posted
"while God is bound by his own rules (which God can't ignore because he made the rules)."
except that He ignores these rules on a regular basis, if you believe in things like prophecy, angelic intervention, miracles, faith healing, and so forth. And when you give Satan free reign to screw with your most trusting subject (Job), well, that's almost as bad.
"Also while Satan does have power, he can't read minds, or force anyone to do anything. God on the other hand can, but chooses not to (well he does read minds, but doesn't force people to do stuff they don't want to)."
Sure He can. Exodus says numerous times that God's chosen method of punishing Egypt was to make Pharoah change his mind back after every time he decided to release the Israelites ("I shall harden his heart"), just so God could have the joy of inflicting more plagues upon Egypt. I'f he's left well enough alone, the Israelites would have gotten away after the FIRST plague, and nobody would have had to die.
Omega: "God allowed it to happen." Hm.. too bad God isn't bound by Good Samaritan laws. Instead, He's simply become an accessory to every crime ever committed.
Remember that case in Denver, where that one kid watched as his buddy sexually assaulted and killed a little girl, and didn't do a thing about it, despite the fact that he could have?
Remember what people thought of that kid afterwards?
That kid is God. Except God watches it a thousand times every day, and is in an even better position to stop it.
------------------ "We shall not yield to you, nor to any man." -- Freak, The Mighty.
*nods* I bow to your superior knowledge. You are correct.
First of Two:
You can't look at what everyone else does "in the name of God" and expect that these actions necessarily mirror what "God" does. You say "God" constantly doesn't follow his rules. I'm not sure that's correct. I think that it is more the problem of "Christians" who do things "in the name of God" who are not really following the rules at all.
------------------ �From Me all things proceed and unto Me they must return. Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold � all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you. ... Know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.�
First, by the analogy, we're not grown up. We're still kids, and will be for the forseeable future (basically, eternity). Second, that's where the analogy ends. Children are never identical to their parents, anyway. No, the tree just gave us one more characteristic of God.
Cargile:
If we're virtual fish in a screensaver, then why are you talking to us?
1of2:
Who said His rules precluded helping us occasionally?
Somehow I doubt that they would have gotten away. It's possible that Pharoah would have changed his mind more quickly, and the Isrealites wouldn't have gotten to the sea in time. There's no way to know.
Again, if God stops anything we do, it denys free will.
------------------ "Don't you try to outweird me, I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal." - Zaphod Beeblebrox, `The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'
posted
By growing up to be like our parents, I'm thinking of things such as no longer being under direct parental supervision, moving out on our own, etc. Some people might be happy to live with mom and dad for the rest of their lives, I suppose.
------------------ "Something I can't comprehend. Something so complex and couched in its equation. So dense that light cannot escape from." -- Soul Coughing
No they aren't. There's a difference between helping and stopping.
Sol:
We can never reach the point where we can survive without God. Satan would chew us up in a minute.
------------------ "Don't you try to outweird me, I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal." - Zaphod Beeblebrox, `The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'
posted
"If you want to understand all of this, just sit down with someone who understands and study the Bible. It's all right there."
I find that disturbing. What is the credibility of a book that needs to be explained by someone who has spent loads of time "studying" it? And what constitutes "understanding" the Bible? Anyone can interpret it to his or her own purposes. I've heard an argument from white supremacists that all black people aren't humans because the Bible said (don't remember where) that only humans can blush, and black people can't. (Well, they certainly can, only that it's harder to see.)
------------------ "I told you. You're dead. This is the afterlife. And I'm God." --Q to Picard, "Tapestry".
posted
Pigs blush. And sunburn! Plus, uh...no, this isn't the right place for that particular factoid.
------------------ "Something I can't comprehend. Something so complex and couched in its equation. So dense that light cannot escape from." -- Soul Coughing
posted
Would you like your 400 level English book explained to you by a Ph.D. in Chemistry?
------------------ It's all about the Pentiums, Baby! "I'm down with Bill Gates, I call him Money for short I phone him up at home and I make him do my tech support"
posted
Okay, Mr. "I understand the Bible better than any of you," Explain Mark 13: 1-30.
For those of you who don't know it, it's where the disciples ask Jesus about the End Times, and Jesus recites a long list of all the apocalyptic things that are going to happen, (wars, brother against brother, no stone upon another left standing, yadda-yadda-yadda,) including his return in the clouds and the gathering together of all the faithful souls.
Then, in Mark 13:30, he says "Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things are done."
Note: he says "THIS" generation, which, taken in its proper context, means the generation alive at the time of speaking, as upposed to "that" generation, which would mean some future generation. It is also obvious from context that JC is NOT talking about Pentecost.
So, either JC was wrong, or there are still some folks alive from a generation born nearly 2000 years ago.
------------------ "We shall not yield to you, nor to any man." -- Freak, The Mighty.
posted
That prophecy is kind of a dual prophecy. It can refer to Armageddon, or it can refer to the seige and sack of Jerusalem in the sixites (I think). Sometimes it's hard to tell which He's talking about. And that word "generation" can also be translated as "race".
------------------ "Don't you try to outweird me, I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal." - Zaphod Beeblebrox, `The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'
posted
Except that the siege and sack of Jerusalem in the sixties didn't include Christ's return on clouds and the gathering up of the faithful, did it?
Didn't think so. Therefore, the only remaining option is that He was talking about Armageddon.
OH, and just what IS the difference between "helping" and "stopping?" Both require interference in "free will," and there's no difference in the end result between "helping" someone not get hit by a stray bullet, and "stopping" the bullet from hitting them. There's no difference between "helping" someone survive a tornado and "stopping" them from dying in it.
------------------ "We shall not yield to you, nor to any man." -- Freak, The Mighty.
[This message has been edited by First of Two (edited August 26, 1999).]
posted
*sighs*.. what do you all hope to gain by this?
------------------ �From Me all things proceed and unto Me they must return. Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold � all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you. ... Know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.�
posted
"Would you like your 400 level English book explained to you by a Ph.D. in Chemistry?"
I don't think you understand my point. Yes, there are other literature out there that require explanations from experts, but these experts do not concentrate on one book. On top of that, have you ever heard anyone use Shakespeare to justify bigotry and hate crimes?
------------------ "I told you. You're dead. This is the afterlife. And I'm God." --Q to Picard, "Tapestry".
posted
1 of 2: "generation" could stand for anything, most likely 'era.'I'd have to know the Greek NT, but I don't stary Greek until next semester.
All things are done to glorify God and to finally bring us back into full communion with Him. (Rev.)
------------------ It's all about the Pentiums, Baby! "I'm down with Bill Gates, I call him Money for short I phone him up at home and I make him do my tech support"
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