Log in
Register
Search
Search titles only
By:
Search titles only
By:
Forums
New posts
Forum list
Search forums
Leaderboards
Games
Our Blog
Blogs
New entries
New comments
Blog list
Search blogs
Credits
Transactions
Shop
Blessings: ✟0.00
Tickets
Open new ticket
Watched
Donate
Log in
Register
Search
Search titles only
By:
Search titles only
By:
More options
Toggle width
Share this page
Share this page
Share
Reddit
Pinterest
Tumblr
WhatsApp
Email
Share
Link
Menu
Install the app
Install
Forums
Outreach
Outreach
Exploring Christianity
Put it all here.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Glass*Soul" data-source="post: 61088805" data-attributes="member: 111155"><p>Well, I will try to respond. Feel free to ask follow-ups if I don't seem to be addressing the questions fully.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-size: 12px">1.</span></span> </span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>If you believed the Christian God really did exist, how would that knowledge change your life?</strong> I think, if I believed in God, there would be a huge aspect of uncertainty I would have to deal with. When I say a huge aspect, I mean really huge. As huge as the concept of God itself. I would be seeing myself primarily in relation to something utterly ineffable, immovable, and inscrutable rather than simply in relation to the world around me. I'm not sure what I would do with that. </span></span>It strikes me as a rather lonesome state, actually.</p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-size: 12px">2.</span></span> </span><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-size: 12px">From what you do know of the Christian God would you like to know He existed? </span></span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-size: 12px">If you get a chance to look at my response to your post in my parable of the wedding feast topic, that <em>partly</em> answers this question. </span></span>Sussing out what the Christian God is like is no easy task. In that parable alone, a character that feels like Herod Anitpas to me feels like God to most of the other respondents. Would I like to know a God who strikes me as resembling Herod Antipas existed? No. Such knowledge would darken my existence. </p><p></p><p>However, I don't believe that a God who resembles Herod Antipas <em>can</em> exist. I find it a logical impossibility. So, I don't worry about it. What I worry about is that there are people who do believe in such a God. I fear <em>for</em> them and I may, under certain circumstances, fear<em> them</em>.</p><p></p><p>What I would like to know is what Jesus was referencing by the terms "Father" and "Kingdom of Heaven". I think it may be something that on a mystical, non-logical, intuitive level may be helpful to mankind. I don't believe it has to point to something that exists in order for it to <em>be</em> helpful. I don't think it is important that I believe in the existence of Jesus' Father in the same way as I believe in the existence of George Washington. I think I can have faith, have fealty, without that sort of belief. </p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-size: 12px">3.</span></span> </span><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Why do you want to know the Christian God does exist?</span></span></strong> Once the idea of God began to strike me as a logical impossibility, wanting or not wanting it became moot. It would be like wanting to flap my arms and fly. To want it, to truly and really want it, would man wanting reality as I know it to be suspended. I do not want reality as I know to be suspended. That would be madness. The day I flap my arms and fly is the day the haul me off in a straightjacket. </p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-size: 12px">4.</span></span> </span><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-size: 12px">What would it take for you to believe the Christian God does exist and would that require faith or just knowledge on your part?</span></span></strong> It would require a definition of God that is not a logical impossibility and that did not boil down to something in the universe that is simply bigger and more powerful than me. Good luck with that. <img src="/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/old/kawaii.gif" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt="^_^" title="Kawaii ^_^" data-shortname="^_^" /></p><p></p><p>Now, I notice you've put the word believe in scare quotes. If by belief you mean the deliberate, temporary suspension of non-belief for a specific purpose, such as what we do when we read a book or watch a movie and allow ourselves to react as if it were real, then I do that. I'm quite capable of talking about God as if God existed and find it useful to do so. It is possible to have faith in the concept of a God of a certain character in the sense of living life as if that God existed and acting in fealty to the character of that imagined God. It is a tool. It is not knowledge of a God. It does not require one's God to be a logical possibility. </p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-size: 12px">5.</span></span> </span><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Do you see any logical reason humans would need to believe there is a benevolent Creator over just having knowledge of a benevolent creator? </span></span></strong>I would say that the difference occurs because God is a logical impossibility and one cannot have knowledge of such. If we find the concept of God a useful one we are thrown back onto belief or suspension of non-belief. Which of the two camps we find ourselves in depends upon how our minds work. Suspension of non-belief is my necessary approach. I think that is OK.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Glass*Soul, post: 61088805, member: 111155"] Well, I will try to respond. Feel free to ask follow-ups if I don't seem to be addressing the questions fully. [B][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]1.[/SIZE][/FONT] [/FONT][/B][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3][B]If you believed the Christian God really did exist, how would that knowledge change your life?[/B] I think, if I believed in God, there would be a huge aspect of uncertainty I would have to deal with. When I say a huge aspect, I mean really huge. As huge as the concept of God itself. I would be seeing myself primarily in relation to something utterly ineffable, immovable, and inscrutable rather than simply in relation to the world around me. I'm not sure what I would do with that. [/SIZE][/FONT]It strikes me as a rather lonesome state, actually. [B][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]2.[/SIZE][/FONT] [/FONT][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]From what you do know of the Christian God would you like to know He existed? [/SIZE][/FONT][/B][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]If you get a chance to look at my response to your post in my parable of the wedding feast topic, that [I]partly[/I] answers this question. [/SIZE][/FONT]Sussing out what the Christian God is like is no easy task. In that parable alone, a character that feels like Herod Anitpas to me feels like God to most of the other respondents. Would I like to know a God who strikes me as resembling Herod Antipas existed? No. Such knowledge would darken my existence. However, I don't believe that a God who resembles Herod Antipas [I]can[/I] exist. I find it a logical impossibility. So, I don't worry about it. What I worry about is that there are people who do believe in such a God. I fear [I]for[/I] them and I may, under certain circumstances, fear[I] them[/I]. What I would like to know is what Jesus was referencing by the terms "Father" and "Kingdom of Heaven". I think it may be something that on a mystical, non-logical, intuitive level may be helpful to mankind. I don't believe it has to point to something that exists in order for it to [I]be[/I] helpful. I don't think it is important that I believe in the existence of Jesus' Father in the same way as I believe in the existence of George Washington. I think I can have faith, have fealty, without that sort of belief. [B][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]3.[/SIZE][/FONT] [/FONT][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Why do you want to know the Christian God does exist?[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] Once the idea of God began to strike me as a logical impossibility, wanting or not wanting it became moot. It would be like wanting to flap my arms and fly. To want it, to truly and really want it, would man wanting reality as I know it to be suspended. I do not want reality as I know to be suspended. That would be madness. The day I flap my arms and fly is the day the haul me off in a straightjacket. [B][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]4.[/SIZE][/FONT] [/FONT][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]What would it take for you to believe the Christian God does exist and would that require faith or just knowledge on your part?[/SIZE][/FONT][/B] It would require a definition of God that is not a logical impossibility and that did not boil down to something in the universe that is simply bigger and more powerful than me. Good luck with that. ^_^ Now, I notice you've put the word believe in scare quotes. If by belief you mean the deliberate, temporary suspension of non-belief for a specific purpose, such as what we do when we read a book or watch a movie and allow ourselves to react as if it were real, then I do that. I'm quite capable of talking about God as if God existed and find it useful to do so. It is possible to have faith in the concept of a God of a certain character in the sense of living life as if that God existed and acting in fealty to the character of that imagined God. It is a tool. It is not knowledge of a God. It does not require one's God to be a logical possibility. [B][FONT=Calibri][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]5.[/SIZE][/FONT] [/FONT][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Do you see any logical reason humans would need to believe there is a benevolent Creator over just having knowledge of a benevolent creator? [/SIZE][/FONT][/B]I would say that the difference occurs because God is a logical impossibility and one cannot have knowledge of such. If we find the concept of God a useful one we are thrown back onto belief or suspension of non-belief. Which of the two camps we find ourselves in depends upon how our minds work. Suspension of non-belief is my necessary approach. I think that is OK. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Outreach
Outreach
Exploring Christianity
Put it all here.
Top
Bottom