How would you prove the Universe is old?

[Freodin]

God gave us the Bible, Thaumaturgy, and as the saying goes, if we don't act on the parts we do understand, why should we be asking for the parts we don't understand?

That's like someone who won't acknowledge mathematics wanting to learn algebra.

You should really really try to get the difference between "accepting" and "understanding".

 

[Hespera]

You should really really try to get the difference between "accepting" and "understanding".

I think for some it may (seem to) be the same thing.

My boyfriend says this about pike fish.. that to them "recognition" and "ingestion" are the same thing, and simultaneous. Makes them easy to catch.

Of course getting the significance of understanding that it is bait, but accepting it anyway takes higher order thinking skill.s

 

[Nathan Poe]

God gave us the Bible, Thaumaturgy, and as the saying goes, if we don't act on the parts we do understand, why should we be asking for the parts we don't understand?

That's like someone who won't acknowledge mathematics wanting to learn algebra.

Except the Bible doesn't explain enough, and it raises questions that it's worshippers are dogmatically forbidden to acknowledge -- hence, the retreat into "God did it."

 

[thaumaturgy]

The Bible is sufficient to do what It does:You claimed you were saved at one point, but you didn't heed V14, did you?

Clearly it didn't "stick" with me.

Now you're wondering why you can't "see" clearly?As I have pointed out before, the crux of the entire Bible is:19 one-syllable words that even a child can understand.What if a mathematician had that attitude about the Bible that scientists had?

Easy peasy. But that being said, then, there is no reason for me to "need" "free will" (it can only lead me astray and away from Salvation). If the goal of Christianity is simply God saying:

"Don't bother trying to understand, you just gotta love me in the form of my only begotten son and accept that I sacrificed myself to myself to atone you to myself and that's it."

then, jorb well done!

Unfortunately that doesn't make much more sense to me than anything else I and others have questioned about God.

I earnestly would give up "free will" in a heartbeat if I thought it would keep me from suffering for eternity in unimaginable pain for actions taken in a finite lifetime.

Clearly we can know nothing about the workings of God. So what's the point? Is it really "love" of God if you can't even begin to understand Him?

He set up the game and set the rules and punishes the playing pieces based on his rules. The only rule is to accept him in the form of his only son who sacrificed himself to himself on our behalf.

Seems like a rather strange game, but it's no longer my game. If I choose not to play and I get punished in the end I suppose that's fine. I don't think I really "get it".

I've walked away from games I don't like playing. I'm not much of a "gamer" to begin with. When the stakes are this high I am less inclined to enjoy the game. If all I have to do is accept as a savior with all my heart someone whom I've never met and whose sacrifice I still have to admit I'm not entire sure I fully understand as stated above for sins we were all "born into" based on an even earlier fellow I never met and who has no direct relation to me or my choices, then imagine how hard that "acceptance" becomes for someone like me.

Again. All I want is a clear explanation. No games, no "jackpot" at the end of the line. No eternal punishment for mistakes. Just explanation.

Either that or perhaps God could have been merciful and never created me in the first place. I don't want to play a game. Yet I have no choice.

And all the while I'm told I have "free will" and it's some sort of "gift"?

 

[Nathan Poe]

The Bible is sufficient to do what It does.

Semantic nonsense. everything is sufficient to do what it does, or else it wouldn't do anything. The Bible isn't sufficient, however, to do what you claim it does.

 

[CoderHead]

19 one-syllable words that even a child can understand.

Are we talking about a fully indoctrinated child who has been taught not to think on his/her own, but rely on what their parents/preachers have told them? Or are we talking about a child who has been taught to think critically and not accept things that don't make any sense?

Actually, forget it. I don't even think the indoctrinated child understands what those words mean. "He who hath the Son hath life?" Nuh-uh.