re: Crusades are coming back to the west

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Gnostics came in various flavors. You seem to be one of them.

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Gnostic means knowledge through self experience, self awareness and questioning the constructed realities of the world. You barely scratch the surface of what I know and understand.

That doesn't mean I'm special. Everything I have is available to anyone who seeks it. But I can not give it to you and all you want are handouts.

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What? Not required by Paul? I'd agree that he taught (as Jesus did) that good works are not required as meritorious for salvation, but to say he taught they weren't required in any sense is absolutely wrong.

Paul taught that good works are a fruit of the Spirit's work in the believer. Christians are to put sin to death (meaning, fight against disobedience and be obedient).

"Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!" -Romans 6:15

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Not required. Paul gives lip service to Jesus and all these things, but at the end of the day all that matters is saying Jesus is Lord and believing in the Jesus and that he died on your sins. As such, not required.

It'd be nice if you did, but we don't really care if you don't. Make sure you pay those taxes and tithes.

And I have explained to you multiple times why it is required.

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Not quite, unless by "walk the path" you mean "believe in Jesus by faith". Otherwise you are just saying "if you do good works, you will do good works".

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Walk the path means keeping the commandments. The path is a real thing. It comes from free will/choice and how the universe changes on them. You see movies that talk about time travel and how you can split off into different lines by making a different choice in the history while using the knowledge of the future. Your choices now do the exact same thing.

If you just memorize 1+1=2 and just believe in it by faith, you are unable to use the actual math it expresses to improve your life in any way. And if you are just believe in Jesus by faith without the understanding behind it, it's no different. You can not apply the understanding he expresses and the path he follows to your life.

The more you make bad choices, the more you go down the wrong path. The more you make good choices, the more you go down a better path. You can tomorrow go and decide to rob a bank, murder someone and your life will instantly turn to shite. That is a possible timeline. You can also do some good thing and now you're on a much better timeline. And if you want to get all the way to heaven, well you need to keep the commandments. You have to be the change.

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You completely misunderstood what Jesus taught the rich man. That guy came to Jesus asking what good work he needed to do when no good work would actually save him. Jesus responded to his faithlessness by pointing out that he couldn't even obey the 1st commandment. That man made an idol of his wealth and possessions, so he wouldn't follow Jesus (by faith), because his love was for those possessions rather than for God.

You've completely twisted that on its head.

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You would give the same man a free gift and tell him he could keep his riches and still be saved. You've never once mentioned in all the times you've offered me a "free gift" that I would have to give up my wealth to receive it. In fact, that's the opposite of a free gift. Instead of a free gift, Jesus put a price higher than the man was willing to give.

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Paul pointed to Christ. Jesus is not an idol, but the very Son of God, who is the first and the last, and created all things.

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Paul says many great things about him, praises him and puts all the glory on him...the idol. Not the truth, the way and the light - Jesus the idol. In terms of arse kissing, Paul is top notch.

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No, it wasn't.

Prov. 9:10 says, "...the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding". It's translated "holy one" because it parallels the fear of the Lord. Since Jesus is God, Paul can rightly say, "in [Jesus] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3)

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I mean honestly guy. The holy and holy one are obviously the same thing.

And your verse says wisdom and knowledge, let's examine the 3 words.

Knowlege = information, facts

Understanding = the ability to grasp meaning, context and the cause and effect of the information.

Wisdom = the practical application of the knowledge and understanding. AKA as I said earlier, you need to understand the math to apply it.

And you claim you don't worship an idol, but you equate all of that into "Jesus". You replace all of that with "Faith in Jesus".

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You keep contradicting yourself. You admit that you are a man and cannot give the truth, but the only way for anyone to "become like a child", as you say, is to already listen to someone like you, because no one is going to ask a god he doesn't already believe in to reveal truth without that god proactively revealing himself/herself/itself.

So, I have to ask you how to find this knowledge, but you say that I shouldn't even ask you (a man), because you can't help me. I should ask god, even though if you never posted on this forum, I wouldn't know that this idol of yours existed in the first place. That means, truth exists but you have to somehow stumble upon it. Good luck with that.

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I have told you nothing but the truth. What I can not give you is understanding. I can tell you 1+1=2 all day long, I can't make you understand math. My dog is never going to grasp algebra no matter how many equations I tell him. I do not have the ability to give him understanding.

I didn't listen to anyone to get what I know, that's the point. I was agnostic. I admitted I did not know the truth and I didn't believe anyone else did either. Don't take my word for anything, find out for yourself. You need understanding, not the words of men.

As rare as truth is, the supply always exceeds the demand on this world.

I guess when Jesus says all things are possible with God, he meant except an actual personal relationship with God. He didn't really mean it when he talked about being within you and the father as well. And he didn't really mean it when he said the holy spirit would teach you all things. And if anyone should say it's real - they must be liars.

But I get it - we deny in others what we ourselves lack. It's expected. I was no different.

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So your personal experience trumps the grammar of the text? So why do you even talk about the Bible? You don't believe it is true and only use it to confirm your own bias. Whenever someone contradicts you according to the Bible, you reject it anyway. You are acting irrational.

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My personal experience trumps everything. The bible provides a lexicon for concepts so that it can be used as a tool of communication. In short, it's for your benefit.

If you would like to have such conversations outside the bible, I am more than happy to do so. But I already know you will immediately start quoting the bible because the bible is what you claim is authority.

What you want is for me to also pretend it's the authority and that is never going to happen. I don't have to, I'm not going to. You are just trying to pigeon hole me into pretending everything is true so you can argue within your ways of twisting the bible by quoting various verses out of context one after another for false narratives.

If you want to go argue with other people who blindly accept that as an authority, be my guest. But I am not that one and if you can defend yourself without it, then it's probably because you are full of shite.

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Someone who knows that 1+1=2 is not an authority on math because of it.

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If the government up and decided and claimed that 1+1=3 would you accept that? Or would your understanding of math be your authority?

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The Bible is God's word, not the words of men. Even what you quoted displays that. You accept that the quotation from Jesus is accurately written and is true, yet you then turn around and say the book is nothing but man's words and is no authority. Why do you keep quoting it if you do not believe it is authoritative? You can't even stick to a single standard.

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That is what you believe. It only has authority because you give it. I do not give it that authority at all, nor do I even remotely have to. It's a collection of books written by men.

I quote it when I see something that is true.

I can debate in any lexicon you wish, the understanding doesn't change. Would you rather I talk about consciousness and the physical reality? Does it make you happier or whatever if I say that consciousness is not part of the physical reality and that it is a piece of God we all have and is where free will comes from. That all things that can exist within creation do exist and if you want to live in a society without theft, murder and other forms of evil you must yourself not be evil? That without God there is no such thing as reality, understanding or anything else? All things machine like, never experiencing anything until the presence of God/consciousness is there to observe it. That when you treat people poorly and take away their free will you are doing those crimes against God? That you are the lesser consciousness, where your limitations are what create you, while the greater consciousness that is the sum of all is limitless. That you can not see this greater consciousness in full because it will destroy the limitations that define you. That because of this there is a mediator of sorts that is part of that consciousness and it will give you understanding on things. These things are not "out there", they are within. And that is where you find them - if you are ever able to see it.

Or, I can say - That which is spirit is spirit and that which is flesh is flesh. That in order to make it to heaven, you have to keep the commandments. That you need to seek the truth, follow the path laid out and seek understanding. That the kingdom of heaven is within. That the holy spirit will give you understanding. I use that framing for your benefit. If I met an atheist who doesn't care about the bible, I talk in the lexicon they know.

Are you even capable of having the discussion in another lexicon? I don't think you are because you struggle with even the one you claim to be an authority.

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They could, but you are not addressing my point. Science books are based on knowledge of the material world that can be understood by observation and testing. The Bible's claims are nothing like that in principle. The Bible is true, but it's focused on spiritual realities, not physical ones. So no, you cannot compare the two as you are.

Science textbooks claim knowledge from observation and testing, and the Bible claims knowledge from God's revelation. You are claiming a different kind of revelation but not explaining how anyone can know it except for listening to you first (but then you turn around and say you can't actually get it from you).

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That is the point. You've accepted some books as authority and no others can be valid. You can't update, you can't even form other opinions outside it. You are stuck with the science book. And people wonder why humans aren't evolving spiritually at the same speed as the technology.

You are the reason you don't have understanding. You blame me because you expect me to give you a handout. You want marketing and someone to make you the best deal. I have none of that for you.

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No, the Bible makes its own claims of divine revelation. I'm not elevating it beyond what it claims for itself. You are ignorant of the Bible and only know a few passages here and there that support your own perverted perspective, and you don't know what to do with any passages that refute you except to say it's just the words of men with limited understanding and it's full of "BS", as you say.

Why should I believe you? You've already said that I can't get understanding from man, and yet this "god" of yours hasn't revealed it to me otherwise. Apparently he's withholding it from me because I didn't know your idol existed and that I should ask it for something that I already believed I had in the Bible.

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It claims. That's the keyword, it claims. You make it an authority because it tells you it's an authority.

I never said the men who wrote it had limited understanding, I said YOU have no understanding. They were doing their best to express the understanding they have. What limits them is that man can only communicate with expression. Again math, the equation expresses the understanding.

Nothing is being withheld from you, you have accepted a replacement. The bible is your God, your authority. You tell me this over and over again. You will not accept anything else.

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You don't have to. You have your own flavor of it in your religion-of-one.

You claim special knowledge given to only a select few individuals in private revelation, and you are inviting others to attempt to gain that secret knowledge for themselves.

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It's available to anyone. Most people don't really want it or seek it.

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My dog can't ask me to teach it algebra, nor does it have the capacity to even understand what it is. You're equating me to a dog, where I can't just learn it from you, and yet you haven't explained how one can even begin to learn it if not from a man, like you, talking about it. This idol of yours must be very selective in who it decides to share this knowledge with.

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Even if the dog did ask, you couldn't do it. Call it capacity if you like, but only God can give understanding.

And again, nothing is being withheld from you. You have replaced God with a book.

The supply of Truth always exceed the demand.

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I'm nothing like the Pharisees. That's you. You are teaching that obedience to the law through understanding it is the way to salvation. Jesus taught that loving God was the way to salvation. You have said nothing about loving God. You've only said we need to have understanding to helps us obey the law. That's why the Jews put such a premium on studying the law: because they thought they were saved by obeying it. Again, that's you. You are the whitewashed tomb.

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If you love God then you will keep the commandments. Again, John 14.

How can you love what you do not know? What you love is your own projection or concept of God as defined by your interpretation of what the bible says.

If I were an evil man, I would not care if you believed in God or if you didn't, just so long as you allow me to define God for you.

Which commandment do you think man is incapable of keeping?

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Um, no. I asked God and He gave me the Bible. The Bible was the mechanism for His answer. He hasn't given me anything else. He didn't give me some vision like you claim. He didn't whisper contradictions in my ear like he did with you, apparently.

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I guess he just felt like withholding more from you right?

But earlier you told me the bible is what claims it's an authority. Now you say God told you it was an authority.

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Gnostic means knowledge through self experience, self awareness and questioning the constructed realities of the world. You barely scratch the surface of what I know and understand.

That doesn't mean I'm special. Everything I have is available to anyone who seeks it. But I can not give it to you and all you want are handouts.

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Gnostics were pseudo-Christians who borrowed Christian teaching while supplementing and changing it with their own views based on special knowledge that only they possessed, and you needed to join their club to learn it. Sounds an awful lot like what you're saying, though I know you would say it's not a "club". It's more that it's a secret knowledge that no one can get unless they already heard about it from you.

You show this when you say, "Everything I have is available to anyone who seeks it." That's actually not true in a broad sense, because while many seek the truth, few (probably only you) actually find it because they have to already ask this "god" of yours for it. They have to already know what they must do before they can get what you are offering.

I showed this when I said that in the past I have asked God for knowledge and wisdom; for understanding, and I meant it. I wanted it deeply, and God did not answer with a personal revelation or illumination the way you described your experience. He revealed the truth through the public preaching of the word and gave me understanding of it, convincing me that it is true and trustworthy.

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Not required. Paul gives lip service to Jesus and all these things, but at the end of the day all that matters is saying Jesus is Lord and believing in the Jesus and that he died on your sins. As such, not required.

It'd be nice if you did, but we don't really care if you don't. Make sure you pay those taxes and tithes

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You are being purposefully deceitful at this point. I'm telling you exactly what the Bible teaches and what Christians believe about it, and you are just denying that is the case and saying false things about it.

You are making it seem like just because good works (obedience to the law) is not required to gain merit towards salvation that that means they aren't required at all. I already explained it to you: they are; they are a required evidence of your salvation. If you merely assent to Jesus but no good works follow, then that means you likely aren't saved at all, and your "faith" is not saving (living).

You are so bound up in your pharisaical belief that works merit salvation that you can't see that you are wrong about what Jesus, Paul, and Christianity teaches. There is no Christian tradition outside of the condemned antinomians that believe that good works are not important or even necessary for the Christian. You just don't like that because it gets in the way of your narrative.

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Walk the path means keeping the commandments

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Then this is a tautology, like I said. You first said, "when you walk the path/follow the way, you will do "good works", and now you say that "walk[ing] the path means keeping the commandments". You are saying that you must keep the commandments to keep the commandments. If good works are keeping the commandments, then you aren't saying anything new at all, and are just saying "keep the commandments". That's not what Jesus said when He said He was the "way".

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If you just memorize 1+1=2 and just believe in it by faith, you are unable to use the actual math it expresses to improve your life in any way.

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You should really stop using this analogy as it doesn't make sense, nor does it reflect how we use it in real life.

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And if you are just believe in Jesus by faith without the understanding behind it, it's no different. You can not apply the understanding he expresses and the path he follows to your life.

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Who is claiming that a mere assent to Jesus without understanding is what Jesus taught? I'm not. We are supposed to seek to understand what Jesus taught, and the Bible is the source of that understanding, illuminated by the Holy Spirit. The gospels in the Bible regularly quote Jesus and then go on to explain what He taught. Understanding who Jesus is and what He came to do is at the heart of understanding Him by faith. Faith is trust, and we don't put our trust in nothingness, but in the person of Jesus Christ.

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The more you make bad choices, the more you go down the wrong path. The more you make good choices, the more you go down a better path. You can tomorrow go and decide to rob a bank, murder someone and your life will instantly turn to shite. That is a possible timeline. You can also do some good thing and now you're on a much better timeline. And if you want to get all the way to heaven, well you need to keep the commandments. You have to be the change.

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You are saying that bad choices have bad consequences and good choices have good consequences in this life. That's not always true. Many people do "bad" things and get rewarded for it with a life of plenty, and the inverse for those who do "good" things. So, your teaching is false on that point if you want to teach it as a unique point of your personal religion.

Regarding getting all the way to heaven - you admit that your "god" is not just. There is no justice for breaking the law. Only lessons learned. Your version of heaven only has a few people in it, apparently, and it has a "god" that doesn't punish wickedness, but let's it slide so that people just disappear without consequence if they don't want to go to heaven. In your view, it seems that a person can be as wicked as they want to be, benefit from it for as long as they want, and then kill themselves when they are getting too old or sick to enjoy it any longer, and then they just slip into nothingness, not knowing about or caring about god, heaven, or anything else. That's pure wickedness, there.

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You would give the same man a free gift and tell him he could keep his riches and still be saved. You've never once mentioned in all the times you've offered me a "free gift" that I would have to give up my wealth to receive it. In fact, that's the opposite of a free gift. Instead of a free gift, Jesus put a price higher than the man was willing to give.

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The free gift is salvation apart from works, as I've said. If you have to work for it, it's not a gift, but a wage.

The rich man could have kept his wealth and still been saved if he stopped relying upon it as his god and trusted Jesus as God, instead. There is nothing sinful with having money. Joseph of Arimathea was wealthy, and he continued to follow Christ. What is sinful is the love of money and wealth. It's why Jesus said it's so hard for a rich man to get to heaven, because he trusts in his wealth rather than in God.

You also don't understand the gift. It's a gift because you don't have to pay anything to receive it. That doesn't mean that it doesn't come with consequences in this life. That is separate from the gift, itself.

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Paul says many great things about him, praises him and puts all the glory on him...the idol. Not the truth, the way and the light - Jesus the idol. In terms of arse kissing, Paul is top notch.

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Jesus is God, plain and simple. He receives the honor of God, has the attributes of God, takes on the names of God, does the deeds of God, and sits in the seat of God in Heaven. Jesus affirms all of that in the gospels. Paul only says "amen" to all that.

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I mean honestly guy. The holy and holy one are obviously the same thing.

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"The holy" can be a broad term, while "holy one" is talking specifically about God.

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Gnostics were pseudo-Christians who borrowed Christian teaching while supplementing and changing it with their own views based on special knowledge that only they possessed, and you needed to join their club to learn it. Sounds an awful lot like what you're saying, though I know you would say it's not a "club". It's more that it's a secret knowledge that no one can get unless they already heard about it from you.

You show this when you say, "Everything I have is available to anyone who seeks it." That's actually not true in a broad sense, because while many seek the truth, few (probably only you) actually find it because they have to already ask this "god" of yours for it. They have to already know what they must do before they can get what you are offering.

I showed this when I said that in the past I have asked God for knowledge and wisdom; for understanding, and I meant it. I wanted it deeply, and God did not answer with a personal revelation or illumination the way you described your experience. He revealed the truth through the public preaching of the word and gave me understanding of it, convincing me that it is true and trustworthy.

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I'm not wasting time explaining the difference between what the word gnostic means and Gnostism. I've done it multiple times, you just don't want to acknowledge the difference. So frick off.

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No, Jesus says the spirit will teach you all things. Not a book that didn't even exist for a religion he did create, not people working with scripture, none of that.

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Jesus said the Spirit would teach His disciples all things that they needed to know. Those disciples then taught the Church. Jesus went on to tell them to go into the world, baptize disciples, and teach them everything that Jesus taught them. The Spirit was to help them remember and know all the things that Jesus taught, so that they could teach the Church.

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Jesus had no book, no physical church, only personal experience, knowledge and understanding. Which was contradicted by countless other individuals without countless other experiences.

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Jesus didn't have "personal experience". He has the truth, because He is the very truth personified, as God. He wasn't just some man who knew things, but He was one with the Father, as God. Jesus never taught for everyone to trust their personal experiences.

And Jesus did have a book. He has the Old Testament, which He taught as authoritative. You reject what Jesus received.

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And despite John 14, you claim it is impossible for anyone else.

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You don't even know what the Bible teaches. You have your own experience that you interpret all else through. You might as well stop even talking about the Bible because it doesn't agree with you. You can't cherry-pick only those things from it which you want, because you are being intellectually dishonest.

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Also, most people like me have been killed repeatedly throughout history.

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You are a heretic who has been deceived by an evil spirit. You need to repent before you die or else you won't have a second chance.

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Once again it is not a requirement according to you and Paul. All sinners are saved so long as they believe and say out loud Jesus is lord and believe in him and that he died on the cross for your sins.

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True belief--a trust in the finished work of Jesus--will be accompanied by good works and obedience, even if imperfect.

Your ignorance of Christianity is astounding. If you're going to argue with Christians, you should at least brush up on what the Bible teaches.

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So yes, that is exactly what people can do according to you and that is exactly what most Christians do. And that's why Pauls version took hold more easily, because it's a hell of a lot harder than actually keeping the commandments.

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It's both impossible to keep the commandments perfectly, and to believe on our own strength. We must be born again by the Spirit of God.

You cannot obey the commandments and therefore you are guilty before God and must be punished for it according to God's justice. Either you will pay for your own sins against an infinite God, or you will need to trust in the God-man, Jesus Christ, who obeyed perfectly as a sinless sacrifice.

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Tell me which commandment is so tough no man can keep it.

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All 10 of them. No one can keep them perfectly. No one loves God perfectly with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind, and no one loves their neighbor perfectly as themselves.

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If the government up and decided and claimed that 1+1=3 would you accept that? Or would your understanding of math be your authority?

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Math reflects God's mind, which is why we can discover it as part of natural revelation, absent any "authority", save from God, Himself, by His mere existence. Your analogy is ridiculous.

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That is what you believe. It only has authority because you give it. I do not give it that authority at all, nor do I even remotely have to. It's a collection of books written by men.

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It is either from God or it isn't. If it is, then it is authoritative for both you and me, regardless of what we think about it, because God will hold us accountable to it.

I know you don't believe it to be God's word, but it is. It has been preserved by God for the last 2,000+ years for the Church.

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I quote it when I see something that is true.

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no you don't. You quote something anything that already agrees with you, but only after twisting it beyond it's meaning. You can't take a verse of the Bible out of context, against its actual meaning, and then say it agrees with you. You are actually proving that it doesn't agree with you when you have to butcher it to try to fit.

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I can debate in any lexicon you wish, the understanding doesn't change.

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Let's talk basic epistemology and philosophy.

First, epistemology: how do you know what you know? How do you know that your experience wasn't from a demon, self-deception, or even a hallucination? What external reality can you point to in order to know where your "revelation" came from in the first place? You simply trust that it is from "god".

Related: how can anyone know that your experience is true compared to their own experiences? I've stated that my experience is different from yours, and that I believe God has revealed the truth to me through His written word, confirmed by His Spirit testifying to my spirit that it is true. How can you know that your experience is true and mine is false? How can you know that other experiences are false, such as the Mormon who felt a burning in their bosom?

Next, you keep basing your entire religious view on obeying the commandments. You have yet to explain what those commandments even are. If the entire point of this life is based on that point, you need to tell me (and any other readers) what those commandments are, and how anyone is to know that without having the exact same personal experience as you.

Lastly, you should tell us about this "god" you believe exists. What are its attributes? What has it done in history? What will it do in the future? How did it create mankind and why? How do we know we should believe it; does it lie--can it?

We don't need to talk about the Bible at this point to have this conversation.

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That in order to make it to heaven, you have to keep the commandments.

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So your "god" allows imperfect and unrighteous sinners into its version of heaven. Got it.

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That is the point. You've accepted some books as authority and no others can be valid. You can't update, you can't even form other opinions outside it. You are stuck with the science book. And people wonder why humans aren't evolving spiritually at the same speed as the technology.

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God does not change, and His perfect and holy character does not change, either. His revelation about spiritual realities do not need updates because it reflects an unchanging reality. You need to justify your own beliefs. Does your god change?

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You are the reason you don't have understanding. You blame me because you expect me to give you a handout. You want marketing and someone to make you the best deal. I have none of that for you.

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I don't blame you for anything except your own self-deception and rejection of the truth. I have understanding because I have God's word and Spirit. You don't have that for me because you reject the truth, and you cannot even provide me any detail of the lies you believe. You just keep giving me simple math equations and saying obey commandments that you haven't explained. You can't even describe your own beliefs.

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It claims. That's the keyword, it claims. You make it an authority because it tells you it's an authority.

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I don't make it an authority; I receive it as the authority it already is.

Guess what? You are also claiming an authority. Except the Bible has witness pedigree from a public ministry accompanied by miracles, including resurrection from the dead. You just have your own personal, private revelation. You have given no reason for why I or anyone else should believe you.

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I never said the men who wrote it had limited understanding, I said YOU have no understanding. They were doing their best to express the understanding they have. What limits them is that man can only communicate with expression. Again math, the equation expresses the understanding.

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The claims they made are either true or they are not. Unless you want to say that language is pointless and cannot provide any truth at all, you need to fall down on one side of the line or another: they either did not have the truth or they did.

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Nothing is being withheld from you, you have accepted a replacement.

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The truth has not been withheld from me because I have it in the Bible. You do not have the truth because you believe a lie, that cannot be confirmed by any external authority. It's really just a "trust me, bro" from you.

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The bible is your God, your authority. You tell me this over and over again. You will not accept anything else.

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The Bible is not God, but it does reflect the truth about Him and what He has communicated to us. If it is His word (it is), then all people have an obligation to receive it as such, including you.

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It's available to anyone. Most people don't really want it or seek it.

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Most people don't even know about it because it has only come to you. You are contradicting public revelation from God and have given no reason to believe you over countless others who also claim personal, private revelation.

Jesus taught from authority as God and told His disciples to teach His words to the nations so that they will know it. Christians have carried on that tradition for 2,000 years. You have a private revelation (supposedly) and you take no responsibility to be a messenger of "god" to share it with others. You have been reluctant to even talk about it, particularly under your alter from a few weeks ago. You speak as though it's truth that is accessible to everyone, but it requires pre-existing knowledge first, which people do not have.

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Even if the dog did ask, you couldn't do it. Call it capacity if you like, but only God can give understanding.

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God--the real one--gave man the ability to reason and to understand things to at least some degree. We can learn 1+1=2 based on natural reason alone. You keep using that as an example of understanding while then saying it' smore like a spiritual understanding that we can't have on our own. You contradict yourself. You need to already know what and how to get understanding before you can get it, according to what you're saying. It's nonsensical.

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And again, nothing is being withheld from you. You have replaced God with a book.

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You keep lying, or are so deceived that you actually believe this lie. I have not replaced God with a book. The book is God's word and communication to us, but it is not God. It reflects God's truth.

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If you love God then you will keep the commandments. Again, John 14.

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Love of God comes by faith, not obedience. Obedience flows from faith.

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You cherry pick those verses so you can put your own meaning on what it means to believe in him.

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You need to actually show how they are cherry-picked.

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1 John:

2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

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You aren't even reading the passages you are quoting.

Verse 2 says if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, who is Jesus Christ, who is a propitiation for our sins. A propitiation is a sacrifice that removes wrath due to guilt. Jesus did that through His sacrifice.

It also doesn't say we propitiate our own sins by obedience or "learning". It doesn't say that obedience is what removes guiltof sin.

John goes on to say in 3:24, "And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us."

Here, John doesn't say to merely obey, but to believe in Jesus. According to you, no one needs to believe in Jesus at all, because all you need to do is find out what the commandments are and obey them. You think believing in Jesus is idolatry.

John goes on to give a test for a false spirit and false prophet in chapter 4: that anyone who claims Jesus did not come in the flesh is false prophet. I believe you said at one point that Jesus was a myth and a metaphor for obedience and sacrifice, or something like that. Do you deny that Jesus is the Son of God, who became a man? Verse 15 reinforces this: if you confess Jesus is the Son of God, then God lives in you.

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No, you claim God put that sign down. That sign being Jesus. I can only verify that what he says is true and that I see the father in him. That it's direction is correct when understood rather than treated as a get out of jail free card.

I'm telling you to follow the sign instead of worshiping it being taken down.

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You point to the Bible to confirm what you're saying, but the Bible says that Jesus' death takes away sin through faith (trust) in Him. It's why I keep telling you to stop quoting from the Bible if you don't actually believe it teaches the truth; it contradicts you.

Jesus is not a sign merely pointing the way: He is the way.

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Jesus is not the shovel. Jesus is the sign. The shovel is the tool used to take the sign down, as the cross was the device used to murder Jesus.

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Jesus is the Son of God, sent into the world to obey the obligations of the covenant of works that all men are under but no man can keep, and He paid the penalty that all sin deserves so that through Him, we can have eternal life. If we can obey perfectly (we can't), then Jesus didn't need to come at all, because the law was already given to men.

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Which commandment is impossible for a man to keep?

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All of them.

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You believe a form of Gnosticism, which wasn't a singular belief system, but variations of a belief that the flesh is evil, the spirit is good, and that salvation came through knowledge (understanding) that was given to a special few. They even believed that Jesus as a spirit being did not come to take away sin, but to teach special knowledge. Many even were very strict with moral living.

Sounds very familiar to what you've been describing. You don't fit any particular view of Gnostism, but you have your own flavor. It's nothing new, though.

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You're just looking for shite you can attach to me to build a strawman and debate it instead of me.

You're a dishonest piece of crap, go frick yourself.

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Strawman? Where have I misrepresented you in my statement? I'll recant any particular statement that isn't true of you.

Please show me where I am misrepresenting you.

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You keep grouping me with gnostism, AS I JUST SAID. And even that you're either too damn ignorant to understand, or so dishonest you ignore it anyway.

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Which commandment are you keeping by using profanity (in unrighteous anger, it seems, which Jesus condemned as breaking the law) towards me?

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I didn't break any commandment. You keep bearing false witness, and I told you where to stick it.

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Yes, I'm grouping you with Gnosticism, while acknowledging that you have your own flavor. I already explained that Gnosticism was a set of beliefs with different flavors but primarily centered around spiritual, secret knowledge.

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Yeah, go frick yourself.