I explained this to you. We talked about it on the phone, remember? You even said you liked my explanation.
How can you have any comfort or trust believing in a God whose prophecies do not come true, who is surprised by His own creation, and who continues to sit idly by, unable to lift a finger, while hundreds of people He supposedly wants to save but cannot, plunge into hell on a daily basis?
I didn't know your name was Swordsman???
Dude go easy on that strawman he's falling to pieces.
I didn't realize this was a test for Swordsman. I've obviously confused you with someone who really wants to know the answer to the question.Originally posted by Knight
I didn't know your name was Swordsman???
What part of my statement does not represent your view? Don't you believe God's prophecies do not always come true? Don't you believe that God gets surprised by creation? Don't you believe God wants to save everyone? Don't you believe that He cannot save those who reject Him? Don't you believe that hundreds of people plunge into hell on a daily basis?Originally posted by Knight
Dude go easy on that strawman he's falling to pieces.
Yep, gotta give you this one! Some explanation is warranted but a... been there, done that.
Definitely!
This is an overstatement I think. As a general statement it is true enough, but God's desire to satisfy the requirements of justice outweighs His desire to save every person from punishment.
Cannot? No, that's definitely not what I believe. Will not is much better! God wills to save those who choose to respond to Him in faith and He will not save those who do not.
Definitely! Many die every day in open and willful rejection of God and will pay the price for the evil of which they are guilty.
It was Swordsman who appealed to the magical anthropomorphism spot cleaner not you. Not to mention I did address him by name when I stated....
Even still.... feel free to answer his question for him if you like but you might want to actually answer it instead of simply claiming we discussed it over the phone (I still don't remember that part of the conversation).
Lets review your statement....
I see.
Yea... that's what I was thinking.
We can know what we can know, the rest we are not responsible for.Clete, I understand what you are saying and appreciate you putting it in such a kind way. Believe me, I don't think I am creating the God that I need. And I am indeed searching for evidence, though I believe I won't know the full truth about things til I am in Heaven with Him. Probably my little head could not comprehend all those thoughts while alive.
Now that we know you don't accept the Bible....
Originally posted by GreenPartyVoter
Knight et al, just to clarify I should have qualified my answer. Yes, I believe it is the Word of God, but no, I do not believe it is infallible. (I mean, which Bible are we talking about anyway? The Catholic one with the Apocrypha? The Protestant one? KJV or the Message?? See more on infallibility here: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/2961/inner1.htm )
But yes, I consider myself a Christian. Not a fundamentalist or conservative evangelical per se, but a Christian none-the-less. I believe in Jesus as both a divine and human being and am striving to be like Him in the examples that he set, not only in how I behave towards others but also in the way that He had such an open and loving relationship with His Abba. (Trying being the operative word, there.)
How do I know He has a plan? How does anyone know anything about Him? He has told me so in my heart. Even were I an empath and I could send you that feeling, you might still doubt it and assume I invented it for my own sake. Wish I could "prove" it to you, but I cannot. Hence why we call it faith.
However if only Nicene Creed/"Bible Believing" Christians are allowed in this particular forum, then I apologize for jumping in here. I just happened to see the heading about Open Theology in the latest threads box, and as I had been thinking a bit about it recently (what little I know, anyway) I joined the conversation.
