Zone1 No Wonder Why I Had Doubts In God's Existence Before

[ding]

Your arrogance is impressive. You find your 'evidence' overwhelming, I do not.

The overwhelming evidence is the universe itself. Don't you believe the universe contains an overwhelmingly large amount of information?

So no arrogance needed. It's just an accurate description of the AMOUNT of evidence available.

 

[BreezeWood]

The problem is I have experienced the power of faith and know faith is real.

oh, and what could that experience have been - care to back it up with substance.

 

[ding]

Did both those happen in John or are you bringing in other Gospels?

Throughout all the gospels I believe. It was pretty common throughout the accounts of the miracles performed. He'd either say, tell no one or go tell others. I'm surprised you never noticed it before. Especially given how you believe you have really made an effort at understanding it and all.

 

[Meriweather]

So you don't think Christianity is the one true way? What other religions do you endorse?

I believe it is best to seek and find God. For me, that happened through the Catholic faith, and it is the faith that keeps me close to God.

The reality is that I began seeking God when I was not only small, but very small. What I learned of God I learned from Little Golden Books. So...did God find me because I was Catholic, or did He find me even though I was Catholic? I tend to lean towards the latter thought.

I endorse whatever religion draws one closer to God. That being said, the religion I know best is Catholicism, so if anyone insisted I direct them, I would choose Catholic/Orthodox teaching because that is what I know. It would be silly for me to try to teach anything else.

If neither of those avenues are available, I recommend Judaism, because it starts at the very beginning; a very good place to start... But overall, return to: Follow the religion that draws you closer to God. God will find those who earnestly seek Him.

 

[alang1216]

The overwhelming evidence is the universe itself. Don't you believe the universe contains an overwhelmingly large amount of information?

Evidence of the creation of our universe, yes, evidence for the God of the Bible, none whatsoever. Evidence that intelligence is inevitable, no, no more than feathers are inevitable, because they are not.

So no arrogance needed. It's just an accurate description of the AMOUNT of evidence available.

Evidence of what?

 

[ding]

Laws were made by the king and his own personal whim. The king trumped the Bible.

I'm pretty sure it was slightly more complicated than that. There's a lot of history you are skipping.

 

[Meriweather]

So your all powerful god was incapable of sending the same messages to everyone then?

Love God. Love one another. That is the message of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

 

[alang1216]

Throughout all the gospels I believe. It was pretty common throughout the accounts of the miracles performed. He'd either say, tell no one or go tell others. I'm surprised you never noticed it before. Especially given how you believe you have really made an effort at understanding it and all.

John didn't have access to the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, or Luke so he had to rely on the stories he did have and some of his stories were added centuries after he lived. His Jesus has little in common with the Jesus of the synoptic Gospels. His work is the most theological of them all and he rewrote history to reinforce his theological message.

None of the Gospel writers knew Jesus, they only had unreliable, oral histories to go on, and the stories of Jesus' miracles may be the most unreliable of them all.

 

[ding]

Evidence of the creation of our universe, yes, evidence for the God of the Bible, none whatsoever. Evidence that intelligence is inevitable, no, no more than feathers are inevitable, because they are not.


Evidence of what?

Evidence for a Creator and about a Creator. And it's not just the creation of reality. It's the evolution of reality as well. It's every single thing.

You like to jumble up the question of does God exist with who is God. You have some weird belief that religion and not creation is what you should be studying to determine who God is. At the end of the day those are man's perceptions about a transcendent incorporeal being which is eternal and beyond comprehension. Of course there will be different perceptions. It would be odd if there weren't. So congratulations for outsmarting yourself with your cleverness in stating the obvious; different men have different perceptions of God and their perceptions have no bearing on God.

Please tell me you aren't here to only bash the God of Christians.

 

[ding]

John didn't have access to the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, or Luke so he had to rely on the stories he did have and some of his stories were added centuries after he lived. His Jesus has little in common with the Jesus of the synoptic Gospels. His work is the most theological of them all and he rewrote history to reinforce his theological message.

None of the Gospel writers knew Jesus, they only had unreliable, oral histories to go on, and the stories of Jesus' miracles may be the most unreliable of them all.

And yet what I have pointed out to you is real and was recanted in the gospels for a reason.

But you need to remember why we are discussing this in the first place. You made an incorrect deduction and this was offered up as proof your error.

 

[ding]

Evidence that intelligence is inevitable, no, no more than feathers are inevitable, because they are not.

Of course it was. It was only a matter of time and conditions. Given the numbers it most certainly was inevitable. It's just the statistics of a massive universe and the laws of nature which existed before space and time itself.

 

[BULLDOG]

I believe it is best to seek and find God. For me, that happened through the Catholic faith, and it is the faith that keeps me close to God.

The reality is that I began seeking God when I was not only small, but very small. What I learned of God I learned from Little Golden Books. So...did God find me because I was Catholic, or did He find me even though I was Catholic? I tend to lean towards the latter thought.

I endorse whatever religion draws one closer to God. That being said, the religion I know best is Catholicism, so if anyone insisted I direct them, I would choose Catholic/Orthodox teaching because that is what I know. It would be silly for me to try to teach anything else.

If neither of those avenues are available, I recommend Judaism, because it starts at the very beginning; a very good place to start... But overall, return to: Follow the religion that draws you closer to God. God will find those who earnestly seek Him.

Is Judaism an acceptable religion? That is odd if you believe Jesus is the one true rout to god.

 

[Meriweather]

Is Judaism an acceptable religion?

Yes.

That is odd if you believe Jesus is the one true rout to god.

I believe Jesus is One with the Father. Jesus is the Word of God. Jews believe in God and they believe in His word. We all come to God through His Word--it is how he draws us to Him.

The stumbling block between Jews and Christians is not the Word of God, it is whether the Word can become a human being.

 

[BULLDOG]

Yes.

I believe Jesus is One with the Father. Jesus is the Word of God. Jews believe in God and they believe in His word. We all come to God through His Word--it is how he draws us to Him.

The stumbling block between Jews and Christians is not the Word of God, it is whether the Word can become a human being.

Jesus being the only way to salvation is the main premise of Christianity. Without that, there is no Christianity. Jews think that is bullshit. That's a gap too wide for anybody to ignore.

 

[Meriweather]

Jesus being the only way to salvation is the main premise of Christianity.

Who is Jesus?

• He is the Word of God.
• He is One with God

 

[Meriweather]

Without that, there is no Christianity.

Christianity is the New Covenant (Testament). God's covenant with mankind is that sins are forgiven, the Way of Salvation and to God has been redeemed and is open to all humanity.

Jesus taught The Way of Salvation, and his teachings were/are also laid out in Jewish Scripture (Old Testament/Covenant of the Bible. This is turning away from sin/disobedience and turning towards obedience to discern and follow the will of God.

This is not hard to grasp. God started with a small Chosen group of people to live a life set apart and devoted to their faith in God. This Way is now open to the whole world. God reaches out to all. He did not replace one chosen group with another chosen group. He expanded it, it became catholic--i.e. open to and welcoming all.

 

[Meriweather]

That's a gap too wide for anybody to ignore.

Any "gap" is artificial.

 

[BreezeWood]

It's just the statistics of a massive universe and the laws of nature which existed before space and time itself.

there has never been a before, the universe has always existed.

 

[BULLDOG]

Christianity is the New Covenant (Testament). God's covenant with mankind is that sins are forgiven, the Way of Salvation and to God has been redeemed and is open to all humanity.

Jesus taught The Way of Salvation, and his teachings were/are also laid out in Jewish Scripture (Old Testament/Covenant of the Bible. This is turning away from sin/disobedience and turning towards obedience to discern and follow the will of God.

This is not hard to grasp. God started with a small Chosen group of people to live a life set apart and devoted to their faith in God. This Way is now open to the whole world. God reaches out to all. He did not replace one chosen group with another chosen group. He expanded it, it became catholic--i.e. open to and welcoming all.

Nope. Doing good isn't the way. Christianity requires acceptance of Jesus as the only way to salvation. Do that, and you're good to go. Don't do it, and you go to hell. It is the one defining requirement of Christianity.

 

[BULLDOG]

Any "gap" is artificial.

Bullshit.