They made you believe God is perfect...

a reply to: Raggedyman

Okay, well, I was raised between Agnostic, Lutheran, and Catholic. Yes, its odd. Being skeptical of evolution is okay (I personally believe in it, but I dont judge). The bible is largely contradicative, which I think you were referring to, so are younon-denominational Christian? You don't have to answer, that's personal.

I'm sorry, your replies indicated a strong faith in something. If I'm wrong, okay. If you do, okay. I was just curious to get a read. Your last reply sounds close to hide a response.

a reply to: St0rD

And you maybe right but, you are not discussing the self identified Christian God
Your perception of your identified god may be learning, fine, that’s great but the identified, biblical God is not learning
You have created in your mind an opinion of the Christian God, based on your beliefs, it’s not the god you identify as the Christian God

If I write a book called the big red fire truck with teenage turtle firemen, you can’t then say the firetruck is a helicopter just because

You can say, “I think that firetruck is a helicopter, though, you better have a good reason and explanation as to why change my story to suit yourself interest

The bible describes God as already knowing, you then decide to describe the biblical God outside of how He is described to suit your own narrative.

The Christian, Hebrew God is interacting with His creation. If God is learning anything, it’s how evil and perverted humanity can become.
Worse than the days of Noah, when He has to step in and end it before we end ourselves

a reply to: sine.nomine

I lean towards creationism, not that it is a salvation issue and I still have lots of questions that need to be addressed
I have far more questions about evolution, Big Bang, abiogenesis than creation so, irrespective, my faith is in Jesus, not Genesis, creation or the bible with its few contradictions

I have an anabaptist Mennonite theology with strong influences of Wesley

a reply to: St0rD


Yes I can get with a theory that God is always evolving, but then I would still think there is something higher outside a meterial god.
But if we imagine God as being matter and mind and these two things project an upward spiral in struggle against one another...
The Nag Hammadi texts explain more to me in relation to what i have experienced in my life, than other religions. But then again I am biased because I'm expecting to find truth in the hidden, when the hidden could also be buried lies.

a reply to: St0rD

To be fair, you never offered a good reason God would be learning?
How and where do you find God experiences the world through our eyes?
You can’t just make that up and expect us to cop it
God identifies as a parent, watches over us, allows us to choose, decide our own fate should we choose

What if God is allowing humanity to decide the outcome for themselves
God has a map, knows where it will end, how we get there but, we are taking the journey, we experience the route, we decide if we make it or give up the journey because it’s to tough

You are projecting your own thoughts on a God you don’t know or understand, to make an argument that can’t be justified
You havnt justified your own argument Gods like us and then claim we can’t justify why He isn’t. The bible states He isn’t, see, done, completed

a reply to: Panartisis

Why would God hide anything, that sounds sneaky, evil, what aliens would do
Why would a self professed loving God hide truth, what purpose would that serve

a reply to: St0rD

God said, return to me and I will give you peace and rest
Saying God is learning is saying God is a liar
God created perfection with freewill, God promises to restore perfection when Jesus returns and brings His kingdom of perfection back, like Eden.

You make God a liar, you can’t expect nobody to be offended

a reply to: St0rD

Right out of the box you are off track. We are all children of God. Do children not resemble their parents? As for feeding evil being a reflection on God: He gave us free will, the freedom to act as we choose. And He gave us consequences for our actions. Again, not unlike most other parents.

You are trying to define some universal truths from a very human perspective. It doesn't work. God created the universe. Where was He when He did it and who created that?

a reply to: St0rD

To be fair, nobody in this thread provided a good counter argument as to why God might not be just like you and me,

How many universes have you created with just a thought ?

a reply to: Raggedyman


Well depends what god you're talking about, the creator is like the owner, the material god may be the CEO. The owner may not take any part. So Adam and Eve knew shame and down the material path they went, so possibly the fig leaf was the first step they took, I don't know its like trying to guess the twist, won't know for sure till the end, and even then you could be left hanging.

a reply to: Gothmog
If there is nothing new under the sun then what would an original thought actually do, was what I thought after reading your post.

a reply to: Raggedyman

How did trees look like humans before humans were even here, is a question I would like to know the answer to.

originally posted by: Raggedyman

originally posted by: St0rD
a reply to: sine.nomine

Whenever a person is confronted with an idea that they feel threaten their own beliefs they will most likely completely reject it from the start.

So nothing new here, I guess.

So, where did you study theology, what do you understand about the gospel?
What do you think of the Arminian, Calvinist divide?
Do you believe in freewill, that God is a puppet master, predestination, eternal hell for humanity
Did Jesus need to die or was the fact He forgave people before He died evidence His death was not necessary

Why did God create humanity, let’s start with that question first, feel free to cheat and look up an answer on google

Maybe you should stop and consider, just for a few seconds, think and ask yourself this “Do I really understand all this, could I be a bit ignorant to theology”
I bet you have read the whole bible, havnt you?

I studied theology, hours and hours a day, years and years and I would call myself ignorant, but you, you claim you are not
I stated many Christians are ignorant of Christianity, speak to many often but you, you are not, really?

Maybe, really, you are but can’t admit it, maybe?

Well,

plenty of good questions there. I take this as a challenge and will do my best to describe my own idea of truth. You might take me lightly and say to yourself
"Who the fook is that guy anyway"
but you don't need to have have a degree in everything to actually formulate a strong solid opinion about different aspects of our reality. Life is the biggest teacher you can have.

Why did God created humanity?
My best guess would be that before the world of matter was created, God and all creation held together as a whole in absolute balance. But then, just like in our life we take things for granted and only realize the importance of what we have already until we lose it, I'd argue there was a point when the Source decided to come out of this "boring" balance and experience something new. Matter was created and all things we know today in order to experience creation in a new perspective and learning a lot in the process about ourselves and the true nature of reality.

Freewill is clearly a thing. I think it is an intrigate part of God's character and the system of laws he believes in. A lot of people blame God because he let evil be injected into all creation with all the suffering that came with it when he could have probably just stop it from happening in the first place. Now it's something I also struggle to understand from time to time when I see the amount of evil that actually exist in this world... but then I ask myself
What kind of God could pretend he is the truth and the way, that his laws are holy and that he honors freewill but when # doesn't go as he intended would simply magically reset or erase what he doesn't like? Nha, as disturbing as it is, we still have to go through this process and learn the hard way.

Now about God's true intention, I'm 100% confident he is a being of love and deserve that we give him a chance for real this time. He offered us paradise but we chose the wicked path instead. We believed the lie of the devil and we still pay the price today. It's so hard to get a true relationship with God and truly believe in him and that he exists. Somehow there is always that little doubt behind the back of our head. Even more than that, the Lord gives us plenty of chances to experience true happiness and plenty of opportunities to turn back from our wicked ways (which ultimately lead us nowhere but to suffering) and yet the temptation of sin is so strong we always seem to choose to believe the lie and make the sames mistakes over and over again. Ironicallly, if only we chose the path of rightoueness and give God a chance we would have all we always dreamed of but the path of the Lord requires serious sacrifice most people are not ready for.

So this bring us to your next question-
Is hell real and for eternity?
I've thought about this for a long time and I've come to the conclusion that the Devil is very real. Which means that hell most likely is too. Very disturbing stuff when you really start to think about it and consider the implications behind it. It seems like we are all being tested and been given all the chances in the world to repent from our sins. God is an incredibly patient being, it's unreal. But he is not a fool and he's got a limit. They call it jugdment day, the end of times, ragnarok, etc whatever you call it EVERY civilizations talk about it. People should have fear about God's wrath because all the day his patience and mercy has come to terms, the wrath that will be unleashed will be absolutely terrifying especially considering the amount of suffering and bull# mankind displayed on Earth.
The thing I have a hard time to believe is that hell is eternal damnation and is forever and ever. I feel like it goes against God's character to cut himself for a whole part of his creation. Now, he has really no choice to punish the wicked because thanks to karma, it's the only real justice that exist in our world. However, I suspect there might be some opportunities for redemption to even the Devil himself. Thing is though the way I see it the only way God would forgive Satan is if he would repent to all of his evil deeds and actually have to go through the same suffering he inflicted upon creation then justice would have been served and forgiveness possible. But yeah, I don't think he's willing to do that loll

a reply to: St0rD

An early poster replied

[What credentials entitled you to explain God ?

OMG....We now need credentials to ask ourselves questions about God? And credentials when we try to answer our own questions???

''Vee vill teel you vhat to beleef unt you vill obey.

Sometimes I wonder how God could have come up with the concept of mommy and daddy if he never had either.

originally posted by: Panartisis
a reply to: Gothmog
If there is nothing new under the sun then what would an original thought actually do, was what I thought after reading your post.

I think , therefore you are.

a reply to: St0rD

OMG.. here is another one . Now we need a degree in theology to discuss our ideas on God. Man oh man, let em toss me in the lock up with you.

a reply to: Gothmog

I think , therefore you are.

You think, therefore I be?

originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
a reply to: Gothmog

I think , therefore you are.

You think, therefore I be?

Yep.
I just ain't figured out what the "be" is in your case.
WIP .

a reply to: Raggedyman

We all know religions have been greatly manipulated, cmon.

The Bible is one powerful book but you can't take everything it says for granted. You have to challenge everything in it and make your own conclusions. Truth is being hidden from us and if you rely only on the informations that the powers that be make available to you, then I'm afraid you will never get to really know God before you die. There are some things that they don't want you to know and ofc they will pretend their God is perfect. Not saying he isn't, simply that you can't take their words for it and actually be open to the fact certain truths will only be found deep within yourself. Nlobody can do it for you.

So yeah, I don't care what the bible tells me to believe about God and he doesn't neither. I'm smart enough to take the good in religions but also understand that the rest I will have to find by myself.

a reply to: Gothmog

Ha, Ditto

a reply to: Gothmog

Yeah, me neither. When I used to ask my old man questions about stuff like that he always answered

''Beez u got bugs I R everybody be.''

Don't know where he got that from. Somewhere I suppose out of the slang jargon of the twenties and thirties. The closest I could find to it in a google search was ''Bees! You Got Bugs? Course I Are. Everybody Do! ''