Do You Guys Believe "Belle Knox" Really Feels Empowered?

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is not omnipotent. Is He able, but not willing? Then He is malevolent. Is He both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is He neither able nor willing? Then why call Him God?

Epicurus (c. 341 - c. 270 BC)

Your philosophy is contradictory.

Free will.

True free will wouldn't exist if he kept bad people from doing bad things. That would infringe upon their free will. You can use your free will to hurt others, as it's yours to use as you wish.

If it's by happenstance and free will then why pray? Will my team win? Will a village in the Philippines get dragged out to sea? Were the people in the church in Washington not praying hard enough when they were covered in mud and killed by god? Acts of god, right.

I'm going back to sleep for awhile. I'm only awake because I had a scary dream that woke me up (not often does that happen - I don't like it).

Ask anything you wish to truly discuss. I like debate. Not fond of trolling though. So ask what you really want to discuss. I probably won't be around the site for long. I come and go. I'm here on gfy tonight because the Duke girl came up in conversation at dinner. I was interested to see if people in adult thought she really felt empowered or if she's just blowing smoke.

It's my duty to spread the word of the yellow couch Donny. You are now on my sites as 2nd Lieutenant in charge of cults.

On prayer: I think we can use our free will to ask God to get involved in things. I pray all the time but try to be smart about it. For example: I just took a hit in business this month. I lost two grand a month in income. I'm not praying to God asking him to replace it. Instead, I'm praying that I see opportunities. I think that's a better prayer. He shouldn't be thought of as a magical vending machine.

When people die:
If there is a heaven, is it really such a horrible thing to go there? We think from our temporal perspective rather than an eternal one. I like being here on earth but I know nothing else. If there is a heaven (I'm convinced there is) I'll undoubtedly like it much better than this, so if some natural disaster takes my life, "don't cry for me, Argentina."

Aye, aye, Captain!

You really think if there was a god he would give a shit about your or anybodies opportunities while some baby is dieing at some hospital with cancer. I wouldn't even consider praying for anything for myself considering what i've seen happen to others. Not even if I did believe in a god.

And If your saying heaven is like Thanksgiving everyday I'll kill myself again. I love my family but for fucks sake.

How silly, what insight would Christians have into whether the flood was regional or global?

Theistic evolution - so now you're saying that Genesis and its geneology is just an allegory, a story. The only evidence we have that there is a creator called God is found in the scriptures dictated to Moses by God himself. Such a conundrum, the scriptures thought to be the work of God, really aren't, they're just stories and ideas conceived by the Israelites. Of course a rational human being understands this paradox but you arent, so you'll attempt to present some kind of philosophical bs argument which you've assured yourself explains the existence of God and his creation doesn't rely on the literalness of the Bible.

But it does. There is a truth, this God and his powers and actions, were dreamed up by a tribe of Canaanite goat herders who worshipped a Canaanite god named Yahweh and over time imagined him to be the only god, the Creator of Everything.

This quote by Biblical scholar John Crossan nails the truth to the cross.

"?My point, once again, is not that those ancient people told literal stories and we are now smart enough to take them symbolically, but that they told them symbolically and we are now dumb enough to take them literally.?

The primates who walked this earth before us thought the sun was their god, because the sun gives life and makes things grow. In december the sun would be so low for 3 days that it was barely visible. When after 3 days the sun went higher again, it was like a rebirth for them.

Fast forward to the writers of the bible, a combined book full of exaggerated myths and believes of the primitive people in those times. The God story went from the sun to a mythical being. The 3 days rebirth story was given to a guy they named Jesus.

Except for one thing: there's exponentially more evidence for his existence in the writings of non Christian historians than there is for that of Julius Caesar. Don't just regurgitate what you've read somewhere. Study for yourself. Even prominent atheists openly admit Jesus walked the earth.

Mutt, before trying to sound smart about something you obviously haven't spent half an hour reading about, you might want to do so.

One example: the Genesis creation story. Don't take the word of your religious Aunt Gemima in regards to what it means. Either study a bit before posting or ask a Rabbi (since Jews wrote it and it was addressed to Jews). Holy crap, dude.

Genesis 1 is a poem. It's definitely not to be taken literally. But even if it was, the word we translate into "day" is "yom" in the original text. One of the meanings of that word is "unspecified AGE of time." In other words, Genesis 1, even literally taken, doesn't conflict with evolution. In fact, if you get your Aunt Gemima's interpretation out of your head, it actually describes evolution in a primitive way, long before Darwin (who wasn't trying to overrule the creation story to begin with, but rather discover HOW GOD CREATED). In Genesis 1, things start off void. Then water and land are separated. Then primitive life forms are created. Then more advanced life forms. Then animals, and finally humans from the dust of the earth emerge. That does a damned good job summarizing evolution, don't you think? Especially for a poem.

I'd love to say I came up with theistic evolution, but I didn't. One particular figurehead - you might have heard of his title - stated evolution is considered by the Church to be a very valid explanation of creation: the Pope.

If YOU are going to try to make me look stupid about things I study almost daily, you might want to educate yourself on positions I might hold. That's how good debators succeed: studying the opponents position. Note: your Aunt isn't a good source of research.

Also, Mutt, know that the Bible was canonized. It is NOT one book. It is a collection of many different books by many different writers who wrote over thousands of years, lived in diverse areas and times in comparision to each other, and had different intentions. Some is poetry. Some is other forms of literature. Some is meant to be taken literally. Some parts are meant only for certain people or certain situations that existed at the time of writing. Some is prophecy. Some is simply, "this is what happened" rather than "this is what you should do,"and is meant for us to learn lessons from. Some is instruction for all of humanity in the present and future. What it is NOT nor EVER HAS BEEN intended is for every word to literally apply to every person. I'm sorry you've received that impression from your Aunt Gemima who was taught that way by her mostly-illiterate Aunt Tilly. There have always been educated people around, however, that are constantly studying the books contained in the Bible, what they mean, and how they are best applied to our lives. Perhaps you don't wish to study it like that. In that case, you really shouldn't try to make yourself out to know anything about it.

And yet you base your life on it.