tack Wrote:You don't have to convince me of anything. My opinion of your acceptance of Christ has no bearing on your personal salvation.At least you admit that. Most Christians insist they know the will of their deity..and you would NEVER go that far.
tack Wrote:As far as acceptance and relationship. I'll further your comparison to a gift. If I give you a gift for your birthday do you haveto open it? No. Can you claim it's actually your gift without accepting it from me? Not really. I can offer gifts to you all day long and you doin't have to open or use any of them. It's not your gift though until you can accept it. You could accept it take it from my hands and throw it in the trash, if you like. It's yours and once you accept it you can do with it what you like.Will you please stop comparing "gift of forgiveness" with "Material gift". Do you honestly think that forgiveness is something you wrap up and hand to someone? Come on Tack, I have read your posts, you are pretty smart about things. So if I dont accept your forgiveness...then what? You no longer forgive me?
Then I deduce that you never really forgave me in the first place.
tack Wrote:Fear of punishment (how would you fear nothing?), long for reward(no one knows what awaits absolutlely, so why bother wishing?) or any form of applied force isn't how or why I worship, nor do I advocate. You're right though, those that teach that those things matter are using coersion. I however don't think that it's a blanket involuntary coersion which is in your definition. I don't think anyone is forcing you to go to church to accept Jesus, and if they are they're wrong in my book. It's most certainly not blackmail. People may feel it is because they were hellfired & brimstoned out of the church, but really what would an all powerful omnipotent being really need from us?Tack, my understanding of the bible says that Hell is eternal punishment in flames. You are trying to say the punishment is nothing and expecting me to see it from your personal point of view. Hell is very much an eternal flaming lake of fire no matter how much you try to convince me otherwise. I have told you this several times yet you still insist that it isnt.
tack Wrote:As far as absurdism, I claim 0 knowledge of absurdism or it's adherents, it was a baseless assertion and a poor joke.Thats okay..I figured as much..besides, anytime I can plug it is fine with me.
tack Wrote:As far as your claim of acceptance, if you claim it's been offered and you accepted it, doesn't that imply that you believe Jesus exists, has a deistic role and has the power to offer forgiveness? Wouldn't that make you a theist? As you've not changed your claim of atheism I doubt you could actually support your logical acceptance genuinely.Then please explain to me how you can ask and accept forgiveness from a fictional character named Jesus?
When you answer that, then you will know my answer as well.
P.S. - what does acceptance have to do with logic..as in "logical acceptance"? Can I not accept something that is also illogical?