Revelation

Please stop picking fights with me. Neither the moderators nor the users care for it, and you have been banned for your behaviour in the past.

Please stop arguing with me and downgrading my posts every chance you get. It's a dirty little game. Your spite is well-noted.
 
Gabriel speaks to Mary is Luke 1:28, "Hail, you that are highly favored, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women."

In other words she hold an exalted place in God's heart and He has blessed her among women. Hence first among saints (or women).

Jesus would have shown her a special honor since she was His mother, and so I see no reason why we should not either.

Just like a King's mother is not the King, we don't submit to her, but just as insulting the King's mother is as bad, if not worse, than insulting the King, that is how I feel we should treat Mary, as the blessed mother of our King.

The Key is ........... Luke 1:28, "Hail, you that are highly favored, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women."

AMONG NOT ABOVE!
 
If you believe in God then you have a religion.

Evade, bob and weave all you like, we see who you are.

No. God hates religion. What I have is a relationship with Him. It is impossible to work your way into a relationship with God---which is what religion tries to do. You must be born into it by the second birth---the spiritual birth. Religion is not the answer. Religion is the problem.


(I am seeing who you are, too!)
 
No. God hates religion. What I have is a relationship with Him. It is impossible to work your way into a relationship with God---which is what religion tries to do. You must be born into it by the second birth---the spiritual birth. Religion is not the answer. Religion is the problem.


(I am seeing who you are, too!)
What you have is RELIGION.
Watch how fast it becomes a religion for you if they try to take your tax-free status away.
Let's not start getting too ridiculous - when did RELIGION become a bad word anyway?
 
What you have is RELIGION.
Watch how fast it becomes a religion for you if they try to take your tax-free status away.
Let's not start getting too ridiculous - when did RELIGION become a bad word anyway?

That is not the truth.

God created man for the express purpose of a mutual relationship with Him, but gave man the power of choice and free will. Man chose to break that relationship and has been trying to find his own way by inventing religions and cults of all kinds in an effort to replace that void left by the lack of relationship with his Creator---but relationship with God just can't be found through religion! In fact, religion is the biggest roadblock to seeking a relationship with God there is! Religion is simply man trying to reach out to God by doing something that he thinks will please God. “If I can do enough, say enough, pray enough, give enough, sacrifice enough perhaps God will show me favor”. Every religion is based upon this “works theology”. Neither ceremony, liturgy, creeds, sacraments, nor money have ever brought one soul into a reconciled relationship to God.
 
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No. God hates religion.

What God hates:

There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. - Bible

What God thinks about religion:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." - Bible
 
Isaiah 1:13-14 (NLT)
Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts;
the incense of your offerings disgusts me!
As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath
and your special days for fasting—
they are all sinful and false.
I want no more of your pious meetings.
14 I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals.
They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!

Psalm 40:6 (NLT) David came to a true revelation:
You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings.
Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand—you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings.

Amos 5:21 (NLT)
I hate all your show and pretense—
the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.

Micah 6:6-8 (NLT)
What can we bring to the Lord?
Should we bring him burnt offerings?
Should we bow before God Most High
with offerings of yearling calves?
7 Should we offer him thousands of rams
and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
to pay for our sins?
8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.

There's the crux of it all: Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:10.

The scriptures reveal to us that Israel had forgotten her relationship with the living God and lapsed into a religious system of works, sacrifice and offerings and expected out of that to appease God and to receive redemption, but we can see in the scriptures above that God says, "You can shake and dance and burn your incense all you like---I don't care about them! I’m not interested in your religious activities, I want your heart!” He says it distinctly in:

Isaiah 29:13 (NLT)
These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.


Jesus Christ Himself cited this same passage and added more in:

Matthew 15:8-9 (NLT)
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’
 
What you have is RELIGION.
Watch how fast it becomes a religion for you if they try to take your tax-free status away.
Let's not start getting too ridiculous - when did RELIGION become a bad word anyway?

I believe what Euphemia is referring to is Christianity. We as believers accept Christ and He is person not a religion.

At Least that would be my opinion.

A religionist would need a tax exempt status, but a Christian possess Christ and come taxes, hell or high water, we belong to Him.

But I do agree that why is religion the word now a bad word???
 
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