by prologos 45 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Slightly ranty because I love statistics: This may have been covered already, but there are no "odds" that there is or is not a God. Either there is a God or there isn't. It is 100% of one and 0% of the other. However, if you randomly pick one of the possible outcomes, then you DO have a 50/50 chance of being correct (though picking a particular God lowers your odds considerably).
As it is, I'm about 95% certain, based on the evidence that I have seen/read, that there is not a God.
Clarinet ist thank you for
Clarifying that.
If, of the two possibilities, a) that there is a creator or b) that there is not,
if one clings to a), (a precarious position to be in) and he* is powerful enough to create a ALL, then
some of his personality traits would be admirable.
leaving us alone and not meddling, not demanding obedience,
he* would be subtle in his work, using self replication and EVOLUTION as a development tool. or
perhaps using the latent energy of the vaccuum to power th big bang beginning.
"Odds", "God" were the wrong choice of words, but triggered very good replies, thank you all.
If it was easy then all the earth should and would all worship god happily together.
Well what man should do and what man does do, are two very different things.
Think about the simple laws we have that are not kept. "Do not commit murder." How many people are murdered every year? "Do not bear false witness." How many people do bear false witness, either to save their own skin or to hurt someone they want to hurt?
I use those as a couple of examples to you at how man does not follow the simplest of instructions, even though they are black and white and simple.
Man lives everywhere and it's not reasonable to think god only cares about Christians.
I did not say that God cared only about Christians.
There are those who do not know Christ, but who are known BY Christ, because of what they DO.
He made all man right? So why did he ignore most of them instead of providing these easy instructions for all?
Love, mercy, forgiveness... some show these things by nature, even though they do not know Christ as Lord, or his Father as their God.
He also did not turn from man, but man turned from Him. He, however, has provided a way back TO Him.
Peace,
tammy
Tammy,
the Ten Commandments were provided to a special people, a small group while god ignored all the rest. Man that never knew god could not have turned from him. Case in point American Indians, tribes in Africa, the continent of India, aborigines. The list goes on and on. You don't seem to grasp that god provided the bible supposedly to a tiny group of people. He didn't simultaneously provide it to all groups all over the earth, which he could have done since he was supposed to have used Holy Spirit and inspiration.
Its only fair to say some Christians have left god, the vast majority of billions never had a chance or were offered a chance to know the god you worship.
The bible is not the first and only example of God.
Man started WITH God, then turned away, moved on, spread outward, took some truth (such as the golden rule in variations) and mixed it with other things, then mixed those cultures and various beliefs together to form new ones, etc, etc.
Abraham was from the east. Before Israel. Before the bible. Before the Torah. Before Christianity. Yet he heard, believed and obeyed God. Abraham had the faith to do so. Not laws or the written word; but faith to HEAR and DO.
As for the ten commandments, these stem from love. Every law comes from love. Love is NOT limited to one group or another. I don't know too many cultures that do not know that murder or stealing, etc, is wrong. Yet... people of all cultures do each of these things.
Peace,
tammy
Abraham had the faith to do so. Not laws or the written word; but faith to HEAR and DO. - Tammy
Abraham was prepared to murder his son.
Abraham threw his wife under the bus when foreigners took a fancy to her.
Abraham turned his maidservant Hagar into a sex slave and then threw her and her/his son out into the wilderness to die.
Abraham had the moral sense of a Taliban warlord.
This is what faith does.
Hagar by Andrew Geddes
and the creator had nothing personal or directly to do with it.
Abraham was prepared to murder his son.
He just had faith in God, and knew also that through Isaac, his offsrping would be reckoned... and if you recall, God did not allow Abraham to lay a hand on his son.
Abraham threw his wife under the bus when foreigners took a fancy to her.
He did not throw her under the bus. But she did ensure that he was not killed. They would have taken Sarah otherwise, and also killed Abraham.
It is easy to make judgments when we did not live in those times or under those customs and conditions.
Abraham turned his maidservant Hagar into a sex slave and then threw her and her/his son out into the wilderness to die.
Sarah gave her maidservant Hagar to be Abraham's wife, to build a family. ("Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to behis wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived." Gen 16:3) Then Hagar began resenting Sarah, not at having been given to Abraham, but once she became pregnant. Like a rivalry/competition... Hagar bearing Abraham a child and Sarah unable to do so. Then Sarah began mistreating Hagar.
That rivalry can be seen in their sons... Ishmael to Isaac at first... and that is why they were permitted to be sent away.
Neither Hagar or Ishmael (who Abraham loved, and was aggreived at being asked to send the boy away), died in the desert, nor would they have done so. God promised Abraham that Ishmael would grow into a great nation, and then God was with the boy, and Ishmael IS that great nation even today.
Abraham had the moral sense of a Taliban warlord.
I don't think you know Abraham well enough to be able to make that kind of call. I'm sure that i could either, and i won't try... but I won't try and twist things in my ignorance to condemn someone.
Abraham was loved and respected by many nations, including those not his own.
Peace,
tammy
Abraham was loved and respected by many nations, including those not his own.
So was the old witch Mother Theresa. Its amazing what people want to believe.
Yes it is. I just don't think we're talking about the same thing.
Peace,
tammy
