Part 31 of Post Your Tough Questions Regarding Christianity>>MOD WARNING<<

more than likely?

it's so patently, overwhelmingly, screamingly obvious it's all made up, that introducing even a sliver of doubt to the question is laughable. we may doubt the existence of gods (or rather, the non-existence of gods), but the old books and myths?

 

Okay, more than most likely.

 

It's not ALL made up. There is truth in the Bible. Forget the spiritual side. Many places, names and events are confirmed by archaeology.

 

Of course that's your biased opinion you're expressing but sorry I'm glad to say I don't agree with it.

Again it's your biased opinion you're expressing but the truth is I do understand the Bible, that's why I can matter of factly say I'm a believer...a practicing Christian by faith.

One of the reasons why people are unbelievers it's because they don't understand the Bible, to them the Bible is just a book filled with fairy tale stories and contradictions. Besides not understanding the Bible there are numerous other reasons why people refuse to believe in Almighty God the Creator.

But a believer such as myself see the Bible as the Word of God, the infallible Word of God and so of course those stories are going to be amazing, after all we are speaking about Almighty God the Creator who can do amazing things since He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. Nothing is impossible for God to do, nothing that is contrary to His character and nature that is!

We read in Scripture:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."---Genesis 1:1 NLT

Now isn't that an amazing feat!!?...of course it is!

Did you think the heavens and the earth created itself?...it all came about accidently?...in some unexplainable cosmic accident?...for no apparent reason?...fined tuned?...non-living lifeless materials eventually creating the millions upon millions of different living beings/species on earth?

Boy oh boy!, if anyone believes that, then it takes a whole lot of faith, tons more than the faith to believe that Almighty God the Creator is responsible for creating the heavens and the earth and everything that lives!

 

Sure, the places might be real, but the stories . . . not so much.

 

For sure. And the book has some value in this regard. All corroborating sources have value, even if they simultaneously talk of a giant invisible man in the sky. It's the GIMITS which is as bogus as bogus gets

 

What exactly are you asking? Are you asking what does God look like? The image of God is not referring to what God looks like. He does not have a material body like we do because He is a spirit.

The Bible says we humans were made in the image of God, to be the likeness of God. But don't get confused by that by interpreting it to mean we physically look like Him, that is not what is meant by us being made in the image of God.

Click on the link below if you want to read a thorough explanation of what is meant by "the image of God"/ "we (humans) were made in the image of God"

http://www.gotquestions.org/image-of-God.html

 

The Bible does not say anything about a giant invisible man in the sky. God is not a man, He created man and all the other living beings on this earth, He is Almighty God the Creator!...write that down in your notebook!

 

What did Adam & Eve and Moses see? The spent of lot of time in the God's company.

 

yet he has a gender ... and a kid! heck, he even had a wife at some point. While it serves your needs to view yahweh is a big spooky blob of ethereal stuff, the inventors wrote him up as an invisible sky man. bummer.

and declaring "he is almighty god, the creator!" is utterly meaningless, by the way. Same as shouting "This banana, is THE banana!", or, "my purple armchair is THE purple armchair!" It means exactly nothing.

 

Not so much - I agree with. Nevertheless many battles fought in the era of the Kings have been confirmed by archaeological finds in the form of tablets, steles and on Egyptian/ Babylonian/Assyrian walls in excavated cities.

And there is no reason to suggest that Jesus did not preach throughout the land. A Jewish Teacher. Christianity has made Jesus a miracle worker. But many of his teachings were simply from Tanakh teaching. Sometimes with a new slant. But then that happens with many religions.

 

How the hell would I know. You're responding to something from near 2 years ago. Sheesh.
I see you still use a website that has been proven to make stuff up.

One of your buddies tried to show me passages where God has a finger. Even tried to give me passages what God's body looked like. Of course that dude failed because God doesn't have a body. Even his passages stated as much.

 

Okay, but that's not what I was referring to. I am referring to a lot of things in the OT . . . the events and miracles.

 

2 years? Oh dear. I'll come back for answers to mine in 18 months.

 

You're absolutely right...first statement by you that I can wholeheartedly agree with.

That would be the image of human beings...of course! The family of mankind...of course!

 

Your statement shall we say is a half truth. There has been numerous scientists who are/were Christians by faith that have contributed to the advancement of humanity. Below is just a partial list of them who are still living.

Biomedical Sciences

Eben Alexander (born 1953): American, Harvard-educated neurosurgeon best known for his book, "Proof of Heaven", in which he describes his 2008 near death experience. In a recent interview, Dr Alexander said: "It's time for brain science, mind science, physics, cosmology, to move from kindergarten up into first grade and realize we will never truly understand consciousness with that simplistic materialist mindset."

Werner Arber (born 1929): Werner Arber is a Swiss microbiologist and geneticist. Along with American researchers Hamilton Smith and Daniel Nathans, Werner Arber shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of restriction endonucleases. In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Arber as President of the Pontifical Academy&#8212;the first Protestant to hold that position.

Robert T. Bakker (born 1945): Paleontologist who was a figure in the "dinosaur Renaissance" and known for the theory some dinosaurs were Warm-blooded. He is also a Pentecostal preacher who advocates theistic evolution and has written on religion.

R. J. Berry (born 1934): He is a former president of both the Linnean Society of London and the Christians in Science group. He also wrote God and the Biologist: Personal Exploration of Science and Faith (Apollos 1996) He taught at University College London for over 20 years.

Derek Burke (born 1930): British academic and molecular biologist. Formerly a vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia, Professor Burke has been a specialist advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology since 1985.

Ben Carson (born 1951): American neurosurgeon. He is credited with being the first surgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins joined at the head. Carson has stated, "I don&#8217;t believe in evolution .... I simply don&#8217;t have enough faith to believe that something as complex as our ability to rationalize, think, and plan, and have a moral sense of what&#8217;s right and wrong, just appeared.&#8221;[this quote needs a citation]

Alasdair Coles: Lecturer in neuroimmunology at Cambridge University and an honorary consultant neurologist to Addenbrooke&#8217;s and Hinchingbrooke Hospitals. He is involved in research into new treatments for multiple sclerosis. His amateur research interest, in the neurological basis for religious experience, came from managing a small cohort of patients with spiritual experiences due to temporal lobe epilepsy and he has given lectures on this subject at several universities. Coles was ordained in the Church of England in 2008 and is now a curate at St Andrews Church, Cambridge, alongside his medical and scientific work.

Francis Collins (born 1950): He is the current director of the National Institutes of Health and former director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute. He has also written on religious matters in articles and the book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

Darrel R. Falk (born 1946): Darrel Falk is an American biologist and the former president of the BioLogos Foundation.

Charles Foster (born 1962): Charles Foster is a science writer on natural history, evolutionary biology, and theology. A Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, the Royal Geographical Society, and the Linnean Society of London, Foster has advocated theistic evolution in his book, The Selfless Gene (2009).

John Gurdon (born 1933): Sir John Bertrand Gurdon is a British developmental biologist. In 2012, he and Shinya Yamanaka were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that mature cells can be converted to stem cells. In an interview with EWTN.com on the subject of working with the Vatican in dialogue, he says "I'm not a Roman Catholic. I'm a Christian, of the Church of England...I've never seen the Vatican before, so that's a new experience, and I'm grateful for it."

Brian Heap (born 1935): Biologist who was Master of St Edmund's College, University of Cambridge and was a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion.

William B. Hurlbut: William Hurlbut is a physician and Consulting Professor at the Stanford Neuroscience Institute, Stanford University Medical Center. In addition to teaching at Stanford, Hurlbut served for eight years on the President's Council on Bioethics and is nationally known for his advocacy of Altered Nuclear Transfer (ANT).

Brian Kobilka (born 1955): He is an American Nobel Prize winner of Chemistry in 2012, and is professor in the departments of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Kobilka attends the Catholic Community at Stanford, California.

Denis Lamoureux (born 1954): Denis Lamoureux is an evolutionary creationist and holds a professorial chair of science and religion at St. Joseph's College at the University of Alberta, Canada&#8212;the first of its kind in Canada, and with Phillip E. Johnson, Lamoureux co-authored Darwinism Defeated? The Johnson-Lamoureux Debate on Biological Origins (1999). Lamoureux has also written Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution (2008

Noella Marcellino (born 1951): American Benedictine nun with a degree in microbiology. Her field of interests include fungi and the effects of decay and putrefaction.

Alister McGrath (born 1953): Prolific Anglican theologian who has written on the relationship between science and theology in A Scientific Theology. McGrath holds two doctorates from the University of Oxford, a DPhil in Molecular Biophysics and a Doctor of Divinity in Theology. He has responded to the new atheists in several books, i.e. The Dawkins Delusion?. As of early 2014, McGrath will be the New Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford.

Kenneth R. Miller (born 1948: Biology professor at Brown University who wrote Finding Darwin's God

Simon C. Morris (born 1951): British paleontologist who made his reputation through study of the Burgess Shale fossils. He was the co-winner of a Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal and also won a Lyell Medal. He is active in the Faraday Institute for study of science and religion and is also noted on discussions concerning the idea of theistic evolution.

William Newsome (born 1952): Bill Newsome is a neuroscientist at Stanford University. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Newsome is the co-chair of the BRAIN Initiative, "a rapid planning effort for a ten-year assault on how the brain works."[305] Newsome is also a Christian and has written about his faith: "When I discuss religion with my fellow scientists...I realize I am an oddity &#8212; a serious Christian and a respected scientist."

Martin Nowak (born 1965): Evolutionary biologist and mathematician best known for evolutionary dynamics. He teaches at Harvard University, which is pictured in an old drawing.[307] Ghillean Prance (born 1937): Noted botanist involved in the Eden Project. He is also the current President of Christians in Science.

Joan Roughgarden (born 1946): An evolutionary biologist who has taught at Stanford University since 1972. She wrote the book Evolution and Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist.

Mary Higby Schweitzer: paleontologist at North Carolina State University who believes strongly in the synergy of the Christian faith and the truth of empirical science

Now to see the complete list which goes back to the 4th century A.D. click on the link below. Just to name a few of these brilliant Christian scientists who have contributed greatly to the advancement of humanity we have historical figures who influenced Western science considered themselves Christian such as Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton and Boyle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_thinkers_in_science

Of course this is just your own biased opinion as you see it in your non-believers perspective.

Christians have always valued life to a high degree, ever since our Lord Savior Jesus Christ walked the earth some 2,000 years ago, we thank the Lord for our lives here on earth, we value it so much that we await to have more of life someday in paradise, in God's Kingdom of Heaven for all eternity with our Lord and Master!

We read in Scripture:

"For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."---John 3:16 NLT

 

What have all those people to do with it. They would probably have made the same discoveries if they had not been Christians.

 

Ryan,

Are you suggesting that atheists don't value life?

 

Well you know I have heard some atheists say that life is meaningless because it has no real purpose...you are born, you live, then you eventually die and that's it. Well yeah from that perspective it really appears life is meaningless.

You will never hear a Christian utter those words. We view life as being very precious and valuable, we have a purpose for living our lives, it has meaning, our lives are meaningful! There is more to life than just being born, live, then die, there is the eternal afterlife to consider, your eternal fate to consider.

 

There's a large difference between saying life is intrinsically meaningless and utterly meaningless. You don't seem to understand that difference.

 

So what is your life's purpose?

 

Is your view of most or all atheists based on the views of some? Does the word some imply a known quantity? Some Christians believe some messed up things but I do not take this to represent all Christians... nor even the majority as "some" = an unknown quantity and is not a solid basis to make a sweeping judgment.

 

Yes, He created everything in the physical realm...the universe (stars, planets, moons)...living beings (humans, birds, sea creatures, land animals etc.).

At first it might seem that if God created all things, then evil must have been created by God. However, evil is not a "thing" like a bowl or pudding. You cannot have a bowl of evil but you can most certainly have a bowl of pudding. Evil has no existence of its own, it is really the absence of good.

Nope, sorry but your statement is false. Our thoughts, decisions/choices come from our free will, God gave us the gift of free will and so whatever we do with this free will it is our decision/choice to do them.

You are suggesting that God made us His robots/puppets but if that was true then we would only do God's will which would be to only do what is good because God hates evil.

He will not ever direct anyone to do what is evil but since there is evil in the world it can only mean we are not God's puppets/robots and He has indeed given us the free will to choose to do what is evil or to do what is good. He always wants us to do what is good and not evil but again because He has given us free will, He will allow us to choose to do evil besides good.

Since God is omniscient, He knows everything, He knew that by giving us free will evil would come into the world but still it would be wrong to suggest that God planned evil to come into the world, no He didn't plan it but knew when He gave us the free will to choose our actions/decisions that evil would come into the world. And so we can't blame God, we have only ourselves to blame for all the misery that goes on in this world of ours.

Exactly!...evil isn't a thing!

Those like evil are not things, they are human emotions that we all have, it is human nature.

Why not, He's not responsible for our decisions, He's not responsible for you not believing in Him, it is your decision to do so. He's not responsible for us committing our sins, it was our decisions/choices to commit them.

No, you're wrong. God didn't plan that we would do evil but instead He knew we would do evil. Again God gives us the freedom to choose (aka, free will)

Yes God created everything but again I repeat, no God didn't plan all the evil that would ever happen but rather He knew that evil would happen. Evil originated when our first parents Adam & Eve disobeyed God in the Garden by eating the forbidden fruit. When they did this they acquired the knowledge of good and evil.

God didn't create love because He Himself is love.

Because God is all about love and He does not do any evil, I'd say He is perfection, perfectly holy!...do you know any human beings who are perfect?...I sure don't because none exist. The only exception is of course when Jesus Christ lived among us some 2,000 yrs. ago. He was the incarnate God in human flesh and He was sinless and therefore perfect. He came into the world to save mankind from our sins.

It's obvious you are not understanding God at all. We are not stripping Him of any of His powers. It appears you are by suggesting He is evil because He planned for us to be evil. God is love, He is so powerful that He is so perfectly holy and will not do any evil.

When God created, it is true that all He created was good. One of the good things God made was creatures who had the freedom to choose good.

In order to have a real choice, God had to allow there to be something besides good to choose. So, God allowed these free angels and humans to choose good or reject good (evil). When a bad relationship exists between two good things we call that evil, but it does not become a "thing" that required God to create it.

Evil is the absence of good, or better yet, evil is the absence of God. God did not create evil, but He does allow evil. If God had not allowed for the possibility of evil, both mankind and angels would be serving God out of obligation, not choice. He did not want "robots" that simply did His will because of their "programming".

How could God love programmed robots? So He gave us free will and choose whether or not we wanted to serve Him.

Everyone who ends up in heaven, believes in Him, loves Him, worships Him, and praises Him!

The ones who choose not to believe in Him, not to love Him, not to worship Him, and not to praise Him will be separated from God forever.

So in conclusion, God did not create evil, but He allows it, for the reasons I have thoroughly explained above.
God Hates Evil But Is Willing To Forgive.

 

So you speak for all 2.2 billion Christians?

 

<Mod Edit: Flame-bait Removed>
God didn't create evil. But he knew before he created us we'd all be evil. LOL. Classic.