JohnEmmett
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- Jan 21, 2017
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God created life.
I'm alive and loving it.
Therefore God is good.
Other than your faith, how can you know that God is exclusively good?
There are many millions of people in the world who live in misery not of their own making.
karma is of our making
beliefs matter as much as behavior
If I choose to love God, will He love me right back, guaranteed 100%?Please consider:
A good GOD who wanted to have a real marriage with us based upon love had to create us with a free will, that is, the ability to choose good OR reject it for evil was an absolute necessity.
Think of forcing someone to love you. Any force at all: a direct threat like a gun, a psychological manipulation, hypnosis, drugs... I shouldn't have to tell you that none of these things can produce love. If GOD created us without the ability to choose to reject love, we also would have no ability to choose true love, ie our so called love would be by HIS will, not our own, not our choice, not true to us. This could make us a Stepford wife, obviously not the spiritual joining of two people by their free will HE envisioned.
Now about marriage: are we really thinking that a forced marriage with an inability to choose anyone but he who we were forced to marry is a real mariage? That is fits the highest definition of marriage of the joining of two souls into one? Why would GOD go for the most worldly definition of marriage that may be legal in some nations as the best definition of HIS heavenly marriage when it could be a choice by our free will to accept HIS proposal of a full communion of telepathic love and communication among all the heavenly residents including GOD at all times forever?
Therefore a real marriage based upon a true love MUST be by a free will decision to accept the husband's proposal and for a will to be truly free, it must be able to choose any of the pertinent options, uncoerced to choose only one option and not constricted from choosing any option.
Therefore I can't consider that you are describing a good god at all but a narrow minded god happy with a Stepford wife who can only do exactly what he wants by his will.
(me) "If we are not completely logical, how would we know WHICH Commandments would be helpful? If we are not logical, how are we to know which of the 613 Commandments are still relevant, and which ones are not?"
Amen, and faith, an unproven HOPE, is the basis of all understanding of spiritual truth and salvation from sins which are also denied without faith:And my point is that your determination is ultimately based on faith. God’s claimed goodness can’t be determined by observation.
If I choose to love God, will He love me right back, guaranteed 100%?
Not seeing an answer to my question. If I choose to love God, will He love me right back, guaranteed 100%?Can you choose to love someone you do not believe exists, ie, choose to love Queequeg or the hunchback's Esmeralda? Because this is impossible it is written:
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must have faith (an unproven hope, Heb 11:1) that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
But no easy believing here:
Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
and yet
Luke 11:9-13I tell you: ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and everyone who seeks, finds; and to everyone who knocks the door will be opened.
Just go through them and see which are relevant today. Many aren't.
Um, it was you whom stated "(post 73) You make a huge assumption that we think logically. If we thought logically we would obey the commandments."
If we do not think logically, then HOW are we to know which Commandments are relevant? Or even at a more fundamental level, if we do not think logically, how would we logically know to obey any Commandments in the first place?
Without much critical thinking (logic) just go through the list for yourself. Toss out those that are irrelevant such as, plowing with an ox and an ass yoked together, muzzling the ox that treads out the grain, etc. Many are archaic and were meant only for Israel. Many were intended to remind Israel that she was called to be separate from the nations around her. The ones that would benefit mankind as a whole require a little more thought.
Most civilizations have rules that closely resemble the last five commandments, and don't require much logic to understand their value.
Nutrition is one. Good for everyone isn't it?Ah. What are these universal goods?
So, the pot has free will. Does that mean it can determine a better purpose for itself than what the potter made it for?How many times have I read posts from Christians saying God didn’t create robots? Assuming a creator God exists, he gave us free will. And a brain that observes, processes information, thinks, and seeks answers and explanations using reason and logic. As I see it, God should expect us to ask questions, even about God himself. If there is a God.
So, the pot has free will. Does that mean it can determine a better purpose for itself than what the potter made it for?
The pot without a potter.The pot could not imagine a potter if one never existed. It would be outside the pots mental scope. Supernatural so to speak.But maybe the potter is us. We dreamed up the pot and decided to worship it. And I’m wondering if our pot is sound and holds water.