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Has this ever happened to someone else?This is somewhat contradictory. One cannot say that Jesus is as powerful as God, but "still just a human." A very obvious part of being human is that we're not gods.
Well I don't know the details about that case, is there a link to the article?
JGG,
If you look for hatred, you shall find it. If you look for Christians hating Muslims, Atheists, Buddhists, Agnostics, the man sitting on the street corner with a graceful smile, you shall find it. We all harbor hatred in our hearts; it's in our nature, whether we are Christian, or of any other religion, or group. There's really no shortage of it.
As for you're question, an Atheist might to come to Christ because they've exhausted all other options, at least those options which they perceive.
Interesting, I was told not too long ago that Christians are, in fact, incapable of hate. Was someone lying to me?
John 18:10
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priests servant, cutting off his right ear.
Mark 8:31-8:33
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Options? Why do I need options?
Good pointI believe an atheist would come to Christ when they start believing He exists. I don't think they would come to Him for a fear of Hell because to me an atheist is someone who doesn't beleive in any form of religion and since the Bible speaks of Hell, why would an atheist fear it?
Interesting, I was told not too long ago that Christians are, in fact, incapable of hate. Was someone lying to me?
Hatred is NOT sin, in and of itself, in fact it is attributed as an emotion of God himself in certain passages (ie, His hatred OF sin), just like Anger is not a sin. It depends on the "object" of the hate and what actions are taken as a result of it.
Why would an atheist come to Christ, if not to avoid hell?
Good point
Young) James 2:19 thou--thou dost believe that God is one; thou dost well, even the demons believe and they shudder!
Lazarus and the Rich Man - Here a little, there a little - Commentary
The erroneous beliefs about "hell" within traditional Christianity
.
I believe an atheist would come to Christ when they start believing He exists. I don't think they would come to Him for a fear of Hell because to me an atheist is someone who doesn't beleive in any form of religion and since the Bible speaks of Hell, why would an atheist fear it?
Great point! Faith must come before understanding... The bible was written for God's people ~ those who have accepted Christ as their Savior, and received the Holy Spirit to guide us to what is righteous and true.
But, what is the point in teaching an atheist about hell... Is it not more important to teach the LOVE of God, and the awesome LIFE that comes with faith in Christ?
Great point! Faith must come before understanding...
Why? If faith requires that I believe something that I don't understand then that will simply never, ever happen for me. I cannot put faith into something of which I have no understanding.
Should I have faith that a pinch of salt over my shoulder will bring me luck? That the Loch Ness Monster exists? How about the Invisible Pink Unicorn?
I simply cannot do it, that's precisely how people take advantage of other people.
It's not as far-fetched as you might expect. You are actually exercising faith right now. If you are not a complete nervous wreck, then there is at least a small portion of your mind exercising faith in something. It may not be a deity but still...it is in something. There are a few people who have no faith whatsoever and they are all in medical psych wards.
We have a few historical records in support of God and that's it. It's not going to impress a secular scientific committee but then again what would it take? A comprehensive study? What would that study even look like? Has anyone even imagined the proper questions? I don't believe that our civilization is even close to being able to ask the questions, let alone do the study, and surely not even within an eon of confirming a God theory! We are very narcissistic and proud of our material accomplishments thus far but the reality is that we are PATHETIC compared to the vast expanse of the universe and what may even be a multiverse. Then you have God...let's just call it an idea for now. He is the primordial mega-lifeform who is a level beyond even a multiverse in terms of incomprehensible strangeness. A being vastly beyond comprehension somehow becoming a comprehensible human man and dying like an exceptionally unfortunate animal and then somehow resurrecting itself into an immortal form.
Forget about proving it. If you just start with the assumption that it happened, how could our pitiful dead-plant devouring civilization even comprehend it if such a strange event were to happen?
Sure nobody can knock you over the head with evidence but we also have to consider the nature of the question and the nature of the object of this faith. It would take a billion years before we could address God at a scientific level. Why should we wait to accept him? Do you have a billion years on Earth to wait for the final verdict? Most of us only have a hundred at most.
Yes and no. Yes, people get others to have faith in them and then they turn traitor. But NO, God doesn't do that. Even if you just consider the IDEA of a purely benevolent deity, how could anyone go wrong by following such an idea?!
You may have to be more specific. For instance, I have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow, and that the moon will wax and wane as it should. However, I have faith in this because I have no reason to believe otherwise. The sun rose today, as it did yesterday, as it did the day before. That's not really faith, that's just reasoning. Harold Camping had faith, look how well that turned out.
Ironically, this is approaching my explanation for why I can't believe people when they claim to know even the smallest thing about such a being.
Why would I start with such an assumption? It's just an arbitrary assumption. Why not start with the assumption that Leonard Nimoy created the universe?
That's not a very good reason for belief in such a being. Especially above any other explanation. Why should I wait to accept that Leonard Nimoy is the great creator? Just because I don't understand it? Just because it doesn't really make sense?
Well, for one, one could be wrong. One could shut themselves off from actual truth because they've already settled on a falsehood. Secondly, I have no reason to believe in God other than that others insist that I must (or suffer eternity in hell).
Reason and empiricism are not the same thing. There may be forces in the universe that can cause the sun to not rise tomorrow and maybe even make it go nova. Could happen tomorrow morning although the probability is extremely low according to what we know. But like I said, how much do we know? Not much! We just have an over-inflated opinion of our knowledge. The extent of reason in the statement "the sun will most likely rise tomorrow" is that empirical data indicates that the sun has risen a great many times before. You have no future data, only FAITH that the data trend will not suddenly change as a result of unknown factors.
I was doing a 'controlled' experiment back in my undergrad days. The experiment was very well designed and would have yielded important results. That didn't happen! Little did I know, the polymerase was denatured. So the experimental result was a mess. There was a clear trend generated by past experiments but this one unexpected element ruined the trend. A successful reaction in this case would otherwise have been about as probable as the Sun's gravitation not changing tomorrow. But we cannot foresee all outside influences.
Your belief that the sun will most likely rise tomorrow morning has more to do with faith than reason.
and you would be absolutely correct. We know nothing about the physical nature of God and anyone who claims to know it is a fool and a false prophet.
Assuming for the sake of the argument. Have you ever studied philosophy?
I said nothing whatsoever about why you SHOULD believe. My entire argument was about why faith isn't that far-fetched. Did I say something that sounded like an argument for God's existence? I'm looking through my original statement and can't find anything resembling that.
You don't go to hell for not believing in God's empirical properties. Even the apostles were sometimes unable to believe and Jesus was two feet away from them!
Your salvation is the easiest thing in the world. The only thing you need to do is NOT HATE CHRIST. That's it! The thief dying on the cross next to Jesus was probably choosing him out of desperation. We have no proof that he believed all the hype in any absolute sense. Maybe he only heard one sermon but it doesn't matter! He was saved simply for having the will and the heart to honestly choose! Sadly, this very simple thing is very difficult for much of the world. Probably because many Christians have not been doing a very good job of explaining the simplicity of the Gospel. God doesn't care about what theories you hold in your head about reality, only that you have knowledge of your own sins and have genuine repentance. Absolutely everyone has done something less than the standard of perfect virtue at some point in their lives. The only things you need to do is accept that Christ has covered your sins, to know the spirit of true virtue, and to honestly desire that standard.
Christ did not come to form a new religion. There will be a great many non-Christians in heaven but there won't be anyone who doesn't have the holy spirit of Christ.
The Christian walk is the most difficult thing in the world but salvation is the easiest. If salvation was difficult, Christ's sacrifice would have been less than perfect!
That's still not faith. That's making a reasoned assumption based on probability, experience, and the information in front of me. I said that the sun would rise again this morning (guess what? it did!). The information at my disposal is that the sun rises every morning, and has for at least the expanse of my lifetime thus far. There is no reason to imagine that the sun would not have risen this morning.
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