Questions about God... theists answer these!

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Questions about God... theists answer these!

List of questions about God, religion and the supernatural have been compiled by IG over the years as well as some interesting ones by readers.

1. If Jesus fulfilled all the OT prophecies so well, why didn't the Jews recognize him as the messiah? - Francois Tremblay

2. If Gen 3:24 is true, why hasn't anyone found the Cherubims and the " flaming sword which turned every way"?

3. It's been proven that modern humans originated from Africa. Yet, the Adam and Eve story claims the first Humans lived in a garden in Eden, near 4 rivers. ( Most of which no one can find). One of these rivers mentioned is the Euphrates, which runs through Iraq, Syria and a portion of Turkey. What's the truth? Did man come out of Africa or near the Euphrates River? - The Infidel Guy

4. When the believer gets to Heaven, how can Heaven be utter bliss when people they love and care about are burning in Hell ? - The Infidel Guy - [Note: Some say God erases your memories of them, but if God erases your memory, you as Mr. Joe /Jane Smoe ceases to exist.]

5. How can a God have emotions, i.e. jealousy, anger, sadness, love, etc., if he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent? Emotional states are reactionary for the most part. How can God react to us if he is all-knowing and has a divine plan? - IG [Note: Indeed, many religious texts display their gods this way . Listen to the An Emotional Godshow.]
6. Why would God create a place such as hell to torture sinners forever when he foreknew who would disappoint him? - IG [Note: Some say you have a choice, but this misses the point. If God hates sin so much, why create Adam and Eve when he knew they'd sin? The only conclusion I can come up with, if Yaweh exists, is that he wanted sin to enter the world.]

7. "God is all merciful," we hear quite often. Wouldn't it be more merciful of God to simply snap sinners out of existence rather than send them to hell? Or better yet, since he's all-knowing, not allow them to be born at all? - IG
ON GOD'S LOVE & HELL
1.) God's love is superlative.
2.) God's love of man exceeds man's love of self.
3.) Man's love of self prohibits torture.
4.) Considering God's greater love for us, Hell (eternal torture) is illogical.

8. Muslims are supposed to pray 5 times a day towards Mecca. Each prayer includes a variety of ritualism and posturing. If a muslim astronaut were to land on Mars. Prayer to Mecca would be ritualistically impossible due to the rotation of Earth and Mars. Are Muslims stuck here in Earth? IG [Note: Since this was first posted, a Muslim astronaut was faced with this very dilemma. The authoritative clergy informed him to pray as he normally would. I see this no where in the Koran. You see? Religions must change, or die out. It's interesting to note that, in the Koran, the moon is believed to be in the lowest Heaven, the level for those that barely made it to Heaven. Surah 71:15-16. One problem, no man can supposedly get to Heaven until they die. Yet, we've been to the moon. Our satellites beyond that.]

9. Why haven't we seen God reattach severed heads, restore someone who was burned alive or regrow amputated limbs? Surely these would be miracles difficult to deny. - Adam Majors and IG [Note: The typical answer is that man doesn't dictate God's actions. The conundrum here however is that, if God wants us to "know" him, then surely feats such as those mentioned above would be happening all over the world. Until they do, I'll remain an atheist.]

10. Why does God entrust the spreading of 'His' word to sinners? Why doesn't he do it himself? - IG [Note: Surely God would have known that not everyone would be convinced by the reality[sic] of his Bible. If God loves us so much, we are all going to Heaven. If God knew that I would be an atheist, and he doesn't like atheists, he shouldn't have allowed me to come into existence. But he did. Therefore, I must be serving the will of God, for I exist. Smiling]

11. In II Kings 2-23/24 we read about God sending 2 she-bears to attack children for calling the prophet Elisa bald, which he was, the bears killed 42 of the children. Was this a good thing to do? -- Brandon and IG[Note: I have heard some argue that the boys were a gang. So?! I didn't read anywhere in that passage where they laid a finger on the guy . Also, what kind of bears are these that can kill 42 kids? Super Bears? Surely the kids had to be running away.]

12. I have often heard from many believers that even Satan has a presence in the church, which is why even in church people can still have impure thoughts. If Satan can find his way in the church, how do Christians know that Satan didn't find his way into the Bible and twist the whole book? After all, men did vote on which books would make the Holy Bible. - The Infidel Guy

13. Why did God allow Lot and his daughters to escape from Sodom and Gomorra when he destroyed it only to later have Lot and his daughters engage in incestuous fornication. (Genesis 19:30-36) - Disillusioned [Note: To have intercourse with daddy dearest of course.]

14. Genesis 1:28-29 shows that man and all the animals were first created herbivorous. Most young-earth Christians (ones that believes the earth is less than 10,000 years old) say that the fall of man resulted in carnivorous animals ( hence death of animals). So, why did God punish the animal kingdom, making animals kill and devour each other because of man's mistake? Or, if you're an old-earth Christian (one that accepts that animals existed on earth for billions of years before man came on the scene) then how come fossils show carnivorous animals existed before man? - http://www.caseagainstfaith.com/contact.htm.

15. Many Christians believe that God is a thinking being, that he solves problems and makes a way for them when troubles come. Does God Think? If God is thinking, did he know his thoughts before he thought them? If so, again, where is his freewill and how is God thinking at all if everything seems to be one uncontrollable action/thoughts. - The Infidel Guy [Note: I'd say a God cannot think at all. To do so, would strip him of omniscience. Thinking is a temporal process.] ON GOD'S ATEMPORALITY
1.) God, an atemporal being, created the Universe.
2.) Creation is a temporal processes because X cannot cause Y to come into being unless X existed temporally prior to Y.
3.) If God existed prior to the creation of the Universe he is a temporal being.
4.) Since God is atemporal, God cannot be the creator the Universe.
[Note: I guess I should also note here that a timeless being would be without the proposition of past, and future. But to be omniscient, God must know the past and future. Hence a God that is atemporal and omniscient cannot logically exist. Smiling]

16. I have often heard that faith is all that is neccessary to believe in God and accept the Bible as true. If this is true aren't all supernatural beliefs true since they also require "faith"? - IG ON FAITH
1.) A prerequisite to believe in a Faith is faith.
2.) Having faith is all that is required to accept a Faith (belief) as true.
3.) All Faiths are true.
[Note: Of course all Faiths aren`t true, but this is the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from a person that states that, "Faith" is how one knows God.]

17. Why didn't God just kill Adam and Eve after the Fall and start from scratch? Actually, if God is all-knowing wouldn't he know that man would need to be killed eventually anyway, (the biblical flood)? Why create Adam and Eve at all? - and ON THE GARDEN OF EDEN
1.) God is omniscient (all-knowing).
2.) God knew that before he created man that they would eat of the tree of knowledge.
3.) God placed the tree of knowledge in the Garden anyway.
4.) God wanted sin to enter the world.
[Note: If God didn`t want sin to enter the world, why create Adam and Eve at all? He knew what would happen. Why place the forbidden trees in the Garden in the first place?]

18. If a spirit is non-physical but the human body is physical, how does a spirit stay in our bodies? - IG ON SPIRITS
1.) Spirits are not physical entities.
2.) Brains are physical entities.
3.) Past experiences are stored in our physical brains, we call that, Memory..
4.) Injury can damage portions of the physical brain that store memory and can alter or erase memories completely.
5.) If human spirits exist... after death, spirits can have no memory.
[Note: Some will say the spirit stores physical memories as well, but if true, the spirit would have to be physical at least to a degree. How could a non-physical spirit store, physical memories?]

19. Does God know his own future decisions? If God is all-knowing he actually shouldn't have any decisions to make at all. Nor can he choose anything over something else. For that would mean that he is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. In fact, he can't even think if this is the case. Since he can't DO anything, he might as well not exist. - IG ON GOD'S IMMUTABILITY - Unchangingness
1. If God exists, then he is immutable.
2. If God exists, then he is the creator of the universe.
3. An immutable being cannot at one time have an intention and then at a later time not have that intention.
4. For any being to create anything, prior to the creation he must have had the intention to create it, but at a later time, after the creation, no longer have the intention to create it.
5. Thus, it is impossible for an immutable being to have created anything (from 3 and 4).
6. Therefore, it is impossible for God to exist (from 1, 2, and 5) - Theodore M. Drange

20. If God is all-knowing, how could he be disappointed in His creation? -- [Note: Indeed, wouldn't God know that before the creation of our Universe what creatures would disappoint him? That being the case why create those creatures at all? Also, in knowing absolutely the behavior of humans before creation, God cannot be disappointed either... for this world is exactly as he has planned it to be. If it's not, why create us at all?]

21. God struck down the Tower of Babel angry at the intent of the people that built them, if this is the case, many of the great pyramids ( which are bigger than any ziggurat) around the world should be rubble also, yet many still stand today. Were not the Egyptians and many other ancient pyramid builders reaching toward God /The Heavens? - IG [Note: In actuality, many of the Pharaoh's believed that, via their pyramids, they would become God's themselves.]

22. In the watchmaker analogy, a watch is used to show us intelligent design and compares that to the Universe as evidence of design. We know watches are designed because we have past experience with watches, as well as with other man made objects. My question is: What Universe is the Intelligent Design proponent using to compare this Universe with to draw such an analogy? What God did he see create a Universe? - IG

23. Why did God flood the earth to remove evil? It didn't work! Evil came right back, God should have known that would happen! So why did He bother? - PhineasBg [Note: A good example of how quickly sin returned, was Noah getting drunk just after they discovered land.]

24. If the garden of Eden was a perfect paradise as xians claim, then why did Eve even want to eat the fruit? Wouldn't a perfect place provide everything a person would want or desire and thus she would want nothing? - keyser soze [Note: Why were the trees there in the first place? Of course they love to throw the serpent into the equation. But ummm..who let the serpent into the Garden?... and why would God create such a creature knowing he would cause man's fall? Hmm.. God must have wanted the fall to happen.]

25. Why would an all-powerful god become flesh in order to sacrifice himself to himself so that his creation might escape the wrath of himself. Couldn't god, in his infinite wisdom, come up with something a little more efficient? - ON THE BODY OF CHRIST
1.) God?s flesh was known as Jesus.
2.) Flesh cannot enter into Heaven (according to Paul)
3.) God is no longer Jesus.
4.) Jesus doesn?t exist.

(Note: Many at this point will state that the spirit lives on so therefore Jesus lives. This really depends on what you believe about Jesus. Is Jesus the son of God or God in flesh? If Jesus is merely the son there is no problem.However, if Jesus ?is? God himself, we do. You see, Jesus is called Jesus because of the attribute of Flesh. If Jesus = God (who is spirit) then the entity known as Jesus ceases to exist. The flesh/body of Jesus, no longer exists and the spirit of God is still the unchanging spirit of God. No Jesus at that point. The Flesh, called Jesus, is dead.)

26. After 9/11 a lot of people have been tossing around " god bless america". Why do they keep saying this? From the looks of it god hasn't blessed anything. If god had blessed america, the 9/11 event would've never happened. Theists seem to give the answer of "everything is part of gods big plan". If everything is part of gods big plan, why are we after Bin Laden? Wasn't he and other terrorists just carrying out gods desired plan? So it seems that Bin Laden/ terrorism isnt our enemy, but god . - [Note: Unfortunately many religious nuts believe they are fulfilling their God's plan by going to war.]

27. Christians say that God is NOT the author of confusion. Can you say, Tower of Babel? - The Screaming Monkeys

28. If Noah's flood supposedly covered the earth for a year, regardless of whether or not all the animals could fit on the ark, what the heck happened to all the plants? Can you imagine a cactus surviving under 4 miles of water for a year? I can't either! - Kyle Giblet [Note: With God all things are possible. Oh wait, except in Judges 1:19.]

29. The highest rainfall ever recorded in a 24 hour period was 47inches in the Reunion Islands in 1947 (during a severe tropical storm). To cover the whole earth to a depth of 5.6 miles, and cover the mountain tops (i.e. Mount Everest), it would need to rain at a rate of 372 (three hundred and seventy two) inches per hour, over the entire surface of the earth. Can rain fall at such an astronomical rate? Where did all the water come from?? Where did it all go to??? And would not the dynamics of the earth be so out of balance (tides etc.) that the earth would become so unstable that it would wobble off into outer space???? -

30. What do Muslim women get in Paradise? - IG [Note: Some Muslims I have interviewed about this say that Muslim women will get the same thing men get or equal value. Smiling Oh really? So Muslim women will get 72 virgin men? lol. If Muslim men get 72 virgins, where are all these virgin women coming from? What of their freewill? Is Allah creating these women to be slaves to the men in Paradise?]

31. In the "Last Days" Jesus is supposed to appear in the clouds. How are the Christians on the opposite end of the world going to see him? Are there going to be millions of Jesus'? What about people that work underground? What about people in deep space? -

32. The Bible says that God is a jealous God . How is this an example of a moral absolute of which man is supposed to follow? - IG ON GOD`S JEALOUSY
1.) "God is love." 1 John 4:8.
2.) "Love is not jealous." 1 Cor 13:4
3.) "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God." Exodus 20:5.
4.) The Christian god cannot logically exist.
(NOte: Basically love is NOT jealous, yet god is jealous, then God can`t be love. But if god IS love he cannot be jealous. Be he is.)

33. A true Muslim man is not supposed to do anything that the prophet Muhammad didn't do. If one remembers there was a big debate over whether or not Muslims should eat Mangos. If this is true, why in the Hell were these Islamic Fundamentalists flying airplanes? - IG

34. If the earth was covered by a complete global flood, every living creature killed except those surviving on the ark, why are there many completely unique animal species in Australia that are found no where else indigenously on the earth? -

35. If god is omniscient and " god is love," why would he allow a child to be conceived, knowing that that child would one day reject him and spend eternity burning in a lake of fire?- TiredTurkeyProd

36. Revelations is supposed to take place on Earth. What if we colonize the moon or Mars or inhabit a self-sustaining space station? Do we escape "judgement"? -- Ray Sommers [Note: No we don't Ray... and of course we all know that if there is any intelligent life out there besides us, they are all going to Hell too. Eye-wink]

37. Isaiah 40:28 says, "...the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is he weary?" If this is true, why did God rest on the seventh day?- IG

38. Everytime I go to a funeral the preacher and guests always say that " God " has called that person to Heaven or they say, " God said it was time to come home", or some such variation. If God is calling these people "home", why are we putting the murderers of these victims in prison? How can we punish a man or woman for doing God's will? - IG

39. Does God have a gender? In most churches, God is predominately referred to as a "he"? - IG [Note: The Bible says God is male, but what does this mean? Does God have a penis? Does he have hormones that dictate his gender? Smiling]

40. Why can't we wait until we get to Heaven to worship God ? Why would it be too late? - IG

41. What is the purpose of prayer? What can a finite being on Earth possibly tell an omnipotent, omniscient deity that he doesn't know already? - IG ON PRAYER
1.) Humans can?t change God?s mind for he has a divine plan and is unchangeable.
2.) Prayer can't change God's mind.
3.) Prayer doesn't change anything.
(Prayer may make you feel better emotionally, but it doesn`t change God`s mind.)

42. Some say Jesus was the all-knowing God. Jesus would have known then that when he died he'd be in heaven in less than 3 days to rule. If Jesus is alive and ruling today, what did he sacrifice? -- Cyndy Hammond

43. God knows that men are sinners, untrustworthy and evil, why does God leave it up to fallible man (clergy..etc) to teach others about his word? Why would he put our eternal souls at risk if he loves us so much? - The Infidel Guy and Danno778

44. Did Adam have nipples? If so, how did he acquire them? In fact, why would God give "later man" nipples at all? They serve no purpose other than lactation. Some say pleasure. Where is that in Genesis exactly? All mammals have nipples as well, are theirs pleasureful for them too? Many men don't find their nipples pleasurable at all. - IG

45. How did Adam and Eve know it was wrong to disobey God if they hadn't eaten of the tree of knowledge (of good and evil) yet? You can't blame them if they didn't know. - IG

46. If God has such a tremendous problem with uncircumcised penises, why did he make man with foreskin in the first place? - IG [Note: Some say, "So God can recognize his chosen people." Recognize? Is God so stupid that he has to physically look at men's penises? If not God, do other men need to? lol.]

47. Did Noah have fish onboard? Salt or Fresh? Since fresh water fish would die in salt, and salt water fish would die in fresh, only one type of fish would survive. Yet....?" - Frank Monaco

48. Why does the omnipotent, omnipresent God need help from man or angels to spread his word or do acts? - IG [Note: Some say God doesn't need help. But apparently he does.] - IG

49. How did Jesus ascend to Heaven in the Flesh when Paul says that flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven? (1 Cor.15:50) - IG [Note: Some say, well Paul said that and not Jesus. Yet they quote Paul when it suits there purposes.]

50. If God wants us to live right and choose "the good," why did he create evil? (Isaiah 45:6,7) Not to mention he already knows which people are not going to choose "the good" so why create those people in the first place? It seems that many people are born to go to Hell. - IG ON HELL
1.) God is all-knowing.
2.) Before I was born God knew I wouldn?t believe in him.
3.) I was born to go to Hell.
(Sure you may say I have a choice, but I think I`ve proven already that I really don`t. I`m simply fulfilling the will of God by being an atheist aren`t I? If I`m not, I shouldn`t exist: For God would have known that before I was created that I wouldn`t believe in him.)

51. I hear Christians all the time speaking of a spiritual war between Heaven and Hell, if this is true does God have limitations of power? Man only conducts wars because of our limitations of power and foresight. God has both all-power and all-knowledge, no reason for war of any kind. - IG

52. The Bible is full of phrases beginning with, "and the lord saw". Didn't he know before hand? - IG

53. How can a psychologist condone belief in something not proven to exist, when people are put into mental institutions on a daily basis for the same thing? i.e. aliens, fairies, imaginary people (Multiple Personality Disorders..)? - Dan Denton [Note: I'm sure that some of the pious believe that they are improperly placed there as well Dan. Smiling]

54. If Christians say they know God exists and that he will work miracles, what do they need faith for? Faith is not knowing. - IG

55. Brain, or shall I say, body transplants, will eventually be possible, where would the soul be then? Where is the soul? - IG

56. If God really wants us to know him, why doesn't he place the knowledge of him in our minds at birth? The same way many theists believe that God implants our sense of right and wrong in us a right birth. - IG

57. If God was Jesus' father (not Joseph), then why is Jesus' family tree traced through Joseph? -- Cyndy Hammond

58. What image of God was man made from? Couldn't have been a moral one or physical one. - IG [Note: One would suspect that an image of God would be perfect and cannot sin. Oops.]

59. Why can't God appear before everyone at the same time? Everyone in the world would then "know" he exists and not have solely "believe". And please, don't say he already tried that. Surely a God knows exactly what to do to convince a measly human of his existence. - IG

60. According to the New Testament Matthew 5:17 says "Do not suppose that I have come to abolish the Law and the prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to complete. I tell you this: so long as heaven and earth endure, not a letter, not a stroke, will disappear from the Law until all that must happen has Happened." So since Jesus has not returned the "Law" is still in effect, so why aren't we still burning witches, stoning adulterers and disobedient children, killing homosexuals, ostracizing people that work on the Sabbath (nurses, doctors etc.), flinging blood onto the horns of the alter, pulling off the heads of small birds, and don't forget human sacrifice to God (Leviticus 27 P.28 )? -- Sheila L. Chambers

61. If there is freewill in Heaven yet everyone has chosen good and is happy, isn't that proof that God could have made us with freewill, choosing good ( God ) and still being happy on Earth? - Dennis Hendrix [Note: In other words, evil didn't have to exist after all. Hey wait, even in Heaven apparently, evil can exist. At least for a short while. Satan became evil and was in heaven. Apparently he even had enough time to form an Army against God. Wow. Maybe Heaven won't be as peaceful as many believe.]

62. Why does God have a plan? Man is limited in power so we make plans because we are not all-knowing nor all-powerful. If God has a plan, isn't he reduced to a mere finite being? - IG

63. How could the all-merciful/loving God watch billions of his children burn over and over again for eternity? - IG [Note: Of course this is geared to those that believe in a fiery hell. I am well aware that not all Christians believe in a fiery Hell.]

64. Before reading and writing were invented (5000BC), on what basis did God use to judge the people who died before the Hebrew and Greek text (BIBLE) were written? -- [Note: They are all roasting in Hell. Smiling]

65. Many Christians tell me that I will "burn in hell". If I have a soul, how can a soul burn? Aren't souls non-physical entities? - IG [Note: Some Christians groups believe that you will be given new bodies after judgement. However, if true, what's the significance of a spirit in the first place?]

66. How can one hold to the barbaric belief that something has to DIE in order to appease a god for a bad deed? -- Nickolaus Wing [Note: Because an old book says so Nick.]

67. Why does SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) occur? Why would God allow a baby to live for such a short period of time? Why not just let them not be born in the first place? -- Terry Clark [Note: This actually happened to a friend of mine. Not even God himself could console her.]

68. If Jesus was nailed and died on Friday evening, and walked out of the tomb on Sunday morning, where's the 3rd NIGHT he predicted? Per Matthew 12:40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. -

69. Many Christians claim that hell is merely existence outside of God ?s presence (C.S. Lewis among others). If this is the case, then Jesus could not have descended into hell (being God Himself). As a result, are you sure your sins are forgiven? - Byron Bultsma

70. Ten to twenty percent of all women who discover they are pregnant suffer a miscarriage. Also, it is estimated that anywhere from 14 to 50 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Seeing this is all part of God 's plan, does this make God the world's number one abortion provider? - Jim

71. What if, when you get to Heaven, you saw God causing pain and suffering out of anger or for the purpose of entertaining himself. What if he required people in heaven to praise and worship him non-stop even to the point of causing his worshipers discomfort, pain and boredom. What if, when he was bored, angry, or jealous, he would create natural disasters to make himself feel better. Would you still follow him? - Fernando [Note: Of course they would Fernando, many people followed Hitler out of fear as well.]

72. In Leviticus, the bible condemns homosexuality as an "abomination", giving some Christians a reason to hate, harass, torture and kill gays and even picket their funderals with " God hates fags" signs. In the same book of the bible the eating of shellfish is equally an "abomination". Are these Christians planning to go after the patrons of Red Lobster next? - [Note: hee-hee, that's all I can say. Jewish Law states that eating Fish without scales is an abomination and thus the Shark is one among the list. However, sharks do have scales, Placoid scales, one of the many reasons why a shark is called a Fish .]

73. Christians will tell you that if a baby dies it goes to heaven. Why then are they so against abortion? All the child is being deprived of is the opportunity to go to hell. Either that or god expects unborn fetuses to accept Jesus. -

74. If one could prove to you incontrovertibly that Jesus and God were all human fabrications would still believe? And why? - LOGICnREASON [Note: If you say yes. Then you are not concerned with the truth, you simply WANT to believe; and if you WANT to believe, indeed, there is nothing anyone can tell you..]

75. It is often said that God allows evil because one could not meaningfully appreciate good without experiencing its opposite. Why is it necessary to experience the opposite of something in order to appreciate it? Must I experience death in order to meaningfully appreciate life? -excidius

76. Bible literalists want you to believe that God's Word in the Bible is meant to be taken literally. If this is the case, why was Jesus fond of explaining things in parable and metaphor? Was Jesus literally discussing the biology of mustard seeds, or was the mustard seed parable meant to be interpreted figuratively as faith? -excidius

77. Liberal Christians say some parts of the Bible are literally true, but much else is to be interpreted figuratively as allegory. How do you know which is which? What distinguishing criteria are used? How can you be certain "God" is a literal and not a figurative concept? -excidius

78. Consciousness is the result of a physical brain, how could God being metaphysical be said to be conscious or sentient without having a brain? - Mindless

79. Considering how Leviticus is considered old law, and that Christians do not obey it anymore, why do they always use it to defend homosexuality being an "abomination"? -Bohorquez

80. If God is omnipotent and he has a plan ... then why did he not create the universe as it will be one second after the plan has succeeded? Who or what prevented him from doing that? - Timothy Campbell (http://www.tc123.com)

81. The large majority of people who have ever existed could not have learned of the Bible or Jesus Christ. And many people afterwards have found other religions or no religion at all to be more convincing, sometimes while being very virtuous. Do all these people really deserve eternal torment because of that? -- lpetrich

82. The above arguments also apply among different sects of Christianity, many of which state that most others are not True Christianity. -- lpetrich

83. Is it reasonable for the Creator and Ruler of such a vast Universe to be preoccupied with the sexuality of a species living on a tiny little planet? -- lpetrich

84. If the Christian god was all loving and all knowing why did he let religious figures such as Mohammed or Gautama Budda be born, knowing that they would mislead people from the 'true' faith and trick the majority of the world's population into burning forever in hell (in fact, if Islam didn't start, most of the middle east would probably be Christian). It would simple to use the Holy Spirit to guide them to Jesus and spread the 'true' faith. If the Holy Spirit exits, it certainly isn't doing it's job!

85. If one is obliged to follow all the teachings of the bible then why is engaging in homosexuality or adultery any worse than "suffering a witch to live", "muzzling the ox that treadeth the corn", "reaping the corners of thy field", "marring the corners of they beard", "plowing with an oxen and an ass", "hating thy brother in thy heart" or "eating frogs, shellfish and eels" ?

86. Exactly how did the alleged worldwide flood kill off all the world's sea creatures? How does one go about drowning a fish? -- Steever

87. Why did this alleged god create humans as an animal form of life that gets sick and dies and experiences pain and has a limited mind when 'it' could have created humans as a form of pure energy or of some indestructible material or whatever, and was totally ?sinless? and had ?pure? thought? If a god was omnipotent 'it' could have easily have done this. --AI

88. If a god is omnipotent how did 'it' fail to foresee that Satan would turn against 'it'? --AI

89. What is a god supposedly made of? --AI

This list was compiled by the Infidel Guy with submissions from many members of the atheist community.

PICK THE QUESTION YOU WANT TO ANSWER, AND POST IT HERE...


StMichael
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I apologize for my lack of

I apologize for my lack of formatting, but my answers directly follow each question.

1. If Jesus fulfilled all the OT prophecies so well, why didn't the Jews recognize him as the messiah? - Francois Tremblay
Because of the hardness of their hearts. No, seriously, I think they did so mainly because they were expecting a political refounding of the kingdom of Israel on earth. Which didn’t happen. In fact, Christ was crucified. However, all the first Christians were Jews.

2. If Gen 3:24 is true, why hasn't anyone found the Cherubims and the " flaming sword which turned every way"?
Because it is figurative for the cutting off of man from Paradise.

3. It's been proven that modern humans originated from Africa. Yet, the Adam and Eve story claims the first Humans lived in a garden in Eden, near 4 rivers. ( Most of which no one can find). One of these rivers mentioned is the Euphrates, which runs through Iraq, Syria and a portion of Turkey. What's the truth? Did man come out of Africa or near the Euphrates River? - The Infidel Guy
Paradise in Genesis seems to be a figurative description of a place that either no longer exists or only ever existed metaphorically. This seems clear because the author knew that these rivers are not found in the same place, but in very different locations. So, it seems a figurative place that could just refer to the whole earth, or some particular place on the earth which was Paradise. We can conclude, however, that Paradise as a location did not literally have those rivers running through it.

4. When the believer gets to Heaven, how can Heaven be utter bliss when people they love and care about are burning in Hell ? - The Infidel Guy - [Note: Some say God erases your memories of them, but if God erases your memory, you as Mr. Joe /Jane Smoe ceases to exist.]
Well, some explanations go that when we see these people in hell, we also understand why they are there and recognize God’s justice in this. Our perfect joy is thus not hampered by the fact that people are burning in hell. It might also be probable to say that those in heaven find the delight they found in that other person in God, and hence there is no reason to be sad over the fact that their relatives/loved ones are in hell.

5. How can a God have emotions, i.e. jealousy, anger, sadness, love, etc., if he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent? Emotional states are reactionary for the most part. How can God react to us if he is all-knowing and has a divine plan? - IG [Note: Indeed, many religious texts display their gods this way . Listen to the An Emotional Godshow.]
God does not literally have emotions. The Scriptures speak figuratively of God in human terms often to explain His actions so that we can understand them.
I would lastly point out that love can be both an emotion and a state of the will.

6. Why would God create a place such as hell to torture sinners forever when he foreknew who would disappoint him? - IG [Note: Some say you have a choice, but this misses the point. If God hates sin so much, why create Adam and Eve when he knew they'd sin? The only conclusion I can come up with, if Yaweh exists, is that he wanted sin to enter the world.]
God never created hell. I quote the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
396 God created man in his image and established him in his friendship. A spiritual creature, man can live this friendship only in free submission to God. The prohibition against eating "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" spells this out: "for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die."276 The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil"277 symbolically evokes the insurmountable limits that man, being a creature, must freely recognize and respect with trust. Man is dependent on his Creator, and subject to the laws of creation and to the moral norms that govern the use of freedom.
412 But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning? St. Leo the Great responds, "Christ's inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon's envy had taken away."307 And St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "There is nothing to prevent human nature's being raised up to something greater, even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says, 'Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more'; and the Exsultet sings, 'O happy fault,. . . which gained for us so great a Redeemer!'"308

7. "God is all merciful," we hear quite often. Wouldn't it be more merciful of God to simply snap sinners out of existence rather than send them to hell? Or better yet, since he's all-knowing, not allow them to be born at all? - IG
ON GOD'S LOVE & HELL
1.) God's love is superlative.
2.) God's love of man exceeds man's love of self.
3.) Man's love of self prohibits torture.
4.) Considering God's greater love for us, Hell (eternal torture) is illogical.

The premise that hell is God torturing man is wrong. Man’s sin is the source of the torture, not God. I would point out that annihilation of the sinner is not a good of the person annihilated, but the worst possible thing that could happen to them. Likewise, it would be contrary to how God freely established human souls and angels as incorruptible spirits.

9. Why haven't we seen God reattach severed heads, restore someone who was burned alive or regrow amputated limbs? Surely these would be miracles difficult to deny. - Adam Majors and IG [Note: The typical answer is that man doesn't dictate God's actions. The conundrum here however is that, if God wants us to "know" him, then surely feats such as those mentioned above would be happening all over the world. Until they do, I'll remain an atheist.]
He does and has. Many saints have done so, by His power.

10. Why does God entrust the spreading of 'His' word to sinners? Why doesn't he do it himself? - IG [Note: Surely God would have known that not everyone would be convinced by the reality[sic] of his Bible. If God loves us so much, we are all going to Heaven. If God knew that I would be an atheist, and he doesn't like atheists, he shouldn't have allowed me to come into existence. But he did. Therefore, I must be serving the will of God, for I exist. ]
You are serving the will of God, in His plan, somehow. He wants you to be a willing son, but He uses the demons’ evil cunning likewise to bring about a greater good. God Himself spreads His word in His Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. He uses the weak things of the world, likewise, to put to shame the strong. The Apostles were mostly uneducated and also evangelized most of the world.

11. In II Kings 2-23/24 we read about God sending 2 she-bears to attack children for calling the prophet Elisa bald, which he was, the bears killed 42 of the children. Was this a good thing to do? -- Brandon and IG[Note: I have heard some argue that the boys were a gang. So?! I didn't read anywhere in that passage where they laid a finger on the guy . Also, what kind of bears are these that can kill 42 kids? Super Bears? Surely the kids had to be running away.]
Their insulting of a prophet of God and the sin which caused their spiritual death was shown exteriorly by their physical death. This happens often in the Old Testament.

12. I have often heard from many believers that even Satan has a presence in the church, which is why even in church people can still have impure thoughts. If Satan can find his way in the church, how do Christians know that Satan didn't find his way into the Bible and twist the whole book? After all, men did vote on which books would make the Holy Bible. - The Infidel Guy
The Holy Spirit leads the Church in determining the canon and making doctrinal decisions. Satan can tempt Christians, but his power is broken in the face of the cross. Likewise, “a house divided against itself cannot stand” and the authority of the Church over demons likewise shows that our work is of God.

13. Why did God allow Lot and his daughters to escape from Sodom and Gomorra when he destroyed it only to later have Lot and his daughters engage in incestuous fornication. (Genesis 19:30-36) - Disillusioned [Note: To have intercourse with daddy dearest of course.]
God lets evil things happen for the greater good. He has no “desire” for evil to happen, but He allows it according to our free will and uses it for the best.

14. Genesis 1:28-29 shows that man and all the animals were first created herbivorous. Most young-earth Christians (ones that believes the earth is less than 10,000 years old) say that the fall of man resulted in carnivorous animals ( hence death of animals). So, why did God punish the animal kingdom, making animals kill and devour each other because of man's mistake? Or, if you're an old-earth Christian (one that accepts that animals existed on earth for billions of years before man came on the scene) then how come fossils show carnivorous animals existed before man? - http://www.caseagainstfaith.com/contact.htm.
I have no reason to believe that animals were not carnivorous prior to the fall.

15. Many Christians believe that God is a thinking being, that he solves problems and makes a way for them when troubles come. Does God Think? If God is thinking, did he know his thoughts before he thought them? If so, again, where is his freewill and how is God thinking at all if everything seems to be one uncontrollable action/thoughts. - The Infidel Guy [Note: I'd say a God cannot think at all. To do so, would strip him of omniscience. Thinking is a temporal process.] ON GOD'S ATEMPORALITY
1.) God, an atemporal being, created the Universe.
2.) Creation is a temporal processes because X cannot cause Y to come into being unless X existed temporally prior to Y.
3.) If God existed prior to the creation of the Universe he is a temporal being.
4.) Since God is atemporal, God cannot be the creator the Universe.
[Note: I guess I should also note here that a timeless being would be without the proposition of past, and future. But to be omniscient, God must know the past and future. Hence a God that is atemporal and omniscient cannot logically exist. ]
God has free will and free thought, but His thought is eternal. God does not merely exist prior to the universe, but at all and every point in time. He is eternally present. His thought, likewise, occurs in an eternal manner. There is no movement from one decision to the next, or one thought to the next. All thought and willing in God is one act which has occurred forever and will occur forever.

16. I have often heard that faith is all that is neccessary to believe in God and accept the Bible as true. If this is true aren't all supernatural beliefs true since they also require "faith"? - IG ON FAITH
1.) A prerequisite to believe in a Faith is faith.
2.) Having faith is all that is required to accept a Faith (belief) as true.
3.) All Faiths are true.
[Note: Of course all Faiths aren`t true, but this is the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from a person that states that, "Faith" is how one knows God.]
Supernatural beliefs obviously require faith, but one never believes something without a reason for belief. External evidence allows us to accept that a proposition is worthy of belief, and then we accept it on God’s authority, allowing us to place an infinite faith in something revealed by an infinitely trustworthy God.

17. Why didn't God just kill Adam and Eve after the Fall and start from scratch? Actually, if God is all-knowing wouldn't he know that man would need to be killed eventually anyway, (the biblical flood)? Why create Adam and Eve at all? - [email protected] and [email protected] ON THE GARDEN OF EDEN
1.) God is omniscient (all-knowing).
2.) God knew that before he created man that they would eat of the tree of knowledge.
3.) God placed the tree of knowledge in the Garden anyway.
4.) God wanted sin to enter the world.
[Note: If God didn`t want sin to enter the world, why create Adam and Eve at all? He knew what would happen. Why place the forbidden trees in the Garden in the first place?]
I already answered this above.

18. If a spirit is non-physical but the human body is physical, how does a spirit stay in our bodies? - IG ON SPIRITS
1.) Spirits are not physical entities.
2.) Brains are physical entities.
3.) Past experiences are stored in our physical brains, we call that, Memory..
4.) Injury can damage portions of the physical brain that store memory and can alter or erase memories completely.
5.) If human spirits exist... after death, spirits can have no memory.
[Note: Some will say the spirit stores physical memories as well, but if true, the spirit would have to be physical at least to a degree. How could a non-physical spirit store, physical memories?]
The spirit/soul is the rational form of the body – the structure behind it – our minds themselves. It likewise can exist without/independent from the body. Our souls retain knowledge, but not memories properly speaking, which are stored in our physical brains.

19. Does God know his own future decisions? If God is all-knowing he actually shouldn't have any decisions to make at all. Nor can he choose anything over something else. For that would mean that he is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. In fact, he can't even think if this is the case. Since he can't DO anything, he might as well not exist. - IG ON GOD'S IMMUTABILITY - Unchangingness
1. If God exists, then he is immutable.
2. If God exists, then he is the creator of the universe.
3. An immutable being cannot at one time have an intention and then at a later time not have that intention.
4. For any being to create anything, prior to the creation he must have had the intention to create it, but at a later time, after the creation, no longer have the intention to create it.
5. Thus, it is impossible for an immutable being to have created anything (from 3 and 4).
6. Therefore, it is impossible for God to exist (from 1, 2, and 5) - Theodore M. Drange
God is eternal. Hence, there are no “future” decisions that He makes. God created the universe as a temporal thing from eternity and likewise “creates” it at every moment that the temporal thing exists.

20. If God is all-knowing, how could he be disappointed in His creation? -- [email protected] [Note: Indeed, wouldn't God know that before the creation of our Universe what creatures would disappoint him? That being the case why create those creatures at all? Also, in knowing absolutely the behavior of humans before creation, God cannot be disappointed either... for this world is exactly as he has planned it to be. If it's not, why create us at all?]
He knows our acts before they happen because He “sees” them all eternally. He does not predetermine them. So, our bad acts naturally displease God, even though He knows that we will do them because we freely chose to offend God.

21. God struck down the Tower of Babel angry at the intent of the people that built them, if this is the case, many of the great pyramids ( which are bigger than any ziggurat) around the world should be rubble also, yet many still stand today. Were not the Egyptians and many other ancient pyramid builders reaching toward God /The Heavens? - IG [Note: In actuality, many of the Pharaoh's believed that, via their pyramids, they would become God's themselves.]
I think it is probable to say that such was an allegory to show that God will strike down the prideful. However, I would point out that the pyramids are crumbling 

22. In the watchmaker analogy, a watch is used to show us intelligent design and compares that to the Universe as evidence of design. We know watches are designed because we have past experience with watches, as well as with other man made objects. My question is: What Universe is the Intelligent Design proponent using to compare this Universe with to draw such an analogy? What God did he see create a Universe? - IG
I do not endorse this same view. However, I think it is clear that ordering arises from an orderer if it is done in a manner where things are ordered to the best ends, which is a product of intelligence. Hence, it would be clear that the universe has an intelligent author if things are not just orderly, but ordered to the best ends.

23. Why did God flood the earth to remove evil? It didn't work! Evil came right back, God should have known that would happen! So why did He bother? - PhineasBg [Note: A good example of how quickly sin returned, was Noah getting drunk just after they discovered land.]
This was a show of God’s authority over evil as well as enormity of the sins of those who lived at that time. Scripture again speaks figuratively when it says God repented of having created men.

24. If the garden of Eden was a perfect paradise as xians claim, then why did Eve even want to eat the fruit? Wouldn't a perfect place provide everything a person would want or desire and thus she would want nothing? - keyser soze [Note: Why were the trees there in the first place? Of course they love to throw the serpent into the equation. But ummm..who let the serpent into the Garden?... and why would God create such a creature knowing he would cause man's fall? Hmm.. God must have wanted the fall to happen.]
The Garden was claimed to be good, but not as far as I know perfect. However, it doesn’t really matter. The pride of Eve and Adam caused them to choose themselves over God.

25. Why would an all-powerful god become flesh in order to sacrifice himself to himself so that his creation might escape the wrath of himself. Couldn't god, in his infinite wisdom, come up with something a little more efficient? –
Yes, He could come up with something more “efficient.” It’s just that He thought this particular way was the best.

[email protected] ON THE BODY OF CHRIST 1.) God?s flesh was known as Jesus. 2.) Flesh cannot enter into Heaven (according to Paul) 3.) God is no longer Jesus. 4.) Jesus doesn?t exist. Flesh, according to St. Paul, is not the same flesh as the flesh and blood we have on our bodies. He is making a metaphorical reference to sin and the corruptible earthly bodies we possess. Thus, he says, “corruptibility must put on incorruption.”

(Note: Many at this point will state that the spirit lives on so therefore Jesus lives. This really depends on what you believe about Jesus. Is Jesus the son of God or God in flesh? If Jesus is merely the son there is no problem. However, if Jesus ?is? God himself, we do. You see, Jesus is called Jesus because of the attribute of Flesh. If Jesus = God (who is spirit) then the entity known as Jesus ceases to exist. The flesh/body of Jesus, no longer exists and the spirit of God is still the unchanging spirit of God. No Jesus at that point. The Flesh, called Jesus, is dead.)
Jesus is the Son of God and God Himself. Three Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and one God.

26. After 9/11 a lot of people have been tossing around " god bless america". Why do they keep saying this? From the looks of it god hasn't blessed anything. If god had blessed america, the 9/11 event would've never happened. Theists seem to give the answer of "everything is part of gods big plan". If everything is part of gods big plan, why are we after Bin Laden? Wasn't he and other terrorists just carrying out gods desired plan? So it seems that Bin Laden/ terrorism isnt our enemy, but god . - [email protected] [Note: Unfortunately many religious nuts believe they are fulfilling their God's plan by going to war.]
Of course this is wrong because while everything is accounted for by God in His Providence, no free choice of man or angels is predetermined by God.

27. Christians say that God is NOT the author of confusion. Can you say, Tower of Babel? - The Screaming Monkeys
Clear mixing up of terms. Also, the tower itself is probably allegorical.

28. If Noah's flood supposedly covered the earth for a year, regardless of whether or not all the animals could fit on the ark, what the heck happened to all the plants? Can you imagine a cactus surviving under 4 miles of water for a year? I can't either! - Kyle Giblet [Note: With God all things are possible. Oh wait, except in Judges 1:19.]
It would seem likewise that the Flood of Noah was either metaphorical or happened only in a limited area.

29. The highest rainfall ever recorded in a 24 hour period was 47inches in the Reunion Islands in 1947 (during a severe tropical storm). To cover the whole earth to a depth of 5.6 miles, and cover the mountain tops (i.e. Mount Everest), it would need to rain at a rate of 372 (three hundred and seventy two) inches per hour, over the entire surface of the earth. Can rain fall at such an astronomical rate? Where did all the water come from?? Where did it all go to??? And would not the dynamics of the earth be so out of balance (tides etc.) that the earth would become so unstable that it would wobble off into outer space???? - [email protected]
Read the above.

31. In the "Last Days" Jesus is supposed to appear in the clouds. How are the Christians on the opposite end of the world going to see him? Are there going to be millions of Jesus'? What about people that work underground? What about people in deep space? - [email protected]
From one of the sky to the other aside, all men will see and know that Christ has come again.

32. The Bible says that God is a jealous God . How is this an example of a moral absolute of which man is supposed to follow? - IG ON GOD`S JEALOUSY
1.) "God is love." 1 John 4:8.
2.) "Love is not jealous." 1 Cor 13:4
3.) "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God." Exodus 20:5.
4.) The Christian god cannot logically exist.
(NOte: Basically love is NOT jealous, yet god is jealous, then God can`t be love. But if god IS love he cannot be jealous. Be he is.)
There are different senses of jealousy in these different passages. Or, I could then say, “Dogs are four-legged animals that bark. The rapper’s name is Snoop-Dog. Therefore, Snoop-Dog is obviously a four-legged animal that barks.”

34. If the earth was covered by a complete global flood, every living creature killed except those surviving on the ark, why are there many completely unique animal species in Australia that are found no where else indigenously on the earth? - [email protected]
Again, refer to the above.

35. If god is omniscient and " god is love," why would he allow a child to be conceived, knowing that that child would one day reject him and spend eternity burning in a lake of fire?- TiredTurkeyProd
God allows sin to enter the world for the greater good. He never predetermines the person in his sin, nor does He desire the person to sin. The sin is still a great evil, but God nevertheless allows it to happen for the greater good.

36. Revelations is supposed to take place on Earth. What if we colonize the moon or Mars or inhabit a self-sustaining space station? Do we escape "judgement"? -- Ray Sommers [Note: No we don't Ray... and of course we all know that if there is any intelligent life out there besides us, they are all going to Hell too. ]
No.

37. Isaiah 40:28 says, "...the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is he weary?" If this is true, why did God rest on the seventh day?- IG
God’s rest is an allegory for our own day of rest on Sunday (initially, of course, the Sabbath).

38. Everytime I go to a funeral the preacher and guests always say that " God " has called that person to Heaven or they say, " God said it was time to come home", or some such variation. If God is calling these people "home", why are we putting the murderers of these victims in prison? How can we punish a man or woman for doing God's will? - IG
The murderer is not doing God’s will in one sense, but in another his role is in God’s plan. God does not desire the evil act of killing and will mete out justice to the murderer. However, He allows the evil act to bring about a greater good. We legitimately punish criminals because God has even said that such is a good thing (in the law of Moses).

39. Does God have a gender? In most churches, God is predominately referred to as a "he"? - IG [Note: The Bible says God is male, but what does this mean? Does God have a penis? Does he have hormones that dictate his gender? ]
No. God has no proper gender.

40. Why can't we wait until we get to Heaven to worship God ? Why would it be too late? - IG
Because human beings’ wills are determined and decisions are irrevocable after death due to the nature of the union between soul and body.

41. What is the purpose of prayer? What can a finite being on Earth possibly tell an omnipotent, omniscient deity that he doesn't know already? - IG ON PRAYER
1.) Humans can?t change God?s mind for he has a divine plan and is unchangeable.
2.) Prayer can't change God's mind.
3.) Prayer doesn't change anything.
(Prayer may make you feel better emotionally, but it doesn`t change God`s mind.)
Prayer does not “change” God’s mind in the way you mean. God has ordained in His plan not to grant or give certain graces without prayer. Also, our prayer is of benefit to our souls, uniting us to God.

42. Some say Jesus was the all-knowing God. Jesus would have known then that when he died he'd be in heaven in less than 3 days to rule. If Jesus is alive and ruling today, what did he sacrifice? -- Cyndy Hammond
He sacrificed Himself to His Father by obedience and charity. He willingly suffered crucifixion and torture for the sake of human beings who He came to save.

43. God knows that men are sinners, untrustworthy and evil, why does God leave it up to fallible man (clergy..etc) to teach others about his word? Why would he put our eternal souls at risk if he loves us so much? - The Infidel Guy and Danno778
The priesthood and the Church in general are not just fallible men, but act as His representatives and are ordained with a share in His priesthood. Thus, He gave us ample means to save our souls. Also, He does not judge us on that we have no control over.

44. Did Adam have nipples? If so, how did he acquire them? In fact, why would God give "later man" nipples at all? They serve no purpose other than lactation. Some say pleasure. Where is that in Genesis exactly? All mammals have nipples as well, are theirs pleasureful for them too? Many men don't find their nipples pleasurable at all. - IG
I have nothing wrong with saying that they came from evolution. However, Saint Augustine seems to think that they exist merely for symmetry and the beauty of the human form.

45. How did Adam and Eve know it was wrong to disobey God if they hadn't eaten of the tree of knowledge (of good and evil) yet? You can't blame them if they didn't know. - IG
The tree did not give them moral knowledge. They already had the knowledge necessary to make a moral decision. The tree seems to indicate that their act of sinning would enable them to “know” evil by experiencing actually sinning.

46. If God has such a tremendous problem with uncircumcised penises, why did he make man with foreskin in the first place? - IG [Note: Some say, "So God can recognize his chosen people." Recognize? Is God so stupid that he has to physically look at men's penises? If not God, do other men need to? lol.]
The circumcision was a foreshadowing of baptism and the sign that it entails on the soul. It was a sign that His own people took, not to identify themselves to God, but to show their faithfulness to Him.

47. Did Noah have fish onboard? Salt or Fresh? Since fresh water fish would die in salt, and salt water fish would die in fresh, only one type of fish would survive. Yet....?" - Frank Monaco
I think it is rather clear that Noah had no fish on board.

48. Why does the omnipotent, omnipresent God need help from man or angels to spread his word or do acts? - IG [Note: Some say God doesn't need help. But apparently he does.] - IG
We already addressed this. Likewise, He uses weak things to put to shame the strong. He uses material things because we are material beings. He condescends to our weakness.

49. How did Jesus ascend to Heaven in the Flesh when Paul says that flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven? (1 Cor.15:50) - IG [Note: Some say, well Paul said that and not Jesus. Yet they quote Paul when it suits there purposes.]
This was already answered above.

50. If God wants us to live right and choose "the good," why did he create evil? (Isaiah 45:6,7) Not to mention he already knows which people are not going to choose "the good" so why create those people in the first place? It seems that many people are born to go to Hell. - IG ON HELL
God did not create evil. The passage is misinterpreted, as I pointed out elsewhere. It is referring to natural evils, in that God guides both war and peacetime according to His Providence.

1.) God is all-knowing.
2.) Before I was born God knew I wouldn?t believe in him.
3.) I was born to go to Hell.
(Sure you may say I have a choice, but I think I`ve proven already that I really don`t. I`m simply fulfilling the will of God by being an atheist aren`t I? If I`m not, I shouldn`t exist: For God would have known that before I was created that I wouldn`t believe in him.)
God knew you would not believe in Him (you still have time, of course), but never MADE you not believe in Him. So, you were made to go to heaven even though you might inevitably and freely go to hell (again, the jury’s still out on that one).

51. I hear Christians all the time speaking of a spiritual war between Heaven and Hell, if this is true does God have limitations of power? Man only conducts wars because of our limitations of power and foresight. God has both all-power and all-knowledge, no reason for war of any kind. - IG
The “war” exists temporarily because of the advent of sin. God has always “won” and there has never been a real “war” between heaven and earth. At the close of history, there will be no further war-making by the devils.

52. The Bible is full of phrases beginning with, "and the lord saw". Didn't he know before hand? - IG
God sees all things at all times instantly and outside of time in eternity. He doesn’t know in time, so it is rather incorrect to say that He knew beforehand.

53. How can a psychologist condone belief in something not proven to exist, when people are put into mental institutions on a daily basis for the same thing? i.e. aliens, fairies, imaginary people (Multiple Personality Disorders..)? - Dan Denton [Note: I'm sure that some of the pious believe that they are improperly placed there as well Dan. ]
Actually, I see clear logical necessity that proves that God exists.

54. If Christians say they know God exists and that he will work miracles, what do they need faith for? Faith is not knowing. - IG
Faith is a form of knowing. It is not “not knowing.” Faith is an intellectual asset to things which are beyond the natural ability of reason to discover, based on the authority of one revealing.

55. Brain, or shall I say, body transplants, will eventually be possible, where would the soul be then? Where is the soul? - IG
I doubt that such things will ever be possible for many reasons. A chief reason is because the soul – the mind – is the form of the body and, hence, if the body was mutilated in this way, such a transplant would be impossible.

56. If God really wants us to know him, why doesn't he place the knowledge of him in our minds at birth? The same way many theists believe that God implants our sense of right and wrong in us a right birth. - IG
He does. He gave us minds to know Him.

57. If God was Jesus' father (not Joseph), then why is Jesus' family tree traced through Joseph? -- Cyndy Hammond
Legal parenthood.

58. What image of God was man made from? Couldn't have been a moral one or physical one. - IG [Note: One would suspect that an image of God would be perfect and cannot sin. Oops.]
The soul of man is a spirit in the image of God.

59. Why can't God appear before everyone at the same time? Everyone in the world would then "know" he exists and not have solely "believe". And please, don't say he already tried that. Surely a God knows exactly what to do to convince a measly human of his existence. - IG
God does not force our wills. Likewise, God uses the best means to achieve His ends. In a certain sense, however, God will do this on judgment day.

60. According to the New Testament Matthew 5:17 says "Do not suppose that I have come to abolish the Law and the prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to complete. I tell you this: so long as heaven and earth endure, not a letter, not a stroke, will disappear from the Law until all that must happen has Happened." So since Jesus has not returned the "Law" is still in effect, so why aren't we still burning witches, stoning adulterers and disobedient children, killing homosexuals, ostracizing people that work on the Sabbath (nurses, doctors etc.), flinging blood onto the horns of the alter, pulling off the heads of small birds, and don't forget human sacrifice to God (Leviticus 27 P.28 )? -- Sheila L. Chambers
It is fulfilled, but you misinterpret what it means to say that the Law will not pass away. The Law is perfected in the New Law, so that its precepts are fulfilled in their intention under the New Law’s precepts of charity.

61. If there is freewill in Heaven yet everyone has chosen good and is happy, isn't that proof that God could have made us with freewill, choosing good ( God ) and still being happy on Earth? - Dennis Hendrix [Note: In other words, evil didn't have to exist after all. Hey wait, even in Heaven apparently, evil can exist. At least for a short while. Satan became evil and was in heaven. Apparently he even had enough time to form an Army against God. Wow. Maybe Heaven won't be as peaceful as many believe.]
No, that misunderstands the nature of heaven.

62. Why does God have a plan? Man is limited in power so we make plans because we are not all-knowing nor all-powerful. If God has a plan, isn't he reduced to a mere finite being? - IG
No, His plan is His will and His knowledge. His “plan” in eternity has already been carried out.

63. How could the all-merciful/loving God watch billions of his children burn over and over again for eternity? - IG [Note: Of course this is geared to those that believe in a fiery hell. I am well aware that not all Christians believe in a fiery Hell.]
Well, the fires of hell don’t burn materially until the resurrection of the dead. Read where I answer these sorts of questions above.

64. Before reading and writing were invented (5000BC), on what basis did God use to judge the people who died before the Hebrew and Greek text (BIBLE) were written? -- [email protected] [Note: They are all roasting in Hell. ]
A different one, based on their following moral precepts that they knew naturally, ect.

65. Many Christians tell me that I will "burn in hell". If I have a soul, how can a soul burn? Aren't souls non-physical entities? - IG [Note: Some Christians groups believe that you will be given new bodies after judgement. However, if true, what's the significance of a spirit in the first place?]
Your resurrected body will burn.

66. How can one hold to the barbaric belief that something has to DIE in order to appease a god for a bad deed? -- Nickolaus Wing [Note: Because an old book says so Nick.]
Something needs to satisfy for an offense against any agent out of justice. Christ’s obedience and charity on the Cross satisfied God more than any other offering.

67. Why does SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) occur? Why would God allow a baby to live for such a short period of time? Why not just let them not be born in the first place? -- Terry Clark [Note: This actually happened to a friend of mine. Not even God himself could console her.]
Original sin caused suffering and death to enter the world, not God.

68. If Jesus was nailed and died on Friday evening, and walked out of the tomb on Sunday morning, where's the 3rd NIGHT he predicted? Per Matthew 12:40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. - [email protected]
Jewish measure of three days.

69. Many Christians claim that hell is merely existence outside of God ?s presence (C.S. Lewis among others). If this is the case, then Jesus could not have descended into hell (being God Himself). As a result, are you sure your sins are forgiven? - Byron Bultsma
Hell is both a place and a condition. Jesus did not descend into hell in the sense of separate Himself from God, which is impossible, but rather went to the “limbo of the fathers” or the place where the souls who were just before Christ awaited Him to lead them into heaven.

70. Ten to twenty percent of all women who discover they are pregnant suffer a miscarriage. Also, it is estimated that anywhere from 14 to 50 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Seeing this is all part of God 's plan, does this make God the world's number one abortion provider? - Jim
Again, these things happen as a result of original sin. God did not desire them to happen.

71. What if, when you get to Heaven, you saw God causing pain and suffering out of anger or for the purpose of entertaining himself. What if he required people in heaven to praise and worship him non-stop even to the point of causing his worshipers discomfort, pain and boredom. What if, when he was bored, angry, or jealous, he would create natural disasters to make himself feel better. Would you still follow him? - Fernando [Note: Of course they would Fernando, many people followed Hitler out of fear as well.]
He has no emotions.

72. In Leviticus, the bible condemns homosexuality as an "abomination", giving some Christians a reason to hate, harass, torture and kill gays and even picket their funderals with " God hates fags" signs. In the same book of the bible the eating of shellfish is equally an "abomination". Are these Christians planning to go after the patrons of Red Lobster next? - [email protected] [Note: hee-hee, that's all I can say. Jewish Law states that eating Fish without scales is an abomination and thus the Shark is one among the list. However, sharks do have scales, Placoid scales, one of the many reasons why a shark is called a Fish .]
I can’t account for the fanaticism of those people who exist outside of the Church. I see no reason to use the Scriptures to support that view.

73. Christians will tell you that if a baby dies it goes to heaven. Why then are they so against abortion? All the child is being deprived of is the opportunity to go to hell. Either that or god expects unborn fetuses to accept Jesus. - [email protected]
People don’t go to heaven unless they have received the grace of baptism, in our understanding (Catholic). So, babies that die before baptism are a tragedy. Likewise, it is never good to intentionally kill the innocent. Finally, one doesn’t do evil to bring about a good.

74. If one could prove to you incontrovertibly that Jesus and God were all human fabrications would still believe? And why? - LOGICnREASON [Note: If you say yes. Then you are not concerned with the truth, you simply WANT to believe; and if you WANT to believe, indeed, there is nothing anyone can tell you..]
It would be impossible to do so.

75. It is often said that God allows evil because one could not meaningfully appreciate good without experiencing its opposite. Why is it necessary to experience the opposite of something in order to appreciate it? Must I experience death in order to meaningfully appreciate life? -excidius
I think that view is plain wrong.

76. Bible literalists want you to believe that God's Word in the Bible is meant to be taken literally. If this is the case, why was Jesus fond of explaining things in parable and metaphor? Was Jesus literally discussing the biology of mustard seeds, or was the mustard seed parable meant to be interpreted figuratively as faith? -excidius
Which is exactly why they are wrong.

77. Liberal Christians say some parts of the Bible are literally true, but much else is to be interpreted figuratively as allegory. How do you know which is which? What distinguishing criteria are used? How can you be certain "God" is a literal and not a figurative concept? -excidius
The distinguishing criteria is the Tradition and Magisterium of the Church. The text cannot exist without an interpretation and God does not leave us hanging on such an important issue.

78. Consciousness is the result of a physical brain, how could God being metaphysical be said to be conscious or sentient without having a brain? - Mindless
Minds are not the result of a physical brain.

79. Considering how Leviticus is considered old law, and that Christians do not obey it anymore, why do they always use it to defend homosexuality being an "abomination"? -Bohorquez
We already addressed this above.

80. If God is omnipotent and he has a plan ... then why did he not create the universe as it will be one second after the plan has succeeded? Who or what prevented him from doing that? - Timothy Campbell (http://www.tc123.com)
Well, firstly because you are saying that God ought to have created a universe to pass through time to a final point at the final point without any passing at all. This is a contradiction and hence nonsense. Nonsense cannot be changed by omnipotence into reality. It remains nonsense.

81. The large majority of people who have ever existed could not have learned of the Bible or Jesus Christ. And many people afterwards have found other religions or no religion at all to be more convincing, sometimes while being very virtuous. Do all these people really deserve eternal torment because of that? -- lpetrich
I never claimed they went to hell. They are judged as God sees fit, according to the knowledge they did have.

82. The above arguments also apply among different sects of Christianity, many of which state that most others are not True Christianity. -- lpetrich
Yep. One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. One true Church.

83. Is it reasonable for the Creator and Ruler of such a vast Universe to be preoccupied with the sexuality of a species living on a tiny little planet? -- lpetrich
Human beings, creatures with minds, don’t see to exist anywhere else in the universe. Seems pretty interesting to me compared with floating rocks.

84. If the Christian god was all loving and all knowing why did he let religious figures such as Mohammed or Gautama Budda be born, knowing that they would mislead people from the 'true' faith and trick the majority of the world's population into burning forever in hell (in fact, if Islam didn't start, most of the middle east would probably be Christian). It would simple to use the Holy Spirit to guide them to Jesus and spread the 'true' faith. If the Holy Spirit exits, it certainly isn't doing it's job!
People have free will, as well as demons.

85. If one is obliged to follow all the teachings of the bible then why is engaging in homosexuality or adultery any worse than "suffering a witch to live", "muzzling the ox that treadeth the corn", "reaping the corners of thy field", "marring the corners of they beard", "plowing with an oxen and an ass", "hating thy brother in thy heart" or "eating frogs, shellfish and eels" ?
I never claimed one had to follow these precepts.

86. Exactly how did the alleged worldwide flood kill off all the world's sea creatures? How does one go about drowning a fish? -- Steever
Allegory, as above.

87. Why did this alleged god create humans as an animal form of life that gets sick and dies and experiences pain and has a limited mind when 'it' could have created humans as a form of pure energy or of some indestructible material or whatever, and was totally ?sinless? and had ?pure? thought? If a god was omnipotent 'it' could have easily have done this. --AI
Well, angels seem to count there. But all creatures are by nature finite in comparison to God, so no. Further, He never created sickness and death. These arose from original sin.

88. If a god is omnipotent how did 'it' fail to foresee that Satan would turn against 'it'? --AI
He didn’t. He knew Satan would oppose Him. He didn’t, however, predetermine that action.

89. What is a god supposedly made of? –AI
He is not made of any substance. He is incorporeal.

Yours In Christ, Eternal Wisdom,
StMichael

Psalm 50(1):8. For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.


dmar198
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The Catholic Answer to Multiple Questions

Here's one last attempt to post my answers to the questions.

Please remember that I am answering from what I believe is the Catholic resopnse. I understand that some of my responses will be ridiculed and some people may not think I answered the question correctly. I only answered MY interpretation of the question, and I did what I could. Please enjoy.

 

The Catholic Answer to Multiple Questions:

1. If Jesus fulfilled all the OT prophecies so well, why didn't the Jews recognize him as the messiah? - Francois Tremblay

The Jews had a conception of the Messiah as a physical King who would subdue the nations and restore the Jewish traditions throughout the world. This was a terrible misconception, and they didn't see Jesus as the true king because he didn't meet those misconceptions. They misinterpreted the OT prophecies, and thought He didn't fulfill them. But He did.

 

2. If Gen 3:24 is true, why hasn't anyone found the Cherubims and the " flaming sword which turned every way"?

Many different explanations: This could be a metaphor, but probably isn't. It may be that the "sword" was some sort of allegory to a mist over mens' hearts/eyes or whatever, so that we couldn't find it.

Maybe it got buried under sediment and in strata, and the fire got put out. It probably would have been put out in the first significant rain. This sort of undermines the divine power God has, though (Yeah, He put a sword there, but it fell over and got buried...yeah...and the Divine Fire was sort of put out by an un-divine rain...yeah...).

That's why it probably was a "spiritual" sword, which no one could have seen anyway, which is why we haven't found it.

 

3. It's been proven that modern humans originated from Africa. Yet, the Adam and Eve story claims the first Humans lived in a garden in Eden, near 4 rivers. ( Most of which no one can find). One of these rivers mentioned is the Euphrates, which runs through Iraq, Syria and a portion of Turkey. What's the truth? Did man come out of Africa or near the Euphrates River? - The Infidel Guy

This has not been proven, but if it is true (as it well may be) then it is also quite possible that the Euphrates of Syria is a different Euphrates. Remember, these stories were widely known, and there could have very probably been many things named after these popular rivers.

 

4. When the believer gets to Heaven, how can Heaven be utter bliss when people they love and care about are burning in Hell ? - The Infidel Guy - [Note: Some say God erases your memories of them, but if God erases your memory, you as Mr. Joe /Jane Smoe ceases to exist.]

People in Heaven are not concerned with those people down in Hell. They are too happy to conceive anything but their present company, and the miseries of those below are not considered. The story of Lazarus should not be confused to prove otherwise, as he was in Abraham's bosom (possibly limbo?) and not Heaven. No one could yet enter Heaven, because faith in Jesus could not have existed, being as He had not been yet born when those good people died.

5. How can a God have emotions, i.e. jealousy, anger, sadness, love, etc., if he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent? Emotional states are reactionary for the most part. How can God react to us if he is all-knowing and has a divine plan? - IG [Note: Indeed, many religious texts display their gods this way . Listen to the An Emotional Godshow.]

God's emotions are quite different from Man's emotions. For example, "jealousy" on Earth is nearly always tied to envy, a reactionary emotion. If they are separate, though, then jealousy is fine. It is NOT reactionary. Likewise anger is nearly always, on Earth, tied to negative thoughts. It is thus condemned, because negative thoughts are evil. God's anger is just anger, which is rare on Earth. It is not reactionary. I hope I have shown in small part at least that God's emotions are not reactionary, and this is why His omnipotence is preserved through his emotions.

 

6. Why would God create a place such as hell to torture sinners forever when he foreknew who would disappoint him? - IG [Note: Some say you have a choice, but this misses the point. If God hates sin so much, why create Adam and Eve when he knew they'd sin? The only conclusion I can come up with, if Yaweh exists, is that he wanted sin to enter the world.]

God gave Man the choice to accept Him or deny Him. While He does not influence our choices, He knows them. He lets us discover them ourselves. This does not miss the point, and I will explain a little more clearly. God created Adam and Eve because He wanted company in Heaven in His own image, and He loved these future beings so much that He let them on Earth first so that they could choose Him or not. When He created them, He allowed for the possibility of their denial of Him, but He did not force them into it. They could have chosen Him or denied Him. God knew their actions, yes, but not in the same sense that we understand knowledge.

 

7. "God is all merciful," we hear quite often. Wouldn't it be more merciful of God to simply snap sinners out of existence rather than send them to hell? Or better yet, since he's all-knowing, not allow them to be born at all? - IG

ON GOD'S LOVE & HELL

1.) God's love is superlative.
2.) God's love of man exceeds man's love of self.
3.) Man's love of self prohibits torture.
4.) Considering God's greater love for us, Hell (eternal torture) is illogical.

God's mercy is infinite towards us. To snap someone out of existence is not merciful. This is denying them their choice. If someone chooses to go to Hell (as all who sin necessarily do), it would be to deny them their choice. This would not be mercy. In His infinite mercy, He therefore sends them to Hell, and gives them what they want.

 

8. Muslims are supposed to pray 5 times a day towards Mecca. Each prayer includes a variety of ritualism and posturing. If a muslim astronaut were to land on Mars. Prayer to Mecca would be ritualistically impossible due to the rotation of Earth and Mars. Are Muslims stuck here in Earth? IG [Note: Since this was first posted, a Muslim astronaut was faced with this very dilemma. The authoritative clergy informed him to pray as he normally would. I see this no where in the Koran. You see? Religions must change, or die out. It's interesting to note that, in the Koran, the moon is believed to be in the lowest Heaven, the level for those that barely made it to Heaven. Surah 71:15-16. One problem, no man can supposedly get to Heaven until they die. Yet, we've been to the moon. Our satellites beyond that.]

I don't know anything about Muslims, but I'm sure this would be an exception.


9. Why haven't we seen God reattach severed heads, restore someone who was burned alive or regrow amputated limbs? Surely these would be miracles difficult to deny. - Adam Majors and IG [Note: The typical answer is that man doesn't dictate God's actions. The conundrum here however is that, if God wants us to "know" him, then surely feats such as those mentioned above would be happening all over the world. Until they do, I'll remain an atheist.]

You haven't seen God perform these extreme miracles because you are not looking hard enough. Gemma di Giorgi had her eyesight restored, though she has no pupils (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.cicap.org/emilia/pupille.htm&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=4&ct=result&prev=

/search%3Fq%3DGemma%2Bdi%2BGiorgi%2BPadre%2BPio%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG). This is quite on par with limb regeneration. All four gospels recount the time when Simon cut off the High Priest's servant's ear (See Lk. 22:50, Jn. 18:10, Mt. 26:51, Mk. 14:47). But Luke 22:51 recalls that Jesus also restored his ear. Though citations for other examples currently escape me, I have heard of more.

 

10. Why does God entrust the spreading of 'His' word to sinners? Why doesn't he do it himself? - IG [Note: Surely God would have known that not everyone would be convinced by the reality[sic] of his Bible. If God loves us so much, we are all going to Heaven. If God knew that I would be an atheist, and he doesn't like atheists, he shouldn't have allowed me to come into existence. But he did. Therefore, I must be serving the will of God, for I exist. Smiling]

You ask two questions here, it seems. 1) You want to know why God entrusts the spreading of His word to sinners, and 2) you want to know why you exist if it is not the will of God that you be atheist.

1) God lets us do it because God wants men to convert other men. If God offered direct proof by His presence, there would be no place for faith. While God does not disregard the benefits of evidence (Jesus often performed miracles solely as proof of His divinity [cf. John 11:42-44]), man must have faith in God to be saved.

2) God gave you the free will to choose Him or deny Him. If he would not let you exist just because you denied Him, then He would not be loving you. But He does, and therefore He lets you exist, and He gives you the chance to accept Him again, and be forgiven.

 

11. In II Kings 2-23/24 we read about God sending 2 she-bears to attack children for calling the prophet Elisa bald, which he was, the bears killed 42 of the children. Was this a good thing to do? -- Brandon and IG[Note: I have heard some argue that the boys were a gang. So?! I didn't read anywhere in that passage where they laid a finger on the guy . Also, what kind of bears are these that can kill 42 kids? Super Bears? Surely the kids had to be running away.]

I can't really speak for Elisa, but I think that would be an abuse of God-granted power, and a bad sin on Elisa's part.

 

12. I have often heard from many believers that even Satan has a presence in the church, which is why even in church people can still have impure thoughts. If Satan can find his way in the church, how do Christians know that Satan didn't find his way into the Bible and twist the whole book? After all, men did vote on which books would make the Holy Bible. - The Infidel Guy

Jesus promised that Satan would never prevail against His Church (Matthew 16:18). Temptation is NOT always exclusively from the devil, though, and the lusts of the flesh can assail you even in the holiest of places. Satan didn't find his way into the Bible because God promised in Timothy (2 Timothy 3:16) that it is from Him, and not from the devil. (This is not circular reasoning because the Catholic Church has been around since the time of Christ and has continuously proclaimed that this verse is truth, and the devil cannot have perverted the Church to make a false claim such as that would be. We know he cannot have because the Catholic Church has remained a beacon of undiluted light throughout history, having only sound doctrine and good morals. Its saints and miracles have been testimony as to its validity, for those of you who want proof outside of Scripture.)

13. Why did God allow Lot and his daughters to escape from Sodom and Gomorra when he destroyed it only to later have Lot and his daughters engage in incestuous fornication. (Genesis 19:30-36) - Disillusioned [Note: To have intercourse with daddy dearest of course.]

They didn't engage in incestuous fornication. The daughters did do their father, but the purpose was not to be incestuous, but to preserve the race. Its a Holy Loophole (get it?).


14. Genesis 1:28-29 shows that man and all the animals were first created herbivorous. Most young-earth Christians (ones that believes the earth is less than 10,000 years old) say that the fall of man resulted in carnivorous animals (hence death of animals). So, why did God punish the animal kingdom, making animals kill and devour each other because of man's mistake? Or, if you're an old-earth Christian (one that accepts that animals existed on earth for billions of years before man came on the scene) then how come fossils show carnivorous animals existed before man? - http://www.caseagainstfaith.com/contact.htm.

The cited verse was in reference to Adam and Eve, not necessarily to the animals. Anyway, the verse that death comes through sin (I think its what you also referred to, though you didn't cite a reference; Romans 5:12) was obviously speaking of spiritual death, or the damnation of the soul. Since animals don't have souls, they can't spiritually die (they were never spiritually alive). So them being carnivorous is not in opposition to Scripture.

 

15. Many Christians believe that God is a thinking being, that he solves problems and makes a way for them when troubles come. Does God Think? If God is thinking, did he know his thoughts before he thought them? If so, again, where is his freewill and how is God thinking at all if everything seems to be one uncontrollable action/thoughts. - The Infidel Guy [Note: I'd say a God cannot think at all. To do so, would strip him of omniscience. Thinking is a temporal process.] ON GOD'S ATEMPORALITY
1.) God, an atemporal being, created the Universe.
2.) Creation is a temporal processes because X cannot cause Y to come into being unless X existed temporally prior to Y.
3.) If God existed prior to the creation of the Universe he is a temporal being.
4.) Since God is atemporal, God cannot be the creator the Universe.
[Note: I guess I should also note here that a timeless being would be without the proposition of past, and future. But to be omniscient, God must know the past and future. Hence a God that is atemporal and omniscient cannot logically exist. Smiling]

Yes, God thinks. No, He did not know His thoughts before He thought them, because there was no "before He thought them". God exists in an eternal present (Exodus 3:14; note that "I am" is extended through the future; John 8:58; note that "I am" is extended through the past), and His thoughts are existent always, and never, at the same time.

Regarding the atemporality, I don't understand why an atemporal being couldn't create a temporal universe. I think that God can be atemporal even existing when the universe was created. I think the misunderstanding comes in somewhere along the point of time's existence, which was created while the universe was created.

 

16. I have often heard that faith is all that is neccessary to believe in God and accept the Bible as true. If this is true aren't all supernatural beliefs true since they also require "faith"? - IG ON FAITH

1.) A prerequisite to believe in a Faith is faith.
2.) Having faith is all that is required to accept a Faith (belief) as true.
3.) All Faiths are true.
[Note: Of course all Faiths aren`t true, but this is the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from a person that states that, "Faith" is how one knows God.]

All religions may require faith, but if you have faith in the wrong things then your faith is misplaced. Faith is all that is required, yes, but not faith in anything, but in a specific thing: Jesus Christ. Also, though you may have faith that a religion is true, truth is not subjective to faith, so you could simply be wrong.


17. Why didn't God just kill Adam and Eve after the Fall and start from scratch? Actually, if God is all-knowing wouldn't he know that man would need to be killed eventually anyway, (the biblical flood)? Why create Adam and Eve at all? - [email protected] and [email protected] ON THE GARDEN OF EDEN
1.) God is omniscient (all-knowing).
2.) God knew that before he created man that they would eat of the tree of knowledge.
3.) God placed the tree of knowledge in the Garden anyway.
4.) God wanted sin to enter the world.
[Note: If God didn`t want sin to enter the world, why create Adam and Eve at all? He knew what would happen. Why place the forbidden trees in the Garden in the first place?]

God did end up killing them; they would not have died had they not eaten the fruit, but they did die because they did eat the fruit. But He didn't want to "start from scratch" because He hadn't made a mistake. Man had made a mistake, and Man needed to fix it...or at least choose to accept deliverance. God created Adam and Eve solely because He wanted them with Him in Heaven. It had nothing to do with sin entering or anything else. If He hadn't put the Tree in, then they wouldn't have been able to make that choice: My will or Thy will? It would have been denying them the love He wanted to give them.

 

18. If a spirit is non-physical but the human body is physical, how does a spirit stay in our bodies? - IG ON SPIRITS
1.) Spirits are not physical entities.
2.) Brains are physical entities.
3.) Past experiences are stored in our physical brains, we call that, Memory..
4.) Injury can damage portions of the physical brain that store memory and can alter or erase memories completely.
5.) If human spirits exist... after death, spirits can have no memory.
[Note: Some will say the spirit stores physical memories as well, but if true, the spirit would have to be physical at least to a degree. How could a non-physical spirit store, physical memories?]

Spirits are separate from our bodies, and do not "stay in our bodies". They are probably not in this world, but I'm not sure about that. I know that this is sort of like asking how the function of a hat stays inside the hat. It doesn't. The function, while defining what makes a hat a hat, is not contained within it.

Spirits do not store physical memories, yet they can "remember". I'm not exactly sure how this works, though.


19. Does God know his own future decisions? If God is all-knowing he actually shouldn't have any decisions to make at all. Nor can he choose anything over something else. For that would mean that he is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. In fact, he can't even think if this is the case. Since he can't DO anything, he might as well not exist. - IG ON GOD'S IMMUTABILITY - Unchangingness
1. If God exists, then he is immutable.
2. If God exists, then he is the creator of the universe.
3. An immutable being cannot at one time have an intention and then at a later time not have that intention.
4. For any being to create anything, prior to the creation he must have had the intention to create it, but at a later time, after the creation, no longer have the intention to create it.
5. Thus, it is impossible for an immutable being to have created anything (from 3 and 4).
6. Therefore, it is impossible for God to exist (from 1, 2, and 5) - Theodore M. Drange

God does not make future decisions. There is no "future". He makes all decisions presently, all decisions are already made, and none of them are yet made. Try to think of God as if He is a man looking down at a time-line of history. The history extends into the past, the present, and unto the end of time. It is like a long picture, with a magnifying glass moving over it. That magnifying glass points to where we are in time, and is constantly moving toward the end. God, however, is independent of this sliding glass, and only watches it pass. The decisions relative to our history have all been made, and yet have not. They are made eternally in the present, relative to our own position in time but not limited by it.


20. If God is all-knowing, how could he be disappointed in His creation? -- [email protected] [Note: Indeed, wouldn't God know that before the creation of our Universe what creatures would disappoint him? That being the case why create those creatures at all? Also, in knowing absolutely the behavior of humans before creation, God cannot be disappointed either... for this world is exactly as he has planned it to be. If it's not, why create us at all?]

God is disappointed in Man's creation, not His. You are once again stuck on the "time" conundrum. There was no "before the creation" when He would have known about it disappointing Him. Imagine God watching an "instant replay" of all history. He does not influence it, but He knows what is going to happen. He thus knows our decisions without deciding them for us. That is why He is disappointed in our decisions, just as we might be disappointed that our favorite quarterback threw to the wrong receiver. We did not, however, influence his decision about where to throw. We just know what is going to happen.


21. God struck down the Tower of Babel angry at the intent of the people that built them, if this is the case, many of the great pyramids ( which are bigger than any ziggurat) around the world should be rubble also, yet many still stand today. Were not the Egyptians and many other ancient pyramid builders reaching toward God /The Heavens? - IG [Note: In actuality, many of the Pharaoh's believed that, via their pyramids, they would become God's themselves.]

The pyramids were not built with the intent of reaching God. The pharaohs did not believe that they were going to become gods through their pyramids. They believed they would become gods through their works and their birthright, and the pyramids were built to honor that fact. They were not trying to reach toward God/The Heavens.

 

22. In the watchmaker analogy, a watch is used to show us intelligent design and compares that to the Universe as evidence of design. We know watches are designed because we have past experience with watches, as well as with other man made objects. My question is: What Universe is the Intelligent Design proponent using to compare this Universe with to draw such an analogy? What God did he see create a Universe? - IG

You missed the analogy. The point is not that we can compare watches and see their design. We see their complexity and know they are designed. In the same way, the universe is (almost) infinitely complex, and is evidence for a designer. It isn't the comparison of degree of complexity, but the fact that it is complex itself.

 

23. Why did God flood the earth to remove evil? It didn't work! Evil came right back, God should have known that would happen! So why did He bother? - PhineasBg [Note: A good example of how quickly sin returned, was Noah getting drunk just after they discovered land.]

The world was too perverted with sin, and God destroyed it as punishment for Man's wrongs. It did work; through Moses' seed the Savior was born.

 

24. If the garden of Eden was a perfect paradise as xians claim, then why did Eve even want to eat the fruit? Wouldn't a perfect place provide everything a person would want or desire and thus she would want nothing? - keyser soze [Note: Why were the trees there in the first place? Of course they love to throw the serpent into the equation. But ummm..who let the serpent into the Garden?... and why would God create such a creature knowing he would cause man's fall? Hmm.. God must have wanted the fall to happen.]

Eve wanted to eat the fruit out of curiosity, being tempted by the devil. There was nothing lacking in the Paradise. It was an external intrusion by the serpent that caused temptation to enter. This intrusion brought vacancy, and exploited it through Eve to tempt her into an unnatural desire. The tree was there to give them a choice to accept God or Man. They chose man. God created the devil for the free will thing (again). God did not force the devil to deny Him. The devil chose that. God knew, but He gave the devil a choice nonetheless, and the devil could have chosen to accept God. God let the serpent into the garden because otherwise it would have been denying him his free will, and denying Adam and Eve the right to choose Good or Evil. God did not want the fall to happen.

 

25. Why would an all-powerful god become flesh in order to sacrifice himself to himself so that his creation might escape the wrath of himself. Couldn't god, in his infinite wisdom, come up with something a little more efficient? - [email protected] ON THE BODY OF CHRIST
1.) God?s flesh was known as Jesus.
2.) Flesh cannot enter into Heaven (according to Paul)
3.) God is no longer Jesus.
4.) Jesus doesn?t exist.

(Note: Many at this point will state that the spirit lives on so therefore Jesus lives. This really depends on what you believe about Jesus. Is Jesus the son of God or God in flesh? If Jesus is merely the son there is no problem.However, if Jesus ?is? God himself, we do. You see, Jesus is called Jesus because of the attribute of Flesh. If Jesus = God (who is spirit) then the entity known as Jesus ceases to exist. The flesh/body of Jesus, no longer exists and the spirit of God is still the unchanging spirit of God. No Jesus at that point. The Flesh, called Jesus, is dead.)

An all-powerful God chose the only option. He sacrificed Himself for us. That's how much He loves us, and infinitely more so. God, in His infinite wisdom, chose this option because it was the most efficient and only choice. God's Word was incarnate as Jesus. Mere Human flesh cannot enter Heaven because all Humans sin and taint the flesh. Jesus was divine, though, and did not sin. Therefore, His flesh was not tainted. Therefore, He could enter Heaven. Jesus is both the son of God and God made man, not just one or the other.

 

26. After 9/11 a lot of people have been tossing around " god bless america". Why do they keep saying this? From the looks of it god hasn't blessed anything. If god had blessed america, the 9/11 event would've never happened. Theists seem to give the answer of "everything is part of gods big plan". If everything is part of gods big plan, why are we after Bin Laden? Wasn't he and other terrorists just carrying out gods desired plan? So it seems that Bin Laden/ terrorism isnt our enemy, but god . - [email protected] [Note: Unfortunately many religious nuts believe they are fulfilling their God's plan by going to war.]

War is Man's plan, not God's. People keep tossing around "God Bless America" because God blesses everyone (anyway, He gives grace to everyone). God blessed America, and 9/11 happened as a completely separate event. It had nothing to do with our blessing. It was not a part of God's plan. We are after Bin Laden because we have a stupid president (lol). God is not our enemy.

 

27. Christians say that God is NOT the author of confusion. Can you say, Tower of Babel? - The Screaming Monkeys

Can you say, God did not authorize the Tower of Babel? The resulting confusion was a result of Man's stupidity. Not God's.

 

28. If Noah's flood supposedly covered the earth for a year, regardless of whether or not all the animals could fit on the ark, what the heck happened to all the plants? Can you imagine a cactus surviving under 4 miles of water for a year? I can't either! - Kyle Giblet [Note: With God all things are possible. Oh wait, except in Judges 1:19.]

I don't know. I'll work on this one some more...


29. The highest rainfall ever recorded in a 24 hour period was 47inches in the Reunion Islands in 1947 (during a severe tropical storm). To cover the whole earth to a depth of 5.6 miles, and cover the mountain tops (i.e. Mount Everest), it would need to rain at a rate of 372 (three hundred and seventy two) inches per hour, over the entire surface of the earth. Can rain fall at such an astronomical rate? Where did all the water come from?? Where did it all go to??? And would not the dynamics of the earth be so out of balance (tides etc.) that the earth would become so unstable that it would wobble off into outer space???? - [email protected]

Not all the water came from rains. The water under the crest of the earth also rose up, and took care of a lot of these concerns. The water came from the oceans. (If all the water in the ocean was "stacked" so to speak on the land, it would cover Mount Everest.) The water is still out there, in the oceans, which are huge. Tides would be the same as they are right now, only global instead of just 2/3 global. No, the Earth would not become unstable.


30. What do Muslim women get in Paradise? - IG [Note: Some Muslims I have interviewed about this say that Muslim women will get the same thing men get or equal value. Smiling Oh really? So Muslim women will get 72 virgin men? lol. If Muslim men get 72 virgins, where are all these virgin women coming from? What of their freewill? Is Allah creating these women to be slaves to the men in Paradise?]

I am Catholic, and don't know about Muslim doctrine.

 

31. In the "Last Days" Jesus is supposed to appear in the clouds. How are the Christians on the opposite end of the world going to see him? Are there going to be millions of Jesus'? What about people that work underground? What about people in deep space? - [email protected]

There will be only one Jesus. Television will probably broadcast the event. Or it might be a psycological event, where we see it in our minds. The people in deep space will probably also see it on television, assuming you mean after we have colonized other planets. If you mean men on the space station, then they will probably just look down. Smiling

32. The Bible says that God is a jealous God . How is this an example of a moral absolute of which man is supposed to follow? - IG ON GOD`S JEALOUSY
1.) "God is love." 1 John 4:8.
2.) "Love is not jealous." 1 Cor 13:4
3.) "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God." Exodus 20:5.
4.) The Christian god cannot logically exist.
(NOte: Basically love is NOT jealous, yet god is jealous, then God can`t be love. But if god IS love he cannot be jealous. Be he is.)

God's emotions are quite different from Man's emotions. "Jealousy" on Earth is nearly always tied to envy, a reactionary emotion, and love is not envious. If jealousy and envy are separate, though, then jealousy is fine.


33. A true Muslim man is not supposed to do anything that the prophet Muhammad didn't do. If one remembers there was a big debate over whether or not Muslims should eat Mangos. If this is true, why in the Hell were these Islamic Fundamentalists flying airplanes? - IG

I don't know about Muslim doctrine.

 

34. If the earth was covered by a complete global flood, every living creature killed except those surviving on the ark, why are there many completely unique animal species in Australia that are found no where else indigenously on the earth? - [email protected]

It is quite conceivable that they evolved from the basic kinds to the currant variety of species after they got there after the flood. They are very similar, usually, excepting the kangaroo, with only minor adaptations separating them from other continental species. I don't know how they got there; maybe God created them again?

 

35. If god is omniscient and " god is love," why would he allow a child to be conceived, knowing that that child would one day reject him and spend eternity burning in a lake of fire?- TiredTurkeyProd

Please see question 10, part 2.

 

36. Revelations is supposed to take place on Earth. What if we colonize the moon or Mars or inhabit a self-sustaining space station? Do we escape "judgement"? -- Ray Sommers [Note: No we don't Ray... and of course we all know that if there is any intelligent life out there besides us, they are all going to Hell too. Eye-wink]

No, we don't Ray. They'll get their own judgement (if we're there by that time).


37. Isaiah 40:28 says, "...the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is he weary?" If this is true, why did God rest on the seventh day?- IG

God wasn't weary when he took rest. He did it for fun. He didn't fainteth, either.

 

38. Everytime I go to a funeral the preacher and guests always say that " God " has called that person to Heaven or they say, " God said it was time to come home", or some such variation. If God is calling these people "home", why are we putting the murderers of these victims in prison? How can we punish a man or woman for doing God's will? - IG

Murder is not God's will. It may have been God's will that they died, though. God does not want anything unnatural. He only calls people home through natural means, but this plan is often interrupted by people who murder others.

 

39. Does God have a gender? In most churches, God is predominately referred to as a "he"? - IG [Note: The Bible says God is male, but what does this mean? Does God have a penis? Does he have hormones that dictate his gender? Smiling]

God has no gender, but males are generally considered as the stronger in a species. Since God is all powerful, this concept was extended toward Him. Also, because there is no personal pronoun without gender, we chose the closest thing.

 

40. Why can't we wait until we get to Heaven to worship God ? Why would it be too late? - IG

Worship is man's display to God and to other men that he loves God. If we cannot even bring ourselves to show that we love Him, then what sort of faith is that? So, if we have faith in God, we will worship Him. Without faith, we cannot enter Paradise. So, no, we can't just wait until we get to Heaven to worship God, because if we don't worship God here, we won't get to Heaven.

41. What is the purpose of prayer? What can a finite being on Earth possibly tell an omnipotent, omniscient deity that he doesn't know already? - IG ON PRAYER
1.) Humans can?t change God?s mind for he has a divine plan and is unchangeable.
2.) Prayer can't change God's mind.
3.) Prayer doesn't change anything.
(Prayer may make you feel better emotionally, but it doesn`t change God`s mind.)

Prayer isn't intended to change God's mind. Speaking to Him is a channel of grace to us. Prayer is for us, not for God.

 

42. Some say Jesus was the all-knowing God. Jesus would have known then that when he died he'd be in heaven in less than 3 days to rule. If Jesus is alive and ruling today, what did he sacrifice? -- Cyndy Hammond

He underwent torture and death on a cross. The resurrection He did because He wanted to show that He is divine. No one else in Scripture or elsewhere has raised themselves from the dead. That's why it is proof of His divinity. He sacrificed Himself by undergoing the worst pain ever. He bore the guilt of all of our sins. Since sins put one in Hell, he essentially bore Hell on Earth for all of us. That's pretty harsh.

 

43. God knows that men are sinners, untrustworthy and evil, why does God leave it up to fallible man (clergy..etc) to teach others about his word? Why would he put our eternal souls at risk if he loves us so much? - The Infidel Guy and Danno778

See question 10, part 1.

 

44. Did Adam have nipples? If so, how did he acquire them? In fact, why would God give "later man" nipples at all? They serve no purpose other than lactation. Some say pleasure. Where is that in Genesis exactly? All mammals have nipples as well, are theirs pleasureful for them too? Many men don't find their nipples pleasurable at all. - IG

I don't know if Adam had nipples. It is possible that it was a dominant trait in Eve that was passed on to their male offspring, but that is unlikely. God gave later man nipples because it makes us look like women, which is feasible when you consider that people like to marry people who look like a similar species (correct me if I'm wrong).

 

45. How did Adam and Eve know it was wrong to disobey God if they hadn't eaten of the tree of knowledge (of good and evil) yet? You can't blame them if they didn't know. - IG

I don't know this one; I'll work on it some more...

 

46. If God has such a tremendous problem with uncircumcised penises, why did he make man with foreskin in the first place? - IG [Note: Some say, "So God can recognize his chosen people." Recognize? Is God so stupid that he has to physically look at men's penises? If not God, do other men need to? lol.]

It is possible that God made men with foreskin so that others can recognize God's chosen people. God Himself doesn't need to, though. God also has no problem with uncircumcised penises. That was another command for the Old Testament that was fulfilled in the New Testament. Now, it is practiced rather as Baptism.

47. Did Noah have fish onboard? Salt or Fresh? Since fresh water fish would die in salt, and salt water fish would die in fresh, only one type of fish would survive. Yet....?" - Frank Monaco

Noah did not have fish on-board. Fresh water fish would have survived, and in four thousand years it is VERY probable that they adapted (yes, evolved) into saltwater fish also.

 

48. Why does the omnipotent, omnipresent God need help from man or angels to spread his word or do acts? - IG [Note: Some say God doesn't need help. But apparently he does.] - IG

God doesn't need help. He manifests Himself as angels. That's why, whenever people in Scripture encounter an Angel, they afterward refer to it as God or the Lord.

 

49. How did Jesus ascend to Heaven in the Flesh when Paul says that flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven? (1 Cor.15:50) - IG [Note: Some say, well Paul said that and not Jesus. Yet they quote Paul when it suits there purposes.]

God's Word was incarnate as Jesus. Mere Human flesh cannot enter Heaven because all Humans sin and taint the flesh. Jesus was divine, though, and did not sin. Therefore, His flesh was not tainted. Therefore, He could enter Heaven. Jesus is both the son of God and God made man, not just one or the other. Also, Jesus did not "inherit" the Kingdom of Heaven. He created it. It was His in the first place.

 

50. If God wants us to live right and choose "the good," why did he create evil? (Isaiah 45:6,7) Not to mention he already knows which people are not going to choose "the good" so why create those people in the first place? It seems that many people are born to go to Hell. - IG ON HELL
1.) God is all-knowing.
2.) Before I was born God knew I wouldn?t believe in him.
3.) I was born to go to Hell.
(Sure you may say I have a choice, but I think I`ve proven already that I really don`t. I`m simply fulfilling the will of God by being an atheist aren`t I? If I`m not, I shouldn`t exist: For God would have known that before I was created that I wouldn`t believe in him.)

God created the devil, and by the devil evil came to exist. So God created evil, but indirectly. Evil exists so that Man can choose to accept evil and deny God. If evil did not exist, then we would not have that choice. Then, we could only go to Heaven. That would not be loving, because it would not be giving us a choice. No one was born to go to Hell. Everyone, even the writer of this question, can accept God and go to Heaven. If God did not allow you to be born because of your future choice, then He would not have given you a choice. But He did give you a choice, and you can still accept Him. You are not fulfilling the will of God by being an atheist. You should exist, because there is still time for you to accept God. God knew you don't currently believe in Him right at this moment, but that doesn't mean you don't have the choice.

 

51. I hear Christians all the time speaking of a spiritual war between Heaven and Hell, if this is true does God have limitations of power? Man only conducts wars because of our limitations of power and foresight. God has both all-power and all-knowledge, no reason for war of any kind. - IG

God has no limits to His power. It will be a very quick war. God did not start the war, and there is no reason for it. The devil started the war, because he is stupid.

 

52. The Bible is full of phrases beginning with, "and the lord saw". Didn't he know before hand? - IG

Yes, He knew beforehand. But if you know beforehand that there is a game coming on at seven, and you go to watch the game, it is still correct to say, "...and IG saw the game."

 

53. How can a psychologist condone belief in something not proven to exist, when people are put into mental institutions on a daily basis for the same thing? i.e. aliens, fairies, imaginary people (Multiple Personality Disorders..)? - Dan Denton [Note: I'm sure that some of the pious believe that they are improperly placed there as well Dan. Smiling]

Psychologists know that people often need something strong and unchanging to hang on to. Fairies and imaginary people/aliens don't qualify for this, but God does.


54. If Christians say they know God exists and that he will work miracles, what do they need faith for? Faith is not knowing. - IG

If God offered direct proof by His presence, there would be no place for faith. While God does not disregard the benefits of evidence (Jesus often performed miracles solely as proof of His divinity [cf. John 11:42-44]), man must have faith in God to be saved. Miracles are evidence, yes, but people usually don't automatically accept a theory because of just one or two pieces of evidence. Most people don't even witness two miracles in their lifetime. That's why faith is needed, even though evidence exists.

 

55. Brain, or shall I say, body transplants, will eventually be possible, where would the soul be then? Where is the soul? - IG

I would assume they stay with the brain because the consciousness is there, and the consciousness defines (usually) who we are. Our spirits probably pow around with our consciousness.

 

56. If God really wants us to know him, why doesn't he place the knowledge of him in our minds at birth? The same way many theists believe that God implants our sense of right and wrong in us a right birth. - IG

God does place the knowledge of Him in our minds at birth. Psychologists have long known that every human being-the atheist included-intuitively seek God's help in times of great calamity, and instinctively pleads God's mercy when death is imminent. Voltaire, one of History's most profound atheists, repudiated all of his atheistic writings on his deathbed and frantically sought the ministrations of a Catholic priest. Nikolai Lenin, as he lay on his deathbed, looked around him and frantically asked pardon from the tables and chairs. As hunger for food proclaims the existence of food, man's intuitive hunger for God proclaims the existence of God.

 

57. If God was Jesus' father (not Joseph), then why is Jesus' family tree traced through Joseph? -- Cyndy Hammond

Legally, His father was Joseph. They traced His legal tree because the father's tree was usually regarded by Jews as evidence of royal lineage. They wanted to show how Jesus was legally (and, also, biologically through Mary,) a member of the line of David, from whom it was written the Savior would come (Jeremiah 23:5-6).

 

58. What image of God was man made from? Couldn't have been a moral one or physical one. - IG [Note: One would suspect that an image of God would be perfect and cannot sin. Oops.]

Man was created in the spiritual image of God. God is spirit, and man's soul is spirit.

 

59. Why can't God appear before everyone at the same time? Everyone in the world would then "know" he exists and not have solely "believe". And please, don't say he already tried that. Surely a God knows exactly what to do to convince a measly human of his existence. - IG

Most people would not accept God and His Church if He came down and smacked them in the face, telling them straight forward which Church is His. They'd find some way of saying it was an illusion or an apparition. If they already believed in God, they would say that it was the Devil as an impersonation telling them lies. Man is so stupid that he will deny God even if God gives them just one, simple, solitary choice of right or wrong (remember the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?). There is only ONE way that everyone would be convinced at once: If God came and rewired their brains so that they had no choice but to believe in Him. That would be denying us free choice, so He won't do that.

 

60. According to the New Testament Matthew 5:17 says "Do not suppose that I have come to abolish the Law and the prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to complete. I tell you this: so long as heaven and earth endure, not a letter, not a stroke, will disappear from the Law until all that must happen has Happened." So since Jesus has not returned the "Law" is still in effect, so why aren't we still burning witches, stoning adulterers and disobedient children, killing homosexuals, ostracizing people that work on the Sabbath (nurses, doctors etc.), flinging blood onto the horns of the alter, pulling off the heads of small birds, and don't forget human sacrifice to God (Leviticus 27 P.28 )? -- Sheila L. Chambers

You must not have read the verse you quoted. Jesus completed the law. The Law has not disappeared, has it? The letters and strokes and jots and tittles are still written down, in plain sight. But the law has been completed, so they are no longer necessary. A mother says to her son, "You have to clean your room. Until it is completed, you are grounded. Until it is completed, this law is still in effect." The son then cleans his room. Is the law then completed? Yes. He is no longer grounded. But did the mother's law disappear before it was completed? No. The law has been completed, and those things are fulfilled. That's why we no longer do them.

 

61. If there is freewill in Heaven yet everyone has chosen good and is happy, isn't that proof that God could have made us with freewill, choosing good ( God ) and still being happy on Earth? - Dennis Hendrix [Note: In other words, evil didn't have to exist after all. Hey wait, even in Heaven apparently, evil can exist. At least for a short while. Satan became evil and was in heaven. Apparently he even had enough time to form an Army against God. Wow. Maybe Heaven won't be as peaceful as many believe.]

Every person who is in Heaven chose good on Earth. That's why they have received such a great reward in Heaven. On Earth, no one (except two; Mary and Jesus) has always chosen good, no matter what. That's why there is misery on Earth. God made us with freewill, and gave us the choice to accept Him. We didn't. If we had, the world would be much different; we would be happy. But we didn't, so we're not.

 

62. Why does God have a plan? Man is limited in power so we make plans because we are not all-knowing nor all-powerful. If God has a plan, isn't he reduced to a mere finite being? - IG

No, He isn't limited by having a plan. God didn't "choose" the plan like we choose our plans. The plan always was, just as He always was. It wasn't "chosen", so it wasn't reactionary, and wasn't limited.

 

63. How could the all-merciful/loving God watch billions of his children burn over and over again for eternity? - IG [Note: Of course this is geared to those that believe in a fiery hell. I am well aware that not all Christians believe in a fiery Hell.]

He can't stand it. But He gives us what we ask for, and many many people ask to burn over and over again in Hell for eternity. They ask for it by sinning.

 

64. Before reading and writing were invented (5000BC), on what basis did God use to judge the people who died before the Hebrew and Greek text (BIBLE) were written? -- [email protected] [Note: They are all roasting in Hell. Smiling]

God doesn't use Hebrew texts to judge who goes to Heaven or Hell. He judged them based them off of His words, which were spoken.

 

65. Many Christians tell me that I will "burn in hell". If I have a soul, how can a soul burn? Aren't souls non-physical entities? - IG [Note: Some Christians groups believe that you will be given new bodies after judgement. However, if true, what's the significance of a spirit in the first place?]

"Burning" is just one of the harshest conceivable forms of torture on Earth. It is a metaphor to our torture in Hell. It will be the worst torture, and is not conceivable.

 

66. How can one hold to the barbaric belief that something has to DIE in order to appease a god for a bad deed? -- Nickolaus Wing [Note: Because an old book says so Nick.]

That's not a barbaric belief; it is still believed today in every culture. Something has to suffer to appease for a bad deed. If you steal your siblings' toy, you get grounded as punishment. It is suffering, though on a very small scale. Multiply that times infinity for all the bad deeds we've done to God, and the only option is that He delivers us by sacrificing Himself.

 

67. Why does SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) occur? Why would God allow a baby to live for such a short period of time? Why not just let them not be born in the first place? -- Terry Clark [Note: This actually happened to a friend of mine. Not even God himself could console her.]

SIDS happen(s?) because of the Fall. If we hadn't fallen away, the word "syndrome" wouldn't even exist. God allows a baby to live for such a short period because Man chose to allow it to happen in this world, and if God limited that, it would be denying man that choice.

 

68. If Jesus was nailed and died on Friday evening, and walked out of the tomb on Sunday morning, where's the 3rd NIGHT he predicted? Per Matthew 12:40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. - [email protected]

There were different methods of measuring time at that time. There was a Roman way and a Jewish way. The different gospels record different times, which is why some say "the third hour" and some "the sixth hour" for the same occurance (Mark 15:25 and John 18:14, for example). The Ressurrection was recorded using different methods of time, but He did actually remain dead for three nights and three days.


69. Many Christians claim that hell is merely existence outside of God ?s presence (C.S. Lewis among others). If this is the case, then Jesus could not have descended into hell (being God Himself). As a result, are you sure your sins are forgiven? - Byron Bultsma

All true Christians understand that if you are in Hell, you are outside of God. Whether that is in a different place, or just a ceasing of existence, is a matter of debate. Other than that short explanation of a subject related to the question, I don't know the answer, and I'll work on this one some more.

 

70. Ten to twenty percent of all women who discover they are pregnant suffer a miscarriage. Also, it is estimated that anywhere from 14 to 50 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Seeing this is all part of God 's plan, does this make God the world's number one abortion provider? - Jim

No, God does not provide abortions. Miscarriages aren't part of His plan. If the fall hadn't happened, we wouldn't have miscarriages. But because Man chose to let sin and death enter the world, miscarriages, which are the deaths of babies in the womb, happen.

 

71. What if, when you get to Heaven, you saw God causing pain and suffering out of anger or for the purpose of entertaining himself. What if he required people in heaven to praise and worship him non-stop even to the point of causing his worshipers discomfort, pain and boredom. What if, when he was bored, angry, or jealous, he would create natural disasters to make himself feel better. Would you still follow him? - Fernando [Note: Of course they would Fernando, many people followed Hitler out of fear as well.]

There is a problem with this question. It presents a hypothetical situation which couldn't happen. If we saw a person causing pain and suffering in Heaven, then it would not be the God we have followed, because our God doesn't do that. If we hadn't been following that God, there would be no reason to start. The closest answer I can then possibly give is, "No."

 

72. In Leviticus, the bible condemns homosexuality as an "abomination", giving some Christians a reason to hate, harass, torture and kill gays and even picket their funderals with " God hates fags" signs. In the same book of the bible the eating of shellfish is equally an "abomination". Are these Christians planning to go after the patrons of Red Lobster next? - [email protected] [Note: hee-hee, that's all I can say. Jewish Law states that eating Fish without scales is an abomination and thus the Shark is one among the list. However, sharks do have scales, Placoid scales, one of the many reasons why a shark is called a Fish .]

The bible condemns homosexual acts, not homosexuality. There are some people who are naturally homosexual because of genetic mistakes, which all ends up being because of the Fall of Adam and Eve. Anyway, some people are homosexual through no fault of their own, and have a very difficult cross: They must refrain from committing the sin of homosexual action. The whole shellfish thing was a command that was fulfilled, and now no longer applies, though it hasn't disappeared (See question 60)

 

73. Christians will tell you that if a baby dies it goes to heaven. Why then are they so against abortion? All the child is being deprived of is the opportunity to go to hell. Either that or god expects unborn fetuses to accept Jesus. - [email protected]

The babies are deprived of life, which is God's greatest gift. No one knows if aborted babies go to Heaven; there might be a place like limbo where they go. Anyway, granting that they do go to Heaven, it is still wrong to kill them because killing is also condemned. Committing a mortal sin, meriting death of the soul, is not a noble deed even if you are sending someone else to Heaven in the action. I hope you can see my point; I am finding it hard to explain this.


74. If one could prove to you incontrovertibly that Jesus and God were all human fabrications would still believe? And why? - LOGICnREASON [Note: If you say yes. Then you are not concerned with the truth, you simply WANT to believe; and if you WANT to believe, indeed, there is nothing anyone can tell you..]

If someone could prove that God does not exist, then I would not believe. I can't speak for other people, though. I would not believe because belief without any evidence is beyond my comprehension.


75. It is often said that God allows evil because one could not meaningfully appreciate good without experiencing its opposite. Why is it necessary to experience the opposite of something in order to appreciate it? Must I experience death in order to meaningfully appreciate life? -excidius

God allows evil because otherwise we would have no choice but goodness, and our free will would be compromised. It has nothing to do with appreciating opposites or anything like that. No, you must not experience death in order to meaningfully appreciate life.

 

76. Bible literalists want you to believe that God's Word in the Bible is meant to be taken literally. If this is the case, why was Jesus fond of explaining things in parable and metaphor? Was Jesus literally discussing the biology of mustard seeds, or was the mustard seed parable meant to be interpreted figuratively as faith? -excidius

The word of God is to be taken literally, meaning it is to be taken as it was intended. Because Jesus was intending to speak metaphorically, his words are to be taken metaphorically as well.

 

77. Liberal Christians say some parts of the Bible are literally true, but much else is to be interpreted figuratively as allegory. How do you know which is which? What distinguishing criteria are used? How can you be certain "God" is a literal and not a figurative concept? -excidius

Liberal Christians apparently don't understand the definition of an "allegorical" interpretation. Webster defines it as,

"2 : having hidden spiritual meaning that transcends the literal sense of a sacred text"

In other words, if a verse is to be taken allegorically, it has a metaphor in it, but it is ALSO to be taken literally. An example is of the Passover Lamb of Exod.12:5: "Your lamb shall be without blemish..." While this was literally the commandment of what the Passover lamb was to be, it was also a metaphor to Jesus' death; He would be the Paschal Lamb without blemish whose blood would keep us safe from the Just Hand of God.

So we don't need to know "which is which"; all Scripture is to be taken literally (meaning as it was intended), and some parts are ALSO to be taken figuratively. The criteria used are what the Catholic Church tells us. They are guided by the Holy Spirit to declare the truth without error (John 16:13).


78. Consciousness is the result of a physical brain, how could God being metaphysical be said to be conscious or sentient without having a brain? - Mindless

Earthly consciousness is from the brain, and possibly partially from the Spirit (that's debatable). God is spiritual, and is not limited by natural laws such as this. He works on a completely different level, and His Consciousness is of a completely different nature than ours.

 

79. Considering how Leviticus is considered old law, and that Christians do not obey it anymore, why do they always use it to defend homosexuality being an "abomination"? -Bohorquez

Christians are supposed to obey it still. Some of it is fulfilled by Jesus, but its words are still Holy and True. Also, Christians usually use the New Testament to defend the position that homosexual acts are abominable (Rom. 1:27).

 

80. If God is omnipotent and he has a plan ... then why did he not create the universe as it will be one second after the plan has succeeded? Who or what prevented him from doing that? - Timothy Campbell (http://www.tc123.com)

No one prevented Him. He just didn't want to do it that way. Imagine that the biggest, most beautiful, most efficient, best sattelite receiver was built. (That's a metaphor for Humans, God's best creation.) Now imagine that an architect built a huge, tall skyscraper to put it on (That's a metaphor for the universe/His plan). Say that the dish said, "Why did my creator build this big tall building? Couldn't he just have built me? What was stopping him?" You see, the building was built for the greater glory of the dish. And the universe was built for the greater glory of Man (and other sentient beings, if they exist). God wanted to have this big plan and big universe also. That's why He included it in His plan.

 

81. The large majority of people who have ever existed could not have learned of the Bible or Jesus Christ. And many people afterwards have found other religions or no religion at all to be more convincing, sometimes while being very virtuous. Do all these people really deserve eternal torment because of that? -- lpetrich

No, they don't. The Catholic Church is one of the few churches that believes that you don't have to be a registered member of "X" church your whole life to go to Heaven. If you try to follow God's will and do what is morally, ethically right, then you have followed Christ's example, even if you did not know of Him. The Church calls this a "baptism by desire", because without knowing Him you desired to do His will. Then, when you die, even if you have never known of Christ, you will still go to Heaven. It's beautiful, no?

 

82. The above arguments also apply among different sects of Christianity, many of which state that most others are not True Christianity. -- lpetrich

I don't understand the question. I don't see a question mark.     ?

 

83. Is it reasonable for the Creator and Ruler of such a vast Universe to be preoccupied with the sexuality of a species living on a tiny little planet? -- lpetrich

I'm not quite sure of the question, but I think you want to know why we have two sexes. It is because Adam wanted a partner.

It may also be that you want to know why God is sexist. He isn't, so that question doesn't apply.

 

84. If the Christian god was all loving and all knowing why did he let religious figures such as Mohammed or Gautama Budda be born, knowing that they would mislead people from the 'true' faith and trick the majority of the world's population into burning forever in hell (in fact, if Islam didn't start, most of the middle east would probably be Christian). It would simple to use the Holy Spirit to guide them to Jesus and spread the 'true' faith. If the Holy Spirit exits, it certainly isn't doing it's job!

It certainly is doing a good job. 1/3 of the world population is Christian. God allowed Mohammed/Guatama to be born because to do otherwise would be to limit their choice. I'll explain: The reason you give that they shouldn't have been born is because they chose to deny Christ and to lead others to deny Him. If God didn't allow them to exist solely for this purpose, then He would be denying them the right to make that choice. He would also be denying others the right to choose to follow those people. God won't do that, so He didn't.

 

85. If one is obliged to follow all the teachings of the bible then why is engaging in homosexuality or adultery any worse than "suffering a witch to live", "muzzling the ox that treadeth the corn", "reaping the corners of thy field", "marring the corners of they beard", "plowing with an oxen and an ass", "hating thy brother in thy heart" or "eating frogs, shellfish and eels" ?

Many of those were fulfilled by Jesus, and some were intended to mean something greater than their text seems at first glance to imply. For example, the "muzzling [of] the ox that treadeth the corn" was shown in Corinthians to be a metaphor, its meaning intended toward something else (1 Corinthians 9:9-10).

 

86. Exactly how did the alleged worldwide flood kill off all the world's sea creatures? How does one go about drowning a fish? -- Steever

It didn't kill the fish. The fish survived. There were no fish on the ark.

 

87. Why did this alleged god create humans as an animal form of life that gets sick and dies and experiences pain and has a limited mind when 'it' could have created humans as a form of pure energy or of some indestructible material or whatever, and was totally ?sinless? and had ?pure? thought? If a god was omnipotent 'it' could have easily have done this. --AI

Man was created perfect without sickness or death or pain. But we chose to allow these things when we denied God in the Fall. God could have created us as just spirits, but that would be redundant because He had already done that when He'd created Angels. Our Creator wanted to be creative (get it?), so He created us physically as well.

 

88. If a god is omnipotent how did 'it' fail to foresee that Satan would turn against 'it'? --AI

He foresaw that. But Satan had the choice to deny Him, and Satan chose wrongly. God did not influence Satan's choice, though He knew what it would be. To deny him his existence based on this would be to limit his choice.

 

89. What is a god supposedly made of? --AI

God is spirit; whatever a Spirit is made of, that's what God is "made of". I don't know what a spirit is made of, though.

 

I don't have a deep, thought-provoking signature......but I do love chocolate!


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ok so this is a long

ok so this is a long list.... um ya were just going to answer the first one and see what you think sound good to you???  the Jews where looking for a person to free them from roman rule and when Jesus came along and almost totally ignored the roman rule and said he was going to make a kingdom not of this world he did not get many Jewish followers.

 

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Well, there's a lot of

Well, there's a lot of interesting discussion going on here... I've noticed that some people have decided to try to answer each of the questions above... I'm not going to do that (at least not now), rather, I'm going to pick a few and do those. 
1. If Jesus fulfilled all the OT prophecies so well, why didn't the Jews recognize him as the messiah? - Francois Tremblay
It needs to be noted that some Jews did recognise Jesus as the messiah - his disciples were Jews and after his death and resurrection a large number of Jews became believers (see for instance Acts 2). A prime example of a Jew becoming a Christian is the apostle Paul (Acts 22:1-21).
Why the majority still could not recognise Jesus as the messiah remains a difficult question, though. I think that (at least in part) this is due to Jesus' death ("... Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews" - 1 Cor. 1:23). They failed to recognise him not because he didn't fulfil the prophecies, but because he didn't fulfil their expectations. 
16. I have often heard that faith is all that is neccessary to believe in God and accept the Bible as true. If this is true aren't all supernatural beliefs true since they also require "faith"? - IG ON FAITH
1.) A prerequisite to believe in a Faith is faith.
2.) Having faith is all that is required to accept a Faith (belief) as true.
3.) All Faiths are true.
[Note: Of course all Faiths aren`t true, but this is the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from a person that states that, "Faith" is how one knows God.]
I think we need to make an important distinction between someone believing that something is true, and it actually being true. All beliefs are considered true by those that hold them, but they are not all true.
"And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." (1 Cor. 15:17) Faith by itself isn't worth very much - it's faith in the right thing that counts. And we determine what we think 'the right thing' is by looking at the evidence around us, not by faith itself.
Directly related to this: 74. If one could prove to you incontrovertibly that Jesus and God were all human fabrications would still believe? And why? - LOGICnREASON 
So, no. If one could prove incontrovertibly that Jesus and God were all human fabrications, I would not still believe.  I want to put my trust in something that is trustworthy.
I'd like to do a few more, but unfortunately this is all I have time for right now. I look forward to seeing how this discussion develops further. 


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Tanca wrote:

Tanca wrote:

It needs to be noted that some Jews did recognise Jesus as the messiah - his disciples were Jews and after his death and resurrection a large number of Jews became believers (see for instance Acts 2). A prime example of a Jew becoming a Christian is the apostle Paul (Acts 22:1-21).


Why the majority still could not recognise Jesus as the messiah remains a difficult question, though. I think that (at least in part) this is due to Jesus' death ("... Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews" - 1 Cor. 1:23). They failed to recognise him not because he didn't fulfil the prophecies, but because he didn't fulfil their expectations.

I don't think it is a very difficult question. The messianic prophesies that jesus is said to have fulfilled are all things that can't be confirmed by anyone and most of them are things that are know to have happened to a least some other people at some other time.

The prophesies that he did not fulfill would be apparent to anyone like building the third temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28), or ending all wars (Isaiah 2:4).

So why would they be inclined to believe someone that fulfills the prophesies that nobody can confirm and leaves the confirmable ones unfulfilled?

Quote:
I think we need to make an important distinction between someone believing that something is true, and it actually being true. All beliefs are considered true by those that hold them, but they are not all true.

I think this is an important point and I agree with you. But what you are leaving out is how we come to the conclusion that something is true. We do that by looking at evidence.

The evidence that you have for your religion is the same as the evidence that other religions have (meaning none) which is why faith is required in the first place. So if you believe based on the evidence then you should believe them all.

On the other hand if your reason for believing is just that you happen to be born in a particular time and place to parents of a particular religion then you should be honest about that and not make excuses.

Quote:

So, no. If one could prove incontrovertibly that Jesus and God were all human fabrications, I would not still believe. I want to put my trust in something that is trustworthy.

I don't think that you can prove that no gods exist but you can prove that the christian god doesn't exist. Something can't exist if it contradicts itself. The way you will know if it contradicts itself is if you have to contradict yourself to defend it. I predict that you will.

 

There are twists of time and space, of vision and reality, which only a dreamer can divine
H.P. Lovecraft


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Quote:

Quote:
The way you will know if it contradicts itself is if you have to contradict yourself to defend it. I predict that you will.

What does ones inability to find a non-contradictory explanation for 'something' have to do with that 'something's existence? If something is real, it does not matter if no one can explain its realness with non-contradictory assumptions.

Hmm..

Quote:
I don't think that you can prove that no gods exist but you can prove that the christian god doesn't exist. Something can't exist if it contradicts itself.

Here's another statement that doesn't click with me.. 'contradictions' only exist within the realm of logic and understanding. There is no absolute rule that says everything must be rational, or everything must be understood rationally.

Concepts of contradictions and non-contradictions only exist in your head. If you saw God, you would assume that he is a non-contradicting concept. This does not mean that he IS a non-contradicting concept.

This idea does not work the other way around...

You see a circle, you assume it is a circle, because you have a concept of what a circle is; not because, in actuality, apart from mind, it IS a circle-- it is nothing.

You see something, you assume it to be non-contradictory, not because it IS non-contradictory, but merely because you assume that everything you see to have a non-contradictory explanation. This is the essence of Science, and basis for all reasoning to begin with.

And granted.. this is a good assumption to keep.. since, if things could be contradictory-- then we would have a hard time doing anything since the powers of reasoning, themself, would be worthless.

But once again, I point only to the beginning: Ones ability to explain something in a non-contradictory manner does not speak to the existence or non-existence of an entity.

It may however, speak to the character of the person holding the belief in said entity, and, at that time, the person might accurately be called irrational. 

I'm not saying that God exists.. merely that your statement is misleading, in my opinion.


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Quote: What does ones

Quote:

What does ones inability to find a non-contradictory explanation for 'something' have to do with that 'something's existence? If something is real, it does not matter if no one can explain its realness with non-contradictory assumptions.

Hmm..

Give me an example of something that exists that can only be described in contradictory terms and I'll agree with you. 

There are twists of time and space, of vision and reality, which only a dreamer can divine
H.P. Lovecraft


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I don't need you to agree

I don't need you to agree with me. I'm stating an axiom. One 'realness' does not DEPEND on anyones ability to describe it in any terms.

If real => real

It is not:

If real => can be explained rationally

So agree or not.. it still remains a perfect bit of self-evident, circular logic. Smiling


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It's very nice that real

It's very nice that real means real and you know that. It's splendid.

So you can't name anything that exists and can only be described in contradictory terms.

But you think that can not be used as an indicator of whether or not something exists, it's completely unrelated.

 

 

There are twists of time and space, of vision and reality, which only a dreamer can divine
H.P. Lovecraft


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Gauche wrote:

Gauche wrote:

It's very nice that real means real and you know that. It's splendid.

Heh. Just a bit of clarification.. I did not say real means real. I said "If real, then real".

Would it be more clear if I said "If real, then existant"?

Quote:
So you can't name anything that exists and can only be described in contradictory terms.

I cannot.

Quote:
But you think that can not be used as an indicator of whether or not something exists, it's completely unrelated.

It might 'indicate' something, I can agree with that. I was merely pointing out that something's existence is not dependent on the ability to describe in some certain way.

You stated that it was. So, I contended.

Just because I cannot, now, give you an example of something does not discount the possibility that someone, someday, might.

..I'm not trying to make a point other than your statement was misleading in its assertion that some entity (not idea) can be disproved by inherent contradiction.


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I can tell that you want to

I can tell that you want to argue with someone about something and I can appreciate that. So I'll just say this:

Does the inability to describe something in non-contradictory terms mean that it doesn't exist? No, it doesn't.

Is it a clear indication that it probably doesn't exist? Yep.

That's all I meant, If it appears to mean more than that then that's my fault.

There are twists of time and space, of vision and reality, which only a dreamer can divine
H.P. Lovecraft


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You're right.. I probably

You're right.. I probably did get caught up in the moment and may have been looking for any point of contention. Apologies-- I was just trying to show a route that my fellow theist could take.. that of nihilism.

Question everything. At the end of it all, we will realize that we know nothing at all-- just act in accordance with things we take for granted but are not necessarily true.

Ahem. Sorry. Again. Don't mean to get in a debate. Beh.


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RhadTheGizmo wrote: You're

RhadTheGizmo wrote:

You're right.. I probably did get caught up in the moment and may have been looking for any point of contention. Apologies-- I was just trying to show a route that my fellow theist could take.. that of nihilism.

Question everything. At the end of it all, we will realize that we know nothing at all-- just act in accordance with things we take for granted but are not necessarily true.

Ahem. Sorry. Again. Don't mean to get in a debate. Beh.

Holy shit! I got through an entire argument without dropping the f-bomb or even using the words 'pimp hand'. I'm going to have to stop calling myself gauche. Either that or slap you with my muthafuckin pimp hand.

just kidding, it was a valid point I guess. 

There are twists of time and space, of vision and reality, which only a dreamer can divine
H.P. Lovecraft


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dominick_777 wrote: I was

dominick_777 wrote:
I was offering one to two PROOFS for the existence of God, not offering to answer only 2 of the questions listed here. Im half way done with the questions list, but are you saying one sufficient proof for the existence of God that verifies He exists isn't enough proof??

 

Awesome work dominick_777 how can Sapient say that he needs proof but he then says one sufficient proof isn't enough. When doesn't one proof not equal proof?

Then he is of those who believe and charge one another to show patience, and charge one another to show compassion.


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Quote: Holy shit! I got

Quote:
Holy shit! I got through an entire argument without dropping the f-bomb or even using the words 'pimp hand'. I'm going to have to stop calling myself gauche. Either that or slap you with my muthafuckin pimp hand.

Haha. 


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Here's the big questions

Here's the big questions that boil out of that list:

1 - Why does the bible, which is supposed to be all true, contain accounts of things that are logically or physically impossible? 

2 - Why does an omnipotent god, who we are told is good, allow bad things to happen?

3 - Why does the bible, which is supposed to be the ultimate manual for good living, depict christian heros doing morally reprehensible things?  

4 - How can the supernatural and immaterial interact with the material world?

Here's the theist answers, as posted by St Michael and others.  The modern christian view appears first, followed by the fundy answer.

1 - MODERATE: Anything too implausible in the bible can be be taken as allegory.  It's the truth of the spiritual message that's important, not the factual truth of the story. FUNDY: Everything that the bible says happened, happened, through the magical power of god (see question 4)

2 - MODERATE: God is limited by natural laws, and can therefore only acheive his ultimate good purpose by making a trade-off between lesser evils for greater goods.  One of these lesser evils is allowing humans to have the free will to act according to his commands or not.  This human free will is where evil comes from.  Humans are able to have free will in the face of god's omniscience because god sez so, and god isn't limited by logic. This argument isn't contradictory because god inhabits an extradimensional space known as "eternity" from which he can affect the world, but remain blissfully unaffected by any earthly restraints (see question 4) FUNDY: We are utterly unable to evaluate any action of god's from a moral standpoint.  What god says is good, is good, and what god says is bad, is bad.  Anything that god does is therefore good, even if we don't like it.  Therefore everything that we characterize as bad is really good, and we are just mistaken.  Therefore all evil really comes from our failures of faith when we interpret events.

3 - MODERATE:  These stories are also allegories depicting a certain moral point.  The bad actions are included only for narrative value and do not reflect the actual actions of any christian, living or dead.  FUNDY: See the second answer to question 2.

4 - MODERATE:  It's a mistake to try to reconcile christian belief with the real world.  Christianity addresses spiritual things, not worldly matters.  FUNDY: What we call magic and the supernatural are actually natural forces in the world.  Science is a satanic conspiracy.

My rebuttals:

1 - MODERATE:  If parts of the bible are fictitious allegory, then how do we know which is what?  Wouldn't a smarter approach be to treat the whole bible as simply a human treatise on spirituality and drop the pretense that it contains real revelations from a supreme being?  FUNDY:  Magic doesn't exist.  Even if it does, we can have no knowledge of it.

2 - MODERATE:  Unless we can show how god is limited by logic and physics and at the same time unlimited by logic and physics, we are forced to conclude that god wants evil to exist.  Which makes god less than perfectly good, and therefore not god as described by christianity.  If the answer is "magic" (also known as "eternity&quotEye-wink then we again abrogate any authority to make any statement about god.  FUNDY:  So there is no free will or absolute morality and we might as well burn churches and kill our neighbours because it's all ultimately part of god's plan.  God can't punish us for any of this, because he preordained all things when he created the world with perfect knowledge of the future.  Even if god chooses to punish us, there's still nothing we can do to avoid it, since we are incapable of doing other than god's will.

3 - MODERATE:  Even as allegory, the moral point being made in the bible is often revolting.  Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son because an invisible voice from the sky told him to is just wrong.  What these bible stories actually illustrate is how far modern, secular ethics has gone beyond the primitive master/slave relationships in the bible.  Our instinct should be to reject the teachings of such a flawed and outdated document.  FUNDY: "If it's god, it's good" is a terrifying philosophy that implies license to do almost anything.  We see its effects today in religious terrorism.  Thanks to secular advances in ethics, we see little of this idea among Western christians.  It would be nice to see moderate religious people of all stripes doing more to stamp out this notion in their extremist brethern, instead of sheltering them from any criticism of their beliefs.  Oh and, by the way, atheists are not granted the same license, since they can point to no moral authority higher than themselves and their communities.  An atheist is always accountable for his actions because he lacks the out of "god made me do it".

4 - MODERATE:  I agree wholeheartedly.  Now kindly keep your spiritual beliefs in the church where they belong and quit trying to spin the agendas of people making decisions on real-world matters.  FUNDY: Many, many people these days are saying this, but how many are really putting their money where their mouths are?  If you really think faith and the power of god are moving the world, why not pray yourself a lotto win?  Why not sacrifice your life in an attack on god's enemies and go straight to heaven?  Why not lay on hands and heal your cancer?  Why not spend your savings - they won't be any use past judgement day anyhow.  I have to question the intellectual honesty of the supernaturalist crowd, who are all about god's power when they are trying to get their agenda preached in a classroom, but seem remarkably hard headed and scientific when they walk out the door to buy a car.

 

Lazy is a word we use when someone isn't doing what we want them to do.
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You are responding to straw

You are responding to straw men and are misrepresenting my argument. We'll discuss this later in the specific posts, but first I will answer specifically each of your questions.

1 - Why does the bible, which is supposed to be all true, contain accounts of things that are logically or physically impossible?

It does not contain accounts of things that are logically or physically impossible. Certain things which seem contrary to natural science, such as the creation of the world in six days, are allegorically interpreted to indicate some truth about creation according to Tradition.

2 - Why does an omnipotent god, who we are told is good, allow bad things to happen?

God allows bad things to happen only because He brings some greater good from them as a result. This is why He allows evil men and spirits to exist as well as moral and natural evils. All things are accounted for in His Providence to bring about good.

3 - Why does the bible, which is supposed to be the ultimate manual for good living, depict christian heros doing morally reprehensible things?

It does not. I see no reason to see that it says such. I think you are misinterpreting what Scripture says if you think they are doing something immoral.

4 - How can the supernatural and immaterial interact with the material world?

The immaterial/supernatural (God) is the cause of the material world. Hence, it is constantly supporting it in existence. Matter itself likewise requires some spiritual form to exist in the first place.

Quote:
Here's the theist answers, as posted by St Michael and others.

Except that these do not accurately represent my positions.

Quote:
1 - MODERATE: Anything too implausible in the bible can be be taken as allegory. It's the truth of the spiritual message that's important, not the factual truth of the story. FUNDY: Everything that the bible says happened, happened, through the magical power of god (see question 4)

The Bible sometimes intends things literally and other times figuratively. It is to theologians to determine the senses of Scripture.

Quote:

2 - MODERATE: God is limited by natural laws, and can therefore only acheive his ultimate good purpose by making a trade-off between lesser evils for greater goods. One of these lesser evils is allowing humans to have the free will to act according to his commands or not. This human free will is where evil comes from. Humans are able to have free will in the face of god's omniscience because god sez so, and god isn't limited by logic. This argument isn't contradictory because god inhabits an extradimensional space known as "eternity" from which he can affect the world, but remain blissfully unaffected by any earthly restraints (see question 4)

God is not limited by natural laws at all. He is the source of these laws, which is why it doesn't make sense to say that He follows them. As His substance is to exist, He cannot contradict Himself. Truth, logic, goodness all follow from the fact that He is and cannot contradict His being.
Human free will is not the only source of moral evil, as spirits are also included.
There exists no reason why omniscience means that all actions are predetermined. I know that my pen will drop before I drop it, but that does not make the fact that it does drop predetermined by my knowledge of it.
I also see no reason why "eternity" is contradictory. It is likewise not a seperate spatial dimension at all; to say that would be to say that God is a body, which is utterly contrary to reason.

Quote:

3 - MODERATE: These stories are also allegories depicting a certain moral point. The bad actions are included only for narrative value and do not reflect the actual actions of any christian, living or dead. FUNDY: See the second answer to question 2.

I see no example of immoral actions in Scripture by saints.

Quote:

4 - MODERATE: It's a mistake to try to reconcile christian belief with the real world. Christianity addresses spiritual things, not worldly matters.

I have no idea where you get this. Christianity deals with reality, and spiritual matters are part of the whole of reality.

Quote:
My rebuttals:

1 - MODERATE: If parts of the bible are fictitious allegory, then how do we know which is what? Wouldn't a smarter approach be to treat the whole bible as simply a human treatise on spirituality and drop the pretense that it contains real revelations from a supreme being?


Because the Bible is not standing alone, but is accompanied by the proper interpretation in the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit. This is why Catholics are not "sola scriptura," but believe that the right interpretation is critical to understand what it says. We use the Church to determine the senses of Scripture and what is/is not necessary for salvation.

Quote:

2 - MODERATE: Unless we can show how god is limited by logic and physics and at the same time unlimited by logic and physics, we are forced to conclude that god wants evil to exist. Which makes god less than perfectly good, and therefore not god as described by christianity. If the answer is "magic" (also known as "eternity") then we again abrogate any authority to make any statement about god.

God is neither limited by it nor unlimited by it. He is the cause of logic and of the laws which govern the material universe. He is not limited by it because He is its source. He is not "unlimited" because He is identical with His essence. He cannot contradict Himself. To say that He could contradict Himself would not make God "unlimited," but would just mean that we cannot say anything about God at all. I don't see, likewise, how it follows that God wants evil to exist, following this premise.

Quote:

3 - MODERATE: Even as allegory, the moral point being made in the bible is often revolting. Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son because an invisible voice from the sky told him to is just wrong. What these bible stories actually illustrate is how far modern, secular ethics has gone beyond the primitive master/slave relationships in the bible. Our instinct should be to reject the teachings of such a flawed and outdated document.

Abraham was your example? First, God cannot cause somebody to murder another because murder is the taking of life contrary to the natural law. As God is the person whom you commit an injustice against when murder occurs, if He causes somebody to die, it is not immoral. Second, you misunderstand the Abraham story entirely. There is no "voice from the sky" in the first place. After that, the faith Abraham had in God was that He would resurrect his son. It was not just to kill him. It was also a prophesy of Christ.

Quote:

4 - MODERATE: I agree wholeheartedly. Now kindly keep your spiritual beliefs in the church where they belong and quit trying to spin the agendas of people making decisions on real-world matters.

Again, religion has a great deal to say about reality. I never claimed that religion never dealt with "worldly" matters.

Yours In Christ, Eternal Wisdom,
StMichael

Psalm 50(1):8. For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.


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It seems todangst is having

It seems todangst is having me banned because he disagrees with me, and calls everything I say a "lie." As such, I cannot continue this post and post it as is. I'll be praying for all of you and wish you the best.

Yours In Christ, Eternal Wisdom,
StMichael

Psalm 50(1):8. For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.


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Ouch. Check these answers out

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StMichael wrote: You are

StMichael wrote:
You are responding to straw men and are misrepresenting my argument.

I guess you missed the part where I said "St Michael AND OTHERS."

1 - Why does the bible, which is supposed to be all true, contain accounts of things that are logically or physically impossible? It does not contain accounts of things that are logically or physically impossible. Certain things which seem contrary to natural science, such as the creation of the world in six days, are allegorically interpreted to indicate some truth about creation according to Tradition.

Sorry, I didn't see the disclaimer at the start of Genesis warning that the following should be taken only as allegory.  Did I just miss it, or did some christians like yourself decide, purely ad hoc, to pretend that the writers meant that story as something other than a factual account?

StMichael wrote:

2 - Why does an omnipotent god, who we are told is good, allow bad things to happen? God allows bad things to happen only because He brings some greater good from them as a result. This is why He allows evil men and spirits to exist as well as moral and natural evils. All things are accounted for in His Providence to bring about good.

So your god is not omnipotent.  How have you determined this, since the bible clearly says that he is.

StMichael wrote:

3 - Why does the bible, which is supposed to be the ultimate manual for good living, depict christian heros doing morally reprehensible things? It does not. I see no reason to see that it says such. I think you are misinterpreting what Scripture says if you think they are doing something immoral.

Lot.  Abraham.  That's just two for starters.  One throws his daughter to a mob that wants to kill him in order to spare his life and the life of his guests, the other agrees to sacrifice his son to an invisible voice in the sky.  There's no other way to interpret these actions that as deeply immoral and depraved.

 

StMichael wrote:

4 - How can the supernatural and immaterial interact with the material world? The immaterial/supernatural (God) is the cause of the material world. Hence, it is constantly supporting it in existence. Matter itself likewise requires some spiritual form to exist in the first place.

You have no evidence for this.  Also, you need to explain what you mean by "support".  Also you need to explain how non-conscious matter can be said to be spiritual in any sense. 

 

StMichael wrote:

Quote:
Here's the theist answers, as posted by St Michael and others.
Except that these do not accurately represent my positions.

Except that in many cases they do, and in others they represent the positions of other christians.

StMichael wrote:

Quote:
1 - MODERATE: Anything too implausible in the bible can be be taken as allegory. It's the truth of the spiritual message that's important, not the factual truth of the story. FUNDY: Everything that the bible says happened, happened, through the magical power of god (see question 4)
The Bible sometimes intends things literally and other times figuratively. It is to theologians to determine the senses of Scripture.

Theologians interpret scripture from the a priori position that they are the word of god.  Their interpretations are tainted from the get-go, and therefore useless.  Even if we acknowledge that a theologian may have relevant historical knowledge that will aid in interpretation, they are still bound to be support their interpretation with evidence.  Since the bible is almost entirely uncorroborated by any contemporary records, the evidence that would support theological conclusions is nearly always lacking.

All of which begs the question as to why god would craft such an ambiguous message that only scholars with years of training could understand it.  

StMichael wrote:

God is not limited by natural laws at all. He is the source of these laws, which is why it doesn't make sense to say that He follows them.

In which case he could have crafted these laws differently so as to make all goodness possible without the necessity of evil. 

StMichael wrote:

As His substance is to exist, He cannot contradict Himself. Truth, logic, goodness all follow from the fact that He is and cannot contradict His being.

So now god IS bound by some principle greater than himself.  Who says god can't contradict himself?  I thought god was omnipotent!  Who's making the rules here, anyway?

StMichael wrote:

Human free will is not the only source of moral evil, as spirits are also included.

Sorry, I didn't include the evil that comes from fairies or unicorns either.

StMichael wrote:

There exists no reason why omniscience means that all actions are predetermined. I know that my pen will drop before I drop it, but that does not make the fact that it does drop predetermined by my knowledge of it.

You apparently don't understand the term.  Omniscience means knowing everything.  Not perfectly predicting everything...KNOWING everything.  The claim is that god has perfect knowledge.  But one cannot know something that doesn't exist.  If god knows the future, then that means the future exists.  If the future already exists, and god knows it without error, then it must be predetermined or else god would stand a chance of being mistaken.

Even flawless prediction requires determination, that is, all events must flow perfectly from prior events with no deviation.  Science has already shown us that this is not in fact the case in the universe, so again we are back to god being magic and not subject to the universal laws which govern all things. 

So god is not omniscient, unless we admit this magical concept of eternity.

StMichael wrote:

I also see no reason why "eternity" is contradictory. It is likewise not a seperate spatial dimension at all; to say that would be to say that God is a body, which is utterly contrary to reason.

Eternity is self-contradictory because if it exists, it is infinitely small as well as infinitely big.  In other words, it is self-negating.  The entire concept is nothing more than a linguistic trick that bears no relation to anything ever observed or shown to have real existence.

However, that wasn't my point.  My point was that you have claimed that god had to give humans free will and therefore evil in order to achieve a greater good.  This means god is limited by natural constraints, otherwise he could have designed the system differently. But in order for god to have a larger plan in which all evil turns out for the greater good, he must be able to see the future.  This means that god is outside of natural constraints.  So justification for evil contradicts itself.  Unless we are really going to jump on the ad hoc train and claim that god has to observe some natural constraints and not others.

StMichael wrote:

Quote:
3 - MODERATE: These stories are also allegories depicting a certain moral point. The bad actions are included only for narrative value and do not reflect the actual actions of any christian, living or dead. FUNDY: See the second answer to question 2.
I see no example of immoral actions in Scripture by saints.

I don't know if Lot and Abraham are considered saints or not, but they are certainly two examples of very bad men who are held up as icons of christianity.

StMichael wrote:

Quote:
4 - MODERATE: It's a mistake to try to reconcile christian belief with the real world. Christianity addresses spiritual things, not worldly matters.
I have no idea where you get this. Christianity deals with reality, and spiritual matters are part of the whole of reality.

I get that from some christians who are approaching sanity, but I see that that path has not yet recommended itself to you.  

StMichael wrote:

Quote:
My rebuttals: 1 - MODERATE: If parts of the bible are fictitious allegory, then how do we know which is what? Wouldn't a smarter approach be to treat the whole bible as simply a human treatise on spirituality and drop the pretense that it contains real revelations from a supreme being?
Because the Bible is not standing alone, but is accompanied by the proper interpretation in the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit. This is why Catholics are not "sola scriptura," but believe that the right interpretation is critical to understand what it says. We use the Church to determine the senses of Scripture and what is/is not necessary for salvation.

Circularity!  The bible is interpreted by the church.  The church is informed by the holy spirit.  We know about the holy spirit because of...the bible!

There is no evidence that the church is capable of any especially accurate interpretation of the bible, since any interpretation beyond the literal is ad hoc.   What is the test for correct bible interpretation?

StMichael wrote:

Quote:
2 - MODERATE: Unless we can show how god is limited by logic and physics and at the same time unlimited by logic and physics, we are forced to conclude that god wants evil to exist. Which makes god less than perfectly good, and therefore not god as described by christianity. If the answer is "magic" (also known as "eternity&quotEye-wink then we again abrogate any authority to make any statement about god.
God is neither limited by it nor unlimited by it. He is the cause of logic and of the laws which govern the material universe. He is not limited by it because He is its source. He is not "unlimited" because He is identical with His essence. He cannot contradict Himself. To say that He could contradict Himself would not make God "unlimited," but would just mean that we cannot say anything about God at all. I don't see, likewise, how it follows that God wants evil to exist, following this premise.

Saying that god is the cause and the source does not remove the logical necessity that god can exist in only one of two states:  1) constrained by the laws that govern the universe 2) unconstrained by the laws that govern the universe.  Either he's bound by his own laws or he's not.  If he's not, he's unlimited and, as you've agreed, we can know nothing about him.  It seems that you feel that he is limited, as you are eager to put definitions on god that restrict what he can do.  He cannot contradict himself.  He cannot cease to be the source of law and logic.  He cannot be evil.  He cannot cease to be the essence.  Presumably, he can make a rock that he can't lift.  

So your god is not omnipotent, and therefore not the god described in the bible.  I'm sure you have no problem with that, since we can just "interpret" away those passages that describe him as such.  Basically, this god becomes an incredibly powerful alien.  He is superintelligent (thus the enormous powers of prediction) and possibly able to find ways around some natural limitations that look absolute from our present level of knowledge.  He may even be responsible for the creation of this universe - who knows what a sufficiently advanced alien might be capable of?  But he's still subject to logic and math. 

I'm cool with that because such a god makes sense.  But there's still a couple questions.  1) how do we know that we can trust this being enough to worship it?  What evidence do we have that it has our best interests at heart? 2) where's the evidence of such a being's existence? 3) why is this not the concept of god put forth by you, or the church?

An unlimited, omnipotent god means that NOTHING can be other than how he wants it.  The existence of things that he genuinely doesn't want to exist is an oxymoron.  Such a god could have, BY DEFINITION, set up a system where evil was not present nor necessary.  Just because you and I can't see how that would be possible means nothing - an omnipotent god would know how to do it.

StMichael wrote:

Quote:
3 - MODERATE: Even as allegory, the moral point being made in the bible is often revolting. Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son because an invisible voice from the sky told him to is just wrong. What these bible stories actually illustrate is how far modern, secular ethics has gone beyond the primitive master/slave relationships in the bible. Our instinct should be to reject the teachings of such a flawed and outdated document.
Abraham was your example? First, God cannot cause somebody to murder another because murder is the taking of life contrary to the natural law. As God is the person whom you commit an injustice against when murder occurs, if He causes somebody to die, it is not immoral.

Yikes!  You're in the "if it's god, it's good" camp?  Sick.  How does it feel to have your conscience signed over to a bunch of guys with weird hats?  Or do you imagine that god transmits his orders directly into your brain?

StMichael wrote:

Second, you misunderstand the Abraham story entirely. There is no "voice from the sky" in the first place. After that, the faith Abraham had in God was that He would resurrect his son. It was not just to kill him. It was also a prophesy of Christ.

Abraham had no such expectation in the story.  He really thought his son was going to die, just like all the other sacrifices he had made in the past.  He even wept, if I remember the story properly - why be sad if he really thinks his son is going to be resurrected?  This is pure spin, completely unsupported by the actual biblical text.   

StMichael wrote:

Quote:
4 - MODERATE: I agree wholeheartedly. Now kindly keep your spiritual beliefs in the church where they belong and quit trying to spin the agendas of people making decisions on real-world matters.
Again, religion has a great deal to say about reality. I never claimed that religion never dealt with "worldly" matters. Yours In Christ, Eternal Wisdom, StMichael

Religion has nothing to say about reality until it can use the tools of understanding reality to back its claims.  Fantasies about god's existence in a superdimensional "eternity" do not meet this test by a long shot because there is no evidence of such a thing existing.   

 

Lazy is a word we use when someone isn't doing what we want them to do.
- Dr. Joy Brown


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Thatsgottahurt, It doesn't

Thatsgottahurt,

It doesn't hurt. Most of it wasn't even in your own words and none of it proves that there is, infact, a "god".

Better luck next time. 

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Dabura13

Dabura13 wrote:

Thatsgottahurt,

It doesn't hurt. Most of it wasn't even in your own words and none of it proves that there is, infact, a "god".

Better luck next time. 

 

Hi Dabura, Actually, it is almost all in my own words. I did mention in the opening that my colleague also provided his own answers and so I much of his in my answers.  There are a few quotes from other sources (two or three, I think) but proper credit was given.

 

I'd appreciate that you need to lie in order to undermine my answers.  I also note that, despite your assertion to the contrary, you've offerred nothing of substance in your above reply.  Simply hive mentality.  Protect the group and image first, care about truth and reason second.

 

cheers,

 

Thatsgotthurt


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What the hell? I don't feel

What the hell?

I don't feel the need to sit up all night trying to get you to believe the actual truth.

And how exactly did I lie?

You're the one following some stupid book.

Sometimes I feel bad that when you Christians die, you'll find out what's real.

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Dabura13 wrote: What the

Dabura13 wrote:

What the hell?

I don't feel the need to sit up all night trying to get you to believe the actual truth.

And how exactly did I lie?

You're the one following some stupid book.

Sometimes I feel bad that when you Christians die, you'll find out what's real.

 

Dabura,

 

Well I suggest you shouldn't ask questions if you don't want them answered.  And, you shouldn't post in a thread which asks me to respond to the questions posted here. 

 

You lied because you said that "most the words" in that post were "not my words."

 

And, I don't see how it follows that *I* lie because I (supposedly) follow some book?  Maybe I'm deluded.  Maybe I'm just wrong.  But what does lying have to do with following a book?  Maybe you think the book is lying?  If so, that doesn;t mean that *I* am.  So, I find your post virtually unintelligible.

 

When I die I won't find out any "truth" since that will be it.  So, do you believe in an afterlife or something?  A place we all go and "find out" the "truth?"  If not, why did you say what you said? 

 

Are you up too late?  Passed your thinking quota for the day?  What?

 

Anyway, sorry for answering the questions.  I thought you guys wanted them answered.  then, when someone takes their time to do so, you ridicule them.  So I was correct, there's no desire for serious interaction here.  You don't want to be confused with the facts.  Theists are wrong, no matter what.

 

Whatever...


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Rational response to question #1

1.)  If Jesus fulfilled all the O.T. prophecies so well, why didn't the Jews recognize Him as the Messiah?

Answer (rational response):  First of all, are you implying that Jesus did not fulfill the Old Testament Messianic prophecies? If so, which one/ones did He not fulfill?

Secondly, truth isn't truth because it is believed by someone... Truth is truth because it is truth. So the fact the some Jews did not believe in Jesus as the Messiah is not the determining factor as to its qualification as truth. The truth is determined by Jesus's fulfilling of the Old Testament prophecies, by the miracles that He performed and by His resurrection (which was fulfillment of a prophecy).

Thirdly, a vast number of Jews have believed, and do believe, that Jesus is the Messiah...Doesn't this reality/fact alone destroy the assumed conclusion contained within your question? 

Even Jewish leaders like Nicodemus (of the Sanhedrin) believed in Christ. Saul (the Apostle Paul), a Jewish zealot and the Pharisee of all Pharisees, believed in Christ.

Paul said, "But whatever was my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ." (Philippians 3:8,9)

John 11:45 states, "Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him."

Acts 17:2-4 states, "As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ", he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas..."

Acts 19:17-8 says, "When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds."

All throughout the New Testament you can find Jews putting their faith in Jesus Christ as Messiah, Savior and Lord. Today, many Jews are still doing that, as well.

Have you ever talked to a Jew that believes in Christ as the Messiah in order to get their perspective on Christ's fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies (or is that too inconvenient for your belief system and to your line of questioning about Christ...This gives a new meaning to "An Inconvenient Truth&quotEye-wink?

In Acts 5:38-39, Gamaliel, a Pharisee and the most famous Jewish teacher, said, "Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

Obviously, it hasn't failed...If it hasn't failed it is not of human origin...If it is not of human origin, then it is from God...Therefore, you will not be able to stop it and you will only find yourselves fighting against God.

Since you apparently give credence to what Jews believe, take Gamaliel's advice...It is wise teaching from a very famous Jewish teacher.


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As a follower of Christ and

As a follower of Christ and a bible college student trying to become a youth minister I am honestly suprised to see some of these questions. One of the best ways to discover the answers is doing it for yourself. Open and read a bible. They arent hard to find and if you have enough time to get on this website and critisize my faith, you could ateast take some time to read into it more. Now I will do my best to answer some of these questions later, right now I lack time because of the papers I have to write. But if you want to chat with me about some of this stuff, feel free to IM me, my AIM should be on my profile.

 

Much love

 

I believe in God even when he is silent. I believe that he is the only hope I have because he has already saved my life more then once.


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Fireproof wrote: As a

Fireproof wrote:

As a follower of Christ and a bible college student trying to become a youth minister I am honestly suprised to see some of these questions. One of the best ways to discover the answers is doing it for yourself. Open and read a bible. They arent hard to find and if you have enough time to get on this website and critisize my faith, you could ateast take some time to read into it more. Now I will do my best to answer some of these questions later, right now I lack time because of the papers I have to write. But if you want to chat with me about some of this stuff, feel free to IM me, my AIM should be on my profile.

 

Much love

 

These are the questions that pop out when an objective person DOES read the bible!  If you're so sure that there are simple answers, let's see your shot. 

Lazy is a word we use when someone isn't doing what we want them to do.
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Tilberian wrote: Fireproof

Tilberian wrote:
Fireproof wrote:

As a follower of Christ and a bible college student trying to become a youth minister I am honestly suprised to see some of these questions. One of the best ways to discover the answers is doing it for yourself. Open and read a bible. They arent hard to find and if you have enough time to get on this website and critisize my faith, you could ateast take some time to read into it more. Now I will do my best to answer some of these questions later, right now I lack time because of the papers I have to write. But if you want to chat with me about some of this stuff, feel free to IM me, my AIM should be on my profile.

 

Much love

 

These are the questions that pop out when an objective person DOES read the bible!  If you're so sure that there are simple answers, let's see your shot. 

 

Answer:  My shot on question #1 is posted above.


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Tilberian wrote: These are

Tilberian wrote:
These are the questions that pop out when an objective person DOES read the bible!  If you're so sure that there are simple answers, let's see your shot. 

 

I answered them all.  So, let's quite pretending that your questions haven't been sliced and diced.  I gave the link to where they were answered on p.4 of this thread.


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Thatsgottahurt

Thatsgottahurt wrote:

Tilberian wrote:
These are the questions that pop out when an objective person DOES read the bible!  If you're so sure that there are simple answers, let's see your shot. 

I answered them all.  So, let's quite pretending that your questions haven't been sliced and diced.  I gave the link to where they were answered on p.4 of this thread.

 

 

 

Maybe Tilberian will answer. 


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Like I said, I have papers

Like I said, I have papers to write and I have a job. Besides I will not claim to have every answer. So when I sit down to answer one I have my bible beside of me. And I will also be asking my professors to see what they think as well.

I believe in God even when he is silent. I believe that he is the only hope I have because he has already saved my life more then once.


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in response to ST

in response to ST Michael 

 

"1. If Jesus fulfilled all the OT prophecies so well, why didn't the Jews recognize him as the messiah? - Francois Tremblay
Because of the hardness of their hearts. No, seriously, I think they did so mainly because they were expecting a political refounding of the kingdom of Israel on earth. Which didn’t happen. In fact, Christ was crucified. However, all the first Christians were Jews"

 During the time of christ claiming to be the messiah there were countless other people claiming to be a messiah,all of which in jewish territory so to say some jews folowed christ is perfectly expected since they were the majoirity around.

"2. If Gen 3:24 is true, why hasn't anyone found the Cherubims and the " flaming sword which turned every way"?
Because it is figurative for the cutting off of man from Paradise."

Are you sure they meant that as a metaphor or was it written to be taken literally? 

"3. It's been proven that modern humans originated from Africa. Yet, the Adam and Eve story claims the first Humans lived in a garden in Eden, near 4 rivers. ( Most of which no one can find). One of these rivers mentioned is the Euphrates, which runs through Iraq, Syria and a portion of Turkey. What's the truth? Did man come out of Africa or near the Euphrates River? - The Infidel Guy
Paradise in Genesis seems to be a figurative description of a place that either no longer exists or only ever existed metaphorically. This seems clear because the author knew that these rivers are not found in the same place, but in very different locations. So, it seems a figurative place that could just refer to the whole earth, or some particular place on the earth which was Paradise. We can conclude, however, that Paradise as a location did not literally have those rivers running through it."

wouldnt the author technicly be GOD? 

4. When the believer gets to Heaven, how can Heaven be utter bliss when people they love and care about are burning in Hell ? - The Infidel Guy - [Note: Some say God erases your memories of them, but if God erases your memory, you as Mr. Joe /Jane Smoe ceases to exist.]
Well, some explanations go that when we see these people in hell, we also understand why they are there and recognize God’s justice in this. Our perfect joy is thus not hampered by the fact that people are burning in hell. It might also be probable to say that those in heaven find the delight they found in that other person in God, and hence there is no reason to be sad over the fact that their relatives/loved ones are in hell."

So your saying you could live with yourself say for example knowing that while your in heaven your wife is in hell.

"5. How can a God have emotions, i.e. jealousy, anger, sadness, love, etc., if he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent? Emotional states are reactionary for the most part. How can God react to us if he is all-knowing and has a divine plan? - IG [Note: Indeed, many religious texts display their gods this way . Listen to the An Emotional Godshow.]
God does not literally have emotions. The Scriptures speak figuratively of God in human terms often to explain His actions so that we can understand them.
I would lastly point out that love can be both an emotion and a state of the will."

once again you point out that this is supposed to be taken figuratively,if this is the case how do you know what is taken figuratively and what isnt,is this all open to interpretation cause you know if this is the case then by the end of these questions what will be left in the bible that isnt just figurative or just a metaphor.

"6. Why would God create a place such as hell to torture sinners forever when he foreknew who would disappoint him? - IG [Note: Some say you have a choice, but this misses the point. If God hates sin so much, why create Adam and Eve when he knew they'd sin? The only conclusion I can come up with, if Yaweh exists, is that he wanted sin to enter the world.]
God never created hell. I quote the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
396 God created man in his image and established him in his friendship. A spiritual creature, man can live this friendship only in free submission to God. The prohibition against eating "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" spells this out: "for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die."276 The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil"277 symbolically evokes the insurmountable limits that man, being a creature, must freely recognize and respect with trust. Man is dependent on his Creator, and subject to the laws of creation and to the moral norms that govern the use of freedom.
412 But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning? St. Leo the Great responds, "Christ's inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon's envy had taken away."307 And St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "There is nothing to prevent human nature's being raised up to something greater, even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says, 'Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more'; and the Exsultet sings, 'O happy fault,. . . which gained for us so great a Redeemer!'"308"

Ok what does any of that have to do with the question?also to quote you here

"There is nothing to prevent human nature's being raised up to something greater, even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says, 'Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more'; and the Exsultet sings, 'O happy fault,. . . which gained for us so great a Redeemer!'"308"

if my interpretation of this is correct its saying evil is there to inspire a greater good,well what eveil existed before creation to inspire god,"if he truly is good"and where is it now? 

7. "God is all merciful," we hear quite often. Wouldn't it be more merciful of God to simply snap sinners out of existence rather than send them to hell? Or better yet, since he's all-knowing, not allow them to be born at all? - IG
ON GOD'S LOVE & HELL
1.) God's love is superlative.
2.) God's love of man exceeds man's love of self.
3.) Man's love of self prohibits torture.
4.) Considering God's greater love for us, Hell (eternal torture) is illogical.

"The premise that hell is God torturing man is wrong. Man’s sin is the source of the torture, not God. I would point out that annihilation of the sinner is not a good of the person annihilated, but the worst possible thing that could happen to them. Likewise, it would be contrary to how God freely established human souls and angels as incorruptible spirits."

if mans sin is the torture and man truly enjoyed the sin then how could it be torture and wouldnt that just make hell the heaven of sinners,if there all so incorruptible then what is lucifer? 

9. Why haven't we seen God reattach severed heads, restore someone who was burned alive or regrow amputated limbs? Surely these would be miracles difficult to deny. - Adam Majors and IG [Note: The typical answer is that man doesn't dictate God's actions. The conundrum here however is that, if God wants us to "know" him, then surely feats such as those mentioned above would be happening all over the world. Until they do, I'll remain an atheist.]
He does and has. Many saints have done so, by His power."

could i see evidence of this 

10. Why does God entrust the spreading of 'His' word to sinners? Why doesn't he do it himself? - IG [Note: Surely God would have known that not everyone would be convinced by the reality[sic] of his Bible. If God loves us so much, we are all going to Heaven. If God knew that I would be an atheist, and he doesn't like atheists, he shouldn't have allowed me to come into existence. But he did. Therefore, I must be serving the will of God, for I exist. ]
You are serving the will of God, in His plan, somehow. He wants you to be a willing son, but He uses the demons’ evil cunning likewise to bring about a greater good. God Himself spreads His word in His Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. He uses the weak things of the world, likewise, to put to shame the strong. The Apostles were mostly uneducated and also evangelized most of the world."

doesnt that then preclude freewill 

11. In II Kings 2-23/24 we read about God sending 2 she-bears to attack children for calling the prophet Elisa bald, which he was, the bears killed 42 of the children. Was this a good thing to do? -- Brandon and IG[Note: I have heard some argue that the boys were a gang. So?! I didn't read anywhere in that passage where they laid a finger on the guy . Also, what kind of bears are these that can kill 42 kids? Super Bears? Surely the kids had to be running away.]
Their insulting of a prophet of God and the sin which caused their spiritual death was shown exteriorly by their physical death. This happens often in the Old Testament."

you seem to make my arguement for me,so god kills kids for making fun of one of his prophets,id hate to see what would happen if they had stole his lolli pop. 

2. I have often heard from many believers that even Satan has a presence in the church, which is why even in church people can still have impure thoughts. If Satan can find his way in the church, how do Christians know that Satan didn't find his way into the Bible and twist the whole book? After all, men did vote on which books would make the Holy Bible. - The Infidel Guy
The Holy Spirit leads the Church in determining the canon and making doctrinal decisions. Satan can tempt Christians, but his power is broken in the face of the cross. Likewise, “a house divided against itself cannot stand” and the authority of the Church over demons likewise shows that our work is of God."

so your saying any decisions made in the church about the church or bible will be correct,so you agree with those christians who were protesting the funerals of the dead soldiers"i forget there name right off the bat"

13. Why did God allow Lot and his daughters to escape from Sodom and Gomorra when he destroyed it only to later have Lot and his daughters engage in incestuous fornication. (Genesis 19:30-36) - Disillusioned [Note: To have intercourse with daddy dearest of course.]
God lets evil things happen for the greater good. He has no “desire” for evil to happen, but He allows it according to our free will and uses it for the best."

so your saying that god condones such acts,just thiking rationally how can any pure good without the barest hint of evil being allow something like this to happen in order to further its own cause,by condoning such acts you now become the perpitrator of these acts.

15. Many Christians believe that God is a thinking being, that he solves problems and makes a way for them when troubles come. Does God Think? If God is thinking, did he know his thoughts before he thought them? If so, again, where is his freewill and how is God thinking at all if everything seems to be one uncontrollable action/thoughts. - The Infidel Guy [Note: I'd say a God cannot think at all. To do so, would strip him of omniscience. Thinking is a temporal process.] ON GOD'S ATEMPORALITY
1.) God, an atemporal being, created the Universe.
2.) Creation is a temporal processes because X cannot cause Y to come into being unless X existed temporally prior to Y.
3.) If God existed prior to the creation of the Universe he is a temporal being.
4.) Since God is atemporal, God cannot be the creator the Universe.
[Note: I guess I should also note here that a timeless being would be without the proposition of past, and future. But to be omniscient, God must know the past and future. Hence a God that is atemporal and omniscient cannot logically exist. ]
God has free will and free thought, but His thought is eternal. God does not merely exist prior to the universe, but at all and every point in time. He is eternally present. His thought, likewise, occurs in an eternal manner. There is no movement from one decision to the next, or one thought to the next. All thought and willing in God is one act which has occurred forever and will occur forever."

how can a god have freewill,if he is all knowing then when in all of time did he not know what he was gonna do and when did he decide to do it,if when he first came into existence he already knew all his actions and decisions when did he plan them, 

16. I have often heard that faith is all that is neccessary to believe in God and accept the Bible as true. If this is true aren't all supernatural beliefs true since they also require "faith"? - IG ON FAITH
1.) A prerequisite to believe in a Faith is faith.
2.) Having faith is all that is required to accept a Faith (belief) as true.
3.) All Faiths are true.
[Note: Of course all Faiths aren`t true, but this is the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from a person that states that, "Faith" is how one knows God.]
Supernatural beliefs obviously require faith, but one never believes something without a reason for belief. External evidence allows us to accept that a proposition is worthy of belief, and then we accept it on God’s authority, allowing us to place an infinite faith in something revealed by an infinitely trustworthy God."

you say external evidence is need but yet what about external evidence to the contrary of what is believed,or do you just accept it if theres evidence for it. 

18. If a spirit is non-physical but the human body is physical, how does a spirit stay in our bodies? - IG ON SPIRITS
1.) Spirits are not physical entities.
2.) Brains are physical entities.
3.) Past experiences are stored in our physical brains, we call that, Memory..
4.) Injury can damage portions of the physical brain that store memory and can alter or erase memories completely.
5.) If human spirits exist... after death, spirits can have no memory.
[Note: Some will say the spirit stores physical memories as well, but if true, the spirit would have to be physical at least to a degree. How could a non-physical spirit store, physical memories?]
The spirit/soul is the rational form of the body – the structure behind it – our minds themselves. It likewise can exist without/independent from the body. Our souls retain knowledge, but not memories properly speaking, which are stored in our physical brains"

i would like to see the source you get this from?

well my eyes are starting to hurt so ill continue with these a little later. 


jmm
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Quote: 15. Many Christians

Quote:
15. Many Christians believe that God is a thinking being, that he solves problems and makes a way for them when troubles come. Does God Think? If God is thinking, did he know his thoughts before he thought them? If so, again, where is his freewill and how is God thinking at all if everything seems to be one uncontrollable action/thoughts. - The Infidel Guy [Note: I'd say a God cannot think at all. To do so, would strip him of omniscience. Thinking is a temporal process.] ON GOD'S ATEMPORALITY
1.) God, an atemporal being, created the Universe.
2.) Creation is a temporal processes because X cannot cause Y to come into being unless X existed temporally prior to Y.
3.) If God existed prior to the creation of the Universe he is a temporal being.
4.) Since God is atemporal, God cannot be the creator the Universe.
[Note: I guess I should also note here that a timeless being would be without the proposition of past, and future. But to be omniscient, God must know the past and future. Hence a God that is atemporal and omniscient cannot logically exist. Smiling]

no, i don't think that god thinks.  religious followers throughout the ages have humanized their deities in order to better understand them, which also ties in to:

Quote:
5. How can a God have emotions, i.e. jealousy, anger, sadness, love, etc., if he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent? Emotional states are reactionary for the most part. How can God react to us if he is all-knowing and has a divine plan? - IG [Note: Indeed, many religious texts display their gods this way . Listen to the An Emotional Godshow.]

again, it's a tendency for religious followers to humanize their deities.  not just christians.  we can't conceive a being that trascends our condition, so humanizing god to a certain point is just a way of comprehending the incomprehendable.   


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Quote: 15. Many Christians

Quote:

15. Many Christians believe that God is a thinking being, that he solves problems and makes a way for them when troubles come. Does God Think? If God is thinking, did he know his thoughts before he thought them? If so, again, where is his freewill and how is God thinking at all if everything seems to be one uncontrollable action/thoughts. - The Infidel Guy [Note: I'd say a God cannot think at all. To do so, would strip him of omniscience. Thinking is a temporal process.] ON GOD'S ATEMPORALITY
1.) God, an atemporal being, created the Universe.
2.) Creation is a temporal processes because X cannot cause Y to come into being unless X existed temporally prior to Y.
3.) If God existed prior to the creation of the Universe he is a temporal being.
4.) Since God is atemporal, God cannot be the creator the Universe.
[Note: I guess I should also note here that a timeless being would be without the proposition of past, and future. But to be omniscient, God must know the past and future. Hence a God that is atemporal and omniscient cannot logically exist. Smiling]

no, i don't think that god thinks.  religious followers throughout the ages have humanized their deities in order to better understand them, which also ties in to:

 

Quote:
5. How can a God have emotions, i.e. jealousy, anger, sadness, love, etc., if he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent? Emotional states are reactionary for the most part. How can God react to us if he is all-knowing and has a divine plan? - IG [Note: Indeed, many religious texts display their gods this way . Listen to the An Emotional Godshow.]

again, it's a tendency for religious followers to humanize their deities.  not just christians.  we can't conceive a being that trascends our condition, so humanizing god to a certain point is just a way of comprehending the incomprehendable.

 

so basicly what your saying is that god was not the author of the book and that man wrote the bible on his own,hmmmmmm 


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This forum in fact I thank

This forum in fact I thank you for the Proof in the fact that this website does not want to reach a middle or peace with people who have different beliefs them . This website is based of hate. These aren't real questions they re smartass ways of putting down anyone who trys to explain their Theist beliefs. Spaient feel good about cocreating a website of hate ? Do you feel better about yourself? This website doesn't help anyone It makes Atheist look like Jerks and theist look like idiots

good day 


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Actually if I die and

Actually if I die and Atheist are right Wait a sec that can never hapen Lets put this into perspective

Atheist believe No God and No Afterlife your brain function stops working and thats it .

Theists believe in God/ Heavan

Atheist being right means no one will ever no recognized their right.

Theists everybody will know you'll be in enternal suffering or eternal joy 


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ok im not sure where your

ok im not sure where your goin with this or else theres more to your post but youve yet to write it?


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id just like to point out,

id just like to point out, people are less likely to answer a whole heap of questions at once. it makes more sence to slowly seep the questions into a thread.

and im going to answer the 1st q i actually read, cos i saw the huge number and thought to myself 'hell no! not all at once!'

jesus was the messiah, and the only reason some jews didnt acept him was due to the nature he arrived. they were expecting a well armed 6 foot 13 guy driving a chariot, followed by an army of angel's, to drive the romans out of the chosen peoples land.

just because you dont believe in something, doesn't mean it's not there.


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Sapient, you're not being

Sapient, you're not being fair.  What the guy wants to do is prove deductively that God exists, without having to defend scripture first, because I'm pretty sure he thinks, as I do, that no amount of answered questions would convince you or any atheist on this site.  More important, broadly ranging questions to consider would be

Is God so evident from the things that are made that we are without excuse (Apostle Paul's words).  I think so.  Point me to a good refutation of these arguments (you'll probably laugh, but that's all that atheists have done with these arguments since their inception):

1.  First causer argument (let's assume for now that this could mean an infinite regression of Gods, as Russell would argue, yet it still necessitates a "starter" from outside of the strictly temporal, caused universe)

2.  God as the initiator of energy.  (2nd Law of Thermodynamics states that the total amount of entropy always increases in a spontaneous process.    Citing physical causes would only push back the problem in time.  Since there is still structure (non-entropy) the universe must be finite, and then a Creator is demanded)

3.  Morals are inherently related to God, otherwise they are useless. (An empirical observation about our relationship to God, and certainly not a proof of Him.  Although, without a God, killing cannot be inherently wrong, and those feelings we ALL feel would just be the products of those memes that Dawkins so loves to talk about)

4.  Beauty comes from God (think of how irrational it is to like to sit and look at things, and to enjoy it and call them "beautiful".  Again, not a proof, but this goes against everyone's human nature, so it is rather irrational.  If there is no God, this is yet another pointless meme, and Dawkins should feel tricked by his memes into loving Biology so much.)

Anyway, I am so busy right now I shouldn't even be doing this, so I will respond to those questions, but not to convince anyone.  Just to heed Paul's call to test everything, hold onto that which is good, and hopefully to give the best account "of the hope that is in me," like Paul also said.

Bottom line is, Sapient, you asked the guy to answer a couple questions, and then said that they would offer no exhaustive proof of the existence of God.  Well I certainly agree.  And that is also why answering 5, 10, 20, questions wouldn't do it either.  I feel like it would be a waste of time, unless it is to gain for myself a better ability to defend the faith.  Anyway, I'll continue the deductive evidences for God more exhaustively later.

2 Kings 2:23-24
"Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” So he turned around and looked at them, and pronoun


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To Mr. Sapient. Upon

To Mr. Sapient. Upon perusing the questions contained within your thread entitled “Questions Theists Never Answer,” I wanted to take the opportunity to commend you sir. I am aware that you have compiled the questions from other sources however the registered commendation contained herein is particular in its scope, and is thus directed toward your most astute observation concerning the immeasurable degree of difficulty attendant to positing a cogent response. It appears as though these questions as a whole are unanswerable, or at-best unanswerable without great difficulty. Interestingly enough, while I was contemplating the substance of the questions themselves, I found my attention immediately arrested by, a priori, broader considerations. Allow me then to set the context of my thought process. I suspect that your primary motivation for compiling and thus posting the questions themselves may best be described by the following twofold propositions:

 

1.      An altruistic concern on your part, and the part of your colleagues, for the cognitive well being of theists. The nature of the questions and the degree of difficulty in answering them being a positive inducement toward a complete reevaluation of the worldview held by theists; and,

2.      A fortification, or as we Christians would describe it, an edification of the saints within the atheistic community. Your fervent hope being that your compilation may contribute to the certainty of beliefs held by the larger atheistic community.

 

I would submit to your sir that if I am correct – note the conditional – these are quite laudable ends you are seeking to achieve. It is therefore entirely plausible to assume that upon posting these questions and thus observing the subsequent difficulty theists have encountered in attempting to cogently respond you have experienced, inter alia, nothing but feelings of satisfaction, satisfaction in the pure platonic sense of the word, that is feelings of all and only pleasurable mental states. Nevertheless, it occurred to me, that although on its face the questions, for example, the matter concerning the flaming sword, carry with it the net effect of confounding the sensibilities, insofar as the substance of the revelation neither intimates that God intended a perpetual nor a temporary occlusion of the path leading to the tree. Yet there is a certain clarity one may derive when one looks through the question itself. What I find most amusing is that I have in part resorted not to the philosophers but to the poets in my approach to this most vexing of questions. May I quote Blake, “This life’s dim windows of the soul distorts the heavens from pole to pole and goads you to believe a lie when you see with and not through the eye.”

 

The idea I think Blake was attempting to convey is that there is an observable distinction between seeing solely with the eye, devoid of a conscience and intellect, and through the eye, and as such with the conscience and intellect. In this sense, I too have experienced certain feelings, not unlike those described by C.S. Lewis in his book the Pilgrims Regress, where, in parabolic form, he describes his response to the taunts of the “…the spirit of the age,” and in deferring to faculties of pure cognition and upon the advent of, what I think was his capacity to see through the questions, he responded most joyously exclaiming “reason came in on a horse and rescued me…”

 

 

Nevertheless, the broad considerations that I have alluded to in the introductory paragraph have in point of fact provided sufficient inducement for me to posit the following questions: is the inability to answer in sufficient detail a question about God and/or his revelation, or a series of questions about God considered cumulatively, a good reason to abandon belief in God? Moreover, is it reasonable to think that there are questions about God that one may never be sufficiently enabled to answer? It’s interesting, do the angels, being finite, and yet in such close proximity to God, have the capacity to expound exhaustively about God?  I submit to you sir, right reason leads me to respond in the negative. If one could acquire exhaustive knowledge about an infinite being I think that would render the being finite. The angels being finite in themselves and thus metaphysically contingent cannot know exhaustively all there is to know about an infinite God. We speak of God in terms of functionality, within the construct of metaphysical necessity and causality, or in terms of relationship, that is His capacity to relate to us. Why? Because we are most decidedly confined to the use of such terms and concepts by our limited capacity in this respect. How one-dimensional is the way in which we muse about God, yet we cannot transcend the constraints of our nature.

 

 Accordingly, let us dispense with the abstractions, if your intention in posting these questions is to provoke thought, you have achieved your goal sir, at least as it pertains to myself; and to that I am most thankful, and rightfully acknowledge that we do owe you a debt of gratitude in this respect. However, if it is your intention to prove that God does not exist, I submit to you sir, you have egregiously failed. The atheist in this regard has shouldered an enormous burden of proof, the classical problem of proving a negative in the absolute, which is philosophically self-defeating. This is tantamount to the absurdities that one derives from performing subtraction with transfinite numbers.

 

In summation, the theists inability to sufficiently respond to one or more question in which you pose sir neither provides adequate grounds to abandon theistic belief, insofar as the ability to respond to a question has never been a test for truth, nor does it satisfy your burden of proof in demonstrating that God does not exist. It merely proves our personal ineptness in responding to difficult questions. God Bless……..

 

Soli Deo Gloria

 

Agustine

Crede ut intelligas et fides ut intelligas.............


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holy snot this site is a lot

holy snot this site is a lot harder and more indepth then Atheists.com was lol.


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Sapient wrote: 1. If Jesus

Sapient wrote:
1. If Jesus fulfilled all the OT prophecies so well, why didn't the Jews recognize him as the messiah?
The Jewish leadership of the day did not believe because they were quite comfortable with their wealth and power, and didn’t want anything to come along and change that.

Sapient wrote:
2. If Gen 3:24 is true, why hasn't anyone found the Cherubims and the " flaming sword which turned every way
I don’t see how this matters in the grand scheme of life.

Sapient wrote:
5. How can a God have emotions, i.e. jealousy, anger, sadness, love, etc., if he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent? Emotional states are reactionary for the most part. How can God react to us if he is all-knowing and has a divine plan?
If God loves, then surely he feels anger or jealousy when the object of his love refuses to acknowledge his presence.

Sapient wrote:
9. Why haven't we seen God reattach severed heads, restore someone who was burned alive or regrow amputated limbs? Surely these would be miracles difficult to deny.
If you spend all your energy denying the existance of God, why would you think you would recognize him if he WAS trying to reveal himself to you? If you are constantly in a doubting frame of mind, I don’t think you would recognize God if he hit you in the nose.

Sapient wrote:
10. Why does God entrust the spreading of 'His' word to sinners?
Why do you think you are smarter than God?

Sapient wrote:
11. In II Kings 2-23/24 we read about God sending 2 she-bears to attack children for calling the prophet Elisa bald, which he was, the bears killed 42 of the children. Was this a good thing to do?
What if your child was deathly ill, and a friend had gone out to get the one and only antedote. What if, when that friend was out on the streets, a gang of thugs started following him and threatening his safety. What would you want God to do then?

Sapient wrote:
17. Why didn't God just kill Adam and Eve after the Fall and start from scratch?
Maybe God loved Adam and Eve.

Sapient wrote:
19. Does God know his own future decisions?
Why not just let God be God?

Sapient wrote:
25. Why would an all-powerful god become flesh in order to sacrifice himself to himself so that his creation might escape the wrath of himself. Couldn't god, in his infinite wisdom.
Maybe, in his infinite wisdom, God created rules to govern the universe, which even he himself refuses to break because he is not a God of chaos.

Sapient wrote:
31. In the "Last Days" Jesus is supposed to appear in the clouds. How are the Christians on the opposite end of the world going to see him? Are there going to be millions of Jesus'?
Why do you keep trying to make God fit in your own little box? He’s a lot smarter than us. He’s in control, and he’ll figure this kind of stuff out.

Sapient wrote:
37. Isaiah 40:28 says, "...the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is he weary?" If this is true, why did God rest on the seventh day?
To model for us.

Sapient wrote:
38. Everytime I go to a funeral the preacher and guests always say that " God " has called that person to Heaven or they say, " God said it was time to come home", or some such variation. If God is calling these people "home", why are we putting the murderers of these victims in prison? How can we punish a man or woman for doing God's will?
Do not blame God for satan’s work.

Sapient wrote:
39. Does God have a penis? Does he have hormones that dictate his gender?
Oh my gosh, is this for real? Who Cares!! You will never be able to fully explain God in human terms.

Sapient wrote:
41. What is the purpose of prayer? What can a finite being on Earth possibly tell an omnipotent, omniscient deity that he doesn't know already?
He delights in his relationship with us, and in fulfilling our needs.

Sapient wrote:
42. Some say Jesus was the all-knowing God. Jesus would have known then that when he died he'd be in heaven in less than 3 days to rule. If Jesus is alive and ruling today, what did he sacrifice?
Why don’t you ask him? If you pursue him in all sincerity, he will break your heart and rebuild it again and again. In the rebuilding, you become stronger, and develop a closer relationship with him. Then, you begin to understand his sacrifice, and it is truly a beautiful thing.

Sapient wrote:
49. How did Jesus ascend to Heaven in the Flesh when Paul says that flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven?
Flesh in this case most likely means “sinful nature” here. I would suggest cross-referencing different Biblical translations for a more complete understanding of his meaning

Sapient wrote:
51. I hear Christians all the time speaking of a spiritual war between Heaven and Hell, if this is true does God have limitations of power?
Perhaps he knows we are up to the challenge.

Sapient wrote:
54. If Christians say they know God exists and that he will work miracles, what do they need faith for? Faith is not knowing.
Faith is not belief without proof but trust without reservation. D. Elton Trueblood.

Sapient wrote:
57. If God was Jesus' father (not Joseph), then why is Jesus' family tree traced through Joseph?
Joseph raised him.


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"73. Christians will tell

"73. Christians will tell you that if a baby dies it goes to heaven. Why then are they so against abortion? All the child is being deprived of is the opportunity to go to hell. Either that or god expects unborn fetuses to accept Jesus."

 

Well it might be just me but I think you are looking at it from a wrong perspective.  When you do an abortion you are killing a human... isn't that the 5th commandment?  I'm an atheist but I'm just trying to see it from a thiest point of view...

Gott Ist Tot


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I posted a link to this


I posted a link to this thread on another messageboard, one with a good mix of christians and atheists. I also pasted several of the better ones on there, specifically #'s 1, 3-6, 11, 12, 15, 16,19, 32, 41, 48, 56, 57, 60, 69, 72, 81, 82, 86 (last one more as a joke than anything else). I figured you might be interested in some of their answers. It was too long, so here is a summary (I'd link it, but you need a screen name to see it, and you'd also have to be signed in when you click said link:

weezer-rock asked me to pick any one, and he'd answer it. He said he could answer all, but he has neither the time nor the energy. I asked him to pick the best one, since he said that several were stupid anyway. He answered #6 with:

Quote:
God doesn't "foreknow". He created people with free will, and free will is incompatible with foreknowledge. This objection only affects the Calvinists, really, and the Calvinists are a little out dated as far as their theological / philosophical / scientific basis for believing God can know the future. Thus, everyone has a basic, fair chance to self-determine their after life. Might I recommend The Coherence of Theism by Richard Swinburne for a broader treatment of the incompatibility of free will and foreknowledge.
I then asked "So God, who is at least pretty damn smart, if not all-knowing, didn't think that people with free will might use it to go against god's commands?" I've received no reply.

Several people chimed in about how "stupid" or "retarded" the questions were. One, who keeps a runing tally of how many threads I "ruin" with my "anti-religious zeal" in his signature (I'm up to 6, including 1 for posting these questions in their own thread, interestingly) said "I think smoking crack-cocaine would be better for my brain than arguing this."

stellar renegade answered them all, and was the only one to do so.

1:Because their religion had developed such a narrow interpretation of the scriptures that they were not able to see the fullness of God at his coming. In other words, they were blinded by bias and personal ambitions. Big surprise, humans.

3:Who knows. I don't think it's been proven that we came out of Africa, but for the sake of argument let's say they have. Well, evidently rivers and places have been re-named due to personal interpretation of ancient traditions, so that there is no guarantee where it actually was. (Not to mention that if the Flood is true, the placement of such geographic features would likely have shifted due to its intensive impact on the earth.)

4:Because said people still do not care to know God. God judges justly and not according to the standards we project on him, therefore even many mainstream Christians do not know who God will and will not let in. But the parable of the Sheep and the Goats gives a big clue-in to that. I rest assured however, that God is very loving and will not subject anyone to any kind of torture more than what is deserved (for instance, those who torture others sadistically will be headed for the centermost portions of hell and tortured ten times as much). Your average, everyday normal person will probably be more or less in a relatively empty portion of hell filled with nothingness. Not everybody gets the same punishment, it's all due to that person's actions in life which show what's inside of them.

Therefore, while a person still does not repent, we can be joyful in that God is true in his judgments and will not let them out until they are ready to love others as they love themselves.

5:God is not "acted upon" as ordinary, carnal humans are. He is holy, in other words, He is ultimately in control, just, wise and ever-loving. Not only did He create the conditions for man to sin but is responsible for bringing them to repentance. Therefore God is not a tool; He knows exactly what He is doing, that we are not guilty of "sinning the pure sin" as George MacDonald says; that He is ultimately responsible for what goes on here, but holds us accountable, in other words, expects us to rise above and act first as He does instead of being acted upon by our emotions.

Everything that God does in both Old Covenant and New is a fruitful implementation of the plan to save us all. He knows what He is doing. He is not a tool.

6:See above. George MacDonald has much to say on this subject. God "made us capable of evil that we might be good". In other words, without the possibilty for failure, we would not attain the strength and capacity necessary to become truly good people who choose to do right.

Also, God's not going to torture sinners "forever" (a straight line with no end). That's a myth based on modern interpretation of ancient ideologies.

11:I've been in debates about these very topics and they tend to go nowhere most of the time. Try not to reflect on the confusing issues on the sidelines for now and look at the overarching theme sounding throughout the scriptures themselves. They will eventually make the little problems clearer and put them into context.

12:Well personally the testimony resounds with me. Not the modern interpretation of said testimony, but the testimony itself. It also takes the Spirit to be able to understand it clearly, because pretentious human nature has blinded our eyes and blocked the way to the kingdom. Luke 11:52.

15:Begging the question.

First of all, in the paragraph it looks like you're talking about self-reflection, which God has none. Self-thought and self-care are of the self nature, which is the central antagonist to Christianity and nothingness to God. One does not have to think about his own thoughts in order to think. God is omniscient in that He has control over His creation. To have control over oneself is to divide onself up into separate parts, which cannot be done, since the referent is just one person, a spirit. As for being controlled, you are thinking in terms of a human being, who is controlled by outward forces. God is outside of all forces and has the power and ability to be who He wants to be. Kind of hard to explain without experiencing it yourself.

Anyway, the logical problem is flawed because denoting that someone is timeless does not necessitate that they are clueless about the past and future, but instead view them all as one running panorama. We experience time because we are finite and can only experience things a little at a time.

16:I'm not able to understand arguments such as these because the statements are so vague. What is meant by "faith"? It seems that the word has been re-defined so many times as to make it practically useless.

However, as to the first statement, I think I can make an attempt. Having faith is all that is necessary to believe in God, and yet that faith must include logic. Faith is not logic-less by definition; Francis Schaeffer covers this quite well in many of his writings. Faith is trust in God, in other words, a relationship. Even if I were to know that someone existed, it would not mean that I had a relationship with them. Christianity is much more than simply being persuaded that Jesus existed and that certain events occurred and will occur; it's trust that Jesus is who He said He was, and is. Therefore, it requires crossing an emotional threshold; not a logic-less or irrational one, but one that can be corroborated by evidence. However, the relationship itself is a relationship of faith, or in other words, trust. Can you say that you really knew your best friend before you had a relationship with them? You know, the kind of intimate knowing that can't be expressed. Well, in the same way, faith in God produces knowledge and revelation of His Spirit.

However, mortals like you and me have interpreted the statement to mean, "Just merely asserting that God is true is enough to make a valid statement which can hold up against any argument." Such a belief is hogwash and will not hold up under the trials of life. A real relationship with God will, however, and will succeed victoriously if genuine.

19:First of all, the passages referred to (in reference to God's intention to create) are speaking of the Son, who I believe exists within time and does not know everything. Therefore, He works with us in the full capacity of his wisdom, and when our actions change, of course He is going to change His approach to us. Make sense? I don't see the problem with it at all. The Father is still omniscient and omnipotent and all that. The Son is subject to His Father.

32:This is silliness and semantics. Most atheistic arguments I have heard through years of debate do not center on the real issues (no offense intended). This could be in part, though, to the fact that many and most mainstream Christians do not focus on the real issues, and for this, as a Christian, I apologize.

Okay, let's take a look at this. There is a difference between "coveting" or "envying" and being "jealous". It does not matter that much to me as of right now how those words are normally used, as word usage changes over time anyway. But where it says "covet" the Lord is talking about desiring, even lusting after, and aggressively pursuing, a neighbor's possession which is not theirs. However, when the Lord is talking to Israel and says that He is a jealous God, He is referring to that which is rightfully His.

You see, Abraham had made a covenant with God. And He dedicated Himself and His descendants to God through a covenant, which the Lord enacted and inspired in order to claim Abraham's descendants as His own. This may not seem quite fair, but life is rarely fair by our own definition. (In all actuality, God deals with all of us in this way, to varying degrees.) Thus, increased consequences were enacted in the lives of the Israelites as part of their discipline as sons and daughers of God (Heb. 12:5- 11). On an individual level, they had the ability to run from their destiny or choose against God, but as a culture/nation/race they were disciplined in order to bring about the eventual kingdom of God through His Son (Hebrews 8:5-6).

41:Why can't it change God's mind? I'm speaking here, again, of the Son, who works from within time. If someone changes their heart toward you (more applicably, towards someone you love dearly, such as your spouse), doesn't it make you want to do something special for them?

Again, I see no problem with this.

48:He doesn't need help, He desires company. He creates beings, then relegates them to their own spheres of influence - "the earth He has given to the sons of men" (Psalm 115:16). Therefore, it is not a matter of God "needing" help (He doesn't need anything) but that in order for His purposes of redemption and renewal in the world of men, He needs man's help, because He has relegated control of these realms to mankind.

56:Because the sense of right and wrong is far more vague than the sense of God. All that is needed for a feeling of right is a positive feeling, or a negative feeling for a sense of wrong. But the depth of God takes time to plunge.

Not to incessantly quote my favorite author ever, but since this is too perfect, George MacDonald again:
"You may say this is not one's first feeling of duty. True: but the first in reality is seldom the first perceived. The first duty is too high and too deep to come first into consciousness. If anyone were born perfect ... the highest duty would come first into the consciousness. As we are born, it is the doing of, or at least the honest trying to do many another duty, that will at length lead a man to see that his duty to God is the first and deepest and highest of all, including and requiring the performance of all other duties whatever."

57:A complicated issue, but happily not central to the Christian faith as a whole.

60:Because (thank God) we are not living under fear anymore and practicing laws instituted by angels due more to practical necessity than Holy order.

69:haha, good one, and one we've approached on this forum. However, a few things we're forgetting.

There are different aspects to God's presence. God can remove the aspect of circumstantial blessing and pleasure, and yet not remove His grace in dealing with us appropriately. That's why it is said that they will be away from the presence of the Lamb, and yet the Lamb was seen as descending into Hades. "Away from" does not mean completely separated from, but merely away from, as in the furthermost from the center (picture the circumference of a circle). Thus, the separation is no more complete than Christ's was from the Father on the cross; it is merely a felt separation, which can only result in every variety of torture imaginable (we do not realize how dependent we are upon God for life and existence).

72:What a pretentious comment. C'mon now, you can do better than that.

Did it say to go after people who eat shellfish? That's silly. Homosexuals who were part of the community were to be stoned because they were a danger to the vitality of the community, possible because of the connection with pagan worship. I don't know for sure, as I am not an expert. But God was trying to create a holy culture and knew that some rules would have to be instituted as a practical necessity to keep the people from going far astray. However, as there is more of a Spirit of grace here to help us in the earth now, such measures are not as necessary as they were before.

It would take a lot to explain, especially as it's like trying to fill someone in on all of the inside particulars of a private club or association. Not that it can't be explained, but would take perhaps an inordinate amount of time to do so. But I'm pretty sure it was a completely different issue at its core than it is today.

[God doesn't hate homosexuals]

81:No. God judges by actions and not abstract belief. Refer to the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46), the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), and pretty much the whole book of Romans, but especially the first 3-4 chapters. God judges by how we are, not by what we know.

86:Now this is just plain easy.

Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth.
Genesis 7:21-23

He then said he did "PWN" these questions. I'd post my replies, but that might get too long.

t i m said, regarding #11:

Quote:
1. It doesn't say they actually died...
2. I don't think that is the case. I think elisha felt threatened and there was a possible mob situation. It may be that it allowed him to escape. It actually indicatesthat Elisha left after the attacks.

tim also replied to #5 and 16, but not as well as stellar renegade did. Later on he said that the text specifically said the children were mauled or torn apart, but didn't necessarily ALL die, and that this wasn't really a punishment for calling Elisha bald, but an attempt to save Elisha from harm.

The Fluffy Bunny had some humourous insults in there:

These people are patently retarded. I feel lied to. These are not relevant questions to the topic. If someone asked me these questions I would laugh at them. Hard. I would laugh at someone who was an atheist because of these questions about God. The questions are really shallow and all have answers, but the person asking the question doesn't care about it. They care more about making a quip to prove their "atheistic" cred. All of the questions you posted fail in the logic category, seriously. Logical fallacies must feel so dirty for being so used.

They all follow the vein:
Quote:
Rev. 12:3 "Behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns."
There is no such thing as a dragon. The bible isn't true
~The Fluffy Bunny

Quote:
Catholics say they eat the body of Christ. All Christians are Cannibals!
~The Fluffy Bunny

Beth used the opportunity to preach at me without addressing a single question.

One named Brody replied to #1 with:

Quote:
If evolutionary theory is so thoroughly supported by evidence, why don't more people in the United States (which has, believe it or not, a pretty high scientific literacy rate) believe in it? Just because the facts fit the hypothesis doesn't mean that everyone will accept it.
#56 with:
Quote:
I get really tired of complaints in the form of "If God really exists, He would do X because I said so", but that aside, I think the latter statement is pretty misleading since "many theists" are never qualified (i.e. groups that would be examples of this) and since a very large portion of theists believe that our human noetic devices, the very things by which we would be able to know God, are affected by sin.
and #72 with
Quote:
This isn't even an argument against God. F-!

Brody also added this to tim's objection to #11:

Quote:
Also, to add to Tim, the Hebrew word in question is baqa', which generally has the connotation of splitting, tearing, dividing, or breaking. In 2 Kings alone, it is used as "break" and "rip" in the NASB (which renders it "tear" in verse 24). (Interestingly, this is the same root used to describe the "division" of the Red Sea when Moses parted it for Israel to flee from Pharoah.) If it had been an all-out slaughter, genocide, or what-have-you, I think the Hebrew language would have been capable of stating such (and indeed, Hebrew has such words - harag/hereg/haregah).
(So, essentially, the she-bears tore up 42 children, or young men, depending on the translation, but didn't kill them)

Many people commented on #69 that they didn't know if Jesus going to hell was in the bible or simply a traditional belief.

Kristina answered #4 like this

Quote:
I once read something Jonathan Edwards wrote that basically went like this: When we get to heaven we'll be so utterly consumed by God's holiness and glory that we'll have a better understanding of the absolute wretchedness of the sinner's rebellion that we won't care (may even be glad) that they've gone to hell b/c they had countless chances to turn to God in repentance and stubbornly refused to do so, we'll rejoice because justice has been done. I think this could be very likely.

 


Dave_G
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WTF!!!!

All these questions and you couldn't even add a picture?!?!?!?!!?!!>?!?!??!?!!


An_Atheist
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I would love for any theist

I would love for any theist to give me just one tiny bit of 'evidence' to show me why they believe in a god!!   
Many whom i have spoken with so far have said that they can prove it to me...but unfortunately...have never done so!!   I need more than words to prove it to me...maybe that is why i have not been given any evidence!!

Your mind will take you far, the rest is just your heart, you'l find that fate is all your own creation.


An_Atheist
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I would love for any theist

Grrr, that posted twice lol!!!   
My apologies!


Dave_G
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I'll answer you're

I'll answer you're questions:

 

There is no god.


LtPaint
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An_Atheist wrote:I would

An_Atheist wrote:
I would love for any theist to give me just one tiny bit of 'evidence' to show me why they believe in a god!!   
Many whom i have spoken with so far have said that they can prove it to me...but unfortunately...have never done so!!   I need more than words to prove it to me...maybe that is why i have not been given any evidence!!

Religion is based around faith.  Faith can not be proven.  Your friends, I assure you, will not be able to provide evidence of the existance of God because there beliefs are based around their faith and not around evidence of God's existance.

St. Thomas Aquinas said “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

So why do theist believe in a god?

Theist have faith

 Peace

"Very different is the monastic way. Obedience, fasting, and prayer are laughed at, yet they alone constitute the way to real and true freedom: I cut away my superfluous and unnecessary needs, through obedience I humble and chasten my vain and proud will, and thereby, with God’s help, attain freedom of spirit, and with that, spiritual rejoicing!" ~~Zosima from The Brothers Karamazov


Maragon
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LtPaint wrote: An_Atheist

LtPaint wrote:
An_Atheist wrote:
I would love for any theist to give me just one tiny bit of 'evidence' to show me why they believe in a god!!
Many whom i have spoken with so far have said that they can prove it to me...but unfortunately...have never done so!! I need more than words to prove it to me...maybe that is why i have not been given any evidence!!

Religion is based around faith. Faith can not be proven. Your friends, I assure you, will not be able to provide evidence of the existance of God because there beliefs are based around their faith and not around evidence of God's existance.

St. Thomas Aquinas said “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

So why do theist believe in a god?

Theist have faith

Peace

 

But WHY do you have faith?

What causes a belief in something that cannot logically be proven?