Posts by lriddle80

168

Moral responsibility.

by nicolaou in

no subtlety here, it's going to be obvious where i'm going with this.

please consider the following scenario.. you're seated on a railway platform bench waiting for your train.

a high speed intercity is about to hurtle through without stopping when you see a small child running to the platforms edge!

lriddle80

I don't approve of slavery, kidnapping, rape or infanticide.

Can God use something that we call bad to accomplish his purposes? He used the assyrians to punish Israel and then he punished the assyrians.

Do atheists have morals? Of course! Even though they don't believe in God they can still do good.

These things feel similar. A good God can use evil; a person who doesn't believe can do good.

But how do I live my life knowing this? Even though I don't fully understand God's ways or the atheists unbelief, I will love both and use my life to serve others and have interesting conversations. But the change and growth comes from God so I try not to be attached to the results, as hard as that is!

168

Moral responsibility.

by nicolaou in

no subtlety here, it's going to be obvious where i'm going with this.

please consider the following scenario.. you're seated on a railway platform bench waiting for your train.

a high speed intercity is about to hurtle through without stopping when you see a small child running to the platforms edge!

lriddle80

I used to wonder, as a jw child, why the bible said "seek me and you may find." I would open the bible and say "here he is, what's with the cryptic message of seeking when I can open the bible and go right to him?"

I think things in the bible are purposefully ambiguous.

We are still discussing these things after thousands of years. That says something.

I had a thought about slavery. If slavery had not been established then Jesus "setting the captives free" wouldn't be a big deal. You have to know slavery to know freedom. You have to know suffering to appreciate "all tears being wiped away"

He has torn us that he may heal us.

I can appreciate this coming from a God. If he wants us to come to him no matter what and understands our thoughts he knows we won't stop seeking we won't stop questioning we won't stop searching for the truth. Some will figure it out, some will fall away. I find that hard to accept, but am coming to that realization. I won't give up, though.

168

Moral responsibility.

by nicolaou in

no subtlety here, it's going to be obvious where i'm going with this.

please consider the following scenario.. you're seated on a railway platform bench waiting for your train.

a high speed intercity is about to hurtle through without stopping when you see a small child running to the platforms edge!

lriddle80

What about this scripture?

Matthew 224:6-8

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

So Jesus literally said earthquakes would happen. He didn't mention tsunamis as a result of the earthquake, but I think it's a good point. If only we could have been there to question Jesus's morality in that moment! (Sarcasm)

168

Moral responsibility.

by nicolaou in

no subtlety here, it's going to be obvious where i'm going with this.

please consider the following scenario.. you're seated on a railway platform bench waiting for your train.

a high speed intercity is about to hurtle through without stopping when you see a small child running to the platforms edge!

lriddle80

In thinking about this conversation:

It's wonderful to be able to discuss these topics and say our real thoughts and feelings without fear. We couldn't do that as JW.

I think we all made some thought provoking arguments. It got me thinking!

These conversations help me as I am talking to others about God. I used it yesterday when chatting with my homeless friend and we had some laughs and it got him thinking about what he believes and ended up sharing some good stories.

Good stuff! ♥️

168

Moral responsibility.

by nicolaou in

no subtlety here, it's going to be obvious where i'm going with this.

please consider the following scenario.. you're seated on a railway platform bench waiting for your train.

a high speed intercity is about to hurtle through without stopping when you see a small child running to the platforms edge!

lriddle80

I can't get behind universalism. I do see some places that could say that but then there is : only a handful saved in the flood, not everyone made it to the promised land, descriptions of a narrow road, and many places that say if you deny him he will deny them, sheep and goats

God set life and death before Israel. He said choose life. They didn't. (But he said some Jews will be saved and we're seeing this happen!)

God sets life and death before us in Christ and many people get mad at the choice and choose death.

But why not choose life in Christ? I think it's pride that keeps people from getting saved. I see people that think (delusionally) they are better than God. Much more moral and right thinking. And while you think that you can never at the same time bow down to him because you see him as inferior. When I got saved, my pride was on the line and that's why i was crying so much. It killed me. And I was given new life. So it's a life and death cult.

168

Moral responsibility.

by nicolaou in

no subtlety here, it's going to be obvious where i'm going with this.

please consider the following scenario.. you're seated on a railway platform bench waiting for your train.

a high speed intercity is about to hurtle through without stopping when you see a small child running to the platforms edge!

lriddle80

I heard Jeffrey Dahmer's testimony of getting saved and baptized and read the book by the pastor who had bible studies with him and I was blown away by the similarities in thought that led me to Christ. But other people and Christians that hear his story are mortified! They can't fathom that they could share eternal life with a murderer such as that!

Also, David Wood, a Christian apologist, former atheist, is a psychopath and tried to kill his dad with a hammer and did other heinous, violent crimes and the thoughts he had and the thoughts that led him to Christ were very relatable to my thoughts and I believe his story and see the transformation. But a lot of Christians hearing this story, it doesn't "sit right with them" and they don't believe it.

Or that God would allow Hitler to be saved from drowning knowing what would happen later.

Or allowing children to go through immense suffering or getting aborted before they even get a chance at life or killed

All these things are very unfair and they make no sense and I see that life is complicated.

Maybe I hear Jack Nicholson yelling at me, "you can't handle the truth" and I understand what he means. Life is amazing and heartbreaking.

168

Moral responsibility.

by nicolaou in

no subtlety here, it's going to be obvious where i'm going with this.

please consider the following scenario.. you're seated on a railway platform bench waiting for your train.

a high speed intercity is about to hurtle through without stopping when you see a small child running to the platforms edge!

lriddle80

I heard part of an interview with Richard Dawkins in what WOULD make him believe in God and he finally said..nothing. Because he said if God spoke to him or if Jesus physically came back he would say delusion. If a message was written with the stars it would be trickster aliens.

And why do us Christians care so much and we go back and forth with you? Because we see you as that boy on the platform about to get hit by that train.

168

Moral responsibility.

by nicolaou in

no subtlety here, it's going to be obvious where i'm going with this.

please consider the following scenario.. you're seated on a railway platform bench waiting for your train.

a high speed intercity is about to hurtle through without stopping when you see a small child running to the platforms edge!

lriddle80

When I was a child I felt bullied by my sister and a few years ago I was sobbing in my therapists office about it and I didn't know how to feel better. I couldn't undo anything, i wasn't a child anymore. It wasn't fair! No the scriptures didn't help me either. You're right. She told me that I should consider forgiving her. I didn't know how at first. I felt so much pain about it still and when I tried to talk to her about it she just told me I was a whiny crybaby. I started reading about forgiveness and I started to try to see things from my sister's perspective and I found some empathy for her and I have forgiven her. She was just a child too and had gone through the same trauma as me and took it out on me. (And this is not the same as you, I was just sharing some of my journey.)

I don't think we can ever know why things happen. We can trace our trauma to people and they have their trauma which caused them to hurt others and the cycle goes back and back and back. We just have to stop the cycle of abuse and try not to hurt others. That's all I can think to do....

168

Moral responsibility.

by nicolaou in

no subtlety here, it's going to be obvious where i'm going with this.

please consider the following scenario.. you're seated on a railway platform bench waiting for your train.

a high speed intercity is about to hurtle through without stopping when you see a small child running to the platforms edge!

lriddle80

I always thought this scripture explained suffering to a certain extent...

Hosea 6:1-3

Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”

168

Moral responsibility.

by nicolaou in

no subtlety here, it's going to be obvious where i'm going with this.

please consider the following scenario.. you're seated on a railway platform bench waiting for your train.

a high speed intercity is about to hurtle through without stopping when you see a small child running to the platforms edge!

lriddle80

I always think of this scripture in 1 Corinthians...

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

But, that might not satisfy people who want solid answers.