Prayer Works -- a praise report for my Christian Brethren

hole,

HA! Oh my GOD I'm rolling on the floor, that's sooo funny! I feel totally inadequate now. Do you use such witty humor on your elementary school friends?
 
I once prayed for a hard-on and I got a stiff upper lip instead.

Somebody should check the Earth to Transcendence connection.

So wait.
If I pray for a job and someone else prays for the same one, who gets it?
What exactly are the criteria for divine selection?
Is there someone that can facilitate the process with a nice sacrifice because I’ve been praying for death for a while now?

So wait again.
If He already knows what will happen, why does He get pissed when it does?
And why is it my fault?

If He already knows what I’m going to ask for, before I even do, then why do I have to ask at all?
Is this a power play?
If He is omniscient then why does it have to p lay out at all?

So wait.
If I ask for a new car and wind up dying in it, does that mean He wanted me dead?

Why exactly does stupidity become so obvious when talking about religion?
Is there something inherently contained in the subject matter that so eloquently displays human retardation or is it just me?
 
Satyr,

Subliminal porn messages will get you nowhere. Wait. Gotta check out "Teen Babes" umm... Hey! I like porn too!
 
satyr asks - "or is it just me?"

you said it, I didn't


Superlummox - I know, oldest joke in the world, at least I know I'm not funny.


*kicks thread*
 
Never mind that one of them contradicts herself dearly, saying with one hand that we should not ask men to show God to us and with the other denouncing you, a man, for not showing her.
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To clear:

1. I do not believe that man can show me God, but I believe man can point me to God; point me in His direction.

2. There are people here who claim they know God. They say they can point me to God.

3. I denounce such people because they fail on their own mission.


I cooperate: and get lied to, patronized, deemed unfit to quote the Bible. I am, they suppose, full of vanity and ulterior motives. And I hate God, by default, they say.

Point is, these people talk about things that exceed their competence: in other words, they bullshit.
And to boot, they put *their* bullshit against me. As if it were my fault that they bullshit.


The way *they* behave, they make out God to be a liar, yes.



* * *

Woody, you have shown that you cannot be trusted. You lied to me about posting in my thread -- and you have not said a word to that. How can you now expect me to trust you?
 
Waterandgendanken,
You guys are just trying to make woody cry.


Superluminal - I have to practice somewhere.
 
cole grey said:
Waterandgendanken,
You guys are just trying to make woody cry.
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Make yourself useful, Mr. Cole Grey.

We cannot afford ourselves to doubt: Yet so many Christians are leaving us no choice but to doubt.

Practice on us. Show us love. Show us God.
 
I am not God and could never hope to represent God properly.
But it is nice to have this love for people, I admit it isn't consistent when it comes to everyone on earth, it is hard to love a truly hateful person sometimes, but most people aren't really that - they are just wounded.
And I don't think God has less love than I do.

AND, why do I have to show you and gendanken love, you both should know by now. (typical male answer)
Also, if you are talking about me acting serious and not scrapping with everyone, I claim that God likes me how I am, independent of my ability to glorify him, and that is my point about God loving everyone here...eventually.

P.S. If you are talking about guidance, I am seeking it myself. From the process. So far it has been a slow extraction.
 
Woody said:
water says: But you don't really *care*, Woody, and this is the whole problem.

Woody says: You want to remain anonymous so I will leave it that way.
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Shouldn't you care anyway?
 
The parable of the Samaritan was told to warn people against an "I've got God; you don't qualify" mentality. You only have what you are able to show other people you have, and they will judge your beliefs by the fruit it bears. As for judging "atheists" or whomever you disagree with - even if they persecute, slander or just antagonize you - look at what Paul said:
1 Cor. 4:4-5 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.​
Jesus made it clear He expects us to bear the same fruit in season and out of season. It is always the "right time" to act like a Christian, and not only when we think it's appropriate.
 
Jenyar: Shouldn't you care anyway?

Woody says: Yes, but some people just want to be mad at you. Any attempt I make to reconcile is met with open hostility. It is too late they say. They are unapproachable.

I am trying to take care of it off-line.
 
Gend, ok I'll answer you . I'm on eastern standard time in the USA.

One: God made a plan before I was born. He knew what I would need and what I would do before I even lived. Otherwise He would not be omniscient, and therefore would not be God. On the otherhand, He gave me a free-will to make my own choices. I chose to do things His way, therefore I am in His permissive will, which still gives me a lot of choices that He can accept. All I have to do is ask and obey.

Two: God's plan is not as rigid as you envision it to be. He did not slate you for defeat, and God does not play favorites. To God there is no past, present, and future. God created time before there was time. God's existence is an eternal "now" event, and so is ours after we die. Time will cease to exist, but God will not.

Three: Concerning God's will, 2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
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ALL includes everybody. All includes you. That was God's original plan -- that mankind would be in fellowship with Him.

God can not lie. When He says something He makes it come true because He has the power to do so.

So I might ask, what is holding you back? Don't you trust Him? Do you have trouble believing miracles? Do you wonder if the Bible is really correct? These concerns are all realistic.

MY answer is this: look at Jesus. Don't look at me or anyone else, look at Jesus. I have looked and I believe He is God in person. Once I believed that, the rest followed. Jesus is the body, mind, and heart of the Christian faith. The choice is yours to believe Him or not.
 
cole grey,


I am not God and could never hope to represent God properly.
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No one is asking you to represent God.
No one is asking you to be an eidolon of God.

You know God, I don't. Introduce us.


AND, why do I have to show you and gendanken love, you both should know by now. (typical male answer)
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There is more to this *should* than I like. I should have read the Bible and memorized it, I should have prayed all my life, I should have this, I should have that.
And if I haven't, it is all my fault and this absolves everyone from their responsibility.


* * *

Jenyar,


The parable of the Samaritan was told to warn people against an "I've got God; you don't qualify" mentality. You only have what you are able to show other people you have, and they will judge your beliefs by the fruit it bears. As for judging "atheists" or whomever you disagree with - even if they persecute, slander or just antagonize you - look at what Paul said:
1 Cor. 4:4-5 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
Jesus made it clear He expects us to bear the same fruit in season and out of season. It is always the "right time" to act like a Christian, and not only when we think it's appropriate.
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But Woody is an exception, because he is sure I have ulterior motives.


* * *


Woody,


Woody says: Yes, but some people just want to be mad at you. Any attempt I make to reconcile is met with open hostility. It is too late they say. They are unapproachable.
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You lied to me, right in the beginning, patronized me, and now you have the nerve to blame it on me if I refuse to turn to you for help?!


I am trying to take care of it off-line.
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YOU ARE TRYING TO TAKE CARE OF IT OFF-LINE?

TAKE CARE OF IT?

Half-hearted and lukewarm as you are? You are trying to take care of it?


* * *


Jenyar,


Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
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I'm sure there is.


* * *

Woody,



God can not lie. When He says something He makes it come true because He has the power to do so.
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You saying there are things an omnipotent God *can* *not* do?


So I might ask, what is holding you back?
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What is holding me back is this nebulous blather you spout:

One: God made a plan before I was born. He knew what I would need and what I would do before I even lived. Otherwise He would not be omniscient, and therefore would not be God. On the otherhand, He gave me a free-will to make my own choices. I chose to do things His way, therefore I am in His permissive will, which still gives me a lot of choices that He can accept. All I have to do is ask and obey.

Two: God's plan is not as rigid as you envision it to be. He did not slate you for defeat, and God does not play favorites. To God there is no past, present, and future. God created time before there was time. God's existence is an eternal "now" event, and so is ours after we die. Time will cease to exist, but God will not.

Three: Concerning God's will, 2 Peter 3:9
“ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. ”


God can not lie. When He says something He makes it come true because He has the power to do so.
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You don't trust Him?
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How am I to trust someone whom I do not know?


You have trouble believing miracles? You wonder if the Bible is really correct? These are all realistic concerns.

MY answer to those concerns is this: look at Jesus. Don't look at me or anyone else, look at Jesus. I have looked and I believe He is God in person. Once I believed that, the rest followed. Jesus is the body, mind, and heart of the Christian faith. The choice is yours to believe Him or not.
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And it is the Bible that speaks about Jesus. Your argument is circular.



I am sick of being nice, because you then only want to fuck me in the head.
 
gendanken said:
I want to believe that St. Mathew did not screw up a word in Jewish prophesy.
The Hebrew word in Isaiah used describe the woman who would bear the messiah means 'young woman' (alma). This old testament later translated to the Greek used the word 'parthenos"….. which I’m sure you can recognize from “parthenogenesis” which means 'virgin birth"

I want to believe that Mathew, who was reading the Greek translation and who, like you, is orchestrated by god, did not fuck up on something as simple as translating “woman” to “virgin” and thereby setting the world off on a course of celebrating a human stupidity.

Virgin Birth.
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Matthew, being acquainted with the reality of Jesus' birth, saw in the Greek - rather than the Hebrew - translation what truly transpired. There is nothing in the Hebrew that prevents an "alma" from also being a virgin. If Jesus then was born without Joseph's input, finding a correlation for it in scriptures is a secondary substantiation - not a primary motivation. Especially considering that an angel predicted the birth in such terms (Luke 1:35), and Joseph experienced it that way (Matt. 1:19). The scripture's fulfilment would have been incidental if its context wasn't so significant.

I want to believe that after ordering a plague of all animals in the Pharaoh’s kingdom be killed, god was not stupid enough to say the pharaoh and tens of thousands of his men chased after his chosen people, the Jews, on horses right after.
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Only the Egyptian livestock was affected - those belonging to the people who enslaved the Isrealites. It would not be impossible for the Pharoah of Egypt to procure new horses from his subjects to replace the ones that died (and there were plenty of horses in Egypt). Exodus 9 says all the livestock began to die , but plagues don't generally kill every single animal. And it's clear from the proceeding plagues that not all the livestock died in the 5th plague; if we read what God says in the 7th plague (hail):
"Quick! Order your livestock and servants to come in from the fields. Every person or animal left outside will die beneath the hail.' "
Some of Pharaoh's officials believed what the LORD said. They immediately brought their livestock and servants in from the fields.​

I want to believe that all you people really are geniuses and that the word of god is smart and me dumb.
Even down to the details of stopping the sun in the sky, Woody.
God meant something bigger by that, right Woody?

There is a message somewhere in there between the s and the n in Sun that god caused to stop in the sky.
I just have to look closer.
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We don't have to read between the lines when we speak of sunrise or sunset, do we? Even in this day and age.

I want to believe that a body that has been butchered on a crucifix - a Roman practice deliberately invented to ensure death - came back to life again pristine.
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The body was kept largely intact in a crucifixion, and in Jesus' case not even the bones were broken. Therefore God could raise him just like he was laid to rest, with the wounds healed but still visible (at least until his ascention).
 
water said:
Why is it that Christians tend to make such a mystery out of God?
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Maybe because we are asked to explain God neatly, and leave no reason to doubt our explanation. Such questions often lead to answers that only increase the mystery instead of explaining it. Love is also simple until you have to explain it to someone.
 
Jenyar,



We don't have to read between the lines when we speak of sunrise or sunset, do we? Even in this day and age.
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Reading the Bible, one has to read between the lines ALL the time, in one way or another. And for this reading between the lines, one needs a theology. Which one ...


I want to believe that a body that has been butchered on a crucifix - a Roman practice deliberately invented to ensure death - came back to life again pristine.
Click to expand...

The body was kept largely intact in a crucifixion, and in Jesus' case not even the bones were broken. Therefore God could raise him just like he was laid to rest, with the wounds healed but still visible (at least until his ascention).
Click to expand...

And if Jesus had been decapitated? Torn to four pieces by four horses? Stoned?
 
Jenyar said:
Maybe because we are asked to explain God neatly, and leave no reason to doubt our explanation.
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Well, this is the impression you give: That there IS no doubt.
That you are sure, that you know, that you have no doubt.


Such questions often lead to answers that only increase the mystery instead of explaining it.
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Who is responsible for that?


Love is also simple until you have to explain it to someone.
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Ever wondered why this happens?
 
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