The Free Will Conspiracy of the Bible

In your opinion, it's completely and utterly ridiculous. I have real life experience that solidifies my opinion.

Originally posted by graphuto
In your opinion, it's completely and utterly ridiculous. I have real life experience that solidifies my opinion.

"As much as people want to believe that they "run things", they simply don't."

...does this extend to your 'opinion' of what you 'experience'?...do you 'run' these thoughts?

You gotta do some hard thinking...

...like I said (and I'm sorry to offend) completely and utterly ridiculous...

A99

reply to post by windword


He gave us free will with the promise of judgment. This is his promise, this is what we have. When we go against God's will we are judged. Stop looking at the Christian definition of Judgment, let them await their judgment. What we need to do is stop waiting for judgment and understand that judgment is today.

Since God is love, when you sin you go against love. The punishment for sin is emotional. See if you can understand this concept.

The punishment for anger is anger. Do you need more punishment than emotional anger, didn't that cause enough problems. If you chose not to be angry you did not get angry so you avoided punishment.

You could even look at it as a reward. You were rewarded with anger for your anger so that being angry might become detestable to you. So anger can be seen as both gift and punishment.

On the flip side if you love you are rewarded with love. This is the act of doing something loving not the lazy unloving act of merely mouthing the words i love you. Somehow to God doing I love you is much more powerful than saying I love you. So much more important and powerfull that you only feel his love when you actually do.

If a married man looks at a women in lust, the punishment is lust. If you pursue this lust it will lead to adultery. How do you avoid punishment, if you can't control your flesh "turn the other cheek". You can tell your head which way to turn even if your eyes are struggling.

So we have free will but the outcome is up to him. If we choose love the outcome is love. If we choose to be against love and purse something else, then we should expect the outcome to be punishment. The bible says he judges all men fairly, without showing favoritism. Both Jew and Gentile are judged alike.

If you can see God as love and hell as an emotional state of mind, then you can overcome. Is there something greater and more profound at the end of this physical life? I believe so, but we don't have to wait for a taste of heaven. If we pursue love first at all times then we will find love. Love abides in heaven so we will find heaven if we find love. Because God is love.

reply to post by sacgamer25


Sac,

Your version of God is clearly not the God of the Old Testament. That guy, Yahweh, claimed to be a lot of things, but he never claimed to be "Love"

Yahweh did NOT give man free will. He uses every trick in the "book" to try to get us to give up our free will in order to truly follow him, including lies, bribery, coercion and threats.

reply to post by windword


Someday I will do a more in depth analysis of the OT, but for now the NT says God is love and I can't find one thing wrong with that logic, even if we agree on nothing else.

reply to post by sacgamer25


I would suggest that the deity of the Old Testament isn't the same "father god" that Jesus taught us about.

reply to post by windword


Fair enough, for now.

Originally posted by windword
reply to post by sacgamer25

 

I would suggest that the deity of the Old Testament isn't the same "father god" that Jesus taught us about.

Your'e absolutely correct Jesus(Yahshua) is Yahweh..I AM....The "God" of the Old testament....and no man does not have a free will ....that he does is the myth.The law of causation shows that EVERY effect has a cause we are not in control of the vast majority of all the effects by controlling the causes.We can choose what we do but we cannot will it on our own and they are not free of causation and the multitude of factors that make the effect.

This is what man hates.That they aren't God and have ZERO control of their lives.The fact is God is responsible (in both senses) for EVERYTHING.If God isn't and man creates his own reality by his "free will"(that is very very very weak at best) then God is NOT God...and EVERYTHING is complete futility..nothing matters at all.Eat drink and be merry..for tomorrow...you die.Lucky for all of us EVERYTHING is controlled by God (like it or not) he isn't asking for our opinion or council and it matters naught.He isn't "pining over us to "love him".EVERYTHING is going perfectly according to the plan.Complaining or being a dissident will do none any good except prove how miserable they really are.

There is no place of eternal torment and punishment called hell where God will mercilessly destroy those he created.That is God blinding the religious heart and mind and hardening it.There is no place called heaven...only THE HEAVENS which is IN YOUR midst(spirit).That is where the Kingdom of God exists.It is an infinite Kingdom.Death cannot destroy it.The myriad forms of secular humanism and religion all have the same source..God..he created it all to blind man to the reality they "live" in this realm..The valley of the shadow of death.Its all for a purpose .God would not be so foolish as to let man have ANY say so in any of it.This is GODS creation.
One day all we thought was real will be seen for the foolishness it is.The earth is a quark inside an atom in relationship to this physical universe.Our whole life is not even a a breath in comparison to what life REALLY is.Thank God man does not have free will.That would truly be a hell.