What if your Wrong

[JPS]

At 39 I didn't believe, at 39.5 I asked Him to reveal Him self to me & He did (Long story) If you ever ready want to know the truth, ask Him to reveal Himself to you and He will,

You will never be the same.

How can you ask with any sincerity if you don't believe? I think you have to believe before you ask, at which point it becomes a self-fulfulling prophecy.

I sometimes envy people who do believe in God - it probably makes it easier to deal with things like the death of a loved one... (I tend to be more of a Pantheist myself.)

[Guest Straight Shooter]

Ive said this on TGO about a dozen times now, and this thread proves it.

SOME of yall would argue with GOD himself. And Im sure on the day of Rapture, SOME of yall will be standing there denying it even then. Itll be your loss, not mine.

We will see just how smug you are then.

[Guest trigem]

How can you ask with any sincerity if you don't believe? I think you have to believe before you ask, at which point it becomes a self-fulfulling prophecy.

I sometimes envy people who do believe in God - it probably makes it easier to deal with things like the death of a loved one... (I tend to be more of a Pantheist myself.)

I had heard enough through life to wonder if He was real, All it took was for my pride to be broken and for me to cry out to Him, God changed me for ever, now 20 years later, I never look back, what a fool I was...

I have found something that is real, life now has meaning, My desire is to help others to see the truth of the gospel before they take their last breath, which could be today!

There is much documented history that proves people & places in the Bible, Israel being the biggest

[Guest Jamie]

Ive said this on TGO about a dozen times now, and this thread proves it.

SOME of yall would argue with GOD himself.

If his arguments are no better than I've gotten here so far, you're damn straight I would.

I've always found it more than a little ironic that I usually get better debates/arguments/discussions from non-religious people, or the outright atheists, than I do the bible-thumpers and the devoutly religious.

But that probably has something to do with the fact they actually think about what they're saying, as a rule, rather than just regurgitate back what they have had rammed down their throats all their lives. They generally argue with reason and logic, rather than emotionalism, and by repeating the same old crap at a higher volume.

Matter of fact, some of the best arguments for god's existence have come from those same non-believers.

And Im sure on the day of Rapture, SOME of yall will be standing there denying it even then. Itll be your loss, not mine.

We will see just how smug you are then.

When that day comes, feel free to gloat. If you can.

Until then, maybe you shouldn't be too smug.

Speaking of "your loss, not mine"... If that's really so, then why do you religious types always feel so threatened by these discussions? Especially when you're usually the ones that start the whole mess? If you don't want your ideas or beliefs questioned... don't bring 'em up. And certainly don't try to ram 'em down anyone else's throat.

Because at very least, you'll get a debate, and at worst, well, you'll have one helluva fight on your hands.

J.

[Guest Jamie]

There is much documented history that proves people & places in the Bible, Israel being the biggest

I'm not even going to address the first part of your post, since that would require me putting down the Bible and picking up a couple of psychology books, to properly respond to it.

And concerning the bit above... of course there's historical facts/people/places in the Bible... One, because that's when and where the people who wrote it lived, and two, it's always easier to get people to believe a fairy tale, fictional story, or an outright lie... if it's liberally sprinkled with a bit of the truth.

You can't write up a rule book on how you want people to live their lives and conduct themselves, then set the whole thing someplace they've never heard of, populated by people they can't relate to. You have to make it about the people next door, or in the next town over. Setting it on an entirely different planet just won't cut it.

BTW... did any of you happen to catch the "In search of Noah's ark" thing, on Nat Geo the other night? It was one of the best examples of people trying to force things around to their own views that I've seen in a long time... and even had a couple of priests and/or religious scholars - one in particular - shaking their head at the pathetic attempts at taking the Bible literally.

Anyway, it was an interesting show, and one I'm sure had religious fanatics and zealots everywhere rending their clothes and gnashing their teeth.

J.

[Guest trigem]

?

[Guest Jamie]

?

What, now you don't understand what I wrote?

That doesn't bode well for your religious studies...

What exactly do I need to explain? That I'm not going to get into your state of mind at the time of your... um.. conversion? Or how a person can convince themselves of all sorts of things, especially in times of emotional crisis?

Or was it the explanation of how one would naturally mix real people, places, or events, in with the fictional parts, if the want to get people to believe what they've written is true?

J.

[enfield]

never mind - the discussion has gone in other directions.

Edited August 26, 2010 by enfield

[Oh Shoot]

Who says it was written in 90 AD? Is there a copyright date on the flyleaf?

Whoever the writer was, he wasn't running on pure oxygen.

Most scholars cite the various gospels as being written between about 40 and 90 CE.

The "conservative" ones generally opt for earlier dates than the "liberal" ones.

Most credible (IMO) ones do agree that they were all written anonymously, and due to longevity of that era, Matthew was the only one that probably could have been penned by an actual contemporary of Christ. "John" would have been like 120 years old or more, etc.

If any of those people existed at all.

- OS

Edited August 26, 2010 by OhShoot

[mikegideon]

If any of those people existed at all.

- OS

You and I will probably never know. Others are totally convinced.

[Guest Caveman]

Most scholars cite the various gospels as being written between about 40 and 90 CE.

The "conservative" ones generally opt for earlier dates than the "liberal" ones.

Most credible (IMO) ones do agree that they were all written anonymously, and due to longevity of that era, Matthew was the only one that probably could have been penned by an actual contemporary of Christ. "John" would have been like 120 years old or more, etc.

If any of those people existed at all.

- OS

I often wonder if Jesus, John and Santa ever hung out together. I picture them at a bar, having a pint, hoping that Rumpelstiltskin doesn't show up and act like an ass because he can't handle his 120 proof fairy elixer. Rumpel always puts too much wormword in it....silly hobbit.

[Oh Shoot]

You and I will probably never know. Others are totally convinced.

I'm going with Horus. The firstest with mostest.

- OS

[Daniel]

John Lennon?

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