Do you believe in god?

[Unicorndreams24]

i have recently been thinking a lot about religion and wondering how many believe in god and also what made you come to the decision of believing?

Ah. So Jesus was a Jew, but nobody else in Judea was ?

So the Jewish revolt in CE 70 never happened ? The one where the temple was destroyed.

Yes ... but until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (except this bit and that bit??)

Google informs me that Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant, replacing the need for animal sacrifices with His one perfect sacrifice.

However, he hadn't yet been sacrificed. Jots and tittles still required, surely?

The Decapolis wasn’t in Judea per se, though it bordered it. It was a Grace-Roman region, near the Sea of Galilee- a hellenised collection of ten towns inhabited by Gentiles.

I can’t see any connection with the Jewish revolt or the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

She's right. Countries didn't have borders then, they were messy aggregates of tribal settlements. The Decapolis was, at the time, an autonomous group of ten cities under Greek and Roman protection. Their people spoke Hebrew and Aramaic, but mainly Greek.

Decapolis towns in black.

@LeaningOnTheEverlastingArms

So what was the Jewish revolt about then ?

Genuine question.

First Jewish Revolt | History & Facts | Britannica

This destruction of the second temple does seem important. Given that US evangelicals say they need a third temple for Armageddon to happen.

The Jewish idiom “heaven and earth” refers to the Temple (the place where Heaven meets Earth in the system of the Mosaic Covenant. It was literally about to “pass away” - but spiritually already had no further purpose in God’s redemptive purpose.

The new Temple, Christ Himself, was already present, before His resurrection. (see John 2: 19-22, right at the beginning of His ministry on Earth).
“Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up,”

There existed then a brief period when the physical building still stood, but the locus of meeting of “heaven and earth” had shifted to a Person.

Two “Temples”, if you will, the Temple of the old covenant still limping along in the old system, even with its torn curtain, until its destruction in AD70. And the Temple of the New Covenant, open to all, through His Body.

The book of Hebrews sheds much light on this subject, too much to rehearse here. hth

The Jewish revolt and the destruction of the Temple were not connected to the exorcism of Legion or the Decapolis.

Yes, the destruction of the Second Temple was very important, but not in connection with the matter under discussion.

Ahh. I never said it was connected to Legion, I think.

I need to read back.

:-)

Thanks for your query — I am still a little confused as to your reading of Mark 5. Mark 5 is deliberately set in a Gentile region, signalled by pig farming, tombs, Greek culture, and the Roman term “Legion.” Jews would not have kept pigs, so this is not an affirmation of Mosaic food law. The villagers’ fear is explicit in the text and arises from economic loss, social disruption, political anxiety, and — importantly — exposure to an uncontrollable divine power.

I asked an ancient historian and did a bit of reading on this query about the Jewish Revolt. The Jewish Revolt of 70 AD occurred decades later and primarily in Judea, while the Decapolis remained largely Gentile and Roman-aligned. I am not sure how it undermines anything in Mark 5?

Ultimately, it is interesting to debate historical and cultural details like this, but for Christians these aren’t the central issue. The heart of the faith isn’t pigs, borders, or revolts — it’s the claim that salvation is by grace through Jesus. These discussions can be illuminating, but they don’t ultimately address or undermine the question of who Jesus is for Christians; that this miracle was demonstrating his divinity.

No need to evangelize :-)

I did quickly check the web for maps before my post about legion, because I thought it was in the north and wanted to check. It's not.

I remember something about the location of Legion in Mark being wrong, and it was corrected in Mat and Luke. This being an evidence that Mark was not local.

But I was being lazy TBH, and never checked that aspect.

Exactly. Beautifully stated.
Thank you .

Back to the point about who does and doesn’t get into the country club.
Good Christians go to heaven, bad Christians go to hell and everyone else goes no where?

I think it's more about the order in which things occur. If you do ONLY good works, then argument is you're not going to heaven.
The belief, and the relationship with God comes first, which then inspires the way you live your life and how you act (the 'good works').

(This is, of course, assuming you believe in an 'up there' heaven, and a 'down there' hell - I don't).

It appears to depend on what sort of Christians.

Jehovah's Witnesses for example say 144,000 of their faithful go to the club. They did say everyone else would burn while the 144k watched from above, but their list of 144k names was filled up many years ago, so they changed the rules. I think it's now the 144k go up, all the other good JWs get to be servants to the 144k from below, everyone else burns.

Catholics. Unbaptized babies did go to hell, but they changed it too. Now they go to Limbo, a halfway house. More of a bowling club than a country club. See also purgatory. An annex to the club with a lot of whips and thumbsrews. All members only. Everyone else burns.

American Southern Baptists. Anyone who did not tithe 20% to the Church goes to hell. And the fully paid up members with AR15s get the bonus of being able to shoot the sinners while they burn. Extra points for every Catholic they hit. But their country club does have the best BBQ,

The Church of Trumptards ? Nobody wants to go to their country club, they only serve Budweiser. And they are already trying to burn the world anyway. Probably because they are sick of Budweiser.

The Scottish Wee Free. Even they don't want to go to their own heaven. No country club allowed. Work o' the de'il, ah tell ye.

Anglicans ? They already have their country club. Its called the home counties.

And before anyone has a go at me, prove me wrong

:-)

Heaven and Hell are another way of trying to control behaviour. As neither exist, we’ll all be treated the same on death . A nothing.

Yup. And when I was doing my de-programming from Christianity, this was the hardest thing to deal with. I think many folk do go though the 5 stages of grief when de-programming.

How on earth do Christians explain Heaven and Hell to their children - would scare them, give nightmares

I thought that was the idea.

I’ve not heard that reading before: where’s the scriptural basis for it, out of interest?

It’s my view - not everything is in a scripture

Ah, I see l, thank you for clarifying that— I’d wondered if you were querying some sort of Christian teaching from Scripture. If this is your personal view, then I imagine the answer to your question would really depend on your own framework governing this.

My view - heaven and hell don’t exist and no one goes anywhere after death but don’t expect you agree with that?

Yes, that is correct. Apologies, I understand what you’re saying now and that it wasn’t a query for anyone who is a Christian on this thread. Hopefully you or someone sharing your view may be able to answer your specific question then based on your framework.

Always interested in the views of Christians on this thread