Hebrews 11
6) But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him.
Faith has come to be one of the most damning pieces of evidence against god for me. That can mean against god's existence or it can mean against an actual god. First of all, this is asking for blind faith. I know, most xians say it isn't, but they are wrong. The bible demands belief without evidence. It is not talking about fidelity or trust in this case. It does that too, in other places. But it exhorts people to believe without seeing. Why? How does that make any sense? Why would the omnipotent creator of the universe make the the criterion for reward? It created semi-rational, thinking people and then demand we not use our brains and rationality.
The only other case in real life where blind faith like that is begged or demanded is in a con. It is the con-man who says "trust me implicitly without question," and usually the most dangerous sort of con-man.
Blind faith is not a virtue, it is a serious and dangerous character flaw. Yet it is the corner stone of modern religion.
He is an actual person ,I believe.He is ruling and reigning, Head of His Church ( the body) equipping The Church and interceding on our behalf.
Really? Where is he? Where is he sitting and making decisions? To whom is he sending his dictations? A lot of xians say these things, but they never ever produce an actual person. He's always invisible or somewhere completely inaccessible, like, outside space and time. I think you would think I was some kind of kook or asshole if I told you about my magical dragon king who happened to be invisible or ruled from a throne outside space and time.
Most importantly, how do you know? For your own benefit you should ask that. How do you know you are not being duped? Who is really benefitting from your blind faith?
He does , both through His word and by The Holy Spirit.You may not be friends with a traffic sign but they do talk to us.They tell us what the authorities want us to know, how fast I should be driving for example.
So jesus is like a traffic sign? I'll buy that. Traffic signs are not interactive, like actual people. They do not have conversations. They are signs. They are not communicating. The authorities are. The signs are not our actual friends. All that applies to jesus H. Only, you can touch traffic signs.
And the holy spirit? You are explaining one imaginary friend by introducing an imaginary messenger for him. Stew, this is insane.
I think there are still unreached areas.
You'd have to think that, since jesus H hasn't come back riding on the clouds yet.
That it wasn't supposed to be their generation necessarily but all of the things would happen in one generation.If they thought the Gospel was to be preached into 'all the world' I don't believe they would take that to mean their own generation. Transportation being what it was then.
Well, that is a pretty unorthodox interpretation and in my opinion, sadly naive. I see no reason to think that in matt, mark and luke he was talking about any generation other than the one he was addressing. Sure, in retrospect you could say "well, it didn't happen to that generation." But isn't that more simply explained by his promise being a delusion? Instead you have to invent all sorts of explanations. And you have.
Christ wouldn't have said something was assured if He wasn't positive what He said was true.I have an confidence about it than I can only describe as knowing.
So his certitude justifies your certitude. Remember what certitude is - an emotion. And if jesus H was just a guy, or even worse, just a character in a series of popular stories, then your certitude is... insanity.
Ok , sure. This site would qualify as well then.
eh? We're just atheists because other people on this site are atheists and that is what is expected of us?
My understanding changed when I was introduced to people who did exactly opposite of what their social groups expected.
You were introduced to atheists?
That experiment isn't so much applicable in Saudi Arabia and North Korea for example.
you totally lost me.
New to me, of course.New information, I don't think so.
so, my point stands.
God calls Himelf.. I Am That I Am. I take that at one level to mean the same then , now and forever.
I take that to mean when mixing a martini you should chill the glass with ice water before you pour the drink into it, and add the bitters after. Stew, you are taking an incoherent collection of letters and assigning meaning to them, where there is none.
I believe that person exists. I trust Him implicitly.
My point is your trust is utterly unfounded. You cannot observe this person. You cannot question this person. You cannot verify that what this person says is true. You can only have blind faith. For all you know, if this yhwh thing is real, it could be thoroughly evil and leading you into disaster.
He wants us to know Him as we are known.
I don't know what that means. And whatever it means, you have no way of know it is so.
Being omnipotent , hey, what would he have to lose?
Maybe he's not omnipotent. Maybe he just wants you to think he is to assuage his oversized ego. Given what we actually know about yhwh, this is no less plausible than your description of him.
We can understand Him through what He created.
But that presumes. Who is telling us he created anything? His PR people.
Even though it's a 'fallen world"
It's not. That is just the warped, perverted perspective of crazy people who have been called "prophets". The rest of that paragraph is woo akin to what I might see in O magazine.
Of course I believe He can love unconditionally becaus He sent His son.
I would take that to mean that he is a sadist. Someone who loved unconditionally would not need a hell or a blood sacrifice in the first place.
We can know as much as we like about Him.
That is absolutely untrue. You said yourself, we can only know what he reveals. When we ask for more - that is, question him - he does nothing and his reps get all uptight and smitey. And, as I just got done explaining, our brains are finite and capable of only finite comprehension. You could fill an entire brain with nothing but understanding of god, and you would have no comprehension of god, because you are dividing by infinity.
If you have seen The Son you have seen The Father.
This is more support of your imaginary friend by introducing more imaginary people.
I have actually a few times.I heard the people speaking in tongues several times in Charismatic Catholic meetings.Many times of course in pentecostal meetings and everything in between.
pretty fucking crazy, ain't they?
