Atheism As A REJECTION OF--Not Disbelief In--An Evil God (hell, church, atheist)
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That the discussion of my Religion on a forum that is titled & about "Religion and Spirituality" is sequestered to just one thread is idiosyncratic...especially if interjections of Atheism are allowed anywhere.
But that is how it operates...so....
This has nothing to do with my responses to the threads/posts people put up.
I was mostly with you until the last sentence. We don't "believe them because someone or something says so". You use the word "faith" as though it's a bad thing. Faith in and of itself is a virtue. It is in and of itself a good and desirable thing to have, even if it's misdirected. The claims of the Church are reasonable, so it is reasonable to have faith in them; just as it is good and reasonable for a child to believe (i.e. have faith) what his parents tell him, even if the child has no proof or "substantiated" reason to believe them.
ALL of Christianity is based on faith. We are deliberately given no proof so that only those who believe God and act on His promise are admitted to heaven. Everyone else gets the default afterlife.
How do those prove evolution? Couldn't all of those fossils have happened by God's design?
I'm not going to explain to you how scientists look at fossil evidence to see evolutionary trends. It would take volumes, and you'd still deny it. Do you think that we don't see you for what you are? If you really wanted to learn about how the study of fossils provides clear evidence for evolution, there are thousands of books and papers and dissertations out there that you could read.
ALL of Christianity is based on faith. We are deliberately given no proof so that only those who believe God and act on His promise are admitted to heaven. Everyone else gets the default afterlife.
I'm not going to explain to you how scientists look at fossil evidence to see evolutionary trends. It would take volumes, and you'd still deny it. Do you think that we don't see you for what you are? If you really wanted to learn about how the study of fossils provides clear evidence for evolution, there are thousands of books and papers and dissertations out there that you could read.
Just because there may be fossil evidence supporting evolution (a big "if"), it doesn't follow that evolution is true. It's the same principle for the Resurrection of Christ.
The belief in the evolution of higher forms of life from lower forms requires a leap of faith. I'm glad to see that you do have faith in something, phet! It's a positive step! Now we just need to work on directing it properly
How do those prove evolution? Couldn't all of those fossils have happened by God's design?
You seem to be asking this question honestly and maybe even wanting an honest answer...(?)
The fossils clearly establish a record of life evolving from the simplest of life forms, microbes, into the more complex life forms that exist today. Including us humans of course. A process that was/is very slow and gradual over the course of billions of years. At a minimum this proves how we all came to be in a different way than the Bible explains literally.
Why would a god choose such a process that doesn't involve or require a god's intervention with respect to how some life forms evolved while others didn't? As you know, most living things have not survived to be a part of life on earth today. Due to influences that were simply dictated by survival of the fittest. Life forms either adapted to the environment or died off. Hard to imagine why a god would choose such a process. Why evolution rather than something a lot more simple, like the theory of creation?
You tell me, but of course when it comes to imagining any such reason(s) along these lines, one can either simply stick to the fossil record and patiently wait for the unanswered questions to be answered, or one can fill in the voids of our understanding with a god.
Me and most scientists are not as inclined to do the latter and/or assume any such thing without better evidence to justify such a belief.
The Apostles were traveling, preaching, and founding churches for a full generation or more before the Gospel accounts were even written down
They though Christ was going to come back within their lifetimes.
And remember how expensive writing was on those days.
The letters between churches were written first. Then, when many of the original witnesses had died, they wrote it down for those who would hear it after they died.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte
At the risk of repeating myself...do you have anything outside the Bible, like from any historians of the time of Paul and the apostles, say the first 60 years or so after Jesus that even mentions the Jesus and the apostles? If not, what exactly do you base your belief on? Or is it a matter of pure faith--you simply believe in it because.....well, you simply believe in it?
An account of Jesus appears in Annals of Imperial Rome, history of the Roman Empire written around 116 A.D. by Roman senator and historian Tacitus. In chronicling the burning of Rome in 64 A.D., Tacitus says that Emperor Nero falsely blamed “persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius.”
Since we must believe by faith and not by sight, we are deliberately not given any proof.
If you got the proof you are demanding, it would destroy God's way to det4ermine who is saved.
Just because there may be fossil evidence supporting evolution (a big "if"), it doesn't follow that evolution is true. It's the same principle for the Resurrection of Christ.
The belief in the evolution of higher forms of life from lower forms requires a leap of faith. I'm glad to see that you do have faith in something, phet! It's a positive step! Now we just need to work on directing it properly
We can see evolution on a daily basis. I never saw a resurrection...and neither did you.
Just because there may be fossil evidence supporting evolution (a big "if"), it doesn't follow that evolution is true. It's the same principle for the Resurrection of Christ.
The belief in the evolution of higher forms of life from lower forms requires a leap of faith. I'm glad to see that you do have faith in something, phet! It's a positive step! Now we just need to work on directing it properly
It is not only that fossils indicate evolution but that evolution has predicted certain types of fossils to befound before those fossils have been discovered.
Is it faith to accept gravity, germ theory or the speed of light? Is it faith to believe that your car that has started for the last five thoudand days will start today or the pedalling a bicycle will.propell you forward?
People of all faiths and no faith accept evolution based on the evidence. Is it not only people of one faith that believes in thd resurection? Even the Church you follow accepts evolution based upon evidencd.I
People of other religions do not necessarily believe in the Resurection. Is their faith not directed properly
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