No Greater Love -

[joshua 1 9]

So, you've read the part that explains that, to breed coloured goats, you have the copulating parents stare at striped sticks!?

I have no problem with that passage, I understand it just find. In fact it is one of the passages that talks about selective breeding. But I have learned it is a waste of time to try to explain it to people. The Bible is very clear, we need the Holy Spirit to be our teacher and to guide us and to lead us into the truth. We do not need man to be our teacher. So everyone gets to decide if they want to accept God or reject God. We are not robots or slaves, we have free choice. God wants us to freely love Him, but He does not force us. Only of course He wants us to do what is right. Like a parent that wants what is best for their children.

 

[joshua 1 9]

You are using the Bible as evidence for the Bible!

No, I am not. I just quote the Bible because I do not want to paraphrase.

The Bible was entirely written by men.

The Bible was written over a span of 1500 years, by 40 writers. Unlike other religious writings, the Bible reads as a factual news account of real events, places, people, and dialogue. Historians and archaeologists have repeatedly confirmed its authenticity. Using the writers' own writing styles and personalities, God shows us who he is and what it's like to know him.

 

[Hoghead1]

Not to everyone. Again, evolution is a sad, lonely thing to believe.

It all depends on how you view evolution. If you are into theistic evolution, then it is a joyous thing, realizing that God is luring the world on to greater forms of beauty. Even if you are an atheist, it can be a joyous thing. We humans love to get lost in some transcendental reality, in which we play a part. So, many will say that it is enough just from them to know they are part of the evolutionary process going on. Furthermore, may find the un9iverse more aesthetically appealing than the traditional model of God. Indeed, the universe with its vast profusion of complex relationshi0p-s and structures seems far more beautiful, far more aesthetically satisfying, than the classical model of God, whereby God is seen as a one-dimensional being, void of body, par5ts, passions, compassion, wholly simple, wholly immutable. Also, you have to bear in mind that Jesus Christ cannot be good news to everyone. The church has a long and bloody history that turn many off to Christianity. You might want to read some time about what our founding fathers, specifically Jefferson, Adams, and Monroe had to say about Christianity, how they denounced it as fostering noting but fear, intolerance, tyranny, and ignorance. Also, Christian doctrines have impressed many as quite depressing. The whole notion of predestination and election, that only a tiny minority are saved, impresses many as a religion based on hopelessness and is a major turnoff. Historically, a negative image of God has been presented, whereby God is the Ruthless moralist, Ruling Caesar, and Unmoved Mover, all rolled into one. So before we criticize others for providing something dark and lonely, we should clean up our own house.

 

[joshua 1 9]

And we also have overwhelming archaeological that the Bible is not accurate and true. Look into what archaeologists say about the Exodus. If you are going to live by archaeology, then you need to accept it when it tells you that the Bible is wrong too.

Lack of evidence does not prove anything. It is absurd that you would even make a suggestion like that. Science can not prove everything at this point in time. The blame is not on the Bible, the blame is on how limited Science is.

There is abundant overwhelming evidence that the Bible is 100% accurate and true. Totally reliable and dependable. God has the answer for all of our questions and the solution for ALL of our problems. Science does not even come close to making that claim. We do not have evidence and proof for everything but what we do have evidence and proof for is more then sufficient and more then enough to show how accurate and true the Bible really is.

 

[joshua 1 9]

Actually people wrote that. God did not say that.

2 Peter 3 16
"He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction."

If the Bible were not true then it would have come to nothing a LONG time ago.

"I advise you: Leave these men alone. Let them go! For if their purpose or endeavor is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God.”…Acts 5 38,39

 

[Subduction Zone]

No problem. If you want to try privately, pm me.

Not my problem either. It is usually the creationists that try to bring the Bible into the conversation as if it were some sort of authority and we can all see that it is not.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Lack of evidence does not prove anything. It is absurd that you would even make a suggestion like that. Science can not prove everything at this point in time. The blame is not on the Bible, the blame is on how limited Science is.

There is abundant overwhelming evidence that the Bible is 100% accurate and true. Totally reliable and dependable. God has the answer for all of our questions and the solution for ALL of our problems. Science does not even come close to making that claim. We do not have evidence and proof for everything but what we do have evidence and proof for is more then sufficient and more then enough to show how accurate and true the Bible really is.

That is not true. Here is an example, a friend calls you on the phone swearing that 1,000 buffalo just stampeded through his house. You go there and it is pristine and clean. Do you believe your friend or do you think that he was not telling the truth? You know that a thousand buffalo stampeding through someone's house would leave obvious evidence. The same applies to what would be about 2 million people stamping around the desert for forty years.

And sadly your prejudice allows you to see only the confirming evidence and you ignore all of the negative evidence. Science in reality does much better than the Bible does, people that understand science don't tend to make exaggerated claims of what it can do.

 

[Subduction Zone]

2 Peter 3 16
"He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction."

If the Bible were not true then it would have come to nothing a LONG time ago.

"I advise you: Leave these men alone. Let them go! For if their purpose or endeavor is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God.”…Acts 5 38,39

The Bible did "come to nothing " long ago. You don't seem to understand how unreasonable people's personal prejudice can be. Especially when death is involved. Religion is an irrational reaction to a rational fear.

 

[Subduction Zone]

-- I guess it's time for this story again:

There was once a man who captured a Leprechaun and forced him to tell him where the pot of gold was. The Leprechaun took him into a forest and showed him where it was buried: at the base of a tree. Whereupon the man tied a red ribbon around the tree, made the Leprechaun promise he wouldn't touch it, and then went and got a shovel. Coming back, to his horror, the Leprechaun had tied red ribbons around every tree in the forest.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

You never showed that there was a baby in the first place.

 

[SteveB28]

Not to everyone. Again, evolution is a sad, lonely thing to believe.

Just consider that position.

You believe things on the basis of whether they make you sad or not?

Now, that is sad.....and a little pathetic.

 

[pat34lee]

So before we criticize others for providing something dark and lonely, we should clean up our own house.

That was a very long post to say we are all sinners. I agree.
Through much of history, churches were little more than
another type of or tool of government, using religion to
control the people.

 

[pat34lee]

Just consider that position.

You believe things on the basis of whether they make you sad or not?

Now, that is sad.....and a little pathetic.

Now you're getting obnoxious. You know better and say
stuff out of context anyway to get a rise. Congrats, you got it.

 

[AV1611VET]

The same applies to what would be about 2 million people stamping around the desert for forty years.

Those 2 million people stamping around in the desert for forty years were blessed as such ...

Deuteronomy 29:5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.

Just what is it you're looking for?

 

[Robert Palase]

Jesus claimed that he did.

Jesus never claimed anything, everything supposedly claimed by Jesus was in fact claimed by others long after Jesus had died.

 

[SteveB28]

Just consider that position.

You believe things on the basis of whether they make you sad or not?

Now you're getting obnoxious. You know better and say stupid
stuff anyway to get a rise. Congrats, you got it.

I am following your lead. YOU say, as an argument against evolution that it makes you feel sad and lonely, when the only arguments should be about whether or not it occurs; whether it is real.

There are many issues that might make us sad. It doesn't exactly fill me with glee that I am well over the age that most people die and that I probably have only a few years left in my life.

But, as for all of us, death is a reality. Feeling "sad" about it makes it no less real. Evolution is also a reality, whether it saddens one or not.

 

[SteveB28]

Those 2 million people stamping around in the desert for forty years were blessed as such ...

Deuteronomy 29:5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.

Just what is it you're looking for?

They weren't there. Even those for whom such a reality would be well served (the Jews), have faced that reality.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Those 2 million people stamping around in the desert for forty years were blessed as such ...

Deuteronomy 29:5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.

Just what is it you're looking for?

Sorry, more nonsense only makes your position worse. Besides that that whole story is another one that portrays God as an evil being. Was not Pharaoh willing to let them go until God hardened his heart? That makes God the villain, not Pharaoh. That story showed that it was written by a tribal people with undeveloped morals.

 

[Robert Palase]

That story showed that it was written by a tribal people with undeveloped morals.

And believed today by people who share those same twisted morals.

 

[SteveB28]

If we are the end result of a series of
natural events with no purpose, what
would you call it?

Oh, we have heard this nonsense so many times!

"What purpose does the atheist have in his life, if he believes it all ends with his death?"

It's the frightened cry of those who will not accept their mortality. So, how long should a life be before it has purpose?

200 years? No, not good enough, it's still a finite period.

A million years? No, not enough. It simply must last forever.

This is the cry of the spoilt brat, whining all the time that he is eating a lolli-pop because it's going to be gone in a little while! Instead of enjoying the treat while it lasts, the little ingrate would rather dwell on its temporary existence.

 

[Robert Palase]

Oh, we have heard this nonsense so many times!
"What purpose does the atheist have in his life, if he believes it all ends with his death?"
It's the frightened cry of those who will not accept their mortality. So, how long should a life be before it has purpose?
200 years? No, not good enough, it's still a finite period.
A million years? No, not enough. It simply must last forever.
This is the cry of the spoilt brat, whining all the time that he is eating a lolli-pop because it's going to be gone in a little while! Instead of enjoying the treat while it lasts, the little ingrate would rather dwell on its temporary existence.

That is oh so true.