Posted on 03/25/2017 11:28:47 AM PDT by heterosupremacist
You are a better man than I am.
I saw what my mom just recently went through, dying of a horrible disease over the last 4 months of her life.
That DEFINITELY scared me.
I am a believer, but that was truly hell on earth, watching her deteriorate, all the while being scared out of her wits.
I think she was at peace in the end, after a lot of praying, and reading Scripture to her.
She really found a lot of solace from hearing the Word.
I know she no longer has fear, which is nice.
But getting there was so awful for her and my family.
This agnostic isn’t afraid of death.
“What “makes no sense” is the pretension that everything that exists, with its unimaginable complexity, is the product of nothing more than time + chance.”
I agree with that, but it in no way proves that the god depicted in the Bible exists.
Is there the remotest possibility that the rich (that's you and me) will be condemned to hell for failing to sell all their possessions and give the proceeds to the poor?
The verses addressing this could not be more straightforward.
St. Thomas Aquinas dealt with all these issues centuries ago. As Francis Schaeffer noted, “when it comes to the very important questions, there are very few men in the room.” There are actually only a few possibilities as to the nature of God, with the Judeo-Christian understanding being the most notable and logically-consistent option.
St. Thomas Aquinas dealt with all these issues centuries ago. As Francis Schaeffer noted, “when it comes to the very important questions, there are very few men in the room.” There are actually only a few possibilities as to the nature of God, with the Judeo-Christian understanding being the most notable and logically-consistent option.
Good point. Jesus said that a rich man entering heaven was like a camel passing through the eye of a needle. In my case, I have no exceedingly few earthly possessions and attempt to give freely to the poor. How about you?
Sorry but I find the Bible to be anything but logically consistent. In fact I find the whole storyline to be absurd on its face.
Not true. I was “scared” into committing my life to Jesus at the ripe old age of 4 after hearing my Sunday School teacher warn of the dangers of Hell. That decision led to a lifelong love of Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
Absurd? There is nothing more irrational than to believe that the universe and all that is in it came into being solely as the result of time + chance + matter. The unbelievable complexity of even the most “simple” of organisms boggles the mind. Au contraire, it is utterly ABSURD to contend that all this is the product of chance.
If I was you I would be terrified of the final judgment to come, and having no excuse for my failure to yield my life to God.
Pay attention, I said that I agree that the universe did not come about by chance. Our disagreement is on the nature of the creator of the universe. To put it simply it is absurd that a god capiable of such a feat would have to go though all the stuff in the Bible to get us to behave.
Pay attention? Check out Summa Theologica and any number of Christian apologetic works. The story of the Bible is perfectly consistent and marvelous beyond all words. Your caviler, dismissive attitude is an affront to hundreds of millions of believers throughout the ages, not a few of which have dealt with these issues with more profundity than you.
“Not true. I was “scared” into committing my life to Jesus at the ripe old age of 4 after hearing my Sunday School teacher warn of the dangers of Hell. That decision led to a lifelong love of Jesus as my Lord and Savior.”
In other words you were programmed by your Sunday school teacher to believe at a very young and impressionable age to believe.
And how were you “programmed”? Here’s the deal. I have several earned degrees in Bible and theology, including a Ph.D. I have taught Comparative Religion on the college level. I have lived and worked on several continents, including non-Christian cultures. I have many published books on these topics. Let’s hear about YOUR qualifications to pontificate about the Bible, and to demean that most holy of books?
If I was you I’d sell my computer and give the proceeds to the poor.
Good thing I’m not you and you are not me, eh?
There are hundreds of millions of believers in Islam. Does that make it true?
I would suggest that you read something after the Age of Enlightment once we found though science that many of our superstitious beliefs where just that. Try Thomas Paine’s “The Age of Reason.”
Nonsense. If you are looking for someone to shame because of their “riches,” you have come to the wrong person. This couple of hundred bucks laptop I am working on would not be worth the trouble to sell. How about you? How much in your savings, 401K, equity in your home & property? How much have you give to the poor? I have given when it HURT, I have opened my walled to the homeless when I was (and am) in danger of losing my own home. I ask again: have you given to the poor until it HURT?
I have lived in Islamic culture. How about you? If not, then you have nothing to say. I know Muslims, who were my neighbors and friends. As I noted earlier, God will judge every person, and His judgment will be utterly just and beyond question.
During the so-called “Arab Spring” there was a Christian sister (nun) who was being chased down the street in Cairo (a place I have visited numerous times) by a murderous crowd. A Muslim woman ran out and grabbed her and brought her to the safety of her home. The God that I know and serve will have mercy on that woman, I have no doubt, because of the words of the Lord Jesus to His followers: “Behold, if anyone so much as gives you a cup of water, they shall not lose their reward.”
I want to go out quietly like my grandfather in his sleep rather than screaming in panic like the passengers in his car.
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