Posted by Fritz Meyer on April 13, 2001 at 21:43:13:
You folks here are very heady people. I can take my theosophysing in only small chuncks and so I would like to comment on only the question that Ezekial25:17 poses when he asked, "Would a truly just God show favoritism." I'm not big on the bible. I believe in God, simple as that. The bible might as well be just some very interesting wall paper for all I care. I don't think God loves me any less for this. So my answer to your question is that God doesn't show any favoritism. There were many people who saw the miracles of Jesus and still turned their back on him (please note lower case h and even he still loves me) -- being present for the miracles did not relieve anyone of their free will. I know the musical Jesus Christ Superstar better than I do the bible but isn't there something in that story about one of the 12 disciples betraying Jesus before the cock crows three times? Yup. And this was a guy who had heard all about the loaves and the wine and the dead guy being raised up again. Bang -- turned on him. Had the free will to cover his own ass even though he KNEW that Jesus was the real deal. So, many apologies Mr. 12:17 but you have convinced me of very little. You make me want to just hug you, though.
Much love,
Fritz
: : Hi Ezekial, I'm new to this chat room and you seem to be a very articulate fellow.
: Hi James! Watch out, appearances can be deceptive :) Welcome to this board and I look forward to your arguments.
: : First, how do you prove that something doesn't exist? Ultimately, it can be said that individual existence of something can only be proven by experience. Can I say to you, I, in Texas, have spilled hot chocolate over my lap and burned myself? Certainly. Do you believe?
: The existence of something can either be proved physically or theoretically. True, existence is a whole separate line of argument that is probably somewhat astray from the real issues here. Perhaps you have spilt hot chocolate on yourself in Texas, perhaps you haven't. However, I think the big issue is, whether I would have trouble believing in an ordinary every-day event as opposed to you telling me you saw someone walking on water per se.
: Perhaps that is your point. I have experienced spilling a hot drink over myself (don't try this at home kids), thus I'd be more willing to believe your story. I have not experienced any miracles, thus I am more doubtful. However, under my free-will concept, if God directly intervenes in our lives, via a miracle that will deny free-will. But I digress.
: :When I first investigated becoming a Christian, I was extremely skeptical (and to a certain extent I think all responsible Christians should be skeptical to a point).
: Christianity isn't built around skepticism. It is built on the principles that you should believe and erase doubt from your mind. It is built on the principle you should place more faith in your priest than in your loved ones. You can be a skeptic, or you can be a Christian, but one thing you can't be is a skeptical Christian.
: : However, faith, belief, or however you wish to phrase it, is something that we are granted by God. How can you believe the things that happened in that book? It defies understanding.
: My point precisely. If you can't believe in the events that occured in the bibles, why should we take any interest in the words, as anything but mere trivia.
: : In reality, that's the point. Understanding of God's Word is a gift from God via the Holy Spirit. In the Bible, God says that there will be many who understand, and many that do not.
: God says this? Its great isn't it how God can come up with so many snappy epithets back in the past, yet struggles to speak to prophets in this day and age. Surely after the events in the bible finished, God didn't suddenly decide not to speak to us anymore. If he did want to speak to us, surely therez a Bible Mark II that should be appearing in bookshelves near us soon.
: : Sometimes there are people who claim to have seen God face to face, or have heard His Perfect Word. I cannot claim to be one of those people.
: Well, lets just take all these people and get them to relate what God told them, and make a bible Mark II, for surely what he told them was just as important as what was said in the past. We're missing out here!