NonCompusMentis said:
Fair enough, but would you expect him to interfere in your life at the cost of the outcome of others lives? (as in the asking for help with a football match) it just does not seem fair too me.
It seems funny to me that an atheist would consider my asking for God's help to be "unfair."
But, to answer your question, my asking God for help in playing (using your example) to the best of my ability would not, IMO, be unfair. God wants us to do our best in every endeavor. Now, I have often wondered myself about cases in which you have two teams both fervently praying to God for help in winning a game. I have concluded that praying to God is good, and leave it up to him to sort it out.
So any decision you make may not actually be yours? If any decision is to be made is to (in my opinion) be made then it should be you. If you can be a good person or make good decisions by yourself without influence wouldnt that make you more worthy/better person in God's eyes?
Every decision is ours to make. It's not like God walks along side of us saying "Do this, do that," although at times we do get a "feeling" that God is urging us in a certain direction. It is through reading the Bible and prayer that we get a sense of how we should live to be in accordance with God's will. Even as Christians, we sometimes make the wrong choices, but God is quick to forgive when we ask. In God's eyes there are two "classes" of people: Those who believe on the Lord Jesus, and those who don't believe on the Lord Jesus. He considers those who believe to be righteous because they have been "cleansed by the blood of Jesus."
"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.(1 John 1:7-9)
For those who do not believe, no amount of goodness is sufficient.
"But we are all like an unclean
thing,
And all our righteousnesses
are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away." (Is. 64:6)
For Christians however, God does expect us to grow in strength and knowledge and grace. And there are various "rewards" in heaven for us depending on our service to the Lord.
So since the outcome of my life is apparently known that means fate exists then? does that not nullify freewill as the 'destination' will be the same no what you do if God knows knows i am going to thrown into the fires of hell (i am preparing my fire retardant suit already) or enter into Heavan (so not going to happen, but i am also getting a stealth suit prepared just on the off the chance i might be able sneak in).
There you go with the funnies again. LOL Seriously though, this is an old, and frankly, lame argument. "God knows what I'm going to do so I have no choice in the matter." Hogwash! As a self-proclaimed atheist, you really have no right to make that claim anyway. Stop blaming God for the choices you make in life. The fact is that the choice is still your's to make. Stand up and take some responsibility. I think you know by now that to be counted righteous in God's eyes, for entry into heaven (i.e. eternal life), God requires us to repent, or turn away from our sinful ways, and believe that Jesus died for us to cleanse us from our unrighteousness. The choice really is your's to make.
You know, it could be that God knows that eventually you will make the right choice and he is patiently waiting for you to reach that point in your life. The thing is, you never know how much time you have left in your life, so it is to your advantage to make that choice as soon as possible. Once you pass from this life, the choice is indeed, out of your hands.