Christian Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Bible Study Do you take the Bible literally?

"If your eye offends you, pluck it out..."

Are YOU going to take that literally? What was He trying to teach here?

Matthew 19:9

9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire./(KJV)

Why wouldn't we take that literally? Does it seem extreme? Perhaps. But then again, hell fire is going to be extreme...and eternal. The Lord would restore you before you enter heaven anyway. The point seems clear.

:thumbsup
 
As I read it in the context of chapter 18, it sounds like we are to forsake those who bring "offenses":
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
(Verse 7-8)But feel free to maim yourselves, and your spouses and children, if you really believe the Lord is directing you to do so.
If you are just trying to win a debate - it's cool.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So, the laptop battery was dying and I shut the computer off and tried to sleep.
This did not work, as I thought, "You didn't finish that post"....

My post above stands, but I have a second view of these words of Jesus:

Say I go to Jesus and say, "I can't stop looking at porn, it appeals to my eye, I can't resist it!" His response SOUNDS like, "Then pluck your eye out, problem solved, Mark."
I can HEAR Him say that! Now, if He was face to face with me, and said that, would I really think He is saying "Stick a fork in your eye so you don't look at porn."?

No, what I'd hear Him say was, "Knock off the crap, you can stop if you want to - if you REALLY can't, jab your eye with a fork." In other words, He is saying, maybe even sarcastically, "Knock off the nonsense, you CAN do better, you just don't WANT to and are making excuses."

Have none of you EVER been talked to "like a dutch uncle"? I remember making some lame excuse one time to my dad, something like I had not enough energy (at age 14 or so) to get up and do what he was telling me. He asked me if he were to slap me around a bit, would I find the energy? Jesus' words sound the same here to me - it's a call to knock off the nonsense and quit making excuses.

Jesus, sometimes, sounds like my dad. God often sounds like my dad.






Gosh, I wonder if that's why they call Him, "Heavenly Father"? :)
 
" the stars in their course fought against sisera"

the stars in heaven literally came to the earth to fight a mere man?
 
how does God have physical arms and legs and hands when he is a spirit?

26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;

God made in His Image and likeness.



how does a horse be ridden on a cloud?

10 So he said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so." 11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 2 Kings 2:10-11

Elisha saw these horses and chariots.




JLB
 
I saw a show on TV where a Church practiced their faith using the holding of and playing with rattle snakes. They took the verse from Mark 16 v 18 too literal and over the years some of them have been bitten and died. I take the Bible as God's literal Word to us but don't act out everything in it literally, seeing the difference between parables, examples and poetic description. Im told the Eye bit, so I do my best not to look at things which are offensive or in an offensive manner, the Hand one I try not to physically do things which are bad or offensive. I know a guy who used to take it all way over the top and instead of just taking his son to the doctor who was able to fix his eye problem he waited saying "no, the Lord says he will give me whatever I ask for". The eye fix was a simple op. His son nearly went blind and they "just" saved his sight in the end.
 
God gave us science for a reason, so we can discover new medicine to help people. But then again..there's Daniel 6:16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!†But in regards to OP, Luke 4:12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’â€
 
how does God have physical arms and legs and hands when he is a spirit?

26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;

God made in His Image and likeness.



how does a horse be ridden on a cloud?

10 So he said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so." 11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 2 Kings 2:10-11

Elisha saw these horses and chariots.




JLB

god is omnipresence right?meaning that If I could manage to get into the sun with its heat, he would be there.if I went to hell, he would there. a shape has limitations!!!!! in his image. so god is made of the earth too?

we have his nature in his, we are like him emotionally,. he has no flesh to him. unless you think a spirit has flesh.
 
Perhaps God Jehovah & God Christ who do indeed have an image to be seen, has God the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost) as suggested!;)

--Elijah
 
how does God have physical arms and legs and hands when he is a spirit?

26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;

God made in His Image and likeness.





how does a horse be ridden on a cloud?

10 So he said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so." 11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 2 Kings 2:10-11

Elisha saw these horses and chariots.




JLB

god is omnipresence right?meaning that If I could manage to get into the sun with its heat, he would be there.if I went to hell, he would there. a shape has limitations!!!!! in his image. so god is made of the earth too?

we have his nature in his, we are like him emotionally,. he has no flesh to him. unless you think a spirit has flesh.


25 "Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Daniel 3:25


JLB
 
that I do, but however. I want to clarify something.remember a horse has weight. if a horse has weight, then It cant naturally be on a cloud. therefore a horse in the images are NOT real natural horses . a horse could be slain and the rider rendered useless, and slain. we know that an angel can take on different forms.

sorry, that is what I mean. a natural horse is different from the angelic visions. remember the imagery jews and before see are so that they can grasp what God is showing them.

a literal natural horseman verses an m1a3 tank., who would win?
 
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;

God made in His Image and likeness.









10 So he said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so." 11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 2 Kings 2:10-11

Elisha saw these horses and chariots.




JLB

god is omnipresence right?meaning that If I could manage to get into the sun with its heat, he would be there.if I went to hell, he would there. a shape has limitations!!!!! in his image. so god is made of the earth too?

we have his nature in his, we are like him emotionally,. he has no flesh to him. unless you think a spirit has flesh.


25 "Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Daniel 3:25


JLB
let me ask you this. if jesus was in that oven, and also a saint needed him. how could be in two places at the same time?

for the RECORD I have seen demons and angels. seldom has anyone seen them with a natural eye. kindly explain that to me .
 
sigh, its not that he could or cant.its the fact that he uses what we cant relate to so that we understand. remember GOD IS EVERYWHERE all THE TIME. a shape has ends and limits. how is that possible if he has form?!!!!!!!!!

was and is jesus a LITERAL three headed lamb that died on the cross?
 
I saw a show on TV where a Church practiced their faith using the holding of and playing with rattle snakes. They took the verse from Mark 16 v 18 too literal and over the years some of them have been bitten and died. I take the Bible as God's literal Word to us but don't act out everything in it literally, seeing the difference between parables, examples and poetic description. Im told the Eye bit, so I do my best not to look at things which are offensive or in an offensive manner, the Hand one I try not to physically do things which are bad or offensive. I know a guy who used to take it all way over the top and instead of just taking his son to the doctor who was able to fix his eye problem he waited saying "no, the Lord says he will give me whatever I ask for". The eye fix was a simple op. His son nearly went blind and they "just" saved his sight in the end.

The verse in Mark 16: 18 is a literal verse.

18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

These people who play with snakes are tempting the Lord.

Paul was sent by the Spirit, and in the process of preaching the Gospel when His boat was shipwrecked.


1 Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. 2 And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. 3 But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 4 So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live." 5 But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. Acts 28:1-6


This was a literal event.


JLB
 
let me ask you this. if jesus was in that oven, and also a saint needed him. how could be in two places at the same time?

Jesus is Omnipresent.

He is the Lord God.

He dwells in all believers.

The Spirit of Christ is Omnipresent.


JLB
 
then how is it that he as shape? how is that he is arms? where is his HEAD today? in you me or whomever? what about his legs, chest, hair?
 
Back
Top