanted to give us everything, even free will. So, when God created Adam God instructed him that he could eat from any tree in the garden of eden but from the one tree of the knowledge of good and evil man could not eat from because this tree would bring seperation between man and God, this is what God meant when he told Adam 'on this day you shall surely die'. God was talking of a spiritual death between man and God. Why is it that God created Adam and placed him in an environment with a tree such as this? Well, because God loved man so much that he wanted us to have complete freedom of choice. If he created man in a garden with only good choices, then why would he need free will? There would be no good or bad choice to make. So, when God gave man free will he already decided what he was going to do if man failed and disobeyed.
When Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and then tempted Adam to eat also, the bible says they suddenly were 'awakened' to there nakedness. This is because they now had knowledge of good and knowledge of evil. It was through there own free will that they chose to eat from this tree even when God told them not to and it is through our own free will that God is not in full control of the world we live in. Before this seperation Genesis speaks of God walking on earth with adam and having a relationship with him because God in all of his righteousness and perfection cannot be a part of sin and because us as sinners have inherited this 'knowledge of sin' through adam and eve, that we continue to sin against God even when we don't know we are doing it.
Sin is not a choice you make, it is a disease and the way we act and live, our 'human nature' is symptoms of that sinful disease. The truth is we all know sickness leads to death but being sick in our sins will eventually lead to spiritual death because our soul belongs to God we will return to him one day but if our soul is still sick in sin we cannot be together with him or get to heaven. When God gave his law, the 10 commandments. He wanted to show the people on earth what was wrong and right, they did not have any morals before the law was given. They only lived and carried on with there life the way they knew how, sin didn't even come into there minds. So, God gave them the law to be a mirror to them so when they look at it they can see what there faults are and see that they are indeed sick. Think of it like this, if you were walking round with dirt on your face and someone told you, your face is dirty then you might not believe them but when you look in a mirror you can see your problem and fix it. So God's law was not instructions for how we should live but it is simply there to point out our wrongs and make us realise we need to change.
The truth is though, even if we wanted to keep the law and be perfect human beings it is impossible. Even God said no man is without sin. So, how is it we can be blameless in the eyes of God? God himself says we must be pure as a lamb in his sight, this is where so many different doctrines and religions get the bible wrong, even some confessed christians claim that we must die to our sins and live a righteous life but this is through self effort and self-righteousness. The truth is there is only one way to be righteous and that is through Jesus Christ. God instructed that the penalty of sin is death and he himself came in the flesh and paid our penalty on the cross. He died for our sins but still people are in confusion to this day whether or not we keep the law or not. The truth is, Jesus nailed the law to the cross. So that when we accept him, we can forfill the law through his blood. You see, sin is the sickness but Jesus Christ is the cure. 2Cr 5:21 KJV - For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
When you accept christ you are healed and restored, you are forgiven eternally and your sins are washed clean. Nothing you can do can cleanse you from sin as much as accepting Jesus and not only accepting him but having the 'wisdon and knowledge' to understand that its through him we are saved from death and once saved there is nothing you can do to become unrighteous, even sin will not seperate you from God again. That is christianity and that is the gospel, the gospel means the good news but so many doctrines preach the bad news, or teach confusion because we live in a fallen world of confused people who are not under the control of God but are open through sin to the influence of satan. Any doctrine that does not teach the good news of Jesus is false christianity, any pastor asking for money and saying your money will get you healed or get you to heaven. DONT listen to there lies, Jesus heals willingly, he forgives willingly we do not need to do anything but believe and have faith in him that our righteousness is in him. So that we cannot boast of our own good works but of the work that Jesus done for us.
Catholics
To anyone who is a catholic reading this, I know this might hurt to hear but the pope is not Jesus or God. In the old testament high priests were appointed to take the sacrifices into the tabernacle and these men had to make sure they were clean from sin and holy enough to enter the tabernacle or else the presence of God would have been so much it would have killed them but when Jesus died on the cross do you remember what happened to the tabernacle? The robe was torn from top to bottom and it was no longer dangerous for people to be in the presence of God because Jesus deals with our sins, he makes us righteous. We no longer need to depend on men or priests to pray for us. Jesus says he has become our high priest in heaven and us as children of God are heirs to the throne of his kingdom. You don't need to pray to mary or any other saint because our prayers can go straight to God. The boundary has been broken by Jesus. Infact paul even writes and asks why do you pray to the dead, what makes you think they can hear your prayers? This isn't a personal attack, God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you but when you refuse to pray to Jesus and bow to false idols and use another name other than the name of Jesus you are denying him & God said the only sin he cannot forgive is when you deny the name of Jesus, God bless.
Its time for christians to educate ourselves in the word. Read romans and ephesians and let the truth sink in because if you understand the truth of christianity then the truth will certainly set you free, dont let satan confuse the scriptures anymore. We need our truth and knowledge to come from God, so pray for understanding and feel free to message me with any questions you might have about this post, I hope I have helped answer some questions about christianity. Might be a little off topic compared to my other posts but I thought it was important to state my beliefs and educate people a little in the truth after all I am the truthseeker.
God bless you all