A
alasdair
Guest
Have you ever wondered what Heaven would be like, if you would ever get there, what you would do there and who you meet? The answers are already in the Bible! For example, Jesus raised people from the dead, so followers of Jesus could also raise people from the dead. Jesus walked on water, so followers of Jesus could also walk on water. In fact with faith, followers of Jesus could do anything.
So why don't they? Well, do people follow Jesus? – that is the first question. A careful look at the Bible and comparing it with society suggests not – after all, Jesus did not go into churches and participate in pointless traditions – in fact he denounced them and overturned the money tables and accused the teachers of the Law of hypocrisy.
Why then do Christians engage in similar behaviour to those teachers of the Law? Looking at the Bible we see that much of it was written by a man called Paul, on whose letters the modern day church system is based. Paul was not an eyewitness of Jesus, yet he sets up the church traditions and advocates payment of priests! So can someone who accepts and follows Paul be classed as a follower of Jesus?
What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? Does it mean to accept the teachings of the Apocrypha, the Pope, your priests, other Christians, historical Saints, the Apostles, church traditions, Moses and the Ten Commandments – or does it simply mean to do what Jesus says? Clearly it just means to do what Jesus says. Following Jesus is precisely that – doing what he says. So what does he say? Jesus says a lot of things, but mostly his teachings are focused on helping the poor, sick and outcasts to society. Love the Lord your God and love your neighbour as yourself. Loving the Lord includes rejection of teaching that goes against what Jesus says, and that includes the teaching of Paul. Loving your neighbour as yourself includes helping the huge number of people in the world who live in poverty; give them food, heal them, provide sanitation and clean water and proper housing. Loving your neighbour as yourself also includes teaching others to do the same (follow Jesus, reject teaching that says differently and help the poor).
It would be great if people would follow Jesus just because it is the right thing to do; unfortunately the “common sense†prejudices of society view true self-sacrificial living, love and following Jesus to be “foolish†and people overwhelmingly choose to believe in Paul (whose letters state that you don't need to follow Jesus because everything's a free gift from God). The teachings of Jesus are seen by most to be too difficult (give up what you have and follow him). Yet God will honour and help all those who follow him to the extent that they don't need to worry about where their food or clothing is coming from.
This creates a huge problem. Essentially half the world bears the sins of the other half, and the half that causes the suffering won't accept that they are doing this, and flatly refuse to follow Jesus, purely because that is the established tradition over thousands of years and because Paul says you don't have to. If you don't believe me then think about it – how many people do you know that do what Jesus says to do? Be honest with yourself. A priest might look good in his fancy clothing, but in actual fact he is being paid to teach a religion that involves directing money, time and resources into his or her own wage and into the church building – not into helping the poor.
So it is time to enact a change in society. A tsunami has been predicted to occur on the 1st of April 2007, which will kick start the end time events. Hopefully the miracle of prediction, the beginning of fulfillment of Bible prophesy and the proof shown on the website (http://worldends.co.uk) will encourage people to follow Jesus and in doing so, help those who are in suffering.
So why don't they? Well, do people follow Jesus? – that is the first question. A careful look at the Bible and comparing it with society suggests not – after all, Jesus did not go into churches and participate in pointless traditions – in fact he denounced them and overturned the money tables and accused the teachers of the Law of hypocrisy.
Why then do Christians engage in similar behaviour to those teachers of the Law? Looking at the Bible we see that much of it was written by a man called Paul, on whose letters the modern day church system is based. Paul was not an eyewitness of Jesus, yet he sets up the church traditions and advocates payment of priests! So can someone who accepts and follows Paul be classed as a follower of Jesus?
What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? Does it mean to accept the teachings of the Apocrypha, the Pope, your priests, other Christians, historical Saints, the Apostles, church traditions, Moses and the Ten Commandments – or does it simply mean to do what Jesus says? Clearly it just means to do what Jesus says. Following Jesus is precisely that – doing what he says. So what does he say? Jesus says a lot of things, but mostly his teachings are focused on helping the poor, sick and outcasts to society. Love the Lord your God and love your neighbour as yourself. Loving the Lord includes rejection of teaching that goes against what Jesus says, and that includes the teaching of Paul. Loving your neighbour as yourself includes helping the huge number of people in the world who live in poverty; give them food, heal them, provide sanitation and clean water and proper housing. Loving your neighbour as yourself also includes teaching others to do the same (follow Jesus, reject teaching that says differently and help the poor).
It would be great if people would follow Jesus just because it is the right thing to do; unfortunately the “common sense†prejudices of society view true self-sacrificial living, love and following Jesus to be “foolish†and people overwhelmingly choose to believe in Paul (whose letters state that you don't need to follow Jesus because everything's a free gift from God). The teachings of Jesus are seen by most to be too difficult (give up what you have and follow him). Yet God will honour and help all those who follow him to the extent that they don't need to worry about where their food or clothing is coming from.
This creates a huge problem. Essentially half the world bears the sins of the other half, and the half that causes the suffering won't accept that they are doing this, and flatly refuse to follow Jesus, purely because that is the established tradition over thousands of years and because Paul says you don't have to. If you don't believe me then think about it – how many people do you know that do what Jesus says to do? Be honest with yourself. A priest might look good in his fancy clothing, but in actual fact he is being paid to teach a religion that involves directing money, time and resources into his or her own wage and into the church building – not into helping the poor.
So it is time to enact a change in society. A tsunami has been predicted to occur on the 1st of April 2007, which will kick start the end time events. Hopefully the miracle of prediction, the beginning of fulfillment of Bible prophesy and the proof shown on the website (http://worldends.co.uk) will encourage people to follow Jesus and in doing so, help those who are in suffering.