Best christian prophecies books according to redditors

We found 151 Reddit comments discussing the best christian prophecies books. We ranked the 45 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top Reddit comments about Christian Prophecies:

u/brojangles · 41 pointsr/AskHistorians

The apocalyptic prophet model first came into vogue with Albert Schweitzer's seminal Quest for the Historical Jesus in 1906. It has become the majority view in modern critical scholarship (though not a universal one). basically it's the view that Jesus is best understood as a prophet who was predicting an imminent and radical intervention of God into the natural world. Jesus framed this intervention as a coming "kingdom" and believed (according to this theory) that basically God was going to come and smite the enemies of Israel, restore the Davidic monarchy and initiate the Messianic age. He thought this was literally going to happen within his own generation, so basically (to put it bluntly), the theory is that he was a failed apocalyptic prophet,

Some major scholars who defend this view include Bart Ehrman (Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium) E. P. Sanders (The Historical Figure of Jesus, JP Meiers' massive Marginal Jew series, Dale Allison (Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet), and Paula Fredriksen (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity. There are many others.

There are some who propose other views, though, like the Zealot theory already mentioned, and the "Sapiential Kingdom" (basically Jesus as a wisdom teacher and social transformer) proposed by Crossan and Funk.


u/larkasaur · 21 pointsr/atheism

Bart Ehrman wrote a book Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium that is a good exposition of the mainstream view of Jesus among Bible scholars, as an apocalyptic prophet.

This is not how Christians think of Jesus, they've gotten used to a Jesus who doesn't come back and they have a relationship with him inside their heads.

Bart Ehrman describes how the later gospels downplay the apocalyptic message, as it became obvious that Jesus wasn't coming back within the lifetimes of his generation.

Being a Bible scholar, analytically studying the Bible, has a tendency to deconvert people. Bart Ehrman was once a Christian.

u/jasoncaspian · 19 pointsr/AskHistorians

So a few things first. Aslan's Zealot is not, in any way historical scholarship. It's pop history that is mostly dismissed among actual historians. Similarly, O'reilly's book is likewise almost useless since he is a journalist, not a historian. While both provide some interesting facts (mostly taken out of context) neither actually present an understanding of the historical Jesus as understood by historians.

Several I'd recommend are:

Ehrman, Bart's Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium
This book is written by one of the world's most well-respected historians on Early Christianity. This is also the very first book I had to read in graduate school on the historical Jesus and it's engaging and easy to read for non-historians. It also presents the view that the historical Jesus was an Apocalyptic prophet in the proper context -- which also happens to be what the vast majority of historians believe about the historical Jesus. Ehrman is also agnostic (like myself) but he doesn't attack religion.

Crossan, John Dominic: The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant
This is another excellent book. This book like, Ehrman's attempts to pain a proper contextual understanding of the historical Jesus, but does it in a different light -- he focuses on who the man was rather than what his primary preaching message was.
Sanders, E.P.: The Historical Figure of Jesus
I'd only recommend this one if the other two have been finished. It focuses on Judaism and Christianity and the dynamics of the historical Jesus after he died and the effects he had on his early followers.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or if I can help in any other way.

u/succhialce · 9 pointsr/TrueAtheism

This is eloquently put. To add to the point of learning from freethinkers I would like to recommend some reading material. First, I would advise becoming familiar with skepticism. The ideal text for this is The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan. In order to educate yourself on comparative religion (as far as monotheism is concerned) I would recommend A History of God by Karen Armstrong. Third, specifically regarding Christianity and more specifically the NT I would go to Bart Ehrman. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. Hope this helps anyone trying to inoculate themselves to misinformation.

u/sleepyj910 · 6 pointsr/DebateReligion

>Jesus' weapon is his word.

Even if this is accurate, you are still admitting he was implying that he was a weapon that was going to divide families, and change the social order of the Jewish religion.

As a apocalyptic preacher, this fits in with his statements like Luke 11:23 "He who is not with me is against me". as well as the metaphor of the temple splitting in half when he died.

So it seems clear he was preaching revolution, regardless of violent intent.

If you want to understand some of the criticism against the character of Jesus, this book may be interesting.

>as he and the large majority of his followers were until the 3rd century AD.

Not really true, early Christians were persecuted yes, but they also were very antagonistic towards the pagan temples and libraries, and once they gained political power, they quickly eradicated them.

u/terevos2 · 5 pointsr/Reformed

> More to the point, it is a direct contradiction of 2 Peter 1:21: “No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

Uhh.. read the context. It's no prophecy 'OF SCRIPTURE'. But I would still agree that true prophecy (scripture or not) is not made by an act of human will. Neither Piper nor Grudem would say otherwise.

But we've been through this debate before. I can point to a number of instances where prophecy in the Bible (Old and New Testament) does not fit the criteria that John MacArthur lays out.

If you're interested, read Grudem's The Gift of Prophecy, which explains it fairly well. And while I have a lot of disagreements with his version, the book is still very helpful for a cessationist to understand the traditional arguments against prophecy just don't hold water.

u/Novalis123 · 5 pointsr/atheism

The gospels seem to be talking about one specific person. Who was born around the year 4 BC in Nazareth to Joseph and Mary. He had a number of brothers and sisters. One of the brothers, James, played an important role in the early Jerusalem community after Jesus' death. In fact Paul met James and talked to him. They had a number of disagreements and Paul even made fun of him. James probably didn't have a good opinion about Paul as well. Jesus from the gospels was also a follower (well not necessarily a follower, but Jesus definitely sympathized with John's teaching and he got baptized by him) of John the Baptist, who was also an apocalyptic preacher. He performed exorcisms and healings (or at least that's what the people of the time though he was doing), he preached about the kingdom of god that was about to come to earth. He might have considered him self to be the messiah, but we are not sure. His preaching of the coming kingdom of god and the possible claims to messianship were probably understood as Jesus assuming the prerogatives of a king. Which was why the Romans crucified him. He was crucified around the year 30 AD. His closest followers started claiming he was resurrected after death.

Bart Ehrmans book Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium goes in to much more details about the life and the teaching of the historical Jesus.

u/newBreed · 4 pointsr/Reformed

This book is pretty good. It gives the 4 views and then each writer critiques the other views. It's not traditional debate form but one of the few books where there is a rebuttal.

u/ziddina · 3 pointsr/exjw

Oh, about "Armageddon"... I don't know whether he'll look at these links or books, but...

"Armageddon Around the Corner - A Report on Jehovah's Witnesses" by William J. Whalen. This book was written IN 1962 - which will hopefully give him a flaming clue about how long the Watchtower Society has been yowling that bit of fear-mongering propaganda:

https://archive.org/stream/ArmageddonAroundTheCornerWhalen/Armageddon_Around_The_Corner_Whalen_djvu.txt

"Armageddon Now: The End of the World A to Z" - he can preview this on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Now-End-World-Z-ebook/dp/B004QWZ9EK

Jehovah's Witnesses show up several times on this list, as well as the origin of that idiotic Watchtower Society expression "Meat In Due Season":

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_of_the_end_of_the_world

Wikipedia's version of that list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events

https://www.insider.com/apocalypse-end-of-world-predictions-theories-2019-1

There's plenty more where those came from...

u/TimONeill · 3 pointsr/AcademicBiblical

A great book to start with is Bart Ehrman's Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium . Or you could try Paula Fredriksen's From Jesus to Christ. Either one is an excellent introduction to the subject with a good guide to how we can glean information about ancient figures like Jesus from our usually biased sources. Unlike Carrier, both are non-Christians but without the crippling anti-Christian bias that warps Carrier's work. Always beware of ideologues.

u/REVDR · 3 pointsr/spiritfilledbelievers

For a pretty comprehensive book on the how the Holy Spirit is taught throughout the Bible and has been viewed throughout the history of Church, your one-stop-shop is Anthony Thiselton's The Holy Spirit: In Biblical Teaching, through the Centuries, and Today. One comment has already addressed Dr. Gordon Fee, and he is another go to scholar for doctrine related to the Spirit. Any of his books or commentaries would be good.

For more accessible material, Billy Graham actually wrote a little book on the Holy Spirit serval years ago that is pretty straightforward and helpful. Also, Francis Chan and J.D. Greear have written more recent books on the Holy Spirit.

To better understand the spiritual gifts I would recommend the works of Wayne Grudem or Sam Storms, as well as D.A. Carson's exposition of 1 Corinthians 12 -14.

If you would like a sermon series to listen to, I found this podcast helpful.

I hope that helps!

u/kent_eh · 3 pointsr/atheism

Specifically,

>Ehrman proposes that Jesus can be best understood as an apocalyptic prophet--a man convinced that the world would end dramatically within the lifetime of his apostles and that a new kingdom would be created on earth.

A real flesh-n-blood person. Not a divine being.

Read all about it here

u/TruthWinsInTheEnd · 2 pointsr/Christianity

Here's a really good book on exactly this question. Note: it's written by Bart Ehrman, former evangelical, now agnostic. He's a well respected theology professor though.

u/captainhaddock · 2 pointsr/Christianity

Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium by Bart Ehrman, secular New Testament scholar.

u/slothchunk · 2 pointsr/funny

Although it's beside the point of the joke. Most historians of this topic would probably not laugh, believing Jesus not to have actually been a Christian:

http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Apocalyptic-Prophet-New-Millennium/dp/019512474X

(A popular book on the most well-accepted scholarly beliefs about Jesus)

u/Ibrey · 2 pointsr/Christianity

I believe Ehrman's main book on this is Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium.

u/VIJoe · 2 pointsr/history

Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium by Bart Ehrman

It's been a few years but I recall it being pretty enlightening at the time. I never really bought most of the critisism of Aslan's book. It might be because both this book and Aslan's had kind of the same take - Jesus as a figure far outside of the mainstream and more a Revolutionary than a Shepherd. (Speaking of Shepherds - if you want to enjoy a completely non-Historical but insanely funny story of Jesus, try Christopher Moore's Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.)

u/Delk133 · 2 pointsr/Reformed

> Where in the New Testament does it say that a church should have a prophet?

"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." - Ephesians 4:11-14

That's the general biblical background that most people appeal to. Notice that it says these 5 roles are needed to equip the people for service until we all reach unity of the faith. We ain't there yet.

> How do you decide who should be a prophet exactly?

I'd direct that same question to the evangelists, pastors, and teachers. How does a church decide who fills these roles? It's the same verse that literally states the same need. In general, cessationists draw a line after the first two and say we need the last three.

> When you say speak the words of God, I assume you aren't just talking about reading the Bible out loud. Are you suggesting people can add to the Bible?

This is basically an argument that misrepresents the gift of prophesy. I'm sure you don't mean that, but if you're interested in a full theological deep dive in this, Wayne Grudem's The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today provides pretty good clarity. When Paul said he wants all to prophesy, he isn't asking for a company of Bible writers. He's looking for a group of people that supernaturally demonstrate "God with us" in such a clear way that even the lost fall on their faces and proclaim that God is really among here (1 Corinthians 14).

That can happen from the Bible being read out loud. But I've seen it happen when I spoke out what God put on my heart and it lead to someone coming to Christ. Basically God showed me that a person in Starbucks was an artist and that God wanted this person to come to Christ so that He could paint the beautiful picture of the Gospel through him. The short story: my wife and I saw a guy who we felt like we needed to share Christ with and asked our friends for prayer. One of our friends texted us a name we should ask the guy about (word of knowledge). It was the name of the dude's very good friend who was moving into town soon (opened his ears to receive the Gospel). I shared that I thought he was an artist (he sat up proudly and said, "as a matter of fact I am") and we shared the Gospel with Him and what I was seeing. He said he wanted to receive Jesus now - we prayed, laid hands on him and asked the Holy Spirit to fill him. We asked him if God said anything to him while we prayed. He had a soft look in his eyes and said, "Jesus loves me very much". The guy then shared that a lot of his friends are suicidal and he didn't know how to help. He's now shining for Christ in a dark place simply from a word of knowledge and prophecy.

Note, this isn't adding to Scripture. This isn't replacing the Bible. It's simply demonstrating the person of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in such a way that lost souls come into the Kingdom. This is prophecy. This is what Paul wants us all to be doing.

> How do you know if someone is speaking for God? What if they are actually being demonically possessed or they are secretly a charlatan or something?

Read 1 Corinthians 12 - are they proclaiming Jesus as Christ? The same Jesus we worship? Test the spirits. Do you have a "holy hunch" in a given situation? This requires discernment and the big question is: are they glorifying the resurrect Christ and His powerful Gospel? Or is about the person?

> Do you explicitly share the Gospel when you evangelize? Or do you just tell them that God wants to talk to them?

Absolutely! I'm a Baptist - we pride ourselves in the ability to articulate the Gospel, lol :p. I explicitly share and proclaim the Gospel using words and very simple analogies. However, I believe the Gospel presentation coupled with a demonstration of the Holy Spirit's miracle working power tends to "seal the deal" a lot faster than talking it out. So I try to find where they are sick or dead and ask Jesus to heal or raise what is crushed. Jesus is a healer and I want the lost and dying world to know He is such.

u/cyoreligion · 2 pointsr/Christianity

I recommend you read Dr. Bart Ehrman if you are interested in this subject.

https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Apocalyptic-Prophet-New-Millennium/dp/019512474X

u/Secret_Lies · 2 pointsr/KrishnaConsciousness



There are magnetic pole shifts and there are crustal displacements in which the entire surface of the Earth moves in one solid piece over the core - like the chocolate could move over a cherry.

Many falsely suggest there have been no pole shifts for 780,000 years, but the evidence suggests the last pole shift was just under 13,000 years ago. North America had an ice sheet down to what is now about 38 degrees latitude, while Siberia - even in areas now at 70 degrees latitude - was warm and had lush vegetation and huge herds of mammoths and rhinos and other animals similar to ones on the African Savannah today - because the North Pole was near Hudson Bay. It's sudden relocation to the current position caused the Pleistocene Extinction, the desertification of Egypt, and very likely the destruction of Atlantis, just as Plato described.

Bands of ancient coral criss cross the Earth, revealing ancient equators that cut right through the Arctic and Antarctic. Lava flows have magnetized ions in the iron rich rock that shows where the pole was when it solidified - and some show Magnetic North was moving up to 6 degrees per day! Mammoths have been found flash frozen with summer flowers undigested in their bellies, and never thawed out since. Ancient legends describe previous civilizations in destroyed original homelands with few survivors escaping. Yet the truth of this cycle of periodic cosmic catastrophes is mostly hidden from us because it would cause panic and chaos if everyone knew such an event was due again in the early 21st century.

Many prophecies warn us of such an event happening again in the near future. Nostradamus has a few sentences about it - but the Bible has much more prophetic material describing it. Bible prophecy also indicates that all end times prophecy will be fulfilled for the generation that witnesses Israel reborn (1948) as a nation; and since a generation is typically 70 years or at best 80, we are told, if their is unusual strength - perhaps we should focus on the possibility of all such events happening by 2028. (This would coincide with the end of Nostradamus' timeline - for he warned of 27 years of escalating conflict between Islam and the Christian West, culminating in WWIII and a pole shift - apparently from 2001-2028.) The Bible has many verses describing previous pole shifts and future ones, from Genesis to Revelation.

Isaiah 13:13 "I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place."

Isaiah 24:1 "Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants."

Job 9:5-6 "It is God who removes the mountains, they know not how, When He overturns them in His anger; Who shakes the earth out of its place, And its pillars tremble."

Psalms 46:2 "though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea."

Haggai 2:6 "For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land."

Revelation 6:14 "The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places."

Revelation 21:1 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away..."

...and many more...

I am not the first to point this out, but I have put together all the evidence I could find in magazine articles and books, with much more detail, including:

Pole Shift: Evidence Will Not Be Silenced


https://www.amazon.com/Pole-Shift-Evidence-Will-Silenced/dp/1986785130

u/EmoHaircut · 2 pointsr/OurFlatWorld

I'm new to this subreddit as well. One must tread carefully when discussing this topic it seems. Though personally I really don't like the term 'Flat Earth', A Geocentric / Ptolemaic system would be more accurately defined. Generally I'd rather trust published authors rather than a convincing Youtube video. On that note however there are a few people I've taken interest in throughout my learning process. Dave Murphy, Eric Dubay, Mark Sargent, Rob Skiba, ODD TV, (all of whom have many skeptics, but I guess you will when discussing such a controversial topic such as 'Flat Earth'). Regardless there is a lot of information on this subject, I'll post some books below to get you started.

https://www.amazon.com/100-Proofs-That-Earth-Globe/dp/1523463317

https://www.amazon.com/Zetetic-Astronomy-Earth-Not-Globe/dp/1537084798

https://www.amazon.com/Zetetic-Cosmogony-Conclusive-Revolving-Stationary/dp/1534909184

https://www.amazon.com/Zetetic-Astronomy-Earth-Not-Globe/dp/1523612126

https://www.amazon.com/Atlantean-Conspiracy-Final-Eric-Dubay/dp/1304634396

https://www.amazon.com/Flat-Earth-Clues-Skys-Limit/dp/1523851430

https://www.amazon.com/Babylon-Rising-updated-expanded-First/dp/1492170097

https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Conspiracy-Societies-Descendants-Humankind/dp/1632692902

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Inception-Satans-Psyops-Armageddon/dp/0998142646

https://www.amazon.com/Zetetic-Astronomy-Earth-Globe-Forgotten/dp/1605064173

https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Beyond-Poles-Physical-Continuity/dp/0986130532

https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Enlightenment_of_the_World_by_John_G.html?id=SnNAQwAACAAJ

https://books.google.com/books/about/Adrian_Galilio_Or_a_Song_Writer_s_Story.html?id=FFsRPAAACAAJ

https://www.amazon.com/Eccentric-Lives-Peculiar-Notions-Michell/dp/0932813674

https://books.google.com/books/about/Foundations_of_Many_Generations.html?id=YriTnQEACAAJ

https://archive.org/stream/william_carpenter-is_the_newtonian_astronomy_true_201612/william_carpenter-is_the_newtonian_astronomy_true_djvu.txt

https://www.amazon.com/Kings-dethroned-Hickson-Gerrard/dp/B01FA690L8

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2a2OO8hd8iMa0F2c3M5bDlhMVE/view [Midnight Sun, The (A. Smith) (Handwritten).pdf]

https://staticearth.wordpress.com/learning/library/



u/mhornberger · 2 pointsr/politics

Eschatology, theological beliefs regarding End Times in whatever form, is not exactly new in Christendom. The Rapture is the most common modern formulation of the belief, but The End has been pretty nigh for a couple thousand years.

In either case, the book I recommended lists more sources, and goes into more depth about what Evangelicals and other rapture-believing Christians say they believe. Whether their beliefs are "really" Christian or not is a matter of opinion, but I don't delve into saying who isn't "really" Christian. If they identify as Christian and believe that the Rapture is immanent, to me that counts. And as best we can tell, there are tens of millions of Americans who believe this. Among Evangelicals in particular, it is entirely mainstream.

u/mlbontbs87 · 2 pointsr/Christianity

I recently studied this issue, and the books I read to help me were Jack Deere's Surprised by the Power of the Spirit and Wayne Grudem's The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today (Pro) and John MacArthur's Strange Fire and BB Warfield's Counterfeit Miracles (Con). Of those, suprisingly MacArthur's was the most helpful. Strange Fire speaks very directly to your impressions of New Age spirituality in the charismatic movement.

u/uncovered-history · 2 pointsr/exchristian

Absolutely. There's a few I'd recommend. The first is a very basic book. I read it when I was studying early Christianity during my bachelor's (I am a historian and have a BS and an MA in historical studies). It's called Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. It's a very well respected book and many universities across the country use it for intro level courses into textual criticism of the New Testament. (Textual Criticism is historical term for examining the bible through the lens of a historian, looking for history, rather than for spirituality). My best friend who has an MA in theology from Iliff School of Theology read it in one of his first courses. It provides a very easy introduction into understanding what historians have known about the New Testament for the last century.

If that doesn't seem appealing, I can also recommend a number of other books that are awesome too.

Please let me know if you have questions. I am passionate about it and love discussing it with people. I'm also not a pushy atheist. I don't try and de-convert people. I just think that if people want to remain Christian, they should be educated about New Testament history.

u/brownestrabbit · 2 pointsr/PostCollapse

Isn't that the title of John Michael Greer's book?

LOL.

Stealing much?

u/MagisterHerodotus · 2 pointsr/AcademicBiblical

With all due respect to psstein's post, I cannot endorse his syntopic problem list. For sure read Goodacre, but read it knowing that it is highly contentious and still not accepted by the majority of scholars. Streeter is a light and easy read, but he is outdated, having written almost 100 years ago. Farmer's theory, too, has few adherents, and the other two are redundant if you just read Goodacre.

My suggestions include first this article. This will quickly get you caught up on the basics.

For books, Pheme Perkins' Introduction to the Synoptic Problem is a great beginner's guide. I heartily recommend it before diving into the particulars of each major theory.

Speaking of major theory, Kloppenborg's Excavating Q is right up there as the most important book on Q. If you want to understand 2ST, start here.

psstein has it covered with Historical Jesus, though I would also recommend Erhman's Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium.

For textual criticism, you'll want Metzger's Textual Commentary on the New Testament for sure, but do check out Tov's guide on the Hebrew bible while you're at it. (Older version is cheaper.)

u/ErikMuskrat · 2 pointsr/books

I think
Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium by Bart D. Ehrman could be what you are looking for. The author tries to answer the question: approaching things as a historian, what can we say about the life and teachings of Jesus. There's also a series of Teaching Company lectures that cover the same material.

u/amazon-converter-bot · 1 pointr/FreeEBOOKS

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u/lymn · 1 pointr/DebateReligion

Hello!

Just because there is no evidence that any religion has it right doesn't mean there is no God.

  1. But it is a least feasible that the universe has a self-sufficient cause in itself, but even then there could still be god. Of course, he's not the kind of God you pray to for a new bike, or even pray to forgiveness for stealing a bike. God would be more like an epiphenomenon of the universe or maybe something that undergirds causation if you think one state of affairs is insufficient to bring about another state of affairs.

  2. Ummm, I study brains and humans are pretty fucking special

  3. Living things are made of the exact same stuff non-living things are. In fact, if you made a non-living thing that could take in chemicals, synthesize molecules, incorporate those molecules into it's own body and excrete waste products, I would call that a living thing.

    I urge you to not completely discard your Christianity. Jesus became a myth creature only later, there was a real jesus who did actually say some profound stuff. So i'd recommend you look at what practices and teachings you had during your Christianity and maintain some of them, but for different reasons than formally. Oh and if you are intellectually curious as to what Jesus actually said and actually believed I'd recommend The Gospel of Jesus, which has an interesting take, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium, which is more historically rigorous, and the Five Gospels: What did Jesus really say?, which is a good reference book on the historicity of individual biblical Jesus quotes

    Oh and ---> Christian Deism
u/jemimapaul · 1 pointr/audible

Wonderful to know that you love books about children's afterlife experiences. I will be running a free Kindle promotion for "Snatched Up to Heaven" from April 28th-30th. If you are interested you can download a free ebook on those dates. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079MWM1M6/

u/Tsegen · 1 pointr/DebateReligion

>Of course that's not the only viable translation...the purpose of posting that verse was to remind/establish the claim of corruption and that the translation implying it has backing from the other verses of the Quran.


It is about corruption if I agree with your translation. If we go with the other translations it's about establishing Mohammed's prophetic credentials and continuity with previous Scriptures.

>If you accept that there is historical evidence for corruption in the Bible and that they twist/abuse the interpretation then what is your issue with that translation?

  1. We have multiple translations that don't add what Sahih international does, which raises the suspicion that it is adding it to serve its theological needs.
  2. This is just a basic error of logic or not listening to what I said: the fact that I think the Bible has problems doesn't mean that I think that the Qur'an says that the Bible is lost or it doesn't contradict certain Islamic theological claims.


    >The claim wasn't it was lost forever so you are arguing against something that wasn't even claimed again.

    You're going to sit here and say to me that Muslims don't claim that the Injil is lost?

    And yes, I don't think that the Qur'an ever says that the books it describes are lost. That's my entire point!


    >Which fits very well with the unknown authors of the Bible messing with it, likely to convince Jews and force Jesus to fulfill various prophecies. 2:75 is reasoning that if a party of them heard Allah's word before and tampered with it even though they understood it, why would they believe in what is simply more of Allah's word?

    I already dealt with this here:
    >The Qur'an will that "there is a party of them who distort the book with their tongues" (Q3:78) (note that this is not the textual alteration form of tahrif -of which there are four) but it also says that there is a party of the People of the Book who are upright and follow the revelation and do not sell the book for a miserable gain (Q3:113, Q3:199). What are they following if it's all lost?

    The basic point remains: there is no global loss. Some people who know the context distort it.

    The verse never situates this in the time of Jesus btw.


    >Who said they are gone?

    Muslims. Muslims are the ones who claim that the Injil is not the Injil that we have but is lost.

    and you. Did you not say:
    >Yes we can as nobody has the Gospel in the first place

    How is that different from the Gospel being lost?

    > Once again you ARE arguing as if the Quran claims all of it is lost, which doesn't even make sense as the verse right there says there is a party of them or in the other verse "So woe to those" or "woe to their learned people" not to mention the verses already posted. The translations with parts of the message would obviously be considered still there as it's not like the message is completely different especially as regards Jesus words, but then you get into interpretation.

    I mean, I don't think that the Qur'anic author thinks they're lost, given that he told them that Mohammed was in those Scriptures. I think Muslims have had to say that they were totally lost because, well, Mohammed isn't in Jewish and Christian scriptures, any that we have anyway.


    I think the Qur'an thinks that Jews and Christians still have them and that's a problem since their Scriptures as we know them don't back him.



    >Of course it matters, if it's true/false then we'll have to rethink our whole approach and in reality if it really didn't matter then this never would have been brought up.

    I've explained to you my position.

    >The Quranic claim isn't all that different than what historians claim. If we look at it in general it's claiming there has been tampering to the previous scriptures. That verses are being twisted, which is a bit more subjective, but Jesus pbuh words vs the doctrine is contradictory and has been demonstrated more than enough on this sub.

    Accepting that the Qur'anic claim coincides with one particular historians' claim is not the same thing as accepting the rest of the claims of the Qur'an or its credibility.

    The issue is why should I trust the Qur'an here either, when it contains stories that are even older and just as legendary, unless I just stipulate from the beginning that it is the word of God?

    The Bible was compiled later than claimed, sure. It was edited, sure. But the point is that the Qur'an tells them to judge by their books and the books that we know they had are not the books that back Qur'anic teachings.

    moreover, you want to cite the scholars here on Biblical editing or corruption but not so much when it says that the Christian books that share miracles with the Qur'an are the older, heretical ones.





    >What do you mean "their structure is not as doubted"?

    When we say "the Bible" or "the Torah" or "New Testament". By the sixth century we know what books are in the Bible/Torah/New Testament, we have manuscripts of those books and so on.

    If you said: we don't have a 400BCE copy of Genesis...you'd be right.

    But, by the time of Mohammed, we know what these books are like. So when Mohammed is telling people to judge by books they have...we know those books don't support his claims.


    >The books are lost claim is a strawman. Which verse(s) are you using to claim the Quran says they are lost? Your claims are contradictory at this point especially when you just posted about "alteration" mentioned in 2:75.

    So your tactic is to take my argument, agree and then complain that I am strawmanning a claim that you made (no one has the Gospel)?

    Have you lost the thread?

    >Which scholars? The kind that push blatant liars or willful ignorance as mentioned by Ehrman? It seems pretty obvious that if he meant in his lifetime he wouldn't be talking about another to come.

    Ehrman's problem is with fundamentalists. You take his criticisms of them to mean that he has a problem with biblical scholarship generally and that's just false.

    Ehrman himself is one of the scholars who dates Mark at 70AD and Paul at 50AD no matter what he says in his debates with fundamentalists so you should take the issue up with him as well if you now want to claim that he's a blatant liar.

    You may not know this, but he wrote an entire book titled: Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium where he posits that Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher expecting the imminent end of the age and that people like Paul also expected the new world within their lifetimes.

    The man you are citing disagrees with you.
u/BOOOOOOOOM · 1 pointr/TrueChristian

> still hold post-Jesus.

Why wouldn't God's blessings still hold post Jesus? Jesus was a fulfilment of what the Old Testament was all about but the promises made to Israel are forever. If you are interested you should check out Joel Richardson's book that goes into way more detail than you'll need to put to rest the first 3 things you pointed out - https://www.amazon.com/When-Jew-Rules-World-Really/dp/1938067711

u/ZakieChan · 1 pointr/atheism

The Jesus historians study. The apocalyptic prophet who was from Nazareth, baptized by John the Baptist, and crucified by the Romans.

[Here is a book ](
http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Apocalyptic-Prophet-New-Millennium/dp/019512474X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412194172&sr=8-2&keywords=apocalyptic+prophet)by a very well respected New Testament historian (who is also an agnostic), which is about the historical Jesus, and how/why we know certain things about him.

u/video_descriptionbot · 1 pointr/4chan4trump

SECTION | CONTENT
:--|:--
Title | Rob Skiba identifies the Antichrist from Scripture and a potential Omega Plan
Description | This is a segment from the fourth teaching I did in Oklahoma back in January of 2016. This section covers material from chapter 3 of my book, Babylon Rising: And The First Shall Be Last, which is available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Babylon-Rising-updated-expanded-First/dp/1492170097/
Length | 0:46:22


SECTION | CONTENT
:--|:--
Title | Truth - (proof) two bloodline on earth Rob Skiba
Length | 1:21:50


SECTION | CONTENT
:--|:--
Title | 3. Return of the Nephilim In the Last Days-Transhumanism,GMO,Cloning-Rob Skiba
Description | In the third part of Rob Skiba's presentation, we look at the correlation between the genetic corruption of the days of Noah, and our modern times.
Length | 1:01:49






****

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u/cv512hg · 1 pointr/ChristopherHitchens

Hitch could have even thrown in the incompatibility of Jesus' teachings and capitalism.

On Hitches points in that video, heres a good read:

https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Apocalyptic-Prophet-New-Millennium/dp/019512474X

u/ChromaticDragon · 1 pointr/RadicalChristianity

A while ago someone lent me a book that really helped me firm up my views on the matter: Four Views.

I strongly recommend it.

u/rocknrollchuck · 1 pointr/RPChristians

> Physical: Since joining the gym I've been hitting it Monday, Wednesday, Friday going up on the weights which is awesome. No losing weight.
>
> Diet has been lots of rice, chicken or beef, eggs, soups, peanut butters, dried fruits, trail mix, and jerky.

​

This is excellent. You're on the right track to build muscle, and eating as clean as you are it will be mostly muscle with very little fat.

​

>No porn, weed, cigarettes, fornication, or anything to note which is great progress from this time last year.

​

So it sounds like you've made huge progress here which is awesome! Great job, any tips to share with others who may be struggling in these areas? Did you go cold turkey or did you gradually remove these things from your life?

​

>No girlfriend to note and the young lady I talk to is in Trinidad so there's no way to go to far phycsically with her

​

Ok, I thought you lived nearby. She's not thousands of miles away is she? (I'm not asking your to doxx yourself obviously)

​

>It's been trial by fire to control my sexual desires.

​

Did you see this post? There's some great helpful advice in the comments on controlling sexual desires.

​

>So I have been telling you about the girl from Trini that I like. Well for context, I've wanted a large family of about 5 or 6 for years now. She also wants the same thing. Sometimes I get ahead of myself and start saying things like imma put a baby in you. Imma marry you and just very aggressive language. She responds very well to this but here's the back draw.

​

Ha, slow your roll Rambo.

​

>Last night before I called her I thought it would be wise to get counsel from my minister. So I did. needless to say I was advised to slow my role, meet her parents, just hang out and get to know each other because after you're married is too late to get to know each other.

​

This is wise advice.

​

>I call her we chat about the regular stuff I ask about her day she loves to hear me talk about mine and we do that for about 20-45 minutes. next thing I hear is "talk to me" I was sarcastic and said clearly we haven't been talking for the last 45 minutes. she repeats and I say the same thing.

​

I think she wants you to ask more questions so she can talk. That's what most women really want is to talk while someone listens who is actually interested.

​

>I get no response and hear get to the point.

>I usually have a great attitude out of her but this was out of the blue for her so I say i like your other attitude better.

>I guess she wanted me to talk about marriage and family with her but I was trying to have fun. I mentioned something a few days ago about I had some ideas to run across her but I never did so I guess I was expected to go there but I honestly can't read minds so all I know is I'm dealing with an attitude and somethings up.

​

Nope, she wants to know that you "get it." Ask more questions, let her talk more.

​

>I do struggle with living up to my father's expectation. I'm advised to look for a younger girl that's pretty and lives close by but I only have girls in my church that aren't so young or close by and not always interested in me so I do struggle with his expectations of me.

​

No matter what his "expectations" are, every father wants a son he can look at and be proud of. Focus on making your heavenly Father proud first and your earthly father will no doubt be proud of you as well.

​

>I have mastered AA. No to AM and NI. No to STFU and yes to DNGAF i think i have too much DNGAF so please advise if there is such a thing. I think I pass fitness tests and fail comfort tests. I've gotta brush up on those again.

​

Too much DNGAF is when you just don't care. If that was the case, you wouldn't be asking so don't worry about it. Just keep working on the rest and you'll get there. This stuff takes time and practice.

​

>The only place I feel pressure to act from is in God's way. I work in a hospital and am literally surrounded by TONS of attractive women some who are really receptive and flirty with me so it's extremely hard to control my desires. I haven't done much flirting talking to them but my mind still wonders and I literally imagine myself banging them from the back until I can catch myself and tell myself no and to focus and try to build something with this girl in trini with the same religious and family beliefs as me.

​

Why limit yourself? Why not date some local women and see if any of them are good candidates for marriage? Oneitis prevents you from having abundance mentality.

​

>My mission isn't solidified but I got a post from last week's OYS to look at I started but I've gotta do the work in the post. my mission does extend beyond the home and My pastor is discipling me. I'm not discipling anyone else as of yet.

​

Start with writing a basic Vision statement and develop it from there.

>Haven't talked to any of my non christian friends about God but I think now is a great time to start.

​

Watch those videos I shared with you and learn the basics of sharing the Gospel biblically, otherwise you will end up with something that looks like "Hey, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life" which isn't biblical.

​

>And I could use work on prophecy.

​

Check out The Book of Signs by Dr. David Jeremiah, he's solid.

u/ExMennonite · 1 pointr/atheism

If you believe that Jesus is 100% mythical, I would like to present Barth Ehrman, a highly respect HISTORIAN who has spent a great deal of his career on separating the myth of Christ from the reality.

He is just one of many HISTORIANS who work on things like this. They have a wide variety of tools for the work of separating myth from history. Are you aware of any of them?

Here are some of Bart's books:

http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Interrupted-Revealing-Hidden-Contradictions/dp/0061173940/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278421235&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Apocalyptic-Prophet-New-Millennium/dp/019512474X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278421235&sr=8-4

http://www.amazon.com/New-Testament-Historical-Introduction-Christian/dp/0199740305/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278421235&sr=8-8

You may also want to check out "the Context Group" -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Context_Group

Here are some of their books:

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Galilean-Shaman-Anthropological-Historical-Perspective/dp/0227173201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278421621&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Peasants-Matrix-Mediterranean-Context/dp/1597522759


Now it's your turn -- please present scholarly and respected sources for the idea that Jesus is 100% myth.


I can help you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Doherty

http://www.thegodmovie.com

http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Puzzle-Christianity-Challenging-Historical/dp/096892591X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278422009&sr=8-1

These people DO have an ideological ax to grind. I'm not buying it. Mythical? Of course. 100% myth? Nope.

u/craklyn · 1 pointr/AskHistorians

> Erhman's main point is that Jesus and his followers were Apocalypticists.

Are you sure that was the main point of "Lost Christianities"? I read it in 2007 and don't have my copy accessible right now, but I found this interview with Ehrman about the topics covered by the book. It talks about alternative Christianities such as the viewpoint of Marcions, Ebionites, and Gnostics.

Is it possible you're thinking of "Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium", by the same author?

u/DomoArigato7 · 0 pointsr/CBTS_Stream

Really good video and you can get the book with further details here:
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Inception-Satans-Psyops-Armageddon/dp/0998142646

u/fili-not-okay · 0 pointsr/TrueChristian

>Seriously, if that is true, you guys are doing a terrible job. Kind of kidding.

I wholeheartedly agree, not kidding. The Church might have the true doctrine, but it has a long way to go when it comes to reaching outside the traditional cultural boundaries of the Church. Sometime between the Schism and the Ottoman/Western Captivity, we lost the missionary spirit that characterized the first millenium of Christianity.

>Growing up in Catholic religion classes, I had similar arguments made about Revelation and Rome as well as the "it's all symbolic" handwave to explain everything away and it seemed to make sense until I read Revelation. It may indeed contain symbolic language, but even if that is so it does not match the destruction of Rome, Israel or anything historic.

Do you think I haven't read Revelation? It makes sense to me. It seems pretty obvious to me that it is not just describing literally what will happen in the future when Christ returns.

>Bending over backwards still doesn't make it fit. Reigning over the earth for example, just look around at the earth. If this is the reigning described in Revelation that we place forward into the Millianal kingdom, there is something wrong. Jesus is not ruling the earth with a rod of iron.

The Revelation is very hard to understand, and it is the only book in the entire Bible (Old and New Testaments) that the Orthodox do not read liturgically in some capacity. I find Orthodox scholarship on the Revelation to be very edifying and I suggest you check some of it out. Hey, this one is even free on Amazon! The fact that not everybody is a Christian or whatever doesn't matter. Theologically, the Kingdom is here, since we make the Kingdom present in every Liturgy. The words that begin every Eucharistic service in the Orthodox Church--"Blessed is the Kingdom, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen."--denote that we are entering the heavenly Liturgy which the angels serve continuously before God. The fact that some are not in the Kingdom is irrelevant to the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven is made present (anamnesis or "remembering") every single day in Orthodox churches and monasteries around the world.

>Or the plagues/bowls/trumpets - there is nothing in history that meets the description that God lays out for John. So is God exaggerating or being inaccurate or did it not happen yet?

I don't claim to have all the answers. I'm sure there are Orthodox homilies that argue that it has all been fulfilled. A lot of the more esoteric stuff is also taken by Orthodox to be references to liturgy--and make no mistake the Apostles celebrated liturgical Eucharists.

>People may not agree with the reading of the Scripture, but it comes from the place of trying to accurately understand what does not fit in the Preterist viewpoint, not a misunderstanding.

I'm not questioning anybody's motives. But as I am an Orthodox Christian, you have to understand that I do believe that most of the world's Christians have got something wrong, even if they are 99% correct.

>BTW - the description of a lost distinction is simply inaccurate. The protestant viewpoint, mostly, has the dead without Christ raised at the end of Revelation with the Great White Throne judgment.

I have never heard a Protestant talk about Hades and Gehenna. The prevailing view seems to be that the "saved" go to Heaven when they die, the "unsaved" go to Hell, and the Second Coming is only for those who are still alive (Rapture/Tribulation/Millenial Kingdom as opposed to the Eternal Kingdom). The eschatology I have heard from every Protestant I have conversed with, except a couple Protestant "proselytes" who spend more time in Orthodox churches than their own, is utterly at odds with the eschatology espoused by the Church. I can't blame anybody for this; the Latin authors began to use inferus/infernus ("Hell") for both Hades and Gehenna very early on, and the Latin Fathers began to lose the distinction as early as the 5th century.

u/OliverJames12 · -1 pointsr/JordanPeterson

I have actually been wondering if JBP might know about this book (or have something to do with it): The Sign Of The Son Of Man

It just came out and talks about a lot mistranslations/misinterpretations in the Bible, like the global flood not actually being global and actually consistent with modern scientific findings (it even says where the flood must have taken place which no one has ever been able to pinpoint or prove - and says that Noah was actually a Chinese emperor) and the same with the Garden of Eden - has a map of where it was and birthdates of both Adam and Eve consistent with modern scientific records. Mainly it covers biblical numbers and how they are consistent with the numbers found in our solar system to point to Jesus Christ as the savior of the world, as well as a prediction for the second coming which the book asserts is in 2036 !! It's actually pretty compelling and convincing. Talks about when the antichrist will come to power and in what year Christianity will be outlawed worldwide (revelations). All sooner than you'd think! Certainly some brainfood - but I'm wondering what JBP would say about it...Anyone else read this book yet??

u/MeNorski2001 · -1 pointsr/islam

I don't believe Paul's teachings were contrary to Jesus but that's also based on perspective when reading.

The reason Christians don't pray to the father directly is because we believe Jesus as the Son of God is the mediator. He died on the cross a man, but because he is also God, he defeated death taking Man's sins upon himself.

We are told to pray to god the father:Matt 6:9, 1 Pet 1:17, Eph 3:14

But we can only approach the father in the name of Jesus the son

John 14:13 that 'whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do.

In essence we get to God through his Son Jesus Christ who bridged the gap between heaven and earth with his death on the cross.

The reason Jesus could pray to God directly was because he was God. I know we don't agree on that so that is where the difference lies.

The reason I look at Islam for the Anti-christ is because the similarities are quite profound. More appropriately labeled Anti-Parallels. The end times beliefs are amazing similar. I would encourage you to look at this book to view the evidence. There are so many similarities its hard to call it a coincidence.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Islamic-Antichrist-Shocking-Nature/dp/1935071122/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333042453&sr=8-1

I don't know why you would accuse me of hating you. I never said anything like that and I never would. The greatest commandment says to love the lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. I try as best I can to treat everyone with Love. That doesn't matter who black, white, asian, Hindu, or Muslim it doesn't matter. Jesus said to love your enemies and bless those who persecute you. All this pretty much means to love everyone no matter what. Just as God loves everyone.

Yes Islam does honor Jesus, but not as the Son of God. Thats where the major difference lies. Its one thing to believe in Jesus but its another to believe he is the Son of God.

I would love to work on fufilling God's plan. I have no desire to fight anyone. And on the contrary I approach with Love not hate. There is nothing wrong with loving those you disagree with. However the reality is that the Christianity and Islam differ on some very major points. Not just the big 3 being Jesus Diety, Whether or not he really died on the cross, or having a personal relationship with God(shirk). God's plan will be fufilled but the Last Day only one will be right. The idea of Pluralism between Islam and Christianity is very dangerous because they differ on these points and more especially when dealing with the end times. To sum it up ultimately in the last day the only people who remain are the ones who worship Allah and proclaim Muhammad as his messenger no?

Christianity claims that ultimately only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God will be saved.



While we do worship "the father" they are different God's for the reason I specified above. I can have a personal relationship with my God, and he also has a Son. Islam teaches the opposite that to have a personal relationship with Allah is shirk so how can we both be worshiping the same God? Both are god's say different things. As such they both can't be right.

Either one of us is right and the other is wrong. Or the only other option is we are both wrong. One thing that is for sure is we both can't be right. That said if you think we can work together in what way?

Ive studied many religions over the years, Despite growing up Christian I still put my own religion to the test, as well as studying other religions to see with is the most plausible. Christianity has the most evidence to support it be it historical, and spiritual.

I don't treat you as being "marked by the beast." I treat you as a sinner in the same way that I am also a sinner. I believe that God sent his Jesus Christ to die on the cross, so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. We can always agree to disagree but I will pray for you, and I hope you do come to realize that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died for you so that you will live in heaven.

I would encourage you to do your own research to see how Christianity and Islam stack up against each other. You are very knowledgeable and i'm sure you have done your own research. But I would also hope you do it with an open mind. I try to look at things and base my opinions on not how I want them to be but how they are.