Brian K.

How did God come into existance? Was he just here? The bible offers no more an explination than any other theoretical explaination.

Jonsey3333

Time is something.
"Before" implies it happened in a time preceding the event.
If there is something, there is not nothing.
Therefore, nothing could not exist before something.

-Mike

Brian K.

Is it just me or did that make no sense at all? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

Not Prince Hamlet

Brian,

No, it's not just you.

Jeff

Amos

Sounds desolate to me.

My thoughs were that good sermons were always given from a mountiantop of inspiration.

Jayhawker Soule

Now that you mention it, your comments do appear a bit boggled.

You need a time out.

Synaesthesia

It can be said that nothing exists right now. I mean, who is it that can actually understands what they mean by existence? Nobody. How could nobody perform this valuable function if he did not exist in the intentional sense?

(The bible notes a void “in the beginning”, although I don’t know how the notion of nothing could be conceived within a timeframe relative (yet external) to the universe.)


Theli,
The source of bigotry Theli, yours and mine, is man’s fascinating ability to anticipate other people. The various subagencies within our brain, being the fathomlessly complicated machine that it is, can only the other agencies in exceedingly idealized, very utilitarian terms. Bigotry is necessary not only in the interpretation of other religions and people, but to the way in which we control and manipulate our own minds.

Bigotry in relation to other people and their ideas is also a question of tact. Here too we must ask whether only religious people fall prey to faults in that area; Synaesthesia himself is, alas, all to frequently a counterexample.

A3

Hi J.
Well, what's so bad about that?? what is your alternative? If you are against religion I sympathize with you in a way. Nothing has done more harm to humanity than building a literal interpretation of the Bible and classifying it as the only way. “Think like us or you go to hell!” That is absolutely uncalled for. If you were a loving parent would you punish the whole family, for the rest of their lifes, if they stole one of your fruits? Of course not. Could you be so mad at society (as a loving god) that the only thing that could possibly make you feel better was if they killed your only son? This happens when you take things literally. Some very smart people have done some very strenuous mental calisthenics to come up with these ‘answers.’ But all they have come up with are things that don’t make sense and remain a mystery. This approach is not just limited to the Christian faith. Other religions took things literally too and are still waiting for their Messiah. The atrocities of Sep. 11 were done by people who were convinced they were doing the right thing.
Many people today, having seen all the misery, say there is no God. If there were a God, He would have prevented it. But we can’t say “God doesn’t exist” just because we don’t understand how He works. Now everyone wants proof that He exists. Proof that there is a life after death, etc. But that situation is like a kid refusing to go to school unless someone can proof to him he will live past his 20e birthday. Why not hope for the best and live your life as if you will go past 20? Why live as if everything comes to a screeching halt at the death of the body? Why go through so many years of schooling, apprenticeships, career development, paychecks and exercising and eating healthy just to die. In fact many do die before they reach 20. What are you living for then? See how big a house you can own before you die? How many cars you can own? How many women you can seduce? How big a bank account you can accumulate? How many talk shows you can get on? etc. And then I haven’t even mentioned friends, marriage and children.

Why not look at the positive side of life and the side that makes the most sense, based on the internal meaning of the Bible? And that is the only thing I’m trying to get across.
A3

Theli

A3...
Where has that been said?

Eudaimonist

It's a strange topic when Amos is making more sense than the topic post.