myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
The Bible is divided into two testaments.
Yes, but it's only one story, not two. There is one page in every Bible that can be torn out: the blank one between the Old and New Testaments.
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
Under the original testament, the only path to everlasting life was to remain without sin, because the wages of sin is death.
It still is, as Paul makes clear in Romans 6:23.
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
Therefore, forgiveness of sin was critically important. This is the context under which Jesus spoke the parable above. Lack of sin and forgiveness of sin determined one's eternity at that time. Thus the stressing of forgiveness.
And so it remains.
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
But under the New Testament, mankind becomes an heir to everlasting life by accepting Jesus as one's Savior. So sin, forgiven or not, no longer controls our eternity.
Absolutely, but confession, repentance, and forgiveness is still absolutely necessary. Thanks be to God, if we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness... because of Jesus, of course.
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
The New Testament became effective and the original testament became the Old Testament when Jesus died on the Cross.
No, both are still "effective," it's just that a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect), and, on the other hand, a better hope -- Christ Jesus -- is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
The wages of sin is death -- not torture.
No one is tortured, so that's a non sequitur.
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
The only being said to be tortured day and night for ever and ever in the everlasting lake of fire is the devil.
Tormented, not tortured, and not by anyone (much less God).
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
The devil has to be restrained forever because he is a spirit which cannot die.
Oh, my... <eyeroll>
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
Any man or woman cast into the lake of fire quickly perish.
Actually, they are dead long before that...
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
Nonbelievers will die, never to live again.
Well, they remain dead for eternity
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
Believers will be born again as spiritual beings which live forever.
Likewise, believers, at the time of Jesus's return have long since been born again spiritually and are alive and in Christ even prior to their physical death from this world. When Christ returns, they are reunited with their physical bodies... and remain alive spiritually, of course, for eternity.
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
"Traditional doctrines" generally teach that mankind is born with an immortal soul which lives forever. This contradicts the Bible which states repeatedly that mankind dies, and that the reward of the saved is everlasting life. This initial false belief seals the Bible from mankind's understanding. That is, the remainder of the Bible must be interpreted to support this initial falsehood suggested to mankind by the serpent in the first few pages of Genesis:
Genesis 3:4 wrote:And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Satan lied when he informed Eve that she would live forever.
Actually, Satan's lie is clearly
not merely that she would not die, but that she would not die
that very day, as God told Adam (and her) previously in the first few(er) pages of Genesis (2:17), and that she
would be like God, knowing good and evil (3:5). This was Eve's temptation -- to be like God, knowing good and evil. And previous to Genesis 3, Adam and Eve must have been alive in the same way that they became dead -- again, on that very day -- in Genesis 3! The irony in this is that people who believe as you do don't believe Adam and Eve to really have died that very day they partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The inference would be, "Hey, they obviously didn't die, because they got up and left the Garden of Eden!" Well, they did in fact die, that very day, just like God said they would, even though they were still conscious, breathing, and walking around on the earth. So
from the very beginning, we see that death, loss of life, has
nothing to do with mere existence, that death is something
very different than simply not existing, or even loss of consciousness. And likewise,
life means much more than merely existing consciously, because it is obviously possible to be dead while existing consciously.
myth-one.com wrote: ↑Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:02 pm
Mainstream Christian theologians have incorporated the lie into their theologies for nearly two thousand years!
In light of the above, I suggest re-examination...
But of course, you can do what you want, and not do what you don't want. You are surely your own person.
Grace and peace to you.