(July 29, 2015 at 3:46 pm)lkingpinl Wrote: Godschild, what I'm saying is you need to be careful of your wording. You state you are 100% certain of knowing something that is not empirically verifiable. I think it safer to say you are 100% CONFIDENT in his existence, but that is different than KNOWING. I too am confident that the God of the Bible is real and have seen the evidence in history, morality, the universe and in my life and in others in order to be persuaded enough to have faith in Him. But I cannot make that statement that I KNOW, because to know something requires "special knowledge". Knowledge comes from the greek "gnosis" meaning experiential knowledge or applied knowledge in personal experiences. In modern times, "knowledge" needs to be testable, empirically verifiable. Personal knowledge is not verifiable, so when you say you "know" something with 100% certainty, people will want proof. But you cannot prove to others using personal experiences as evidence.
I said 100% knowing and that's what I mean, I'm sorry if you haven't come far enough along to understand that one can know. God doesn't work with empirical proof, He works through a personal relationship. I do not need to prove to anyone that God's real, I couldn't even do it for myself, that's God's work and I've allowed Him to work in my life to prove He's real. So you can quit saying I am mistaken, it's you who have mistaken what the world demands and what God will do. You speak of experiential knowledge, that's exactly how I know because I have a living relationship with God this is in all reality experiential. I do not and have never used my personal relationship as proof to the world, I'm not stupid I know what is worldly proof, as I said earlier it's God who brings the proof you have to want it and that takes dedication.
GC
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
