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RE: Why are you (still) a Christian?
September 14, 2023 at 3:32 pm
(This post was last modified: September 14, 2023 at 3:33 pm by FrustratedFool.)
So, you are theist who believes that Jehovah exists.
But you haven't really said what your reasons for that belief are except that you found that the fallible bible made more sense than other stuff.
Can you be more specific as to what your warrant for faith in Jehovah is?
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RE: Why are you (still) a Christian?
September 14, 2023 at 3:49 pm
I'm not.
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RE: Why are you (still) a Christian?
September 14, 2023 at 6:32 pm
(September 13, 2023 at 10:11 pm)Data Wrote: (September 13, 2023 at 9:30 pm)LinuxGal Wrote: As far as we know, it took 13.8 billion years for the first talking being to emerge in the universe. It is most likely that a talking being was not the first thing.
You're pretty good at this. Inadvertently? Reluctantly?
Spirit creatures don't need to talk to communicate, so although the spirit beings created by the spirit being that created the universe, Jehovah God, needn't have talked at all until the 13.8 billion estimated time it apparently took for the first talking person did emerge. Obviously since that person was the first.
Spirit creatures? Spirit beings? Dafuq are those?!?
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RE: Why are you (still) a Christian?
September 14, 2023 at 7:01 pm
(This post was last modified: September 14, 2023 at 7:02 pm by Bucky Ball.)
(September 13, 2023 at 10:27 pm)LinuxGal Wrote: (September 13, 2023 at 10:11 pm)Data Wrote: You're pretty good at this. Inadvertently? Reluctantly?
Spirit creatures don't need to talk to communicate, so although the spirit beings created by the spirit being that created the universe, Jehovah God, needn't have talked at all until the 13.8 billion estimated time it apparently took for the first talking person did emerge. Obviously since that person was the first.
According to the description we have, God was a talking person, at the very beginning of the universe.
Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
That is very interesting to (real) scholars.
The long involved tradition of what the Hebrews considered as the "word" of their god being powerful is slightly different and you raise an important point.
Most of the ancient Near Eastern gods were said to have created the world/universe in the many creation myths, (of course no one knew the universe was what we know today it is), by their "word" which was considered as having "power". The ancient Jews believed in the power of their god's "word". For some of them (the Egyptians for example) the "words" were "magical". IE they had to have spoken the (correct) "magical words" (the exact words which held the magical power) to cause the universe to come into being. In Hebrew thought, their god's word just simply had "power" (apparently not in a magical sense), and it's a long story, too long for here. So the god had to intend the creation action, and the text does say the "word" has power. So in that sense you are totality correct. The power of Yahweh's "word" is there, throughout the OT.
The fact that he created light first in their cultural myths was culturally important, and there are many explanations for why that might have been written that way.
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. - Joseph Campbell
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RE: Why are you (still) a Christian?
September 14, 2023 at 8:22 pm
Echinacea and Tea Tree Oil, work wonders at warding off unwanted spirits in general.
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RE: Why are you (still) a Christian?
September 14, 2023 at 8:49 pm
(September 14, 2023 at 3:33 am)Data Wrote: (September 14, 2023 at 1:00 am)FrustratedFool Wrote: Can you give some more details as to why/what makes the most sense in Christianity?
So, the teachings of the Bible without that influence is what seems more practical and sensible than theology will allow. God isn't omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, or a trinity. A god is simply anything or anyone mighty/venerated,
The God of Israel specifically rules out the existence of other gods.
Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Anti-theists just go one better and rule out the existence of the God of Israel too.
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RE: Why are you (still) a Christian?
September 14, 2023 at 9:47 pm
(This post was last modified: September 14, 2023 at 9:50 pm by Data.)
(September 14, 2023 at 8:49 pm)LinuxGal Wrote: The God of Israel specifically rules out the existence of other gods.
Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Okay, first off, when you see LORD in all upper case like that it means at that verse the name of God, Jehovah, has been removed by the Sopherim (copyists). Comparing translations here, you see, some translations preserve the name.
Secondly, think about what your saying. First your saying that a god has to literally exist. Also think about the Biblical command that Israel should have no other gods before him. Then think about all of the other gods mentioned in the Bible.
Now, let me run this by you.
The angels are gods. Psalm 8:5 (LSV): You make him a little lower than the gods [or God], | And surround him with glory and majesty.
Some translations read gods, some read angels, etc. The Hebrew word used is elohim. The Hebrew word for angel is malakh. Here you can see the Hebrew.
The judges of Israel, mortal men are gods: Psalm 82:1 and Psalm 82:6. Jesus quoted this at John 10:34, 35.
Moses was God to Aaron and Pharaoh: Exodus 4:16; 7:1.
(September 14, 2023 at 8:49 pm)LinuxGal Wrote: Anti-theists just go one better and rule out the existence of the God of Israel too.
I thought anti-theists were just against theists. You specifically rule out something that doesn't exist? But what of all of the gods that do exist? Moses, Jesus, the judges of Israel, Kim Jong Un? Zeus (meaning the supreme God) was a title for Roman rulers. Oxford dictionary defines a god as, among other things, "an image, idol, animal, or other object worshiped as divine or symbolizing a god; used as a conventional personification of fate; an adored, admired, or influential person; a thing accorded the supreme importance appropriate to a god; the gallery in a theater."
Does an anti-theist rule those out as well?
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RE: Why are you (still) a Christian?
September 14, 2023 at 9:52 pm
(September 14, 2023 at 9:47 pm)Data Wrote: (September 14, 2023 at 8:49 pm)LinuxGal Wrote: The God of Israel specifically rules out the existence of other gods.
Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
The angels are gods. Psalm 8:5 (LSV): You make him a little lower than the gods [or God], | And surround him with glory and majesty.
So you're saying the Bible contradicts itself. That is literally the only reason I don't believe in the god of the Bible.
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RE: Why are you (still) a Christian?
September 14, 2023 at 9:53 pm
(September 14, 2023 at 6:32 pm)Ravenshire Wrote: (September 13, 2023 at 10:11 pm)Data Wrote: You're pretty good at this. Inadvertently? Reluctantly?
Spirit creatures don't need to talk to communicate, so although the spirit beings created by the spirit being that created the universe, Jehovah God, needn't have talked at all until the 13.8 billion estimated time it apparently took for the first talking person did emerge. Obviously since that person was the first.
Spirit creatures? Spirit beings? Dafuq are those?!?
You know . . . angels.
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RE: Why are you (still) a Christian?
September 14, 2023 at 9:54 pm
(September 14, 2023 at 9:52 pm)LinuxGal Wrote: (September 14, 2023 at 9:47 pm)Data Wrote: The angels are gods. Psalm 8:5 (LSV): You make him a little lower than the gods [or God], | And surround him with glory and majesty.
So you're saying the Bible contradicts itself. That is literally the only reason I don't believe in the god of the Bible.
The only reason? Literally there is a hyperbolic intensifier? How is it a contradiction?
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