Benevolent Creator God?

[Ahriman]

You just made up a prophet, who says "use bears to attack children", I don't know of any such prophet, besides the one you made up.

You’ll find the story in 2 Kings 2:23-25. The prophet in question is Elisha. He’s mentioned in both testaments. He was reputed to be so all-fired holy that just touching his bones restored a dead man to life. Now, I’ll ask again:

Is it your contention that since a prophet, clearly beloved of God, sent bears to rip apart 42 youngsters, that this is part of God’s vision of how I should live?

Boru

I didn't know that part of the Bible. In this case, I would have to say Elisha is a false prophet.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

You’ll find the story in 2 Kings 2:23-25. The prophet in question is Elisha. He’s mentioned in both testaments. He was reputed to be so all-fired holy that just touching his bones restored a dead man to life. Now, I’ll ask again:

Is it your contention that since a prophet, clearly beloved of God, sent bears to rip apart 42 youngsters, that this is part of God’s vision of how I should live?

Boru

I didn't know that part of the Bible. In this case, I would have to say Elisha is a false prophet.

I see. You feel free to reject those parts of the Bible that make you uncomfortable. That’s a VERY hopeful sign. I mean, it makes you a steaming great hypocrite, but it’s still hopeful.

Boru

[Ahriman]

I didn't know that part of the Bible. In this case, I would have to say Elisha is a false prophet.

I see. You feel free to reject those parts of the Bible that make you uncomfortable. That’s a VERY hopeful sign. I mean, it makes you a steaming great hypocrite, but it’s still hopeful.

Boru

I'll be a hypocrite if I want. I refuse to believe God would encourage something nasty.

[arewethereyet]

I see. You feel free to reject those parts of the Bible that make you uncomfortable. That’s a VERY hopeful sign. I mean, it makes you a steaming great hypocrite, but it’s still hopeful.

Boru

I'll be a hypocrite if I want. I refuse to believe God would encourage something nasty.

So, where god is concerned, you pick and choose your beliefs. That's handy.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I see. You feel free to reject those parts of the Bible that make you uncomfortable. That’s a VERY hopeful sign. I mean, it makes you a steaming great hypocrite, but it’s still hopeful.

Boru

I'll be a hypocrite if I want. I refuse to believe God would encourage something nasty.

And yet God loved and cherished Elisha, gave him the power to work miracles. Why would God do this for a false prophet?

Boru

[Ahriman]

I'll be a hypocrite if I want. I refuse to believe God would encourage something nasty.

And yet God loved and cherished Elisha, gave him the power to work miracles. Why would God do this for a false prophet?

Boru

I'm sure you're familiar with the "Good cop, Bad cop" premise, right?

[Mister Agenda]

And the additional additional assumption that revelation is the only way a benevolent ominpotent being can order the universe the way they want. I'm willing to venture out on the limb of accepting that the reality we can observe is actually real, and in that reality natural causes easily account for maternal instincts. All of those arguments from literature are fatally flawed, logically speaking.

As I just explained to @Astreja above, the label "natural causes" as opposed to supernatural cause is a very slippery one. WE ALL KNOW that natural causes can account for materinal instincts, that still doesn't preclude a supernatural intent behind the whole natural process.

You are correct, natural explanations being able to account for maternal instincts doesn't preclude a supernatural intent behind the whole natural process; but it does render supernatural intent superfluous to requirements.

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Atheism is a subset of Communism. 

No, it isn't. Atheism is way older than Communism nor is one a requirement of the other.

 Atheism is the official belief of all Communist regimes.

Irrelevant You can't kill anyone in the name of Atheism. Hell simply saying Atheism is the belief of a group is nonsensical.

  It is why Communist regimes have closed churches and murdered thousands of clergy.

Yup in the name of authoritarianism, not atheism. You can't kill anyone for atheism. The very idea is absurd.

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Atheism has No doctrines, No ideals, No dogmas, No ideologies, No compulsions, And nothing to kill or die for. It is the rejection of one unsupported claim. Anything else is the fault of something else.

And neither does mere theism, which is merely the state of mind of believing at least one god or God is really real. You have to add a religion to get actionable motives.

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God sent prophets so that His message could, potentially, be doubted.......He didn't want adherence to His message to be something everyone would agree with, because then everyone would have the same thoughts, and everyone would be a robot.

Like when we all accepted that the earth orbits the sun, or any of thousands of scientific facts, it made us robots? Pro tip: It's okay for eveyone to believe the same thing when it's actually true.

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God isn't trying to prove His existence, because He knows that would be impossible.

Interesting. Tell me more about what God is unable to do.

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You’ll find the story in 2 Kings 2:23-25. The prophet in question is Elisha. He’s mentioned in both testaments. He was reputed to be so all-fired holy that just touching his bones restored a dead man to life. Now, I’ll ask again:

Is it your contention that since a prophet, clearly beloved of God, sent bears to rip apart 42 youngsters, that this is part of God’s vision of how I should live?

Boru

I didn't know that part of the Bible. In this case, I would have to say Elisha is a false prophet.

So much about the Bible being the word of God. Have you considered reading it? I'm reading it for the 3rd time, the public domain Catholic version this time. I just finished Nehemiah. The first two times I read the Bible I found it distressing, now I find it hilarious.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

And yet God loved and cherished Elisha, gave him the power to work miracles. Why would God do this for a false prophet?

Boru

I'm sure you're familiar with the "Good cop, Bad cop" premise, right?

Intimately. But what’s that got to do with this?

Boru

[Ahriman]

I'm sure you're familiar with the "Good cop, Bad cop" premise, right?

Intimately. But what’s that got to do with this?

Boru

God likes to set up opposing factions, and have them play off each other, in order to let people choose what they want. In this case, people are being given a choice as to which prophet(s) to follow.

[Mister Agenda]

Um, the Bible isn't actually presented as multiple choice: Christians are supposed to follow ALL the prophets, Jesus, his Disciples in Good Standing, and Paul. Maybe you should be talking to your priest instead of us.