Hello.
Originally posted by Master of Illusion
I wonder why god is in hell? Admiring satan's work or maybe because he is "as bored as hell" in heaven? He probably tires of those sycophantic worshipers anyway.
Hell is an absence of God
and the gifts he provides, to better state it. God is present everywhere, but Hell has been designed by him to be a place of torment.
Originally posted by Aware
well that just sucks to know that if u dont beleive that this person is some sort of savior to u then automaticaly the bible states that u are an ENEMY. this just does not sound like a God i want to be a part of...seems to be very vengious dont u think and vengfulness is a sign of humanistic flaw. so all i can saw about this is that any type of God would NOT permit this to happen and there for the bible has been mis-interpreted at this point. that view is of humanistic traits, not of a God.
Originally posted by varkas
God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness..."
human flaws are gods' flaws.
want to see what gods look like? look in the mirror.
The Bible implies and explains that this enemy is a spiritual enemy rather than an earthly, physical one.
The Hebrew word translated as image is dimyown. This word means more that simply "image" or "copy". Dimyown also extends to the meaning of "representative". We are God's representative in this physical world. Also, to be like God or made in God's likeness is not the same as being God. "To be like God" requires an agreed absolute of what God is. We are all "gods" of our clothing, our pets, and our opinions. We are not able to infinitely manipulate our environmet, or to create an environment however we would wish it to exist. By this idea, we can safely say that my idea of God is different than yours.
It is a mistake to attribure man's faults as God's traits. While man has fallen, God is still the authority and perfect being in his own position. It was man that sinned, not God.
Originally posted by varkas
yes. but if bible is written by man, then man made god(s) to be like man, and that's pretty stupid
Perhaps the Bible was written by God, through men, and for men. By studying the Bible, we can see that it is a collection of books that could not have possibly been written by men because of the very nature of it. Many of the concepts in the Bible could not have possibly been conceived by men at the time period in which the Bible was written.
Originally posted by varkas
let's see. talking serpent, human made from a rib bone.
imaginations of man. if there's a god, he cannot write. if he could, there would be a better book available.
so to me, bible is just a book. "letters from earth" is much better.
(baptized with holy water, drinking holy beer, eating holy food, taking holy s*it...)
Or maybe lack of imagination or humility on your part. The talking serpent was not simply a snake. We all know that this is simply a manifestation of the Devil, as is it taught in many other places of the Bible.
God could write if he wanted or needed to. Wait, he did. He wrote through revelation and inspiration. He also wrote on our hearts. Prime example of this: rape. Rape doesn't hurt the species. It doesn't hinder our survival. Rape is wrong, even among secular opinion, because God has written his law and moral code on our hearts.
Originally posted by Aware
i was thinking about this whole adam eve thing and was wondering, arn't adam and eve suppose to be sinless right in the beginning? if so they wouldnt have taken the fruit from the tree. as for punishing me for something another person has done, i just dont think a true god would promote such a concept. i meen if i were adam, there is no way i would be touching this fruit and not because he is god (however im sure it doesnt hurt) but purely out of respect for him.
Satan tempted Adam and Eve. They did not know right from wrong, therefore they did not make the decision to obey God. According to their knowledge, everything was perfect. They had respect for God, which was the only higher power they knew of. When Satan came, they were both caught without any way to fend for themselves, because they were perfect in God, and helpless without him.
Love in Christ,
Ben