(November 14, 2013 at 11:16 pm)ChadWooters Wrote:(November 14, 2013 at 9:13 pm)Ryantology Wrote: Well, Professor Smartass...I rather like that. Afterall, I always say "if the shoe fits, wear it."
(November 14, 2013 at 9:13 pm)Ryantology Wrote: ...explain why personal threats and promises of rewards are all over the Bible ...What you interpret as threats are really warnings and consequences. As in, if you play with fire you will get burned. And if you follow the straight and narrow path, you will reach your destination. When you defy Divine Wisdom and ignore Divine Truth bad things happen. The irony is that when you seek reward and behave in order to avoid punishment, you deceive yourself about what it means to be good. You see falsities as truths and evils as goods.
Woah woah... Is God in charge or isn't he? Does he set the rules or doesn't he?
The dire consequences of sin are not some unavoidable pre-existing circumstance which God's powerless to alter (being only able to offer suggestions as to how we can avoid such a fate), they are punishments ACTIVELY IMPOSED BY GOD. He is offering to "save" us from his own wrath, not our own depredations.
It's roughly analogous to a mugger sticking a gun in your face and saying "Quickly! Give me your phone and wallet, that I might SAVE you from being shot in the face!" Then, after you hand over the goods, saying "Behold! In my mercy, I have DELIVERED you from being shot in the face! PRAISE ME!"
