Why I do believe in God

[yiostheoy]

What about the death penalty?

From

Divine Institutes, Book VI (Of True Worship) by
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius

Chapter 20. Of the Senses, and Their Pleasures in the Brutes and in Man; And of Pleasures of the Eyes, and Spectacles.

"For when Godforbids us to kill, He not only prohibits us from open violence, which is not even allowed by the public laws, but He warns us against the commission of those things which are esteemed lawful among men. Thus it will be neither lawful for a just man to engage in warfare, since his warfare is justice itself, nor to accuse any one of a capital charge, because it makes no difference whether you put a man to death by word, or rather by the sword, since it is the act of putting to death itself which is prohibited. Therefore, with regard to this precept of God, there ought to be no exception at all; but that it is always unlawful to put to death a man, whom God willed to be a sacred animal."

So you agree the Bible says killing other human beings is a sacrilege?

It sounds like he agrees with you.

However the notion itself is false.

As Ecclesiastes tells us, there is a time for killing.

Let's be clear here: there is what modern Christians interpret from a book handpick and edited by a bunch of pre-Catholic white men in 325AD and there are my beliefs. Those two concepts don't always match up.

My point with your list is that most "modern" Christians are as hypocritical as Liberals. Liberals want to rewrite the Constitution's Second Amendment, but want to leave all the Amendments they use alone. "Modern" Christians was to cherry-pick from the Bible all the rules that allow them to kill who they don't like, but prohibit others from killing those they do like.

Most modern religionists are brainwashed, I agree.

This is because they are gullible and believe whatever the brainwashing has told them.

They have failed in most cases to do critical research into their faith based systems.

 

[Divine Wind]

..You absolutely must keep religion, science, and philosophy separate. There is no excuse for mixing them.

That's like saying Biology and Chemistry are separate fields, therefore there is no excuse for mixing them. Disagreed as all Bio-Chemists are certain to do.

If you want to say we must remember which is which, I completely agree. Mankind is a mixture of physical, mental and spiritual. It's inside mankind that religion, science and philosophy absolutely do come together. Therefore, I have no problem mixing them in discussions with other humans. The caveat being as just mentioned: It's important that we know which is which just as a Bio-Chemist must know which is biology and which is chemistry.

Example; pollution. A religious person may believe that God gave mankind dominion over the Earth since that is exactly what Genesis states. What isn't said, but a philosopher might point out, is that being given dominion entails being a good caretaker. Hunting animals to extinction, raping the land until it is not longer fertile and polluting streams until it is poisonous and all life who live in it or drink from it die, that is immoral both from a religious point of view and a philosophical point of view. From a scientific point of view, it's a dead end road which will eventually lead to our own deaths. To say we can't discuss pollution from religious, philosophical and scientific viewpoints is illogical, IMHO. All that is important is that we remember which is which.

 

[yiostheoy]

..You absolutely must keep religion, science, and philosophy separate. There is no excuse for mixing them.

That's like saying Biology and Chemistry are separate fields, therefore there is no excuse for mixing them. Disagreed as all Bio-Chemists are certain to do.

If you want to say we must remember which is which, I completely agree. Mankind is a mixture of physical, mental and spiritual. It's inside mankind that religion, science and philosophy absolutely do come together. Therefore, I have no problem mixing them in discussions with other humans. The caveat being as just mentioned: It's important that we know which is which just as a Bio-Chemist must know which is biology and which is chemistry.

Example; pollution. A religious person may believe that God gave mankind dominion over the Earth since that is exactly what Genesis states. What isn't said, but a philosopher might point out, is that being given dominion entails being a good caretaker. Hunting animals to extinction, raping the land until it is not longer fertile and polluting streams until it is poisonous and all life who live in it or drink from it die, that is immoral both from a religious point of view and a philosophical point of view. From a scientific point of view, it's a dead end road which will eventually lead to our own deaths. To say we can't discuss pollution from religious, philosophical and scientific viewpoints is illogical, IMHO. All that is important is that we remember which is which.

Mixing religion and science and philosophy is like mixing apples and oranges and prunes.

They do not get along together.

They must be kept separate.

 

[frigidweirdo]

I have come to the realization that I never deserved to be born, that I never deserved to be born again, and that I never deserved to be resurrected.

All of that is a gift from God, freely given in the abundance of His love, freely given in the abundance of His grace.

Why is that a gift from God?

Because like that to which Charles Darwin admitted, irreducible complexity has been shown, eliminating any random chance as explanation of the order of things.

Charles Darwin as a man of science endowed with reason and intellect could be shown that what has been foretold as the Day of the Lord is only 46 days hence, that faith in God is a gift from God, and that without faith one cannot perceive beyond the senses, but the choice to believe remains with the individual.

I have come to the realization that I never deserved to be born, that I never deserved to be born again, and that I never deserved to be resurrected.

All of that is a gift from God, freely given in the abundance of His love, freely given in the abundance of His grace.

If God gives it as a gift, why does he then take it away?

Firstly, there is no "if" because God does not do anything out of necessity, He hasn't any needs.

The Biblical account of Job is a good place to start, Job 1:21-22 :

21 He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." 22 Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.

Although God afflicted Job severely, Job was being tested by his Creator, and because Job believed, God blessed him more abundantly.

The formula for God's blessing is threefold :

1) He lifts up that which He is going to bless;
2) Then He breaks it;
3) And then He presses it down.

Zechariah 13:8-9 :

…8 "It will come about in all the land," Declares the LORD, "That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it. 9 "And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' And they will say, 'The LORD is my God.' "

That "third part" is the foretelling of Jesus Christ's Redemption and the General Resurrection of the Dead.

I like the story of Job because it is an exercise in courage.

I like the story of the Good Samaritan better however because it shows us how we should act towards others.

Both are useful ideals -- both Job and the Good Samaritan.

But many Christians, you have to suspect, ignore both.

 

[Divine Wind]

Most modern religionists are brainwashed, I agree.

This is because they are gullible and believe whatever the brainwashing has told them.

They have failed in most cases to do critical research into their faith based systems.

Brainwashed is overused. The anti-military Left claims anyone in the military is brainwashed. The anti-government Right believes all students in public schools are brainwashed. Neither are correct. To believe that to be so is to believe everyone is stupid. They aren't. Most fit within the parameters of a 100 IQ. Even dumb people can't be "brainwashed"** for long since brainwashing doesn't work. At least not for long and only under specific parameters.


**Brainwashed being defined as the process of mental control over another person to bend them to your will against their own desires.

 

[Divine Wind]

Mixing religion and science and philosophy is like mixing apples and oranges and prunes.

They do not get along together.

They must be kept separate.

Who brainwashed you?

 

[AVG-JOE]

I have come to the realization that I never deserved to be born, that I never deserved to be born again, and that I never deserved to be resurrected.

All of that is a gift from God, freely given in the abundance of His love, freely given in the abundance of His grace.

What do you mean that you didn't 'deserve' to be born? You didn't have a choice in the matter and there is nothing you could have done to somehow 'earn' it.



Define "God".

To what God(s) have you sworn your allegiance?

 

[Edward_Palamar]

Ecclesiates 3:3 -- ... a time to kill, a time to heal ...

But that is under the Old Covenant.

 

[Edward_Palamar]

So you agree the Bible says killing other human beings is a sacrilege?

The Holy Bible contains not only the New Covenant admonitions against killing, but the Old Covenant accounts of the history of Israel where killing was a tactic of war.

 

[Edward_Palamar]

Granted that pigs and crustaceans are bottom feeders and therefore not healthy to eat.

There were unhealthy to eat for the Israelites under the Old Covenant because God forbade them to do so, not because they were bottom feeders.

This thread isn't about killing, per se, though through the course of my resurrection I have undergone death from having been killed.

 

[HUGGY]

I have come to the realization that I never deserved to be born, that I never deserved to be born again, and that I never deserved to be resurrected.

All of that is a gift from God, freely given in the abundance of His love, freely given in the abundance of His grace.

You need a check up from the neck up. There is no god. You are hallucinating all that crap.

 

[Edward_Palamar]

I can see

Doesn't seem so to me

 

[yiostheoy]

Granted that pigs and crustaceans are bottom feeders and therefore not healthy to eat.

There were unhealthy to eat for the Israelites under the Old Covenant because God forbade them to do so, not because they were bottom feeders.

This thread isn't about killing, per se, though through the course of my resurrection I have undergone death from having been killed.

Like the Indian warrior said in Dances With Wolves, someone should shoot a few arrows into you to see if you are really immortal then. If you have the medicine, then you would be ok with it.

 

[yiostheoy]

Ecclesiates 3:3 -- ... a time to kill, a time to heal ...

But that is under the Old Covenant.

The Chinese, the Russians, the Islamists, the drug cartels, and various psycho's and criminals are still operating under The Old Covenant, bro.

 

[yiostheoy]

Mixing religion and science and philosophy is like mixing apples and oranges and prunes.

They do not get along together.

They must be kept separate.

Who brainwashed you?

My mother and the Catholic Church -- it was a combined effort.

But Socrates set me free.

 

[yiostheoy]

I have come to the realization that I never deserved to be born, that I never deserved to be born again, and that I never deserved to be resurrected.

All of that is a gift from God, freely given in the abundance of His love, freely given in the abundance of His grace.

Why is that a gift from God?

Because like that to which Charles Darwin admitted, irreducible complexity has been shown, eliminating any random chance as explanation of the order of things.

Charles Darwin as a man of science endowed with reason and intellect could be shown that what has been foretold as the Day of the Lord is only 46 days hence, that faith in God is a gift from God, and that without faith one cannot perceive beyond the senses, but the choice to believe remains with the individual.

I have come to the realization that I never deserved to be born, that I never deserved to be born again, and that I never deserved to be resurrected.

All of that is a gift from God, freely given in the abundance of His love, freely given in the abundance of His grace.

If God gives it as a gift, why does he then take it away?

Firstly, there is no "if" because God does not do anything out of necessity, He hasn't any needs.

The Biblical account of Job is a good place to start, Job 1:21-22 :

21 He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." 22 Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.

Although God afflicted Job severely, Job was being tested by his Creator, and because Job believed, God blessed him more abundantly.

The formula for God's blessing is threefold :

1) He lifts up that which He is going to bless;
2) Then He breaks it;
3) And then He presses it down.

Zechariah 13:8-9 :

…8 "It will come about in all the land," Declares the LORD, "That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it. 9 "And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' And they will say, 'The LORD is my God.' "

That "third part" is the foretelling of Jesus Christ's Redemption and the General Resurrection of the Dead.

I like the story of Job because it is an exercise in courage.

I like the story of the Good Samaritan better however because it shows us how we should act towards others.

Both are useful ideals -- both Job and the Good Samaritan.

But many Christians, you have to suspect, ignore both.

Sorry if you had some bad experiences.

Like Jesus said, there are wheat and tares sowed together.

 

[Edward_Palamar]

What do you mean that you didn't 'deserve' to be born? You didn't have a choice in the matter and there is nothing you could have done to somehow 'earn' it.

Define "God".

It is more of a realization from the stand point of looking back to ones beginning from the resurrected state, as in being at the time of Christ's Second Coming and then reminiscing.

But your answer to a then seemingly rhetorical question is right on the button.

There is only One God.

 

[Edward_Palamar]

You need a check up from the neck up. There is no god. You are hallucinating all that crap.

If you ever do manage to pull your head far enough out of your rectum that you can hear, may a dead elephant miraculously fart in your face.

 

[Edward_Palamar]

The Chinese, the Russians, the Islamists, the drug cartels, and various psycho's and criminals are still operating under The Old Covenant, bro.

Put a little more thought into it and you'll see that such a scenario is impossible for man.

 

[yiostheoy]

The Chinese, the Russians, the Islamists, the drug cartels, and various psycho's and criminals are still operating under The Old Covenant, bro.

Put a little more thought into it and you'll see that such a scenario is impossible for man.

They (the proverbial psychopathic they) are destined to kill themselves off.

If you are not prepared to kill them first they will kill you too.

Ergo a time to kill, and a time to heal -- always has been and always will be.