Genesis 1:1-31
In the Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
John 1:1-18
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Matthew 16:13-20
Peter Declares that Jesus is the Son of God
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Are believers who believe in God and Jesus making one huge mistake for having faith and believing?...Jesus who talked about God in His entire ministry, did He get it wrong and make this one huge mistake about God?...Our ancestors for the most part all believed in God...As for Jesus, He had Twelve Original Disciples and they followed Him throughout His ministry, and then one of them betrayed Him...But the Eleven believed in Him and that He was Divine, especially after He returned from the dead...And when Jesus ask His Disciples who people thought He was, Peter answers that He is, in fact, the Son of God...Peter and the Disciples witnessed miracles, so they believed in who He was...
Some people do not believe in God and some people do not believe in Jesus...Some believe in neither One of Them...Some base their belief on science and how they see evolution conflicting with the creation story in Genesis...As science came more sophisticated over the past one hundred years, evolution has taken some strides forward in getting people to believe in evolution...And the evolution story for many is seen as a conflict with God...When we look at the past, we see that most men and women believed in God...I'm not so much sure that is the case with Jesus...When we read John's Gospel, he says that many did not recognize who Jesus was when He was teaching...John writes that the world did not recognize Him even though He is God's Only Son and that He is in closest relationship with the Father...And it is God who has made Him known...So even though there have been witnesses to God, like Moses and the Prophets...And direct witnesses to Jesus like His Disciples and His immediate followers, people do not believe, and believe in those who wrote the stories and the Books of the Bible...Jesus seemed to be believed in more after His death, which sounds kind of strange...But yet He is One unusual Man...
I believe that most religions contain one or more teachings of some profound truth or truths...I have read an article if there is a God then why do we have all the different types of religions...The three largest religions of the God of Israel are listed, and they are Christianity, Islam, and Judaism...Other religions mentioned are Hinduism, Buddhism, and then mentions that there are countless smaller religions, including many varieties of traditional, cultural, and nature-based religions, throughout the world...Christianity follows the Old and New Testaments of the Bible...The Old and New Testaments were written over thousands of years by many different authors...The Muslim or Islam religion follows the Quran...Muslims believe the Quran was revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel...Judaism follows the Old Testament...The Old Testament is the same for Christianity and Judaism...The Quran has common elements with the Old Testament and even the New Testament...The God of the Universe is One and the Same for these three religions...The Quran has some of the prophets of the Old Testament, and also mentions Jesus as a Prophet...These common elements make the subject of the three major religions, and the God of Israel and Jesus an interesting topic...
I might add there is only One Jesus, yet there many, many denominations under His Name...These differing views of different believers and non-believers do not for me argue that there is no God or there is no Jesus...During and around Jesus' time there were Pharisees and Sadducees, and the Essenes...And most scholars believe in a historical Jesus...All of the different religions and denominations are and were believers in God, but had some differences in what they believed about God...It shows me that man has and wants to believe in his own interpretations of what he has read in the Bible, or heard from others about the Bible, and/or what one personally feels about God and Jesus and maybe even how he feels about the the world and nature around him...After all God and Jesus are the Two Most Personal Entities there are...Faith is very personal...Many, if not most, want to practice their faith in their own and their best way...
C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that "If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake...If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all those religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth...When I was an atheist I had to try to persuade myself that most of the human race have always been wrong about the question that mattered to them most; when I became a Christian I was able to take a more liberal view...But, of course, being a Christian does mean thinking that where Christianity differs from other religions, Christianity is right and they are wrong...As in arithmetic-there is only one right answer to a sum, and all other answers are wrong, but some answers are much nearer right than others."...
So if you are a non-believer, then you do have to believe that most of the people since the beginning of the world have been wrong and the authors of the Bible were writing lies about a God who never existed, and the Disciples who were eyewitnesses to Jesus just made one huge mistake about Him...They too got it wrong about Him, if the non-believer is right...