Helpmabob

Hi Doug - In post #123, you wrote: Now you write (#130): I'm confused. How can you rate my opinion and experiences as irrelevant one day, and then another day, find that all people’s views may be useful for learning? I assume you have changed your mind, not being inconsistent? We are allowed to change our minds though.

Boro Nut

That's right, otherwise any old Tom Dick or Harry would know the name of the leader they follow. Have the Nuremberg rallies taught us nothing for god sake. Line upon line upon rank upon column of Nazi zealots as far as the eye could see, and two at the back whispering "Who's the bloke with the tash?"

Boro Nut

Boro Nut

Oh dear. This definitely sounds like timeshare to me. “If you leave the building the offer is withdrawn. No you can’t have time to think about it, just give us you bank details.” And there’s me thinking we had all eternity. I’m sure I saw that somewhere in the fine print. It would make much more sense to make your mind up after you’re dead, or at least have 14 days to decide if you want to cancel. Being religious shouldn’t affect your statutory rights.

Mostly I get a bit pissed off by people who bought their car from the first salesman they met telling me their Lada is the dog's bollocks.

Boro Nut

Doug Shaver

By distinguishing between "may be" and "are."

Johnny Skeptic

Message to Helpmabob: If powerful supernatural beings exist, and have communicated with humans in various ways, I am not aware of any evidence that Christians exclusively have the ability to tell which beings tell the truth, and which tell lies. Are you?

Helpmabob

I understand your incredulity, but it is a bit more than knowing the name on our lips.

If you knew that you would die on a certain day in the future, would you consider turning to God to seek forgiveness the day before just to make sure, then? In that case, you would only have wasted one day making a fool of yourself.

It is not necessary. We can tell the difference between: ripe fruit and rotten fruit; generosity and greed; love and hate. It’s not just Christians that can tell between truth and falsehood – we all can. I don’t mean that we can see someone’s ears go red when they tell a fib – I mean something which appeals to our spirit as being good, bad or irrelevant.

Johnny Skeptic

If God is good, omnipotent, and omniscient, by definition he would easily be able to reveal his true intentions if that is what he wanted to do. If God is evil, omnipotent, and omniscient, by definition he would easily be able to conceal his true intentions if that is what he wanted to do.

Simply stated, no one could discern what the true intentions of an evil God are if he did not allow it. One of the perks of being a God is that you can accomplish whatever you wish. It is really quite simple.

Random Evil Guy

which god?

Johnny Skeptic

My answer is no. I would not have any choice in the matter. I would not be able to will myself to accept any being who endorses eternal punishment without parole, and who deliberately kills some of his choicest followers with hurricanes. If you wish to make a fool of yourself by loving a being who endorses those practices, suit yourself.

Helpmabob

Johnny, you wrote this yesterday on anther tread:Now you write here: Do you regard this as a mature and reasonable outlook? It seems that we can use this ‘we are all stupid and nothing can be known’ point of view in all situation to end all discussions?