presumably you wouldn't claim your mother is invisible if i wanted to go see her. or maybe you would.
Numbers 31:14-18 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle. 15 “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. 16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. umm, for what?
actually i just asked how you would go about differentiating your relationship with Christ from that of someone who has a similar relationship with a different unseen friend that happens to contradict the tenets of christianity. you say it changed your life, but certainly other people's relationships with metaphysical entities within religions that are mutually exclusive with christianity change their lives in similar ways. what makes your relationship more likely to be objectively real than theirs?
it's not going to mean anything to you, but i view the 'god requires faith' argument as an excuse for belief, not a reason.
we don't automatically believe everything anyone says in court is true. we parse it as part of an overall picture of credibility.
not being snarky here, but is there an official explanation about adam and eve populating the earth? or just a shitload of incest
As far as I know, Christianity (that is, Jesus, as part of the God trinity, Savior, Lord....coupled with the Holy Spirit, which he left us prior to his ascension into Heaven) is the only "relational" and faith-based "religion", as opposed to works-based, whereas Jesus is simply a man, prophet or such...in other words, "less" than God. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word "was" God." The Scripture also tell me: (Ephesians 2:8-9) "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." Jesus (God's Son, yet ALL God) is the common denominator under which all that I believe.
Absolutely. That said, there are an amazing number of Christian men and women who, through their respective life bodies of work, are considered credible (sane) in their thinking, and as notable and respected sources. I really think you begin to stretch matters when you begin using such words as delusional, etc.
John 14:28 28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
When Jesus came as a man, that is what He said. He is now at the right hand of the Father. Meaning, Jesus is more than a prophet, a good man, or such. He is Savior and LORD. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We get three in one, baby! Neat, huh? What a deal!
is there an answer? ive wondered about after the flood too, was their just noahs family left to repopulate?
how would you describe your presonal relationship with Christ if (say hypothetically) objective evidence turned up that jesus was just a man? your relationship wouldn't have been simply due to misinformation. it would have been a genuine delusion. there would be no better term to describe it. presumably you would have no problem describing priests (for example) who genuinely believe they are talking to other gods using that term.
nice sermon, but what is any of that suppose to mean to an outsider who is trying to judge the probability of the objective existence of different metaphysical religious entities? it's a given that christianity makes unique claims. all religions do.
