Is it really that hard to believe that there's a Creator and that He will hold you accountable to an absolute Moral Law? (soul, grace)
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And that this absolute moral law has been written down?
Isaiah 53
King James Version (KJV)
53 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Romans 2
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
John 3:18-20
King James Version (KJV)
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
And that this absolute moral law has been written down?
Isaiah 53
King James Version (KJV)
53 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Romans 2
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
John 3:18-20
King James Version (KJV)
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Yes it is hard to believe because there is no evidence.
The only problem with your theory is that in several places in the Bible God commands acts we would consider immoral.
He orders genocide, forcing women of a defeated army into being sex- slaves, etc.
If there is an absolute moral law, than you have to conclude that God violated it.
Also, if you believer there should be one law for the people in the old testament, and a different law for post-jesus era people, you don't believe in an absolute moral law, by definition.
Is it really that hard to believe that there's a Creator
No, it isn't hard for me to believe there is. Not at all. But, before I am to believe that, there must be some kind of reason to believe it. To date, there is none. Likewise, there is no evidence to suggest there MUST be a creator for this planet, this galaxy, this universe to be here. Possibly that will change someday, and if it does, I will belive.
Quote:
and that He will hold you accountable to an absolute Moral Law?
Now this one is hard to believe. The reason being is that there are no absolutes in the man-made concept of morality. The evidence for this claim? Morality, as another poster nicely put it, is a moving target. It's everchanging and influenced by the social and cultural mores of the time period. No act is inherently moral or immoral. An act is merely an act. It isn't until society places a value on the act that it becomes eother moral or immoral.
If there is an objective and absolute standard of morality, where exactly does it exist? Certainly not in the human psyche.
Whippersnapper has it right. Essentially the OP is performing the leap of faith before our very eyes. While arguing the probability of a creator, which is hard to be other than agnostic about, so it is not hard to believe and one has to refer to the rules of logic for the correct approach, the OP then leaps to the idea that it is a 'He' (already we are talking about Biblegod) and that he has imposed an absolute morality and that we are faced with some manner of judgement and presumably some punishment if we haven't matched up.
That is indeed hard to believe and open - minded study of the Book which purports to tell us all about the 'He' makes it virtually impossible to credit. Particularly that the OT quotes prophecy the Christ -figure, that Paul's religious theories should be given the slightest credence and that the author of John's are any better.
Is it really that hard to believe that there's a Creator and that He will hold you accountable to an absolute Moral Law? And that this absolute moral law has been written down?
Accountable for what?
John 3:16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 3:18 The one who believes in him is not condemned.
You cannot have it both ways. Your claims conflict and contradict the claims and teachings of other christians who say you need only believe in Jesus to be saved and escape punishment.
I suppose asking for the "Creator" to show up and clarify his many contradictions would be out of the question.
Is it really that hard to believe that there's a Creator and that He will hold you accountable to an absolute Moral Law?
Not really. It's just hard to understand why the Religious Right say we're not allowed to believe anything else.
I don't need someone's 'permission' to choose a religion, nor does everyone neccessarily have to approve of my choice. All thats's required is that I'm left alone to choose for myself.
Why must a creator by default wish to hold us accountable for anything?
Why would a creator of universes use such primitive and fragile methods as ink on animal skins or papyrus to record it's "unchanging" moral code? And employ bronze age ignorants to transcribe it?
Why must said creator of universes need to be born of a virgin as a mortal, grow to adulthood then have himself nailed to a cross in order to forgive?
I'm afraid you are asking the wrong questions. The question you should be asking yourself is why you believe in such an absurd piece of mythological garbage as the Bible and why you mindlessly insist on worshiping the primitive man-made monster of joke it calls "god".
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