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Fables to be Created
Paul had said: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
In past centuries many Christian divines and lay persons alike have asserted that the prophetic utterances were understood by them, and in spite of the fact that the Bible clearly indicates that proper understanding of these utterances wouldn't be possible until Christ returned, they have created numerous fables and myths that have shaped Christian Concepts and resulted in the establishment of thousands of competing denominations.
But fables need not be on a grand scale to create huge changes. Many small seemingly small and inconsequential ones may have far-reaching results.
For example, many Christians believe the physical blood of Jesus to be the magical mechanism through which people are saved from an evil heritage inherited from Adam. Although not a universally held belief, it is a common view held in many Christian Churches. Consider the following statement from a typical source [-ed]:(2ti:4:3-4) see
From a Christian website: "The Bible says, in Hebrews 9:22, 'And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. '. In other words, only the death and spilling of the blood of a substitute victim will allow our sins to be forgiven. In the Old Testament they killed bulls and goats and the blood shed by the animals gave temporary forgiveness and the sacrifices had to be made over and over. But Jesus, the perfect, sinless Son of God gave his life and shed His blood for the remission of sins. He became our substitute victim. If we believe that He did that we are forgiven by the blood He shed. Jesus died on the cross, shedding His own blood for the world. But unlike the bulls and goats, Jesus died and God raised Him from the dead. He is alive today, now, this very second. His blood no longer needs to be shed. He died and shed His blood once for all and His blood never needs to be spilled again like the blood of the bulls and goats'" (http://bibleword.org)
If "blood" is taken as simply a symbol for "sacrifice", which surely is a more reasonable explanation than this and other such verses in the Bible, it makes perfect sense. However, the act of forcing it to fit into a literal/physical belief system has unfortunately resulted in the creation of this doctrine or "fable" to tie the poorly understood elements together. [-ed]#35
Here is one Unfortunate Result of this Fable: The website explanation continues: "No one else has shed His blood for us, not Mohammed, not Buddha, not anyone. And not one of the founders of any religion is alive today. Only Christ, who founded Christianity, is alive today. He is the only one to shed His blood for all and then be raised from the death. He is the only way to get to heaven. There is no other. The Bible says so. If you have chosen to believe the Bible, it is the Bible that tells us Jesus is the only way. (see bibleword.org )#10
To many Christians this makes perfect sense, but to many unbiased observers, the founders of the world's religions have led a very similar life of sacrifice, suffering and deprivation. They guided their followers, as did Jesus, both in this life and in the next, through teaching, inspiration and their recorded words or writings. They sacrificed their lives for their Cause and for the benefit of their followers and, therefore, all mankind. The true meaning of Christ's sacrifice was lost, however, to many Christians because of this man-made attempt to make literal, physical, sense of otherwise conflicting statements - simply because they could not be correctly discerned, or interpreted, prior to the books "unsealing" at Christ's return. [-ed] (see 1co 2:13-14) see
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