Boro Nut

He's the guy who started all the Mother Theresa bollocks. A photographer setting up to take pictures of her was complaining about the poor light (like we do) and saying the pictures wouldn't come out properly - ie covering his arse. He had loaded a new Kodak film which he was unfamiliar with - bad news for any photographer (and he calls himself a pro - sheesh). The photos came out fine and Muggeridge shouts "It's a miracle - she's giving off heavenly light!" Poor old Kodak. 7 years and millions of dollars in R&D and a Romanian bog troll gets all the credit. Is it any wonder we're all going digital.

Boro Nut

yalla

Boro are you being.....serious?
What's wrong? Lie down on the couch and tell me all about it.

aChristian

I am not a professional historian. I can read with some difficulty the Bible in the original languages which is what I do each day. (I am not fluent.) To answer your first question, there are certain universals true to all cultures and languages because they are common to all people. The truths in the Bible are such. Everyone is familiar with sin and death. God does not want us to be confused and so he has spelled things out clearly in the Bible. When I read attempts to make the resurrection a 'spiritual' event instead of a physical event with spiritual implications, they appear impossible to support from the scriptures. I don't believe this is my bias causing me to believe it, I believe the facts are just strongly in support of it.

I think a careful reading of the Bible allows no other conclusion. Just because I am convinced that there is no other valid explanation does not make it based on emotion. I also believe that cars exist and I don't walk in front of them. I believe this so strongly that I reject all other explanations. I don't believe this based on emotion, but on irrefutable facts.

I cannot see all the reasons that you have for not believing. That gets complicated. But I have established in my mind that the Bible is true and it says that God has made himself obvious in the creation and that whoever seeks him will find him. Since I believe that this is what God has said, that only leaves the possibility that you are missing the obvious and so far have not sought the truth in earnest. Can you see any other possibility if you accept the premise that the Bible is true?

I have tried to offer some arguements, however I haven't taken the time to fully develop them. Maybe I should focus on one point and take time to develop that. I don't think you have to put biblical blinders on. I just think the evidence it there for biblical inerrancy.

We could take a long time discussing this. I may agree with you in part.

As I stated above, I think the facts are compelling in favor of Christianity. I believe that you may feel that you are being intellectually honest, but the Bible says that our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. We can fool ourselves. I most of all do not want to give the impression that I think I am superior in anyway. (I am sure I commit that sin many times.) I don't think I can see these things more clearly than you because I am better, but because God in his mercy has revealed them to me. The reasons that you and most everyone on this site misses the obvious truth are varied. Some are very smart and some are very knowledgable. However, the bottom line is that God loves all of us and wants us to know him, it is our sin which keeps us from him.

I am not trying to quote them at you, but I believe they are true and helpful.

aChristian

Whether I am able to explain how it happen or not, does not invalidate whether it did or not. That is based on the fact that the Bible has been established as God's inerrant word from other evidences and if God said he did it, he did it. Having said that, I can give a fuller explanation of what I said before. We talk about the sunset and understand each other. From our point of view on the earth, it looks like the sun is setting. We may know that the earth is turning and the sun is not setting, but the word sunset describes the occurence from our point of view. So I assume (I may be wrong here since God doesn't tell us how he did it) that he stopped the earth's rotation for a day. I also mentioned the fact that you can describe a sunset as the sun setting using the laws of motion. The same laws will work if you place the earth as the center of the universe and have the sun set around it. You can write the equations for the planets' orbits this way as well. It is the same physics, just a different frame of reference. The equations get messier if you choose the earth as the center of your reference, but it still works.

Johnny Skeptic

By what criteria were the books of the New Testament canon chosen? Do you believe that God perform miracle healings today, or that he has deserted us regarding that issue? Why do you believe that Jesus healed people? Today, millions of Christians disagree as to what constitutes a miracle healing. Why should anyone believe that it was any different back then?

aChristian

The pastor of the church I used to attend witnessed (didn't see it happen, just the before and after) God heal a boy's finger that had the tip amputated. The good Jewish doctor had the boy return every week for a year just to see it. It is in a book of unusual medical occurences. The doctor couldn't believe it because the first time the boy came back after the amputation, he still had the amputated fingertip. There are other miracles that God is doing today. Visit Gospel for Asia's website or the Jesus film website (Campus Crusade for Christ). Although miracles are not frequent, you can probably find a Christian you know who could put you in touch with someone who has credible evidence of a miracle.

aChristian

If the resurrection is proved to be false, it would make Christianity untrue. There is still tons of evidence for the rest of the Bible and it would be interesting trying to make sense of things without the resurrection being true, but the resurrection is essential to the truth of Christianity.

I agree with the possible exception that there may be evidence supporting other miracles that in turn support the resurrection. However, I don't think that you need them. I think the historical facts are enough. I don't think that you have to assume miracles to prove the resurrection. I think the only assumption that you need to make is that something exists and maybe that our five senses are reasonably trustworthy.

Agreed

Sorry to disappoint, but I am out of time right now. I plan on doing this next time I get on here.

aChristian

I think you can apply the same standards to all literature and historical documents and find the Bible is reliable history and other tales such as say, the Koran, Greek mythology, or Aesop's fables are not.

buckshot23

This looks like your insecurities are the problem. If someone is praying for you what harm is that doing you? A non existant god wouldn't answer anyways and thus harmless. However if thier prayers are being heard by God then if I were you I would be happy to get them. All this being said I wouldn't tell an unbeliever that I was praying for them. It is tactically the wrong way to go for the reasons you illustrate above.

Yeah I know I am coming in late but what the heck.:huh:

John A. Broussard

I labored through your explanation, and I think you are saying that you don't know. If god says the sun stood still, that's good enough for you. It's a miracle and miracles need no explanation.

I really can't argue with that anymore than I could with a Buddhist acquaintance of mine who attended an outdoor meeting of some guru. It began to rain and the guru then ordered a nearby mountain to rise and cover the crowd to prevent them from getting wet.

I did not ask him for any further explanation. I won't ask you for one either.