(November 20, 2013 at 4:35 pm)pocaracas Wrote: Would all of that have happened, had you not believed that a god exists?There is a difference between simple acknoweledgment, and living your life a certain way because you know something to be true.
My 'belief' in God was like the mustard seed Christ talked about. That is all the faith I had in the beginning. a strong wind could have taken it away. So rather than do that I planted that mustard seed in the things God says to plant them in, and it flourished. Now I can honestly say With every ounce of my being I know God exists and works daily in my life. why? because of all of the things I have witnessed. I can see and even with some marginal accuracy predict how things will play out. Not because I am special or a prophet. i simply know the pattern God uses in my life and i look for it. When I see it I know to either knuckle down or move on. again because after 20+ years even a dullard like myself gets the carrot and the stick method.
Quote:Would it have happened, if you believed in some other god? Would you think it was that other god working in your favor instead of the one you think now? Would it have happened, if you were part of a polytheist religion?I tried 'other gods' for a while, and they did not work for me. If they had maybe I would be pushing some other religion, why? Because if I witnessed and experience what I have in Christianity to be true in another religion then that God would have indeed been 'all powerful.'
I'd wager "yes" to all questions... and corresponding uselessness of the god assumption.
"A rose by anyother name would still smell just as sweet."-Billy Bard.
In the end understand this is How God offers Proof. Not in one or two instances, but over a life time.
Quote:You were talking about some "biblical history"... I just borrowed the expression. You tell me, which history.You lost me.
Quote:Not making extraordinary claims about the events... no reason to doubt them... and many such events can be corroborated by archeology, like the great fire of Rome...Seriously? have you read any ancient text? ANYTHING they could not explain was attributed to some extraordinary claim. especially Egyptian, Greeks and the ancient Chinese. Read how some of their battles were won, or how water was brought to a given city or town, or how leaders came to power. What makes these 'claims' legit is context and how or what they were trying to describe or depict.
Quote:Are you a muslim, now?In a sence so does Christianity. In that we are all born 'hell bound/insert religion here' and we must elect to receive redemption.
They're the ones who think were all born muslims, but are then misled...
Quote:And yet, i fails on many people... and it leads many people towards the wrong gods... are you sure it's not some mental state of belief in the proxies... leading to belief in the stories?This only works if your 'parents' or whatever source of religion you have substituted for the Holy Spirit was indeed the Holy Spirit trying to mislead you.
Like, "I believe my parents for they have no reason to lie to me... they are also right about everything, so they must be right about this god business."
Quote:And your experiences can all be dismissed as not divine intervention.Who said anything about divine intervention? When God clears a path in your life for you to follow because you did what you were asked it is not divine intervention, at that point the happenings you experience is called divine provenance. Because you are following the will/Plan/provenance God has for your life. Why would He then interveene?
Quote:God told me nothing... People wrote stories about an entity telling them things. It doesn't make it real.What makes a treasure map real? What people may think about it? or whether or not you can use it to find the treasure it says is burried under the "X"? The Same is true with the bible. You can dismiss it, or you can test it, and see if God is waiting where He says He will be waiting for you.
Quote:If the president called me, I'd think it was a prank call, at first.You've gotten your call in the bible, I am here to offer what assureances that I have experienced. In the end it is up to you to take him up on His offer or go about your business.
Provided enough assurances, I'd eventually take his invitation seriously.
Quote:See how it would take the actual president to contact me?... I see no such thing from your god-thing...When my wife and I got married we sent the president an invitation. We got back a written response. Do you think He answered personally? Do you think His action contradicted what the written response said His actions were going to be? The answer is No on both accounts. He did exactly what his 'staff' said he was going to do.
Point? There is a proceedure in which one must follow to have the president formally show up to one's wedding, and whether he goes or not, the initial process is still the same.
If you want to be considered by God or even some one as lowly as the President you must approach them through the perscribed Channels. Otherwise why would you expect to have anyone like that bend over backwards for you? Because you think you are entitled? Your entitlement and $5 might buy you a cup of coffie nowadays.
Quote:And that I just can't accept.Why?
Quote:Beats me... people who come here already have the concept of god in their minds... how did they come across it? Partial or total indoctrination... Some then lean towards the belief, some towards the disbelief.What is the alternitive to being a sheep? It is being a goat. Both are subject to the Shepards Crook, One is favored and one is not.
In those 2 thousand years... people had been indoctrinated prior to it. If not in the god of the trinity, then in some other god.... with the concept of god changing in people's minds slowly or abruptly by force... indoctrination leads to some belief or another... if that belief becomes shunned, the belief in some other overtakes it, because ignorant people would always require some explanation to keep their minds at ease, to keep them under the influence of some higher power... to... to be sheep.