Does religion help us to get closer with God or just make us more reject Him?

Nice try to take a swipe at me, but you missed. First of all let me say that if you live by the specifics mentioned, that is fine and I will not fault you for it. The issues you raise are specifics that arise for today's Chirsitan due to the relationship between the Old and New Testament. There are many aspects to the way Old and New are connected and many I may not understand or barely understand. Fortunately, my understanding does not determine truth. I will say though, as a foundation, that even though the Old Testament appears to be focused on the acts of God the Father, Jesus Christ is present throughout. He is in Creation, Jesus is pointed to in the Law, He is talked about and looked for in the Prophets (major and minor) and He is referred to in the Psalms, even the details of His crucifixion. Between the Old and New Testaments we find the cross of Jesus Christ. There is no historical event greater than this, so we know it is hugely important. In the New Testament, people are taught about Jesus Christ and are given the opportunity to be His disciples. Now, the Holy Spirit comes to inhabit the believer, whereas that was a rare and temporary event in the Old. Christians today must live according to the entire Bible, but the Old must be interpreted through the work of Jesus Christ. The Ten Commandments are not specifically repeated in the New, but they certainly remain applicable. You did not ask me why I do not sacrifice animals for atonement of sin. That is because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice and it need not be repeated. The New Testament gives fairly clear evidence that Jesus' disciples (Jewish by nature) met and worshipped on the first day of the week, Sunday. The same with the ressurection. If you are Seventh Day Adventist and worship on Saturday, that is fine. The Kosher diet is part of the law. If you read through the Gospels of Jesus Christ you will see multiple examples when Jesus and the disciples were challenged for not following the law, and Jesus addresses it. Some do research the dietary laws and see that there are health benefits contained there. Must all witches die? Well, witches are sinners, and all men, women and children are sinners. The Bible is clear that all men must die, and after that face judgment. Judgment is only 'good news' for those who have found salvation in Jesus Christ. Usery - I borrow money and pay interest on that borrowed money. Going by memory, I think usery is when the lender charges excessive interest. I do not lend money, so I cannot be charging too much interest. Even though the Bible is written such that the simplest person can understand the most important truths in it, it takes much more study to understand other aspects. Hopefully my discussion is not confusing. Have a great day. djbtol

Does staying as close to the Holy Bible as you can include worshiping on Saturday, observing a Kosher diet, not allowing witches to live, not practicing usery? If not, why?

Well explained, djbtol. nice of you to share your beliefs, they only lacked scripture references though to complete it, but i like it. the Bible is really a great help so that we can know which is wrong and which is right, just like a map it serves as our guide in serving God. It's just that the devil knows when and how to attack us and distract us away from the truth. thanks!

Didn't God give Moses most the religious teachings of the Israelites, including some very specific stuff about building the arc of the covenant, the tabernacle, priest's garments etc.. That sounds an a lot like God creating religion to me.

Short, but meaningful. Thanks!

For myself I must always choose what will please my God first. That means it doesn't matter if people laugh or do not understand! That doesn't mean it may not hurt when they laugh or hate me, but it cannot carry more weight than God does in my life.

Well, if you a good or loyal to your God you will closer to the God.Loyal means like one of Mylot guidelines, Do's and Don't. If you feel that it make a barrier, means you have to thinking it why?? Breaking God rules?? Do the God wiss but it's hard for you.Cause you will be hate by others or laugh by them. Which one do you choose?? God, them or something??

thanks and i respect what you believe in. what counts is that we have a close personal relationship with God because relationship with Him is the most important and not religion, although religion should help mold us in our faith, sometimes it's the opposite.

How do you know? An awful lot of people claim to have had messages from God, experiences miracles or to have glimpsed heaven and/or hell.

You're wrong, or at least overly simplistic in saying that killing people "because of their beliefs in a different creator" is contrary to the true beliefs of the religion. It depends on the religion. The Koran frequently exhorts people to kill others who don't accept the "true" teachings of Islam (including moderate Muslims who it calls "hypocrites"). I don't think you can deny that the Koran is the true teachings of Islam, if you disagree with it you're not a Muslim, or at least a rather heretical one. I don't entirely agree with not needing priests etc. to tell you what scripture means. If you're too insular, you tend to go very "off the rails" because there's nobody to tell you that you're making mistakes and building on them to end up with something that seriously out to lunch. Also, unless you have a very good knowledge of the language(s) your scripture was originally written in and the culture of the time and place when and where it was written, you can seriously misinterpret things. Some English translations of the Bible (not sure about other scriptures but I'd be very surprised if you don't have similar problems with other languages and other scriptures) contain some rather questionable things which can throw the poorly educated. The priests etc. aren't always right either but they should be able to help.

I guess i have to agree because i can see you are a Bible reader. We should really check it first before believing someone who talks about faith or about God and that if what he is saying is true. Most of all we should pray and study the Bible like you said. thanks!

Is there such a thing as "a perfect saint"? Nobody's perfect except Yeshua (Jesus) so even the real saints must have had their bad days. As for the members of the church - I think it depends what church you go to.