@maxxi2031 - I think now it will be clearer... refresh the page

@aysegul93 - what is your religion?

ok, thats better...love it. 

Do you have msn address? 

@aysegul93 - nah sweetiepie... I'm on yahoo though...

@aysegul93 - aastha_kathy@yahoo.com

Arent u online?

Nice =)

@AasthaKathy - well, technically, I'm a Christian, and call my god God, but I don't really follow all of the things the Bible says. I was just thinking this morning how everything I know about the Bible is so screwed up. When I was younger, I was taught by my church that you followed the whole Bible, or none of it, you couldn't pick and choose. Then I got older and my mother changed churches and they taught that you should rightly divide the Bible. She says that means to follow the New Testament and not the Old, but then I thought, the Bible was written by man, voiced by God, but then translated several times...What if what the Bible is today is not what it started out being? It's all semantics anyway....I get confused sometimes, but I do call myself a Christian. Even though I don't go to church, and I don't really like the set religion aspect of it. I got into it with my mom the other day because I said, "We don't know what religion is really right. They may be all the same God." 

@SerenaDante - hahaha hope u win! send me the link where I can vote

@maxxi2031 - A common point of confusion, and the primary difference between Judaism and Christianity, where the latter, means that we follow Christ. The Old Testament is Old Covenant, in which only God's chosen people (the Jews) were saved and the rest (Gentiles) were not. They had many rules and restrictions enumerated in the Books of Law in the Old Testament. However, God was made flesh (in the form of Christ Jesus) and died on the cross to cleanse our sins and to bring salvation to all the world who accepted him as Lord and Savior, proving his divinity through his works (miracles) and resurrection. As Paul writes (to former Gentiles, now Christians) in Ephesians 2:12-16,

"remember that you were at that time seperate from Christ (pre-Christ's coming), excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups (Jews and Gentiles) into one (Christians) and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall (sin), by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances (Old Covenant), so that in Himself (Jesus) He might make the two into one new man (Christians), thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity."

I've included some clarifications in () I'm sure you noticed. Anyway, Paul is clarifying Old Covenant (Rules of Law) versus New Covenant (Faith in Christ). Hence the popular verse John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

When Jesus died on the cross and resurrected, he affirmed his divinity and washed all sin (past, present, and future) from those who believed in him. From there it gets more complicated, as Christ existed even before he came to earth as flesh, but no reason to go into that right now. Just wanted to clarify why we no longer follow (as Christians) Old Testament laws like eye for an eye etc. Instead we follow Christ's teachings and life, believe in Him, and most importantly, his final commandment to his disciples before his death, John 13:33-36:

"Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Finally, as for the other common question, about the clarity of the Bible, it goes as such. The Bible is God breathed, in the original variety of languages (mostly Aramaic), and then perfectly transposed into Greek. This means that the original Greek transposition is flawless in its form, and has not changed in a couple thousand years. How we interpret the Greek, however, does change on occasion, and there is some loss as it changes into various languages, most commonly English. Currently, I'm told, the most literal translation is the one I have just quoted above, NASB (New American Standard Bible), but the current most popular NIV (New International Version) is a very good translation, that is much easier to understand. The old most popular versions, KJV and NKJV (King James Version and New King James Version) are getting a bit dated, where the difference between the two are that the NKJV doesn't use thees thys and thous. The translators took a few artistic liberties with the language, though the content is mostly the same. So while the translations (everything but the original Greek) can have some flaws, mostly they are minor. For difficult and complex passages that might have multiple interpretations, one should learn Greek and refer to it, but since most of us do NOT know Greek, then I simply read all four of the above versions and try to piece together what the original Greek means. Alternatively you can get a Study Bible which often will clarify some of the subtleties that are lost during Greek to English translation.

And finally, I am a Christian, if that wasn't already clear! :)

:)
i ADORE this!!!!