Check out these well meaning but ill informed ignorant folks. They even have a video, so rot your brain for a minute if you dare!
D
Showing posts with label of. Show all posts
Showing posts with label of. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Mr. Fire Update (Part 3)
No luck with Mr. Fire or Trish. I guess they don't want to talk to poor nobody me. That's alright because I found another person advocating non-sense to introduce to you. David Dutch the author of the blog In The Footsteps of Giants is an advocate of the Secret and an author. What does David have to say about LOA (Law Of Attraction)? His opening question will reveal a lot to us.
Do you doubt the existence of the law of attraction?..........
What David doesn't mention is that gravity is testable along with all other theories/laws of nature, they are also tentative. While gravitational theory may never be replaced, it could be if a better explanation came along to explain what we observe. So if LOA is a theory explaining natural events then it is possible to test it. Remember, all theories/laws are subject to verification. When you posit a theory you must be able to show what would "prove" or "disprove" it (I use the word prove, but you don't ever really prove anything in the absolute sense, everything is tentative).
Gravity, we can test that easily (for the most part). If I throw a baseball and it lands on the earth 10ft in front of me (I know, it was a very poor throw) we can say that gravity is the force pulling the ball to the earth (the earth has mass as does the ball, smaller objects are attracted to larger ones, so the earth bends space-time to attract the ball). Now, the more we run that experiment and the more we get those results we can show gravity in action, in other words, we are verifying the theory of gravitation. What would falsify gravity? Using our baseball experiment, if I threw the ball and it just kept going and never landed, that would be a start. Or if we found that bodies with mass didn't attract each other. That would be trouble for gravity.
The point I am getting to here is that whether you doubt the theory of gravitation or not is not dependant on whether it works or not. David would agree with me here But he is saying that you have to believe in the LOA in order for it to work for you.
The day you stop questioning the validity of the law of attraction is the day you will allow it to work in your life.
Whether you question the validity of gravity or not, it works, it has been tested, and even if gravity is falsified there would be another testable explanation put in it's place. If LOA is a natural law (or a theory explaining nature) then what tests can we perform to verify or falsify it?
David uses this example to show that the LOA is real:
Look around at every successful person, every goal achiever they are living evidence of the law of attraction working in their lives.
Has David ever heard of Occam's Razor? In short, Occam's Razor is a philosophical principle that states the solution that makes the fewest assumptions is probably the correct one. For example: I showed up at work today. Is it more plausible that I drove my car to work or that Scotty on the Star ship Enterprise beamed me there? So are successful people successful because they believe that there is a LOA or because those who are successful typically have traits/skills such as: a positive attitude, honesty, hard working, multitasking skills, communication skills, the ability to commit to projects and so on?
How are we going to verify that it is the LOA that is allowing these people to be successful? This is where I am going to leave it to you the readers. Tell me how we can verify LOA and also how we can falsify it. I have a few ideas myself but I want to hear yours. I will post the best ones here on Skeptic Dave. And think outside of the box, be creative, and see what you come up with. If anything it will be great brain exercise.
D
Do you doubt the existence of the law of attraction?..........
You may have heard of the film, ‘The Secret’ even watched it but still dismiss the law of attraction as Mumbo Jumbo.
Or is there really a force in nature that will allow you to use your secret mind to succeed where you have never succeeded before simply by harnessing the power of visuailzation and using affirmations?
Let’s look around nature and see what natural laws exist. Well there is the main one that keeps us all on this small planet of ours; you know the one that has always been there but was best explained by Sir Isaac Newton and his famous apple.
It does not matter whether or not an apple actually fell on his head the law of gravity has always been there and hopefully it always will be here, as I have no fancy for drifting off into space without a spaceship..........
Is the law of gravity simple? Is the law of Chemistry simple? Is the law of physics simple? Is the law of mathematics simple? Is the law of logic simple? In as much as they are there despite you. You may not understand them but you accept them because of the evidence you have every day of their workings.
Look around at every successful person, every goal achiever they are living evidence of the law of attraction working in their lives.
The day you stop questioning the validity of the law of attraction is the day you will allow it to work in your life.
Oh where to start? What is David really saying here? Well, he is trying to convince his audience that the LOA is like any other sort of natural law, they are there whether you want to "believe" in them or not. David is trying to convince his audience that LOA essentially is a scientific principle (or should be treated like one).What David doesn't mention is that gravity is testable along with all other theories/laws of nature, they are also tentative. While gravitational theory may never be replaced, it could be if a better explanation came along to explain what we observe. So if LOA is a theory explaining natural events then it is possible to test it. Remember, all theories/laws are subject to verification. When you posit a theory you must be able to show what would "prove" or "disprove" it (I use the word prove, but you don't ever really prove anything in the absolute sense, everything is tentative).
Gravity, we can test that easily (for the most part). If I throw a baseball and it lands on the earth 10ft in front of me (I know, it was a very poor throw) we can say that gravity is the force pulling the ball to the earth (the earth has mass as does the ball, smaller objects are attracted to larger ones, so the earth bends space-time to attract the ball). Now, the more we run that experiment and the more we get those results we can show gravity in action, in other words, we are verifying the theory of gravitation. What would falsify gravity? Using our baseball experiment, if I threw the ball and it just kept going and never landed, that would be a start. Or if we found that bodies with mass didn't attract each other. That would be trouble for gravity.
The point I am getting to here is that whether you doubt the theory of gravitation or not is not dependant on whether it works or not. David would agree with me here But he is saying that you have to believe in the LOA in order for it to work for you.
The day you stop questioning the validity of the law of attraction is the day you will allow it to work in your life.
Whether you question the validity of gravity or not, it works, it has been tested, and even if gravity is falsified there would be another testable explanation put in it's place. If LOA is a natural law (or a theory explaining nature) then what tests can we perform to verify or falsify it?
David uses this example to show that the LOA is real:
Look around at every successful person, every goal achiever they are living evidence of the law of attraction working in their lives.
Has David ever heard of Occam's Razor? In short, Occam's Razor is a philosophical principle that states the solution that makes the fewest assumptions is probably the correct one. For example: I showed up at work today. Is it more plausible that I drove my car to work or that Scotty on the Star ship Enterprise beamed me there? So are successful people successful because they believe that there is a LOA or because those who are successful typically have traits/skills such as: a positive attitude, honesty, hard working, multitasking skills, communication skills, the ability to commit to projects and so on?
How are we going to verify that it is the LOA that is allowing these people to be successful? This is where I am going to leave it to you the readers. Tell me how we can verify LOA and also how we can falsify it. I have a few ideas myself but I want to hear yours. I will post the best ones here on Skeptic Dave. And think outside of the box, be creative, and see what you come up with. If anything it will be great brain exercise.
D
Monday, March 9, 2009
Joe Vitale = The Lose
I usually try to stay away from name calling and strong language on this blog, but then I found out about this asshole. Why do I call him an asshole? Probably because he tells you that positive thoughts will give you everything you want. We aren't talking about the healthy (reality based) thinking positively here. We are talking about The Secret type of positive thinking that maintains that you can have a sports car magically appear in your driveway by believing that you have a sports car in your driveway. What exactly is the mechanism that allows this to happen? Let me answer that..............
THERE ISN'T ONE, IT IS ALL JUST A BUNCH OF HOKEY NEW AGE SELF HELP B.S.!
So, I had to comment on Joe's (a.k.a. Mr. Fire) blog about such non-sense. Here is what I wrote:
"So are you implying that someone with HIV shouldn’t go to a doctor because if they are positive and believe in LOA, then the universe will heal them of HIV? What about amputees, will they get their limbs back if they are positive enough? Are starving children in Africa (or anywhere else) not thinking positive enough, and that’s why they are starving? I guess all of the seniors who get ripped off by con-artists weren’t thinking positively enough either."
ARRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!
Stay tuned, I may get a response for my comment, we will see.
D
THERE ISN'T ONE, IT IS ALL JUST A BUNCH OF HOKEY NEW AGE SELF HELP B.S.!
So, I had to comment on Joe's (a.k.a. Mr. Fire) blog about such non-sense. Here is what I wrote:
"So are you implying that someone with HIV shouldn’t go to a doctor because if they are positive and believe in LOA, then the universe will heal them of HIV? What about amputees, will they get their limbs back if they are positive enough? Are starving children in Africa (or anywhere else) not thinking positive enough, and that’s why they are starving? I guess all of the seniors who get ripped off by con-artists weren’t thinking positively enough either."
ARRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!
Stay tuned, I may get a response for my comment, we will see.
D
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Penn & Teller's Bullshit: End of The World
To go along with the previous post, I thought I would show some Penn & Teller (of course!).
D
D
2015 Is The End Of The World, Not 2012
According to Pastor Mark Blitz, Jesus and his lawyer (thank you Eels) are coming back in the year 2015. Mark has been checking out the NASA website and it so happens that there is supposed to be a red moon in 2015. So, to Mark, this is the coming of the end.......so long fair world, I will miss you. Wait a minute, isn't the world supposed to end on December 23, 2012? Appearently those folks didn't check with NASA, cause NASA knows everything. So, all of you who were planning for the world to end in 2012........don't worry, you have another three years to do whatever it is that you do.
D
REPOSTED FROM: http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=63076
TESTING THE FAITH
Blood moon eclipses: 2nd Coming in 2015?
Minister uses NASA forecasting to study signals of Jesus' return
Posted: April 30, 2008
11:49 pm Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
Will Jesus Christ return to Earth in the year 2015?
And can studying NASA's website provide evidence for such a scenario?
A minister who promotes the Old Testament roots of Christianity suggests a rare string of lunar and solar eclipses said to fall on God's annual holy days seven years from now could herald what's come to be known as the "Second Coming" of Jesus.
"God wants us to look at the biblical calendar," says Mark Biltz, pastor of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash. "The reason we need to be watching is [because] He will signal His appearance. But we have to know what to be watching as well. So we need to be watching the biblical holidays."
In a video interview on the Prophecy in the News website, Biltz said he's been studying prophecies that focus on the sun and moon, even going back to the book of Genesis where it states the lights in the sky would be "be for signs, and for seasons."
"It means a signal, kind of like 'one if by land, two if by sea.' It's like God wants to signal us," he said. "The Hebrew word implies ... not only is it a signal, but it's a signal for coming or His appearing."
Biltz adds the word "seasons" implies appointed times for God's feasts and festivals.
"When we hear the word feast, we think food. But the Hebrew word has nothing to do with food. It has to do with a divine appointment, as if God has a day timer, and He says, 'OK, I'm gonna mark the day and the time when I'm going to signal My appearance.'"
In the Old Testament, the prophet Joel states, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." (Joel 2:31)
In the New Testament, Jesus is quoted as saying, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light ... And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (Matthew 24:29-30)
Gary Stearman of Prophecy in the News noted, "When we think of the sun being darkened and the moon not giving her light, we usually think of some astronomical catastrophe – perhaps the sun sputtering and the moon being affected by all this. But maybe it's time to rethink this a little bit and think of it as a natural cycle, the cycle of the eclipses."
Thus, Biltz began focusing on the precise times of both solar and lunar eclipses, sometimes called "blood moons" since the moon often takes on a bloody color. He logged onto NASA's eclipse website which provides precision tracking of the celestial events.
He noted a rare phenomenon of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, known as a tetrad.
He says during this century, tetrads occur at least six times, but what's interesting is that the only string of four consecutive blood moons that coincide with God's holy days of Passover in the spring and the autumn's Feast of Tabernacles (also called Succoth) occurs between 2014 and 2015 on today's Gregorian calendar.
"The fact that it doesn't happen again in this century I think is very significant," Biltz explains. "So then I looked at last century, and, believe it or not, the last time that four blood red moons occurred together was in 1967 and 1968 tied to Jerusalem recaptured by Israel."
He then started to notice a pattern of the tetrads.
"What's significant to me is that even before 1967, the next time that you had four blood red moons again was right after Israel became a nation in '48, it happened again in 1949 and 1950 ... on Passover and Succoth. You didn't have any astronomical tetrads in the 1800s, the 1700s, the 1600s. In the 1500s, there were six, but none of those fell on Passover and Succoth."
When checking the schedule for solar eclipses, Biltz found two – one on the first day of the Hebrew year and the next on the high holy day of Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the seventh Hebrew month. Both of these take place in the 2014-2015 year.
Biltz says, "You have the religious year beginning with the total solar eclipse, two weeks later a total lunar eclipse on Passover, and then the civil year beginning with the solar eclipse followed two weeks later by another total blood red moon on the Feast of Succoth all in 2015."
"If you think that this is a coincidence, I want you to know that it's time!" exclaimed Prophecy in the News host J.R. Church. "There are no more of these for the rest of the century."
The prospect of eclipses pinpointing the time of Jesus' return is getting mixed reaction in Christian circles.
After seeing Biltz's interview, Jim Bramlett, an author and former vice president for the Christian Broadcasting Network, expressed excitement.
"I have just watched the program two times and do not think I have ever been more encouraged or excited about the soon return of the Lord!" Bramlett said.
But Hal Lindsey, a well-known biblical analyst and author of "The Late Great Planet Earth," says while he hasn't heard of Biltz's theory, he called it "pure speculation."
"In my 50-something years of studying prophecy, to me the greatest indication of the time of Christ's return is based around the general things of prophecies coming together in the same time frame."
He mentioned not only Israel's birth as a political state in 1948, but the increase in tensions with Muslims, the rise of Russia, China and the European Union, which he says is even "calling itself the revived Roman Empire."
"I see the whole sweep and panorama spinning together in a precise scenario," he said.
During a second video interview, Biltz was presented with Bible quotes that many think suggest Jesus' return will be a complete surprise, or at least not specifically known.
The 25th chapter of Matthew features a parable where Jesus likens His kingdom to ten virgins all waiting for the arrival of their bridegroom.
Jesus said in the story, "ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." (Matthew 25:13)
Biltz says people need to examine the quote in its proper context.
"When He says you don't know the day or the hour, He's speaking to the foolish virgins, not the wise virgins," he explained.
Biltz was also asked about the famous statement in Matthew 24:36 when Jesus was discussing the signs of His "coming, and of the end of the world": "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew 24:36)
He responded by referring to the annual Feast of Trumpets holiday, saying Israelites never knew the precise moment it began, "because it was based on the sighting of the new moon."
"When He (Jesus) says you won't know the day or the hour, He's telling you it's the Feast of Trumpets because that was known as the feast where no one knew the day or the hour that it would begin," said Biltz. "So it's kind of like if I told you, 'I'm not going to tell you when I'm coming, but "Gobble, gobble, gobble,'" [pointing to] Turkey Day."
Church stressed despite the information suggesting 2015 could be a pivotal time, "We don't know that that will be the concluding year of the tribulation period ... so we're not setting a date and saying this is a warning. We're introducing the possibility of a watch.
D
REPOSTED FROM: http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=63076
TESTING THE FAITH
Blood moon eclipses: 2nd Coming in 2015?
Minister uses NASA forecasting to study signals of Jesus' return
Posted: April 30, 2008
11:49 pm Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
Will Jesus Christ return to Earth in the year 2015?
And can studying NASA's website provide evidence for such a scenario?
A minister who promotes the Old Testament roots of Christianity suggests a rare string of lunar and solar eclipses said to fall on God's annual holy days seven years from now could herald what's come to be known as the "Second Coming" of Jesus.
"God wants us to look at the biblical calendar," says Mark Biltz, pastor of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash. "The reason we need to be watching is [because] He will signal His appearance. But we have to know what to be watching as well. So we need to be watching the biblical holidays."
In a video interview on the Prophecy in the News website, Biltz said he's been studying prophecies that focus on the sun and moon, even going back to the book of Genesis where it states the lights in the sky would be "be for signs, and for seasons."
"It means a signal, kind of like 'one if by land, two if by sea.' It's like God wants to signal us," he said. "The Hebrew word implies ... not only is it a signal, but it's a signal for coming or His appearing."
Biltz adds the word "seasons" implies appointed times for God's feasts and festivals.
"When we hear the word feast, we think food. But the Hebrew word has nothing to do with food. It has to do with a divine appointment, as if God has a day timer, and He says, 'OK, I'm gonna mark the day and the time when I'm going to signal My appearance.'"
In the Old Testament, the prophet Joel states, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." (Joel 2:31)
In the New Testament, Jesus is quoted as saying, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light ... And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (Matthew 24:29-30)
Gary Stearman of Prophecy in the News noted, "When we think of the sun being darkened and the moon not giving her light, we usually think of some astronomical catastrophe – perhaps the sun sputtering and the moon being affected by all this. But maybe it's time to rethink this a little bit and think of it as a natural cycle, the cycle of the eclipses."
Thus, Biltz began focusing on the precise times of both solar and lunar eclipses, sometimes called "blood moons" since the moon often takes on a bloody color. He logged onto NASA's eclipse website which provides precision tracking of the celestial events.
He noted a rare phenomenon of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, known as a tetrad.
He says during this century, tetrads occur at least six times, but what's interesting is that the only string of four consecutive blood moons that coincide with God's holy days of Passover in the spring and the autumn's Feast of Tabernacles (also called Succoth) occurs between 2014 and 2015 on today's Gregorian calendar.
"The fact that it doesn't happen again in this century I think is very significant," Biltz explains. "So then I looked at last century, and, believe it or not, the last time that four blood red moons occurred together was in 1967 and 1968 tied to Jerusalem recaptured by Israel."
He then started to notice a pattern of the tetrads.
"What's significant to me is that even before 1967, the next time that you had four blood red moons again was right after Israel became a nation in '48, it happened again in 1949 and 1950 ... on Passover and Succoth. You didn't have any astronomical tetrads in the 1800s, the 1700s, the 1600s. In the 1500s, there were six, but none of those fell on Passover and Succoth."
When checking the schedule for solar eclipses, Biltz found two – one on the first day of the Hebrew year and the next on the high holy day of Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the seventh Hebrew month. Both of these take place in the 2014-2015 year.
Biltz says, "You have the religious year beginning with the total solar eclipse, two weeks later a total lunar eclipse on Passover, and then the civil year beginning with the solar eclipse followed two weeks later by another total blood red moon on the Feast of Succoth all in 2015."
"If you think that this is a coincidence, I want you to know that it's time!" exclaimed Prophecy in the News host J.R. Church. "There are no more of these for the rest of the century."
The prospect of eclipses pinpointing the time of Jesus' return is getting mixed reaction in Christian circles.
After seeing Biltz's interview, Jim Bramlett, an author and former vice president for the Christian Broadcasting Network, expressed excitement.
"I have just watched the program two times and do not think I have ever been more encouraged or excited about the soon return of the Lord!" Bramlett said.
But Hal Lindsey, a well-known biblical analyst and author of "The Late Great Planet Earth," says while he hasn't heard of Biltz's theory, he called it "pure speculation."
"In my 50-something years of studying prophecy, to me the greatest indication of the time of Christ's return is based around the general things of prophecies coming together in the same time frame."
He mentioned not only Israel's birth as a political state in 1948, but the increase in tensions with Muslims, the rise of Russia, China and the European Union, which he says is even "calling itself the revived Roman Empire."
"I see the whole sweep and panorama spinning together in a precise scenario," he said.
During a second video interview, Biltz was presented with Bible quotes that many think suggest Jesus' return will be a complete surprise, or at least not specifically known.
The 25th chapter of Matthew features a parable where Jesus likens His kingdom to ten virgins all waiting for the arrival of their bridegroom.
Jesus said in the story, "ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." (Matthew 25:13)
Biltz says people need to examine the quote in its proper context.
"When He says you don't know the day or the hour, He's speaking to the foolish virgins, not the wise virgins," he explained.
Biltz was also asked about the famous statement in Matthew 24:36 when Jesus was discussing the signs of His "coming, and of the end of the world": "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew 24:36)
He responded by referring to the annual Feast of Trumpets holiday, saying Israelites never knew the precise moment it began, "because it was based on the sighting of the new moon."
"When He (Jesus) says you won't know the day or the hour, He's telling you it's the Feast of Trumpets because that was known as the feast where no one knew the day or the hour that it would begin," said Biltz. "So it's kind of like if I told you, 'I'm not going to tell you when I'm coming, but "Gobble, gobble, gobble,'" [pointing to] Turkey Day."
Church stressed despite the information suggesting 2015 could be a pivotal time, "We don't know that that will be the concluding year of the tribulation period ... so we're not setting a date and saying this is a warning. We're introducing the possibility of a watch.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Ray Comfort Cliffhanger
Last night I posted "Ray Comfort.....If you only had a clue (part 2). I did leave you hanging, as my head was about to explode. It is hard for me to explain physics and it's laws (as it is one of my weaker subjects, but I do love it!!), so I needed the brain to cool off. Aside from all of that, I'm not sure that I needed to try to explain the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics in order to show how flimsy his argument is. Really, Ray was trying to make the tired old first cause argument. Otherwise, if something exists then it has to have a creator. This isn't necessarily a bad argument, but it falls way short of proving that a god exists. Even if god did exist (using this line of logic) there is no way to know which god exists. So, if god is outside space-time like Ray says, then there is no way to know the physical properties of god (if god has any), and thus we cannot know what laws of physics (if there are any) outside of space-time. Therefore, Ray does not escape the idea that god (if there is one) could have been made by another more powerful god.
Now on to the cliffhanger. As I remember, I left you with this (stated by Ray):
If we believe that there is no Hell, we will live our life accordingly. If we believe Hell exists and that there will be divine retribution (ultimate justice), then we need a Savior to wash our sins away before the Day of Judgment. God provided one. Read the Gospel of John to see the details.
Can anyone see any problems with the above statement? May I ask all of you (believers and non alike), are you good because you are afraid of hell (obviously the non-believers aren't)? Or are you only being good because a god is watching? If so, you may not be a very good human being, I can't say for sure but........you may want to stop and think about your motivations for a bit. I don't believe in hell (along with roughly 600-700 million atheists in the world today), and I don't murder, rape, or own slaves (all which by the way is condoned in the bible!). Why do I bother to try to be the best person that I can? That is a long complicated question but short of it is............I don't want to see others suffer. We have empathy (most of us do!). You do not have to believe in god in order to be a good human being, you probably are already. Below, I have some questions which need to be answered by Ray and believers alike in order to justify the rest of his statement (the above statement is also used almost universally from believers, thus why I include them).
1) If everything comes from god (god is the maker of all things), then why did god create evil?
2) If god didn't create evil and hates evil, why does god use it by proxy (see Job)?
3) If god uses evil to do his will, then isn't evil necessary? Therefore, why would god send anyone to hell for fulfilling his plan/will? Isn't Lucifer doing what god wants?
4) If god doesn't need to use evil for his plan, then why doesn't god just eradicate all evil?
5) If evil didn't come from god, and god can't vanish it from the universe, why call god, god?
6) If you were the devil and knew that god was an all knowing/powerful being, would you even think about rebelling?
7) Does there have to be an entity to tempt you to do evil? If so, who tempted the devil?
8) Why did god feel the need to send himself/his son to be sacrificed for us? Could he not of done this in a more humane or efficient way?
9) Was the aforementioned sacrifice really a sacrifice? In order to sacrifice something, you have to give it up but Jesus was never lost. Jesus knew that, even though he was going to be tortured, he was going to be sitting at the right hand of god. God knew this as well, and thus never sacrificed anything.
10) If god asked you to kill your own child, would you do it? You know for sure that it is god speaking, would you do it?
D
Now on to the cliffhanger. As I remember, I left you with this (stated by Ray):
If we believe that there is no Hell, we will live our life accordingly. If we believe Hell exists and that there will be divine retribution (ultimate justice), then we need a Savior to wash our sins away before the Day of Judgment. God provided one. Read the Gospel of John to see the details.
Can anyone see any problems with the above statement? May I ask all of you (believers and non alike), are you good because you are afraid of hell (obviously the non-believers aren't)? Or are you only being good because a god is watching? If so, you may not be a very good human being, I can't say for sure but........you may want to stop and think about your motivations for a bit. I don't believe in hell (along with roughly 600-700 million atheists in the world today), and I don't murder, rape, or own slaves (all which by the way is condoned in the bible!). Why do I bother to try to be the best person that I can? That is a long complicated question but short of it is............I don't want to see others suffer. We have empathy (most of us do!). You do not have to believe in god in order to be a good human being, you probably are already. Below, I have some questions which need to be answered by Ray and believers alike in order to justify the rest of his statement (the above statement is also used almost universally from believers, thus why I include them).
1) If everything comes from god (god is the maker of all things), then why did god create evil?
2) If god didn't create evil and hates evil, why does god use it by proxy (see Job)?
3) If god uses evil to do his will, then isn't evil necessary? Therefore, why would god send anyone to hell for fulfilling his plan/will? Isn't Lucifer doing what god wants?
4) If god doesn't need to use evil for his plan, then why doesn't god just eradicate all evil?
5) If evil didn't come from god, and god can't vanish it from the universe, why call god, god?
6) If you were the devil and knew that god was an all knowing/powerful being, would you even think about rebelling?
7) Does there have to be an entity to tempt you to do evil? If so, who tempted the devil?
8) Why did god feel the need to send himself/his son to be sacrificed for us? Could he not of done this in a more humane or efficient way?
9) Was the aforementioned sacrifice really a sacrifice? In order to sacrifice something, you have to give it up but Jesus was never lost. Jesus knew that, even though he was going to be tortured, he was going to be sitting at the right hand of god. God knew this as well, and thus never sacrificed anything.
10) If god asked you to kill your own child, would you do it? You know for sure that it is god speaking, would you do it?
D
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