RE: Hostage to fear
July 21, 2015 at 7:24 am
(This post was last modified: July 21, 2015 at 7:31 am by Randy Carson.)
(July 20, 2015 at 9:13 pm)Spacetime Wrote: 1) The bible mentions belief as though it were a choice. I've found that my Christian identity is wholly wrapped up in trying (desperately) to believe, when I simply have not been convinced. A positive affirmation of belief "on" Christ Jesus would be a lie in my case... something that very doctrine prohibits. What I do believe is that I've made tremendous effort in trying to believe, by investigating the faith. Without deconstructing this paragraph, please address this over all point; If belief is a choice and there is evidence that this belief is convincing and rational, why hasn't this evidence rationally convinced me to believe? Especially when I'm not ignorant to it... down to its most specific points.
I've already answered this question. Simply repeating it to me and others again and again accomplishes nothing.
What you're REALLY asking is: "Why hasn't the evidence so completely overwhelmed me that I have no choice but to accept the existence of God?"
Sorry, mate. You have to CHOOSE to follow God; you can't get off with saying, "Well, God didn't force me to believe, so he must not exist."
YOU and YOU ALONE are responsible for your choice. God is blameless.
Quote:2) If scripture says that I can know the difference between good and evil, and I believe that the god of scripture is evil... why should I worship this god?
Just because you have the potential to know the difference it does not follow automatically that you WILL know the difference each and every time. You can be wrong. As you are in this case about God being evil. Sorry, sport.
Quote:3) If scripture is god-breathed and right for teaching, why does it conclude that the Earth is 6,000 years old, which would put the creation of man in the middle of the height of Egyptian pyramid-building?
Just because scripture is God-breathed and useful for instruction, it does not automatically follow that the men chosen by God to write the scriptures were capable of describing a universe that was billions of years old because this information was beyond them. They were NOT mere scribes taking dictation.
Quote:4) Why does god let thousands of toddlers die every day of starvation?
If you are as knowledgeable about these matters as you claim to be, then you already know the answer to your question. You just don't like it.
Quote:5) How do you square the holocaust? If god is all good and powerful, and was everywhere during the holocaust, why did he not intervene?
Free will. You know this. You just don't like it.
Quote:6) I prayed that my boss's niece (6 years old) would not die of cancer... but she did. Was it god that destroyed her family's lives by not answering their prayers or was it because Eve did an evil thing before she knew what evil was?
Neither. God is not obligated to answer every prayer or heal every sickness. This would be short-sighted; God has the long view in mind.
I could continue, but I have to ask: Are you actually seeking answers that you will accept if I provide them? Or are you merely throwing out question after question to demonstrate that you have more objections to Christianity than can ever possibly be answered...and therefore, you are, in your own opinion, justified in rejecting it?
Sorry, but a blizzard of questions doesn't even BEGIN to prove Christianity false. Because once the snow stops falling, the Son appears and His warmth melts all of it.
So, when you are ready to listen, there are answers available.
