Who Wrote The Gospels?

[headinhands]

"Matthew contains 606 of Markâ??s 661 verses. Luke contains 320 of Markâ??s 661 verses. Of the 55 verses of Mark which Matthew does not reproduce, Luke reproduces 31; therefore there are only 24 verses in all of Mark not reproduced somewhere in Matthew or Luke."

A good diagram here

are you suggesting that witchcraft needs forgiveness?

atthestroke this is what I think the truly awful thing is concerning the 'Do no harm' rule, I expect you know the rest. Does not leave any room for mistakes does it?

In Christianity we can expect to receive anything we ask for, if it is God's will. Inbuilt safety guard there.

capsium you know little of witchcraft. THis idea of "do know harm" is a christian perspective. Good and evil, the duality is your perspective, not mine.

I got that idea from someone who practiced atthestroke, what they called witchcraft. I assumed you were practicing according to the same beliefs. Forgive me, for the assumption.

hunan logic or divine inspiration

funny how divine inspiration only happens after years of trial and error. Funny how divine inspiration happens in richer countries. Funny how it looks like humans doing all the work. Would you see the design of a gas chamber as divinely inspired or is it only stuff that's fluffy?

Humans have been around for 200,000 years and we had to wait for 199,900 of them before god inspired antibiotics. He watched us dying from simple cuts and chest infections for 199,900 years before he thought he'd show us how to kill bacteria.

head I believe God is good, so credit Him with what is good.

if it is gods will, inbuilt safety guard there

Yeah, who knows where we'd be if god had healed the kids who died of cancer. God job we've got god letting them die.

Going back to divine inspiration. Why would god inspire us to produce medicines when his will wins out either way? Isn't it just a futile exercise? I'm assuming that if you get seriously ill you'll just lie down and let god get on with deciding wether you're going to live or die. I mean taking any medicine is pointless no? If he wants you to live you'll survive whatever you have, and if your time is up nothing you can do is going to matter.

God is good

How do you know he is good? How do you know anything is good?

God can work through people head. We live in the physical realm, as well as the spiritual. We eat food and can heal using medicine. God can work through people to do good.

I believe God wants us well, as 'by His stripes, we were healed'. We receive healing by Faith. Healing is not confined to physical healing either, it includes spiritual healing.

head I know what is good by God's Grace.

capsium, is it possible for people to do good things entirely by their own agency and without your god's influence?

I'd say that all good comes from God, Howard , and that it's because we are all made in God's image that we have the capacity to do good. So yes, people can do good things, and do good things all the time, without knowingly being influenced by God, but the reason they do good is that image of God within them.

That's why I can't be doing with some Christians saying that if people are not Christians they cannot be moral/do good. Everyone can do good (well, nearly....) because everyone has the image of the greatest good. The reason why they do bad as well is that the image is marred - the world is skewed from how it should be.

That doesn't in any way mean that people shouldn't take some credit for doing good. I'm not one to say that we shouldn't celebrate goodness for goodness sake, iyswim. It's wonderful when humanity does good things, and wonderful when good things are invented as before with the posts about antibiotics (without which I wouldn't be here, so always close to the bone) - there should indeed be pride in human ability and goodness. The fact that - as I believe - this originates in the fact that we are created by God doesn't take away from the wonder of it all.

Great posts capsium - keep going! Have not had time/strength to join in much but enjoyed reading :)

caps spiritual healing? What's the title of a Dr who specialises in treating spirit?

So how come god's will to help and heal tracks the wealth of a country? You've got a good chance of god helping if you're in a country that's has a good medical infrastructure, but god seems to care less if you're in Africa. Seems a bit mean. So if you really need divine intervention and god would be your only hope then forget it, because he only wants to help those who can get good medical help anyway.

We receive healing by faith

Really? Babies? Unconscious patients?

I'm confused. If it's god's will for someone to die are you saying no amount of treatment will help? And if it's god' will for them to live they suddenly need the medical treatment? What's the point of medicine if god will have his way? Does he sometimes not get his way? Because if you're saying he always does then medicine is not only a waste of time but an insult to god's will.

madhairday thanks .

head people can only healed by their Faith if they exercise Faith. The Faith I am talking about is belief in the things of God, regardless of seeing / experiencing them. If there is no belief / Faith, in Faith healing there is no Faith healing for the person concerned. Even if a person is treated by medicine I believe there is some faith involved, faith that the side effects will not harm them, faith that the Doctors have diagnosed and prescribed correctly etc? IMO it is for this reason Nocebo and Placebo effects are observed.

However of course for some Faith can take a while to manifest into physical results. Just as we do not have full Redemption in this life, we may not see full healing either. People come from different starting points, we all have natural strengths and weaknesses.

I never denied that medicine treats illnesses, illnesses have physical symptoms, that medicine can counteract. In this way I believe medicine can alleviate some of our fear, making it easier to operate in Faith. Our own bodies also have self regulating systems, which I belief shows our Divine design.

How much Faith babies or unconscious people can operate in is a bit of a mystery to me. The Bible talks of John the Baptist's spirit rejoicing on encountering Jesus and leaping for joy, whilst they were still both in the womb. The Bible also describes people still having consciousness after they have died. So a certain kind of Faith is still possible.

On the above subject I have some very early memories from when I was still a baby. I remember liking a certain dress and sitting on my Dad's knee (there is a photo of me sitting on his knee in the dress aged 6 months), wanting to sit in my swinging seat with a mobile on it (baby chair) and being in my pushchair. The first two memories are of before I could really talk, I remember wanting things, often what I thought were nice things to touch and look at, and to be certain places. These memories are images coupled with desires to be places, look at and touch things.

I said upthread I believe God wants people to be well, as 'by His stripes we were healed'. Jesus healed and rose people from the dead. Some people will not accept healing through Christ though, some people do not accept Redemption through Christ.

Zoroastrianism predates the OT, no?

Denzel Don't know much about Zoastrianism but the OT covers the beginning of time with Genesis.

Whether you believe the account is allegorical and symbolic or more factual, even if it was not written until later, it refers to the beginning of time. The account could draw from oral traditions or Moses could have received it later by Divine Revelation, it does not really matter to me, Genesis concerns the beginning of time and God, who was there at the beginning. Many creation accounts from other religions have similarities which are suggestive of an original Truth to me (I cannot remember all the details, this was something I read about over 20 years ago).

^typo. Sorry that should be Zoroastrianism

So caps when a baby dies from cancer it's because it didn't have enough faith?

So the baby rejected the healing?

So god doesn't want any babies to die? Or some to die? So god doesn't always get his way? Sometimes he wants someone to die but they don't or he wants them to live and they die? Is there a difference between his will and what he wants?

head everyone is given the same measure of Faith according to the Bible.

A baby dies when there is something physically wrong with it. I believe God wants us well, as I have said earlier. However we can still experience illness, as we live in a Fallen world.

Babies can healed by medicines and some survive against all odds. Faith could especially have a part to play in the latter. Faith could come from the Doctors, the parents or possibly the child. Some medics do describe people as having an indomitable will to live.

God's will is what He wants. But He has given us Free will. God's will comes to pass when we truly believe it and discard our unbelief, in Faith.