Scripture is my ultimate criterion because it is the Word of God. How do I know that it’s the Word of God? Because the Bible says so. I’m well aware that this is a circular argument. I am appealing to Scripture to argue for its own authority.
The Council of Nicaea deserves more respect than being ridiculed in such a manner. I do not often see Christians ridiculing politicians and other prominent figures so inappropriately
Well proving the existence of Hell will always be impossible, but i guess my thought path goes something like: suppose God is true >> suppose then that the Bible must be true >> Suppose then that Hell exists not in reverse order. And also the fact that theres all that magma downstairs and geothermal energy, so i suppose it wouldnt be a very nice place to be.
Someone made up the conjecture that all living creatures today came from the same single living organism. To this day there is no observation of this, but because people want so badly to believe it they will force anything they can to fit the preconceived conjecture.
Catholics are not Christians but at best Christians-in-becoming and once they become Christians they will no longer be Catholic because the religion itself will be like satan to them ("get thee behind me satan").
How do you know that your disbelief in God is not being caused by a demonic spirit who is psychologically disturbing your rational judgment leading you away from God? Alternatively how do you know that your disbelief in God does not stem from some deep seated subconscious emotional problem which is affecting your rational judgement on the issue without you realising it?
[On miracles from other religions] "The Scriptures are clear that Satan and his demons are real, and that they are deceivers. They have the power to manipulate men and the elements in order to cause miracles and religious experiences for people of other faiths, all for the purpose of taking glory away from the Lord God.
atheists shouldnt really celebrate christmas should they? Atheists HATE Christ, right? So christmas shouldnt really be celebrated by them.. but this goes against centuries of tradition and i thought that was a little unfair. Instead atheists should celebrate something different - Givmas, which is an altered version of christmas that only involves giving of presents and hanging around with family and friends. that way they dont have to have a looming religious feeling about the whole ordeal
Maybe eternity is the instant before we really die. From the viewpoint of our own cognitive awareness this isnt too hard to believe. Since time and space are one and the same then maybe the eternity we endure before we really die is experienced as an endless expanse of space. But what are we? Fundamentally speaking, we are mass and since mass is energy then it is well possible that Hell can fit a lot of people and be able to continually burn them. I have not been drinking. I heard that in Hell people eat each other. Therefore your soul flesh (the flesh you wear when you are in Hell) probably grows back at a very fast rate, seeing as you would die if you lost all your flesh. This means that you can constantly be burned while not becoming numb to the fire because the new flesh regrowth would have new nerve endings.
human-- one possessing in high degree the qualities considered distinctive of a man
You are just in denial. Snowflakes cannot form by themselves, unless the molecules are specifically designed to allow them to. If you can show me how molecules can form by themselves, then you may have something.
However, the existence of life, particularly human life requires something for which Darwinism has no answer: information, faculties of reason, language, increasing complexity, and finally, humanity.
[After being told both civilizations had extensive records going right thru the alleged time of the flood]
The word of God is evidence enough. The egyptian and chinese accounts of history were obviously wrong and so that is why they were punished in such a way. God was obviously setting an example.
You apparently weren't listening - I said that, unless he used trick photography, or actors, then there is no natural explanation for how he caused a bent card (or merely the "bend" itself) to transfer from the middle of a deck of cards to the top of the deck, which I happened to see him do on television. Again, perhaps it was "trick photography", with some fancy editing, but if not, there is no natural explanation (use the process of elimination, and common sense reasoning regarding physics, etcetera).
Oh, and have you ever seen "David Blaine: Street Magician"? Unless he used trick photography, or actors, there is no other explanation for his "magic" than that it is real (I saw him bend one card, place it in the middle of a deck so that one could see the "bend", and saw the card instantaneously move upward through the deck, so that it was on top).
[On Genesis]
It is different from a regular account because God chose to tell us the story in His way. Why He chose to tell the story in such a way is not a question that we are authorised to ask.
[After someone replies '2 - delusional']Other than the fact that what I've shared does not line up with your materialistic bias, what reason do you have for supposing this to be the case? It's awfully easy to attribute 'delusion' to all instances of things which do not fit in with one's worldview.
The Bible is truth because it is the word of God. Many Biblical accounts have been proven to be accurate by modern atheist scholars
And, I and two other people (neither of whom are or were Christians) heard walking sounds on the roof of a house. They heard it for about 2 weeks, then called me to see what I thought it was. On the third day that I came over, I heard it as well - the walking sounds were just like a person on the roof walking, and would start and stop at random times, and at random places on the roof. The day after I first heard it, we were all in the living room, and it began again. This time, I bowed my head and prayed to God to get rid of what I was sure was a demon, and as I prayed, the walking sounds "sped up" (like someone walking barefoot from a cool sidewalk onto a hot asphalt pavement), and then stopped just to my left, near the hallway to the kitchen. I and one other person quickly opened the sliding door which was just behind me, to see what was on the roof, and to check to see if "it" (human or otherwise) had jumped into the backyard (which was what the sliding door opened to). Nothing was on the roof, and nothing was in the (small and fenced in) backyard. Since that prayer, the walking sounds never returned. Care to offer a reasonable "naturalistic" explanation which reconciles all these facts?
Before Christianity:
Widespread disease and famine
Average life expectancy below 30 (?)
Warring between rival villages
After christianity:
Christian aid agencies
Significant educational institutions
The calendar
The parting of the Red Sea? Must have been a really windy day, that's all. Wood staffs turned into snakes? Well, there must be a perfectly naturalistic explanation - apparently, trees evolved into snakes.
Finally (for this post), someone accused me of being "arrogant" for thinking that God answered my prayer to get rid of a demon, even though God apparently does not answer much more "serious" (life-and-death) prayers. That's a ridiculous argument to make - God answers ALL sincere prayers made in faith...it's just that some of His answers happen to be "No", or "Not yet".
The Bible is truth because it is the word of God. Many Biblical accounts have been proven to be accurate by modern atheist scholars
Aw come on, moderator, I don't even know what a "jumped up wanker" is. I heard somebody use it and it really struck me funny, I thought I would try it on Galiel, since he is leaving anyway. I think it is somthing people in England say. I tried using that expression on my dog but got no reaction.
atheism is impossible you could not possably know that god isnt real if god is everywhere at once when you walk in the room he could of left in to the next one. you would have to be every where at once to know that god isnt real in other words youd have to be god. im not trying to insult any one. but just giving some logic
[Continuing on about the 'Demon on a hot tin roof' story]Well, I see that you have not addressed the facts in the slightest. Tell me, then, which of the following is your "explanation" for what I described: 1) I am lying 2) I am completely delusional - none of it happened 3) I and the two others are completely delusional - the walking sounds never happened 4) I and the two others are semi-delusional - the walking sounds did not sound like a human walking 5) Neither I nor the two others are delusional, but the walking sounds are very easily explained by one of the following scenarios: .......a) some animal, which simply left .......b) a prankster, who simply got bored .......c) house settling, which settled .......d) Aliens, who couldn't figure out how to get through the chimney 6) Other. (If "Other", please explain in detail what it involves.)
No, God didn't take away Pharaoh's freewill and forced him to make a stupid descision. The phrase "harden his heart" means that God allowed pharaoh's heart to become hard. He didn't take away pharaoh's freewill and make him let the people go - he allowed pharaoh to harden his heart. So it is in the sense that God allowed pharaoh's heart to become hard that the Bible says that God caused "his heart to become hardened". In a fuller way - God caused pharaoh's heart to become hard by allowing pharaoh to have his own way. That's the way I see it anyway.
Other than the fact that the event as I described it could not fit with a materialistic worldview, you have no reason whatsoever to think I am "delusional". And, if you accept that I am not delusional, then your "ANIMAL" or "PEOPLE" explanation does not explain all of the events. Perhaps you'd like to try to reconcile the events that occurred (again assuming that you agree that I am not delusional, at least for the sake of argument) with either an animal or a person making the walking sounds. I sit with rapt attention, awaiting your revelation.
Isaiah was NOT a false prophet [because he made a prophecy that didn't come true] because Jesus supported the truth and witness of the prophets.
What a bunch of hooey. MadMordigan, especially, makes the grievous error of misunderstanding or misrepresenting the Gos
Your "story" has so many misrepresentations and false assumptions and conclusions that I wouldn't know where to begin in correcting them. You present Christians as having no real or valid evidence for the existence of God, for example. And you present the God that they believe in as being an obviously inconsistent and cruel Being. And you present the evils done in the name of Christianity as being the responsibility of true Christians, or at least as things validly derivable from the Bible. All misrepresentations, at best.
What do you mean? The egyptians and the chinese were destroyed by the flood to pay for their sins.
If i was born in exactly the same situation as them [the 9/11 hijackers], with exactly the same genes as them, i would have done exactly the same thing as them. Because there would be no reason i wouldn't have. Consider this statement closely if replying.
With such a diverse and large amount of genetic information within each of our cells, i find it not that hard to believe that different characteristics we see today could have arised from recessive traits in Noah's genes. After all, so much of the human genome we know nothing about.
God created the world without suffering, evil, or death. God gave Adam and Eve "dominion" over the world, and the world (the Earth and all "within" it) became subject to their authority. When they submitted their authority to Satan (effectively), and corrupted their purity by sinning, they gave the dominion of the Earth over to Satan (effectively). Because of their sin, the Earth was cursed "for their sake", probably because this was due punishment for them. Also, the suffering of innocent animals would be an object lesson for humanity, pointing to their own lack of innocence. Necessary, but not God's desire; redeemable, since the Bible says that the Earth was subjected to futility, not "willingly", but it will be delivered from the "bondage of corruption". Sin has consequences more severe than a "time-out", and causes the innocent to suffer, until God puts a stop to it, which He will do.
There was ONE demon, which would manifest by making walking sounds on the roof at various times of the day, and at various places. One night, I bowed my head in prayer to God that God would get rid of the demon, and the demon 'hot-footed' it to a corner of the house, and the walking sounds ceased, and never returned.
As much as evolutionists are averse to changing their thinking, and as much as their biases inform their opinions in spite of all the facts, I still think they are capable, at times, of rational thought.
If the theistic evolutionist refuses to answer, or relegates God to the background (thinking him not worth the bother because he isn't empirically detectable), then it is clear that we are dealing not with a theist, but a Darwinist who happens to be agnostic. Again, it would seem that the theistic evolutionist attempts to reconcile what cannot possibly be joined together.
The reason that there are so many versions of the bible is because Christians now a-days have been changing the word of GOD to suit themselves, and that's not right. I am not that way. I am strictly K.J.V. However, I do respect the Islam people. I respect you guys because you are true and faithful to your religion, you cover up your woman in veils. I personally wish that Christianity was more like Islam, only with our beliefs.
Kindly disprove he existence of God.
we just feel it and no amount of your [evolutionary] data will prove otherwise.
How am I a hypocrite? I say that I believe it is right to judge and then, sure enough, I judge! I practice what I preach.
It is hypocrites like you who say it we should not judge, but then what do you do? You turn right around and judge me, you hypocrite.
By the way, I left out the most important part. JESUS CHRIST was dead for 3 days, but on the 3rd day, He arose and He is now on the right hand side of JESUS! Now, that should make it a little bit more convincing, shouldn't it?
[On Christians who become atheists]
I've never once met an atheist who experienced any of the gifts of the Spirit or the "rivers of living water" Jesus spoke of.
When I meet one, I'll know I've met an open minded person. I doubt I will. Only a fool would regress so.
You are not demons. Demons are fallen angels that decided to go with the devil. You will not be slaughtered in front of JESUS. You will be cast into a lake of fire burning with fire and brimstone. You cannot die in here because your soul can't die. But, your soul will feel pain, and you will be tormented. That is the punishment for rejecting the LORD. But you don't have to go through such a horrible judgment if you would only accept Him!
I mean he does intervene sometimes, but this was apparently not one of those times. I cannot speculate. Maybe the plane that went down in Pennsylvania was detoured by God, who knows?
I am not in a cult. I am a born again, bible-believing Christian! That is not a cult! To all of you, I can say on judgment day that I told you that GOD was real, but you just mocked me. You will see that GOD is real when you see HIM as your judge. It will be too late for you to accept HIM then, so I urge you to please accept HIM now!
Have you ever heard of an ipostate? That's the term for a "christian" that is worse than a backslider that has completely strayed from the LORD. That's what you and the rest of these "once saved" people on here are.
I don't think you're going to have that bold of an attitude while you're standing in a puddle of your own urine [at the final judgement].
[On abortion being legal]
So was the gassing of Jews in Nazi Germany.
You'll have to try to justify it on Judgment Day. Good luck. You're going to need it.