(07-15-2015 09:00 AM)ericsrevenge76 Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 08:35 AM)ken d Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 01:58 AM)ericsrevenge76 Wrote:  

(07-14-2015 11:35 PM)JDTulane Wrote:  Yet follow the teachings but not the person and youre still destined for Hell apparently.

You are destined for hell if you don't acknowledge Him as the Son of the Living
God and ask forgiveness for your sins.

That is pretty strait forward stuff.

It is precisely that sort of of negative quality that you attribute to your god that leads many to believe he isn't real. That same quality - the willingness to coerce obedience through fear - that people universally reject in other humans many Christians willingly accept in a supposedly loving deity. One of his many unappealing qualities.

Its only a negative quality to those who reject the fact that there is a creator of the entire universe.

The fact is my God loved mankind so much that He, the ALL MIGHTY Creator of all things, humbled himself to the point of being born in the flesh as a poor man, experience all the pain, struggles, confusions and temptation that we all have to face in life.

Humbling himself even to the point of tasting his own mortal death. Imagine that fact, the God of ALL CREATION humbling himself to the point of tasting brutal torture and death as a man in the flesh...... just to fulfill all righteousness and make himself that much more worthy of our love and worship. He lets us know that even HE, the creator of all, faced the same choices and death He makes us ALL face as a result of our own fall from His grace. Giving himself as a blood sacrifice to redeem all of mankind for our sins against Him.

THAT is what separates the ONE TRUE LIVING GOD from all other man made gods that mankind has ever made up. THAT is a God WORTHY of our love and worship.

OF course, He granted us with the power to chose to accept Him or reject Him. And some people are too narcissistic and selfish for their own mortal lives to accept Him and His gift of eternal life, so they convince themselves He doesn't exist and isn't worth their love.

Its your choice though, and He granted you that choice.

Choose wisely.

All you have to do is love Him and He will love you back for all eternity.

Sorry for veering off topic but these came to mind when reading your post.

(07-15-2015 03:17 PM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 03:12 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  I always find it funny when christians warn that by not believing, I will go to hell. Because, you know, if I don't have any reason to believe hell exists, the threat of going there carries no weight. I think some just have a hard time understanding that not everyone believes in cosmic time out.

I look at it a little differently.

I know not who is going where after death. The only thing I do know is that God has the power to save anyone. God's grace is sufficient for anyone. His plan, His judgements, and His workings are beyond my (and anyone else's) grasp.

I thought He couldn't save gays?

(07-15-2015 07:45 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 04:04 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  So, by saying that you want a benevolent God you're actually saying that you want one who will endorse every sin that we might have/do. He is a judgmental God, true, but even here on earth we have courts and judges that mete out punishment but in your eyes you want a God that let's you skate in whatever you do. Hmm, interesting. A non-judgmental God...

What a complete load of hogwash. Do you always make up stuff you claim others believe so you can belittle them? Nobody said, or implied, any such thing, and you know it. You pulled that out of thin air.

Fact is, I don't want any kind of god, judgmental or otherwise. Nor do I need one. Belief in a personal deity has nothing to do moral behavior. It neither promotes it nor proscribes it. Moral behavior is a purely human construct.

Why get so worked up over it if there's no God. You shouldn't care.

(07-15-2015 09:38 PM)RobertN Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 09:00 AM)ericsrevenge76 Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 08:35 AM)ken d Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 01:58 AM)ericsrevenge76 Wrote:  

(07-14-2015 11:35 PM)JDTulane Wrote:  Yet follow the teachings but not the person and youre still destined for Hell apparently.

You are destined for hell if you don't acknowledge Him as the Son of the Living
God and ask forgiveness for your sins.

That is pretty strait forward stuff.

It is precisely that sort of of negative quality that you attribute to your god that leads many to believe he isn't real. That same quality - the willingness to coerce obedience through fear - that people universally reject in other humans many Christians willingly accept in a supposedly loving deity. One of his many unappealing qualities.

Its only a negative quality to those who reject the fact that there is a creator of the entire universe.

The fact is my God loved mankind so much that He, the ALL MIGHTY Creator of all things, humbled himself to the point of being born in the flesh as a poor man, experience all the pain, struggles, confusions and temptation that we all have to face in life.

Humbling himself even to the point of tasting his own mortal death. Imagine that fact, the God of ALL CREATION humbling himself to the point of tasting brutal torture and death as a man in the flesh...... just to fulfill all righteousness and make himself that much more worthy of our love and worship. He lets us know that even HE, the creator of all, faced the same choices and death He makes us ALL face as a result of our own fall from His grace. Giving himself as a blood sacrifice to redeem all of mankind for our sins against Him.

THAT is what separates the ONE TRUE LIVING GOD from all other man made gods that mankind has ever made up. THAT is a God WORTHY of our love and worship.

OF course, He granted us with the power to chose to accept Him or reject Him. And some people are too narcissistic and selfish for their own mortal lives to accept Him and His gift of eternal life, so they convince themselves He doesn't exist and isn't worth their love.

Its your choice though, and He granted you that choice.

Choose wisely.

All you have to do is love Him and He will love you back for all eternity.

Sorry for veering off topic but these came to mind when reading your post.

One of my all time fav's

(07-15-2015 10:04 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 07:45 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 04:04 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  So, by saying that you want a benevolent God you're actually saying that you want one who will endorse every sin that we might have/do. He is a judgmental God, true, but even here on earth we have courts and judges that mete out punishment but in your eyes you want a God that let's you skate in whatever you do. Hmm, interesting. A non-judgmental God...

What a complete load of hogwash. Do you always make up stuff you claim others believe so you can belittle them? Nobody said, or implied, any such thing, and you know it. You pulled that out of thin air.

Fact is, I don't want any kind of god, judgmental or otherwise. Nor do I need one. Belief in a personal deity has nothing to do moral behavior. It neither promotes it nor proscribes it. Moral behavior is a purely human construct.

Why get so worked up over it if there's no God. You shouldn't care.

You're going to share in their misery, damnit. If it's the last thing they do.

(07-16-2015 08:12 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 10:04 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 07:45 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 04:04 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  So, by saying that you want a benevolent God you're actually saying that you want one who will endorse every sin that we might have/do. He is a judgmental God, true, but even here on earth we have courts and judges that mete out punishment but in your eyes you want a God that let's you skate in whatever you do. Hmm, interesting. A non-judgmental God...

What a complete load of hogwash. Do you always make up stuff you claim others believe so you can belittle them? Nobody said, or implied, any such thing, and you know it. You pulled that out of thin air.

Fact is, I don't want any kind of god, judgmental or otherwise. Nor do I need one. Belief in a personal deity has nothing to do moral behavior. It neither promotes it nor proscribes it. Moral behavior is a purely human construct.

Why get so worked up over it if there's no God. You shouldn't care.

You're going to share in their misery, damnit. If it's the last thing they do.

I don't get worked up over the concept of a god, I get worked up over the tangible things that some people who believe in that fairytale do in response to this belief. You cannot act as if religion in this country is something that stays within the church or home, and free of the political/social arena. Hell, there are still states whose laws require a belief in a higher power to be elected to office, of course those laws would never stand up to a constitutional challenge, but no ones challenged them because an outspoken belief in God is as good as required to become elected to office in most of the United States.

(07-16-2015 09:23 AM)UCF08 Wrote:  

(07-16-2015 08:12 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 10:04 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 07:45 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 04:04 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  So, by saying that you want a benevolent God you're actually saying that you want one who will endorse every sin that we might have/do. He is a judgmental God, true, but even here on earth we have courts and judges that mete out punishment but in your eyes you want a God that let's you skate in whatever you do. Hmm, interesting. A non-judgmental God...

What a complete load of hogwash. Do you always make up stuff you claim others believe so you can belittle them? Nobody said, or implied, any such thing, and you know it. You pulled that out of thin air.

Fact is, I don't want any kind of god, judgmental or otherwise. Nor do I need one. Belief in a personal deity has nothing to do moral behavior. It neither promotes it nor proscribes it. Moral behavior is a purely human construct.

Why get so worked up over it if there's no God. You shouldn't care.

You're going to share in their misery, damnit. If it's the last thing they do.

I don't get worked up over the concept of a god, I get worked up over the tangible things that some people who believe in that fairytale do in response to this belief. You cannot act as if religion in this country is something that stays within the church or home, and free of the political/social arena. Hell, there are still states whose laws require a belief in a higher power to be elected to office, of course those laws would never stand up to a constitutional challenge, but no ones challenged them because an outspoken belief in God is as good as required to become elected to office in most of the United States.

No one challenges them because they aren't enforced.

There are a plethora of absurd laws in every state than remain on the books but are never enforced.

It would be some kind of overhaul for all the states (and the federal govt for that matter) to sift through the ridiculous amounts of laws and repeal all of the ones deemed to be unequivocally absurd. Unfortunately for the people, governments really hate repealing laws. It doesn't happen much. They simply pass new laws on laws on laws on laws.

(07-15-2015 09:42 PM)RobertN Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 03:17 PM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 03:12 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  I always find it funny when christians warn that by not believing, I will go to hell. Because, you know, if I don't have any reason to believe hell exists, the threat of going there carries no weight. I think some just have a hard time understanding that not everyone believes in cosmic time out.

I look at it a little differently.

I know not who is going where after death. The only thing I do know is that God has the power to save anyone. God's grace is sufficient for anyone. His plan, His judgements, and His workings are beyond my (and anyone else's) grasp.

I thought He couldn't save gays?

All things are possible with God.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Jernigan

(07-15-2015 09:42 PM)RobertN Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 03:17 PM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 03:12 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  I always find it funny when christians warn that by not believing, I will go to hell. Because, you know, if I don't have any reason to believe hell exists, the threat of going there carries no weight. I think some just have a hard time understanding that not everyone believes in cosmic time out.

I look at it a little differently.

I know not who is going where after death. The only thing I do know is that God has the power to save anyone. God's grace is sufficient for anyone. His plan, His judgements, and His workings are beyond my (and anyone else's) grasp.

I thought He couldn't save gays?

I imagine you would think that.

I'm glad that he would rather be labeled reborn. Some of us are ex something that doesn't please us and doesn't please God. Everyone has skeletons in his/her closets.