Re: Christianity
Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 4:08 pm
u have no idea about the actual entity that is GOD.
For the discussion of all things philosophical.
https://canzookia.com/
You will find that repetition will prove futile. I am not engaging it. It's simply too foolish.attofishpi wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 4:06 pmBut U contorted again to not include this:-Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 3:57 pmIt was not I who made the error, and not I who cannot deal with the very simple answer. So I will let the comment speak for itself.
If you say so.
The sad truth is that "being objective" about anything/everything is impossible.attofishpi wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 1:44 pm When is SUM 1 gonna start getting down to being a BIT more objective about GOD?
But I can doubt that, and very much so. I am a human being, living on Earth, the only relationships I can be involved in are with other human beings, and if I did believe in God, I would believe that all the more. Why would God create us, and then demand we be preoccupied with him more than with each other? Why would he want us to have our minds on the place where he intends us to eventually go, rather than the place we are here and now? People say that God gives meaning to our lives, but I see it as being totally the reverse. For God to create this planet, then create us to live on it, just so we can believe in him and worship him for three score and ten years before we are sorted into those deserving of a better place and those not, would be utterly, utterly pointless. Where is the meaning in that? If I believed what the Bible asked me to believe, I would also have to believe that we were being toyed with. No, if human beings do have any duty at all, it is towards each other and the planet we live on. That would surely be God's intention.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 3:37 pm
But the second, even you can't doubt...that is, that knowing God should change one's life. For better or worse, it makes all the difference to how one continues, including what one's goals and motives are, what gives one joy or concern, how one uses one's resources and time, how one invests oneself in relationships, how one speaks, where one goes, what one does...
Those are high stakes, even if we consider merely this present life. Being a Christian takes everything one has. And if one doesn't see that sort of level of personal commitment in some who profess to be Christians, then on authorization of Jesus Christ Himself, you have permission to doubt their sincerity and the truth of their claim.
I think you might have told me what being born again means, but I'm afraid I've forgotten.Jesus Christ Himself said, "Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." What you're experiencing is exactly what he said would be the case.
It makes me uncomfortable because it seems perverse. If we are disposed to invest love or faith in anything, it should be in other people.Well, may I make a suggestion? Chase that. Track down for yourself why that is.
Ask yourself why it "gives you an uncomfortable feeling." There is something there, something behind that unease...is it the same kind of unease you feel in other circumstances? Or does this very topic give you a special kind of apprehensiveness you're not accustomed to experiencing in other contexts? Or is this "uncomfortableness" you experience qualitatively different?
Yes, of course you can. People can doubt anything.Harbal wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 4:45 pmBut I can doubt that, and very much so.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 3:37 pm
But the second, even you can't doubt...that is, that knowing God should change one's life. For better or worse, it makes all the difference to how one continues, including what one's goals and motives are, what gives one joy or concern, how one uses one's resources and time, how one invests oneself in relationships, how one speaks, where one goes, what one does...
Those are high stakes, even if we consider merely this present life. Being a Christian takes everything one has. And if one doesn't see that sort of level of personal commitment in some who profess to be Christians, then on authorization of Jesus Christ Himself, you have permission to doubt their sincerity and the truth of their claim.
Why would God create us, and then demand we be preoccupied with him more than with each other?
Well, He speaks plenty about both.Why would he want us to have our minds on the place where he intends us to eventually go, rather than the place we are here and now?
In the way you've summarized it? Well, if that were how it is, then plausibly there might be none. But you've got the case reversed, actually: it's eternity that matters ultimately, and worldly life that is temporary. "The point" as you put it, is eternal. The present "point" is to choose our desired position relative to God, and the future point to live in positive relationship to God forever.People say that God gives meaning to our lives, but I see it as being totally the reverse. For God to create this planet, then create us to live on it, just so we can believe in him and worship him for three score and ten years before we are sorted into those deserving of a better place and those not, would be utterly, utterly pointless. Where is the meaning in that?
Such a suggestion is absent from the Biblical account of God. He does not "toy" with anybody. The business in hand is absolutely serious, and has to do with our freedom to decide what we want eternity to look like for us.If I believed what the Bible asked me to believe, I would also have to believe that we were being toyed with.
No, if human beings do have any duty at all, it is towards each other and the planet we live on.
That's actually a pretty good definition, provided that we add in that the "confidence" in question is premised on facts and evidence, rather than what some people imagine -- mere wishful thinking.To me, the word faith implies confidence in something being true, along with a desire for it to be true, and in fact counting on it to be true.
Well, if you said, "I don't mind there being an IC, but please don't give me that one," perhaps you'd have a point.I have no desire for the God of the Bible to be true, and the less confidence I have in it being true, the better, and I'm certainly not going to cultivate faith in it being true. I don't mind there being a God, but please don't give me that one.
It means a change of nature. It means that, having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself engages to renovate to into a creature more suited for companionship with Him. And be you ever so low (I have one friend who used to be a drug runner and biker, for example), God Himself undertakes to remake you into a person who is more like His Son (as I can tell you, he has with the biker).I think you might have told me what being born again means, but I'm afraid I've forgotten.Jesus Christ Himself said, "Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." What you're experiencing is exactly what he said would be the case.
And is that all?It makes me uncomfortable because it seems perverse. If we are disposed to invest love or faith in anything, it should be in other people.Well, may I make a suggestion? Chase that. Track down for yourself why that is.
Ask yourself why it "gives you an uncomfortable feeling." There is something there, something behind that unease...is it the same kind of unease you feel in other circumstances? Or does this very topic give you a special kind of apprehensiveness you're not accustomed to experiencing in other contexts? Or is this "uncomfortableness" you experience qualitatively different?
Sometimes I just cannot sit back and remain silent when you use that particular Biblical quote to support your argument.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 5:57 am Let's imagine God appears, and in such a way that no more doubt is possible...for anybody. What happens next?Too late.attofishpi wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 5:49 am Almost the entire population of humans act morally since they are concerned of the consequences...and possible reward(s).
As the Bible says, "All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." (Rm. 3:23) All have sinned...already.

Yes, yes...very cute. One is tempted to be emotionally misdirected, for sure.seeds wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:04 pmSometimes I just cannot sit back and remain silent when you use that particular Biblical quote to support your argument.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 5:57 am Let's imagine God appears, and in such a way that no more doubt is possible...for anybody. What happens next?Too late.attofishpi wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 5:49 am Almost the entire population of humans act morally since they are concerned of the consequences...and possible reward(s).
As the Bible says, "All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." (Rm. 3:23) All have sinned...already.
In which case, I must (once again) ask you to explain how these two children...
I was brought up by cultists — Roman Catholics — to believe that even the youngest children are born with the stain of Original Sin on their souls. I do not accept this — that we all bear the guilt of a sin (supposedly) committed by our far-distant ancestors — but it is an answer to your question...?
You're putting two different things together, PC...that is, sin nature, on the one hand, and particular sins, on the other. Maybe the Catholic catechism didn't make that clear to you, I don't know.Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:29 pmI was brought up by cultists — Roman Catholics — to believe that even the youngest children are born with the stain of Original Sin on their souls. I do not accept this — that we all bear the guilt of a sin (supposedly) committed by our far-distant ancestors — but it is an answer to your question...?
I am well aware of the fact that the concept of "Original Sin" is the answer to my question.Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:29 pmI was brought up by cultists — Roman Catholics — to believe that even the youngest children are born with the stain of Original Sin on their souls. I do not accept this — that we all bear the guilt of a sin (supposedly) committed by our far-distant ancestors — but it is an answer to your question...?
If I called it "hogwash," then no doubt it was your interpretation that was the "hogwash," not the idea of "original sin." I surmise you must have misunderstood the concept, and misrepresented it badly.