Garden of Eden was a setup...

[robvalue]

Dawwn't y'all burleeeve in gowwud?

[dyresand]

Dawwn't y'all burleeeve in gowwud?

No i called scientist and asked him he told me there is no god.
Then the door to door atheists came to my house and gave me a pamphlet with a list of books to read.

[Chad32]

Dawwn't y'all burleeeve in gowwud?

Oh sure we do. we just think he's evil. Just like evil humans, he's always talking about how good he is, and how righteous his cause is, and we should worship him or die.

[JonDarbyXIII]

Yes, you could go through the blue door. One day, however, you might go through a red door at which time ... See, I told you that you would go through a red door.

I could make a prediction and if it survived the time, eventually it would be shown as true. Now attach a timestamp to a prophecy ...

Of course, in order to fit in with Bible 'prophecy,' it would have to say that another country (not you) would be going through the door. And it wouldn't be a door but... maybe a transition point. And it wouldn't be red but.... "of blood." Yeah... that's perfect.... The King of Azerbaijan will go through a transition of blood.

Does Bible prophecy seem a little like Mad Libs to anyone?

[Thackerie]

Okay. Since we're critiquing God, tell me this. First of all, we are not allowed to kill babies and it would be a grievous sin for us to do so. Are those babies who were killed happy now or not? Would they have been happier to live longer lives on earth than they are now?

You're being simplistic, but I don't blame you; your religion conditions you not to think too closely about heaven.

Do people age in heaven? If yes, then the people who have been there longest are in some trouble. If not, then those babies are going to be forever locked in infant form, unable to comprehend anything, or learn, or grow. Doesn't sound like paradise to me.

But let's say you can halt and advance your aging at will in heaven; those babies would be thoroughly unrecognizable, psychologically, when they grow. Who we are as people is informed by our pasts and childhood; just growing up instantaneously wouldn't make them adults, it'd just make them children in adult bodies.

And if they grow up naturally there? Same problem. No human being in history has ever matured in an environment like heaven; the universal lessons we all learn growing up- about mortality, physical and mental harm, about not always getting what we want, about having to work for our happiness, about charity and caring for others, even about the structure of families, and so many others- are completely nonexistent in heaven. The very concepts don't come into play. Any child growing up in that environment would be utterly alien, dare I say stunted even. I'd remind you that the closest analogues to this scenario we get on Earth are spoiled brats, but even they have some concept of the applicability of these things.

God didn't just murder babies, or take them to heaven. He robbed them of their capacity to be human beings. Whether they would want to go back to Earth is irrelevant, because they would have no concept of what they're missing. And they missed out on a lot. The real question is, should they want to go back?

The late psychic Sylvia Browne said that everyone is 30 years old in Heaven. And, surely, she knew just as much about it as does Lek.

[robvalue]

How can you test one Christians claims against another's? If they make contradictory claims they can't both be right. Then multiply that by all the Christians in the world and where they differ in their claims.

Don't like those odds. I don't know how Christians can be satisfied with this, they just all think they are right?

When you make untestable claims, this is what happens.

[IATIA]

... they just all think they are right?

Yep! And the other guy is wrong. "Don't need proof, god told me so."

[robvalue]

Just had another thought.

God makes the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

This means evil already existed, before man and woman had anything to do with it.

So who created all this evil? Not a long list of suspects. Free will? Yeah, he wants people to choose what they do. But he picks what they choose between. It could be good things, and other good things. But he wants to put evil options in there, for some reason.

[Chad32]

Christians talk about eve bringing sin into the world, but apparently it already existed. Just not in Humans. Yahweh does state in the old testament that he creates evil, as well as good. christians may say evil comes from Satan, but yahweh created Satan. He has a really hard time making a total utopia. Maybe if he wasn't such a narcissist, he might do better.

[professor]

One of the Christians here pointed out the word for evil (God creates the evil) is the word calamity.
About the tree of the knowledge, knowledge is changed into experience by action.
Trees don't move.