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You like posting false accusations don't you? I didn't source the graph because anyone can right click on it and source it.I can also post totally random and unattributed graphs and make totally unsupported claims just like you!
Obviously, God never tells people to murder anyone (though He did with the ancient enemies of Israel).
That depends. If they are knowingly and deliberately trying to undermine the faith of others, then yes, they can be. If they teach that in accordance with natural law a man can't walk on the water, there is nothing specifically wrong with that because none of the miracles in the Bible happened in accordance with natural law. One has to understand natural law to truly understand a miracle. Science properly taught is a study of the physical world around us. The supernatural and non-physical is a discussion for religion. The truly wise understands that the natural and the supernatural are very different. The laws that affect one do not affect the other.
Convinced by whom; by what entity and for what reason?
From my own post:
That evening, while sitting near a doorway in front of a long hall that ran the length of an addition we had added to our home, I noticed two shadows traveling the length of the hallway. The light colored paneling made them plainly visible. They were perhaps three feet tall and looked like any other shadows, except that the lighting was overhead and there was nobody who could have cast the shadows. I knew then I was looking at demons. After making a trip up and down the hallway they entered the first bedroom on the right, in which my younger brother lay in his crib. I excitedly told everyone of this, but nobody believed me.
In the interests of time I won't go into all the details of what the baby did over the next couple of weeks. I will say that though he had just said his first words, he was able to whisper what sounded like a long string of profanities. If you put a Bible in his crib he screamed it terror. Finally we had an evangelist my uncle knew perform an exorcism. It wasn't a formal affair like you see in the movies. It was more that he put his hands on the baby's head and commanded by the blood of Jesus Christ that the demons release their hold over the baby and that they depart. The profanity stopped, the strange behavior stopped, and once more the baby didn't know the Bible from any other book.
The possibilities are:
It happened. I'm telling you what happened.
It didn't happen. I'm lying about it.
I'll let you make up your own mind.
If you're going to pose the question and frame the answer, what do you need me for? You're asking if something is possible so you can then frame it as an absolute; delusion is possible in one case and so is the fact of every case. Sorry, not buying into it.
The fact is, 35% of Americans say they have seen or experienced a miracle. In rough numbers, that's 108,000,000 people. If 90% of them are mistaken, that still leaves over 10,000,000 people who have seen something that can't be explained by science. Your insinuation that all of them are delusional is nothing more than a childish denial. Among the very religious to whom God has revealed Himself, the number of people who have experienced miracles swells to 59%. In other words, for every two devout Christians you talk with, one knows by first hand that you couldn't possibly be more wrong.
Actually, murder is not the correct word. He said to kill them. For example, this is in Deuteronomy 7:Please excuse me for butting here but if you dont mind me asking-
How do you know God told people to murder the ancient enemies of Israel?
Actually, murder is not the correct word. He said to kill them. For example, this is in Deuteronomy 7:
When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nationsthe Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you 2 and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally.[a] Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lords anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
The enemies of God were considered unclean and had to be driven from the land. This was an admonition against taking prisoners or intermingling with the enemy. Beyond that, God warned about taking their pagan religions to heart and worshipping their false gods.
I addressed that. As I said, it's a matter of intent. Evolution, like all great lies, has its share of truth. Species have changed since the great flood and speciation does happen in accordance with each multiplying on the earth. When it gets into theories of origin and original progenitors, it runs out of truth and delves into the unprovable. Evolution claims that man and daffodils share a common ancestor since they share 25% of the same DNA. The Scriptures tell us that man was created in his mature state, like everything else including the stars and planets. Teaching a theory as a theory is acceptable in a science class because people need to understand at least the observable processes of nature. Teaching that the theory of origins proves the Bible wrong is not acceptable. Origination can never be proved. Properly understood, all that is known in biology supports the Scriptural account of creation.And if they teach the theory of evolution?
One does not see demons and witness demonic possession without seeing the obvious religious significance. The demons were not cast out by praying to Darwin. Amazingly, this experience is not particularly unique. Others have had similar experiences.You seem to be missing the most obvious possibility: that you have imbued this experience with religious significance. No one here thinks you are lying about it.
If they are healed, was their money squandered?Many people go to faith healers and, having squandered their money, they leave with the impression that they've witnessed miracles being performed.
I addressed that. As I said, it's a matter of intent. Evolution, like all great lies, has its share of truth. Species have changed since the great flood and speciation does happen in accordance with each multiplying on the earth. When it gets into theories of origin and original progenitors, it runs out of truth and delves into the unprovable. Evolution claims that man and daffodils share a common ancestor since they share 25% of the same DNA. The Scriptures tell us that man was created in his mature state, like everything else including the stars and planets. Teaching a theory as a theory is acceptable in a science class because people need to understand at least the observable processes of nature. Teaching that the theory of origins proves the Bible wrong is not acceptable. Origination can never be proved. Properly understood, all that is known in biology supports the Scriptural account of creation.
One does not see demons and witness demonic possession without seeing the obvious religious significance. The demons were not cast out by praying to Darwin. Amazingly, this experience is not particularly unique. Others have had similar experiences.
If they are healed, was their money squandered?
I don't have a lot of confidence in supposed faith healers because they are much like a traveling show selling hope to those without it for a fee. A true healer doesn't ask for money. He shouldn't have to.
If you want to see who is real and who is not, just look at how they promote themselves. Faith healing comes from God. If the supposed healer is promoting his own name and not the name of Jesus, he's probably a huckster. From a purely natural perspective, faith healing works on conversion reactions and would be effective whether the man was a fraud or not so long as the one healed believed. Remember, Jesus said if you had the faith of a grain of mustard seed you could move mountains in His name. You could certainly cure a disease if it was God's will.
The wages of sin are death. Under the law at the time, the penalty for idolatry was death. The enemies of Israel would have killed them to the last person if they had the chance. Such was the nature of the times. However, the intent was to drive the others from the land, as has been discussed here.So every man, woman and child was to be killed because they worshipped a different deity?
Aren't you the one who said you used to attend church regularly? How is it you understand so little about the Scriptures; or history for that matter? Before man could be saved by grace, he lived under the law. The law was a very strict code of conduct that included things like "an eye for an eye" because the threat of a harsh punishment made it less likely for people to do evil to each other. The resurrection of Christ issued in the New Covenant whereby man could be saved through Grace; everyone including the Gentiles. In no place does Jesus advocate the kind of judgment that existed before because now all men had a path of forgiveness. He was the blood sacrifice for the sins of man.Whenever conservative Christians tell me that the US was founded on "Christian principles" I often wonder how they reconcile the concept of freedom of religion with Biblical verses such as these.
The wages of sin are death. Under the law at the time, the penalty for idolatry was death. The enemies of Israel would have killed them to the last person if they had the chance. Such was the nature of the times. However, the intent was to drive the others from the land, as has been discussed here.
America was founded on Christian principles, <snip>
The intent seems to be the destruction of an entire people; a command that is difficult to reconcile with the concept of a 'morally perfect' deity.
Which 'Christian principles' specifically?
America was founded on Christian principles, though like all people and all nations we have not always lived up to the morality we espouse.
Your education isn't excellent in the least if it doesn't begin with a basic understanding of science; specifically what science can study and what it cannot. Your idea of excellence apparently involves lying to students and telling them that evolution is right and their Bible is wrong. True excellence would explain that science studies the natural and religion addresses the supernatural.The intent is to provide children with a comprehensible and excellent science education. The content does not cohere with a literal reading of Scripture.
Mark 5:Faith healing is a scam and its chief proponents have been exposed as charlatans.
Your education isn't excellent in the least if it doesn't begin with a basic understanding of science; specifically what science can study and what it cannot. Your idea of excellence apparently involves lying to students and telling them that evolution is right and their Bible is wrong. True excellence would explain that science studies the natural and religion addresses the supernatural.
Your statement is false. Faith healing is real. Are many faith healers actually scam artists? Absolutely. That doesn't mean that people aren't still healed by faith. The fact is that God DOES answer prayers, but sometimes we don't get the answers we want. The key element is faith. No faith = no healing.
False. We've found that they don't fit with the laws of science, but then we knew that already.By studying the natural world we have found that many of the claims made through a literal reading of the Bible are not true.
By your interpretation of the data. Others have a different opinion based on the exact same evidence.The world is older than 6000 years,
By your interpretation of the data. Others have a different opinion based on the exact same evidence.there was no global Flood,
You don't know this because origination, in any form, is explainable. there was light and darkness on day one, by the way. Didn't you learn that in church?and vegetation wasn't created before the sun and stars existed.
So your contention is that NOBODY is ever healed by faith? So if I find a SINGLE case of someone actually being healed you will apologize for disparaging the power of faith? Hint: I can name people who post on this website, so choose your answer carefully.No faith = no healing is exactly what the charlatans say to their victims.
No, by selectively ignoring evidence that doesn't support their preconceived views.Others have a different opinion based on the exact same evidence.
No, by selectively ignoring evidence that doesn't support their preconceived views.
False. We've found that they don't fit with the laws of science, but then we knew that already.
By your interpretation of the data. Others have a different opinion based on the exact same evidence.
By your interpretation of the data. Others have a different opinion based on the exact same evidence.
You don't know this because origination, in any form, is explainable. there was light and darkness on day one, by the way. Didn't you learn that in church?
So your contention is that NOBODY is ever healed by faith? So if I find a SINGLE case of someone actually being healed you will apologize for disparaging the power of faith? Hint: I can name people who post on this website, so choose your answer carefully.
Like their pre-conceived view that there has to be a natural cause for the origination of life because the alternative it to accept the existence of God? How about the unfounded idea that the observable, physical world is the ONLY reality because that's the only thing we can observe? Denying the existence of the supernatural just because you can't reliably test it is exactly why your post complains about.
The assertion that vegetation preceded the sun and stars is asinine. Read literally, Genesis assumes that the heavier elements comprising the Earth existed prior to, or alongside, the lighter elements that formed the first generation of stars. The Hubble Deep Field captures galaxies that are as far away as 12 billion light years, which is older than the estimated age of the Earth, much less life on the Earth.
If you're going to pose the question and frame the answer, what do you need me for? You're asking if something is possible so you can then frame it as an absolute; delusion is possible in one case and so is the fact of every case. Sorry, not buying into it.
The fact is, 35% of Americans say they have seen or experienced a miracle. In rough numbers, that's 108,000,000 people. If 90% of them are mistaken, that still leaves over 10,000,000 people who have seen something that can't be explained by science. Your insinuation that all of them are delusional is nothing more than a childish denial. Among the very religious to whom God has revealed Himself, the number of people who have experienced miracles swells to 59%. In other words, for every two devout Christians you talk with, one knows by first hand that you couldn't possibly be more wrong.
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