Luke also shows Jesus teach about blessings, simular to the blessings in Mathew. But there is also warnings of woe as well. To those who are blessed: there is the poor, because they will have the Kingdom of God. Those who are hungry, because they will be satified. Those who weep, because they will laugh. And blessed are those who are hated, excluded, insulted rejected as evil because of being a follower of Jesus, because that is how our ancestors treated the prophets, and great is your reward in heaven.

Jesus continues though with a warning of woes though. Woe to those who are rich, because they have already received their comfort. Those who are well fed, because they will go hungry. Those who laugh now because they will weep and morn later. And woe to you when people speak well of you, because that is how our ancestors treated false prophets.

These are the teachings from Jesus concerning rewards and warnings. From the blessing in Mathew, they teach how we should be, and from the blessings and warnings in Luke we are taught that in times of suffering, we will be rewarded, and in times of good things, there is justice awaiting us, and seems to speak of the social injustice we have in the world, and the price of being blessed in an unjust world.

Dear Not_Now.Soon,

To attempt to speak of God using human words and terms, is more presumptuous than for an ant to describe our OLO discussion.

You could still say "God is beyond everything", but it wouldn't be a positive attribute of God: all it means is that God is not contained in anything. Similarly, saying "God exists" does not include or contain God in any category that we normally describe as existing, so it really doesn't mean anything. Perhaps you wanted to say "It is good to trust in God", to which I wholeheartedly agree, but the idea of trusting and worshipping someone only on condition that they exist, is equivalent to trusting and worshipping existence itself, which is a case of serving two masters.

Similarly, what is the use of saying "God is real" when you have no other example of realness, when everything that you call "real" in practical everyday situations, is only a temporary illusion?

Next you describe God as "Like a king", "Great", "Powerful" and with the verb "command". This again is found on human paltry perception.

Yes there is nothing wrong with such descriptions if they inspire love, good deeds and worship: it's an appropriate and practical human thing to do, but philosophically/theologically it is like the ant trying to make sense of our conversation in ant-terms.

Hinduism understands that relating directly to God without human concepts, is the exception and only a handful are capable of that after a lifetime of preparation: most people would literally go completely insane if they tried. Therefore, one should choose some object to represent God and to worship God through that object. The chosen object could be physical and/or mental - whatever inspires one the most to tread the path of/to God. It is understood (by Hindu scholars, perhaps not by every uneducated villager) that these objects are merely tools in the service of God rather than God Himself. They reflect facets of God (for lack of accurate language, God is not divided into facets) that are particularly attractive to the worshippers.

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Hinduism offers a variety of deities to suit the varied circumstances and temperament of each devotee. The Hebrew God of Abraham, or "The Father", is one such mental representation of God - Hinduism has no problem with this, so long as you personally find this particular form the most inspiring and encouraging, the best representation of God you can find.

Hinduism also has the Creator God, Brahma, but only a few worship him. In fact, he is often thought of as a dishonest villain, the one who got us into this whole mess to begin with. Hinduism understands that living in the world means trouble, more suffering than pleasure, more ignorance than wisdom. Nevertheless, if despite this a person feels excitedly in awe of the world, thankful and in love with life, then Brahma could be his/her God, as well as the Hebrew Father, God of Abraham (but I wouldn't recommend worshipping God as Father to someone who had an abusive father in childhood).

Regarding God's love, mercy, protection and justice: it is all true, yet subjective - which is all that really counts!

This you summarised yourself: «It would be better to know Him or serve Him, instead of thinking of Him as a force to grant wishes or a concept to justify their life.»

//Going to what is actually said and taught hopefully can clear up the confusion.//

The problem with that line of thinking is that going to what is actually taught - i.e. what is written in the Bible, and presented as the literal, divinely inspired and unalterable word of God, along with various dogmas that churches have invented off their own bat and teach as revealed truth - is exactly what causes what you euphemistically refer to as 'confusion' (i.e. the very clearly articulated and well-considered view that accepting mainstream Christian theology leads to the inescapable conclusion that Jehovah is a real dick).

//Not all co-incidences fit the bill of confirmation bias. Most of the examples I gave were a surprise to me when they happened.//

If they just came out of the blue, how can you attribute them to the power of prayer?

//Me I see that God has complete control over the world//

And hence, control over the mosquitoes that spread malaria. And the plasmodium that cause malaria. He could have eradicated smallpox thousands of years ago, thus saving the WHO a lot of effort and saving countless innocent lives to boot.

Pestilence.

Revelation 6:2

2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

He could beat all our swords - and our guns, and our nuclear warheads - into ploughshares. He could banish hatred and wrath from the mortal minds of men, and instead grant us tolerance and brotherhood.

War.

Revelation 6:4

4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

He could vastly improve the yields of our crops and livestock, and bless us with better means to get the food to the people who need it most. He could banish gluttony from the thoughts of men, so that every man ate only what he needed, and passed the rest to his neighbour.

Famine.

Revelation 6:5-6

5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

But he doesn't. He holds the reigns of all four riders.

Jehovah.

Revelation 6:8

8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

//God loves all the faithful equally//

Nope, not just the faithful. Good Samaritans too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIVB3DdRgqU

//God's love is protective. Do not actively try to do harm to another//

Shame it wasn't a bit more protective during the Inquisition... or slavery.

To AJ Phillips and Yuyutsu. Sorry for the delayed response. I'm going to give my thoughts concerning the critisms so far for the sermon on the mount from the site AJ Phillips provided first, then tomorrow I'll reply to Yuyustu gave. AJ Phillips if you have more to add For this portion I'll try to address it before moving on to the next section.

•Criticisms of the sermon notes of the mount. Found on http://wiki.ironchariots.org/index.php?title=Sermon_on_the_mount
And countering those points.

•Blessed are the poor/poor in spirit, to the hungry. Woe to the rich.

The criticism given is that these verses stress that poverty is a virtue and wealth is a vice. Half of the criticism is worth noting. Wealth does seem to be a vice. A distraction and deceptive allure, or in some cases, a continuation of a hard and evil heart. With greed towards our wealth, as well as indifference to others pain while we seek our wealth.

Giving to the poor is a virtue. If one is wealthy enough to do this but doesn't, then yes wealth is a vice.

The other half of the critism needs to be corrected. Again giving to the poor is a virtue, thus showing that those in poverty are in need. Blessed are the poor because they will be given the Kingdom of Heaven is not addressing a virtue to be in poverty, but addressing a need and promising comfort. Trust in God. Even in poverty when all else have discarded you, God has not.

But woe to you who are well fed and wealthy. You have neglected the poor and their needs. If you must know this teaching affects me as well. I am not the most wealthy, but I am not worried about my next meal, my health, or my home. At least not in the same way those who don't have those are worried about it them. Pay attention to this because I bet if you have Internet access you too are wealthy enough to be under the warning of woe to the rich.

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