If theists are going to have any chance to get a skeptical, critical atheist to suddenly believe in some god, the first step must obviously be to have a coherent, understandable definition of the subject being debated. What is this "god" thing? When people use the word "god," what exactly are they trying to refer to "out there"? Without a coherent, understandable definition it will be impossible to discuss the matter in a substantive and sensible manner. We have to know what we are talking about before we can get anywhere in our conversation.
This, however, is a very difficult task for theists. It's not that they are lacking in labels and characteristics to attribute to their gods, it's just that so many of these characteristics contradict each other. To put it simply, not all of these characteristics can be true because one cancels out the other out or a combination of two (or more) leads to a logically impossible situation.
2007-07-13 09:42:20 · 6 answers · asked by Jack Rivall 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Excellent post Jack. Ive often found myself frustrated by this when discussing religion on this site. One Christian will make one claim (such that God wipes the memories clean of those that enter Heaven, so as to prevent the person for being upset that their friends and family are not with them), then when you question that claim, all others will claim that they dont beleive that and the person who did make the statement never weighs in... Seems their definition of God changes depending upon the situation regardless...
I see now that you are not what I suspected (in your previous past asking for fans to link to you.) Ill star ya and link to you. Kudos on the great post.
Youre new here, so let me let you in on a secret - when you ask humdinger questions such as these, DO NOT allow yourself to become frustrated at the non-responses and personal attacks that you WILL receive. Thats all some people have left in their arsenal of wits...
2007-07-13 09:50:11 · answer #1 · answered by ? 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ravi Zacharius:
We want a God who is only love and nothing more, leaving God a kind of mono-emotional being. Which is why many atheists note their inability to reconcile a God who is love with the hopelessness of pain and evil.
The Old Testament prophet Nahum reminds us that love degenerates into a vague diffusion of kindly feeling unless it is balanced by the capacity of a righteous indignation.
You see, God's capacity for wrath directly corresponds with the purity of His love. We are uncomfortable with the idea of God's anger because we do not understand God's love.
There is an intimate connection between love and indignation. We are angered by the story of the 13-year-old killed for a dollar because exchanging life for a dollar is a mockery of life. God feels this injustice far more profoundly than even you and I. In His just wrath, God's love is so intimately connected to creation that He takes a step towards what we might call un-creation, that we might experience creation as He intended.
Friends, each day we live our lives before the God willing to love the world with the passion that stood aside as we destroyed something He loved. Jesus, begotten of the Father, experienced the shame of death on a cross, so that you and I might experience life as God intended. God is love, indeed! He is Love willing to descend so that we might ascend. A more meaningful love cannot exist.
2007-07-13 16:52:24 · answer #2 · answered by D2T 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not exactly.
As a Christian, I define God as being a self-sufficent, eternal, omnipotent being who created the universe and seeks to engage his creations (us) in a personal relationship. I am not sure which characteristics you think are contradictory, but I would be most interested to hear them.
2007-07-13 16:57:51 · answer #3 · answered by Tim 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are waiting for somebody else to do your job for you, forget about it. If you don't accept responsibility for finding the truth about God, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit, no one else is going to do it for you. Even if someone were to present it to you, what would prevent you from rejecting it? How would you know if they were right or not?
2007-07-13 16:52:41 · answer #4 · answered by single eye 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As a baby/infant, did you have faith that your mother would feed you or did you see her sign a contract when you were born.When you come to a red light do you have pretty strong faith that others are going to stop and not run into you ? Geez faith isn't that hard is it:
FAITH IS: belief and trust in and loyalty to
2007-07-13 16:46:31 · answer #5 · answered by I Love Jesus 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
the problem is god is something different to everybody
hence how can one god exist?
2007-07-13 16:59:45 · answer #6 · answered by slopoke6968 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋