Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If we are created in God's image, and Jesus/God is the Logos (from John 1, translated as "Word," roughly meaning "logic"), then I would conclude that God likes reason, not faith. Indeed, if God likes faith, why did he create us as reasoning beings?
I don't know. He obviously did give us a brain to think about things, but actually, the first temptation in the garden of Eden kinda dealt with Eve "reasoning" things out rather than just having faith in what God had said.
Reason is important but according to what Jesus taught, faith in God trumps natural reasoning.
Find me evidence of someone diagnosed with AIDS who has been cured.
Any Google search will turn up that answer! Look before you leap!
You see them in every forum on the internet~ the atheists~screaming, or mildly ranting that there is no God.
You know, I don't believe in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, or a multitude of other silliness, however, I don't get on some forum & try to sway the world to my opinion. Reason? Well, those things don't exist, so why speak of them? Also, if others want to believe in "Sandy Claws", who cares? No hair off my...ummm...whatever. Doesn't bother me at all.
So WHY, why on earth, & what LOGICAL sense does it make for the very ones who CLAIM they don't believe in God, to even bring the topic up? I mean atheists say they just hate it when people preach, when God-believers try to "ram God down my throat". Oh, really? Then surely you can imagine how totally asinine, how very ludicrous atheists look when they hop on a forum & start the God-hate/there is no God rants, or the Darwinian we-are-all-a-bunch-of-accidents theorizing, or any other thing that even MENTIONS God/no God! If they honestly & truly DO NOT believe in God, why bother to mix it up with those who do? Do they WANT people to change their mind? Are they silly enough to dare to believe they'll change believers minds? That's ludicrous! People believe what they CHOOSE to believe , JUST LIKE ATHEISTS! If someone is indeed a dedicated & set-in-stone atheist, why make even a mere mention of such a non-existent being? And if YOU want to be allowed to NOT believe, then don't be hypocritical! Allow others the same option.
Now, if I were an atheist, I would not be caught DEAD on ANY forum where there was God discussion! That would be like going a'whoring! I would be blatantly revealing my own doubts if I went about asking for PROOF of God! No, no, I don't understand atheists trying to prove there is no God. It should be a moot point to them. Either they believe it & that's the end of that, or they don't & they go looking for "proof". How odd!
Atheists seem so starved for "proof". WHY? They seem always to be frantic for proof of God. WHY? Either you don't consider God at all (like I never consider Darwin) or you DO. And if you DO, then are you REALLY an atheist? I think not. I think that what one who SAYS he's an atheist is when they bring up God is insecure in their avowed belief. WHY?
Strange.
“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” ~ Albert Einstein
If we are created in God's image, and Jesus/God is the Logos (from John 1, translated as "Word," roughly meaning "logic"), then I would conclude that God likes reason, not faith. Indeed, if God likes faith, why did he create us as reasoning beings?
Have YOU ever created anything? If so, is it any of MY business WHY, or HOW you did so? What might I "conclude" about YOUR creation? Would my conclusion be accurate? Why would I care? Why would you? Your creation.
“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” ~ Albert Einstein
So WHY, why on earth, & what LOGICAL sense does it make for the very ones who CLAIM they don't believe in God, to even bring the topic up? I mean atheists say they just hate it when people preach, when God-believers try to "ram God down my throat". Oh, really? Then surely you can imagine how totally asinine, how very ludicrous atheists look when they hop on a forum & start the God-hate/there is no God rants, or the Darwinian we-are-all-a-bunch-of-accidents theorizing, or any other thing that even MENTIONS God/no God! If they honestly & truly DO NOT believe in God, why bother to mix it up with those who do? Do they WANT people to change their mind? Are they silly enough to dare to believe they'll change believers minds? That's ludicrous!
There's a difference between voluntarily choosing to talk about the existence of God and having someone come to my door and proselytize at me. My reasons for discussing God's existence in a public forum like this are primarily to show how atheists reach the conclusions they do so that theists can understand us better and not be discriminatory. Also, there are side issues such as the tendency of some theists to undermine democracy or science, on which I'd hope we could find common ground. I'd do the same with believers in Santa if similar threats came from them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dehaluyi
Atheists seem so starved for "proof". WHY? They seem always to be frantic for proof of God. WHY? Either you don't consider God at all (like I never consider Darwin) or you DO. And if you DO, then are you REALLY an atheist? I think not.
Yes you're really an atheist if you think about the concept of God but believe God doesn't exist. You could be a virgin and still think about sex, or a vegetarian and think about meat if you wanted to as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dehaluyi
“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” ~ Albert Einstein
He wasn't cured of AIDS, but he does seem to have thrown off HIV. Possible scientific reasons for this include the possibility that he was misdiagnosed the first time, that he got a mutated and less virulent version of HIV, or that he has an unusual genetic sequence that can actually fight off the virus. If the latter, then that sequence could form the basis of a cure. (See Man cured of HIV in London? Comment on recent press reports for more discussion).
The religious explanation - that God decided to cure this one person for mysterious reasons, while letting millions of others die slow agonizing deaths - isn't likely to lead to any cures.
So which explanation do you think we should follow up on?
Obviously the problem here is the lack of knowledge of the word of God. Christ healed while He was on earth. The Apostles recieved the miraculous gifts from the Holy Spirit(which included miraculous healing). Those who the Apostles laid hand on to impart the same gift , could also heal ,but there is no instance of them causing a missing body part to be replaced. After the Apostles died no one else could lay hands on another to impart the gift of miracles from the Holy Spirit, so the ability to do so ceased. We now pray for God to heal people...if it is His will. If it is the providence of God, it will happen, if not, it will not happen. But it will not include the replacement of a body part, or the raising of someone from the dead.
God is not to blame for the horrendous things that happen to mankind. Paul said his affliction was " a messenger of Satan". Job's sufferings were all from Satan. God DID say of the immoral person in the Corinthian church : " I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the distruction of his flesh, that his soul may be saved in the day of the Lord." We can see from these examples, there are more than one reason that suffering comes to us. None of us will know exactly why until after judgement day.
I have not lost a limb, but I have coped with relentless pain almost all my life. Yes, I often ask God "why" and ask for relief. I still do not know the "why", but I do believe it is for a good reason. I know it has made me more aware of other people's suffering, and more empathetic. Many who never have a burden to bear, do not have the capacity to empathize with those who do.
Because of my faith, I am assured I will have rest from my pains in eternity.I can live with that assurance!
Obviously the problem here is the lack of knowledge of the word of God. Christ healed while He was on earth. The Apostles recieved the miraculous gifts from the Holy Spirit(which included miraculous healing). Those who the Apostles laid hand on to impart the same gift , could also heal ,but there is no instance of them causing a missing body part to be replaced. After the Apostles died no one else could lay hands on another to impart the gift of miracles from the Holy Spirit, so the ability to do so ceased. We now pray for God to heal people...if it is His will. If it is the providence of God, it will happen, if not, it will not happen. But it will not include the replacement of a body part, or the raising of someone from the dead.
God is not to blame for the horrendous things that happen to mankind. Paul said his affliction was " a messenger of Satan". Job's sufferings were all from Satan. God DID say of the immoral person in the Corinthian church : " I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the distruction of his flesh, that his soul may be saved in the day of the Lord." We can see from these examples, there are more than one reason that suffering comes to us. None of us will know exactly why until after judgement day.
I have not lost a limb, but I have coped with relentless pain almost all my life. Yes, I often ask God "why" and ask for relief. I still do not know the "why", but I do believe it is for a good reason. I know it has made me more aware of other people's suffering, and more empathetic. Many who never have a burden to bear, do not have the capacity to empathize with those who do.
Because of my faith, I am assured I will have rest from my pains in eternity.I can live with that assurance!
While I understand what you mean about finding strength through your prayers and beliefs, that alone is not convincing enough for me to believe in God. In a day and age where any cancer survivor seemingly has had the touch of God in their life, or a person with a rare disease is automatically given "touched" status, it amazes me when people retort that the reason God doesn't touch amputees is because he is giving them the strength to live with a missing arm or leg.
So let me get this straight. God decides to interfere with people's cancer. Sometimes he apparently gives three year old boys and girls cancer only to cure it because he's so loving and caring. This, of course, gives everyone warm fuzzies.
Meanwhile, we have roughly 30,000 wounded troops coming from Iraq. Not all of them are amputess, but some are. We probably have plenty of Iraqi amputees. Boys, girls, men, women, and animals. In fact, I know there are. I've seen them with my own two eyes. And yet, while God is busy throwing away cancer cells in some sort of miraculous fashion, apparently as some threads imply, he is also curing AIDS, he still refuses to regrow even one limb. Seriously, is it not possible for even ONE limb to regrow? Surely between the Iraqi's and our wounded vets there must be ONE of the amputees who has enough faith or has been prayed for to regrow an amputated limb. Yet, we find nothing?
So, we are left with the excuse that God gives them strength with their missing leg. He gave scientists and doctors the ideas of building prosthetics that are seemingly functional. Yet, I think a much more merciful God would have given headway to this scientific enlightenment a little bit before the 20th century. After all, I wonder how many Civil War Veterans, Revolutionary War Victims, Holy Crusade Veterans (there's an interesting proposition- why didn't God regrow a Holy Crusade veterans' limbs?) went without prosthetics??
My simple opinion is that God does answer the prayers for amputees for the blessing of being able to walk again..His answer is..through science and research..
There have been developed artificial arms and legs that sometimes are even robotic in nature that allow the amputee to walk, run marathons, ski, etc..I truly believe that the creator allows us to use the brains he gave us in answering many prayers..Science is making breakthroughs daily in the development of new drugs and vaccines to eliminate some of the dreaded diseases of this world, even the dreaded aids virus has seen significant advances made in reducing the symptoms of the disease and prolonging the lives..I am one believer who thanks God for our scientists and researchers and for the wisdom he has given them to help answer our prayers..I don't make excuses for God not answering certain prayers,because I think he answers all sincere and humble prayers..no matter who does the praying..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If there is no God, why even mention him?
Cured of AIDS
