In Christian mythology, God is supposed to the the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe. God is supposed to have incarnated himself as Jesus and he is supposed to have written the Bible. And yet today God is completely and absolutely silent. Says who, exactly? I think you say this because God has never spoken to you. But there are many, many people who claim that God has spoken to them. You dismiss these people out of hand, however. Therefore, the only thing we hear from God comes from people who are speaking on his behalf. I'm not so sure.
If you would like to understand how imaginary God is, all that you have to do is listen to God's spokespeople, because in many cases these people are lunatics. If there actually were a God, and if he actually had anything to do with love, he would silence these people because they are an absolute embarrassment. Do you believe in the importance of freedom of speech, sir? I'm sure you do, since without it, your websites would not be on the internet. But if you truly desired God to do something like this, then you are promoting censorship of all these people.
Here are several video examples that demonstrate the problem. Thousands of examples like this are available: I think you're being a bit dishonest here. Thousands of examples are not available, that is an exaggeration. And besides...Come on, man. It's YouTube.
- Thank God for dead soldiers
- Holy spirit enema
- Jimmy Swaggart Would Kill a Homosexual
- Pat Roberston 1
- Pat Robertson 2
- Pouring the water
- Hot, cold, lukewarm
- Pitch his tents
Let's flip this logic around. What about all the people who have explained Christianity in an incredibly articulate way? What about all the people who are very smart who have demonstrated that belief in Christianity is reasonable? Lots of examples are available:
- Christian Origins
- Postures of the Mind, Affections of the Heart
- Complexity of the Big Bang
- Gary Habermas debates Anthony Flew
- Debate - Was Jesus Based on Pagan Myths?
- Moral Relativism is False
- C.S. Lewis on Pain
- Who Is Jesus? - Ravi Explains
- Faith and Reason
- Dr. Craig on the Existence of God
Hardin came across as a senile old man. But does that mean atheism is false? Certainly not. It just means that people make bad cases for atheism some times. The same is true with Christianity, and it doesn't mean that since God doesn't censor the stupid people, he doesn't exist. It means he is big on freedom of speech.
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3 comments:
Says who, exactly? I think you say this because God has never spoken to you. But there are many, many people who claim that God has spoken to them. You dismiss these people out of hand, however
So do you when other people of another religion say their God spoke to them. I'm sure you don't deny that.
I think you're being a bit dishonest here. Thousands of examples are not available, that is an exaggeration. And besides...Come on, man. It's YouTube.
I can believe more people on YouTube than I can the ancient writings of people saying God literally spoke to them in the Bible.
He does, just not to you. But even if he didn't, why must he speak for himself?
How does he speak? By seemingly supernatural signs dismissed as just being coincidence? Telepathy? A voice from out of nowhere? Sounds like delusion, schizophrenia, and psychotic mental disorders. Or maybe it's that pesky Satan guy playing with people.
That reminds me. I've seen shows on so called "exorcisms" of people that were supposed to have been "possessed" and screaming and uttering nonsense while flailing all over the place while the exorcism is taking place. It's funny how nothing seems to happen the very first time a priest asks the "evil spirit" to begone in Jesus' name. What's taking him so long? The priest might not have enough faith or just isn't good enough in the eyes of God. It's possible that priest might not be of the correct denomination. Why is that priest looked up to as a representative and a trusted speaker for God if nothing happens when HE prays and ask for something for the benefit of another person? Maybe God doesn't impose on the free will of Satan and Demons, either. I guess if God doesn't have to answer prayers, he doesn't have to banish demons in those exorcisms and let's them run rampant at the expense of his beloved children. Or it's just that you can't cure crazy with Jesus.
If not even God imposes on free will, then why would he allow Satan or Demons to? What about the herd of swine that was possessed by the "Legion, for we are many" demon(s)? Jesus cast the swine off of a cliff. Jesus imposed on the free will of the pigs and demons, and so did the demons by possessing the pigs. Are we no different? If they can possess animals, surely they can possess humans. The Bible doesn't say they can't. Jesus could just be a normal person that Satan possessed with a formulated plan to lead Judaism in a totally false direction known today as Christianity. Also, to say Satan was teleporting Jesus around all over the place in the "temptation story" is giving Satan magical powers, too. What are the limits on those powers? Jesus, which could very well have been a possessed pawn of Satan, could have been using his powers for miracles to make himself seem like the son of God. The whole banishing the "Legion" demon could have been planned with his buddies ahead of time as a staged demonstration. Also since in the story he is forcing Jesus to teleport, he is imposing on his free will. I don't recall Jesus giving him permission to teleport him or even tempt him. So there's another a free will dilemma.
Another thing. If not even God can know the future, how can Satan make promises to Jesus to make something come to pass in the temptation story? What would be the point of even trying to convince Jesus if it's impossible to make such promises and carry through with them in an undertimanable future. Jesus would have been a fool if he even had to fight temptation. He would have been laughing at how retarded Satan's claims were.
If Satan doesn't exist, then his demon buddies don't exist, and the story in the bible of Satan, and the tempting of Jesus is completely made up. Then so could the stories of his miracles, feeding thousands, the being born of a virgin, and last but not least, the resurrection.
Why is God even letting Satan roam free down here and able to mess with us at his leisure? He exists according to the bible, and so do demons. And they are able to possess animals at the very least. God does not impose on our free will, but he does demons if we ask him to in Jesus' name. Why do we have to ask for him to do something against demons in the first place? Why doesn't he do it on his own?
I believe in freedom of speech too - I believe it is something that every civilised country should adopt. But that doesn't include Christians who incite hatred against homosexuals, abortionists, Muslims and atheists. Some of these American Christians we hear about are complete and utter psychopathic lunatics.
I do think this is irrelevant to the question of whether God exists or not, and I agree it doesn't prove he is imaginary, but you need to understand that many religious people, especially Christians and Muslims, are filled with hatred and violence, and they are motivated by their religion to do incredibly evil things, and adopt incredibly narrow beliefs and prejudices.
"there are many, many people who claim God has spoken to them"
Are you going to give us an example or are you just going to make a claim out of nowhere without citing where you got it from?
It would be nice if you cited your sources, but I do know that some people do claim to have religious experiences. But optical and sound illusions do happen a lot, and the more strongly you believe something, the more believable it is when you hallucinate about it. Some of these people may be right but I don't think this proves anything.
"Do you believe in the importance of freedom of speech, sir? I'm sure you do...But if you truly desired God to do something like tis, you are promoting censorship of all these people."
Yes, he is. And quite rightly so. P-Dunn, if someone believes in free speech, that does not necessarily include hatespeech and encouraging prejudice against homosexuals, women and non-Christians, and inciting violence against abortionists. A lot of these televangelists do just that, and then claim to speak for God. These ignorant morons are giving God such a bad name if he exists, but he just lets them do it. I'm not saying this proves God doesn't exist, but if he is interested in humans (which I don't believe; I am an agnostic and while I accept the possibility of God existing, I think if he does he is just creating us as a scientific experiment, and doesn't want to guide us in any direction) and wants them to love him, you'd think it's a bit odd that he doesn't do anything about people who portray him as an ignorant, homophobic, sexist bigot. (On the other hand, I do think some verses of the Bible are very homophobic anyway, but I won't go into that now.)
"Thousands of examples are available, that is an exaggeration."
Maybe so, but I think "hundreds of examples" would be accurate.
"And besides, come on, man. It's YouTube."
YouTube can be accurate, as you think your videos on YouTube can be (and I agree with some of the points made in them). Many intelligent people post videos on YouTube.
"...it doesn't mean that since God doesn't censor the stupid people, he doesn't exist. It just means he is big on freedom of speech."
Yeah, God is very big on freedom of speech isn't he, commanding people to stone to death anyone who encourages people to join another religion in Deuteronomy 13. That passage is such a good example of how liberal God is, don't you think?
And according to you, he is big on allowing incitement to violence against abortionists and homosexuals as well. That's nice.
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