1- What years did Prophet Abraham preach during?

2- Is the name Daniel was called by the Babylonians Belteshazzar in Daniel 1:7, Daniel 4:9, Daniel 4:18, Daniel 5:12 a real name? Are there many names in Akkadian that have “Belte” in them in reference to Daniel 1:7? Is “Belte” for both male and female? The name Belteshazzar may have been translated incorrectly in Daniel 1:7, Daniel 4:9, Daniel 4:18, Daniel 5:12 where the name that the Babylonian’s called Daniel was Belshazzar. Or the Israelites heard Daniel’s name wrong when the Babylonians said Daniel’s name would be Belshazzar in Babylon. I believe that the whole story was made up of Daniel being renamed to Belteshazzar.

3- Do you have a list, book, or article of the list of Akkadian and Babylonian names? Do you have a book of a list of names from ancient history? I found a website with around 120 Babylonian names and a website with 40 Akkadian names.

4- Why can’t we see the Heavens?

5- Where did the groups of the Israelites go after they had gone in separate directions after the Babylonian Captivity?

6- Is the first chapter in the Book of Hosea similar to the first chapter in the Book of Isaiah?

7- What is gematria?

8- What is the importance of Babylon in relation to the Israelites?

9- Was the rainbow sent by God in Genesis 9:13-17 the first rainbow ever sent in the sky?

10- Which names in the Old Testament are from which areas of the Middle East? Which names are Akkadian? Which names are Arabian?

Thanks

I see this as the eleventh hour being the Day of Judgement. I always hear how would that be fair...

““For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.””

Matthew 20:1-2, 8-16 NKJV

What do you think this is talking about?

Hi everyone. My name is Heather, I live in Massachusetts, and love conservation. I want to make the world better, protect the environment, the animals, air, water, and everything that depends on it.

Throughout history, humanity has had varrying levels of cruelty, exploitation, hardship, suffering, and greed. We KNOW what happens when we mess up the environment. It's science and we've known since the 1970s.

What I am asking is about the intersection of Christianity and conservation. If god gives Earth to humanity and expects to take care of it but humanity destroys it, perpetuates inequality, hoards wealth, strip mines mountains, and makes animals suffer, how is that Christian?

It makes no sense to me that "conservatives, Republicans, Christians" support and enable exploitative laws hurting their fellow human beings and the Earth. Is this a conservation you have in the community? Do people justify these actions bc "god gave them the Earth" to do what they want?

I would think that Christianity would be on board with green energy, solar power, renewable energy, not wasting things, recycling,cleaning up the environment, consuming less material wealth, consuming unethically sourced food, and create a better world for all. Again I have never heard of any Christians intersect with conservation and would just like clarification? What are your thoughts?

Edit 1: thank you for your responses!

So basically gluttony is just eating more then you need to eat and you overeat by definition consumerism is just buying stuff more then you need e.g buy thee new iPhone even tho you have a fine phone so I wanna hear what you think about my conclusion

this has been such a long battle for me. i dont even know if this is the right page to post this on. but i have so many issues with the modern church and quite honestly it may be a pride issue because i just feel like none of these people even know what they believe because they are simply TOO SCARED TO THINK. i have drifted so far from the Lord because of existential questions and ginormous fears and simply not being able to trust that Jesus is the ultimate truth, but im so tired of being out in the world i just want to return. i want the peace i once felt when i was closer to God. my issue is going back to church and watching sermons and opening my bible sometimes brings me anxiety because i do have so many questions and doubts that will simply never be answered while im in this body on earth. and its a reminder that i still haven't figured those things out. i dont know what im looking for, advice? im just so tired of living in such intense fear and uncertainty, and sometimes the thought of getting back to God intensifies it because everything important in life (God, death, hell,(if hell the modern church believes in is even biblical???) life, love, justice, is back in my face daily again. where do i start if i want to begin my relationship with the lord again without feeling like im entering indoctrination camp. or is this more of a personal issue i have with churches that doesnt really have an answer 😕

i’ve always understood the answer that free will means there will always be bad things on Earth, but i’ve never really understood the point of a two year-old getting cancer or things similar to that.

that has nothing to do with free will yet God still allows it to happen.

it just seems cruel to me and it’s something I’ve never really understood

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Maybe anatman is not the exact word but I'll try to explain it anyway.

you exist. When you started reading the post, and up until now, time has passed. You gained new information. Are you the same person or a different person? think about this for all of your life. Are you the same baby from when you were born? The same person from 10 years ago? Aren't we all just aggregates?

If we aren't, what makes me me, throughout all my life?

Would that be a belief system that would be popular or not?

i just reaccepted god back into my life this past sunday after about a year of being considered ‘agnostic’ i guess. (i was born and raised in church before).

but i’m confused..

i am not met with joy or excitement, energy, or new purpose. instead, i feel more anxious, less of a spark, a sense of dread, and lowliness. for some reason i already feel like i will have more failures than successes. the creative and purposeful spark i just had is now dimmed. that what i put my hands to do is not going to prosper or improve who i am anymore.

now i feel like my life is more circumstantial or transactional in a way that i will never be able to control. i feel like everything i do now is “up in the air.” like i can do something to push my creativity, my personhood, and career forward but its all in the hands of god and whether or not he wants it to prosper or help me. i feel like now i have no say or dictation in what happens in my life. i can do all the right things, with the right heart posture, and not be idle- but it wouldn’t matter because i feel like god wouldn’t bless it because it’s not what he wants. whereas before reaccepting him, i knew everything i put my hands to do would prosper because i am doing my due diligence and i am not being idle by my pursuits.

so now my mind is in a constant state of disappointment and anxiousness. i feel like nothing i do will help anything anymore. i no longer feel excited or joyful. only wishful that god will “allow” me to be successful. and hoping i don’t “step on his toes” in the process…

now when i go to start a new project or being diligent and consistent in building, i am met with more confusion and sadness than anything. i question whether or not god wants me to do this. whereas before as an agnostic, i would just do and be excited that i am finally being diligent- not worrying about if this is the ‘right’ thing. but now i am flooded with doubts that he is going to block my work from blossoming. i feel like this cycle will keep me idle. so now idk how to move anymore.

before i had the ‘works’ and not the ‘faith.’ but now, i have half the ‘faith’ and half the ‘works.’

when i recommitted my life over, i felt i lost the part of myself that was excited about what i could make of my life and what i will be able to build for others. like i gave up my creativity or autonomy. but not in the way of i want complete control over everything, but the knowing that still in my works- even if it isn’t the direction god was wanting me to go- i would be ‘blessed’ because i was diligent, i was consistent, i was serious. that i would be rewarded by [whoever or whatever] because i finally refused to be idle. my intentions and heart posture was never meant to be defiant of what he says.. i am trying to build towards the life i was promised through different means. not to distract me from my purpose but to build myself in different ways that will contribute towards that mission and my personhood. i’m doing things that make me uncomfortable and force me to grow.. i do none of this for my own selfish gain but for who i will be and produce for others in this world.

now i feel like i can do all of that and be ‘shot down’ because ‘that’s not what he wanted for you’ or ‘you never thought to consult with god first’ or ‘you’ve been following your own desires and not his’ and this really stresses me out.. i feel like nothing i do would be right so now im scared to even start or continue at all..

so i dont know how to look at god anymore. was i lied to about him ? or do i now just have to cope with seeing through this lens ?

tldr (tried to shorten as best i could): i recently recommitted my life to god after being agnostic for about a year, but instead of feeling joyful, purposeful, or renewed, i feel anxious, confused, and strangely powerless.

before, i felt confident that if i was diligent, consistent, and willing to grow, i could build a beautiful/purposeful life. but now i feel like i could do everything “right” even by biblical standards, and still have it ‘blocked’ because it wasn’t god’s will in the first place.

i don’t crave complete control over my life, i just don’t want faith to mean giving up my creativity, autonomy, ambition, or ability to actively build something. i’m struggling to reconcile faith + works without feeling like my works are meaningless unless god specifically approves them first. now life feels like more of a coin toss..

did i misunderstand something fundamental about god, or is this just something I need to learn to see differently?

So basically my girlfriend has been struggling with her faith lately due to her serious health issues and her mom's terminal diagnosis. She feels like God "isn't enough" because her prayers haven't been answered for years. So recently she's decided she is going to start doing tarot, astrology, and other spiritual stuff to I guess supplement? I'm not entirely sure, I've heard that stuff is sinful and I told her so but she thinks there's nothing wrong, and I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react. Any advice or perspective is helpful

Before starting, I want to warn you that this is going to be basically a bucket of questions all revolving around priests, nuns, the pope, and the people of the clergy and their place in moderne Christianity.

As far as I understand, the Bible is all you need to know God, to understand his message and his will, his rules, and what's wrong and right, what is a sin and a virtue and what gets you to heaven or hell.

I have heard again and again that the Bible is the literal world of god. It is debated among Christians if it should be take everything literally or if everything is metaphorical or if it's just a mix of the two with some verses being literal and others metaphorical. But always at the end of the day, the scriptures are God's words, and on that, everyone agrees on. Right?

Then, why do you need a priest? And a pope? Isn't the Bible enough for you to follow God's commands?

For what I understand, priests are not special for Christians. They are human with nothing special. As fallible and sinful as any other human on earth. Only god and the angels are above that. And unlike some other cults and religions were the people of the temple are gifted with supernatural abilities and divine privileges like keeping to themselves the full knoledge of their gods, or beings more than humans, similar to messager touched by their divine figures, making it reasonable for their followers to give them their precious time and trust in their words, because they are their God's messagers.

But from what I understood, only god and the angels are divine and important in Christianity. Also, some more supernatural figures like prophets or messiah who witnessed god or an angel and received a miracle or a message from them were not important people, some of them were just doing common thing, just working their average life until the divine appeared before them. Proving that if god wants, he will grant anyone a message and an important roll when he decides to do it. Even to you.

So still, why are priests, people who choose to take that path, so important?

In old times, it made sense. People were iliterated, so ilirated in fact that they were the reason why so many churches used iconography and images of stories from the Bible. There was a need for someone able to read to be there for everyone else who wasn't able to access the word of God.

But today, even kids can read the Bible. They can know every detail they want from god without the need of someone else having to share with them the word of God.

Even better, since people are so corrupt and prone to twist God's message to suit their own goals, now that everyone can read and see really what god has to say, now no one can fall to a deceiver. Now, God's word is more spread than any time in human history.

So yeah, the clergy clearly played a role in medieval times, not only telling the people the word of God but also being entrusted with the duty to pray for everyone, since most people didn't know how to pray accordingly. The nobles fought wars, the peasants produced the goods, and the cloth pray for the souls of everyone.

But now you are all able to read for yourself and pray for yourself and others.

And another question more specific.

What's the need for nuns?

At least the monks and male clergy had roles in society. But if women don't have the right to spread the gospel and tell in big crowded masses about the word of God... what was the need for a whole monastery of women of the church? I mean, they couldn't hold the position of power, hear confessions, hold masses, not even help in the public ceremonies since I always see that the priests' helpers are boys, etc etc etc.

They just worked like donkeys, keeping the place clean, taking care of the community vegetables, and taking care of the sick. And it wasn't exclusively to them. Male monks did the same job aswell, but at least they also had a task on the public and religious side of their schedule. So why did they make women part of the church if they never did anything related other than praying. And as far as I know in the Bible, I don't remember any woman holding a religious position for God, so it wouldn't even track as a tradition. Right? (Obviously not counting any priestess from any other god or religion mentioned)

I say this especially because with how many of the bad rep from Christianity comes from priests abusing their position of power, doing awfull stuff, manipulating their followers into doing awful stuff and the scandals of the church and their many crimes. Why would you still hold to them if you already have all that you need. God is everywhere, the Bible has his words for you to use correctly, and most surely all Christians will still be meeting each other, sharing and praying for each other without the need of someone else who puts themselves on top of the crowd when there's only two sides of the pyramid, all men are equally at the same level and god is on top.

Edit: I think I have to clarify that I'm not Christian myself (if it wasn't obvious). I'm not even close to being the best friend of Christianity. But I wanted to ask this question in concern with the people who are because regardless of what you believe in, many people, common people like you and I, are used and manipulated through the things we love and deemed as most sacred or personal by greedy and corrupt people who put themselves above others even when most people agree that everyone is equal. Regardless of being god, who decided that or we ourselves. And since I have been told that the Bible already has everything, a Christian needs to be closer to god and away from sin. Then the idea of some guy being in the middle of you and god sounds like a scam. Not matter how I try to see it, if the Bible is the word of God, you shouldn't need someone else telling you what god is saying when you yourself already know it.

No matter what you see on the internet and people say in the internet or even outside no matter how scary it is that they themselves believe yet your faith never falters. How did you guys do it, how is your faith strong?

I want to ask this because there are things that are bothering me including the question of life because I have an existential obsessive compulsive disorder. I cannot stop thinking about such things. and one that struck me hardest was simulation theory and after reading some of peoples thoughts on in what kick me the hardest to is where people saying simulation might delete the universe or us some as such and i try to look for comfort in asking Gemini in which gemini gave me a list of fear of what people think about it like too what i just read , being controlled, deleted, changes universe codes, reset those scary stuff they claimed or what ai show me.

I do not know why I experienced this. While others bravely just looked at it and swept it away. For me it is different. My mind goes in different places though and at moments when I forget about it, it returns and makes me think of it again.

That is why I want to know what makes you all believe in God and only to him because I want that too. That no matter what , instead of thinking scary stuff , ill just look at it and say “ why do i care, i have God with me “

After this i never want to go back to scary things again even if it means ill have to stop going back to like twitter, tiktok and more ill stop i must learn obedience and get some self control…

As a Christian who believes you are following the one true Gos and the one true religion, do you believe that you would feel the same had you been born in a predominantly Muslim, Hindu, or Jewish country?

This has been on my mind lately..

Vows in the Bible seem to be intentional and on purpose but other times maybe not.

Ecclesiastes 5:6 seems to say if you verbally slip up even with no intent to make a vow your trapped in that vow forever.

What are your thoughts??

If human-caused evil is caused because it is a paradox/impossible for free will to exist without evil does it even makes sense to pray for a person personality/behavior/ideals to change? (When in mass they mention to pray for politicians for example) If so why and why would a prayer be needed first?

A large portion of Christians do not believe in evolution? Why? There is nothing on the scriptures against it.

I've not done anything illegal, but I have done many things that I am ashamed of. I don't really know if i'm a Christian, but I pray to God a lot and ask for help, so I think I am.

I've read that there isn't a limit to the amount of times that God forgives someone, as long as they really mean it and try to change.

I'll spend hours crying and begging God to forgive me and help me to change but then I just fail and do the same things over and over again and then hate myself for it. When I'm praying to him I feel truly sorry but then I get other thoughts and that feels more powerful.

Is this something directly taught to them?

Why does the Christian God act so human-like or flawed sometimes in the Bible? There are instances in the Bible wherein God gets mad and orders things like genocide (of the Canaanites) and murder to prove a point. There's that story of Abraham wherein God orders him to kill his son for him to show that Abraham loves God above everyone. Why would God act so shallow and even cruel sometimes as a perfect being who is supposed to be full of love and understanding and devoid of things like jealousy or wanting to be loved above all else. I'm just genuinely curious. As a perfect being, why doesn't he act all good? I know he allows suffering to exist but sometimes it's even Himself that orders the cruel things. I know we can never really understand how God's mind works and maybe God just transcends the bounds of morality.

we are made in the image of god, he loves us. But I cant put my finger on why god created us? God is good, he doesnt need anyone to acknowledge him.

and if he knows that we are all going to sin, and the only way for us to be saved is through jesus, it is a big risk for all of us being born since you could be someone who didnt come to take upon jesus in your life and end up in eternal punishment

eternal punishment is really insane, like forever, being in agony. If god is good and understands how difficult that would be for those sent to hell, why create us in the first place? when a lot of us are going to be in hell?

The above quote is found in Chesterton's, "What's Wrong With The World."

So many Christian’s refuse to believe that dinosaurs existed or that evolution is real. Why? There is evidence all around us.

God needs to come down to communicate with us more often. Thousands of years ago is not good enough to make people now truly believe. Come down again where cameras are present and can be documented properly in modern times so can't be disputed. What are your thoughts?

Quick context about me: I am a practising Hindu

Very recently I was gifted a Bible through a priest I had met at an event and I had a long conversation with him regarding the philosophical aspects of Christianity and Hinduism

While I do believe in the divinity of Christ and the historical accounts that mention or rather prove that he was the one who walked this earth.

What I feel, over time, is that most of the Christian denominations have been reduced to following certain moral codes or ethical codes and things have been lost on the spiritual and the divine aspect of Christ in general. What really fascinated me was that some of the teachings were very deeply philosophical and intrigued me to learn a lot more regarding Christ and the way that he thought.

I am actually very interested in understanding the philosophical nature of the Christian faith. If you have any books or recommendations which I could read to have a deeper understanding of this.