What do you believe? Does it matter?

[DavidM]

The bible is not only the best historical document, it is the inerrant and Spirit breathed word of God. Whoever believes that they are not bad enough for someone to have to die on the cross for them are actually fulfilling scripture, because the bible says that man boasts of his own goodness. The bible states that each man is given one death and then judgement. Do you think you can stand up to it? Look at James 2 that teaches that if you treat another with favoritism that you are guilty of sin. James isn't only speaking of skin color here. If you treat anyone different because they are ugly or poor, etc you are guilty of breaking the law of God. To a sinful man this is such a minor thing. Who wants some dirty beggar approaching them asking for a handout while they are drinking a beer? James reminds us that whosoever keeps the whole law but offends in even one point is guilty in breaking it all.

Right, this is because we as men compare ourselves to one another, but in order to get into Heaven you must meet God's standard of perfection! Jesus' offer of salvation is free an open to all. Just as the bible says it is in your heart and on your lips. How will you stand before a holy God and explain your rejection of it?

[DavidM]

To be sure, the personality of Jesus Christ has made such an impact on humanity that even after 2,000 years the impact has not worn off. Each day, there are persons who have revolutionary experiences with Jesus.

The great historian, Kenneth Scott Latourette, said: "As the centuries pass the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect of history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet. That influence appears to be mounting."

Philip Schaff adds:
"This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions that Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, He shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined' without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator of poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise, the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times."

"That ministry lasted only three years - and yet in these three years is condensed the deepest meaning of the history of religion. No great life ever passed so swiftly, so quietly, so humbly, so far removed from the noise and commotion of the world; and no great life after its close excited such universal and lasting interest."

[DavidM]

Napoleon wrote:
Christ alone as succeeded in so raising the mind of man towards the unseen that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across the chasm of eighteen hundred hears, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy. He asks for that which a philosophy may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself; He demands it unconditionally, and forthwith His demand is granted. Its powers and faculties become an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him experience that supernatural love towards Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man’s creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range.

[crisipicada]

It is important what you believe because it is the basis of someone's actions and decisions in life.

Have you come to the point of your life that you surrender your life to Him because you are not capable of planning yourself and you really need Him?

[Edwin]

There is an old saying, "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything." The same reasoning is true of what you believe, and yes it is important what you believe. One line of reasoning is that if the Bible is true, and I believe with all my heart and soul that it is, people are going to die and go to hell, and end up in the lake of fire with eternal torment because they did not take God's message in the Bible seriously. There is only one mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus. Jesus is the only way to the Father and to eternal life. It does matter what we believe because it means heaven with eternal rewards, or hell and the lake of fire with eternal punishments. Now is the time of salvation, but tomorrow may be too late, and there will come a day when it will be too late. The ones who do the will of God will abide forever. "Oh, I want to be in that number, when the Saints go marching in!"

[Sono_gioiosa]

I would say the Bible is the best translated book in the world . It is incredible accurate when it comes to history , geology , astronomy , physics , medicine , ect...

Languages change. the Bible was written in Koine Greek, but it became a dead language about 1700 years ago , and yet we have an accurate translations today. languages change Gods word never does. Heaven an earth may pass a way but my word will never pass away./ many translations because all langues change. God word endures forever.

There might not probably original Scripture that exist, it does not have an original copy because God has promised to preserve his word no matter what Heaven and earth with pass away, but his word endures forever

[mystic]

I don't know where this info comes from, but it must be corrected.

The Bible is the worst translated book in the world, not the best. Its original is in Hebrew, not Greek. Despite some tomes were lost in their original and only a Greek translation survived, they were later found (see Qumran). Some books in the Gospel were written in Greek, but the Gospel is not the Bible.

Hebrew compared to English has 10 less words. That means that every Hebrew word has 10 possible translations in English, which is also a poor language (compare to German, for example). If you calculate that a sentence has many words, you can get 1000 to tens thousands different translations/interpretations. That clears every doubt about the possibility to make a good translation, which is just impossible. Ancient Greek was not much different in the number of words.

[Sono_gioiosa]

I don't know where this info comes from, but it must be corrected.

The Bible is the worst translated book in the world, not the best. Its original is in Hebrew, not Greek. Despite some tomes were lost in their original and only a Greek translation survived, they were later found (see Qumran). Some books in the Gospel were written in Greek, but the Gospel is not the Bible.

Hebrew compared to English has 10 less words. That means that every Hebrew word has 10 possible translations in English, which is also a poor language (compare to German, for example). If you calculate that a sentence has many words, you can get 1000 to tens thousands different translations/interpretations. That clears every doubt about the possibility to make a good translation, which is just impossible. Ancient Greek was not much different in the number of words.

I believe the Bible is the best translated book in the world. I learned that the old testament was written in Hebrew and some Aramaic . It has a lot of similarities to Hebrew but when translating anything , in any language, if it has different meanings , you always go with the context of the text . The old testament is very accurate and yes the the New Testament is written in Koine Greek, but again you always go with context when translating . Some times you dont have an exact word for a translation so sometimes you have to go the best equivalent . Johh 3:16 says that God gives ever lasting life that phrase in Greek actually translate life after life and life or something like that. But if we translated that in English that would not mean anything to us . But if we translated it as everlasting life, it makes perfect sense. So the translation is not exactly what is says, but it is exactly what it means. The same thing in English in French and in Spanish the modifier comes after the word. For instance we would say red wagon in French it would be translated wagon red. So when we translate something from one language into another , you always go with context and dynamic equivalence to get the past translation . The Bible is very accurately translated.

I do not know a lot of language, I just know english, filipino, a little of spanish and some language that I try to google search . I am just thankful that someone translated the Scripture into language that I know and understand. I still have have confusion and I do believe so that human understanding is not enough but it needs the guidance of the Lord to understand what it means. And reading the Bible affects/change my life. IThe Bible corrects, convicts and have been guiding me especially when I feel down, reading God's promises heals my pain. Example, I am reminded that God will never leave me.nor forsake me. Reading the Bible, and praying for understanding what it means, gives me strength that human can not give.

When we visited my father's side in antique, I was confuse about asking us, "Nagkaun na kamo sa inyo PAMAHAW"? "Did you eat your PAMAHAW"? And they are asking that during lunch time. I answered, "Yes, we did eat our PAMAHAW". PAMAHAW in my dialect means "breakfast", in Antiqueño mean generally, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Hahahahaha, I was hungry then no body offers us lunch because we already eat our PAMAHAW.

Also when I was in Manila with my cousins at my aunt's place, I speak in my language. One time , I said, "NAGLIBOG ko aha ko musakay" Means, I am confuse where to take ride.

My tagalog cousins laugh at me. They said, "You are bad, why are you talking about that."NAGLIBOG in my dialect means, I am confuse, but in tagalog, means "I am lustful" Hahahahha. Translation is really funny at times.

[mystic]

There is a reason that it is called Holy Language. When it is rendered to other language, it's not the same meaning. It always loses.
Just to make an example, the verb "to be" does not exist in Hebrew, as it is a reserved word for God, as He is existence. But when it is translated, they use the word Lord, which suggests command, but not existence.
To fix that, in English they add the word God, which comes from good. Good is certainly an attribute of God, but the meaning of existence is lost.
Latin languages let the word God descend from the verb "to give" (Dios da in Spanish), because He is the Giver. But again the original meaning is lost.
In the Bible God has many names, to refer to His specific attributes. In the translations, you only find one word, God, losing all the rest.
If you recite a psalm, you may refer to God's arm, hearth, foot. If you cannot distinguish, how do you expect your prayers to be answered? It's a big issue. If you are going to war, you won't appeal to God's heart or mercy, you need to appeal to His arm to be with you.
Really, only if you learn Hebrew you appreciate the big difference.

[Sono_gioiosa]

There is a reason that it is called Holy Language. When it is rendered to other language, it's not the same meaning. It always loses.
Just to make an example, the verb "to be" does not exist in Hebrew, as it is a reserved word for God, as He is existence. But when it is translated, they use the word Lord, which suggests command, but not existence.
To fix that, in English they add the word God, which comes from good. Good is certainly an attribute of God, but the meaning of existence is lost.
Latin languages let the word God descend from the verb "to give" (Dios da in Spanish), because He is the Giver. But again the original meaning is lost.
In the Bible God has many names, to refer to His specific attributes. In the translations, you only find one word, God, losing all the rest.
If you recite a psalm, you may refer to God's arm, hearth, foot. If you cannot distinguish, how do you expect your prayers to be answered? It's a big issue. If you are going to war, you won't appeal to God's heart or mercy, you need to appeal to His arm to be with you.
Really, only if you learn Hebrew you appreciate the big difference.

In the Old Testament there are many names used for God. They are all legitimate but each name puts a special emphasis on the different aspects of Gods character and attributes. when I pray to God , I pray to the God of all aspects in one person.

I can use many attributes to describe a person, like example he is kind, sweet , gentle , smart, warm and obsessively neat and clean, techy etc. If i ask him to look up something about history or science or writing skills, I am thinking about the smart person that I know I am referring to, and if I need something organized , I am appealing to the obsessively neat person in.my mind but whatever aspect of him I am appealing to, it is still him.