miata

Can a God make billions of stars and give a flip if an innocent animal is killed and burned as a form of worship? Does he need to smell burning flesh, kill babies and watch an entire planet die in a flood. Will he not be thrilled to see eternal damnation for people who reject him burn in hell???

Would a being who can create life care if I believed in him. If there was real proof of any God there would be no atheist. I know there is a sun, it is real and it does not play games with me. It keeps me warm, it is more of a God to me than than the thousands invented through out history by silly primitive men.

If God would give me a burning bush a talking snake or show me one Angel as in the book of Job I will be saved today. If I could fly, walk on water, or see demons cast into pig who then kill themselves.

The faith of a mustard seed can move mountains yet no mountains are moving.

I see more proof of evil in a Biblical God than his own creation SATAN.

Evoken

Silly primitive men invented the wheel and now you can drive your car.

You don't see or do any of that? Awww so sorry..

Dam..maybe you aren't doing it right? It is working for me I am making the earth spin.

mrmoderate

These are all reasonable points to ponder. The Creator of what we know as the physical world seems to be as frustrated with us as we are with Him/Her/It.

All beings have seemingly been designed for specific functioning purposes in this physical existance. The burning of animals on the alter not only provides the faithful with a constant way to keep the memory of God intact day to day, it also provided well cooked meat for the priests. Sacrificial animals were not wasted. Since the priests had no means of making money other than what was provided by the faithful they seem to have been provided a way to not go hungry.

As far as the devastation that occurs to mankind in the name of God we must keep in mind that to the faithful the physical world is a temporary journey in our spiritual lives. Don't get me wrong, I certainly can't explain it with physical proof. That is where the frustration lies. To the faithful we as humans are inhabiting a created physical world (Universe) in which we are distracted by physical matter. We are however still aware of our spiritual being which the faithful believe is our true existance.

I think the more we advance technologically the closer we can come to understand what is going on. We cannot prove what is happening, but we can understand it.

The physical human body is similar to the technological creations we devise. Our heart is a pump which pumps blood through our plumbing system utilizing valves and backflow preventers just like the plumbing systems we have created. Our brain works on chemically induced electrical current produced at various points of our body and sorted out in our brain much like a computer sorts out information. In other words, we are not really creating but rather copying what already exists.

As for the killing and dying? Everything physical perishes. To the faithful this is not the end of the existance of the soul that inhabited that body but rather the beginning of a new spiritual existance. Is the physical world our spiritual birthplace? Have we existed spiritually before being born into our current physixal world? These are questions that we do not yet have answers for.

Does God want our acknowledgement? Yes! I beilieve that is the entire purpose of human beings. We have been designed as the animals but with the ability to choose right from wrong, hot or cold, white or black, sweet or sour. When we acknowledge God it is our choice to do so not because we are made to do so. Those who choose to not believe in God or to not love God have every right to that. Will those people burn in a physical hell? I don't have the answer to that as the writings of the bible seem to go in different directions on that one. I do believe that those of us who acknowledge God and let God into our lives will be with God spiritually after our physical death. I believe that being with God is what we refer to as heaven and not being with God will be what we are referring to as hell.

God has already tried these methods to no avail. It seems that only through faith will mankind truly love God as God loves us, without the physical ties that have been proven so easy to forget later in life.

Mustard seeds and mountains are physical matter which are simply used as metaphors in parables. This, I believe, is where we have mostly gone wrong in our understanding of scripture. There are several centuries of bastardizing the knowledge and culture that went into the writings of scriptures that is obscuring the true intent of the meanings to us. Man has certainly not always progressed through history. The majestic Greek and Roman Empires gave way to the Dark Ages after all. We do have the ability to lose knowledge.

Unlike most theists I believe that God is both good and evil. The physical world seems to be devised as a place where the two forces can be practiced and hopefully balanced. The Bible is certainly no success story for most of it's characters or cultures. The Bible mostly points to the failings of mankind to be faithful to God no matter what God does for man. It is a book full of battles of good and evil and should be used as a reference manual for what not to do as well as what is best to do.

As I write, I feel I am wasting my time on those who will pick apart what I have written by dissecting the lines and quoting some one liner to "disprove" what I have written. Please understand that I am not stating fact but rather what I feel. Are feelings to be dismissed? Is there no yet undiscovered scientific rationale for why we have strong "feelings"? Do we not have anything yet to learn about our existance?

TySixtus

Nope.

[derail]
You said you're a retired minister- what denomination?
[/derail]

Ty

Gawen

*sigh*....IAsimisI, that was hardly a rebuttal of miata's post.
Silly primitive men invented ideas like heaven and hell and now many people believe in something they cannot see...or have until they die. At least we have something to account for the invention of the wheel.

I wager you do not as well. But blind faith says it can be done.

If you sit down, you may see that it's the other way around.

Evoken

Gawen..

My post was not a rebuttal to miata's post.

miata

Babletist and then non denom.

I admit I have seen some things I could not explain but at the time I was too drunk to fish.

I hope people will give ideas and not take religion so seriously. I don't; it's really funny to me that the Church has made millions on ignorance. When I found out it was not true I accepted it.

Jesus made a special point of discouraging the laying of emphasis on outer observances, and, indeed upon hard-and-fast rules and regulations of every kind. What he insisted upon was a certain spirit in one's conduct, knowing that when the spirit is right, the details will take care of themselves. Yet, in spite of this, the history of orthodox Christianity is largely made up of attempts to enforce all sorts of external observances on people.
~ Emmet Fox, American evangelist.


Silly primitive men invented ideas like heaven and hell and now many people believe in something they cannot see...or have until they die. At least we have something to account for the invention of the wheel.

Quote:

I can see and feel a wheel and a car without faith or magic, I know it is real without a big book of mysteries; I know how it works and I know how to repair it. I know where it came from and where to get more of them. Men invented lots of things but the real ones are easier to see. I cannot see feel or hear any gods. Show me one.


Get some harder questions Alex. How about myths for 400??? Just kidding. I don't take this religion stuff very seriously; I know what works for me and I am interested in the views of other. If I am wrong tell me how so I will be saved. If you will show me your god I'll show you mine.


Gawen, I appreciate your feedback as I feel sometimes I am floating in the septic tank of Christian love here.

Chili

I've always argued that heaven is for Catholics only which is not to say that all Catholics go to heaven. Knowing this it is also true that no Catholics go to hell if the Church had it their way for only they know the difference between heaven and hell (they were its author).

If the above is true it must also be true that hell is for protestants only which is not to say that all protestants go to hell because the Church, in its higher order benevolent determination speaks against the world if only in being the envy of the world.

miata

Is there any proof of a God other than blind FAITH??

Ask any Baptist if Catholics are going to Heaven. Most if the are honest will surprise you.

Dear Jesus
Please save me from your followers.
~ anonymous
I think this is a wonderful quote.

Chili

Of course there is if for those who have "finished the race" and have become the continuity of God.

But a Baptist doesn't know even what hell is all about. At least we have the courage to tell them that we are entertained by their suffering because we know, as history has proven many times, that there is no way we can help them. So do you see why they insist that Catholics are not saved while Catholics don't want their kind of salvation because we call it hell?