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If murder is a sin, then why did God create murderers?

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BigBadWlf

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So you believe something is wrong only if it causes harm to others?

How about idolatry? God condemns idolatry but it causes no harm to other people.
Yet Christians are remarkably unconcerned about this.

Unless you can show me threads here where Christians are arguing that being Buddhist is akin to being a murder. Or that Jews shouldn’t have the legal right to marry
 
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cantata

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Thank you. Your courtesy is appreciated. I am enjoying our discussion too.

Well, it's obviously important to you for some reason to use the feminine pronoun. What point are you trying to make with it?

Well, I use it for several reasons, and only one of them is a point-making one. One reason is that I simply feel more comfortable with the feminine pronoun; I find it easier to empathise with believers if I think of God in the feminine, and of course, as a woman, I find "her" easier to relate to and identify with than "him".

Another reason: I simply don't see a reason to use "he" rather than "she". Either is theologically sound. Since I don't believe in Yahweh or any other gods, I don't feel much of a drive to refer to gods in any particularly gendered way unless their mythology really demands it. Perhaps you feel "she" doesn't suit Yahweh in particular (as opposed to anygod); but since Christian theology has a history of invoking the eternity and transcendence of God, I think you must take the rough (me calling God "she") with the smooth (Aquinas).

My point-making reason: I think it would be nice to recognise and redress the sad imbalance and injustice that has been caused by centuries of unbridled patriarchy, much of which has been fuelled and perpetuated by religions. Using the feminine for God sometimes helps people to remember that she is not, indeed, a man in the sky. But that is not my main reason for using the feminine pronoun. Mostly I just prefer it for aesthetic and sympathetic reasons.

And the purpose of gender is procreation. God is eternal; always was, and always will be. No need for procreation, so no need for sexual organs. Plus, He is a spiritual being, not possessing a physical body.

This is very true. My conclusion is that God is neither a he nor a she, so the pronouns are equally appropriate. (She's supposed to be a personal god, so I don't think "it" would be quite right.)


That is your concern as a Christian, but not mine as a non-Christian. You may call God whatever you like, of course.

Jesus was of course a man, but he wouldn't have got very far as a woman, so I don't find it very surprising that God picked him rather than a woman to be her advocate. But of course, you must remember that as a non-Christian, it's not at all surprising that a deeply patriarchal society gave birth to yet another a male religious leader.

As for capitalising, I have never felt an obligation to capitalise God's pronouns - I feel it would be a peculiar (and maybe even a somewhat derisive) concession to make to a being in which I do not believe.


Perhaps you notice the pronoun more because it is unfamiliar. I am not deliberately trying to use it more often.

I think it's slightly arrogant and highly Christocentric to see my use of the feminine pronoun as a rebellion. I do not limit my use to Yahweh. I tend to refer to anyone's god, unless his mythology explicitly demands otherwise, as "she". The ideas of God which seemed most appealing and convincing to me when I was younger were always feminine ideas. In some religions, that fits in very well. What you regard as a rebellion is compliance as far as others are concerned. You would do well to remember that Christianity is not the only game in town.

Because He is God. He does not have to answer to His creation. He can if he wants to, but that is up to Him, not us.

I confess, I do not like the sound of her one bit.
 
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BigBadWlf

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Exactly

It was just like telling interracial couples a generation ago that they had equal rights, after all they had the right to marry someone of the “correct” skin color
 
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Dogbean

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Lust - see the dictionary.
Steps to stop lusting? Just put a stop to any lustful thought you have, and don't follow it through in your mind I guess. I don't really struggle with it. I try to make sure I only have sexual thoughts about my wife.
My signature? It's because lately I've been debating against homosexuals a lot, so I get tired of posting the same verses over and over and over. I'll change it when I get bored of it.
 
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Veyrlian

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Thank you for your answers.

It does raise other questions, mainly concerning marriage and lust and homosexual marriage, but since these have nothing to do with the OP I refrain from asking.
 
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sealacamp

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Why would God put a desire to murder in someone's heart if murder is a sin? It just doesn't make sense that a just God could do such a horrible thing. Does it?

God put the desire to murder there, in someones heart? I don't think you know God very well at all or you could not even begin to imagine such a thing.

Sealacamp
 
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Veyrlian

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cantata

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The opposition toward gay marriage because it's not God's design, it's a perversion, God frowns on it, etc. It's pretty clear.

But isn't that between the homosexuals and God?

Do you think that preventing the legal marriage of same-sex couples will prevent homosexuals from having sex with one another? I just can't see the purpose of opposing it.
 
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Veyrlian

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The opposition toward gay marriage because it's not God's design, it's a perversion, God frowns on it, etc. It's pretty clear.

Really? I read the parts of the Bible concerning homosexuality in your signature, and I didn't think this was clear at all. None of them address homosexual marriage, and since apparently, sexual acts are not sinful in a marriage even if they are outside it, this union of two people would likewise pardon said acts.
 
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jcook922

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Dogbean

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That´s what I suspected. So no rational discussion is possible.
If you are not willing to accept God's Word as truth, then you are correct, no rational discussion is possible. I will not step off the solid rock on which I stand.
 
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Dogbean

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Homosexual marriage just follows homosexual practice. It's a symptom of the problem. And it's sinful in or out of marriage, IF it's homosexual sex. I don't see how it can be any clearer.

What if it said in the Bible straight up "Do not have gay sex in any way, shape or form." Woudl you obey it?
 
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Dogbean

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I have no idea. It seems like very poor planning to me.
You and the poster you responded to obviously did not read chapter one of Genesis.

God created the world, and all the things in it, and declared it all good. Then, sin entered the world.
 
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