I don't care about bible contradictions.

[Drich]

No. God gives answers based on our ablity to comprehend. As our comprehension matures so too does our responsibility and understanding.

This is also true with you, unless you just like being an A-hole to small children.

The problem is we like to fancy ourselves as well learned adults, when in fact most of us view the world as a child would. It is only when we humble ourselves before God and approach Him as Small Children does our ablity to comprehend Him and the things of this world increase.

Not a good analogy.  Let take a good child/parent topic like where do do babies come from?  Parents may have a fable like the stork or under cabbage leaves but the problem is really parental discomfort not the child's ability to understand.  Wiser parents may tell some but not all of the truth beginning with things like they grow in mommy's tummy and adding details as the child grows. 

But god appears to tell people absolutely opposing things.  It's not a growing understanding, it's telling one person that his homosexuality is god's plan for him and that it's perfectly fine for him to marry his boyfriend, and telling another person that homosexuality is the worst of all sins ever under any circumstances.  One of these persons is not talking to the same god.  Their ability to comprehend has nothing to do with it.  The truth of the matter is that people who consult god usually find that god agrees with them.

[The Grand Nudger]

Actually verification can be determined through what was written about thor and how he interacted with the midgaurd and it's inhabitants. if the two accounts do not line up then the expirence no matter how genuine is not with the thor of ledgend.

-and of course people both past and present believe precisely this, and answer in the affirmative...that their experiencses line up..just as you believe precisely this, and answer in the affirmative..regarding -your- god and -your- experiences.

You're both being ridiculous, but at least the Asatruar is less offensive while he's at it.  After all, do we see that guy spending any time spinning little lies about himself and his god these past few years on the boards? No, we do not....and yet you persist.......

[Longhorn]

No, no, no. I'm not asking how does one believe anything about god, I'm asking how does one know. Disappointed again.

The truth is, Drich, you don't know. You may believe a ton of stuff about god. You may imagine a ton of stuff about god. You may think a ton of stuff about god. But you don't know. Because by definition, faith is not knowing. Because there's nothing to know. No substance. Nothing real. You can stretch, interpret, ask and seek and knock. But you will never know. If there was something to know, all you would have to do is acknowledge it. But you need to go through all of this trouble, with a/s/king, interpreting and personal revelations.....because you don't know.

Nobody ever did. They just made shit up. That's what faith is: not knowing the answer to an uncomfortable question and making one up that makes you feel better.

To see the day a theist admits to that....sigh.

[Drich]

Not a good analogy.  Let take a good child/parent topic like where do do babies come from?  Parents may have a fable like the stork or under cabbage leaves but the problem is really parental discomfort not the child's ability to understand.  Wiser parents may tell some but not all of the truth beginning with things like they grow in mommy's tummy and adding details as the child grows. 

What you have found is an exception to a given rule. (meaning you found an instance where someone lies to a child rather than speaking the truth, but on a simpler level..)
Your exception does not invalidate my analogy, because everyone even if they lie to a child does not give a child the same explaination as they would an adult with a sound mind.

But god appears to tell people absolutely opposing things. 

I think you are confusing what God says with what people say.

It's not a growing understanding, it's telling one person that his homosexuality is god's plan for him and that it's perfectly fine for him to marry his boyfriend, and telling another person that homosexuality is the worst of all sins ever under any circumstances. One of these persons is not talking to the same god.  Their ability to comprehend has nothing to do with it.  The truth of the matter is that people who consult god usually find that god agrees with them.

That's the thing neither are true. Homosexuality is a sex based sin. No different than anyother sexed based sin. God only allows one pretext in which sex is not a sin and that is through a sanctified marriage. Marriage by god is defined between man and woman. that's it.

Anything added or taken from that is a work of man and his religion, and is not of God.

[The Grand Nudger]

I've been trying to explain that last bit to christians for quite some time, Drich.........doesn't seem to take. I think you're about to see that aspect of the faith change, and leave you on the wrong side of history. You'll be a heretic......isn't that exciting?

[Jenny A]

I think you are confusing what God says with what people say.

And how do we tell the two apart?  Because that is the point.  There's nothing to choose between Islam and Jesus.  Both have people who "know" and neither has anything but people who "know."

It's not a growing understanding, it's telling one person that his homosexuality is god's plan for him and that it's perfectly fine for him to marry his boyfriend, and telling another person that homosexuality is the worst of all sins ever under any circumstances. One of these persons is not talking to the same god.  Their ability to comprehend has nothing to do with it.  The truth of the matter is that people who consult god usually find that god agrees with them.

That's the thing neither are true. Homosexuality is a sex based sin. No different than anyother sexed based sin. God only allows one pretext in which sex is not a sin and that is through a sanctified marriage. Marriage by god is defined between man and woman. that's it.

Anything added or taken from that is a work of man and his religion, and is not of God.

You report one thing the homosexual Christian reports another.  How would I choose between you?

[Drich]

Maybe, just maybe Drich, your world has been distorted in your early years? No going back now you have built your belief on those stories you clung to as though they were oh so real as your parents lovingly told you them as you fell asleep..

The stories I heard as a child didn't have anything to do with Jesus. they had to do with how hard life was for both parents coming up, and how lucky I was. I did not start learning about Christianity till I was in my 20s.

While your parents were filling your tender innocent mind with tales of Jesus saving mankind, across the world, other parents were pushing the virtues of Mohammad into their childrens heads because that is all they knew. It's all down to luck of the draw Drich, it's all down to where/when/who you were born to that dictates what stories you believe.

we are not born into religions sport. Minnie and all of his favorite stories about how the church is supposedly dying out because this next generation is wanting to live without god proves that.

Like wise me being born to a Buddhist mother by your logic says I should be Buddhist. Even when she converted to Christianity I did not want anything to do with church as it just mucked up a sunday for me.

You got Jesus, congratulations. Iqbal, who shares the very same birthday as you but born in the backwaters of Yemen was fed the stories of the Qur'an since before he can remember.

Your belief is nothing more than a rag-tag bunch of mythical tales that you have,  by chance, been born into. If you want to pretend that some supernatural force has given his message to you personally and then dismiss the claims of billions of followers of another god as false you need to take a long hard look in the mirror.

In a Universe of hundreds of billions of galaxies with billions of stars each, a tiny planet sits there and the inhabitants have invented thousands of gods to explain it all. Yet you still believe because that one story that was handed down to you is the absolute truth.

Fuck it. You deserve your delusion if you don't see the futility of it all. Stick with it Drich, and you GC. Think.

Again, doomas what makes you think I did not come to Christ on my own? that I did not 'think?' Is it just because I do not believe as you do? Do you really think you have all the answers of the known and unknown universe? If no how can you honestly think that you ideas of god are correct? Like it or not sport you like me start our beliefs out on faith, then we seek evidence to support it. I have found what I have been looking for, and you found nothing, which I guess is what you were looking for.

[Drich]

Actually verification can be determined through what was written about thor and how he interacted with the midgaurd and it's inhabitants. if the two accounts do not line up then the expirence no matter how genuine is not with the thor of ledgend.

-and of course people both past and present believe precisely this, and answer in the affirmative...that their experiencses line up..just as you believe precisely this, and answer in the affirmative..regarding -your- god and -your- experiences.

You're both being ridiculous, but at least the Asatruar is less offensive while he's at it.  After all, do we see that guy spending any time spinning little lies about himself and his god these past few years on the boards?  No, we do not....and yet you persist.......

I was answering the argument that one could not verify interaction with a deity. I proved that assertion wrong, by comparing said interaction with the set standard.

Now the difference between what I am saying and what the OP said about thor is, The Holy Spirit has been offered to anyone who A/S/K for Him, and an interaction with thor is a one off experience. Thus allowing each person direct personal access to God, giving everyone one an opportunity to experience what I have.

Your argument seems to not have taken that little tidbit into consideration. I am not unique, a prophet, nor some special case. what I have experienced has been offered to anyone who will simply A/S/K as outline by luke 11.

[Drich]

No, no, no. I'm not asking how does one believe anything about god, I'm asking how does one know. Disappointed again.

The truth is, Drich, you don't know. You may believe a ton of stuff about god. You may imagine a ton of stuff about god. You may think a ton of stuff about god. But you don't know. Because by definition, faith is not knowing. Because there's nothing to know. No substance. Nothing real. You can stretch, interpret, ask and seek and knock. But you will never know. If there was something to know, all you would have to do is acknowledge it. But you need to go through all of this trouble, with a/s/king, interpreting and personal revelations.....because you don't know.

Nobody ever did. They just made shit up. That's what faith is: not knowing the answer to an uncomfortable question and making one up that makes you feel better.

To see the day a theist admits to that....sigh.

Then define what it is to know.

Because if I tell you I am lactose intolerant, then you 'know' that I am lactose intolerant. If God tell me He is the alpha and Omega and shows me what that means exactly, then I 'know' He is the alpha and Omega.

which fits the definition provided by google:
know
nō/
verb
verb: know; 3rd person present: knows; past tense: knew; gerund or present participle: knowing; past participle: known

1. 1.
   be aware of through observation, inquiry, or information.
   "most people know that CFCs can damage the ozone layer"
   synonyms:
   be aware, realize, be conscious, be informed; More
   notice, perceive, see, sense, recognize;
   informalbe clued in, savvy
   "who knows I'm here?"
   
   
   • have knowledge or information concerning.
     "I would write to him if I knew his address"
     synonyms:
     have knowledge of, be informed of, be apprised of;
     formalbe cognizant of
     "I think Mary knows his address"
     
     
   • be absolutely certain or sure about something.
     "I just knew it was something I wanted to do"
     
     
2. 2.
   have developed a relationship with (someone) through meeting and spending time with them; be familiar or friendly with.
   "he knew and respected Laura"
   synonyms:
   be acquainted with, have met, be familiar with; More
   be friends with, be friendly with, be on good terms with, be close to, be intimate with
   "I know only a few people here"
   
   
   • have a good command of (a subject or language).
     synonyms:
     be familiar with, be conversant with, be acquainted with, have knowledge of, be versed in, have mastered, have a grasp of, understand, comprehend; More
     have learned, have memorized, be up to speed on
     "you should know the rules beforehand"
     
     
     
   • recognize (someone or something).
     "Isabel couldn't hear the words clearly, but she knew the voice"
     
     
   • be familiar or acquainted with (something).
     "a little restaurant she knew near Times Square"
     
     
   • have personal experience of (an emotion or situation).
     "a man who had known better times"
     synonyms:
     experience, go through, live through, undergo, taste
     "he had known better times"
     
     
   • regard or perceive as having a specified characteristic.
     "he is also known as an amateur painter"
     
     
   • give (someone or something) a particular name or title.
     "the doctor was universally known as “Hubert.”"
     
     
   • be able to distinguish one person or thing from (another).
     "you are convinced you know your own baby from any other in the world"
     synonyms:
     distinguish, tell (apart), differentiate, discriminate; More
     recognize, pick out, identify
     "my brothers don't know a saucepan from a frying pan"
     

[Drich]

I've been trying to explain that last bit to christians for quite some time, Drich.........doesn't seem to take.

If anyone says anything other than what I have provided about Homosexuality and sexual sin, ask them first if they believe if the bible is the whole and final word of God. if yes then ask them to provide book chapter and verse to support their homosexual/unforgivable sin doctrine. Granted sexual sin is in it's own category but the NT refers to all sexual sin in the same way. So a straight couple having sex out side the confines of a sanctified marriage is the same as a gay couple doing the same. Both are deserving of the same Hell unless they repent of their sin of choice.

I think you're about to see that aspect of the faith change, and leave you on the wrong side of history. You'll be a heretic......isn't that exciting?

I've been a hertic every since I understood what the primary doctrines of the Catholic church are about. I have no issue with that, because it will not be the pope who judges me on that day.