lpetrich

Uncreated != random.

And what kind of a "higher being"? Be specific.

And that being could have decided to run off somewhere and hide, or could simply be toying with us, or ...

Do you wish to find out about my childhood, pillbugs, and soap bubbles?

ex-preacher

In traditional Christian teaching, everyone deserves to go to hell and burn forever. This is because in Christian math the smallest sin (stealing an apple when you're starving) is equivalent to the greatest sin (exterminating 6 million Jews). This is because any sin is horrific to God (who created us so that we have to sin) and the most finite wrong must be punished with infinite torture with no chance of escape or pardon.

I reject every element of this absurd and sick system. Care to try to convince us otherwise?

ex-preacher

Let me suggest that you credit your sources when you are quoting someone else. To fail to do so is plagiarism.

A person can choose their behavior, but not their beliefs.

RJS

Yes borrowed - I thought that was clear given the nature of the text (sorry). It was Bill Bright.

Dr. Bill Bright is founder and chairman of Campus Crusade for Christ, an
organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more
than 25,000 full-time staff and 553,000 trained volunteer staff in 196
countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world's population.
In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6
billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, "JESUS," which
Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the
most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since
its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into more than 700
languages and viewed by more than 5 billion people in 234 countries.
Dr. Bright is also the author of more than fifty books.

lpetrich

That is because doctors are not omnipotent, meaning that they have to resort to this disliked delivery methods.

ex-preacher

This is hilarious! That site includes this quote:

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one: the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, and being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."

George Bernard Shaw, quoted in Courage: You Can Stand Strong in the Face of Fear, Jon Johnston, 1990, SP Publications, p. 171.

You do realize that GBS was an atheist, don't you?

lpetrich

RJS, what do you think Heaven is like? And why not create Heaven and only Heaven and be done with it?

Hobbs

Well, that is not a sin I have committed. I can hardly reject what I don't believe even exists. It's not that I know God is there but I say "I don't want to have anything to do with you." Rather, I don't think there is even anything there to reject. I don't see any reason to conclude, and I see lots of reasons not to conclude, that there is some cosmic person out there responsible for it all, no such person to accept or reject. How, then, could I be considered guilty of rejecting God? Not believing he's there to accept or reject in the first place, it's not something I even could do.

[ May 17, 2002: Message edited by: Hobbs ]</p>

ex-preacher

Once again, these do not sound like your words. Are you plagiarizing again?

RJS

In the analogy, the parent would really be God, and the doctor would be the perpetrator (the evil or source of suffering). I could stop it, but I dont as a parent. The child does not understand. No need to respond.