Book of Acts: Pure Fantasy

[DeistPaladin]

So, if I understand your argument correct, if you affirm that miracles are possible, the conversation is over.

I guess you missed the all caps "MERE MORTALS" part. Here's the paragraph again:

It goes beyond asserting that Yahweh, Jesus, angels and demons can perform miracles or work magic. Mere mortals can do the same with just enough faith.

So I trust you understand now. Do you believe that mortals can work magic?

Your evidence that miracles are ridiculous is that we do not see any miracles happening today.

...or any evidence that they ever happened at all at any time.

Well, first of all, there are many reports all over the world and throughout history of miracles occuring, supernatural healings and the like, and encounters with angels.

You just lost 30 credibility points. You're not off to a good start.

Second, it is simply fallacious to say that because you do not see any miracles today, that they couldn't have happened in the past.

I've asked you to explain WHY miracles happened like crazy back then but it's all quiet today.

Your justification for this belief seems to be that because God openly revealed Himself at that time, that He should be doing so today. This just doesn't follow. First, there was no such thing as universal communication at that time. His miracles were not witnessed by so many, and were limited to a small area. So, although He was acting openly, it was not to the entire world, but in general, only to the israelites.

I don't understand this justification at all. Why does a megalomaniacal attention-hungry god of the Bible suddenly want to hide his power? You treat this as if it's a given but actually this is a paradox that needs to be explained.

God could also have good reasons for not openly revealing His existence to the world. I would say, as you mentioned, that it is a free will issue.

A god who punishes unbelief with eternal torture can't be considered one that values "free will" much.

Obviously, God could reveal Himself to the world at any time. That He does not do so is to offer His creatures the free will to choose for or against Him without undue coercion.

Without coercion? Without coercion? I'm channeling Hitchens here. Did you really write "without undue coercion"? A religion that threatens non-belief with eternal torture isn't coercion? A religion that intrudes in all areas of life, from schools to the law isn't coercion?

This does not imply that He does not act today with supernatural intervention. As I mentioned earlier, there are millions of reports of this kind of intervention, which I am fairly sure you will dismiss out of hand.

Correct. Cough up hard evidence (not just testimony) or it's summarily dismissed as bullshit.

The point is though, with the universal and instananeous communication that we have, which could provide indisputable proof to the world that He exists, when He intervenes supernaturally it must be in ways that could not provide that sort of proof to the world.

A god that performed all manner of overt miracles in the Bible is suddenly concerned about being subtle? EXPLAIN THIS PARADOX!

As a deist, I also don't see how you can rule out supernatural intervention. Perhaps you can explain how supernatural intervention is incompatible with your deist beliefs?

My "deist beliefs" are limited to the sense of awe about the natural universe, the perception that it is a grand machine, and thus there is some sort of mysterious mind behind it, "God" for lack of a better word. God could hypothetically supernaturally intervene but MERE MORTALS CAN'T.

You use the term ECREE, yet do you have any extraordinary evidence for a deist God supernaturally creating the Universe? If not, then why do you demand it for other supernatural claims?

The Big Bang is a moment of Creation of the universe as we currently know it, whatever may have existed before that. There is a chasm of difference between speculating about whether or not there was a mind behind this event and claiming MERE MORTALS can work sorcery.