maadmax

Her and her kind really do need to seek mental healthcare. I hear that anti-psychotic drugs, which reduce hallucinations and delusions and improve thinking and behavior are helpful, whether the cause is a medical or psychiatric disorder. Hope you Christians are enjoying your Pagan holiday. Have a happy Ishtar Day!! I'm done with this thread. You are getting way to entangled in doctrinal points you don't understand and missing the reality of spirituality. You are more than just a bag of nuts and bolts controlled by physics and chemistry. You also have a soul and a spirit that require information and relationships in order to thrive. And like everything else in the universe, is eternal. ...

I respect your faith, but I respectfully disagree. These issues are a distraction from the real message the Bible is offering. Salvation to a lost world.

. They are awesome. I guess those Indians went to hell, seeing that they were not good old Imaginary Friend fearing Christians. (My mother's side of the family is Cherokee. Did all of my ancestors go to Hell also?) By the way, how do you explain those dinosaur bones they have on display? They are much older than your Book of Contradiction claims the planet to be. No back peddling needed. Simple answers will do just fine. Do you thinks Hell is a place you should be concerned about for you or your ancestors? God is fair and just and will judge each person on the merits of what opportunities they were given. I also have Cherokee ancestors and believe I will meet them someday. Dinosaur bones are easy. They are the petrified remains of once living animals. I have always been sceptical of the legitimacy of the genealogy that traces Jesus to Adam. I don't see the Genesis account giving support for a young earth. For all of the good the Bible has to offer, it is crazy to let that possible erroneous insertion/transcription/translation shut the door on the love God has for you. ...

Says the guy who (apparently) believes in young earth creationism. Sorry dude, that's as unscientifically stupid as it gets! I have noticed life is full of paradoxes. Some with a genuine spiritual knowledge and relationship with God can be lacking in the latest science. As some with the latest information on scientific theories can be totally lacking in the knowledge of God. ...

The christian religion is very inconsistent. Like all religions, it is man made. Finding God and the spiritual meaning of life through the work of Jesus and His disciples is not.

Doesn't sound like much of a consensus to me. The difference in translations can sometimes be a lot. Where you get huge variations is in the interpretations. Not just in current denominations but in same denomination over time. Five hundred years ago the Roman Catholics interpreted their Bible much differently then today. So where is this consensus?? You can't even settle on one translation. Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in the Trinity! They base that on their interpretation of their translation of the Bible. The only reasonable conclusion is that there is no consensus! I know, you are just trying to help other see the futility of their ways, since you don't believe any of them are correct in the first place. No versions has any meaning unless it is written in the mind. And if your version allows you to love God and your neighbor as yourself you are headed in the right direction. ...

God is impossible to prove. All you have is subjective illusion. From what I am reading lately, that is how scientists are describing reality. An illusion.

Someone else for whom "omnipresent" is a concept they can't grasp. Actually, I was surprised to see you use a term for a physical state that is impossible to prove.

I find it a bit strange, that a God would create a race of people, promise them all salvation and then send a messiah that 99% of them would not recognize. This would be like God sending David koresh as a Messiah and then expecting him to be recognized by Christians. Jesus was simply a first century apocalyptic Jew (There were many) who preached the end of the world would occur during the lifetime of those who were alive at the time. He was executed by the Romans for crimes against the state. If it were not for Paul busting his hump spreading the word outside of Judea, all would be forgotten. Very true just like all of the other messiahs. Except for the fact that some in every generation since Paul have found the Truth Jesus offered. It changed their lives and they passed it on to the next generation. The salvation of God is for all people. The Jews were chosen as the conduit the Messiah would use to enter the world. ...

And you still haven't explained why your god suddenly morphed from a nasty vengeful cruel jealous despot to a lovey dovey guy some 2,000 years ago. That is not exactly an OMNIPRESENT behavior No morphing, just a change in venue brought on by the prophetical fulfillment of the Messiah's first advent and the propitiation of the sin issue. I know you can't appreciate it, but I think that is pretty cool "Omni" God like behavior.

This reminds me of the book Humility: True Greatness by C.J Mahaney. In it he says: "Writing about humility is a humbling experience. Who wants to volunteer to write onthis subject? Not me...I could entertain you for hours relating the comments and facial expressions of those who discovered I was authoring a work with this title. I understand their reaction. If I met someone presuming to have something to say about humility, automatically I’d think him unqualified to speak on the subject. So let me make this clear at the outset: I’m a proud man pursuing humility by the grace of God. I don’t write as an authority on humility; I write as a fellow pilgrim walking with you on the path set for us by our humble Savior." +1

Quick question: Where did the Jewish religion come from? From the religious leaders who created it for their own power and benefit. God gave them the Truth, they corrupted it into a religion. Jesus addressed this when he told the scribes and Pharisees about the damage they were causing with their religious activities. Matt 23:23-39

Where in the OT does it say that Jesus would come and be crucified and live again? The OT speaks of one who would overturn the present political system and restore Israel to all of it's glory. Jesus never did that. The early Christians tried and failed to establish that a few of the OT writings could explained Jesus, that's why the vast majority of Jews failed to believe he was the person what they were expecting. which was a great king or warrior who could restore Israel to what God had promised them. Jesus struck out. Interesting that you would delve in this area of theology since you don't accept any of it. Had the Jews accepted the Wisdom God offered them instead of the chains of their religion, they may have recognized Jesus for who He is, the Messiah. Their religion blinded them with rage and they crucified Him. God allowed this evil to be used for good. ...

Is humble a word that anybody can truthfully use to describe themselves? Not bagging on you, just an observation about people's use of the word in general. Good point, but I do consider humility a worthy ambition.

Hmmmm. Max is an expert on how verses were intended? I didn't know that! Yep, no expert, just another humble searcher.

See, how this reads to me is that you tried to make out that the bible has some kind of credibility by trotting out a tired old argument about its level of scientific knowledge. Then, when it became apparent that you weren't going to be able to get away with that you've backed away from it by saying you never meant to imply that anyone should look for scientific accuracy of any kind in the bible and that's not what you meant at all, despite the fact that you have not provided any other explanation for bringing the subject up in the first place and now refuse to do so because we're being mean to you. For those who know God, the point is clear. God created the physics that orders reality. Misinterpretation, by some, of vague comments about a minor subject, does not nullify the main theme of the Bible. Which is to fulfill our destiny by finding God and becoming one with Him.

Given the Bible's evident weakness on the knowable, it's mind-boggling that anyone would trust it on the unknowable. Trusting is only necessary in order to enter into God's promise. Once there it is mind-boggling that anyone would choose to live in any other way.

When they can't measure it, they make it up with names, mythology, if you like. Dark Matter Dark Energy Infinity Zero Length of their penis Since when did lack of knowledge ever cause anyone to suspend commentary?

That could be a decent point, if the Bible didn't talk about physical reality. But it does, and gets it badly wrong. Why on earth should anyone trust what it says about the unknowable when it's so wide of the mark on the knowable? Most passages in the Bible I have read that deal with physical reality are vague, especially in the original Hebrew. Problems arise when passages are read with a superficial glance and then attributed a meaning that may never have been intended. Faith in the unknowable is a personal journey. For those who can see it, the Bible is an excellent guide on that journey. Physical reality is what it is, spiritual reality is what we make it.

Since science is blind to what it can't measure, those who claim to be "scientists" should refrain from commenting on things they know nothing about, namely God. Likewise those who use the Bible as a science text book are equally wrong. The Bible is a guide to spiritual reality, not physical reality. I don't see any conflict between the two. ...

If God created us to be perfect then why wouldn't the world of our creation also be Heaven? Did God make a mistake while creating us ... The world of our creation could be Heaven if we allowed God to work through us. But since we can cherry pick between the Truths of God and evil impulses to construct our reality, things don't turn out well when we make our own decisions about what is good or evil.

Not even your god can do that, or is it that he can and just doesn't. Unless you want to take the "We're only here for a short while, we'll find real happiness in heaven". In which case, why did your god even put man on earth, if earth is just a proxy for the afterlife. If it serves no real purpose in the ultimate scheme of things. Wouldn't it be easier to just create people as spiritual entities in heaven, he could have saved pain and suffering of billions. Or is it just one of those things that are so sick and sadistic that God must have some greater knowledge that we can't understand as to why he did it. Yeah... right. You make good logical points. I have also wondered about those. But since we find ourselves here and involved in the world process with no ability to recreate it, all we can do is try and make sense out of the chaos. What I have found is, God is love. He created us to be perfect like Himself. We have the choice to approach the perfection of God (Heaven) or live in the world of our own creation (Hell).

Not even close. My answer : All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus is the Truth the Way and the Life. ( ps. no one really knows what He looked like, and I bet it is definitely not as He is portrayed in medievil paintings) My hope: To be made whole and experience the love and fellowship of God. And to share that love with other people. your answer: Replacing God with a fragmented knowledge of how He creates and maintains the universe. Allowing yourself to become god and to decide right from wrong. your hope: Man achieving the god like ability to solve all of his problems and create a utopia. i.e. humanism, which will never happen. ...

+1, It never ceases to amaze me how those without answers or hope lash out at those who do.

It may be a smoke screen to hide one's doubts and insecurities about what ever subject is being discussed. ...