Imagine God.

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: DixyCrat

And you were personally selected to disseminate this truth amongst us?

Probably not.. probably violating Jesus' commandment not to cast pearls of wisdom before the feet of those who will stomp on them and turn back to bight you for the effort.

But then I got a few thoughtful and interesting responses... so who's to say?

The sock-puppet one is funny; those who answered the question directly were enlightening.

Turns out that only most atheists are ass-hats while some are willing to actually step out of their paradigm for a moment to see the world through anther's eyes and acknowledge the good that the "enemy" sees.

World-View changing is an important thing to learn in life if you want to become an intellectually honest person.

I am not an atheist, but you criticise people for their beliefs and actions ("ass-hats") and then go on to extol the virtues of empathy and seeing the world through the eyes of others. Did Jesus tell you to do that?

 

[Dr. Zaus]

I am not an atheist, but you criticise people for their beliefs and actions ("ass-hats") and then go on to extol the virtues of empathyand seeing the world through the eyes of others. Did Jesus tell you to do that?

Dude, if I came close to doing what Jesus wants of me I doubt I would be posting all night on this forum.

I criticized no one for their beliefs... I doubt anyone has control over such things... I only explained that our restless nature is why we are who we are; most people are so stuck in themselves that they can't see daylight... which is my understanding of the colloquial saying "asshat"... also I like that 70s show and thought of it more as a more friendly derision than anything.

 

[skace]

To answer your original question: I'd have a lot of questions for this man.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Originally posted by: skace
To answer your original question: I'd have a lot of questions for this man.

well, a lot of people think he wrote one book, a lot of others thing he wrote another book and yet a bunch of others think he wrote yet a third book and that the second book is a bit silly.

then there are Mormons so let's not go there.(edit: 3 more books!)

Something all of those major groups have in common is that they have, as part of their book, something that says "if you want to know that I exist then pray and I will reveal myself to you"

Then you can ask your questions to your own satisfaction.

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: DixyCrat

Originally posted by: skace
To answer your original question: I'd have a lot of questions for this man.

well, a lot of people think he wrote one book, a lot of others thing he wrote another book and yet a bunch of others think he wrote yet a third book and that the second book is a bit silly.

then there are Mormons so let's not go there.

Something all of those major groups have in common is that they have, as part of their book, something that says "if you want to know that I exist then pray and I will reveal myself to you"

Then you can ask your questions to your own satisfaction.

The questions aren't the problem: it's the answers that people believe they have heard.

Lay off the Mormons. If you believe in burning bushes you are in no position to criticise people who believe in prophet Smith.

I have to go, but I wish you every success in accomplishing whatever it is you are attempting to accomplish.

 

[Regs]

I'm still waiting for some one to pop up and ask me for my credit card # in this thread.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: DixyCrat
well, a lot of people think he wrote one book, a lot of others thing he wrote another book and yet a bunch of others think he wrote yet a third book and that the second book is a bit silly.

then there are Mormons so let's not go there.(edit: 3 more books!)

Something all of those major groups have in common is that they have, as part of their book, something that says "if you want to know that I exist then pray and I will reveal myself to you"

Then you can ask your questions to your own satisfaction.

I'm praying for tidal waves.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: DixyCrat
World-View changing is an important thing to learn in life if you want to become an intellectually honest person.

Unfortunately your OP does absolutely nothing whatsoever to effect a change in people's worldview.

Atheists admit that if there were empirical proof for the existence of any god (which specific god is irrelevant) they would indeed believe. The strict Atheist position, however, is that there is no such proof and that there cannot ever be such proof so, on the basis of that, they do not believe. (The Agnostic position is more nuanced and is typically what laymen actually mean when they say "Atheist", but it is still not substantively different for the purposes of this post.)

Your OP posits a fantasy scenario that does not challenge the Atheist/Agnostic worldview. It is logically no different than asking people to believe that the Land of Oz (the one from the L. Frank Baum novels, not Australia) really exists. No-one ever says that they would disbelieve in Oz if it actually were true; what we do assert, however, is that it is not true. Merely asking someone to imagine Oz does not constitute a challenge to the worldview that Oz does not exist in fact.

Ridiculous stunts like your OP are, in reality, more likely to harden people's hearts against Christianity than they are to make anyone seriously re-think it.

ZV

 

[surfsatwerk]

Originally posted by: Red Irish

Originally posted by: DixyCrat

Originally posted by: skace
To answer your original question: I'd have a lot of questions for this man.

well, a lot of people think he wrote one book, a lot of others thing he wrote another book and yet a bunch of others think he wrote yet a third book and that the second book is a bit silly.

then there are Mormons so let's not go there.

Something all of those major groups have in common is that they have, as part of their book, something that says "if you want to know that I exist then pray and I will reveal myself to you"

Then you can ask your questions to your own satisfaction.

The questions aren't the problem: it's the answers that people believe they have heard.

Lay off the Mormons. If you believe in burning bushes you are in no position to criticise people who believe in prophet Smith.

I have to go, but I wish you every success in accomplishing whatever it is you are attempting to accomplish.

Can I be a prophet too if I become a notorious alcoholic and start writing down my hallucinations?

 

[shortylickens]

This dude is like the Christian version of rcxEric. Nobody knows WTF he's saying, but at least he provides a good laugh.

 

[manowar821]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Originally posted by: DixyCrat

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Ok, so I'm visualizing a world with a god. Great. So what? This world is boring.

However if god happens to be true then you're leaving out lots of little details like human pain and suffering and death and disease and evil and sadness and loneliness.

That angst, never being satisfied when we do have perfection, is exactly why we don't have it.

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer

Is there anything more smug than a true believer?

There is nothing more humble than a true believer in Christ.. something I am not but someday hope to be.

I don't think I've ever wanted to punch someone through the internet so badly.

Hahaha, oh you make me laugh so good.

 

[thecrecarc]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: tenshodo13
The Emperor loves all. We are all children of the Emperor. The Emperor keeps chaos at bay, keeps us safe in our homes, and unifies the imperium of Mankind.

O Eternal Emperor,
Who Alone watches us,
And rules the tides and storms,
Be compassionate to your servants,
Preserve us from the perils of the warp,
That we may be safeguard to the domain of men!

North Korean?

Grey Knight

Foolish stranger.

"The alien is not intrinsically evil.
Do not hate him. Pity him his ignorance.
Seek to understand his differences
And acquaint him with his inadequacies.
Only then will he accept his place
in the Greater Good. "

For the Tau'va!

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: DixyCrat

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: DixyCrat
Honestly imagine that God does exist. This God is a sincere spirit. God has heartfelt feelings and you can talk with him. God does and thinks true things. God is factually unlimited. God is exact and unchanging. God is everything that is right with this world. Everything about God is true. Everything God ever promised is true. God is love.

Imagine that God literally came in the form of a man. A man who could have acceptably had or done anything he wanted. A proper man that let inhabitants of this earth murder him so those murderers could live forever. A man who, in his being God, was risen from the grave three days later. A man who accurately promised that if we trust in him, we are already saved.

Would you love this God? Would you love this Man?

Are you sure you are correct?

I never understood what one man dying has to do with saving people----if God could do whatever he wants, why all the hoopla?

So that humans, as we are, can come to our own conclusions and see for ourselves who and what we are.

That makes no sense at all. That's a problem I always had in Catholic grade school- you always get doubletalk answers for questions like these.

 

[Juddog]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: DixyCrat

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: DixyCrat
Honestly imagine that God does exist. This God is a sincere spirit. God has heartfelt feelings and you can talk with him. God does and thinks true things. God is factually unlimited. God is exact and unchanging. God is everything that is right with this world. Everything about God is true. Everything God ever promised is true. God is love.

Imagine that God literally came in the form of a man. A man who could have acceptably had or done anything he wanted. A proper man that let inhabitants of this earth murder him so those murderers could live forever. A man who, in his being God, was risen from the grave three days later. A man who accurately promised that if we trust in him, we are already saved.

Would you love this God? Would you love this Man?

Are you sure you are correct?

I never understood what one man dying has to do with saving people----if God could do whatever he wants, why all the hoopla?

So that humans, as we are, can come to our own conclusions and see for ourselves who and what we are.

That makes no sense at all. That's a problem I always had in Catholic grade school- you always get doubletalk answers for questions like these.

The whole thing is doubletalk. They actually train people to think like this, in terms of logic circles.

 

[spaceman]

imagining the god look wat happend to JOb in lawnmwman i dont want to be turn to spheres mind melted

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: DixyCrat
There is nothing more humble than a true believer in Christ.. something I am not but someday hope to be.

What an arrogant thing to say.

 

[DangerAardvark]

Originally posted by: Juddog

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: DixyCrat

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: DixyCrat
Honestly imagine that God does exist. This God is a sincere spirit. God has heartfelt feelings and you can talk with him. God does and thinks true things. God is factually unlimited. God is exact and unchanging. God is everything that is right with this world. Everything about God is true. Everything God ever promised is true. God is love.

Imagine that God literally came in the form of a man. A man who could have acceptably had or done anything he wanted. A proper man that let inhabitants of this earth murder him so those murderers could live forever. A man who, in his being God, was risen from the grave three days later. A man who accurately promised that if we trust in him, we are already saved.

Would you love this God? Would you love this Man?

Are you sure you are correct?

I never understood what one man dying has to do with saving people----if God could do whatever he wants, why all the hoopla?

So that humans, as we are, can come to our own conclusions and see for ourselves who and what we are.

That makes no sense at all. That's a problem I always had in Catholic grade school- you always get doubletalk answers for questions like these.

The whole thing is doubletalk. They actually train people to think like this, in terms of logic circles.

Quoted for emphasis. It's actually disturbing to read such fuzzy thinking so sincerely expressed. The entire field of Christian apologetics is full of this dog shit, my favorite example of which is C.S. Lewis' unintentionally ironic comment about Jesus:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Of course he neglects to include the option that perhaps Jesus was simply well-intentioned but wrong. Or that perhaps he was misquoted. Or that huge swaths of the Biblical account of his life was likely completely fabricated. But why would he do that? That's too obvious.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: DixyCrat

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Your fantasy world is no different from the Christians fantasy world. Hypothetically, if I were in this fantasy world, and the guy really did exist, I would indeed love this god and his man form.

I ask because I have been led to believe that those who do not believe would not.

Of course not. If your Mr. Perfect is up there and the shit that's going on down here, you know the rapes, tortures, beheadings, murders, wars, etc, that would make him a sick fucking voyeuristic pervert. Who would want such a guy in charge?

Now if you change your hypo to Mr. Perfect presiding over a world where he makes good on his promises to protect the weak, promote justice, reward the good, then sure why not. But that's not this universe.

Your hypo is like asking, "If ricin wasn't a poison, but was actually a tasty snack, would you eat it?"

 

[CKent]

Imagine that God literally came in the form of a man

That would be pretty cool, but it would immediately plop down into a huge puddle. And ideally two or more girls would start wrestling in it.

Shouldn't you be out ringing doorbells?

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Originally posted by: jonks
Your hypo is like asking, "If ricin wasn't a poison, but was actually a tasty snack, would you eat it?"

Sign me up for poisoncakes!!

 

[Safeway]

Reading that OP made me sick.

 

[Safeway]

Brain-washed religious nuts make me physically sick.

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark


Quoted for emphasis. It's actually disturbing to read such fuzzy thinking so sincerely expressed. The entire field of Christian apologetics is full of this dog shit, my favorite example of which is C.S. Lewis' unintentionally ironic comment about Jesus:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Of course he neglects to include the option that perhaps Jesus was simply well-intentioned but wrong. Or that perhaps he was misquoted. Or that huge swaths of the Biblical account of his life was likely completely fabricated. But why would he do that? That's too obvious.

This always bugged me too. Lewis has a rep as a master of logic, but that quote is classic False Dilemma.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: Safeway
Brain-washed religious nuts make me physically sick.

That too shall pass. Be not afraid, I go before you always.

 

[randay]

no i would not love him. its not in my nature to love anyone at the drop of a hat. i might adore him, respect him, and obey him.

noone can earn my love simply by existing, that idea is simply ludicrous.