In Bible speak, only Jews are people (humans/men). Gentiles are beasts (animals). In the biblical fairy tale, Adam represents the first man (Jew) although he is never referred to as a Jew. All of the main biblical characters flow from him ending with the Jesus character, the king of the Jews, Adam supposedly lived in the Garden of Eden, which was down the road from Assyria, Persia, Arabia, Ethiopia, and course Egypt. The king of Tyre also lived in the Garden of Eden but he got kicked out for collaborating with the enemy.
Have you seen God? Can you prove he exists? Can you prove your experiences are not a natural sequence of events. The mind and the body are capable of doing things which we yet have to understand. In the,past many people were buried as being dead. Is that what God intended? Today we can keep them alive. Today they can be 'raised' from the dead - sometimes hours after death depending on surrounding conditions. Even today people recover from 'fatal' illnesses. Most of them atheists etc. Many of different nations and religions. One baby will die of the same illness which another baby will recover from. Is this the action of their god - Allah, Shiva, or one of a myriad gods. I've known devout Christians who've had messages from 'god' on the future of their church. Unfortunately the messages did not agree. Judging by the number of sect and denominations of Christianity all claiming to be correct, it seems someone is confused. All religions stemming from mythical Abraham have been started by voices or visions from 'god'. Abraham, Paul, Mohammed, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy etc. We don't find the subject of god interesting. Just why people believe in a supernatural being of whom there is no proof.
No I have not seen God any more than I have seen love or hope or anticipation or expectation, but I have experienced them all. I know they exist. But I cannot show proof for any one of those things. You have probably experienced love, hope, anticipation, expectation so you know--you have personal proof--that such things exist. But you cannot prove they exist either. Such things must be experienced. Once you experience God you know that God exists and will understand why people believe in a supernatural being. And you won't be able to show your proof for that to another human being either. Until then you will probably continue to be drawn to these threads, pretending you aren't at all interested in God or the Bible, but back handedly insulting those who are. And either blatantly or surreptitiously trying to prove them wrong. And I suspect God may have a hand in generating that interest in you.
What you are saying is that your God is a feeling and other than that you have no proof. That is all everyone else is saying as well, only your own Persecution Complex presents an attack. Unfortunately, many people cannot base their lives on feelings so they think differently than you do, that does not mean you are being attacked, just disagreed with.
Love is not a feeling. Affection and lust are feelings. Love however is a verb, an action. The feeling we often wrongly call love is just affection.
What I am saying that the fact we experience something but cannot prove that to somebody else is not evidence that it does not exist. You cannot prove to me that you saw your shadow this morning or that you were frightened by a stray dog or that a pink elephant strolled down your street. You know what you experienced. The fact that you can't prove it to me does not mean that such things do not exist or that your experience was not real.
Which God character is that? There are thousands of the critters, each with its own uniques name and set of attributes. The word god is just a title, it does not refer to any specific deity. The biblical God character has several unique names, which indicate different entities. There is the unmanned one which created the universe. Then there is Jealous, which gave the Moses character the list of laws and the Ten Commandments. There is the one who liked to have guys cut off their foreskins and engage in incest and who lost a wrestling match against Jacob. There is Jehovah, Adnoai, and Jesus. Which version is your favorite?
What you experience are human emotions. Many animals have similar emotions. They have evolved with mankind. Have you seen simians nursing and protecting their offspring. Have you seen Elephants mourn the loss of one of their number? Young animals at play? Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires. Sigmund Freud
It goes beyond emotions. You don't know me. You don't know what I have experienced. And there are none who look so silly as those who think they are wise enough to tell another person what they have or have not experienced when they have nothing to go on but their own opinion.
It is very special and very personal. And there is no way to describe it any more than I can describe what love feels like or compassion or anticipation. It must be experienced in order to understand. I do believe anybody who wants and seeks it can have that experience.
No. It is an experience, though I suppose since God is spirit, you could say it is supernatural. It simply must be experienced in order to understand just as somebody must experience hot or cold to understand what those things are. They cannot be described in a way that people who have not experienced them can understand.
I was brought up as a Christian, committed my life to Christ one evening under an 'experience'/emotion,, spent many years preaching the gospel and experienced many such things as you. Yet studying the Bible has shown me that what I learnt in Bible Studying is simply that the experiences are emotions from the brain using events which have affected us in some way. The Brain rules our lives, our thoughts, our emotions. Without our brains we are non-entities. You believe in god so everything that is seemingly 'supernatural' to you is from god. I am now agnostic. Love can also be a Noun. It is what we call a feeling. It's a verb only if we express that feeling
Well you see, I'm not believing you. I won't say you are being disingenuous and you may be telling it as you think it actually was--I have no way of knowing that. But I think one who actually experienced God instead of just going through the motions, would not be working so hard to convince others that there is no God. Nor would one who was truly agnostic or simply a non believer becauses such people are generally not the least bothered by the religious beliefs of others and, as often as not, easily enjoy religious things with their believing friends. So the question remains. What is it that draws you to threads like this? And why are you trying to convince me that my experience is not real?
You don't believe Trevor? You must be new here. He's the most knowledgeable Christian scholar on this board.
You display the usual Christian Persecution Complex (CPC) in that you feel attacked or that someone is trying to change you just because they disagree. You then go on the passive aggressive defense and make an attack on his honesty....this was a tired tactic long ago and is now rather pathetic. Likely you will also consider this a critique of your God when it is one of you instead. I myself was raised in Christ but grew out of it when science entered my life and the inconsistencies as well as impossibilities forced me to choose. People like you are the reason many Non-Christians cannot "Enjoy" being with Religious friends. I am "Drawn" to threads like this because what is stated by your like often invites reaction.....Why do YOU do it?
Many of the most informed people on Christianity are former Christians....in fact if you truly think on and study the tenants you almost invariably exit the faith. Many of the least informed are Christian though other Christians will say they are not.
Many of the most informed people on Christianity are former Christians....in fact if you truly think on and study the tenants you almost invariably exit the faith. Many of the least informed are Christian though other Christians will say they are not.
