Summations Only

Here's another more general answer to your question, that may be more along the lines you had in mind.The Creator God is of course responsible for what happens to all people and all nations over history. The Biblical account, however, describes how He particularly chose a particular people for particular purposes, for instance to demonstrate His being God (that's what the miracles were for), to present His Law, the moral Law that runs the universe, to explain how humanity got to be in the condition we're in, due to the Fall, etc., and to present His solution to our predicament in the giving of a Savior which He promised throughout history as recorded in the Bible. So in a sense we are getting to see what goes on behind the scenes in the rise and fall of nations that otherwise we don't get to see without God's own revelation in the Bible; but we also are getting to see something special in history, God's plan of redemption that came through Israel and for which He determined to preserve the line of David, even through that southern Kingdom where He also raised up more righteous kings. If the line of David had also died out there would have been no Messiah.So, in a general sense, yes, the rising and falling of all kingdoms is under God's direction, and probably related to their degree of sin too, but according to the Bible Israel is a special case and subject to more severe punishments because of their covenant with God. It was through them that Jesus came, as promised, according to the Bible, as far back as Eden. There is also reason to believe that all the other nations that came out of Adam and Eve, or Noah's sons, knew of the promise in Eden and shaped their religions to that expectation. Except that, thanks to the Fall, all the local religions are distorted by the work of Satan and their gods are really demons, which is also revealed in the Bible.God is behind all events, yes, but without the Bible we'd never understand why any of those events occur. Other nations don't attribute their history to the workings of God, more to their great men and perhaps their local gods if gods are mentioned at all.ABE: After all that, perhaps the main answer to your question is this last line: "Other nations don't attribute their history to the workings of God, more to their great men and perhaps their local gods if gods are mentioned at all." That is, while God IS behind everything that happens, nobody would know it if it weren't for the Bible. Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

You assume other religions think the same way as Christianity. They don't. You won't find the same idea of God's judging them we find in Biblical religion.Beyond that I no longer am interested in trying to prove anything about the superiority of Christianity. The entire West once accepted its superiority, now you've all bought into Political Correctness. When I post on this thread it is only to answer false statements about the Bible or something else that is a matter of fact.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Whatever you think of the passages in question, one thing is very very clear and that is that your version of the relevant history bears absolutely NO resemblance to ANY of the Bible translations, so your constant harping on how you've read the Bible and accusations that others haven't is just hot air. Do read 2 Kings 17.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Well, it's quite true, no other religion concerns itself with God's judgments against nations as the Bible does, certainly not with judgments on one's OWN nation as the Bible does, which for long passages describes the sins of Israel and their consequences in various calamities, ten tribes ultimately being taken completely out of Biblical history by the Assyrians. Nor does any religion deal with such particulars of sin as God judges His own people for. Other religions have a morality but not anything like God's Law that spells out judgments for sin. And certainly no other religion offers salvation for individuals from God's judgments for sin. Buddha didn't die for our sins.I really do think that the Biblical record has an authenticity of history and human character you won't find anywhere else, and since it's about something of crucial importance to every human being, a salvation that is not offered by the other religions, that you should simply believe it. That's how I came to believe it and you should too. I know you will do nothing but object but oh well.As I said, I've stopped trying to prove anything on this thread.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Biblical Christians often point out how various disasters are God's judgments on us. You will not find any such thing in other religions. Gosh, such specificity! You think that's the same thing as God judging India for their sins?I did in fact offer reasons to consider the Bible inerrant early on, but I no longer do. The last attempt was the correspondence between the story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac and the death of Christ on the cross, which you just blew off without really thinking about it.

You are going to have to prove that,However, let me remind you that I've been talking about the Creator God, and nobody ever claimed to have a covenant with Him except the Israelites.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

All the gods you are talking about are demon gods, the "gods" that are the fallen angels that have ruled over humanity since the Fall, when Satan became "the prince of this world." The only true God is the God of the Bible, the God who made all things. Allah is not Jehovah and since Judaism rejects Christ, the Messiah their own scriptures promise, they are also a false religion.

Let's get back to my original point. The Bible is pretty much totally a history of how this world is mired in sin, how Satan brought it on us, how God planned a salvation from it for us, how He chose Abraham to be the father of a nation through which eventually He would bring the Messiah to save us, the same Savior that He promised right after the Fall, how He gave Israel His Law and how they repeatedly broke it so He brought His judgments against them, which He'd spelled out in Deuteronomy 9 and Leviticus 26 until finally ten of their tribes are completely erased from history. The petty little religions that are the work of demons are just imitations and paltry ones at that; they have no narrative, they have no history, they are just inventions of the fallen mind. It is only Biblical religion that is concerned about how God judges nations.

Anybody who can read the Bible knows you are full of it.

Massive failure to make accurate distinctions I'd say. Very PC, which is devoted to making ridiculous false equivalences moral and otherwise between the most disparate ideologies.

Oh but I have, many times.

Not from my point of view.

Find me historical facts reported by other religions comparable to the judgment of the twelve --sorry, meant ten -- tribes of Israel, or in fact any of the judgments against Israel. They don't exist. And Biblical religion is unique in not whitewashing its great men but reporting all the sins of God's own people, including David's seduction of his neighbor's wife followed by the murder of her husband. You won't find that kind of authenticity in other religions either. Say anything bad about Mohammed on the other hand and risk being killed for it. Other religions are tall tales, it really isn't hard to tell the difference between their made-up stuff and the authenticity of the Bible. And there is still the uncanniness of the correspondence between the OT account of the sacrifice of Isaac and the crucifixion of Christ. And the timing of the prophecy in Daniel right up to the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey. But fear not, I don't expect you to have the necessary discernment to see these things.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Phat is right, according to the Bible God seeks us, God does the choosing. He chose Israel, and He chooses individual Christians. We may also seek Him but He's the one in charge even of that. As Jesus told His disciples, He chose them, they did not choose Him.ABE: Oh and concerning hubris, the Bible also says God doesn't choose us for any good qualities, in fact we're the "offscouring of the world," not your desirable types. "Lest any man should boast."ABE: I'm aware that Buddhists consider themselves to belong to a particular "lineage" of the religion but I'm not sure how they calculate it, and otherwise I don't know of any religion that says their god chooses his followers. Do you?Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Golly gee whiz and ya don't say, no it would never have occurred to me that people see things from their own side. Gosh what a revelation.Only as I keep saying, the truth of the Bible shines out above all the others. That's a big part of why I became a Christian, I read a bunch of the other stuff first. Lots of Hinduism, Buddhism, occultism, gnosticism. The Bible has authenticity, the other religions are clearly nothing like it. But as I said, it takes discernment, and that's a gift of God.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.