Do I have to believe in Jesus to be saved?

by unsure 119 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  deegee

  The ascension proves that Jesus didn't visit India or the new world, have children and set up an earthly kingdom in Britain---------Vanderhoven7

  It's indeed strange that no one else saw Jesus ascending to heaven except a handful of his disciples.
  

  Even if you are not looking upwards and are looking straight ahead it’s still possible to see an upward motion rising towards to sky. Yet no one else saw Jesus’ ascension only a handful of his disciples did.
  

  This would certainly have been a very easy opportunity to convince and convert the Jews.
  
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  Vanderhoven7

  This would certainly have been a very easy opportunity to convince and convert the Jews.

  I don't know if miracles convert people. Look who was worshiping Baal weeks after the red sea parting. Jesus could have miraculously come down from the cross; that I'm sure would prove something. Biblically speaking however, many who saw his miracles throughout his ministry were calling for his crucifixion before Pilot.

  Miracles don't help people recognize their spiritual poverty and need of a Savior.
• 

  problemaddict 2

  I didn't read quite all of this, but I have advise regardless.

  You are in a mental state of flux. Having your entire belief system blow up in front of you, with everything that entails, is a ball of yarn not easily unraveled.

  So you should do the same thing you would do if you suddenly inherited a million dollars.......nothing.

  The reason financial experts (that aren't trying to take your money) would tell you to do nothing with a windfall, is because people make the greatest mistakes right after receiving it. Its almost like the feel they have to do something.

  You don't have to do anything. Start over. Do you believe in God? Why or why not? Do you think he is a benevolent and loving creator, or a spark of life that just kind of pushed the snowball down the hill so to speak. if you believe in a benevolent creator, then you have some details to work out, like why does he allow suffering (not because of some cosmic bet with Satan I hope....otherwise he is probably an a**hole). Do you think he has revealed himself in any "holy" books? Have you read any holy books? Have you read any skeptics books or Atheists books?

  Maybe its good to just do nothing, not feel that you HAVE TO believe something else right away.

  One of the most important things I learned as I left, is that its ok, and really even humble, to simply say I DON'T KNOW.
  
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  deegee

  Vanderhoven7,

  It's indeed strange that no one else saw Jesus ascending to heaven except a handful of his disciples.
  

  Even if you are not looking upwards and are looking straight ahead it’s still possible to see an upward motion rising towards to sky. Yet no one else saw Jesus’ ascension only a handful of his disciples did.

  It's even stranger how every eye will see Jesus when he returns yet only a handful of his disciples saw him when he was ascending to heaven (Revelation 1:7).

  ALSO, if a person claims to be the son of God then most naturally there will have to be supernatural events to convince people of this since anybody can claim to be God's son.

  Jesus' ascension to heaven would have been a very easy opportunity for God to capitalize on in order to convince & convert the Jews.

  If they weren't interested in being converted, we should at least hear reports about it from the Jews if they were eyewitnesses a part from what is stated in the Bible.
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  Vanderhoven7

  I think raising Lazarus from the dead after 4 days in front of many onlookers would be even more convincing. But again, miracles don't change the heart. The religious rulers saw it and what was their reaction? Forgiveness/love changes the heart. God wants our hearts. That's why the Son went to the cross. Our willingness to lay our sins at the foot of the cross is ample saving faith. As the hymn says: No other fount I know; nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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  deegee

  Vanderhoven7,

  There are no reports of Jesus' ascension to heaven outside of the Bible. No one else a part from a handful of his disciples saw it.

  Such a supernatural event as this should have certainly been something that others, a part from those in the Bible, would have noticed and documented (Josephus et. al.).
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  deegee

  Unsure,

  The silence of John on the three hours of darkness at midday and a resurrection of "many saints" who went into Jerusalem and "appeared to many" at the time of Jesus' crucifixion (Luke 23:44 Matt. 27:45 Mark 15:33) is confounding.
  

  The apostle John was allegedly the author of the fourth gospel. If he was, then he would have been a witness to the crucifixion and the events that accompanied it, because John 19:26-27 claims that while Jesus was on the cross, he entrusted the care of his mother to "the disciple standing by whom he [Jesus] loved."

  Later on, the gospel of John claims that it was written by the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 21:20-24). If all this information is true, then the writer of the gospel of John was present at the crucifixion to witness everything that happened there, yet John said nothing at all about three hours of darkness at midday or a resurrection of "many saints" who went into Jerusalem and "appeared to many."

  Who can believe that a person who had seen such remarkable events as these would have written an account of that day without mentioning them?
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  unsure

  It does make it difficult to have 100% faith.

  At most I can muster 50% faith.

  I want to believe but there is so much confirming/debunking that needs to be done that it literally frustrates and depresses me.

  I will never have the time and resources and ability to try to confirm or deny each argument for Jesus' existence.
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  tepidpoultry

  I see there being "evidence based reasoning" and "faith based reasoning"

  Examining evidence and it's various interpretations requires work,

  Then there's Jesus saying "happy you are believing when you did NOT see"

  Welcome to Faith Based Reasoning,
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  Vanderhoven7

  The issue is not how much faith one has but what basket we are putting all of our eggs in. It's kinda like stepping onto an airplane. You put your life in the hands of a pilot to get you to your destination.