A CHRISTIAN MAKES CLEAN CONFFESION

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         &nbs p;    A DISCUSSION ON THE NATUTE OF TRUTH

Truth cannot be found in facts. It can only be derived from removing
everything that cannot be true and seeing what is left. If indeed truth
could be found in facts, then everyone who looked at the same facts
would come to understand the same truths. This does not happen. A
hundred people looking at the same facts can come up with a hundred
different truths to explain what the facts mean.

This reality, however, does not stop each of us from believing we have
found the better truth, the more accurate interpretation. People
everywhere believe they have found the corner on the market of truth,
and everyone else must be wrong. People will stand before each other,
pound their chests and proclaim for all to hear that they know the
truth that others have missed. But each of these people's truths are
different. How can they all be truth if they contradict? How can
Christians be so passionate about their brand of truth when the guy
next to them is just as passionate about his brand? Such logic fails to
budge the true believer. He or she will believe it more intently than
anything else because it's a truth made up of their most basic beliefs
and values. They believe their own truth because real truth has big
missing pieces of information in it, making it fuzzy and uncomfortable.
Their own truth is more palatable because they have filled in the
missing parts with their own information, values, and beliefs, and it,
therefore, makes more sense in their eyes. In essence, they have used
their own, often-unprovable presumptions as a key or blueprint for how
facts should be interpreted.

This key is called the "Basic Assumption." It defines how we see
information. It defines how we see the world. It quite literally
defines how we see everything.

Our Basic Assumption is what defines how we interpret the facts around
us. And as our example shows, different assumptions can create wildly
different truths from the same facts.

Basic Assumptions fill in the gaps when we're forced to interpret what
the facts mean. But more than that, they link the facts together into
whole realities that make sense to the person doing the interpreting.

It�s no wonder people can't agree on anything. We all think we know the
truth, but all of our truths are mutually exclusive. Well, not all.
Sometimes we band together into groups of people who share the same
Basic Assumptions, and thus, the same interpretations of truth. But
rather than diminish our differences, by grouping together we only
provoke bigger conflicts between groups of people with different Basic
Assumptions. With a group surrounding us (Christians) and telling us
our interpretations are correct because they agree with their own
interpretations, the members' Basic Assumptions are fortified and given
an even greater role in creating a reality palatable to the
interpreter. The group's truth becomes an absolute truth in the minds
of its members. And everyone else's truths must be interpreted as
falsehoods, misconceptions, or downright lies.

In America, people who believe the Bible to be completely accurate in
every word have vastly different Basic Assumptions that the rest of
society. They will interpret current events and find a way to fit them
into biblical prophecy. Suddenly every headline becomes an omen of the
end of the world; every non-biblically-based political organization is
a tool of Satan; every cultural trend not in line with the New
Testament is called a "decline of our Nation"; and the protection of
freedoms that don't fit their beliefs is called "a loss of national
morals."

And just as they test the world against their interpretations of truth
based on their group's Basic Assumptions, they will even test their own
people to make sure they are actual members, and not infiltrators
wishing to dilute their beliefs. Anyone whose interpretations of
current events are not the same as the groups will be labeled a heretic
or an unbeliever.

Christians call these people "Backsliders." �Jews call them "Secular
Jews." Conservatives call them "Closet Liberals." Liberals call them
"Moral Conservatives." And every other group whose presence is formed
around a communal Basic Assumption has its own way of perpetuating its
truths in their most "pure" form.

  We Christians might fight and die, or even kill, for our
interpretation of truth, but it won't make it any truer. All we can do
is learn as much as we can and then remove everything that cannot be
true and start seeing what is left, but at least it won't be a self-
group's own basic assumptions, created one based on our personal Human
conflict is a self-perpetuating problem.

MARK;16-17-18    

As mentioned previously, the religion of Jesus, as preached by him in
the Bible in both word and actions, was a simple continuation,
affirmation, and return to, the original message of Prophet Moses. The
later concepts of "original sin," "atonement," etc. were not introduced
into the teachings of Jesus by Jesus himself but by Paul and his
followers. Paul and his followers succeeded in "spiritualizing" the
message of Jesus and removing all obligations from it. Thus, the
message of Jesus that was based upon faith and works was transformed
into a message of faith without works and doctrines of sensationalism.
To illustrate this point let us take the example of the following pop
quiz:

1) Are you a Christian? Yes or no?  Yes I am !

2) Do you truly believe? Yes or no?

3) Have you been baptized? Yes or no?

4) Mark 16:16-18 "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but
he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow
them that believe; (a) In my name shall they cast out devils; (b) they
shall speak with new tongues; (c)They shall take up serpents; and (d)
if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; (e) they shall
lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

5) Once again. Have you (a)been baptized and (b)do you believe?

a) If NOT then you WILL NOT BE SAVED.

b) If a Christian has been baptized and believes then they should
exhibit the "signs" mentioned above, such as being able to drink any
deadly poison (such as battery acid, etc.) and not be harmed. How about
the other signs? Can all believing and baptized Christians lay their
hand on any randomly selected terminally ill cancer patient or
paraplegic and  have him rise completely cured? Does this not
require that the Christian world be completely free of all illness,
doctors, and hospitals? According to this verse, should not
all-believing, baptized, Christians be able to do this if they truly
believe are to be saved? If a Christian does not exhibit these signs,
then does this not prove that they do not believe, and thus will not be
saved.

Be aware that people rarely spend, as much time thinking about the issue as blindly believed. 