[Annoni]

Originally Posted by Lugez

I think Christians would have MUCH more credibility if they had other sources of God's will except some old book. I asked how God defines sin, and you give me a fictional story of Adam and Eve...

I know this is the same answer you'll get almost anywhere but here I go. If there was definite proof, then there would be no faith required, and thus no choice.

And did you HONESTLY just say that the earth is 5000-6000 years old? Have you completely ignored all the physical evidence that suggests that the earth is actually 4.6 billion years old? Evidence also suggests that humans have been around for about 100,000-200,000 years. I'm sorry, but you need to REAL LIFE FACTS before you debate further. There's no nice way to put this. It's comments like this that make me questions everything Christians believe.

Did you HONESTLY just say the earth is 4.6 billion years old? Evidence also suggest that if the flood really did happen, things would certainly seem billions of years older. These are also real facts, acknowledge these before you debate further.

Let me ask you this, I have a hard time understand. According to you, how did earth come to be?

It makes more sense to me that he would want his creation to LIVE and learn its way on its own. He didn't create life so it would worship him, he did it so it would LIVE.

He did it for both, sort of. I actually believe He did do it for both.

Very interesting, but this raises another question: You say we have free will....But God wants us to follow his ways, and Satan wants us to follow his own ways....So really, is it just a battle to see who turns to God and who turns to Satan/sin? Do we really have free will then? Wouldn't the one with the most influence sway us?

Yes! It's a battle. Yes, we really have free will still. There's a lot of room to move around between those two. The most influence depends on what you truly want and what's in your heart, so it's going to vary from person to person. Some people rejoice in sin, others rejoice in purity. But as it is, sin tends to be a lot more tempting to us.

You say that the dealings of sin STOLE the hearts of God's children, so isn't it Satan's fault that people sin? NOT the people themselves? Why should God condemn others for something thats arguably not their own fault?

That's exactly it! It's Satan's fault. This is exactly what evil is. This is why it is such a heartbreaker for God! It's is sin's fault, man and woman were made good, but sin is the evil. Satan condemns them of his will to destroy all of God's creation, in order that God may be hurt by the loss. But God haas the ultimate counter to Satan, and that is Jesus, but in sin people find ways to make Jesus fake or a lie, or twist around the truth, so that through sin, Satan gets his way and one more person cannot be with God, their Creator.

And the problem with sin: Is that it HAS CHANGED throughout the centuries. What God wanted in 600 AD is COMPLETELY different than what present day God wants. Crusades? Middle Ages? Renaissance? 18,19,20th centuries? "God" wanted different things in all these different ages. He's been very inconsistent (assuming he's the one dictating. I believe this is just the evolution of society, not God changing his views).
You're partially right and partially wrong, you have to remember God is the one thing that will never change; everything else changes and because of that we may see different sides of Him.

Because I believe a reasonable creator would be more thrilled by seeing his creation flourish than to sit back and except praise and worship from everyone. I've been trying to live my life in such a way, and I feel that God would be pleased with my efforts...
Praise and worship is not just sitting back. There are quite a few things you can do very actively for God in praise and worship.

I wouldn't want to praise my creator.If I created something, I would want that life to live. I believe the best praise is (like I said countless times) to live your life to the fullest and enjoy your life.
Opinion respected.

The bible had prophecies? The only prophecy I was aware of was Revelations, which hasn't happened. I'd like a few examples from the bible.

Oh there's TONS. I don't know a whole lot off the top of my head though. Can I have some by Monday? I'm not as wise about the bible as some people here think I am. One huge one though is the coming of the Messiah, the messenger, Jesus. But, I think you'll say that could be debated when the things were wrote and when (if?) Jesus did come, so I'll try to find some more modern day ones. I know some, but I have to find where they are in the Bible.

Originally Posted by Lisa111

God created Satan. I'm still wondering how an omnibenevolent being even has the ability to create evil.

Satan had free will, and he was jealous of God, and now spends his time spreading evil and deceiving hearts.

Why are we pre-judged?
Original sin, aka: Sinful from birth. It's a huge debate. But, according to the bible we may not be pre-judged if we had no knowledge of the Savior.

A choice of life and death is exactly what it is. If one doesn't choose God, one dies.

You die either way, the outcome is if you find new life or not in Heaven after.
However, it is an offer, and with the offer we can make a choice.

Okay, the analogy is more like this... Two guys are standing next to you, one with a gun. The other says, "You have every right to follow me or disobey me. If you decide to disobey me, this guy is going to shoot you."

Sort of it, but not really. My "version" of this is a lot more accurate to what I think God is like, but no one knows for sure, but my view has a bit more biblical support to it.

Let's face it. God told Abraham to kill his son. Abraham lied to Isaac to get the kid the rest of the way to the sacrifice without having to forcefully drag him there.

Abraham did not lie though. Had he actually killed his son, that would be the offering, but that did not happen and God provided an offering after that still, so Abraham did not actually lie.

Of course it was a relief. On the other hand, if I were Isaac, I'd be a little skeptical of my father, who was completely willing to kill me... A sane person wouldn't kill their child, regardless of who asked.

You would be, but Isaac would not because he had more udnerstanding of God's intentions and plans for his life.

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