The Real Meaning of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/amos/1.htm

I have to do some changes in formatting. My original idea was to have each book of the Bible be a “volume” in my posts, but because we are now jumping back and forth chronologically, that isn’t going to be possible. So I’m using the “KISS” method now (Keep It Simple Stupid), and I’m just numbering my posts. That said, we are now going to review some of the books of the minor prophets.

And from the first, we see why we’re studying the words of Amos in the middle of the Books of the Kings and the Books of Chronicles, because Amos was a prophet during the time of King Uzziah of Judah, and King Jeroboam of Israel.

And here is another example of why I have problems with scripture. And let me be clear, I’m not saying that I do not believe in scripture, I just believe that the Bible was compiled by man, who decided for me what was to be included and what wasn’t, who decided for me what was inspired and what wasn’t, and who compiled and organized the Bible in the manner in which they chose. And now, man teaches the Bible, and I see so many blatantly false teachings that I no longer trust man. God’s word has been perverted since Satan told the first lie to Eve, and it is still being perverted today. I believe more Christians study the Bible to find loopholes in the law rather than to discover the true God.

Just today, I saw a short clip of a pastor who was beating on the pulpit and shouting that “No one fears God anymore!” And I wanted so badly to ask, “Why do you want us to fear God?” That is the perfect example of what I’m talking about; the words written in the King James Bible, and all subsequent translations after, are taken very literally. I may be dead wrong, But I don’t take them so literal. Those words were written by normal men, with normal human emotions and perceptions and even misconeptions, then compiled by man who decided they knew better than I what was right and what wasn’t. Was the King James panel inspired? Did God Himself tell them how to construct the Bible? I highly doubt it, or they would have been chosen by God rather than by King James of England.

When I study scripture, especially Old Testament scripture, I ask myself. Does this description of God match the character of Jesus? Because we know the character of Jesus, and since Jesus is God, we know God’s character, and it certainly doesn’t match all of scripture.

Amos tells us about the transgression of countries around Israel and the punishment God is going to give them. So, if we are to believe that God punishes the wicked, then we have to believe that Jesus did also. Cite one scripture to me that shows Jesus punishing anyone. I’ll wait.

On the contrary. Jesus was kind, thoughtful, teaching, reproving through kind words and parables, merciful, passionate, forgiving, loving, and my vocabulary isn’t big enough to adequate describe just how wonderful Jesus is. The only time He lost His temper was when He discovered they turned the Temple into a flea market, and then He only turned tables over, He didn’t rain down fire on anyone. I know, I sound like a broken record. But I’m a pretty simple guy, 2 + 2 = 4, and the God described in the Old Testament does not match the God of the New Testament.

Because of these perceptions, these translations, the teachings of man, I would guess the majority of Christians attend church because they are afraid of God and not because they love Him. If they obey His commands, its because of a fear of “going to hell” rather than obeying Him out of love. I know, I sound like a broken record.

So as I read Amos, I’m skeptical. What kind of hand did Satan have in the development of the KJV? How do we know that Satan wasn’t in the room with the King James panel impressing on them, “Yes, yes! Include the writings of Amos, that’ll make everyone afraid of God and turn more towards me.” I can’t prove that happened, but you can’t disprove it either.

I’m afraid that when Christ returns, what we thought we knew, what we were taught, what was engrained in our heads, was all wrong. So. Very. Wrong.

If you’ve read my blogs, you know that I believe in the end, the wicked perish because they are not able to withstand the Glory of God. The same Glory that caused Moses’ face to shine. The same Glory that was so bright, the children of Israel could not stand to look at Moses’ face, even though Moses himself never cast eyes on God. And the same Glory that provided light before God created the sun and moon. (I read that recently and was impressed by it.) And I believe that if we don’t find the truth and cling to it, we won’t be able to withstand His Glory, and like the children of Israel, we won’t be able to cast our eyes on Him and when we hear HIs voice, we’ll be afraid we will die.

Just think. What if 200 years from now, someone decides to create a new version of “The Holy Bible”, and their panel comes across the writings of a millionaire pastor of a megachurch, and says, “This must be inspired!”, and future generations are being mislead by those who were motivated by the almighty dollar rather than a passion for sharing Christ. Wouldn’t that be sad?

Father. You warned us about false prophets, and I believe they walk among us today and have for centuries now. Since the followers of Christ began to grow, and the Roman feared they would gain too much power decided to lure them into “The Church”, you have been misrepresented to the world. I pray Lord you open the eyes of others. Open my eyes Lord. I don’t want to be a false prophet, so please convict me of anything I write that is false. I believe your character is the same as the character of Jesus, and I pray that others come to that conclusion as well. – Amen.