Part 38 of Post Your Tough Questions Regarding Christianity

I guess I will be seeing you at thread 100 eventually. I do appreciate that you address critiques that people have of Christianity and correct some errors they are making.

I can't say I am 100% sure that there is no evidence for Christianity anywhere. Its just that in my limited experience haven't been able to find much evidence for Christianity. In your view does Christianity have much evidence or is it mostly about faith?

 

Yes, you need to give us your own version of compassion.
There's this saying, "Be cruel to be kind."
That's where you tell a kid he's failed his class and he should take up a trade or something.
The OPPOSITE of this mentality should be called, "Be kind to be cruel."
That's where every student has the "right" to college, publicly funded. And they get bits of
paper that give them no job.
So we spoil kids to be "kind" to them. We are "kind" to drug users and their pushers. We
are "kind" in court sentencing of miscreants. In the end we create a world that's unlivable.
Are you a 'cruel to be kind' or 'kind to be cruel' person?

 

Killing everything on earth isn't 'be cruel to be kind'. For once dead, they can't change to be kind.

And your analogies don't seem to have anything with begin Godly.

 

If you really do some research you will find there is ample evidence for Christianity. Christianity as we know is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. And there is historicity of Jesus Christ outside of the Bible.

Then of course there has been people like the controversial figure Bruno Bauer (1809 – 1882) put forward a series of widely-disputed works nearly 200 years ago arguing that Jesus never lived, today the myth that Jesus is only a myth has received the equivalent of the death penalty in historical and scholarly circles (although various internet atheist haunts still try in vain to resurrect the charge).

A Princeton professor named Bruce Metzger wrote decades ago, "Today no competent scholar denies the historicity of Jesus."

Further, the vast majority of scholars (Christian and non-Christian) will grant that the Epistles of Paul (at least some of them) were in fact written by Paul in the middle of the first century A.D., less than 40 years after Jesus’ death. In terms of ancient manuscript evidence, this is extraordinarily strong proof of the existence of a man named Jesus in Israel in the early first century A.D.

So after one does their thorough research to at least believe in the historical Jesus, then you can start to read what's is written in the New Testament of the Holy Bible or better yet start reading the Old Testament first. In the Old Testament you will see that Jesus was prophesied to come (Isaiah 7:14) and be the "Lamb" of God. And then it all started after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a new religion got its start...the Christian religion.

We Read in Scripture:

Jesus, the Lamb of God

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29 NLT

 

The only records we have that show Jesus existed are the gospels which were written decades later. Accounts outside the inner circle of Christianity that back up the gospels came much later and probably just repeated what they heard from Christians. Its possible the writer just made Jesus up or believed claims of a made up Jesus.

I personally suspect that Jesus did exist because I think most historical stories are based on real people. But we can't be completely sure either way. But I don't see any evidence for the supernatural claims. The vast majority of supernatural claims are false so supernatural claims have a large burden of proof to be believable.

 

DairyAir. You been to a dairy and smelled the air?

A friend of mine was caught smoking when he was a boy. His father made
him smoke the entire packet of cigarettes. He said he was sick as a result.
But he never smoked again.
Now a 'kind' father might even 'tolerate' him smoking or understand his 'rights'
to smoke.

Which of two fathers is kinder?

 

So no compassion, forgiveness, love,
grace, truthfulness etc.. ????
I suspect that people don't really take
offense at Noah and Jericho stories, they
take offense at things like the Sermon on
the Mount (Matt 5,6,7) Why? Because it
demands something of them.

 

Hey Mitt! Where have you been? Hope you have been well. You will have a tough audience so bring your A game.

 

Hey Gawd! I've been on vacation, yes I'm well, it must be the occasional steak and potatoes that I eat to keep me well...lol Ok I will bring my A game, so do you have a tough question regarding Christianity for me today or have you ran out of questions?...ahahaha!...ahahaha!

 

We know the nature of God because He has revealed it to us in His Great Best Selling Book of All-Time...The Holy Bible. So for you to make a statement such as that reveals that you are not well versed of what is written in the Scriptures of the Holy Bible.

And so I'm not spewing anything false regarding our Creator Almighty God, but rather I'm keeping in line with what is written in the Scriptures.

"in vein"?...no it's "in vain" I'm not taking God's name in vain, actually it's you who is guilty of that. You are the one being disrespectful to God by referring to Him using the feminine pronoun "her".

The first thing to recognize is that God does not have a body and therefore does not have gender in the technical sense. At the same time, God is consistently referred to as our heavenly Father in Scripture, never as our heavenly Mother. So the use of any feminine pronoun to refer to God is not proper. God the Father and God the Son are both masculine titles, and the Holy Spirit is consistently referred to with masculine pronouns. God has revealed Himself as male, and He is referred to by male pronouns throughout the Bible. To call God "Mother", "her", "it" is unbiblical.

Lastly speaking about punishment, God will not punish believers but will punish the unbelievers.

We Read in Scripture:

The Narrow Gate

Ou Lord Savior Jesus Christ said,

13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 NLT

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” John 3:16-21 NLT

 

Good to see you back Mitt - but let us get one thing straight - Tis me who is much more well versed than you - but why are you getting into a pud measurement contest .. when we have scriptural business to attend to ?

You do not know that the Bible is "defacto" God's word - and it is self deception to think otherwise - you know for a fact , as well as I - that you can not prove the Bible is God's word

But - even if we were to grant "YES" it is God's word - We are still hooped - as one Bible says one thing - and another something different - bible has this - and what another says something different .. and after than you have one persons interpretation/perspective vs another.-

Then the Bible you happen to be using - God says different things on the same subject - One passage contradicting the other - "Should we kill children and babies for the sins of their parents - or should we not" ?

The above being your first tough question. What is "God's Law" on the issue ?

 

There is absolutely nowhere in Scripture can anyone find where God killed "innocent" people. And so He is not that crazed lunatic that some have unfairly labeled Him.
In fact, compared to God's holiness, there is no such thing as an "innocent" person. We have all sinned (Romans 3:23), and the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). God has "just cause" to wipe us all out; but the fact that He doesn't is proof of His mercy.

When God destroyed all of mankind but spared 8 and pairs of animals in the Great Flood of Noah, He was totally justified because of all the sinning that was going on. (Genesis 6:5)

We Read in Scripture:

23 "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard." Romans 3:23 NLT

23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23 NLT

5 "The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil." Genesis 6:5 NLT

Well of course it would be immoral if it was premeditated murder but then on the other hand if it was an accident then you would be faced with a lesser charge.

But your point you are trying to make here is not comparable to God's killings for punishment of sins. God the Creator is justified whereas you would not be.

We Read in Scripture:

13 "You must not murder." Exodus 20:13 NLT

 

I see. So god can do what it wants because if he wipes out a bunch of people they all deserved it because they were sinners. Sorry, but I just don't buy that. He also ordered men to murder others including pregnant women. But I suppose if they were sinners (others, non believers) then its okay for the true believers to commit evil acts in the big guys name.

I can't help but see this in stark human terms.

 

What does that have to do with godly?
And killing?

Did you smell your air? Pooh!

 

Offense? No.
Killing is godly according to you.

 

Who did Jesus kill?

 

Ah, moving the goal post.
Jesus didn't exist when the world was drowned.

 

I thought you were a former Christian? Well maybe you were, I guess you missed the sunday school lesson when the lesson was about our Lord Savior Jesus Christ.
Jesus, God the Son, was not created. He has always existed; He has no beginning or end. Jesus The Son took on human flesh at a particular point in human history (John 1:14).

We Read in Scripture:

Prologue: Christ, the Eternal Word
1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.
6 God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing
love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
15 John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us. John 1-18 NLT

 

Well, you see, I don't follow Judaism, I am a Christian.
I think the people who say they hate the bible for its
'violence' actually see the Messiah, as Richard Dawkins
put it, as a 'milk sop personality.'

 

God is not, has never been, will never ever be immoral. God is holy, perfect, sinless. When God killed people as depicted in the Old Testament, He had every right to do so since we are His creation, He owns everyone of us and when He killed He was doing it strictly for punishment of sins which is justifiable.

However, it doesn't mean that we have this right to kill as God the Creator has.

He has given us laws to live by, such as the Ten Commandments. We as humans do not have the moral authority to just kill anyone as we please, that would be cold blooded murder and breaking one of God's commandment which is "You must not murder" (Exodus 20:13)

 

God is perfect and our sin is offensive to him, would be like stink (how would He be perfect if HE lived with that odor around?).. but He gave us a way to be cleansed so He can remain perfect.

 

When passages in Scripture show God's wrath in His punishment for sins that's immoral in your view, then you claim there has been immoral acts as shown in Scripture but there is no mentioning of God punishing these immoral acts, that's hypocritical in your view.

So He's immoral when He acts, when He doesn't, He's a hypocrite because we claim God has given us objective morality. So either way God is wrong according to you. The truth is you are wrong in your critique of God.

First off, God's punishment of sins as depicted in the Old Testament were always justifiable, there is no debating that. Secondly God does not overlook immorality and give it a pass on certain occasions as you seem mistakenly believe. We are all accountable for our sins before God...make no mistake about that! When people sin, it's a transgression against God's laws.

We Read in Scripture:

12 "When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it. 13 For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. 14 Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. 15 They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. 16 And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life." Romans 2:12-16 NLT

Yes, they were all immoral because every single last one of them were sinners, we all have broken God's laws which makes all of us sinners...people living now as well as people who lived a long long time ago.

We Read in Scripture:

All People Are Sinners

9 Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin.

10 As the Scriptures say, "No one is righteous—not even one." Romans 3:9-10 NLT

 

Thank you for articulating our fundamental schism of belief. I cannot accept a circular argument and you take it as the foundation of your faith.

I am of the belief that WE are the universe's self awareness manifest. Its matter and energy have evolved to life to self awareness of itself by US. Hence our obsessive quest to understand the big questions. When we ask who created the universe, we are asking who are our grand parents, metaphorically speaking as one has to do when discussing philosophy.

 

You're wasting your time with Mitt. If you could prove without a shadow of doubt that god did not exist, he wouldn't believe you. You can show him facts that most of the world accept, and that even many Christian accept, and he won't believe you. He's out of this world, in a world of his own. And he will simply quote you from a Christian website. Some that can't even questions on the OT they're so biased.

 

According to your "logic": whoever his Father told him to, even if it was an infant.