"Why won't God heal amputees?"

Discussion in 'Politics' started by lkh, Jun 9, 2006.

  1. jefferis

    jefferis

    :)
    So, I'll call you the Pumpkin Bunny.
     
    #861     Oct 25, 2006
  2. lindq

    lindq


    By the strength of your "logic", God is imaginary?

    Just stop and consider for a few moments how ridiculous it is to even consider that God is defined and confined by the constraints of your logic. As if you can even begin to comprehend the nature of infinity and the intelligence behind it. You're simply demonstrating here the limitations of your own intellect, which is confined by pride and ego.

    Let go of your pride and your ego, and you will take the first step toward truth.

    The only hope I hold out for you is that you capitalized the word "God" while attempting to negate his existance through your sophomoric "logic".

    As if to say "I don't really believe that God exists. But just in case....."

    LOL!
     
    #862     Oct 25, 2006
  3. lkh

    lkh

    Ok i think i understand now. If i give up logic and reason i will more clearly see God? Is that how you did it?
    If God does not want me to think why did he give me a thinker? I believe i have found the truth through logic and reason.
     
    #863     Oct 25, 2006
  4. lkh

    lkh

    This is confusing. I have been told all my life by preachers of many different churches that i simply must believe and repent and i am "in".
    Now you are telling everybody that no matter what you do if God has not already chosen you you can not believe. This will come as a surprise to people who are members of most denominations in this country.
    Of course you and all of your family are probably"choosen".
     
    #864     Oct 25, 2006
  5. jefferis

    jefferis

    You think you have escaped belief simply because you think you are relying on logic and reason?

    Atheism is a faith just like any other faith. It is founded on a belief, not
    on fact or science. The word “atheism” means “no belief.” However, atheists
    actually do believe; it is just that they believe in “nothing.” They believe
    that there is no God. In spite of all their claims to the contrary, atheists
    must still rely upon the same resources for their convictions as do all
    other believers: namely, their faith. The only difference is their faith is
    directed towards nothing. They believe there is no “thing” out there. No
    God. No supernatural. No Devil. No purpose or meaning to life. Yet, they are
    no more rational in their beliefs than Christians are in theirs. The
    atheist’s lack of belief in God is simply an article of faith.

    The problem atheists face is that you cannot prove that “nothing” exists.
    Nothing is the “absence” of some-thing. It isn’t a thing. It isn’t there, so
    you can’t show it. You cannot prove “nothing” is true. At most, you may find
    nothing where you are looking, but it does not mean there isn’t that thing
    somewhere else! For the same reason, you cannot prove the non-existence of
    God, because then you’d be trying to prove that “nothing” exists, which
    can’t be done. In fact, even to be an atheist and believe that God isn’t,
    you must first assume that God is, or you have nothing to not believe in!
    So, the idea of God’s existence is necessary in order for anyone to not
    believe in him. Atheists need God to have a faith that there is no God.

    By all traditional definitions, God is not material. He can’t be tasted,
    touched, seen, or felt. He can’t be measured or put under a microscope. You
    cannot subject him to the scientific method, because you cannot measure by
    material science that which is Spirit. God isn’t earth, wind, or fire. He
    isn’t lightening or gravity or the vacuum of space. So, how on earth could
    you “prove” that God is not? All you can do is point to what you can see,
    hear, or feel and say, “that is not God,” or “I don’t see him.” You may
    speak of what you know, but you cannot really speak of what you do not know.
    And if you don’t know God, how can you speak about him at all, either for
    good or ill?

    The realm of our experience is so limited and finite, all we could hope to
    say with any certainty is: “I haven’t experienced God.” But just because we
    haven’t experienced God does not mean he does not exist. We are not
    omniscient or omnipresent, so our experience is limited and tiny. All we
    know is in our small realm. For us to assert then, that “there is no God”
    requires a tremendous leap of faith. Maybe it requires even more faith to
    believe that there is no God than it does to believe that there is one.
    Listen to the faith of the atheist: “I, from my limited and tiny dot of
    existence on this small planet, am certain that there is no God. Even though
    I have not experienced all the vastness of the universe, I am certain I am
    right because I am so perceptive that I know what the rest of the universe
    holds.” Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But that is just what the atheist is
    asserting when he declares that there is no God. My question is always, “How
    on earth could he know?” The truth is, he can’t. He is acting in faith. If
    faith is your only evidence, then you might as well believe that He is as
    believe that he isn’t!

    I realize that many people are driven to the conclusion of unbelief because
    they are grieved over the evils of this world, or the death of loved ones,
    or by a thousand other causes of private pain. I cannot answer the pain with
    reasons why. It is beyond me. But the fact God does not put a stop to human
    freedom or suffering proves nothing about whether he exists or not. At most,
    we might wonder about his compassion, but his lack of action does not prove
    his non-existence. For instance, if I choose not to go to work tomorrow, I
    may be missing from my office and others may not see me, but it doesn’t mean
    I’ve ceased to exist. In the same way, we cannot prove God’s non-existence
    by his apparent inaction.

    In the Old Testament, the Jews didn’t even have a word for unbelief or
    doubt. The word they used was lo-Amen, or “no Truth.” A person who doubted
    or did not believe was a person who lacked the truth. It wasn’t until the
    Arabs came up with the number zero that we were able to take this nothing,
    this lack of truth, and make it into a something. A zero is a symbol that
    represents nothing, but we treat a zero as if it represents something real.
    A zero represents the absence of something. In the same way, atheism is
    built upon the zero, and so, we make atheism into something when it is not.
    It has no reality in itself, but it pretends to be something. It can never
    be proved and it can never be affirmed. It is the belief in nothing, or, as
    the Bible says, it is the absence of the truth.

    Atheism cannot exist without God, just as a lie cannot exist
    without the Truth. The only difference, then, between the Christian and the
    atheist is not their faith, but in what they believe. And Christians have a
    better ground upon which to stand, for they have encountered the God of the
    Universe. They base their faith on something, or rather should I say Someone
    they have experienced; not on something they haven’t. They have heard God
    speak to them, so their faith is based in knowledge.
     
    #865     Oct 25, 2006
  6. hcour

    hcour Guest

    Right. And Easter-Bunny-Atheism cannot exist w/o the Easter Bunny. I love the logic. As long as someone doesn't believe in Thor, The God of Thunder, he must exist.

    As an atheist, I do not believe in nothing. I believe in science, I believe in the laws of nature, I believe in truth, I believe in logic, I believe in common-sense. I believe in reality, not fantasy.

    Thor-Pumpkin-Bunny
     
    #866     Oct 25, 2006
  7. jefferis

    jefferis

    Notice, your last line is an ad hominem remark, not an argument. I told you, I won't engage in one-up-manship.

    However, what you've been told is wrong. If God chooses you, you will believe. If he judges you, you will not be able to believe.

    "And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God." John 3:19-21, RSV.

    "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." Jeremiah 17:10, NIV.

    "All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Luke 10:22, NRSV.

    "And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away." Luke 1:50-53, RSV.

    God has the right to judge the human heart, to see if it is bent towards evil; or if given the opportunity to walk in humility and love, the person woud cooperate with the Spirit and nature of God. If the person has no yearning within them to walk in humility and love towards others, then even seeing God's kindness, they would still reject Him. And so if He judges someone as bent towards evil and not desirous of change, then God has every right to judge that person and hide from him or her the truth of salvation. Faith is a gift. It isn't earned. It isn't merited. It isn't deserved. It is a gift of mercy which brings one to repentance for one's own participation in selfishness and evil.
     
    #867     Oct 25, 2006
  8. hcour

    hcour Guest

    I don't believe I can fly, therefore I can fly.

    I don't believe the DOW will ever go down, therefore it's time to buy.

    Hey, this if fun! Wish I'd know about this years ago.

    I sincerely don't believe I will get laid by Angelina Jolie tonight...

    H
     
    #868     Oct 25, 2006
  9. hcour

    hcour Guest

    Uh, oh, wait a minute. I'm pretty darn sure Jeffries doesn't believe in the Muslim God, or the Hindu God, or any of those other gods. Which of course means they must all exist. Every darn one of 'em.

    Crimeny, this is getting complicated. Now I don't know which God I'm supposed to believe in, especially since if I choose to believe in one and not the others, then the others have to exist, because I don't believe in them.

    As Barbarino used to say, I'm so confused!

    H
     
    #869     Oct 25, 2006
  10. jefferis

    jefferis

    You believe in Quantum physics even though the actions of electrons violate the laws of cause and effect? That electrons move from shell to shell without passing any point between and without the passage of time? That they appear here and then there without any time in between? You accept that as true even though you cannot experience it nor make sense of it. It defies common sense and Newtonian physics. There is much to reality that is not reducible to human understanding; but that doesn't mean it is fantasy. It just means the human mind and sense experience cannot grasp it.

    The material world, you assert is true, but by definition, the material world is more space than atoms; yet you don't experience the world as space but as constant friction.

    Einstein posited a 5th and 6th dimension that probably makes the narrow experience of our 4 dimensional universe seem quaint. Yet the common sense of natural laws is probably just as limited in terms of reality as Newtonian Laws are to Relativity.
     
    #870     Oct 25, 2006