It is a Christian book written by a journalist who is a former atheist. In a nutshell he examines the evidence both for and against Christ's existence (a lot of it is through interviews with various religious experts). I haven't read it in a number of years, but I remember him touching on many of the issues brought up in this thread (which is why I recommended it). It's really very thorough and a very interesting read.

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Stephanie
Mom to: Caleb (8/03), Ian (9/05), & Lucas (11/08)

That does sound interesting. Thanks for the recommendation!

Another interesting read is The Jesus Papers by Micael Baigent. It is a fascinating read and relates to the discussion here. It discusses, in depth, the history of the church, the missing years and whether Jesus died on the cross. It is written by one of the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which is where the majority of the information for The DaVinci Code came from. The author definitely comes from the standpoint that Jesus was a man with a message, not necessarily the son of God. I've never read Sylvia Brown, but from reading through the posts, these books would give some evidence to support her claims!

There is so much confusion in the world about who Jesus truly was and confusion will exist until He returns again for His Children and/or the Holy Ghost (Spirit of the Living God) opens the hearts' eyes. Jesus was laid in the tomb, arose after 3 days as He said He would, showed Himself to the disciples and other believers, and ascended to be with the Father in heaven where He now sits on the Father's right hand, acting as an advocate for humankind. Faith has to be present if one is the believe that the Bible is the word of God and what the Bible says is true.

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll keep that book in mind.

Does anyone know which verse this is? I don't ever remember reading this. I only know of these below which are quite different from the meaning of above:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. John 3:16
The Savior, yes, the Messiah, the Lord - has been born in Bethlehem. Luke 2:11
Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13.

There's more, but I really would like to learn more about the quote regarding many paths to the Lord. Maybe the Old Testament? Thanks.

I would also like to add that this book is a quick read, not long and drawn out. I like long books too, but it is nice to have something presented in less than 1000 pages. I still have my copy if anyone wants it, but it is very reasonable priced book. I have the Case for Easter too.

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I have nothing to declare except my genius."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) upon arriving at U.S. customs 1882

I will look tonight, it was in the OT..

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"You have to live through the rain before you experience the rainbow"

Another point to remember is King George played with the text of the bible. Do we have the whole story in our bibles today? Who knows? I choose to take it, the bible on faith. If I have a question, I will and do pray to God and He answers me.

The passage that I remember from what we discussed in bible study about the many paths to god is

Genesis 17.4 " This is my convenant with you: YOu will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram, your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations..... 7 I will esablish my convenant as an everlasting convenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants."

Now Abraham is considered to be the father of Judism, Islam and Christianity. So if we are all his descendants then why can't there be the seperaism (sp). Me personally I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and if I humbly repent to him my sins and try to live my life to his word as best I can then I will be saved. But after reading the bible all the way through the one thing that was repetitive was the God would get angry that people would stray and then he would show love and create new convenants with us to make it easier for us to reach him. So who are we to say for absolute certain that there is only one way to God?
How much of what God intended us to know has been lost in translation? How much has been doctered to fit whatever a certain 'power' wanted the people to think ie King George, the Catholic church. We have to go with what He tells us in our heart and what He tells ME is that He wants His children to come home to Him and if He needs to have different 'paths' to accomplish this then so be it, it is not for man to decide which one religion is the true and correct. Just because Jesus is MY saviour doesn't mean that every Tom, Dick and Harry have to believe it as long as whatever they believe bring them to a relationship with God and to follow his laws then what really is the harm to human kind?
I think you would all know by know that I don't believe that it is our right to judge, that will come at judgement day, it is only then that we will find out who is 'right' and who is 'wrong' or if we are all 'right' in our own way after all.

Below is a quote from the website 'Honoring many paths' I thought put things very well and clearly.

Hooper cites a verse that appears in the Quran (2:136), the holy text of Islam:

“Say ye: ‘We believe in God and the revelation given to us and to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them and it is unto Him that we surrender ourselves.”

Even Judaism, which calls its followers God’s “chosen people,” does not claim exclusivity, Norry says. Judaism teaches that there are many roads to God, he says, and the phrase “chosen people” means that God chose to give the Torah to Jewish people as a light to all nations.

“But nowhere does the Torah say go out and make everybody Jewish,” Norry says.

Christians, though, are perhaps best known for their exclusive claims revolving around Jesus. Evangelical Christians cite the Apostle Peter’s uncompromising declaration about Jesus in Acts 4:12: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”

There are words in the Bible attributed to Jesus and Peter that say God accepts non-Christians, says Thomas Thangaraj, a professor of Christian Missions at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.

Thangaraj, a Christian who was born in India, says the New Testament is full of stories such as the good Samaritan where Jesus reveals to people that people outside their traditional religious boundaries are accepted by God. The Apostle Peter was forced to admit this in the Book of Acts when God forces him to accept the Roman centurion, Cornelius.

When people ask him about John 14:6, Thangaraj replies with another Scripture.

“One way I would answer is what about Acts 10:34-35 where Peter says, ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.’ “

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"You have to live through the rain before you experience the rainbow"