Divine Inspiration

[Darkstar]

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The Hebrew people were wards of the state, meaning they were not citizens of eygpt, and yet they were provided for by egypt. as a result they were made to work for their status. Kind of a working welfare, and not nessiarily a slaves.

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If they weren't really slaves, then why did god send terrible plagues in order to free them?

Is that really what you think atheists do, drink and whore their time away?

That's what I did with my time as an atheist yes.

It annoys me when some people can't handle not having a big brother watching thm, so they assume that everyone else is like that. On the contrary, god will forgive you for almost anything if you just ask, whereas atheists can't find closure so easily. The short film (posted somewhere on this forum) called "Jesus: Madman or Worse" brings up the fact that being forgiven by god can serve as a replacement to forgiveness from the person you actualy wronged. If you didn't wrong anyone, then there is no need to ask for forgiveness (though many things that hurt no one are still called 'sins')

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and 2. You picked the religion that offered the best reward, in your opinion?

Eternal life is not the reward. we do not know what the reward is, outside of being with God. Honestly the muslim reward sounds a bit more self indulging.. Unless you were one of the 70 virgins offered to someone else.

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I'm not saying that you are selfish or self-indulging. What I am saying is that you prefer to be with god over self-indulgence, so, from what I understand, this drove you to christianity, despite the fact that it actually has no bearing on the validity of the religion itself.

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But if I already don't believe, then my worship will be meaningless, so he won't reveal himself, so...kinda locked the keys in the car, huh?

All it takes to get them out is the smallest amount of faith. Christ compared this faith to the size of a mustard seed. If you can come up with this minimal effort then God will move the mountains of doubt that obstruct your belief.

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I believe that this discussion has already been had earlier (maybe not on this thread). The general conclusion was that 20+ years of religion, and training + a desire to be a pastor weren't worth a mustard seed of faith.

It means God does not need for us to live out a life span to know who will choose Him. He knew what we would choose before we were created. Therefore our lives are for us to know what we would choose.

Well, if god already knows who will 'choose' him, then are you saying that god refuses to reveal himself to people who wouldn't follow anyway? Then what about all of the theistic satanists?

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again if our lives are for us to know where our hearts want to spend eternity. (With God or eternally seperated from Him.) If were privy to God's presents without doubt without question. then this life would be dedicated to saving yourself from Hell. and when God will Make His final judgement, you would not know if your sentence to Hell would be justified or not. Because you would have earnestly spent your time doing everything you could to save yourself. In otherwords you would not be easily able to seperate self preservation from True Love for God. (which is the goal of this life and the next.)

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By your first sentence, you suggest that god could simply save those who would be faithful if they believed. Perhaps I interpreted you wrong, but it would make the most sense to do it that way, if he won't reveal himself to everyone.

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As it is now God's glory is hidden from us unless we A/S/K for it. allowing those who do not want to be apart of God's plan for eternity the freedom to let their hearts desire mature. So when the final judgement is levied then for the hater of God or the one who just "can not live with an immoral God" they will know without doubt where they stand.

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Here's the problem: you assume that god must exist. If someone takes a more neutral stance and A/S/Ks for 20 years and finds nothing, then why is it unreasonable to assume that god does not exist? Those who are desperate to believe will see what they want to, the unbiased will end up not believeing.

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In my "Dream/vision" I stood before Christ and was judged, and all of my 'feelings' for God were made appearent, and then was shown where i should have been. Yes I begged and pleaded for my life and asked for another chance, but in the end when I was cast into the pit I knew I belonged there. (subsequently I also learned what gnashing of teeth was and why that is a scarry/bad thing.)

This life is for us, so we are not left in Hell to wonder for an eternity.

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How valid is a dream as a sign from god? How about this:http://atheistforums.org/thread-12234.ht...+in+heaven

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In short the story of Noah's Ark is not one of the logistics behind the effort of one man and his family undertook to save the planet and the wildlife from an evil this world has not seen since. the story of Noah's Ark is about the amount of faith one man has and the lengths he would go to serve his God. Which makes the efforts of saving the world from the comming flood an act of God, not the works of man. If the story becomes an act of God then this story is no more 'unbelieveable' than any other found in the bible.

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Exactly, it is no less unbelieveable than anything else in the bible. I know that the story isn't about the logistics, but if the logistics fail, then the story is only a metaphor. The story never said that god gave any aid to Noah other than advance warning, so while the flood was an act of god, the ark and animal collecting were not.

Oh, and about evolution. It cancels creation because it implies a common ancestor, whereas creation says god made many different animals at the same time in their fully evolved (as to 3000 years ago)forms. (You can ignore this last part if you really want to...)