The trinity

[Epimethean]

Uh, no, but keep drinking the koolaid.

[Tobie]

The bible is the best textbook bullseye for criticism ever written.

If it weren't then all would be forced to believe. Which kinda defeats the purpose of the choice we are to make in this life.

So the bible's mostly shit because god doesn't want us to believe without any thought, yet condemns us if we don't believe because the bible is so shitty? You really believe that this petty schizoid maniac is your supreme being?

[Drich]

If there were no room for doubt, then how could faith exist? If their were no doubt then belief would be a matter or the result of a work. Thus spawing a legalistic form of worship where your salvation is based completely on your ablity to comperhend all that God has provided. In short only some of the 'smart' people would be able to goto heaven simply because they were given the ablity to reason it out.

As it is all one needs to find God is the faith the size of a mustard seed, and God will take that person by the hand and heart, show him/her what they need to see inorder to foster and maintain belief for the sum total of their lives. Making salvation a gift from God to all of those who believe.

[Epimethean]

If your god were worth his fish sauce, free will wouldn't be necessary at all. It is fun to see you get after the propaganda for the omnimpotent sky daddy, however.

[Reforged]

Theres a problem here.
"Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. (John 10:36-38)"
Gods son. Not part of God, not a member of God. Gods son. He refers to God as a seperate entity, a being. God is refered in this way in many, many passages. Now if you were trying to argue that God and Jesus were seperate entities and the whole Trinity thing was some type of symbolism you might be able to get away with that. The fact of the matter is theres no evidence in the Bible that God is some type of divine organization. At almost every turn it is refered to as a singular being. Unless you were willing to refute these passages, which would make up quite a sizable chunk of the Bible, you cannot claim this to be anything other than your unproven theory on your unproven beliefs.

Answered in verse 30. You guys love to pick and choose the bible apart and have made very compelling arguments in the tiny little corners of the bible you focus on. However your arguments come completely unraveled when placed in context. Try reading your passages in a context that include verse 30.

They're not "little corners" you patronising, grossly misinformed little man. The references to God as a singular individual undeniably make up the bulk of the Bible.
John 10:30, New International Version "I and the Father are one."
Explain the evidence you drew upon to translate this into "I and the Father are in a special organization called God" as opposed to some type of poetic symbolism.

[YahwehIsTheWay]

Explain the evidence you drew upon to translate this into "I and the Father are in a special organization called God" as opposed to some type of poetic symbolism.

The ad hoc hypothesis is definitely one of our favorite fallacies to employ, to paraphrase your signature epigraph.

When you make up one to explain away contrary evidence of come up with a more palatable theology, you don't need any evidence. You're just making shit up.

[Epimethean]

And you can't spell "shit" without sh, so the bible gets to be the greatest secret ever!

[Reforged]

Explain the evidence you drew upon to translate this into "I and the Father are in a special organization called God" as opposed to some type of poetic symbolism.

The ad hoc hypothesis is definitely one of our favorite fallacies to employ, to paraphrase your signature epigraph.

When you make up one to explain away contrary evidence of come up with a more palatable theology, you don't need any evidence. You're just making shit up.

*I'm* making shit up now am I? I'm just quoting a common interpretation of that passage. The fact of the matter is there is no indication in the Bible at any point that "God" is a divine organization as opposed to a singular being or a Trinity. If you don't consider conjuring up that unfounded explaination to be "making shit up" then you've got a very skewed perspective on what that is.
Third Best Christian? Is that meant to be ironic? What happened to the First and the Second? They couldn't make it because they're both in brain dead comas?

[YahwehIsTheWay]

The ad hoc hypothesis is definitely one of our favorite fallacies to employ, to paraphrase your signature epigraph.

When you make up one to explain away contrary evidence of come up with a more palatable theology, you don't need any evidence. You're just making shit up.

*I'm* making shit up now am I? I'm just quoting a common interpretation of that passage. The fact of the matter is there is no indication in the Bible at any point that "God" is a divine organization as opposed to a singular being or a Trinity. If you don't consider conjuring up that unfounded explaination to be "making shit up" then you've got a very skewed perspective on what that is.
Third Best Christian? Is that meant to be ironic? What happened to the First and the Second? They couldn't make it because they're both in brain dead comas?

Sorry, I wasn't clear. When I said "you're", I was speaking as in "when you do this (use the ad hoc as a believer) you're just..." See also my link for further explanation.

I should have said "we're". Again, sorry for the confusion.

And to answer, Mrs. Betty Bowers is America's Best Christian ™. Pastor Deacon Fred is 2nd. I'm vying for third place. I can't compete with them.

[Epimethean]

The best christians always have good inferiority complexes.