Part 19 of Post Your Tough Questions Regarding Christianity

Yes, which means when anything happened it was noted. Are you aware that
virtually every species that breeds with another is in a controlled environment?
That's because they are far less likely to interact with another in their normal
habitat. The study shows that even in a controlled environment nothing
sensational occurred.

 

I know I have answered this question before and know that whatever I say it will only be met with denials. There is indeed historicity of Jesus, first of what is written of Him in the New Testament from first hand eyewitness accounts of the Holy Bible and secondly from outside sources but again as I have stated whatever evidence is given it will only be met by denials.

Someday all you non-believers will run out of denials then of course it will be too late for any of you to be saved. It's your choice not to be saved and so when you all find yourself being punished for your sins just remember you all put yourselves there to be punished. I know there are wacky people who like being punished but the thing about this punishment it is deserving and it won't be pleasant.

But here is a thorough explanation coming from my favorite Christian web-site concerning evidence of Jesus existence.

Question: "Did Jesus really exist? Is there any historical evidence of Jesus Christ?"

Answer: Typically, when this question is asked, the person asking qualifies the question with “outside of the Bible.” We do not grant this idea that the Bible cannot be considered a source of evidence for the existence of Jesus. The New Testament contains hundreds of references to Jesus Christ. There are those who date the writing of the Gospels to the second century A.D., more than 100 years after Jesus' death. Even if this were the case (which we strongly dispute), in terms of ancient evidences, writings less than 200 years after events took place are considered very reliable evidences. Further, the vast majority of scholars (Christian and non-Christian) will grant that the Epistles of Paul (at least some of them) were in fact written by Paul in the middle of the first century A.D., less than 40 years after Jesus' death. In terms of ancient manuscript evidence, this is extraordinarily strong proof of the existence of a man named Jesus in Israel in the early first century A.D.

It is also important to recognize that in A.D. 70, the Romans invaded and destroyed Jerusalem and most of Israel, slaughtering its inhabitants. Entire cities were literally burned to the ground. We should not be surprised, then, if much evidence of Jesus' existence was destroyed. Many of the eyewitnesses of Jesus would have been killed. These facts likely limited the amount of surviving eyewitness testimony of Jesus.

Considering that Jesus' ministry was largely confined to a relatively unimportant area in a small corner of the Roman Empire, a surprising amount of information about Jesus can be drawn from secular historical sources. Some of the more important historical evidences of Jesus include the following:

The first-century Roman Tacitus, who is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world, mentioned superstitious “Christians” (from Christus, which is Latin for Christ), who suffered under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. Suetonius, chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote that there was a man named Chrestus (or Christ) who lived during the first century (Annals 15.44).

Flavius Josephus is the most famous Jewish historian. In his Antiquities he refers to James, “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.” There is a controversial verse (18:3) that says, “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats....He was [the] Christ...he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him.” One version reads, “At this time there was a wise man named Jesus. His conduct was good and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”

Julius Africanus quotes the historian Thallus in a discussion of the darkness which followed the crucifixion of Christ (Extant Writings, 18. )

Pliny the Younger, in Letters 10:96, recorded early Christian worship practices including the fact that Christians worshiped Jesus as God and were very ethical, and he includes a reference to the love feast and Lord’s Supper.

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) confirms Jesus' crucifixion on the eve of Passover and the accusations against Christ of practicing sorcery and encouraging Jewish apostasy.

Lucian of Samosata was a second-century Greek writer who admits that Jesus was worshiped by Christians, introduced new teachings, and was crucified for them. He said that Jesus' teachings included the brotherhood of believers, the importance of conversion, and the importance of denying other gods. Christians lived according to Jesus’ laws, believed themselves to be immortal, and were characterized by contempt for death, voluntary self-devotion, and renunciation of material goods.

Mara Bar-Serapion confirms that Jesus was thought to be a wise and virtuous man, was considered by many to be the king of Israel, was put to death by the Jews, and lived on in the teachings of His followers.

Then we have all the Gnostic writings (The Gospel of Truth, The Apocryphon of John, The Gospel of Thomas, The Treatise on Resurrection, etc.) that all mention Jesus.

In fact, we can almost reconstruct the gospel just from early non-Christian sources: Jesus was called the Christ (Josephus), did “magic,” led Israel into new teachings, and was hanged on Passover for them (Babylonian Talmud) in Judea (Tacitus), but claimed to be God and would return (Eliezar), which his followers believed, worshipping Him as God (Pliny the Younger).

There is overwhelming evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, both in secular and biblical history. Perhaps the greatest evidence that Jesus did exist is the fact that literally thousands of Christians in the first century A.D., including the twelve apostles, were willing to give their lives as martyrs for Jesus Christ. People will die for what they believe to be true, but no one will die for what they know to be a lie.


Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/did-Jesus-exist.html#ixzz394sGaPeN

 

Natural Selection

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Natural Selection cannot be controlled in a lab

 

If "Natural Selection" cannot be controlled in a lab, then how is it possible to acquire any information regarding "Natural Selection" within a lab. Is 'Natural Selection' destroyed when placed in the lab? What is it about "Natural Selection" that results in "Natural Selection cannot be controlled in a lab"? It would seem likely that "Natural Selection" would be more 'controlled' in a 'controlled environment'.

 

Impossible to do that, the most profound reason is that Judgment Day is not here yet. Maybe if you had found some time to read Scripture you would have known that and wouldn't have asked such an invalid question.

In essence Judgment Day will be the end of human history and the beginning ot the eternal state.

 

No idea, but while God certainly seems to have a sense of humour, I don’t really think the universe is silly and I doubt God created us because eternity got boring.

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Well, should we get to “Heaven” (as I trust we will) our souls would have part in eternity. Being very much in time and space in this life, I too, find it hard to imagine such a state of being. But I somehow doubt that it requires anything to do, see or say.

You both seem to have a rather naïve view of what God’s eternity is to Christianity. The traditional Christian view is that it’s not just a long long long time, it’s actually timeless: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/eternity/#Ety

 

Nope...like I said, it hasn't even begun yet. What Bible are you reading?...lol

I should say...maybe you ought to read the Bible first before making comments...lol

 

Not necessarily. Zoo's are highly controlled and natural selection is far more
prevalent than not. The point I was trying to make is this, in nature it is
astronomically more common, and in some species it doesn't happen, to
breed within the species than without.

Now, if a controlled environment can't produce a new propagating species
after thousand of generations how long do you believe it will take with a
species to develop, theoretically, a different propagating species since they
rarely breed outside of it's own?

 

Probably a bible still in production and not out of print due to errors as yours is.

 

There were plenty of messengers before Jesus, including God, himself. He sent his laws into the world, destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and then destroyed everything to punish transgression. These seem to be clear messages. What did Jesus do that all the other messengers did not?

Also, why waste one's entire life merely giving a message instead of actually fixing the problem- and why would someone who was teaching humanity to love one another and be merciful decide to ultimately return as a conqueror and force his will on everyone?

 

Restoring life to dead bodies, Healing the blind, walking on water, calming a storm, changing water into wine, etc.

To fulfill His promises.

 

Why so much hostility? Aren't you comfortable in what you believe? Look you're getting overly excited where it has effected your grammar and making you cuss out in anger. And BTW I didn't create the Christian faith but I most certainly believe in it.

Because of sin, we all must die a physical death, since every single one of us are sinners.

We believers have faith and trust in God that we will be with Him for all eternity. Even though we have not seen heaven as yet, the Bible gives us a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Try reading the Bible for once, you just might like what you read, I mean don't you like the thought of living forever in perfect harmony, of living in eternal bliss in paradise? I don't see anything wrong with that picture?...do you?

How do you know God is not real? Do you have proof of this claim? I mean essentially in your comment you're saying God is not real, He doesn't exist and earlier you had asked me proof of Jesus existence and I gave you reasonable evidence that He did exist and so now I am asking you where is your proof that God does not exist? Do you have any credible evidence? Oh and btw just saying you can't see Him is not proof that He doesn't exist.

And furthermore your statement that no one has ever seen God is not actually true. People have seen God in the flesh, of course I'm referring to our Lord Savior Jesus Christ Himself and so His disciples who were the closest to Him knew He was the Christ, the Messiah that was propheseid to come as written in the Old Testament. And several of them wrote their Gospels in the New Testament depicting His birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection.

Now let's analyze the statement you made because to me it doesn't make sense. Are you suggesting that the Bible was created to scare the hell out of people...just the people that don't believe?

How can that be? I mean if you don't believe in the Bible then it is not scaring the hell out of you...right? There are more non-believers than believers.

But then of course you can't be suggesting that the people who do believe it's because the Bible has scared the hell out of them.

If you are then, couldn't it be that the people who do believe in the Bible, in God, they do so because they like the idea of being with God for all eternity in His heavenly paradise? They love God? They love life? They want an eternity of it in paradise?

Couldn't it also be it's because they have evaluated all the evidence whether it be biblical, philosophical, scientific, archaeological, secular and came to the conclusion that there is indeed a Mighty Creator, an Almighty God the Creator!?

And that He has revealed Himself to us? (Holy Bible, Jesus' birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection)

And lastly, they are not in denial of what is presented to them so that they can believe and trust what God has revealed to them?

 

To spoon water out the hull when the boat is, perhaps, poetic, but ridiculous.

To fulfill His plan, yeah, but I was wondering where the sense of it is. Why wait to fix a problem? Why all these extra steps?

 

And DNA discoveries proof Darwin was wrong and that humans and apes as well all other creatures evolved separately according to their own kind. The term Great Ape was another wrong term used by early white scientist because we now know that there is no such thing as Great Ape no description of what it is half human half ape? or is it something in line with Sasquatch?

Cambrian explosion has open new scientific doors to evolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion

 

Depends on Environmental factors and this is where your logic fails miserably. Natural Selection. Adapt to environmental changes or the species dies off.

 

No, all 4 members of the Great Ape family (Humans, Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Orangutans) all have one common ancestor.

Meet Link -> Pierolapithecus, which is believed by some to be the common ancestor of the Great Ape Family. This could of course change as new fossils are discovers.

Now quit being disingenuous by saying Apes and Humans evolved separately.

By the way, "Great Ape" is a generic term for Link -> Hominidae

 

Obviously His idea of "sense" is not in accord with your idea of 'sense'. Oh well! As to the 'ridiculous' part... hey we all have differing views on various subjects.

 

Why would I tell you when Jesus tells you ? If you want live in denial and continue to worship man made dogma then go ahead.

Works are the deeds, actions and way of life prescribed by Jesus in order to get into heaven.

 

Most mutations are not useful and end up being detrimental to the organism. This genetics 101.

Every once in awhile a beneficial mutation shows up. As you say the change from one mutation is not dramatic.
Over time however they add up to the point where a new species is created.

 

yeah, it is...

These six rock layers hold the History of the Earth as a record of the 6 durations we read in the Bible.

 

Well, wouldn't it stand reasonable that all dogma is man-made?

"dogma (ˈdɒɡm&#601 n, pl -mas or -mata (-mət&#601 1. (Theology) a religious doctrine or system of doctrines proclaimed by ecclesiastical authority as true
2. (Philosophy) a belief, principle, or doctrine or a code of beliefs, principles, or doctrines: Marxist dogma.

[C17: via Latin from Greek: opinion, belief, from dokein to seem good]"

"dog·ma (dôgm, dg-)n. pl. dog·mas or dog·ma·ta (-m-t) 1. A doctrine or a corpus of doctrines relating to matters such as morality and faith, set forth in an authoritative manner by a church.
2. An authoritative principle, belief, or statement of ideas or opinion, especially one considered to be absolutely true. See Synonyms at doctrine.
3. A principle or belief or a group of them: "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present" (Abraham Lincoln).

[HR][/HR][Latin, from Greek, opinion, belief, from dokein, to seem, think; see dek- in Indo-European roots.]"

It seems, when speaking definitively, that the use of the word 'dogma' creates a bit of a problem, in that according to definition, any opinion expressed can be considered as 'dogma'. In that sense (philosophically... see the first set of definitions above), even the opinions of scientists and even the opinions on this forum can be construed as 'dogma'.

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And those opinions were written by who?

 

The Bible people are trying to hold onto old medieval ideas that were crushed by Science that nevertheless supports the Bible. if read correctly, and used to compare it.

The six "durations" were recorded in the Geological Clock and the 22 names in the Genealogy are the 22 now extinct humans from whom we ascended.

The church will at some point see the wisdom in coming back to Science and the Bible again, and leave off with their long stories of denial.

 

You might want to put that to practice.

 

Of course it depends upon environmental factors. That's what I've been
saying. You know that, right? In other words controlled and not controlled.
The study didn't show any evidence, none whatsoever, of one propagating
species becoming another propagating species. I know you're trying very
hard to convince yourself otherwise but it's not going to work. I totally
understand the study. I only wish that you did, and I mean that earnestly.

Wrong, this isn't my logic. Why, you might ask? Because it's the outcome
of the 50+ year study. In the meantime you have shown us that you don't
understand the study.

Was there any evidence of a species dying off? If so where. Do you
understand that we're talking about thousands of generations as opposed
to 2 or 3? In all candor I don't believe you do. I honestly mean that.

 

naïve? we know precisely as much as you do about 'heaven'. which is to say, absolutely sweet FA. but I see you attempting to define it, as though you actually know.

FTR, no one said the universe is silly, the poster said the myths describing the convoluted 'management' of the universe are silly.