Re: 10 questions that every intelligent Christian must answer

[CeaselesslyCurious]

so he doesn't want to force atheist, but he puts conditions on non believers: believe in me and worship me and you will not perish. i wonder if this is going to be on comment appending approval ....

[MsJlaw13]

Great video and you have a great voice by the way...be blessed

[chucka59]

the prediction of no rock will not stand!....retard again....like saying,,,,if you know of a drug dealer and they were doing that for awhile....you know its against the law...and in dew time they will be caught.......common sense idiot......bad will happen to the ones who try to suppress people....not a surprise to predict that....duh!

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

@chucka59 How about predicting the destruction of the Jewish temple? I'd say thats pretty specific :-)

[chucka59]

@SFRobertsDickClarke and again...you missed the point!

[gibozzo]

Your logic on God/Jesus not appearing to us does not really make sense to me. he does not want to force us to love him. God telling us that if we don't accept Jesus, we will burn in hell for eternity, sounds like force to me.

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

@gibozzo If he were forcing us, he would show us hell unequivicably.

[guyu73]

1. Even if Jesus appears to you, you won't be forced to love him, you would still have the choice to whether love him or reject him, but at least we know could conclude that he may not be imaginary just like all the gods from all religions. Proof is necessary to make a good judgment in real life.

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

I think if he appered to you in the way that would prove he was 100% certianly who he said he was, then what choice would you have.

[guyu73]

@SFRobertsDickClarke

very easy. I rather go to hell than worshiping a genocidal, Homophobic, egomaniac, arrogant and cruel god.

[shotgungunshot]

@guyu73 just a little question you would rather be tortured for all eternity than worship God you would rather be in a place where you are inflicted pain upon, mercilessly every single day where you either regret not believing or just plain wish for death but that wont happen because you would be dead and therefore you would never escape these tortures no matter what because it would be too late you would be tortured for life with no chance of it ever ending.

[guyu73]

@SFRobertsDickClarke I would demand him to fix this world full of natural disasters, crimes, diseases, etc instead of being so egomaniac with too much worshiping requests. I don't believe there isn't a god, if there was one, there is nothing merciful, loving about such god. Just look at nature and see how it works.

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

@guyu73 Why should he fix a world that he himself did not break.

[guyu73]

@SFRobertsDickClarke Of course not, he is just a superstition. Mother nature is wild, cruel and savage. The world has been in constant change for billions of years and it's habitats were enforce to adapt and evolve to survive.

[guyu73]

Just by looking at nature you can see how cruel was this “design”, animals that eat each other, if we were different, we would have been made of a different material, apparently we have the same purpose which is to be food for another animal as we are 100% edible. 97% of Biologists and Geologists are atheists because they see no relationship from the bible to the reasl world.

[shotgungunshot]

@guyu73 i agree with SFRoberts if you knew he was real then you would know God is real which would allow you to know hell is real and therefore you would just automatically accept God because you would know that if you didnt you would suffer forever God wants us to have faith in him and believe even though there isnt much evidence he wants us to prove we can believe in the truth even though he hasnt told us that we are right (which we are)

[guyu73]

@shotgungunshot , Yes but if such story requires faith only with no proofs, evidence, etc. then you can easily believe in any other myth that also requires faith. If you knew Islamic was the right religion you would be there, if you knew that Hinduism was the right religion, you would be there, so non of them have evidence to be worth believing but instead require faith. To my understanding, you are believing in a myth just because (just in case) this myth may be real?

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

@guyu73 I didn't say no proofs. I said proof to the point of eliminating choice. There may not be proof of the kind of certianty that eliminates choice, but there is plenty of evidence.

[guyu73]

@SFRobertsDickClarke The only evidence i think you are referring to is a bible. We don't know much about the universe to eliminate choices yet, but so far there are many miseries that have been resolved and some gods (like zeus) have disappeared. I think we believe there is a god because we can't still explain why we are here. and we created this god to control humanity too. But by doing so we are closing a mystery with another mystery.

[guyu73]

@SFRobertsDickClarke Then the next question is. What testings or scientific studies have been conducted to conclude that there is a god? what is it made of? where does it come from? what made it? If anyone can proof there is a god without assuming there is one, I would be a believer otherwise it falls into the myth category.

[shotgungunshot]

@guyu73 i just want to say to you i understand what you are saying but even though i dont believe it im not going to start shoutin or acting all religous i just simply say that you may believe or not believe as you feel im not going to start shouting curse words at you and im not going to agree with you but i wont exactly believe what you are saying but i do respect your opinion and your right to an opinion so you may choose what you think and i will decide what i believe in

[shotgungunshot]

@guyu73 i understanda what you are saying and even though i dont believe it i respect your right to have an opinion that little question was just because i was just kind of thinking it would be kind of strange to rather endure hell than worship god.now i still respect your right to an opinion so you can think what you want

[SVBerk65]

YESSS METAPHOR

Communion is a metaphor. It IS ALL SYMBOLISM. The bread of life is not the actual body of Christ, but it is the sacrifice Christ has laid out for us

This guy is the man!!!

[guyu73]

@SVBerk65

It's all in your mind and the way you (and th church) want to interpret it.

[gregoryagogo]

Question: Why hasn't Jesus ever appeared to you personally.

Answer:  I Haven't done enough Illicit drugs!

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

I still don't think you understand what is meant by "context". Context is not extra infomation, it is the infomation which is already there. IE If I said "Where is the cat? I havn't seen him in a few days, I miss him" without context, you might think I was hunting him and that I keep trying to shoot him, but keep on missing. You have to look at the words surrounding that and what those words meant in the period etc. Show me an "error" and I will listen to you.

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

How is it false. Those two propechies line up. "Not one of his bones will be broken" and none of his bones were broken. Can you give an example as to where they were. They were not at the crucifixtion, since the nails went in at points between the two bones in the wrist and between the shins.

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

Context is not perspecitve. Context is simply taking in all the facts, rather than limiting them. IE it is a fact that the current Pope said in a speech the words to the effect of "Islam has brought nothing but viloence to the world" however it is also a fact that he said this to contrast how far peoples understaning has come, and that those words were a refernce to a 14th century Emperor. Thus if you take his words out of context, they are still facts, but they are not ALL the facts.

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

Yes, but you have to test those accounts for validity. Anyone can claim they have first hand experiance of God, something has to be testable to prove that. The fact is that as a result of the encounters with God in the OT, the OT makes over 300 predictions about Jesus's life in significent detail, all of which came true. The same or simmilar cannot be said of Mohammad's encounters.

[BuzzcutsFTW]

If you say we aren't to take the bible literally, then how can we take John 3:16 literally?

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

I didn't say we are not supposed to take the Bible literally. I said we are to take the Bible in context. Context shows you what parts are and are not ment to be taken literlaly

[actorforlife1]

god HAS appered to me, just not visualy. and it says in the bible that he will appear in the future at the end of the world. he asks us to eat from him and to drink from his blood, not literally, but meaning to rely on him completely. and christians aren't perfect, not in the least. even if a lot of christians think they r. god doesnt make us do what he wants, he gives us a choice, so its our fault if our marriges dont work.

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

40 years is considered contempoary, when you consider thats in fact the latest they could have been written. Not to mention the fact that we have documents from works dated 20-10 years from Jesus's death which quote from the gospels, so you can imagine by that stage they must have been in fairly widestream circulation

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

No, thats the range in which they were written. And you please learn some definitions. First hand does not refer to the period of time it is written in, but rather it refers to who it is written by. IE first hand means written by someone who was there, second hand means written by someone who was told about it by someone who was there. Third hand means...etc

[psandbergnz]

You're wrong. The Gospels were all written AFTER the destruction of the Temple. Most scholars agree that Mark (the 1st Gospel) was written in about 75AD or later.

The prophecies that Jesus "got right" were written after the event - easy to do! Those that had not already taken place, Jesus got WRONG! Most notably is his false prophecy that the end of the Age (including his second Coming) would occur within the lifetime of his audience (e.g. Matt 16).

[psandbergnz]

Nowhere does the OT say that the Messiah would come once, be killed and return again in a "second coming". The idea of a 2nd coming is an attempt to rationalise Jesus' failure to function as the Messiah in his day and to fulfil any of the prophecies in the Torah or the Prophets. It is purely a Christian fabrication.

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

Do you have any proof? Because every other prophecy that Jesus made that came true was explained how it came true. This one is the only exception. Also, the living thing that was discussed there is alternatively interpreted in many ways, I'll look into that for you more soon.

[IXIMathiasIXI]

God bless you

[taylord79]

interesting. if you picked up a newspaper, you would expect it to be accurate.

how then would you differentiate between a story that were true or not if you simply picked up a book on a park bench? I've never read a claim in the bible that says it is a true story.

likewise, if you saw the movie 28 Days Later and lived in the UK, would you protest the movie because it didn't really happen?

people's lack of contest is not proof of truth. argumentum ad ignorantiam

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

There are several refences in the Bible that say something to the effect of "This is written that you may believe"

[taylord79]

I will have to take your word on that, but I do not doubt it.

Let's call into this my other argument. If Jesus' miracles were proof of an almighty being, and those miracles left undeniable evidence, then how is the evidence of his divinity any different than making an appearance to a person who prays for him to do so?

if both are proof, then the result is the same: people will be forced to love him because they KNOW he exists and KNOW he is divine

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

The revelation to the people in first century Israel is not the same as a revelation caused by prayer. You're comparing some very diffrent strands here.

[taylord79]

so if God and/or Jesus doesn't present himself to ensure that our belief be of free will, then why would he show up in the first place to perform miracles? to walk on water? to turn water into wine? to heal the sick?

let me guess... he showed up to provide proof for a lucky few, completely disregarding every generation further down the line having less and less proof as time goes on?

is it fair that being born into a more intelligent environment yields more temptation to disbelieve?

[Section9Gaming]

You point about marriage suggests that non-believers or believers of other faiths manage their lives and behave like 'good christians' because the same amount of each get divorced.

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

They can and sometimes do. Nothing in the Bible says you are physically incabale of following the principles of the Bible, without listening to the whole thing. The point that Jesus makes about this is that being a Christian comes in two parts. Love God and love others as you love yourself. Theres nothing in the Bible that says that people can't love others as they love themselves if they don't love God, but just that that's not the whole story.

[Section9Gaming]

But that would be a very big assumption as it would mean that someone who is uninfluenced by the texts can perform as well as a 'good Christian'.. so what is the point of the texts?

You have to agree that any religion is open to interpretation and corruption but god can be corrupted by no one!

I feel that in your heart if you feel good about your life and the way you live it that is good enough.

P.S. I am glad that I can have this conversation.

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

Because all people are made in Gods imagae and as such all people have the ability to act in the way God wants us to. But we also have the ability to choose not to and to loose our way etc so the Bible is there to keep us on track. Thats its purpose in the physical sense. Spirtually it is there to also reveal to us salvation, because salvation doesnt come through doing good things, but rather through Jesus's offering of his life for us.

[Section9Gaming]

In the Christian beliefs system that is the case.But, many people have found salvation in other beliefs. maybe we are all ultimately singing of the same hymn sheet.

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

Salvation is not the same as being nice. Ulitmately we cannot earn salvation, because to earn salvation is to be perfect. Thats where Jesus comes in, being perfect for us and dying in our place

[psandbergnz]

Thanks for your reply. You may like to check out profmth's discussion on this end time prophecy of Jesus on Youtube (called "Jesus was wrong"). His videos are intelligent and well-thought out. You could post your comments to it.

I maintain that all the prophecies that Jesus got right were those that were written in the Gospels with hindsight.

[Section9Gaming]

you can't force love but you can force religion? religion takes away that choice for many.

so is the bible a book of facts? Facts that prove the validity of the Christian faith?

Where is the Faith in fact?

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

No, you can't force religion. Or rather, you can't force Christianity anyway, seeing as how to be a Christian is in part to sincerely love God. As such since no one can force you to love anyone else, then no you can't force anyone to be a Christian

The Bible is a book of facts, but not in the way that means that you cannot choose to deny them if you want to. Its all true, but do you do something about that truth or not? Its up to you.

[taylord79]

the new testament of the bible is a collection of witness testimony subject to bias and groupthink, compiled and edited by political theologians with an agenda.

facts:

evolution is a testible, tangible scientific theory that has stood the test of time during the most rapid advancement of science in human history. in order to believe the facts of the bible must you not separate yourself from the findings of testable scientific research?

[SFRobertsDickClarke]

Since when has evolution and the gospels talked about things that are in any way comparable.

And no, they wern't subject to group think since they wrote independtly. And no, if you look at the oldest texts and refrences (the ones that existed before manipulation could happen) you see they are as close as makes no diffrence to exactly the same as what we have now.

[Section9Gaming]

good for you.... have you been touched by god?? or are you going to make an important comment?