The Hard Questions

Discussion in 'Religion and Spirituality' started by expiated, Jun 13, 2020.

  1. stu

    stu

    Bible be like... first God creates man and woman with original sin, denying them free will to have no sin. Then God drowned almost everyone for sinning, then later he impregnated a woman with himself so that he could be born as Jesus to kill himself by sacrificing himself to himself to save everyone from the sin he gave them in the first place.

    Christianity, yep, it really is that crazy.
     
    #11     Jun 25, 2020
  2. userque

    userque

    "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
     
    #12     Jun 25, 2020
  3. stu

    stu

    [​IMG]
     
    #13     Jun 25, 2020
  4. WWarrior

    WWarrior

    If God prevented evil and only allowed the good then humanity essentially wouldn't have free will .
     
    #14     Jun 26, 2020
    studentofthemarkets and expiated like this.
  5. stu

    stu

    God is supposed to have created evil when (according to Augustine at least), there was no need.
    God ensured humanity essentially wouldn't have free will.

    To paraphrase Augustine on the subject...
    It is mistaken to think there can be no good without evil.
    It is the lack of good which creates evil.
    Like a shadow is created by the act of moving away from light, evil is formed and created by the act of moving away from good.

    So had Bible God created only good, anything not good, would itself be less than good and be the route cause for creating evil. When they invented Bible God, apparently philosophical reasoning wasn't exactly their strong point.

    But of course, when the human ego invented God, it wanted to construct one single all powerful, all controlling imaginary super being, bigger and better than anyone else's, that had to have created absolutely everything and dominate absolutely everything.

    But all they needed to protect the free will argument, was to say their God is nothing but good and it's man, not God, that creates evil, simply by moving away from the light so to speak, by not doing what their imaginary friend wants.
    doh!
     
    #15     Jun 26, 2020
  6. expiated

    expiated

    What will the family of Yeshua do in heaven?

    This is actually a really big topic that will take a bit of research, so for now I’m just going to get my toes wet by noting the following…

    Luke 19:11-27 implies that when the Messiah returns, believers will rule with Him, and 2 Timothy 2:12 states that those who endure “will also reign with Him.” Moreover, 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 indicates that followers of Christ will judge not only the world, but also angels, and according to Revelation 14:13, at least some of the inhabitants of heaven will experience genuine rest.
     
    #16     Jul 1, 2020
  7. stu

    stu

    Luke, Timothy, Corinthians and Revelation for Christian supremacy

    What could possibly go wrong with a fkd up idea like that

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2020
    #17     Jul 3, 2020
  8. WWarrior

    WWarrior


    What is evil? this question seems to have been quite popular with philosophers throughout the ages . Some of them came to the conclusion that desires and wants in the material world brings a person closer to committing an act of evil and that evil has it's origins in selfishness .
     
    #18     Jul 4, 2020
  9. No.

    The Bible says God created us and everything was VERY GOOD. However, He gave Adam and Eve the choice to follow Him or turn from Him. The act of eating the forbidden fruit was a deliberate choice that both Eve and Adam made. They were warned that "dying they would surely die" if they made that decision. Life is passed on from life to life. A baby does not have the memories and many other things transferred to it from it's parents, but the babies life, the part that makes all cells living and work together (if the life dies, the baby dies) that part is transferred from parents to babies and has been, all the way back to Adam and Eve. So, in a sense, the life each of us has, originated in the garden of Eden, the place our ancestors CHOSE to disobey, after having been warned of the consequences. Each of us have continued in the same pattern of choosing to sin. Can anyone honestly think, looking at this world we live in, and the crimes committed by our fellow humans, that something isn't wrong?
    https://answersingenesis.org/adam-and-eve/why-do-we-get-punished-for-what-adam-did/

    People wonder why God hasn't revealed Himself to them....they say, "I asked God to show me Himself, if He really is there." Yet God has spoken to us, through the Bible, and especially through Jesus, the Son of God. The Bible even provides it's own evidence of it's truth by the prophesies that have been fulfilled through it. The book of Isaiah was written by the prophet Isaiah, centuries before Jesus came, and clearly describes the horrible death of our Subsitute:

    "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5 NKJV

    Just the fact that animal sacrifices were directed by God as a picture of our need of a substitute is an amazing proof that the need for a perfect substitute did not originate with Jesus or his disciples, but was practiced over several millenia, even since creation, in expectation. Is that not proof enough, for anyone who wants to believe, that the Bible is indeed true?

    The problem is that, as Jesus said, "men loved darkness, rather than light, because their deed were evil..." John 3:19 As sinners, we don't want to come to God in the way He provided. It hurts our ego, it exposes our shame. Yet, there is amazing love shown by God, Who Sacrificed Himself, in the 3rd Person of the Trinity. The Father also experienced the deep pain of laying the punishment that was due to us, upon His dearly Beloved. It was the kindest expression of love. Jesus Himself said, just before He died, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." John 15:14. The greatest love story ever is written in God's word. It's the story of the human race who chose to rebel, having been warned that "dying you shall surely die." Yet God provided, at a great cost to Himself, the perfect sacrificial substitute, on our behalf, when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and rose again victorious. His offer stands, to whoever receives Him, to make them a part of His family forever. "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." Ephesians 1:13 NKJV

    I didn't write this to be argumentative. I wrote this because I love my Savior. And my heart aches for those who don't know Him. My daily prayer is that many will come to know and love and be saved by Him too.
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2020
    #19     Jul 6, 2020
  10. expiated

    expiated

    Right... some would define evil as anything that contradicts the holy nature of God. So then, evil has it's origins in rebellion against the Creator.
     
    #20     Jul 6, 2020
    studentofthemarkets likes this.