Bible Study

What I mean is: if a person doesn't allow you to befriend him, gives you the cold shoulder (not returning your hellos, conversations or other positive interactions you have initiated), is it a sin if you hate the person for not befriending you?

Atheist here. But anyways, the bible does mention to "love thy neighbor". So it may not be a sin to hate someone but it is discouraged.

Originally Posted by !!agniq!!

What I mean is: if a person doesn't allow you to befriend him, gives you the cold shoulder (not returning your hellos, conversations or other positive interactions you have initiated), is it a sin if you hate the person for not befriending you?

Sorry for the cheesy quote, but "hate is à strong word." If you can do nothing to help them, leave them alone, pray for them. Not everyone will like you, no matter how much you try to get them to.

How does the Bible take into account civilizations that predate the Bible, i.e. Ancient Egypt? Obviously they could not read nor hear the words of Jesus, so what happened to them upon death?

Simply put, there's more to the gospel than just the Bible. Ancient civilizations may not have had the Bible as we know it, but there are many stories where they come into contact with those whose writings and stories would later be found in the Bible (particularly Egypt with people like Joseph and Moses). God's work is done through prophets, it's just a question of what actually gets recorded.

I have a question. Where in the Bible does it say all Christians will be Raptured in the end times? I've never seen anything that says this. The closest I can find is a part, I think in the book of Matthew, where Jesus says something along the lines of "There will be two men in the field, one will stay, and the other will leave".

The rapture is pretty much entirely extra-Biblical. It's...unclear to me how it became such a popular belief in the US, but it's almost unheard of outside of it.

Originally Posted by Midna Fan

^To be fair, Christians ARE becoming more and more hated, it seems. We're constantly bashed by more and more people, and our rights and privileges to speak of God at all, even, in many places have been taken away, and ARE being taken away.

I know this post is old, and what I have to say isn't entirely related to the thread, but I just wanted to speak my feelings on this.

I hear alot of Christian people talk about this. Talk about how we're being persecuted and such. And to an extent, it is true. Some people just don't like Christianity, and just refuse to except it as a part life. But Christianity is the dominant religion of the world. It is the current leading religion of the world. And that kinda sets it up for alot of bashing. The largest power is always the center point of the blame of the worlds troubles.
Also, there are alot of "Christians" who seem to be going out of their way to make us look like a bunch of judgmental jerks. You know what I'm talking about. The ones who are calling gay and transgender people "sinners", and telling them they're going to hell. Which is extremely anti- Christian. And those who are protesting the building of mosques in their neighborhoods. All they've accomplished is turning potentially faithful people away from God. You have to treat people with the love and respect they equally deserve if you want them to see your point. The second you tell them they are evil for who they are, you've turned them away from God, maybe forever. Show them the Bible, and let them find their faith themselves. It's on thing to speak with someone about the word, but it's another thing to do God's job and judge them. Are you any less sinful than those around you?
I'm not saying there isn't any unfair prejudice against Christianity, but some of it circumstantial, and some is due to ignorant prejudice being unfortunately justified by the Bible.

It's 2:30 in the morning, and I'm super tired. My wording may be hard to understand, but you can figure it out. I'm much to tired to go fixing stuff.

EDIT: I just wanted to post this, because I'm sure I won't get a chance to be here again for another month or so. (which kinda makes this pointless, seeing that I may not be here to back up what I say.) I've talked to alot of other Christians about the stance on gays, and I almost always hear lines from the old testament, like about how a man sleeping with another man is an abomination, and that a man who commits an this act should be stoned. But if you remember Jesus' words in the story of a woman who cheated on her husband was about to be stoned, he said "He who is without sin cast the first stone". I see this as a clear lesson about not judging those who have sinned, because we are just as guilty of sin as all of mankind. And that no matter what a person's sins might be, you should love them and except them with open arms. I can't quote the scriptures, I'm at my sister's house, no bible.
And again, 3:00 in the morning.

Originally Posted by Yeraza

I have a question. Where in the Bible does it say all Christians will be Raptured in the end times? I've never seen anything that says this. The closest I can find is a part, I think in the book of Matthew, where Jesus says something along the lines of "There will be two men in the field, one will stay, and the other will leave".

Originally Posted by John

The rapture is pretty much entirely extra-Biblical. It's...unclear to me how it became such a popular belief in the US, but it's almost unheard of outside of it.

The word Rapture, at least in the sense that we're talking here comes from I Thessalonians:

Originally Posted by I THessalonians 4:16-17 (NASB)

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

In the Greek texts that we have, that phrase "caught up" in verse 17, comes from the Greek word ἁρπάζω, ("harpazo"). In many early translations of the Bible from Greek to Latin, the Latin word used there was "rapturo", which (transliterated into English) is where we get the word we're talking about here "rapture". In fact, quite a few Bibles will have a little footnote in I Thessalonians here saying something like ("also: Latin, "rapturo") or whatever.
[edit]
I can completely see how people could disagree over whether or not the mainstream idea of the rapture is biblically correct or accurate, and there's plenty of theories and interpretations that I disagree with myself, but with all due respect, its definitely not "entirely extra-biblical". There's plenty of scripture that sure does seem to say that at some point in the future Christ will come back and suddenly take his people. That's really all the general idea of the rapture is. How its going to happen, how quickly, what events must or should take place first, what's going to happen afterward, that's all secondary and of varying degrees of trustworthiness and debatable. But the core teaching is most certainly Biblical.

[edit 2]
Another verse that springs to memory concerning this event:

Originally Posted by I Corinthians 15:51-52 (NASB)

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

Alright, a bit of hyperbole on my part, but it's still a single, out-of-context, line as the basis for a significant part of US Christianity.

Oh, I just edited my post a bit. You know, I would quote scripture after scripture on the subject of the rapture, but anyone could just google "rapture" and "bible" and get a billion hits. Its definitely not based on one scripture alone, not by any means. Its mentioned in a lot of books of the New Testament. That one scripture I quoted at first was just to show where the English word "rapture" comes from, from that verse up there. I definitely didn't mean to imply the entire cultural mythos of the rapture comes from that single verse.

Other than Thessalonians you don't have much to go on. Talk of the dead ascending to heaven is common, as is talk of spiritual transformation, but all-in-all there's really not very much ground to stake a belief in the rapture on.

The Rapture - Biblical References to the Rapture
etc

Originally Posted by !!agniq!!

Is it sinful to hate a person, if it is, where in the Bible said it?

King James Bible
1 John 3:15
Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Originally Posted by Gamzee

How does the Bible take into account civilizations that predate the Bible, i.e. Ancient Egypt? Obviously they could not read nor hear the words of Jesus, so what happened to them upon death?

Well, Romans 1:20 states, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." People who have never had an opportunity to hear the words of Jesus, i.e. the gospel, have indeed received a clear witness about the existence and character of God through His creation. Now if they do respond to this revelation, God will provide a way to allow that person to come into contact with the gospel. Now, if they suppress this received and clear witness of His existence, "...they are without excuse" since He has shown His existence by His creation. Hopefully that explanation helps!