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PGA2.0

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Why do scripter beleivers cherry pick verses
I just wanted to let everyone reading this examine and judge what has taken place in my dialogue with BrotherD. He has repeatedly avoided any substantive arguments or refutations of my position. He failed to engage in a discussion of Revelation 1 except for a brief retort. Thus, I will not engage with him again, given his vile treatment and lack of respect of Preterism, plus my character assassination, post after post. 
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@BrotherDThomas
YOUR REVEALING QUOTE EQUAL TO RUNNING AWAY LIKE TRADESECRET: "If you do not wish to engage in a reasonable discussion then I will ignore all future posts. You choose."

Listen up Preterist Bible fool, I don't have to choose, you have made the choice already by subjectively and wrongfully accusing me of not being reasonable in our discussion, therefore you will ignore my future posts regarding your ungodly pagan faith, therefore you are RUNNING AWAY!

SO BE IT RUNAWAY PSEUDO-CHRISTIAN PRETERIST!

I knew you would eventually use a lame excuse to runaway from further discussion, because who in the hell in their logical right mind could ever defend such a Satanic faith of Preterism to begin with? As shown, certainly not you!

Another pseudo-christian bites the dust when engaging the Brother D!


NEXT?

YOUR REVEALING QUOTE EQUAL TO RUNNING AWAY LIKE TRADESECRET: "If you do not wish to engage in a reasonable discussion then I will ignore all future posts. You choose."

Listen up Preterist Bible fool, I don't have to choose, you have made the choice already by subjectively and wrongfully accusing me of not being reasonable in our discussion, therefore you will ignore my future posts regarding your ungodly pagan faith, therefore you are RUNNING AWAY!

SO BE IT RUNAWAY PSEUDO-CHRISTIAN PRETERIST!

I knew you would eventually use a lame excuse to runaway from further discussion, because who in the hell in their logical right mind could ever defend such a Satanic faith of Preterism to begin with? As shown, certainly not you!

Another pseudo-christian bites the dust when engaging the Brother D!


NEXT?

Zero substance again. Nothing much to add since nothing constructive was said on the subject matter.

Not one reply to my biblical comments, just fluff, more name-calling, and assertions. Not one logical point supporting your charges about Preterists. What a bluff on your part.

It is you who are running away. I'll say it again. You are not offering anything constructive.

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@BrotherDThomas
How can anyone take your posts seriously? You continually insult believers by attacking the Lord Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of our faith. The whole post was at a moronic level of hermeneutics. You addressed one verse of Revelation not applicable to Revelation 1, our starting point. You are all over the place.  Not once did you show a willingness to conduct a civil and productive dialogue by properly documenting your case against Preterism. You continue to show how little you understand the Bible. If you do not wish to engage in a reasonable discussion then  I will ignore all future posts. You choose.

Okay, I'll mention just one of many sickening things Jesus did to unbelievers, of which was, His ghoulish creations when he returns were a bunch of horse-like locusts with human heads, women’s hair, lion’s teeth, and scorpion’s tails! They’re gonna be stinging unbelievers straight for a whole 5 months, ouch! (Rev.9:7-10).

Rev. 9:7-10
Again, context is key. The fifth and six Trumpet seals are judgments on Israel. This is imagery of the time Jesus warned of in Luke 21:20-24 in which Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies - Roman armies. The swarm of locusts with "breastplates of iron" (v. 8), in which the text explains some of the imagery - "their faces (the locusts) were as the faces of men." There are two logical explanations as to whom these locusts were and the imagery may include both 1) the Roman armies and 2) the three seditious groups of Jews fighting within the city while the Romans surrounded it. The locusts had crowns on their head. We know there were three factions of Jews in Jerusalem during the siege, per Josephus (anyone interested in a further explanation of v.8, please read Wars, 4,9,10, per Arthur Ogden, The Avenging of the Apostles and Prophets, p.235), that the Roman army were fighting against (when these three factions were not fighting amongst themselves). For those who want to check, when Cestus fled from Jerusalem he left lots of weaponry within the city that these groups of Jews (brother against brother as Jesus had warned about) would have had claim to (see Wars, 2,19,8; 4,9,12 for instance, per The Avenging of the Apostles and Prophets, Arthur Ogden, p.235-236).



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@BrotherDThomas
This is embarrassing for you AGAIN, whereas the “Revelation” of the Apostle John in the different chapters of the book of Revelation of Jesus’ Second Coming HAVE NOT HAPPENED YET! Understood?
It had not happened at the time of John's writing to the seven churches, yet the language speaks of His soon, quick return. I will get into this as soon as my computer is returned from repair.



Have the following Second Coming of Jesus events been seen as yet, or if it happened already, is Jesus’ brutal murdering spree upon the nonbelievers on record anywhere in the worlds history? NO IT IS NOT, therefore Jesus HAS NOT returned! 
The Second Coming is primarily addressed to a 1st-century audience steeped in OT sacrifice and worship. That is no longer possible after AD70. That is because Jesus came in judgment of THAT generation. "This generation" that Jesus speaks of can logically referred to no other. "This age" that Jesus speaks of is the Old Covenant Age. That age ends in AD70 when the rituals and acts needed for atonement for the people - the priesthood, the animal sacrifice, the temple, the feast days, etc,  - can no longer be performed as specified. Remember Matthew 5:17-18. 

The author of Hebrews makes it plain that the OT is still in practice at the time of his writing, but Hebrews 8:13 is a warning that the system of worship and animal sacrifice will soon disappear. If you want to argue otherwise then deal with the two verses I mentioned and also exegete Revelation 1 as I asked you .


Try and follow along where the Apostle John was godly revealed in what the Second Coming of Jesus will be like in the following passages: Rev.1:13-16, Rev.9:7-10, Rev.9:15-19, Rev.11:5-10. Now, if you don’t accept these biblical axioms of Jesus’ horrific brutal return, then are you prepared to call the Apostle John a LIAR as well?
Revelation 1:13-16 describes Jesus ascension to heaven per Daniel 7:9-10; 13-14. What is applied to God in the OT is applied to Jesus - the Son of Man - in the NT. The imagery is extensive regarding these verse.

Rev. 9: 15-19 is speaking of God's punishment of OT Israel. As He promised numerous times in the OT God was avenging the deaths of the prophets and saints wrongly taken as well as the NT apostles and saints taken from the start of the church at Pentecost until the destruction of the city and temple in AD 70.

As with OT apocalypse language, the same is used often in Revelation to signify the judgment of OT Israel. Jesus noted the scope in Matthew 23:23-38, especially verse 29, 34, and 37. Jesus promise that generation that all the things spoken of would happen in "this generation."

Rev. 11:5-11 speaks of OT Jerusalem (aka Sodom and Egypt). The judgments are the same Daniel is told to seal up until the end of the OT, per Daniel 12:1-2, 4; 9, 13 . Revelation is the time they are opened.

When I get my computer back I will prove thus further.



Even Matthew agrees with the Apostle Paul where Jesus’ return will be a ghastly, horrifying, and a brutal take no prisoners murdering event! “This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:49-50). Do you want to call Matthew a LIAR too?
And it was brutal as noted by Josephus and others. Matthew 13:49-50 is speaking of the end of the OT economy age of temple worship and sacrifice. Verse 51 is where Jesus asks those present, "Have you understood all these things." NASB



PGA2.0, maybe its time for you to actually accept the fact that Religion in general is NOT your forte whatsoever. To compound this fact by swallowing the Satanic faith of being a Preterest, where your faith was “invented by Satan” in the year of 1790 as just “another” DIVISION of Christianity as embarrassingly shown in the link below:


I will document that it is you who do not know what you are talking about regarding Scripture. 
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@BrotherDThomas
YOUR OUTRIGHT LIE REGARDING THAT I HAVE CALLED YOU NAMES IN POST #65: "Again, you have done nothing to refute my arguments but instead fallaciously attacked me with namecalling, conjecture, and wild accusations while providing nary one proof to back them up."
I underlined your insults, innuendo, spin, mocking, and multiple assertions in that post.

If you want to discuss then leave out these slurs and slanders and deal with the text of Revelation 1 that I challenged you to prove me wrong with.

At the moment I am typing from my phone so I will answer in depth once I get my computer back. That is if you show a willingness and quit your name- calling which you did again by calling me a liar.

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@fauxlaw
After the trouble I'm going through it sounds good. Definitely my next purchase. What does a good one range from?
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@CaptainSceptic
My computer is down. I will hopefully have it running tomorrow.

The debate was all prepared but I shutdown and can't restart. I'm reloading Windows so all data is lost. 

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@CaptainSceptic

Do you deny that to understand someone you need to understand the context, the specific word meaning, and intent of what the author or communicator means?
Sure you need to try to understand that, however, my entire point is that the aforementioned process is still subjective.  Look at all the different opinions you have on this thread alone. And everyone would claim to have a proper understanding.
Subjective? Let us clarify what you mean here because I think it is important. Do you mean that there is no correct interpretation of what I or the Bible says? If you say your view on what I say it subjective in that respect then how can you possibly understand what I have said? It would just be an opinion, no better or worse than any other opinion. Is that what you believe or can you actually understand what I am saying? Furthermore, you would not be trying to understand my meaning but making up your own meaning.

When in doubt on a sentence or statement a person speaks we ask for clarification to grasp anything unclear, or else we would not be able to understand each other. Yet we can, so it is self-evident that you do not believe, generally speaking, that what I say has just a subjective meaning but is conveying something objective that you CAN understand. If you did not believe this then I don't see the point of further communication since it would be a waste of my time.

So, what is it to be?

You were not there, or in the head of the other.  So all you can do is speculate. 

What you are saying is that history is not verifiable, is it not? Again, what is the most reasonable explanation? If you wrote that President Trump was president of the USA in 2020, and I read that 100 years later, are you saying there is no way that is not reasonably verified? If so, then why not the Bible? Can not statements from it be reasonably verified? 

And not only the Bible, but what about philosophically speaking? How do you explain your existence? How do you verify evolution or origins of any kind since you were not there? That, after all, is your criterion. Basically, what you are saying is because we were not there we cannot verify it. Do you think you are being reasonable? If you do, I don't think anything I say will be of value to you and I think we should end our conversation.
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@BrotherDThomas
What you fail to realize is post-70 A.D. of the book of Revelation renders all Preterist thought absolutely FALSE. THINK, the earliest Christian historian who recorded the church’s knowledge of the Domitianic dating of Revelation was Hegessippus in 150 A.D. and this continued to be the unanimous view until about 4 centuries later with the Syriac Peshitta NT manuscript in which someone wrote that John was exiled under Nero. HELLO? Therefore, It is sometimes claimed that the Neronic dating is in the original, but this is impossible since the original lacked the book of Revelation. The history shows there is no source or reasoning given for this change in that 6th century manuscript. This is most problematic at best, and definitely lacks the authoritativeness that would be required to credibly make such a huge revision to what was commonly accepted and passed down from the end of the first century/beginning of the 2nd. FACT!
Demonstrate by documenting both biblical verses and how they tie into the history of the times, starting at the beginning, Revelation 1:1-9, as referring to Domitian's reign. Can you do that? 

Revelation 1:9
I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

I want you to break down the verses, starting at verse 1 and finishing at verse 9 as to how they related to AD 90-95. And, if you are going to list early church fathers, supply their quotes and reference their works.

Since you mention the Syrian manuscript give evidence of your other claims as to the most reasonable and supply the evidence that the manuscript you reference is speaking of AD 90-95 and Domitian's reign. 

The same can be said for the Muratorian Fragment, which is the 7th century copy of the 2nd century original, with no way to prove the Neronic dating was in the original. There is no record of any of the early church fathers holding to the Neronic date of Revelation, where this is a fascinating glimpse into the early church fathers and what they believed on a variety of topics is in ‘A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs’, over 700 pages that were compiled by David Bercot!  In addition to Hegessippus, who, notably, wrote this prior to Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Eusebius, Jerome, Sulpicius Severus, and a number of other church fathers both before and not long after the council at Nicaea in 325AD, all confirm that John was exiled to Patmos by Domitian where he received Revelation, get it?!!!  The lack of any dissenting view naming Nero in place of Domitian until the 6th century should give early-date advocates pause. 2+2=4! Therefore, most of the events of Revelation are still in our future where some view the messages to the churches as having already been strictly for them and completely fulfilled, while some view each church as symbolic for a different time period, and of course there could be room for double-fulfillment of most of those first 3 chapters.
From Revelation alone, you cannot demonstrate a late date of writing. The full text (Revelation 1-22) and most if not all the evidence in fact reveals just the opposite. I will be glad to get into this if you are willing. I look forward to such a discussion but have not found anyone willing to get in-depth. Will you prove the exception? I think we should start our own thread by copying and pasting this post as its first entree. 

If you want to get into the church fathers as well, please document the quote and where it is cited from - what work of what church father. I think it will be educational for others who read this as well. 

Let us take this in tiny chunks (forgive the comical oxymoron). Start with Revelation 1:1-9.

I invite you to put your money where your mouth is and thoroughly document your viewpoint. In this way, we can gradually document our different stances as to which is the most reasonable to believe based on the evidence available. 

Remember, there was a celebration on Patmos in 1995 commemorating 1900 years, approximately, as in 95 or 96 A.D., since the Revelation Jesus gave to John. Furthermore, what other events in the 1st century A.D. are ever claimed as taking place 2 or 3 decades earlier, or later? UNDERSTAND? With all of the accurate records kept during the Roman Empire era and surviving today, there is little room for such a vast difference being possible.  Understand this simple premise, its commonly believed that Jesus died around 30 or 33 A.D., Paul and Peter were martyred in the 60’s, Nero lived from 37-68 A.D., etc. NO ONE SAYS JESUS DIED IN 3AD OR 60AD, or that Peter and Paul were martyred in the 30’s A.D. or 90’s A.D., or that Nero actually reigned around the time of Jesus’ ministry as recorded in the Gospels!  The majority of scholarship places John’s writing of Revelation in the mid-90’s, but somehow your insidious Preterist faith thinks it’s ok to go against the overwhelming consensus of the past 2000 years? LAUGHABLE!!!  
Your thinking makes some fatal errors, IMO, of which I would be only too pleased to demonstrate, if you can have a serious conversation, without any antics. I invite you to put aside your antics, your name-calling, your unnecessary capitalization of full sentences and show your view is more reasonable not by mere assertion but by citing biblical verses and historical facts. 

Regarding Revelation, first, you assume that John, exiled at Patmos, refers to Domitian's reign and not Nero's based on a very dubious statement by Ireneaus and then subsequently borrowed by other early church fathers. I believe this speculation has been well refuted by Kenneth Gentry (Before Jerusalem Fell) and many others, such as John A.T. Robinson).

Second, the language of Revelation supports early writing before AD 70.

Third, I would be glad to debate you on this subject.

LISTED BY DATE
  • -0047-48: James
  • 0050,E: 1 Thessalonians
  • 0050-51: 2 Thessalonians
  • 0055,E: 1 Corinthians
  • 0055,L: 1 Timothy
  • 0056,E: 2 Corinthians
  • 0056,L: Galatians
  • 0057,E: Romans
  • 0057,E: Titus
  • 0058,E: Philippians
  • 0058,M: Philemon
  • 0058,M: Colossians
  • 0058.M: Ephesians
  • 0058,L: 2 Timothy
  • 0040-60: The Didache
  • 0045-60: Mark
  • 0040-60+: Matthew
  • -0057-60+: Luke
  • 0061-62: Jude
  • 0061-62: 2 Peter
  • 0057-62+: Acts
  • 0060-65: 1  John
  • 0060-65: 2 John
  • 0060-65: 3 John
  • 0065,E: 1 Peter
  • -0040-65+: John
  • 0067: Hebrews
  • 0068,L(-70): Revelation
  • 0070,E: 1 Clement
  • 0075: Barnabas
  • -0085: The Shepherd of Hermas
LISTED BY TITLE
  • Acts: 57-62+
  • Barnabas: 75
  • 1 Clement: Early 70
  • Colossians: Summer 58
  • Corinthians 1: Early 55
  • Corinthians 2: Early 56
  • The Didache: 40-60
  • Ephesians: Late Summer 58
  • Galatians: Later 56
  • Hebrews: 67
  • James: -47-48
  • John c. -40-65+
  • 1  John: 60-65
  • 2 John: 60-65
  • 3 John: 60-65
  • Jude: 61-2
  • Luke: -57-60+
  • Mark: 45-60
  • Matthew: 40-60+
  • 1 Peter: Spring 65
  • 2 Peter: 61-2
  • Philemon: Summer 58
  • Philippians: Spring 58
  • Revelation: Late 68 (-70)
  • Romans: Early 57
  • The Shepherd of Hermas: -85
  • Thessalonians 1: Early 50
  • Thessalonians 2: 50-51
  • Timothy 1: Autumn 55
  • Timothy 2: Autumn 58
  • Titus: Late Spring 57



Remember, the great fire of Rome took place for nearly a week during 64 A.D., but no one places it in 54 A.D. let alone 34 A.D. A powerful earthquake in 60 A.D. devastated Laodicea, and yet no one ever says that earthquake took place in 30 A.D. 30 years prior. With the vast majority of evidence to the contrary. Your Satanic Preterist faith literally rests on this single pillar of the dating of the book of Revelation. And, really, that is no pillar at all in light of the historicity of the late date!!!!  
Now, go hide yourself from the above FACTS that make your Preterist faith as comical as the Pentacostals, Mormons, Jehovah Witneesess, etc., because in the true Matthean  4:10 way, BE GONE SATAN! 
I claim Revelation is John's version of the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I am willing to back that up, just as I am willing to back up that almost every NT canonized book shows evidence of being written before AD 70. Perhaps we can leave that for the next discussion after we document the evidence for Revelation as written before or after AD 70.

My Preterist belief does not rest on Revelation alone as written before AD70 but on every NT canonized work written before AD70 from the evidence both internally (the book itself) and externally (other pieces of evidence). Since the biblical books are what are in question the majority of the discussion should focus on what they reveal through their time and audience relevance statements. 

Also, since you claim to be a true believer, what church, doctrine, or belief do you expand upon? Is this solely your own interpretation or do you have something you feed off of?
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@BrotherDThomas
Listen up, don’t you remember me stating that you follow the fraudulent Preterist Faith that is not only Satanic, but goes directly against Jesus’ inspired true words?!  Subsequent to ungodly Preterists using a Sharpie pen and scissors to mark out, and cut out approximately 75 percent of the JUDEO-Christian Bible, what is left is a Satanic “pocket size” version at Jesus’ expense! BLASPHEME!

As if the above Preterist fraud isn’t disturbing enough to Jesus, and as shown, you come forth with some of the most laugable Devil Speak “mumbo-jumbo-gumbo-dumbo, strum” rhetoric that this forum will probably ever see!  Look at your phrases and words, that are copy and pasted from your Satanic faith’s website, where obviously you don’t have the sense to feel embarrassed.

Whether you are a half assed Preterist, or a whole assed Preteristthe truth is that your pagan faith was “hatched by Satan” in the year of 1790, get it?! Therefore, your faith is yet another DIVISION of Christianity where every Bible reader prior to this date read the bible wrong in your Satanic view, and are therefore 

Furthermore, since your comical and ungodly faith preclude that if all prophecies have happened before and up to 70AD, then you are stating that IT IS A LIE in calling the hope for Jesus to return in bodily form in the future, at the end of time and history, and raise our bodies towards heaven, and bring judgment to all unbelievers, is now a ruse! You slap Jesus in the face because the 4 aforementioned biblical entities unifiy the history of Chrisitianity and Jesus’ Second Coming, but to your Satanic thinking, even though these four entities unify Christianity, and the future Second Coming, to you these precepts is fraudulent and WRONG!  HELLO?

The bottom line is YOU live in the past, where TRUE Christians live in the godly future, understood?
Again, you have done nothing to refute my arguments but instead fallaciously attacked me with namecalling, conjecture, and wild accusations while providing nary one proof to back them up. I underlined some of those attacks to demonstrate to anyone who is interested in reading this. That just shows how weak your arguments are.

I am willing to debate you on this topic and let the reader judge who has the stronger argument. 

What evidence do you have from the Bible that Jesus has not returned? Why do you think the end of the age Jesus spoke of has not come? If you want to discuss and prove me wrong then let us turn to what the biblical verses and words say and see who has a better argument. If you are not interested I will ignore your malicious posts. So either get serious or go bother someone else with your ad home. I'm not interested in them and your bold capitalization.
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@CaptainSceptic

there is only one correct understanding.
Yet then you state
Wait a minute. Do you deny that to understand someone you need to understand the context, the specific word meaning, and intent of what the author or communicator means? If you do not get the author's intended meaning you have not understood what they meant. Does that principle make sense to you?


the Scriptural verse and the surrounding passage (context) need to be considered. The audience of address, the timeframe, the culture of the times all plays a role.

So how is everyone supposed to get the correct? understand with all the subjectivity.

Understand that every Scripture has a meaning the Author is conveying to you indirectly and to the relevant audience directly. Understand the timeframe is one is referenced. Understand too that some references are more easily understood by the culture to which it was addressed. Thus, we need to understand the references in terms of that culture. We don't usually carry wineskins around with us, nor are most of us living in an agrarian economy. We have to understand what a shepherd did and the significance of a lost sheep. We, generally speaking, are not Jews, and we don't live in that ritualistic and sacrificial economy. We have to understand the significance of what is taking place and why. We have to understand the significance of the sacrificial lamb and the scapegoat. They are not common to our culture in North America. Then we have to understand the themes running through Scripture like sin and redemption, and many words that are not common to everyday use. 

Thus, Scripture says to study to show yourself approved, "accurately handling the word of truth." For those who error those who have discernment should teach, reproof, correct, train. 

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

One thing is logically certain, two people who say diametrically opposite things cannot both be true to what is the case. We do have a standard as Christians to reference and prove our points.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NASB)
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ

As Christians, we believe the knowledge of God is found in written revelation in the OT and NT Scriptures.
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@BrotherDThomas


JESUS STATED: In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3) The ONLY commands at Jesus' time were the 613 commands of the Old Testament.  Therefore, Jesus condoned the murdering of homosexuals in this godly instructed passage, to wit: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."  (Leviticus 20:13) Additionally, Romans 1 26-27, understood, Bible fool?
 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

Again, ripping verses out of context do you no favours. Jesus came to establish a New Covenant. We live by the faith of His ability at work within us. Dying to ourselves we live for Christ. He has fulfilled the law for us and met all God's righteous requirements. Thus, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The victory is our faith. 

How do we overcome the world? Through our faith in Christ Jesus. What kind of work is required by God?

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

His works of righteousness are what save the believer, not our own, not what we do to obtain salvation but on what He has done to obtain it for us. 

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NASB)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.


 Besides, do you want to call Yahweh/Jesus a LIAR when both stated: "My covenant I will not break,Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips." (Psalm 89:34) The inspired word of Yahweh/Jesus wrote the entire 613 Commandments, and as stated in the Psalm passage, Yahweh/Jesus WILL NOT BREAK THE COVENANT, NOR ALTER IT IN ANY WAY, therefore the 613 Old Testament laws are to be followed today, UNDERSTOOD?  Listen up, are you going to hold a vigil to remove the 10 Commandments in front of the court houses around the USA, because they are part and parcel to the total 613 Mosaic laws that you state are NOT to be followed?!  GET IT?  LOL
God did not break His covenant, He fulfilled it in Christ Jesus. Jesus was found without sin, something that does not apply to you or me. The Old Covenant was a type or picture of something far greater, the New Covenant. The shadows and types found in the Old Covenant all point to a far greater truth and reality - Jesus Christ. The symbolism and imagery are all pointing to Christ. Moses is a type of Christ, a prophet and a mediator for God's people. The sacrificial system all points to Jesus Christ. The physical reality of the OT point to spiritual truths found in Christ Jesus and the New Testament. 

The Ten Commandments are common to both testaments, except some would argue, the Sabbath. The 613 Mosaic commands were for a specific time, the time of the OT.

1 Corinthians 10:11 (NASB)
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

Present tense at the time of writing --> have come. The end of the age of the OT came in their generation.

Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

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@BrotherDThomas
Groan. First, it is hard to separate who is saying what since you never use the tools provided to make things clearer. Second, your posts are full of ad hominem attacks where you attack me rather than my content. 

PGA2.0,
ONCE AGAIN, ANOTHER BIBLE DUMBFOUNDED QUOTE BY YOU: "The Law of Moses has been abolished (Matthew 5:17-18) since it can no longer be carried out in the prescribed manner. It was always pointing to the better covenant, a schoolmaster or tutor to lead us to Christ."

HELLO? Your misnomer of whether the OT laws, ALL 613 OF THEM, can be carried out or not is moot!  This is because of the simple biblical axiom that they are still too be followed today in the 21st century, understood Bible fool?
Atonement of sin was necessary to maintain a right relationship with God. The priesthood was the mediator between the OT sinner and God. The Day of Atonement was annually practiced to offset the sins of the nation. The temple was the meeting place between God and His people. The genealogies showed the bloodline of the priesthood and also the bloodline the Messiah would follow. After AD 70 none of these things are operational. Thus, Matthew 5:18 applies, the smallest letter of the law has perished. It can no longer be followed.

Tell the membership, what part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount don't you understand relative to following the 613 laws of Moses TODAY?  

JESUS STATED: "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18).  With these words, Jesus likened the continuance of the Mosaic 613 Laws to the permanence of heaven and earth, UNDERSTAND?!  Therefore, has Heaven and earth passed away or disappeared yet? NO IT HAS NOT! Therefore, as Jesus stated with specificity, the true Christian is to follow every jot and tittle of the 613 commanded laws of the Old Testament until the earth and heaven do pass away!  2+2=4, oil and water don't mix, and your outlandish Bible ignorance is again laughable!
The "heaven and earth" OT Israel lived under was the OT economy and ritual sacrificial system. That is no longer existing after AD 70. If you take a look at the references to heaven and earth in the OT you would understand what they refer to. You can't rip them out of there context and cultural significance and still expect to understand what is being said. Their way of life came to an end in AD 70. Their lives revolved around the temple and sacrificial system to maintain their relationship with God. In AD 70 God judged them and found that system of worship wanting. A better way is now available for believers.  
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@CaptainSceptic
In summary,  despite your quoted claim to the contrary Christians do cherry-pick.  Not all perhaps, but certainly some do.  I have had the same conversation experience with Muslims and Jewish.   despite your claim, there is only "the" hermeneutic, there are in fact 100s of thousands if not more methods to interpret.  This is evidenced by all the denominations of Christianity alone. 
Since you have challenged me to debate twice I take interest in your forum posts.

I think cherry-picking is common to all of us at times. Although there are all kinds of ways of interpreting passages of Scripture, there is only one correct understanding. To understand Scripture you must understand what the Author is saying. To understand anyone, you must correctly interpret what they are saying. For the believer, God's word is the plumbline. When in doubt, the Scriptural verse and the surrounding passage (context) need to be considered. The audience of address, the timeframe, the culture of the times all plays a role. Although Scripture is written TO specific OT people, the application and admonition are FOR us today also. Although there are many profound teachings the overall message is simple enough for a child to understand in the themes of sin and redemption and the difference between covenants in their scope and means. Humans have wronged God. God, as Creator, has provided His righteous standard. The OT is a covenant of works. The NT is a covenant of grace. One shows the result of what happens when human beings try to achieve God's perfect standard on their own merit and the other shows what happens when we trust in Another to meet that standard on our behalf.  
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@Tradesecret
I mocked you because I am a sinner. Or it might be because I think the ridiculous deserves to be ridiculed. Or it might be because I don't think turning the other cheek means getting walked all over. I personally do get frustrated with comments that are repeated ad nauseum over and over again - despite ample and good answers to them.

Having said that - I also welcome the opportunity to discuss things with people who are genuine. And if that is you and i have misread and taken offence at your opening words - then I apologise.  


Overall, your post was excellent, IMO. I like reading what you write.

Concerning mocking, I like what two verses in Proverbs say regarding those who mock Scripture and God.

Proverbs 26:4 (NASB)
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Or you will also be like him.

Answer a fool as his folly deserves, That he not be wise in his own eyes.

These two verses do not say the same thing yet contain some profound truths that I like to apply to those who think they know better about Scripture to point out the folly of their thinking. In the end, God is not mocked. Every knee will bow.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

As you say, those who are genuinely inquiring, an honest and gentle answer is required, to the best of our ability, discernment, and knowledge of Scripture. Those who want to trample the Gospel I tend to use sarcasm and often apply the principles of Proverbs 26:4,6. 
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@Tradesecret
As for fulfilling the law, I don't think it ceased. Obviously, you did not comprehend what I wrote. Let me try and explain it to you. 
Overall, I think you're a good discerner of Scripture, but I do disagree with you on some points. I won't waste my time with BrotherD. He shows he is not interested in dialogue but I see you as a brother in Christ so I wanted to give you my understanding to see if you find it reasonable. 

Regarding the OT law, if it has not ceased then where are the annual animal sacrifices of atonement, the priesthood, the temple, the OT economy, the feast days, the genealogies? Not only this, Christ has fulfilled the law for the believer, whether Jew or Gentile. I know you believe that. The Law of Moses has been abolished (Matthew 5:17-18) since it can no longer be carried out in the prescribed manner. It was always pointing to the better covenant, a schoolmaster or tutor to lead us to Christ.

Galatians 3:23-25 (NASB)
23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Matthew 5:17-18 (NASB)
17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Do we see every letter of the law still being practiced today?

Romans 7:6 (NASB)
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

His sacrifice and resurrection have accomplished what the Law could not for those who have faith in Him. 

What did Jesus mean when He said: "until heaven and earth pass away"? 

The unbeliever still shows he has the law written on his heart. 

Romans 2:14
14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

The OT law is still ongoing in the NT. The difference is the letter not the spirit.  Jesus did not stop the law. Yet he fulfilled it. The OT law of sacrifice was at its heart about what? 
The OT law is the Law of Moses. Thus, it was still ongoing during NT times until AD 70. Jesus fulfilled the law for those who believe. He nailed the letter of the law, the punishment for breaking it to the cross. It is shown to be complete in that His one sacrifice is all the believer needs. For the New Covenant to be the only one needed the Old Covenant with all its sacrifices had to disappear. The Covenant God made was with specific people - OT Israel. The disappearing and replacement are what Hebrews is all about. 

Hebrews 8:13 (NASB)
13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

Hebrews was written primarily to Jewish believers in Christ who were thinking about returning to Judaism. Hence, the author (many believe it to be the Apostle Paul) could say in Hebrews 9,

8 The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, 9 which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, 10 since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.

Still standing. That would signify before AD 70 when the temple and city were destroyed by the Romans. 

16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. 17 For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. 18 Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood.

Christ's blood, His life, His sacrifice of atonement, has initiated the New covenant. The two covenants were in transition for 40 years from His death until the judgment was fulfilled in AD 70 for the sins of those who did not believe in Him (see Hebrews 3).

25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

He appeared in AD 70 the second time as He told His disciples He would while some of them were still alive. 


Matthew 16:27-28 (NASB)
27 For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.
28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.

If you get the wrong audience of address AND/or wrong timeline or time statements, you risk misinterpreting Scripture. Who is the audience of address, the 'you' spoken of here? What is the timeframe in reference to - the OT economy, which still is functioning at the time of the writing of Hebrews.

It was about atoning for the sins of people in a temporary way because the blood of goats and cows are not eternal. Jesus however as the Eternal Son of God has blood that atones eternally - for the sins of his people. Hence, the OT Mosaic system is known as a shadow of things to come - namely Jesus who is the real deal.  therefore, the atoning sacrifices has not ended or been ceased in spirit - but in Christ is eternal for all his people. 

Hence, not ceased, but fulfilled in Christ. I notice you OMITTED to explain what fulfilled was according to your own thinking. Perhaps it is you who is running away from the obvious. Yes, you said what you think it was not. but OMITTED to say what you think it was.
Abolished would mean ceased (Matthew 5:17-18). If Christ has obtained eternal redemption then what need is there of the Law of Moses for the believer. The unbeliever still shows he/she understands the law of God for he/she still knows it is wrong to lie, murder, steal, commit adultery, covet, etc. Thus, he/she shows he/she is still answerable to God in breaking His laws. Thus, the believer and unbeliever are living under the grace of God. He allows the sun to shine on both for a period of time (Acts 17:24- to the end of the chapter). The unbeliever still thinks their good works are sufficient to save them. They still think their deeds are good enough to meet God's perfect standard. Thus, they ignore or see no need for a Savior. They think they can accomplish only what God could by His grace, His Spirit, His Son.

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@BrotherDThomas
PGA2.0,

YOUR REVEALING AND TRUTHFUL QUOTE TO MY POST #20:   "Hilarious!!!"

Yes, I am glad that you admit that when you are in discussion with your Satanic Bible rewrites, it is HILARIOUS!  Tell you what, what is even more HILARIOUS is your Devil Speak you spew forth relative to your ungodly comical faith of "Preterism!"  Just watching you remove one foot to insert the other regarding your Satanic faith within these threads is better than watching Saturday Night Live!  HILARIOUS!
Yawn.
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@Tradesecret
@CaptainSceptic
There you go again.

 it ought to be clear that his non-reading is not that he has no ability to read but that he is reading according to his own hermeneutic and not as Christians tend to read. 
I stated there are 10's of thousands of denominations, ad the driving factor is different interpretations.  So who are you to say your analysis applies to all Christians.
Your narcissism and self-righteousness are nearly biblical in volume.

Side question: As a Christian why would you mock someone for asking a question?
Jesus used imagery, irony and sarcasm often with the Scribes and Pharisees. He understood their motives and reason for asking were to entrap and mock Him in their disbelief. The quality of the question tells a lot about the sincerity of the inquirer. Many on this forum hate Christians and Christianity and are here to undermine them and it. 

For someone who started this particular thread, you have not engaged much and just like Stephen, BrotherD,  Deb-8-a-bull, Zedvictor and others the question comes up as to how sincere you are in engaging in a serious discussion.
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@CaptainSceptic
I will back everything up.

Thats fine.

In reference to what - BOP, the debate, my post? 

Are you willing to make the concessions I requested?

10,000-15,000 characters.
One or two weeks per round.
Modify the heading.
Four rounds as stated.
Definitions in the Description (to be discussed between the two of us).
A broader description in the Description box.
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@BrotherDThomas
CaptainSceptic,

See, what did I tell you?  In all of  PGA2.0's subsequent posts to you relative to your debate challenge, he is running away from it!  I have Bible Slapped PGA2.0  silly in many threads within this forum, so expect to see some of the most comical and outlandish responses from him in a discussion.  

PGA2.0 RUNNING AWAY QUOTE #1: "How badly do you want to debate this?"

Subjectively, you never let a pseudo-christian, especially a PRETERIST, control YOUR debate, it is your debate and you construct it the way that you want, not PGA2.0's way.  This is an old ruse that the pseudo-christian uses to "try" and get the upper hand when the parameters by the challenger have already been set that is uncomfortable to them at the onset. If PGA2.0 ever gets off the pot and commits, we will see some of the most outrageous Bible hermeneutics and rewrites this forum will ever see, brought to you by the minion of Satan, PGA2.0! 

Hilarious!!!
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@zedvictor4
Notwithstanding the fact that scripture is notoriously ambiguous anyway.
It certainly needs a discerning mind to understand it for there are many difficult passages. If you keep in mind the audience of address, the time frame, and the culture of the Ancient Near East (ANE) it becomes somewhat easier to understand.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

Themes in Scripture are a lot easier to pick out such as sin, relationship with God, redemption, justification, the need for repentance, our inability to please God in and of ourselves, the need of a Savior, atonement, etc.

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@CaptainSceptic

How do you share a burden of proof when you first stated: 

" I truly do not believe you can demonstrate an adequate or reasonable explanation for morality other than a necessary Being - God - since without an absolute, objective, omniscient, unchanging, eternal source and reference point all you have is subjectivism and relativism. "

Then you stated:

"God as a necessary Being is the most reasonable explanation for morality."

What BOP do I have other than addressing your statements?   Tell me what BOP I should have.  Better yet, why don't you set the entire thing up and invite me.  

How? When you make a counterclaim you back it up.

Obviously you do not believe biblical God(the only one I defend) is 1) the necessary being, and/or 2) you do not believe the biblical God is the source that is most reasonable and best explains morality. Thus, the burden of proof is on you to show otherwise.
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@CaptainSceptic
Regarding the debate challenge, I request another round and the BOP shared.

R1: Opening arguments
R2-R3: Additional arguments and rebuttals
R4: Rebuttals and closing arguments. No new arguments.

Also, I suggest any definitions you want to put in we do so in the Description. I have a few in mind. 
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@CaptainSceptic
Invited you to a  debate about it so you can set me straight.
Btw, does that mean you will not respond to my post?

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@CaptainSceptic

The comment section does not appear to function on that debate. Maybe it is just me. Thus, I will respond here. 

How badly do you want to debate this? 

As I said before, I do not debate with a time frame of less than a week per round. That gives you more time to debate others while you wait for me to post. I have also said before, I do not debate with less than 10,000 characters although I prefer 12,000 to 15,000.

I would like to modify your challenge heading and also get you to provide a more thorough DESCRIPTION of the scope also. 

Suggested modification:

"God as a necessary Being is the most reasonable explanation for morality."
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@CaptainSceptic
My retort:   Well there are lots of examples of conduct that is immoral like
MY retort: And what is your standard for determining what is immoral? Is it a personal preference? Do your feelings determine right and wrong? If not, establish your standard for morality is objective and unchanging. If it is relative and changing how do you arrive at the best (always shifting and never has a concrete foundation of measurement), what everything else is compared with? If there is no best, why is what you believe good? Good in comparison to what? 

With quantitative values, we have physical reference points, exacting tangible weights and measures to compared with. Where there are discrepancies we can measure it with the universally accepted exact measurement. With time, the world relies on Greenwich Mean time or the atomic clock as our standard of measurement. How do you measure something intangible and abstract such as morality and qualitative values? What is your ultimate measure and your ultimate reference point?
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@Tradesecret
@CaptainSceptic

Hence, your accusation that Christians cherry pick is incorrect
I never said Christian once.   In addition, you state that no Christian has cherry-picked verses in my presence is incorrect, and something you can't know, as you have not been in my presence during those times.   You could have said I may be misinterpreting, or ask for a specific example. However, you do not.  You immediately jump to the conclusion that I am talking about Christians, and no matter what I experience I am wrong because.....

What a laugh! You may not have said Christian but you specifically use the Christian Scriptures as your only reference point.


YOU:
Scripter followers Claim: God's laws, are the laws of morality.

Their Support: 10 Commandments Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21

My retort:   Well there are lots of examples of conduct that is immoral like

Supporting slaves:   Ephesians  6:5:  Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.
Killing babies and raping woman cause your pissed off:  Isaiah 13:16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives violated.

***

What is more, you avoided the many pointed questions in response to the challenge you issued on morality. I truly do not believe you can demonstrate an adequate or reasonable explanation for morality other than a necessary Being - God - since without an absolute, objective, omniscient, unchanging, eternal source and reference point all you have is subjectivism and relativism. 

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@Tradesecret
Well said!
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@David
I disagree that all threads should be deleted, only those that are at issue and have been identified. Unless that issue was demonstrated and justified in all, deleting all, IMO, would be a form of censorship. I don't think that censoring participants is desirable unless there is a blatant example of malpractice or the participant is threatening others. Yes, it is good that we respect others and treat them as we would like to be treated, but we are often discussing issues that are highly volatile because we have so much vested in our own opinions. 

This is just my personal opinion. 



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@ludofl3x


Did god's plan include Adam eating it?

Sure. He knew Adam would eat it but He never forced Adam to eat it. Adam chose to eat it. 
So god planned for adam to eat it, then got mad at him for eating it, and as adam cannot go against god's plan, how did he have a choice and not just the illusion of choice? 


As I said before, "God did not force him to eat from it." That means that God allowed Adam the will to choose whether he would eat the fruit or not and God explained the consequences before Adam ate it. God already knew what Adam would choose of Adams FREE will and therefore He had already "planned" or determined His course of action before He had even created the universe. Does that mean that God programmed Adam to make a particular choice? No, He did not. He let Adam make his own choice knowing full well what that choice would be.
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@ludofl3x
God did not force him to eat from it. 

Did god's plan include Adam eating it?

Sure. He knew Adam would eat it but He never forced Adam to eat it. Adam chose to eat it. 
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@ludofl3x
Adam did not act outside of God's plan. God knew what Adam would do. That is why from before the foundation of the world God had that plan. God gave Adam free will to choose. 

So Adam's only choice, according to this quote, is to act according to god's plan. Maybe I'm missing it: what was Adam's other option?


How do you figure that? Adam had the free choice to eat or not eat from the tree of knowledge. Even though God knew He would CHOOSE to eat of it, God did not force him to eat from it. Adam chose to do this himself, which God had already prepared for from before the foundation of the earth.
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@ludofl3x
The action Adam chose showcases God's plan 
WHY IS GOD MAD AT ADAM FOR EXECUTING HIS PLAN???
How can a righteous and good Judge like evil? 

THat's got nothing to do with the question I asked. Why is god mad at Adam for executing the plan god laid out in the first place? Did Adam act outside of god's original plan? If so, then god wasn't entirely omniscient. 

I have answered that question many times. You cannot hear it because of your confirmation bias. You hear only what you want to hear.  

Why is God angry? God hates sin. Sin is a wrongful action. Why would a good God like what is wrong?

No, Adam did not act outside of God's plan. God knew what Adam would do. That is why from before the foundation of the world God had that plan. God gave Adam free will to choose. He gives you and I a will to choose. God gave humans the ability to choose to love Him. The ability has been marred by sin. Since separates us from that close intimate loving relationship with God. Yet God is still merciful to those who will place their trust in Jesus Christ. He has sent His word to humanity that those who are humble may hear it. 

Ephesians 2:1-7  (NASB)
Made Alive in Christ
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

He who hates Me hates My Father also.

But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Why would God give His grace to the arrogant, those who resist Him at every turn, yet He does in sending out His word of grace and mercy through the Son and Spirit that those who hear will have eternal life. God has acted on our behalf that we might again establish that intimate, loving relationship with Him. 

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 
16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

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@ludofl3x

Please explain how the entity who, according to you,laid out an entire plan for every molecule, allows something without condoning it.
Because He allows it for a purpose and a season so that good would come from that one evil choice and good would be seen to triumph over evil.  

Then it's condoning the evil (going according to his plan) rather than merely allowing it (shrugging your shoulders and saying 'didn't see that coming, but I'll let it continue) for some perverse playacting purpose. If he wanted to make good triumph over evil, there's plenty of other ways for an all powerful whatever to accomplish that, right? Hollywood does it all the time. 
To eliminate evil God would have to create a robot, something that is already programmed in what it will do. God did not do that when He created humanity. He created us in His image and likeness, with the ability to choose to create and love. Because God created us with a volition He does not control how we use it although He sometimes brings judgment for such actions upon us in this lifetime, as well as after death. Thus, even though He condemns evil and speaks out against unrighteousness and wrongful actions He does not condone it but lovingly allows us to make mistakes. When your child makes a mistake, does wrong, was it you who did the wrong, was it you who condoned the action he/she took? No, they did it of their own accord. When that happens you can teach them a better way so that can avoid doing so and hurting themselves in the future. 

God already knows your choice, yet He allows you to make it. He compels you via His word,
If you are compelled into doing something, YOU DO NOT HAVE A CHOICE. You're compelled.
Usually, but you are providing only one outcome again. You like something. That is not bad in and of itself. Because you like it that compels (draws) you to do it. That compels you to continue to do it. It can be something hurtful and that something becomes a habit thus you are under bondage to that something. Thus, our natures compel (draw) us to act in particular ways. We are no longer free not to sin because of Adam. But we are able to not sin all the time. We usually are compelled to do something either because we like to do it or because we are in bondage and can't free ourselves from doing it. That is the case of what has happened to us since Adam. We still make choices. Sometimes we act in the best interest of others and sometimes we act selfishly and hurt others. Are we able to choose not to do something evil? Yes, but can we overcome in not doing that something? Not all the time. Only Christ was able to resist evil completely.  
 

You are under the misconception that just because the whole of history - past, present, and future - is presently before God that we are unable to choose
Can I choose to do something that's not in god's plan? Yes or no. 
God's plan is to let you have volition, the ability to choose. God's greater plan is to judge evil and provide a way to escape the evil does not gain victory. That evil was brought into our human nature through Adam. It was not in our human nature until the Fall. History shows us the effect of that nature, the outcome of that sin so God has a purpose for allowing it. When you do evil you choose to do what is not in your best interests. 



God already knows your choice, yet He allows you to make it
So he allows me to fool myself into thinking I've made it.
On the contrary, your choices show you that you have not yet made it to where you need to be. Sin is a mirror that reminds us of the consequences of bad choices. 


The action Adam chose showcases God's plan 
WHY IS GOD MAD AT ADAM FOR EXECUTING HIS PLAN???
How can a righteous and good Judge like evil? God is angry about what sin does to His creatures yet He allows them to do so as a lesson that some will find Him. He loves them so He is willing to let them do evil for a time that some will reach out to Him and be saved from evil. Sin is what humanity chooses of their own volition in living apart from what is best for them.  

Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
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@ludofl3x
You keep ignoring that god knew that all of that, exactly, would happen, according to a blueprint you think he laid out.
Are you saying that God is the one doing the choosing for us and that we do not choose?

There isn't any choice as a result. You're not approaching this in an honest way at all, you want to have your cake (omniscient god who knows all things and planned all things) and eat it too (wherein people are somehow held accountable with eternal torture for doing exactly what god laid out for them to do). God knowing doesn't prevent anyone from doing anything, it's the opposite, and that you don't see it is a testament to how thoroughly your indoctrination has blinded you, dude. I get it, you're a true believer, it's really unlikely we're ever going to have any real discussion, you just end up quoting bible verses and preaching meaningless garbage at me.
You keep ignoring that even though God knew it (thus it was predetermined to happen) He still gave the human being the choice. How is allowing someone (Adam) to either obey or disobey not a choice? How is Adam choosing not his choice? The difference between Adam and you or me is that Adam was not influenced by evil. He did not have that baggage already in place. He did not know what it was before he sinned. He had two options, the one God presented or the one Satan presented. He (Adam) chose to experience evil. We are influenced by that choice since it affected everyone. The concept of evil was realized. Since that choice, we cannot avoid experiencing evil yet we can still choose whether we accept God's revelation and provision or live by our own means. God has provided a solution to that evil. God will not accept a sinful nature in His presence (His close, intimate relationship with us). 

What you are saying is that because God knew what the man would freely choose the man did not freely choose it and God was not able (had no choice) to prevent the man from doing this unless He had already predetermined the man would not do this. Why is that? Why could God not only know what the man would do (predetermined) but allow him to do so without making him do so without his own volition. Since the man would do so by his free choice and once the man did so, then why could God not ordain a way to eventually reconcile the man to Him via His Son before this event of Adam choosing happened? 

God knows all things. He is eternally present. The past, present and future are all before Him in the presence. Thus, what Adam would do was already before Him. He knows Adam in every detail, He knows what Adam is thinking and will think since He can know our private thoughts. That is a difference between God and me or you. I can't know your private thoughts but I can know what you express to me and I can understand how your thoughts operate to a degree rather than fully like God. Does that stop you from thinking them or acting on them? No, you do so of your own volition.

I know you have a sinful nature (outside of Jesus Christ) that needs to be regenerated. Can I predict how your nature will respond? Generally speaking, yes. I know you will sin again. I know you will tell a lie. Do I know when? No, not usually. Can I prevent you from ever lying again? No. It is your nature to lie. If you think not then live a year without telling one lie.   

I asked it as clear as I can:

CAN GOD BE SURPRISED?
No.

If the answer is no, then you don't have free will, you have the illusion of free will, and you're being held accountable for stuff he traps you into doing over and over again. 
God does not trap me. I'm trapped by my own choices and by the nature I inherited from Adam. Even though God knows my choices before I make them I am not programmed to make them by God. I do that of my own volition. My choices have consequences. I am not a robot that He programmed to respond in only one way. I choose to do that of my own volition. I choose to reject God but His mercy rescues me by hearing His word. I reason with God about how the world is and how I am. I see my need for His provision - His Son. I see the failings I have of living without the Son. I have wrestled with sin. I understand how difficult it is to escape (impossible in my own ability), thus I look to another to provide the means of escape. 

I'm not under the illusion that I have free will. I don't have free will, neither do you, but Adam did. He was not influenced by the effects of sin. You and I are. Because of this, we all have a sinful nature that needs regenerating. That is done by believing in the Son. 
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@Seth
The Christian religion is reasonable and logical and I argue necessary in making sense of existence. 
And yet if you were born in Afghanistan the chances are you wouldn't believe a word of that.


Very possible, but why does that make Christianity wrong?
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@Seth
And I feel bad for people like you too who think they have the answers yet on questioning you find that you can't make sense of life other than manufacturing meaning in what would be a meaningless universe from an atheistic perspective.

Religion doesn't make sense of life, it proposes a fantasy and pathetically tries to make sense of that based on fear, fear of the existence they find themselves in.
I contend that even atheists have a religious view of life - the religion of self as the final authority. I do not believe the atheist worldview is capable of making sense of life. For instance, why is there something rather than nothing and why do you exist? How does consciousness come from something without it? How does life come from non-live and something non-living? How do we determine right if there is not absolute, final reference point? 
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@ludofl3x
You don't pass laws to murder others.
The death penalty is federally legal in the US, where I live. This is a law that's been passed specifically to murder people, legally, and it has a very large contingent of self professing Christians supporting it. Apparently, we do make laws to murder others. 



Regarding abortion, humans make laws that at times or often contradict biblical teaching. Are those laws just? Why? Do all get treated equally? Are all men (humans) created equal? If not, then what is wrong with killing those that we don't like or don't consider equal (Someone can say, "Step this way please! You're next.")? At one time African Americans were not deemed equal in your country. In South Africa, the white was considered superior at one time. In Hitlers Germany, many classes were considered of less value and human worth. Do you believe it is good to treat some human beings as less valuable than others if they are innocent of wrongdoing? So what has the unborn done that is wrong? Did it choose to be born? Did it break a law? Who decides what is wrong? Why is their decision "right?"
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@ludofl3x

It gets paid one way or the other.

Let's stay with your legalistic view of this then: let's say I go out and commit a double murder, I'm arrested, tried and convicted in a court of law, and sentenced to death. My brother, who is single and has no children, says "Wait! Don't kill my brother, he has children, and a wife, and I don't have these obligations. Please, allow me to accept the sentence in his place." The court says "Okay." Is killing my brother MORAL? Is that justice? Don't confuse NOBLE with these terms. 
A human court of law is not God. You have offended God and God has provided the way He will deal with the situation. The soul that sins will die. But, just like the debt analogy, God is willing to forgive the debt if the conditions are met. Will God hold you to those conditions before you have understood what right and wrong are? So, I believe there is an age at which you are accountable to God, an age at which you understand that something is wrong. Also, the penalty of Adam's sins were imputed to humanity. All die because of what Adam did. But how could He punish someone who has not yet sinned, such as a little baby? What are the conditions in paying the penalty? They are a righteous life without sin. Jesus met those conditions. Have you met those conditions? Is God unjust in providing punishment for not following those conditions? Not if He is good. If He is good and just He will address the situation. He has stepped in on our behalf in love by sending His Son to meet the conditions we failed to meet. That is how the situation has been dealt with by God. God is satisfied by the works of righteousness of the One Man. Just as in Adam, his choice affected us and the penalty for that sin was imputed to us, so also in Jesus Christ, the righteous life of those who believe in Him has been imputed to the believer. God did not leave us with only the one option, sin and die. He gave us a way in which we can avoid that death, that spiritual separation for eternity from Him. That other option is the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. As in the OT God gives a choice.

God makes His plea to you through a people He chose to teach you about Himself and about His plan of forgiveness. He culminates that plan in sending His Son in the fullness of time to provide the way to be reconciled to Him. So, what you do with Jesus is up to you. Do you hear His message to you or is your heart still in rebellion against God? Do you not want to hear it because you want to do your own thing or do you want to have a changed heart towards God? Two people can read the same Scripture and one person hears the message and the other is incapable of hearing even though the words are plain. 

Just like Israel, who will you choose to serve God or Baal; God or yourself? If you choose Him He will provide the means for you to do so. 

In God permitting something does not mean He condones it. It means He allows it for a season or time but eventually you will be answerable for sin. His sovereign will say that one day you will answer for anything wrong you have done. 

Please explain how the entity who, according to you,laid out an entire plan for every molecule, allows something without condoning it.
Because He allows it for a purpose and a season so that good would come from that one evil choice and good would be seen to triumph over evil.  

Whatever it is he's allowing IS IN HIS PLAN. Again, according to you, we cannot deviate from the plan, otherwise god's surprised, but then yes, we'd be solely responsible and he could get mad about it.
You are under the misconception that just because the whole of history - past, present, and future - is presently before God that we are unable to choose. No one is forcing you to read this. You choose to do so, even though you do not like what I am saying. The only one who prevents you from reading this is you. I can't do that. You may have compelling reasons for reading this. You may want to prove me wrong. Nevertheless, it is your choice whether or not you read this.

God already knows your choice, yet He allows you to make it. He compels you via His word, His Spirit, His Son, His universe. He explains through His word the consequences of your choice - your actions.

But as we cannot, god has to share some of the responsibility. If I stand before god, let's say, and he asks "Why did you not leave a note on that car you dinged in the parking lot at A&P in Eatontown in 1998?", why isn't my answer "That was your plan, right? And why are you asking me, you should know this stuff."
God has given the path you are responsible to follow (live a righteous life which is only met in One Person) yet if you choose not to follow it. He allows you to do so knowing one day you will be accountable for that choice. You know it is dishonest to not own up to wrongful action and answer for it. Some wrongful action has a greater penalty than other wrongful action. God gives us time to choose our path. Sometimes we get away with injustice in this lifetime. That is why God eventually holds us accountable in His time frame or else He would not be just. 

Once you sin you are guilty before God. Do you have the means to meet or pay the penalty before the eternal God? Since your Creator, God, is the offended party, does He not have the right to decide on what payment is required for the wrong done?

I believe the only one who had complete freedom of will, other than Jesus Christ was Adam. Adam did not have the influences we have pulling us one direction or the other. 
Did god know when he put the tree there that Adam would eat the fruit, and thereby ruin his entire plan for the universe which I don't even know what it was but apparently pissed god off so much he tossed countless descendents into eternal damnation for something they didn't do themselves (again, how's that moral?). 


Yes, He knew. Adam's eating did not ruin God's plan. The action Adam chose showcases God's plan and His mercy. Even though God is wronged He has provided the solution. Will you accept the solution? If not, then how can you say God has done wrong in metering out justices upon you rather than on Jesus who voluntarily took the punishment on behalf of the believer?

Did they not choose the consequences of eternal separation? Did not those hearing the message choose not to listen to God and accept His grace and mercy? Even to those who have never heard the message, did they reach out to God or not? To those who never heard the message, were they interested in seeking God? To those who sincerely reach out does He not provide the means of grace to them by sending someone to them to lead them into the Way? And if someone is sent, will they resist His leading?

As was the case with Israel:

Romans 10:15 (NASB)
How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

So even though some believed what of the rest?

16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have;
Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
And their words to the ends of the world.”
19 But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says,
“I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation,
By a nation without understanding will I anger you.”
20 And Isaiah is very bold and says,
“I was found by those who did not seek Me,
I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”
21 But as for Israel He says, “All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

Even in the 1st-century, Paul could say that the gospel had gone out to all the earth, the end of the known world of that time. And God does not only speak to humanity through His Word. He speaks to humanity through what has been made, the universe, from the macros to the micros. The details of a mindful being are evident in all things. 
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@ludofl3x
Just because I know something you do is wrong does not stop you from doing it if you want to. Thus, you are still accountable for your wrong choice.

If you set up, specifically, a scenario in which you know I can only make one choice, and I make that choice, how am I responsible for NOT choosing it?
Is only one option a choice and if so, where do you find one option as a biblical choice?

There were two options presented to Adam in the Garden, God said and Satan said. Adam chose Satan's option. God did not prevent Adam from making that choice although He warned him of the consequences. God could have but He did not. That choice affected our choices. We are now biased by that choice for at that point in time humanity knew sin, they knew what it was to do wrong and they no longer had that close relationship with God. They were now left with their relative, subjective reasoning as their guide.

It's akin to a maze: I can't choose which way I get out of the maze, there's only one path to the exit. I don't choose the path, I simply follow it until I'm dead (exit). This is where you're missing my point. If Adam could NOT go against god's plan, and as you pointed out, god's supposed omniscience would dictate that this is the case (otherwise he'd be surprised), then he didn't really have a choice and god should have just created him in hell in the first place, just as he might as well eliminate earth altogether and put you in heaven or hell from the start, since he knows what you're going to choose, he knows you're going to die in either grace or sin. There is no free will in your scenario, because that would mean god isn't omniscient, or at least, had no plan, he's just watching.
Again, the analogy sucks. You present only one option. Although there is only one path by which you entered the maze, by retracing your steps you get out of the maze so there is another choice. You are aware of the steps Adam took. He chose to disobey what God said should not be done. That was his choice. The advantage for us is that there is a guidebook. You can retract the steps to the source of the problem and God has presented a solution. There are two choices, follow the way (path) of the first Adam or the Second Adam to find your solution. 

So, Adam could choose. He did choose. God knew the choice before Adam took it but God allowed Adam the free will to make that choice. God knew what He was doing in allowing that choice. The workings of history show this. God was not foiled by Adam's choice. God already had the plan from before the foundation of the universe and yet He allowed Adam the ability to make that choice by his own free will. That choice contaminated the way we think about God. You also question, just like Satan convinced Eve to do, "Did God really say...that you would surely die?" "Does God really communicate with humanity?" "Did Adam die the day he ate of the fruit?" The death that day was spiritual death, a death to that close relationship with God. You, outside of Jesus Christ, no longer have a close relationship with God. Sin prevents that. 

So, how is God's knowing what you would do preventing you from doing it? How does that hamper your choice? How is preparing a plan beforehand to help you (if you believe it) preventing you from making a choice? The problem is sin keeps us from God. What did Adam and Eve do? They hid from God when God sort them. Humanity also hides from God. They make up excuses to avoid Him because they know their sin is wrong and they do not want to seek the solution because they desire the temporary things of this world to God. But God's grace, through His word and Spirit calls out to us as it called out to them in the Garden. Some who are tired of their bondage hear His voice and respond. Others double down and resist even more.   


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@ludofl3x

You keep smuggling in this element of God being surprised. You also bring in this element that if God knows all things then we are not free to do our own thing, make our own choices. But God's permissive and God's sovereign will are different.
I'm not smuggling it in. I'm pointing out that unless there's a way for god to be surprised, then god is ultimately responsible for the whole problem to begin with.
The only way God is responsible for sin is that He gave us a will to choose. He does not force you to sin. He knows you will. Yet He is willing to forgive you in the way He has provided. What you do with that information is between you and God.  

You try to hand wave it with a total non sequitur (bolded). THis in no way addresses the problem you refuse to see. Take it back to the myth in the garden.
Again, your thinking is it must be a myth because you believe it is a myth. 

If god wanted people to be around basically to tell him how awesome he was all the time, and he really didn't want anyone to get punished for making him mad, there's a very easy solution: don't put the trees with the forbidden fruit in the garden, right?
God gave Adam free will to choose. He gives you and me a will to choose. God made a creature who could choose to love Him and have a relationship with Him or not. He gave that creature a choice. We suffer the consequences of that choice and live with them every day - humanity's inhumanity towards each other - but God has supplied a solution.

Once you put those there, and create Adam, it follows that god would know man would definitely eat the fruit he tells him not to eat.
So what? So He knew what they would do and He let them do it. Sin damages that relationship with God. So He shows them and us the results of such actions and supplies us a better way in His loving mercy.  What you do with that is between you and God but you are responsible for your actions and held accountable either in yourself or in Jesus Christ. If you do not like those options then you have nothing to worry about as long as you are right in your beliefs. If you think you have the capacity to know without God you do the same thing Adam did and as Satan pointed out to Eve, "Did God really say?" 

If this was such a henoius crime, god could have, in his wisdom said "Maybe I'll put that tree someplace else, or not include it at all.
He did. He placed the tree of life in a second Garden, the Garden of Gethsemane.

who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.


I can, after all, make this magic garden any way I want to, I can't believe I almost put a tree full of fruit that would mean, for some reason I haven't really figured out yet, that I'd have to burn this dude and his wife forever and ever and ever.
Sure you can make it as you want it but when you make it that way you are in danger of misrepresenting how it is presented. It is called eisegesis.  

Wow, I'm in a mood today!" God knew every little bit of what would happen (Not MIGHT happen, definitely would happen) and made them anyway. He's responsible for his own problem, and I feel bad for people like you who have been taught that they're garbage by default, when you should be thinking you're garbage BY DESIGN and you're not the problem. 
Yes, God knew and knows yet He was willing to create a creature with the ability to use his/her mind to choose whether or not he/she would know God. Indifference or rejection does not equate to knowing God yet you are able to go down that avenue. Unless you hear the message (His Word) and repent by the grace of that word then how can you complain on Judgement Day?

And this part about being garbage, I do not believe that. I believe that every human being should be treated with dignity and respect, in the hopes that God's word and our actions will be seen and understood. So, I do not believe you or I am garbage. 

And I feel bad for people like you too who think they have the answers yet on questioning you find that you can't make sense of life other than manufacturing meaning in what would be a meaningless universe from an atheistic perspective.
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 In the long term, nothing matters and what Hitler did is not answered for by justice.

If Hitler repented rather than killed himself, then died by a tank shell, would he be in heaven right now? The answer is yes. There are no sins, no amount of sins can pile up, that your faith says cannot be instantly forgiven. That's justice and perfect morality at work for you. To me, he's dead and I'm glad about it.
It is not cheap grace or an injustice. Jesus Christ paid for the sins of those who would believe in His human life. He agonized on the cross for those who would believe. He took the punishment and penalty that should have been the believers to bear. He lived a completely righteous life before God. If you think that anything you can do by your own merit then merits God's forgiveness you are mistaken. We would not need a Savior if we could save ourselves.  

For instance, Nation A believes abortion is wrong, except when not having one will result in the death of both the woman and unborn. Nation B believes abortion is right and permits abortion for any reason. Clearly both these positions cannot both be true since they are the antithesis of the other.
Nations don't believe anything. The people in them do, strictly, speaking. Also, these positions are not the opposite of each other as abortion is legal in both places, under different conditions. And finally, you're confusing moral with legal. Ideally, people decide what's moral and then make laws accordingly. Not Jesus.
I'm using the term for the people of a particular nation if you want to get technical. I'm speaking about the laws that have been passed by the people of those two nations. 

What are you talking about? I never mentioned which specific nations. I'm speaking of the SAME conditions. My reference was to the law of identity (A=A). If one nation of people enact laws that condone abortion on demand as good and another nation forbids abortion on demand as bad, logically how can they both be right? Can what one people call good then be the opposite for other people and abortion still be both good and bad at the same time? It is EITHER one or the other. It can't logically be both otherwise good loses its meaning.

You seem to think that moral and legal have no connection. Laws are enacted to protect human beings from harm. Abortion harms human beings. You don't pass laws to murder others. You pass laws to prevent people from getting murdered.

If a law is made that is UNJUST then how can that law be good?   


without a necessary being who has revealed the right,
This perfect moral system is the one where I do a crime, the court knows it was me, and sentences YOU to death for it. Not by mistake, they knew the whole time.
That moral system is just. It demands that justice be done. You have induced a crime that you are unable to pay the full amount. Someone comes before the judge and offers to pay the penalty that you may go free. So there is still an insurmountable price that you cannot meet but another, in His kindness and mercy, offers to pay the DEBT in full. If you refuse the offer graciously given then you will have to pay the penalty on your own for the legal requirement is that you are guilty of owning this debt. It gets paid one way or the other.

God did not make them do exactly what they did. They chose to do what they did. Their sinful preference was to do exactly the opposite of what God said to do. You are inventing, twisting, and convoluting the context.  

If god knew what they'd do when he designed them, and made them anyway, and he cannot be surprised by their actions, that means they cannot take any action god hasn't foreseen, right? How exactly is that free will then?
Because it is not God making the choice, it is what they make. Just because I know something you do is wrong does not stop you from doing it if you want to. Thus, you are still accountable for your wrong choice.


God may allow things that are wrong for a season or time (permits it for a time). He allows it for His purposes.
Then how exactly would I be the one accountable for his will, if I'm only doing what he wanted me to do? THIS IS NOT FREE WILL.
In God permitting something does not mean He condones it. It means He allows it for a season or time but eventually you will be answerable for sin. His sovereign will say that one day you will answer for anything wrong you have done. You will either answer on your own merit and pay the price or you will answer by the merit of Jesus Christ who graciously paid the price on behalf of all who will believe in Him. 

I believe the only one who had complete freedom of will, other than Jesus Christ was Adam. Adam did not have the influences we have pulling us one direction or the other. Because of original sin we all are influenced by that one sin. We still have the volition to choose but that volition is influenced by our desires and wants. You still choose. God sends His Son (the living Word), the Son sends the Spirit. You hear the message but do you really hear it because of your animosity and ill-will towards God? It is very plain for those who have ears to hear but there are lots of things that get in the way of hearing the message like the concerns of this life (i.e., the seed analogy Jesus gives). The message is simple - repent and believe. Recognize you have sinned before God. Be sorry for those sins and seek His way of forgiveness - His Son. Believe that you will have eternal life. It is not a hard message to believe. Why do you not believe then? Is it because you know better? From what I see you do not. Are there too many distractions that you can't be bothered? Do you love the world more than you care to love God? Does hearing Him mean that you will have to change and you do not want to do that because you prefer your sin? God provides the chance. He gives a new nature, a new spirit for those who will believe, a spirit that is open to Him and His leading.  

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@ethang5
Isaac Newton was a "Bible man".

I bet you won't step off a skyscraper anyway though.

It isn't what you actually say PGA2.0, it's whether you're a "bible man". This is what passes for intelligent these days

Yes, there is an ingrown bias just for being a Christian, no matter what you say or believe about science. 
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@ludofl3x
 How is it inconsistent that He warns you of the consequences and you understand them yet you choose to ignore them?

If god makes someone like Adam or you knowing you'd do evil, you do not have free will at all.
Did Adam have a mind to choose? Did he choose? I would argue that Adam had free will but our wills are influenced by many factors so they are not free, nevertheless, we choose. IOW's, you have a mind that is and has been influenced by sin. It is no longer a spiritual mind that has an intimate relationship with God. Thus, the Bible calls such a mind as a natural man. You do what is natural to a sinful mind, you reject God, you have animosity with God which is evident from your opposition to Him. You fight Him on every side. Thus, Jesus taught a man (person) must be born against to see or enter the kingdom of heaven.  

Even though Adam had a will to choose God knew what his choice would be for He said, 

17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Did God choose for Adam? No, Adam chose himself. Did God warn Adam of the consequences of his choice? Yes. Did Adam die on that day? Yes, he died spiritually to God. He no longer had that intimate relationship with God and neither do we unless we are restored to such a relationship by faith in the Second Adam - Jesus. 

It's as simple as that. If you choose to repent or not doesn't surprise god. He can't be mad if he can't be surprised, and he can't be surprised because he knew what you'd do the second he made you, and he knows if you'll be sorry about it or not.
Again, why can't He be mad? He wants what is best for humanity but human beings have a will. Sin is evil. It is wrong. How could a just and righteous God want what is wrong? (Answer: He can't)

Even though He knew and knows what each would do, He made you and gave you a will, a volition to choose. He lets you make choices. Those choices are not guided by His light and understanding when we act in our own accord since we are relative, subjective beings. With the Fall, that volition humanity was given has been influenced in a negative way, a way that does both evil and good. 

Grace is not getting what you deserve but what you do not deserve.
In this way, grace is the opposite of justice according to you. 
How can that be? Jesus willingly paid the penalty that those who believe in Him deserve(d). Thus, justice was met in Him. Will God judge us twice (double jeopardy) for the same crime? How is that just? No, He is satisfied with what the Son has done. He willingly met all the righteous standards of God on behalf of the believer. He gracefully gave Himself for us. He did not have to do that but God, in Jesus, chooses to do that because He is a God of love. 

Did he receive the same that he gave in terms of harm and hurt and evil? 
Not remotely, but he's dead. That's the end of that story. Well, unless he said really sorry, Jesus, and now he's on Jesus's yacht full of 14 year old girls in heaven, right?
You confuse and embellish Christianity with Islamic teaching or rewarding the believer with virgins. Where is the promise of 14-year-old girls on a yacht found in Christianity? 
 

 if things just happen why do you believe tomorrow will be like today and why should things hold together as they have in the past? Can you answer that instead of talking around it? 
That's what they've always done.
If there is no intention behind the universe and no mind sustaining it then why do you believe that what was done in the past will be done in the present or future? 

We as Christians have surety in God. He has promised that as long as the earth remains springtime and harvest will remain. 

I don't spend literally any time, not one second, wondering if tomorrow will be like today. It won't, it's a totally different day. I don't get this question. Let me guess, is the answer "Jesus, ha, I made sense of a big question"?
And that is a problem of inconsistency with your worldview if you took the time to understand it. There are constants. You naturally assume that the sun will continue to shine, that the earth will continue to revolve, the tides continue with ebb and neap, the gravitational pull remains constant, the seasons continue to change, that these things will "act" or function every year of your life, but by what means? By blind indifferent chance happenstance, you believe that all these constants will remain as you have witnessed them or have knowledge of them. The sun will continue to shine, the earth continue to rotate, the tides continue to roll, the seasons continue to change from one to the other.


Change your "fittest" to "bare minimum" and you will start to understand evolution a little more.
There are some big assumptions there like we all evolve from a common ancestor. 

Hitler, again, good grief you guys love that one.
That example is one of the most widely documented examples I could give. 

Strange that someone we all agree was entirely evil, who perpetrated such heinous crimes against God's chosen people, that god made him do that... 
How did God make him? He chose to do it of his own accord. He ignored the true interpretation of God's word. He did his own thing is disobedience to what God said was good. 

And also that god didn't step in and help on his own, but needed five years worth of war and millions of lives lost to get rid of him.
Again, God has a purpose for allowing evil. It is a witness to what happens when people live lives apart from God's good counsel. Evil is a reminder to us of what happens when relative, subjective human beings live life without the guidance of God. But to some who witness it, they cry out to God for relief from such evil, realizing they themselves are also to blame and that they have also done evil. God provides a way of escape for those who truly seek Him.  

Why not just miracle his ass out of there?
Because there is a lesson to be learned. Miracles do not solve the problem of evil. The problem of evil is that human beings want to do what is not good. You can warn your child not to touch the hot stove but they make their own decision. Do they listen to their parents and get spared from being burned or do they go against their parent's best intentions? 

Or, better idea, don't make him to do that in the first place.
Then he would be a robot, a programmed machine, without the capacity to freely love.


Like look at the plans for your Hitler and say "Whoops, wait a minute, if I make this guy exactly this way, he's going to kill six million jews, plus a ton of other non jews, like CHristians! Maybe I should take another look at this design, yeesh, that was a close one!"

As I said, God has allowed evil, allowed the freedom to choose, for a purpose, that some will find Him and love Him as He loves them. In fact, the love God has for us joyfully exceeds all our limited human understanding

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@Seth
When you start with God you find answers that make sense.
I think it more likely that you invent answers that pacify you.


Try starting with unintentional, blind, irrational chance happenstance and make sense of anything. 

When you start with God you have contingent beings coming from a necessary Being, life coming from the living, consciousness coming from a necessary conscious Being, information that is contained in DNA coming from a mindful being, etc., etc.

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@ethang5
...could also be...

No. IS the very thing he claims to loathe in those qualities listed.

Between you and me, I agree, but I will let others decide that. (^8
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@ludofl3x


This makes him less than all knowing. If he knew what they'd do and he still made them so that they could do it, then it's impossible to imagine that they somehow went against his will. Please don't tell me I'm the one with an inconsistent worldview until you can explain how these two things can simultaneously be true, it's ridiculous that you don't see it.
Yes, God knew they would do evil (act against the light of His revelation of goodness) yet He permitted them to do so anyway. Thus, unless they repent and are willing to submit to Him as sovereign and find mercy by accepting the means He has given they will be held accountable for their actions. It is as simple as that. How is it inconsistent, that you have the will to choose to know God or not to know Him? How is it inconsistent that you choose to do evil and disobey your Maker? How is it inconsistent that He warns you of the consequences and you understand them yet you choose to ignore them?

That is the point, isn't it? From your worldview perspective, they do not get what they deserve. Epstein escaped answering to justice in this life. And who determines what is just outside of an objective being? Does your relativism decide? Why yours?
I don't know what's going to happen to Weinstein, but Epstein's death is basically what he deserved. Justice is determined by society, not by appealing to magic. It's not individual. BUt again, your worldview is perplexing here: according to you, if Weinstein or Bill Cosby, right before they die, have a sincere come to jesus moment and take him truly and sincerely into their hearts, THEY GO TO HEAVEN. No matter what they did. This is the entire appeal of Jesus, heaven and hell. If you get to heaven and Bill Cosby's your neighbor, do you think he got what he deserved? A handful of years in prison after decades of systemic sexual assault on unconscious women? That's the perfect system of justice and morality according to you.
Grace is not getting what you deserve but what you do not deserve. If those who believe in Jesus got what they deserved they would be judged and condemned. Grace is His life lived on behalf of others so that we would not have to pay the penalty of sin. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus for God has judged the sins of those who put their trust in Him already. He lived the perfect life before God on their behalf. He paid the FULL penalty and sustained the wrath and judgment of God we deserve. 

What makes you think that once you sin and do what is wrong in the sight of a pure, holy, righteous God that you will then get to enjoy His goodness and mercy forever when you do not have a repentant heart? Do you think God will continually allow you to spoil paradise by your sinfulness? No, He has provided what is necessary - Jesus Christ -  that we may have a new life, a new spirit, and abundant life. So God has been gracious in supplying to us something we could not achieve by our own merit. True faith in Jesus Christ changes our lives, it changes how we view God. We learn to rejoice in God and ever-increasing trust in Him and His word. We know God cannot lie. His Spirit confirms with our spirits that we have been adopted into His family and now have peace with Him. 

Next, I have a hard time imagining that Epstein was repentant but that is not for me to decide. I can't know if someone has a last-minute conversion and comes to faith. That is a matter between the person and God. 

Finally, do you believe that Epstein got justice? Do you believe that what he dished out was equal to his punishment if there is no God? Did he receive the same that he gave in terms of harm and hurt and evil? 


We are just biological accidents in a universe that is indifferent to our existence. You may not agree with it but I would again contend that you are being inconsistent with your starting belief of blind, random chance happenstance...Things just happen. What exists is deemed by those who survive and have evolved (to a thinking status) to be fitter than that which does not exist. 
I agree, this is exactly what we are. You're arguing from incredulity.
I don't know how you can say "this is exactly what we are" with certainty. That is just another inconsistency with your worldview. You make these absolute, universal statements from a relative position. Go figure. Furthermore, if things just happen why do you believe tomorrow will be like today and why should things hold together as they have in the past? Can you answer that instead of talking around it? 

I'm looking at what's available for everyone on earth to look at and saying the simplest explanation is most likely. You're still missing the word "fittest" in this context. It's not who's strongest. It's who's best adapted to the environment. It's SUPER SIMPLE to understand as a principle, it's just unsettling at first, but seriously this is all there is. I know this is difficult to understand if you think the world is something like 10,000 years old, which I believe you do, but that's because, ironically, your starting point is way, way, way, way, way off.
Simple? What is simple about it? Anything (countless variations) can happen unless an intentional mindful Being has directed how this will happen and sustains such an existence. If you are going by the "fittest" then if someone like Hitler kills all the Jews, all the gypsies, all the Slavs, all the deformed, all those of African descent, what is wrong or bad about that if Hitler says it is good? Nothing, except if you happen to be one of the less favoured "races." Then you just know it is plain evil. Then you know some things are definitely evil, not just mere preference dictated by the fittest. 

As for the age of the earth, since Charles Lyle and Uniformitarianism, then Charles Darwin and Evolution plus add in the Age of Reason where "man" became the measure of all things, we have built our thinking around a particular narrow paradigm or reasoning. What is still up in the air from that paradigm is how we got here - life from non-life - as well as what happened in the beginning, if there was such a thing. We only seem to realize (and I'm speaking generally for I know some people who believe contrary to the following) that we had a beginning. Thus we humans do not work in the B-theory of time. That is a different realm to us, God's realm.  

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@ludofl3x
It means why do we exist? What is the reason you are here? Why is there something rather than nothing? 


In order: don't know, don't know, and don't know. Without knowing these answers, it's amazing I find my way to work every day! Okay, so what are your answers? 

I'm asking the question again, because you repeatedly say that you make sense of the questions above. Please demonstrate making sense of them. 
We are here because a self-existent Being chose to create us for His pleasure and purposes. Those purposes were to know and enjoy Him forever but He gave us, His creatures, a will to choose.

When you start with God you find answers that make sense. Sense comes from an ultimate rational Being. We are not such beings. We are limited in our knowledge and scope. We know what is good because an all-knowing Being has revealed what is good and His nature reflects what is good. We have the best to reference good and evil against. What we witness in creation reflects His being and goodness. We understand being coming from necessary being and all we ever witness is beings come from other beings. We have a foundation for knowledge, wisdom, and love, not an empty void of nothingness. We witness life coming from the living and we, as Christians, understand that our lives originate from a necessary living Being. We, as Christians, understand that the created order, the universe, owes its existence to a transcendent Being. Thus, time is in our realm, the physical realm, for it had a beginning. Science pointed in so many ways to a beginning.   

My starting point - God - makes sense of morality. God would have an objective mindset, knowing all things. Relative human beings do not. 
This is not 'making sense' of morality. This is assigning credit for morality to god. That doesn't make sense of it at all.
Yes, it does. From an ultimate necessary Being, we as limited relative, changing creatures have what is needed to make sense of morality. Morality is a mindful process yet neither your mind nor my mind is necessary or sufficient to establish what is good. In an amoral, mindless universe why do such things matter? They don't, yet you as a mindful being seek meaning and want to make things matter, for what ultimate reason? They are none without God. Meaning and justice are related. In a universe devoid of God what does what Hitler did matter? In the long term, nothing matters and what Hitler did is not answered for by justice. So why do you care what someone else does if he/she can get away with it? What does it matter if he/she can get away with it? And why do you continually seek meaning in a meaningless universe? Is that not insane? You are making up something that you have no ultimate standard for - good - and if my "good" oppose your "good" then who is right? There is no such thing as rightness, there is only a preference, so how can you say what Hilter did was wrong? It was just his preference. Some people love their enemies and some people like to kill them. What is your preference?  

Morality is relative and subjective, this is clearly how the world works.
How does that clearly work and how is it logical? For instance, Nation A believes abortion is wrong, except when not having one will result in the death of both the woman and unborn. Nation B believes abortion is right and permits abortion for any reason. Clearly both these positions cannot both be true since they are the antithesis of the other. Now the question becomes, in a relative subjective world of morality why is your position and BETTER than mine. You are probably pro-choice and I am pro-life. So, how can you determine which position is indeed "right?" You do not have the means. Your worldview is bankrupt of determining right. All you can do, without a necessary being who has revealed the right, is voice your preference. And to enact your preference you must use might makes right instead of right makes might.

Your entire system of thinking does not have what is necessary to make sense of morality as anything other than preference enforced by might. There is nothing right or good about that UNLESS it conforms to a fixed standard of righteousness that your worldview lacks the ability to manufacture. 

It's not the same today as it was however many hundreds of years ago this book was published. You saying "You don't rape anyone because unbeknonst to you, God wrote on your heart! You know it's wrong!" doesn't explain the massive number of self professed Christians who DO rape people. Did god forget to scribble it down for them too? This is going to get more difficult, I'm afraid:
Any "professing" Christian who rapes a woman shows they do not know God's good decrees. Many professing Christians show they do not have the love of God in their hearts by their actions. Jesus said to His disciples that they would recognize them by their fruit. A good tree does not bear bad fruit and visa versa.  
 


No, he was not. Show me how that was God's purpose. He went against God's purpose. He chose to do things his way. He placed himself above God's good counsel
Well...then was God completely surprised by these two and their behavior?
How could an all-knowing being be surprised? That does not make sense. 
It is a rhetorical question. Of course, God is not surprised. 


Didn't he know they'd do this when he made them?
Again, transcending time means He sees the past present and future before Him. They have a will in which they choose evil. Evil is living and acting outside God's counsel and will. 
I'm confused. In these back to back posts, you're responding to my pointing out that god made Epstien and Weinstein to do exactly what they did, act like monsters.
This is where you are confused. God did not make them do exactly what they did. They chose to do what they did. Their sinful preference was to do exactly the opposite of what God said to do. You are inventing, twisting, and convoluting the context.  

You took offense to this, saying they were going against god's purpose, not with it. But in the bolded, you make clear, god cannot be surprised and sees the past, present and future. This means they don't really have free will, because that would make god surprised by their behavior.
I'm finding your logic here abysmal. How can an omniscient being be surprised by anything? He knows all things? Does He make you do His will? He gives you your own will to choose and lets you know that eventually you will be held accountable for the things you do that are wrong. If God did not give you some leniency you would be a robot, but clearly that is not what the Bible teaches. 

You keep smuggling in this element of God being surprised. You also bring in this element that if God knows all things then we are not free to do our own thing, make our own choices. But God's permissive and God's sovereign will are different. God may allow things that are wrong for a season or time (permits it for a time). He allows it for His purposes. That is why we witness evil. We witness it and see it in ourselves because God is allowing it for a purpose, so that good may come from it. When I look at the evil in myself and the world and try to live what I understand as "good" apart from God I witness more evil. Thus, evil will either bring me closer to God or drive me away from God. It brings me closer when I realize that I am accountable to God and His justice. I must answer for the evil I have committed and do not have the means to be held guiltless in and of my own merit or ability. Thus, I look to Him and find that ability in what Someone else has done. That is the "Goodnews" that God is conveying to us. It says that we can find peace with God through the merit of Another - Jesus Christ. By believing (choice) in Him - Jesus - I am reconciled to God and find the peace that transcends understanding. 

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@Stephen
make sense of existence and life's most important questions. 

And what are life's most important questions?



They are, Stephen,

1) What are we?
Why is that an important question?
There are many reasons but I will give you one. If we are creatures created by the biblical God then we have an obligation to live according to His will since He knows best and we will be held accountable since He is just and good. 


(2) Who am I?
I don't see that as an important question.
Who you are as a being determines how you respond to things. 

3) Why am I here?

Why is that important?
Is there a reason I exist or am I just a chance happenstance and there is no intent behind my existence? If there is no reason then what does it matter how I live my life? If my life means something and I will be held accountable then it matters much. 

4) What difference does it make?

That is your best question so far and the answer from my stand point is that it makes no difference whatsoever.
Then your philosophy may not reflect such a belief. If it makes no difference the eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die, thus, do whatever you can get away with. 


5) How can I be sure or what is necessary for surety?

That makes no sense to me at all. Sure of what?


6) What happens to me when I physically die.

That question is not important to me and neither should it be to you. 



How you or I answer these is how you or I will live your or my life IF you or I am being consistent to what we state and not lying to yourself or myself.

Life changes all the time as do opinions and beliefs.
Then you should not be able to have a surety. If you do on matters then it tells me that your worldview is inconsistent with its foundational starting points or core presuppositions. Thus, how do you justify it? 

What is more, you witness a uniformity in nature - things remain the same. In a chance happenstance universe, devoid of intent, why do you think that is the case? Why is the universe sustained and maintained on such a lack of principles of blind indifferent chance happenstance? No reason, but you believe it can sustain itself via such a foolish worldview that owns its being to what? What? Such a worldview that does not start with being is devoid of intentionality. And you roll the proverbial dice every day as to whether things will be the same today as yesterday. Your approach is different and inconsistent with your core beliefs. So, if you want to be irrational about such things it is your business. It speaks volumes to the sense of such a worldview.  

Now you tell me. Why did your god create anything, at all,  in the first place?
For His pleasure and purpose. He wanted to create creatures who could choose to love and know Him, or not.
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@Salixes
you carry a constant theme of attacking the Christian worldview

And you being very deceptive again and making it sound like I have it in for Christians just for the heck of it.
Your record of threads speaks for itself.

You know damned well that I have specifically attacked the systematic bigotry, vilification and incitement of hatred by Christians. I have completely backed up and justified my assertion. You, nor anyone else on this forum has denied such and my assertion stands.
Your assertions are largely justified by bias sources. 

Christians believe God's Word as true. Unbelievers do not.
That statement is hollow, meaningless and displays a total arrogance that everybody should obey the "words" of your imaginary friend.
It is hollow for you. What is your highest authority of appeal? Is it yourself? Is what you believe what makes something true? Which subjective, relative human being do you point to as having the answers to life's most ultimate questions?

The Bible is that kind of roadmap.
I believe what the Bible teaches
The Bible teaches bigotry, hatred, fear, jealousy violence extreme sexism, gratuitous killing.
It deals with a culture that is somewhat different from ours today but it teaches the Golden Rule, love and what that means as well as going the extra mile for others. Yes, there are all of those negative qualities present because of what sinful human beings do.   

And if you believe what the Bible teaches then you are a bigoted, sexist hate-filled, anti-social who has no place in decent civilized modern society
What you are doing could also be construed as the very thing you loathe in those qualities listed.
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