The operative word here is CLAIM. You either do or don't, simple.OnceConvinced wrote: For one thing, even people who claim to have a relationship with Jesus don't seem to be able to understand the bible. Nor will any two Christians interpret things the same even two who claim to have the holy spirit.
Agreement depends on may things. The most important thing is to have the infilling of the Holy Spirit. There is NO substitute for that. The second is to learn how to properly read and study the Bible. It is called Hermeneutics. Many Christians just cherry pick verses that suit their doctrine. That is called eisegesis and is NOT how to read and study the Bible. Sadly many pastor's teach doctrine and NOT what the Bible actually teaches. Regardless, how man screws things up is NOT the issue here.
Jesus gave those offices to the church for a reason. Not all Christians are of the same ilk. They are as varied as their fingerprints are. Teachers and elders have always been a part of the church/body. I have been a Christian for OVER 42 years. I would not expect a new convert to know and understand what I do but I am not a teacher or a pastor. Maybe an elder. In any event I was NOT called to be a pastor or teacher. I was a businessman until I retired. There is NOTHING simple about being a Christian. It involves faith and commitment. Please don't equivocate on what I say. It doesn't foster and kind of reciprocal respect.OnceConvinced wrote: Another thing, which is true is that if you understand something, you can then impart that understanding to others. Seeings as people who claim to understand the bible can't seem to do that, then that shows they don't understand as well as they think they do. If simply having a relationship with God was enough to understand scripture you wouldn't need pastors up the front of the church preaching. You wouldn't need to have special bible studies for new Christians. You wouldn't need study guides. Every Christian would be able to read the bible and understand it themselves and they would be unity with fellow Christians about what it says. But they don't and they aren't. Most Christians seem to need to have someone else to explain things to them.
Anything in the bible can be explained without the need for a special decoder in the form of the Holy Spirit. All you need to do is put on God glasses and look at things from a specific perspective.
As I said, if you really WANT to know Jesus I can help you, but trying to discount the Bible based on your apparent misunderstanding of people of faith, is NOT the way to go about it.
No Stan, you are not special and in with the "in" crowd. You have faith in a what a book has told you to believe. There isn't anything else. Try to deal with it rather than making up lame excuses and ridiculous claims of relationships with dead guys.
