John A. Broussard

Since the Jesus-type god could multiply fishes for the hungry mob he was preaching to, he--or one of the other members of the trio--should be able to multiply food for all those hungry people.

I wonder why they don't just pray for more food. In fact, I wonder why that doesn't become a major object of prayer by lee since he's been so effective in curing his headaches by appeal to god.

Would it take any more effort on god's part to multiply the world's food supply tenfold as it is to take the pressure off of the arteries feeding lee's brain?

lee_merrill

Hi everyone,

Well, I will not have to debate you any more then! If you are not trying to disprove the Christian claim about the Bible, then I have no quarrel with you.

It never does, mere power gives no inherent right to act.

Then I would not have this evidence. But I do have it, as it turns out, so this must be taken into account, in forming conclusions.

And you may rebuild Babylon! That would remove the disguise.

With regard to concerns as to why God does not heal everyone, there are indeed answers, I would point to a cross.

But this thread is about Babylon...

Regards,
Lee

Johnny Skeptic

And you may deliver your challenge to the Iraqis sometime in this century if you wish to, or is it your intention to never deliver it to them? If and when you do deliver it to them, how do you intend to convince them to accept your challenge? They will want reasonable proof that if Babylon were to be rebuilt, or if Arabs were to pitch their tents in Babylon, that the Christian Church would become substantially smaller, and that the U.S. would adopt a friendly foreign policy towards Muslims. Regarding the latter, all that you have to do is to contact the U.S. State Department, but everybody knows that you won't do it because you know that you will embarrass yourself. If I contact the U.S. State Department and they tell me that U.S. foreign policy towards Muslims would not change if either or both attempts were successful, will you concede defeat? Surely you do not accept challenges unless the challengers can provide you with good evidence that you will enjoy substantial benefits if your attempts are successful.

Rather, because Isaiah said that he spoke for God, you would prove this Christian belief. What proof do you have?

I do not have to disprove the Bible in order to discredit it, but you as the claimant have to prove it in order to verify it. You claim that the Babylon prophecy was divinely inspired, but I do not claim that the Babylon prophecy was not divinely inspired. My position is that it is equally plausible that the propehcy was inspired and that it was not divinely inspired. Now then, what evidence do you have that Isaiah was speaking for God and not for himself other than that is what Christians believe.

Let me put it this way: What gives God the right to determine what is right and what is wrong, and to choose how to punish wrongdoers?

But I asked you what would happen if you didn't have the evidence. Some people don't, you know.

When you proselytize non-Christians, do you tell them that unless
they experience a miracle healing they shouldn't become a Christians, right. And, if someone prays for a new arm or a new leg and does not get one, would you encourage that person not to become a Christian? Please tell us about some of your miracle healings. Are you replacing faith and the word of God with physical experiences? Are you aware that atheists and agnostics get healed too? Are you aware that wild animals get healed too? Are you aware that good things and bad things are frequently not distributed to those who are in the greatest need, such as people with serious cases of multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy? No loving God would refuse to help those people, and no loving God would have created Hurricane Katrina and sent it to New Orleans.

John A. Broussard

I admire your ability to give non-answers.

Johnny Skeptic

What does the cross have to do with miracle healings? Other than "the Bible says so", what evidence do you have that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a virgin, and never sinned, and that his shed blood and death atoned for the sins of mankind? Of course, there isn't any. Since you don't mind if God refuses to heal some people, would you have minded if he hadn't healed you? If not, then why do you place such great importance on your physical healings?

lee_merrill

Well, first I need a survey from Johnny showing me that if I do this, it will be effective...

I think I am done here again, so I will sign off...

Blessings,
Lee

John A. Broussard

He did it again!

When you're losing an argument, abandon the field.

Johnny Skeptic

As usual, you are not making any sense at all. You issued a challenge to the Iraqis, but incredibly, for some reason that you have not disclosed, you never delivered it to them. As far as I know, this is unprecedented, making a challenge but never delivering it to the challengee. An undelivered challenge is no challenge at all. Your challenge is between you and the Iraqis. You are the challenger, and they are the challengees. I cannot speak for the Iraqis. Why do you need a survey? The quickest and easiest way for you to find out whether or not your challenge would be effective would be for you to present it to the Iraqis. Is that not the way that challenges are normally made. You should have presented your challenge to the Iraqis months ago instead of wasting months debating skeptics who cannot speak for the challengees, and who have no authority to try to rebuild Babylon even if they wanted to. It is well-known that you are dishonest and evasive. Many of your posts are childish, ridiculous, and frequently downright comical. You obviously do not have any idea what a strange bird that you are even among fundamentalist Christians. In order to avoid ever having to back up what you say, you frequently demand that skeptics do various things in order to divert attention away from you own responsibilities.

You want a survey? Fine, if you wish I will conduct a survey. I will contact the U.S State Department and ask them whether or not your challenge will be effective. I will ask them the following question: If Babylon were to be rebuilt, or if Arabs were to pitch their tents in Babylon, would the U.S. adopt a friendly foreign policy towards Muslims? You already know that the answer would be no, and yet you dishonestly demand that a survey be conducted when you already know that the results will embarrass you if the survey is conducted. You are not trying to find the truth. You are only trying to win a debate and save face with you evasive tactics. You know for a fact that if Babylon were to be rebuilt, or if Arabs were to pitch their tents in Babylon, that the Christian Church would for all practical purposes be just as large as it is today, and that U.S. foreign policy towards Muslims would be just the same as it is today. Will you tell a lie and deny this? My gracious, Lee, you haven't even been able to produce a dozen FUNDAMENTALIST Christians who agree with your position, although I could easily produce one hundred fundamentalist Christians who do not agree with you. It is a given that virtually all liberal Christians would disagree with you, and that vitually all Muslims would disagree with you. The number of people in the world who agree with your position might be smaller than the number of members in the Flat Earth Society. Since the Flat Earth Society is a laughing stock in the opinions of 99.9999999% of the people in the world, what does that make you?

These debates have been fun, and it is surely obvious to most readers that as far as this thread is concerned, it is game, set, and match to the skeptics. By all means, please tell we skeptics where you will go next. We definitely want to be there for some more fun and entertainment.

John A. Broussard

You act as though you believe lee--that he won't be back.

Ha, ha.

Ever see that comic strip with Nancy holding the football?

Sven

So why didn't he abandon the thread on the very first page? :huh: