What Sacrifice ?

[pocaracas]

[questions]
PS: don't say "free will". Give a proper answer.

Five questions, five answers.

Well, you did your best to avoid the free will argument. Well done!
However.... you opened the next obvious questions...
(I've put my questions right before your answers in the next quote so we can see them better)

If it's that important, why must I believe what you say?

1. Because refusing God will suck later.

How would you know that?

Why can't the guy show itself to all?

2. He does, just not directly. Direct appearances will happen at resurrection, but because of sin, he took that away. Even when Jesus was on earth, he didn't show directly (ok, he did once to 3 of the apostles, but it was not a physical show, but an old fashion vision/dream. Then, on top of that, they didn't understand). Most importantly, he doesn't simply want us to comply, he wants us to desire compliance. God will not violate our freedom to choose.

How would you know that?

Why is it that people in remote parts of the world only came to know about this Jesus/Yahweh thing from previous believers? Why didn't the thing present itself all over the world?

3. You don't need that. The person doesn't even have to have a concept of "God" for salvation. There are "transcendentals" (philosophy, not religion now) that God literally is. These are Beauty, Order, Good, True, and Being/Existence. They don't need to worship God with the words "I worship Jesus" or any of that, but they need "a reverence for God indirectly". So, if one reveres (inward disposition as "higher good") sinlessness (the Good), but doesn't know about the Christian God, as long as any errors they may had are not held on to with pride but changed with humility, they're good to go at resurrection. However, if one is ultimately selfish and has never heard of the Christian God, they are not revering the Good. They require some other reverence (Order, Beauty, Truth, Being).

And how would you know all that?
Why the Jesuits? Why is it that christians (and practically all other religions) want to reach out and let everyone know about this religion?

Why the requirement for human vessels for this knowledge?

4. I'm assuming you mean bodies. If that's not the case, correct me. We get bodies because they are fundamentally good. They allow for physical sensation, thoughts, interaction, and just about everything. Without a body, a soul doesn't do much.

I meant people. Why is it that people have to keep convincing other people about the existence of this divinity?
If only the deity could handle that part...

Why the requirement of belief?

5. "God" is a title, not an actual name, but we use it so because YHWH is all we know. If YHWH is not your God, then you are either distorting the proper relationship (God and worshiper) or denying the relationship altogether. If belief=trust like I said, the relationship will be proper.

I don't see how your reply follows from my question, but ok.... I must be in some sleep deprived state...
YHWH is not my god.... I have no god. Even if there was only one god, the concept of "having a god" shouldn't make any sense.... but humans have different opinions about the divine entities, leading to "having" different gods... clearly a man-made proposition, no?

Finally, I don't know what other term I'm supposed to use for "free will". I mean free will. I mean there is a soul that allows the control of actions and dispositions (although not desires) in human beings.

Well, I think the workings of our brains are deterministic, being heavily based on genetics, upbringing and any information that arrives to them at every moment of our lives. With all the billions of neurons and possible connections between them, we are left with a brain as a very complex machine, which leads to the appearance of what you call "free will", or "soul" as a separate entity from the brain itself.