John A. Broussard

Do you always pray to know god's will before praying for the many cures of illnessess you've suffered from?

I'm looking forward to your answer.

Johnny Skeptic

Then why did Jesus have compassion for some people and heal them if God's grace is sufficient? Why didn't Jesus heal everybody? Skeptics are entitled to answers to these questions BEFORE they consider becoming Christians, not AFTER. The withholding of truth is not an honorable thing for God to do. Among humans, trust is built upon consistency. Why do you not require consistency from God? If your answer is that one day, everything will work out just fine for believers, upon what evidence do you base this assertion? Since God has not been consistently good, loving, and compassionate in the past, and in the present, why do you assume that he will be consistently good, loving, and compassionate in the future? What evidence do you have that Scriptures that mention a comfortable heaven for believers were inspired by God and not invented by the New Testament writers? Logically, it is God's character in the past and in the present that best indicate what his character will be in the future.

We skeptics are still waiting for you to provide documented medical research of even one single divine healing that you have had, or that anyone else has had.

Do you believe that God caused Hurricane Katrina to go ashore on the Gulf coast?

What gives God the right to proclaim himself dictator of the universe? Does might make right? Why does God have to be right?

But why do you always refuse to back up your frequent assertion that skeptics and Muslims are missing a golden oppurtunity to discredit the Bible by rebuilding Babylon? You have issued a challenge to skeptics and Muslims, but you have NEVER provided any evidence at all that skeptics and Muslims would enjoy substantial benefits if Babylon were to be rebuilt. As I have told you on numerous occasions, it is quite simple to resolve this matter without anyone trying to rebuild Babylon. Christians could be polled and asked the following question: Would you give up Christianity if Babylon were to be rebuilt? The U.S. State Department could be asked the following question: If Babylon were to be rebuilt, would the U.S. adopt a more favorable foreign policy towards Muslims? Do you see how simple this is, Lee?

In typical fashion, you have again conveniently avoided replying to my argument that undecided readers are not trying to convince you of anything. They want you to back up your assertion that skeptics and Muslims are missing a golden opportunity to discredit the Bible by rebuilding Babylon. What is your reply to these people? They require that when you make challenges, you need to provide credible evidence why anyone should accept your challenges.

Do you ever attempt to do anything that you believe will not produce favorable results sooner or later? If not, then you shouldn't challenge skeptics and Muslims to do what you refuse to do yourself.

I will repost the preceding three paragraphs as frequently as necessary.

Johnny Skeptic

Message to Lee Merrill: Consider the following Scriptures:

EXO 21:12 He that smiteth a man (meaning a man who was not a slave), so that he die, shall be surely put to death.

EXO 21:20-21 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

Why did God not order the death penalty for slave owners who killed their slaves?

EXO 31:14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

What gave God the right to have people killed for working on the sabbath day?

EXO 21:28-30 If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.

So God allowed rich people to live, and poor people to die if they didn’t have enough money, right?

REV 9:1-6 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

If the verse are allegorical, the writer should have said so. If the verses are not allegorical, what gives God the right to torture people like that?

REV 14:9-11 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

If the verses are allegorical, the writer should have said so. If the verses are not allegorical, what gives God the right to torture people forever and not offer them a second chance?

Do you really know God? Well of course you don’t. The only God who you know is the God who is depicted by the Bible writers, the God who ordered innocent babies killed in the Old Testament, the God who even in the New Testament had not given up his murderous ways when he killed Ananias and Sapphira even though he let the Corinthians get away with doing things that Paul said even the gentiles didn’t do, the God who allowed the Bubonic Plague, the God who allowed Vincent Humbert to become quadriplegic, blind and mute, the God who allowed Hurriance Katrina to go ashore on the Gulf coast, and last but definitely not least, the God who has always refused to be available to answer questions in person.

Do you have any evidence that Jesus ever healed anyone? Do you have any documented medical evidence that miracle healings occur today? Before you answer the second question, you need to tell us how you define a miracle healing.

Please be sure to reply to my previous post.

Johnny Skeptic

Message to Lee Merrill: Following is part of your first arguments in this thread from post #10:

There you have it, Lee, your primary argument. Have you ever told us what that prize would consist of? Well of course you haven't. Have you ever provided any evidence that the Christian Church would become even 1% smaller? Well of course you haven't, because you know that such would not be the case. Have you provided any evidence that the U.S. government would adopt a more favorable foreign policy towards Muslims? Well of course you haven't, because you know that such would not be the case.

If you expect skeptics and Muslims to accept your challenge to attempt to rebuild Babylon, you must convince them that they will enjoy substantial benefits if the attempt is successful. Similarly, if I issued you a challenge, I must convince you that you will enjoy substantial benefits if your attempt is successful.

Johnny Skeptic

Where is Lee Merrill? He has plenty of questions to answer from me, Sauron, and John Broussard?

John A. Broussard

Late church services.

lee_merrill

Well, that's almost true!

Lee went to a conference. An apologetics conference! So now he knows how to apologize better: My most abjectissimus apologies for the delay...

Regards,
Lee

Johnny Skeptic

Message to Lee Merrill: The following is from one of my previous posts:

I will contact some professors at Wheaton College and Dallas Theological Seminary and ask them for their opinions on these matters. If the majority, or all of them, agree with my position, will you concede defeat? If your position is that it is acceptable for you to issue challenges to skeptics and Muslims without first convincing them that they will enjoy substantial benefits if their attempts are successful, then please state that in your next post and I will send your comments to Wheaton College and Dallas Theological Seminary. Also, please include in your next post if you would accept a challenge from a skeptic if he did not first convince you that you would enjoy substantial benefits if your attempt was successful. I want to make sure that the professors comment on that issue as well.

Once this thread comes to a conclusion, we skeptics will be happy to discuss with you any other prophecy of your choosing. You have already been embarrassed in the thread on the dating of the Tyre prophecy and the thread that is titled "Lee Merrill's 'There will always be a Jewish people.'"

This thread has long since ceased to be a serious debate. Everyone on both sides of the aisle, including you, already knows that your arguments are preposterous and outlandish. It is no accident that you can't even find one single FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIAN who agrees with your position. The undecided crowd is still wondering why you have continued to refuse to back up your absurd assertion that skeptics and Muslims are missing a golden opportunity to discredit the Bible by not rebuilding Babyon. I only visit this thread for fun, humor, and amusement. You have made a laughing stock out of yourself even among your own kind, but you seem to be unaware of it. Your main problem is that you read an believed what Josh McDowell says about the Babylon prophecy. He has been discredited so many times EVEN BY FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIANS, including James Holding, that I am surpirsed that he has the courage to appear in public. An excellent example of McDowell's ineptitude can be found in my thread that is titled 'It is time to put Daniel and Josh McDowell in their proper places.' Please visit that thread and make a post. You will see that McDowell's OWN SOURCES discredit him. Now if that don't beat all.

I challenge you to start a new thread about divine healing. I predict that you will refuse to do it (you love to make challenges, but you rarely accept them), but if you do, you need to begin by defining what a miracle healing is. It is best if we discuss divine healing in new thread because we get off topic when we discuss this issue in other threads.

lee_merrill

Tee hee.

I am insisting that Babylon cannot be rebuilt or reinhabited.

And that you or anyone else can try, and doing so would overthrow the claim of divine inspiration of Scripture.

Regards,
Lee

mata leao

Lee merrill is right. Babylon has not been rebuilt. neither has tyre. Both Babylon and tyre were great empires, they both had Kings and armies, they both sent ambassadors and received ambassadors, they ruled their worlds. Once the words "Babylon" and "Tyre" inspired fear, awe, and envy among all in the known world of the time .They have not been rebuilt. I have visited both. Both have emaciated beggar children selling cheap postcards touting the "former" glory of Bablyon and Tyre for tourists. Archaeologist teams go to both the old sites of Babylon and Tyre to do "EXCAVATIONS"-repeat "EXCAVATIONS"......you dont do "excavations" of somehting that currently exists as it once was. Get a modern military map if you want to check the grid coordiantes for both tyre and babylon.