This is where the rubber meets the road. This is also an example of what I call "glumping", which means reaching an overly generalized conclusion because of a prior assumption or combination of concepts that should remain separate.

As I've learned in life, most things are more complicated than they first appear. For this reason...

"Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:"
—Isaiah 28:9-10

It takes the knowledge of one concept to build upon another. Amazingly, this can lead to a profound understanding of our life and purpose. Amazingly still, many (actually most) never desire to acquire the first Biblical precept. These occupy their entire lives and die as children.

You said...



A more accurate way to express this idea is to say, "most humans are voilent when..."[/i]

For example, I was raised in a voilent home, but I did not become violent. I was raised in an verbally abusive home, but I did not become verbally abusive.

Some people say that people are a product of their environment. I would say that most people are a product of their environment.

Interestingly, the Bible says:

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
—Matthew 7:13-14

Even more interestingly:

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
—Romans 8:1

And:

"For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
—Romans 7:22-25

(Read "mind" as "spirit". Read "members" and "flesh" as "body".)

When you put the pieces of the wisdom of the Bible together, you begin to see the big picture. You begin to learn about the construction of mankind and the explaination for the problems that we have.

If you consider this, you have three parts:

(1) Soul
(2) Body
(3) Spirit

A quick note about the Spirit:

The Bible says:

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
—Genesis 1:27

It continues:

"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
—Genesis 2:7

This phrase "breath of life" is fascinating. In Strong's (Bible dictionary), it's defined as:

H5397
nesh-aw-maw'
From H5395; a puff, that is, wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect or (concretely) an animal: - blast, (that) breath (-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit.

(bold emphesis mine)

Properly translated, I believe this refers to the intellect, which is a function of the human spirit—the implementation of the human "will" and "intellect" and "faith" (faith is not what most people think it is). The soul, on the other hand, refers to the emotional center of a person.

My point in all this is—

Most humans are creatures of habit. Most follow the soul or the body. In other words, they make decisions based not on the intellect (spirit), but rather on emotions (soul) or physical urges (body). These are the ones who pass through the wide gate.

The real point of the Bible is that people who are guided by the Spirit—the intellects—these are the people who have the capacity to understand Biblical concepts. And these who understand these concepts who do not reject them because of their rebellion (essentially submission to the flesh or soul) will accept them because of their capacity for logic. These who accept them will accept that Christ is who He said He was because of the ample Biblical evidence demonstrating this.

I say all this to demonstrate that to say men are products of their environment is an oversimplification of the truth. The fact is, most men (by men I mean mankind) are products of their environment, but a few indeed, are not.

These who are those who learn; Those who build precept upon precept and put the pieces of the giant puzzle (actually a filter of sorts) together are those who have the capacity to "repent", that is, to change their mind from following their soul or body that was undiscerningly submissive to illogical and useless things to concepts and precepts that are the hallmarks of all intellectually progressing civilization, namely, law. Not the law of men necessarily, rather the law of God; The Ten Commendments at their core.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
—2 Timothy 1:7

The word "mind" is from this Greek:

G4995
so-fron-is-mos'
From G4994; discipline, that is, self control: - sound mind.

Discipline being the ability to oppose—with will based on faith through inspiration (perhaps manifested as intuition) or intellect (via evidence)—the body and soul.

Thanks for enduring this long explaination, but it takes time to build this precept upon precept.



Again, "most" would have likely done the same, but not all, at least not for their entire lives.

It's interesting that law can be conveyed by more than just physical evidence. Sometimes, it's inspired or communicated by other means that are often tagged as intuition or inspirational.

There are people who will grasp concepts of right or wrong without ever being physically taught them. This is hard for some people to accept, but for those who have experienced it, it makes complete sense. In some cases, it becomes a staple of life.

"For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)"
—Romans 2:14-15

It's hard to explain how this works because knowing the difference between your own thoughts and the "inner voice" takes practice. But when you get to know that voice, it can change your life.

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:"
—John 10:27

"And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."
—Isaiah 30:21

Some don't hear the voice itself. Some get "feelings" or "impressions". I believe these are artifacts of the voice to those who cannot hear it, just as hunger may be an artifact of subliminal messages in marketing displays.



I would also point out that evil is not necessarily manifested in violence. In fact, it often manifests in more creative and intellectual ways.

I would also say that I don't see the conclusion you have drawn as logical based on the evidence ("pointing us towards the fact that humans are not violent by nature"). Again, there is more to the story as explained previously.

I would also point out that there is a unified, focused attack that is taking place on Christianity in the world today. This attack is being made via mainstream media, textbooks, college curriculum, and through other means. This attack is being conducted by people who decidedly hate Christianity. The reason that they hate it is a study unto itself. Nevertheless, these are the powerbrokers of the world who have the emmense power—not conceiveable by most common people—to change world opinion in a coordinated fashion. These are skilled information brokers, liars and men who have no moral restraint. These are the ones who will bring about many of the disasters spoken about in the Bible. In fact, it is impossible to properly understand Bible prophecy without understanding modern-day conspiracies (another large subject).

My point in telling you all this is that this is the reason so many who have not studied Christianity have such a bad opinion of it; namely, Christianity is being slandered by the powerbrokers who hate it and those not studied are believing the lies rather than searching out the truth for themselves.

Nearly every mainstream program I've ever seen or every mainstream article I've ever read about Christianity contains subtle, skillfully constructed lies that lead the reader or watcher to conclude some bad or evil thing about Christianity. You have to remember, they are very skilled liars restrained by no morality.

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."
—2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

(this is coming as I can see the artifacts even now)

"And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."
—Revelation 20:3

"And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."
—Revelation 20:8

These deceptions involves many of the leaders of the most powerful nations of the world. It is in place, even now.

My point in telling you all this is to draw attention to the idea that you have undoubtedly heard numerous lies and slanders against Christianity, but the bad attributes of other belief systems have been ignored or even glorified. This has dramatically colored your view of these things to a point where you're likely never to take the time to learn what the Bible really says. Again, this is a powerful and persuasive deception.

In all this excessive dialog (which is another tactic that mainstream dogma eventually manifests in that keeps people away from the Bible itself), we're missing the real issue. The real question we should be attacking is: Is Christ who He said He was? If so, a discussion of which belief system renders more peaceable persons is mute.

The fact is, the Bible is viciously slandered and yet, it's hard to get those drawn in by the slander to decide which of the peaceable laws and principles of the Bible they object to:

"And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his [censored], nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon."
—Exodus 20:1-26

I firmly believe the U.S. became the most powerful nation in the world because the laws and principles taught in the Bible give people the power to feely produce and receive rewards for their labor, and that evil was properly punished. The people of the U.S. once lived by these principles.

The decline of the U.S. is easily attributable to the removal of these principles from law, from which they propagate into every area of life. Those same powerbrokers are those who changed these laws.



I'm always happy to look at interesting things, no matter how they fly in the face of my belief system. The problem is that whenever I've done this in the past, I keep running into the same empty and contradictive philosophies simply rehashed in new and "exciting" ways.

I've read some parts and other pieces from all major religions. I've actually spent years studying a few. Unfortunately, I keep finding a new set of beautiful decorations around the same dying tree.

I truly don't mean this to be negative. It's simply that there is no other belief system I've found that really makes sense on an intellectual level; none. The most common belief systems are really 70% to 90% the same, but the final 10% to 30% make all the difference in the world.

I don't deny that many "good" men have lived and died by the world's standards, but the real question is, again, who is Christ? That is the answer that has the potential to change someone to the very core, and it has and it does.



There's a while lot of glumping going on here. Let me give you an example.

Meditation is practiced by many religions. However, in my studies, I've found that most "religions" promote the philosophy of "opening up". I believe this idea, in the way it is promoted is dangerous because is enables you to be coerced more easily from logic. Again, this is a study in and of itself, but those who understand the difference between open and closed meditation know exactly what I'm talking about.

It's also important to understand that the best way to deceive somone is not to say something blatently contradictory to their existing belief system, rather, it's to allow them to get into your car and drive them in the direction of truth, or actually, whatever they already believe, and then quickly pass it by while their attention is somewhere else, and this is exactly what is happening in the Churches today. I call it a "flyby".

Back to the statement you made...

Again, the statement's glumping nature and a lack of time prevents me from disecting all of the items you listed above, but please know that I'm not so shallow as to believe that all practices that non-Christians practice are harmful. There is a lot more to it than that.

As for me, based on my experience and research, no matter where you start, no matter where you try to go, and no matter what you want to experience in life, I have already learned that the final end of every logical discussion about life is:

"Who is Christ".