The Second Coming of Jesus

Good post Abe, and yes I agree with you on many points. What we believe has to be based on know facts. In Egypt there has never been anything presented to prove the Jews were slaves in Egypt…nothing has been presented to the world…nothing. If they had been there for the time they claim, something should have been found.
Here is how I see the story of the Jews in Egypt:
1) They were not slaved in Egypt.
2) They were slaves in Egypt, and since Egypt is Ant- Jewish, they have withheld what they have found.
3) What has come to light: Egyptian Chariot wheel have been found in the sea the Jews claim to have crossed. Carvings of a bull have been found at a campsite at the base of Mt Sinai.
Are Christians under the old Testament the Jews use? Jesus quoted from it many times. He also said, "I am not here to destroy the testament, but to fulfill it." and he gave a new law to replace the old Testament…"Love God above all else."
Abe, when viewing the world, past, present, and future in a clear light, there are two ways of seeing "A" truth. It can be viewed without scripture, or viewed with scripture.
Here is what I have found…I have looked at world events with, and without scripture…both pictures are different! Very different!
Fifty years ago I went in search of truth. Is there a God, or is it a fairy tale? I did not care which was true…I just wanted the truth? Back then there was no computer…digging stuff out was hard work, and took longer.
On the side of the search without scripture, everything was cut, and dry…one had to believe only what those who wrote history said…Hitler had said, "The victor writes history." In that case, we have no idea if history is true, or false? Thus I had two files on that.. one file, "Everything written about history is true," the other file, "Some of these things don’t add up?"
The search with scripture was different. If one just reads the Bible they are left with a blank? Most of the bible can’t be proven. But the bible has something history does not have…"Many prophesies." These are things written long before the events, and can be proven to have come true. These are not prophesies that maybe fit into events, but prophesies that can be pinpointed to events. If these were not in the scriptures I would not have any base to believe one word of the scriptures. Before I did my search of scripture, I had to first prove, or disprove the Bible was the word of God. The Bible is not an old book. Religions claim it is a copy of the scrolls.
Here is what I came up against…before I put the Bible to the test, I first had to put religion to the test. There are many Christian religions…big job testing all of them…nobody lives long enough to test all religions…I had to find a faster way? I made out a short list of false major doctrines. These are major, major things that would point to, "Something is very wrong here?" If a religion held more than three false major doctrines…I would cross them off as a false religion…something just man made to control people, and make money. That turned out to be a simple job…all Christian religions have three, or more major false doctrines…they are all false. My next tast was to put the bible to the test. Since it was claimed to be a copy of the scrolls, I would match the Bible to the scrolls. That was hard. Like I said, we had no computers at the time. I could only find sections of scrolls translated into English. What I did find was…many of these did not match the bible. Many others were also left out of the Bible? The scrolls we call the five books of Enoch were left out of the Bible?
Enoch in in the Bible three time. The Bible says he was loved by god. He was loved by God so much, that at the end of his life God did not let him die, but took him into heaven…that is in the Bible. Enoch was the 7^{th from Adam. The great grand father of Noah. His five books are a record of things that took place before the flood. He even gives name of who did what. He warned God would destroy the people on earth with a flood, and even said who would live. The flood came after Enoch died. With all this, why was his five books left out of the Bible? My search of the Bible lead me to believe the Bible could not be the word of God…if there was a God…It was just a book written by false religious leaders. Yes it contains many scriptures from the scrolls correctly…but many others are bold face lies. I had to put the bible aside as a hoax.}
When the dead sea scrolls were found, they proved to be older than the scrolls used to build the bible(sec) The matched our present scrolls. The book of Enoch was also among the dead sea scrolls. Note: we do not have Enoch’s original five books…those found are only a copy(?)
This is getting long, so I will cap it off by saying…Using the scriptures along with history…everything fits into place, and does prove there is a God.
So here I am…no Bible, only the scrolls. I have proven to myself there is a God, and the scrolls are his written word. The few prophesies left tell me what is going to happen, and how. There is nothing man can do to change the course of events…Satan is in control of the system of things…only God can bring what Satan is doing to a halt.

Domenic, I have no doubt that there is a God.  How we perceive God is subject to dispute.  Some may see him as a old human person while others (and I among them) think of him as a spirit. As for Jesus, there is no doubt that he lived and was a human being.  What is recorded about him and about what he said is subject to question.  I also agree with you about those who wrote the Bible.  That is also part of academic religious study.  The Scribes that wrote the Bible are said to have got together and decided what would be put into the scriptures and what to be left out.  It is said that politics played a role in their decisions. 
Taking the words literally as being true is not something I can accept. Even if the words in the original text was true, the translations would alter our understanding in today's language. 

I find it an interesting subject. What I don't want to happen is to create strife about something that can't be proven.  Faith is an integral part of our beliefs.  We either have faith in what we read or perceive from what we read as being true or we don't. 

I respect Alice for her faith.  My mother was a woman who lived her faith.  In her last days she was looking forward to heaven.  All my Aunts and Uncles except for one have passed.  I had occasion to find and correspond with my only remaining Uncle.  He now 88 years of age living in Colorado Springs, Colorado in an Assisted Living home.  His letter to me ended with "meeting again in heaven with all our loved ones."  Living with the faith/hope of going to a place where there is no pain or worries provides comfort.
I don't believe that when we die it is a dead end.  Since our bodies are made up of energy and since energy never dies, that energy goes somewhere.  Where it goes is a subject of speculation.  That was part of my short story:  "Eternal Life - Transformation."

Your post was very informative.  I am impressed with your research.  Our learning continues.

Faith is needed, but faith without proving what you believe can lead to trouble. If God can be proven to be true, than one has to also believe, Satan is real. Satan is not without a great deal of power. Matter of fact, he has more power, and brain smarts than all the humans who have ever lived put together. Humans can't fight against him. The scriptures warn: "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ." John 17:3

If knowledge of God will give a person life, what will a lack of knowledge give?

Here is the danger of just having faith alone… Satan is not going to present himself as Satan. He is going to do things that will make people without true knowledge believe him. Most people who have just faith will fall into his trap. I know some think they can’t be fooled…well he has fooled most of the world for a long time now. The scriptures warn most who believe will fall away…to do so will not be a good position. God warns us. “Take in knowledge, it means life.” He didn’t just say that to hear himself talk. He was warning his people.

354 views on this, your thread Alice..."who are you people out there is the dark? Why don't you comment? share what you think with us.

Thank you Abe, Betty and Domenic.

WOW, Alice...people like you...224 are following your thread. I think you should give them a little speech? or invite them to your home for apple pie.