Oh man. Just when I thought this thread was winding down, I log in to find a full page of lengthy posts has been added. So I start to respond and get about half-way through it, and my browser just shuts down out of nowhere. Needless to say, I was frustrated, but I've now recollected myself and it's time for round 2.
PrinceAli wrote:
Who am I? Who are you to say that the Bible is correct, is God's Word, and Jesus is the only way? It is all a matter of opinion, and how much faith we put into our opinions. I never said you are filled with hate. I said I think it is hateful to disrespect other religions just because you think your's is correct. If that is the point of holding your own faith, then I think that too is wrong.
Ok, just a run-down of what's been said thus far:
PrinceAli wrote:That is why I am so disgusted by folks who profess their profound devotion to Christ and preach hatred in the same (and the next, and the next) breath. I am sure Loomis has met many of them, here and elsewhere.
I then said I knew a few of them myself, and you said "Earth to Aaron: you are one of them."
There's a big difference between expressing a belief (ex: Jesus is the path to salvation) and attributing negative personal qualities to someone else in the course of a debate. That is what is known as a personal attack. They really bring the entire discussion down a level or two, and they aren't appreciated. I don't hate anyone, and I haven't said anything hateful about or towards anyone in this thread. I denounce beliefs, yes, but not those who hold them. There is no basis for your comment. But we can drop it and move on.
Prince Ali wrote:No, I never got a memo claiming you are the friendliest/kindest member of the year.
Then let me direct you to the
1st Annual UD.Com MB Awards
PrinceAli wrote:Nope. If it was that clear, there wouldn't be a lot of Christians who believe that you can get to Heaven for being a good person. Nothing is ever that clear in the Bible, that is why there are so many denominations and interpretations of it. You can't literally read a Bible and believe every word when it had to be translated into Hebrew, and then English. Just translating it is interpretation.
Unfortunately, there are many professing Christians who don't read the Bible literally. That speaks only about them, not about the text itself. The Bible
is clear when read literally. You keep saying "you can't..." That's not really a valid argument. Obviously, I can, and do. I know the point you're getting at ("you shouldn't"), but perhaps a little tact would better serve that point? (Oh, and just a side-note: the Bible wasn't translated into Hebrew, it was originally written in Hebrew- the OT, anyways. The NT was originally written in Greek).
PrinceAli wrote:awallaceunc wrote:
Aside from the "leaning not unto our own understaning" bit, I don't believe miracles are at all implausible. Again, if God is all-powerful, why would something like Noah's ark be beyond His ability? Besides, few scientists/archeologists/historians dispute that a great global flood occured. They've even found remains of what many archeologists believe may have been Noah's ark. It's the destruction and repopulation of the world that they have a little harder of a time grasping.
If God is all-powerful? Sounds as if you don't even know. So many ifs and buts are involved with your way of thinking.
PrinceAli wrote:awallaceunc wrote:Yes, He is all-powerful. Please show me in that paragraph you quoted where any ifs and buts were cited.
There, it is bolded.
That was a hypothetical for your benefit. I thought that was clear, but I apologize if it was not. I would think it obvious by now that I'm not undecided as to whether or not God exists.
PrinceAli wrote:And you are going to then say that God just provided the whole dang thing, right?
Yes, that is exactly what I have said and will continue to say. God did provide. Miracles aren't miracles because they are rational, everyday occurances.
PrinceAli wrote:Well if God is omnipotent, why not kill what He wanted killed directly? Why resort to a roundabout method that requires innumerable additional miracles? The whole idea was to rid the wicked people from the world. Did it work?
Several factors contribute to this. The first and most important is that God has a master plan, the purposes and effects of which we can't always (and don't need to) see. The races of the world came as a result of Noah's family repopulating after the flood. God also found favor on Noah, he and his family were the only godly folks left in a world consumed by wickedness. He didn't want to kill them. We also know from end-times scriptures that Noah and the flood occured as a prelude to the way in which the end of the age would come (wicked world, Noah/Christians preach that the rain/end is coming, the people ignore and mock them, the rain/end comes, the faithful are saved from judgment, the world is begun anew after the wicked are purged).
PrinceAli wrote:And let me just tell you something about all this "interpretation" business... To interpret something is to explain the meaning of something. You can either interpret something the way you see fit, or you can interpret something literally. If you interpret something literally, you aren't interfering with what you personally think...It's just the literal thing persay. When leaders talk with other leaders, they use an interpreter. I am pretty sure the interpreter is a guy whol will interpret literally what is being said. Not all the time though, since some languages don't freely translate into others, but sometimes the interpreter will say the literal translation. So there is such thing as interpreting something literally. I really can't make it any easier. Now then, next point...
This is exactly the semantics debate we were steering away from (read the last few posts from Loomis and I for reference). This is truly a repetition of those posts.
PrinceAli wrote:awallaceunc wrote:Well if you take away anything from this thread, please realize that though you may disagree, the perception that everyone believes it is nothing more than a children's story is very much incorrect.
Hmmm, no...I guess not everyone. I meant everyone in a sense like most people. Even many Christians won't accept it as truth, but I guess they will be "dealt with" individually...*shudders*
That, too, is a hasty generalization. I would guess that it's not the case that most Christians don't believe that it occured, but then I don't know. Care to share any stats? Not that it matters, though, it's not a belief popularity contest.
PrinceAli wrote:Let me start by saying anything that comes close to disproving the Bible will be probably answered with a swift "GOD MADE IT SO....CAUSE HE CAN...ummm..YEA!" So you have proof, but you don't need to prove them? Hmmm, I guess you don't have proof.
Man doesn't have to conjur up an answer to debunk the science. Literal scripture does that. And that is precisely right- I don't need to prove anything. I didn't say
I have proof, either, but that many things in the Bible have been proven by others in the past. The point is that the proof doesn't matter, because faith doesn't hinge upon science, nor is the Bible subject to it.
PrinceAli wrote:awallaceunc wrote:God doesn't hate anyone.
Read below...
awallaceunc wrote:Well you have to remember that I also said that science can't and will never be able to disprove God or the Bible. At best, it may some day appear to. No point in retyping my last post, though. No, God won't suddenly hate science, He hates the deception of the enemy and the motives of some men who seek to disprove the Bible.
Enemy? They wouldn't be an enemy if you didn't hate them, right?
*sigh* More word-twisting. A simple grammar lesson will show that in the bold sentence, the hate references the deception and the motives, not the enemy and the men. As for your question- an enemy is an adversary seeking to harm/foil/obstruct/what-have-you you. You don't have to hate an enemy for them to be one. In fact, God tells us that He loves the enemy, and that we are to love the enemy as well. So the originally-quoted statement that "God doesn't hate anyone" holds true.
PrinceAli wrote:awallaceunc wrote:I'm not. God has told us exactly what He thinks in the Bible. I do believe that Christians can share the mind of God, which is taught in the New Testament, but that's an entirely different subject.
Cool. So have you personally ever shared the mind of God? Just wondering...and if so, how was it?
To answer your question in the short-run, yes. But if left in the context of your sarcasm, it remains very misleading. When Christians are in a spiritual walk, if you will, with the Holy Spirit, then they can be anointed with the gift of spiritual discernment. That doesn't mean we run around declaring ourselves God.
PrinceAli wrote:awallaceunc wrote:The Bible doesn't teach anything bad. You may think the belief that homosexuality is sinful is "dangerous," but it doesn't make it any less valid of a point of view. I don't disrespect other's right to believe it is not a sin. *Sighs at the likelihood of this now becoming a debate on homosexuality*
Pinch me if I'm wrong, but isn't sinful and bad the same thing essentially?
Yes. I'm not sure I get your point. I didn't say "The Bible doesnt teach
that anything
is bad," but that "The Bible doesn't teach anything bad," as in, none of its teachings are bad.
PrinceAli wrote:awallaceunc wrote:When did I mention a specific race? It seems you are the one who assumed. And no, that is not at all taught in the Bible. So can you please explain how you are relating good deeds to slavery, because I apparently didn't make that mental leap with you.
You didn't mention a specific race, but where did the race card come from? I didn't mention a race at all. I mentioned slavery. Does slavery belong to a race? No. So why is there even a race card? I am relating good deeds with the abolishment of slavery (in most parts of the world at least), I'm sorry you couldn't make the mental leap.
And here is yet
another personal attack. Did I say I couldn't make the mental leap? No. I said I
didn't. This really needs to stop if this thread is to continue.
Oh, but you
did say that I was addressing a specific race:
Prince Ali wrote:awallaceunc wrote:It really bugs me when the race card is played when it doesn't relate at all. Perhaps you can explain to me how you got pro-slavery remarks out of what I said?
I feel like a 4th-grader saying this...but since when did slavery belong to a specific race? Or is that what is taught in the Bible? Most every race or nationality has had slavery in it's history.
So I'm happy to see that we are now agreed that I did not. The "race card" is a catch phrase used when people try to change the subject in a debate by bringing in race, racism, slavery, etc. when it does not relate. So you're telling me that from me saying that good deeds won't get you to Heaven, you think I was disrespecting the abolishment of slavery? No, I'm still not following.
PrinceAli wrote:awallaceunc wrote:The Christian life doesn't get worse at all. It's the overall state of the souls of the world. The decline is the fault of Satan, not God, and it is the demise that eventually brings on Jesus' return.
Ohhhh, just the overal state of the souls of the world...Wait a minute, that sounds worse! And do you have some sort of meter reader that tells you what the current state of the world is each second? Because I don't know how else you can withhold such desired information...
.
No. I don't see where I said that I did have such a meter.

God does know the state of souls, though, which is what the scripture that was originally referenced in this particular segment of the discussion refers to.
sCArs wrote: I tried reading it when I was younger, but I couldn't understand it Oh well
It can be very difficult to read when you're young, as it's on a much more advanced reading level. You should give it a try now that you're older.
Paka wrote:C'mon, MMb. Do we really need snarky asides in this thread?

They're almost more annoying than the "stop fighting!" or "you shouldn't discuss these things here!" posts that come through every few pages. e_e

Agreed.
[Note: In PrinceAli's post following Paka's, I was quoted. It was actually Dacp who spoke. No biggie, I even agree w/ him... it's just for the record.

]
Loomis wrote:You attack MMB for making a statement about proceedings, yet you didn't actually really read what I said and felt the need to slap that down too.
Yes, that's becoming just a bit of a problem. At least we made it 10 pages!!!
2099Net wrote:I find your comments about morality interesting Aaron. Based on your comments, I get the impression you think the "end times" are almost upon us. I'd like to know on what you base this on? Why pick now as the start? Why are morals going to continue to decline since the 50's (or there-abouts). Why pick that time as the "peak"?
I didn't mean to suggest that the '50s were any sort of peak, though I can see where it sounded like that. I was just using the last 50 years as a nice, round number, and one that people here have a slightly better perspective on. I'm not sure I can arbitrarily finger a starting point of moral decline, that would certainly require more study.
I do believe the end-times are approaching, but I'm not sure how soon your frame of thinking is when you say "almost." I do think it will probably be within my lifetime. It may be a little after that, we can't really know. It will be within the next century, though. There's a
lot that goes into my basis for this. I can go into them, but then we run the risk of veering into a new discussion. Do you want to hear them?
And before the "Jesus said no one knows when the end will be" argument comes up-- and it always does-- let me just encourage those to continue reading in Matthew 24. Jesus says that no one knows the day or the hour, but that just as when trees deleaf/bloom, we know the season, we can know the season of the end by the signs.
-Aaron