Questions about God... theists answer these!
Offline List of questions about God, religion and the supernatural have been compiled by IG over the years as well as some interesting ones by readers.
1. If Jesus fulfilled all the OT prophecies so well, why didn't the Jews recognize him as the messiah? - Francois Tremblay
2. If Gen 3:24 is true, why hasn't anyone found the Cherubims and the " flaming sword which turned every way"?
3. It's been proven that modern humans originated from Africa. Yet, the Adam and Eve story claims the first Humans lived in a garden in Eden, near 4 rivers. ( Most of which no one can find). One of these rivers mentioned is the Euphrates, which runs through Iraq, Syria and a portion of Turkey. What's the truth? Did man come out of Africa or near the Euphrates River? - The Infidel Guy
4. When the believer gets to Heaven, how can Heaven be utter bliss when people they love and care about are burning in Hell ? - The Infidel Guy - [Note: Some say God erases your memories of them, but if God erases your memory, you as Mr. Joe /Jane Smoe ceases to exist.]
5. How can a God have emotions, i.e. jealousy, anger, sadness, love, etc., if he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent? Emotional states are reactionary for the most part. How can God react to us if he is all-knowing and has a divine plan? - IG [Note: Indeed, many religious texts display their gods this way . Listen to the An Emotional Godshow.]
6. Why would God create a place such as hell to torture sinners forever when he foreknew who would disappoint him? - IG [Note: Some say you have a choice, but this misses the point. If God hates sin so much, why create Adam and Eve when he knew they'd sin? The only conclusion I can come up with, if Yaweh exists, is that he wanted sin to enter the world.]
7. "God is all merciful," we hear quite often. Wouldn't it be more merciful of God to simply snap sinners out of existence rather than send them to hell? Or better yet, since he's all-knowing, not allow them to be born at all? - IG
ON GOD'S LOVE & HELL
1.) God's love is superlative.
2.) God's love of man exceeds man's love of self.
3.) Man's love of self prohibits torture.
4.) Considering God's greater love for us, Hell (eternal torture) is illogical.
8. Muslims are supposed to pray 5 times a day towards Mecca. Each prayer includes a variety of ritualism and posturing. If a muslim astronaut were to land on Mars. Prayer to Mecca would be ritualistically impossible due to the rotation of Earth and Mars. Are Muslims stuck here in Earth? IG [Note: Since this was first posted, a Muslim astronaut was faced with this very dilemma. The authoritative clergy informed him to pray as he normally would. I see this no where in the Koran. You see? Religions must change, or die out. It's interesting to note that, in the Koran, the moon is believed to be in the lowest Heaven, the level for those that barely made it to Heaven. Surah 71:15-16. One problem, no man can supposedly get to Heaven until they die. Yet, we've been to the moon. Our satellites beyond that.]
9. Why haven't we seen God reattach severed heads, restore someone who was burned alive or regrow amputated limbs? Surely these would be miracles difficult to deny. - Adam Majors and IG [Note: The typical answer is that man doesn't dictate God's actions. The conundrum here however is that, if God wants us to "know" him, then surely feats such as those mentioned above would be happening all over the world. Until they do, I'll remain an atheist.]
10. Why does God entrust the spreading of 'His' word to sinners? Why doesn't he do it himself? - IG [Note: Surely God would have known that not everyone would be convinced by the reality[sic] of his Bible. If God loves us so much, we are all going to Heaven. If God knew that I would be an atheist, and he doesn't like atheists, he shouldn't have allowed me to come into existence. But he did. Therefore, I must be serving the will of God, for I exist. 
]
11. In II Kings 2-23/24 we read about God sending 2 she-bears to attack children for calling the prophet Elisa bald, which he was, the bears killed 42 of the children. Was this a good thing to do? -- Brandon and IG[Note: I have heard some argue that the boys were a gang. So?! I didn't read anywhere in that passage where they laid a finger on the guy . Also, what kind of bears are these that can kill 42 kids? Super Bears? Surely the kids had to be running away.]
12. I have often heard from many believers that even Satan has a presence in the church, which is why even in church people can still have impure thoughts. If Satan can find his way in the church, how do Christians know that Satan didn't find his way into the Bible and twist the whole book? After all, men did vote on which books would make the Holy Bible. - The Infidel Guy
13. Why did God allow Lot and his daughters to escape from Sodom and Gomorra when he destroyed it only to later have Lot and his daughters engage in incestuous fornication. (Genesis 19:30-36) - Disillusioned [Note: To have intercourse with daddy dearest of course.]
14. Genesis 1:28-29 shows that man and all the animals were first created herbivorous. Most young-earth Christians (ones that believes the earth is less than 10,000 years old) say that the fall of man resulted in carnivorous animals ( hence death of animals). So, why did God punish the animal kingdom, making animals kill and devour each other because of man's mistake? Or, if you're an old-earth Christian (one that accepts that animals existed on earth for billions of years before man came on the scene) then how come fossils show carnivorous animals existed before man? - http://www.caseagainstfaith.com/contact.htm.
15. Many Christians believe that God is a thinking being, that he solves problems and makes a way for them when troubles come. Does God Think? If God is thinking, did he know his thoughts before he thought them? If so, again, where is his freewill and how is God thinking at all if everything seems to be one uncontrollable action/thoughts. - The Infidel Guy [Note: I'd say a God cannot think at all. To do so, would strip him of omniscience. Thinking is a temporal process.] ON GOD'S ATEMPORALITY
1.) God, an atemporal being, created the Universe.
2.) Creation is a temporal processes because X cannot cause Y to come into being unless X existed temporally prior to Y.
3.) If God existed prior to the creation of the Universe he is a temporal being.
4.) Since God is atemporal, God cannot be the creator the Universe.
[Note: I guess I should also note here that a timeless being would be without the proposition of past, and future. But to be omniscient, God must know the past and future. Hence a God that is atemporal and omniscient cannot logically exist. ]
16. I have often heard that faith is all that is neccessary to believe in God and accept the Bible as true. If this is true aren't all supernatural beliefs true since they also require "faith"? - IG ON FAITH
1.) A prerequisite to believe in a Faith is faith.
2.) Having faith is all that is required to accept a Faith (belief) as true.
3.) All Faiths are true.
[Note: Of course all Faiths aren`t true, but this is the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from a person that states that, "Faith" is how one knows God.]
17. Why didn't God just kill Adam and Eve after the Fall and start from scratch? Actually, if God is all-knowing wouldn't he know that man would need to be killed eventually anyway, (the biblical flood)? Why create Adam and Eve at all? - and ON THE GARDEN OF EDEN
1.) God is omniscient (all-knowing).
2.) God knew that before he created man that they would eat of the tree of knowledge.
3.) God placed the tree of knowledge in the Garden anyway.
4.) God wanted sin to enter the world.
[Note: If God didn`t want sin to enter the world, why create Adam and Eve at all? He knew what would happen. Why place the forbidden trees in the Garden in the first place?]
18. If a spirit is non-physical but the human body is physical, how does a spirit stay in our bodies? - IG ON SPIRITS
1.) Spirits are not physical entities.
2.) Brains are physical entities.
3.) Past experiences are stored in our physical brains, we call that, Memory..
4.) Injury can damage portions of the physical brain that store memory and can alter or erase memories completely.
5.) If human spirits exist... after death, spirits can have no memory.
[Note: Some will say the spirit stores physical memories as well, but if true, the spirit would have to be physical at least to a degree. How could a non-physical spirit store, physical memories?]
19. Does God know his own future decisions? If God is all-knowing he actually shouldn't have any decisions to make at all. Nor can he choose anything over something else. For that would mean that he is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. In fact, he can't even think if this is the case. Since he can't DO anything, he might as well not exist. - IG ON GOD'S IMMUTABILITY - Unchangingness
1. If God exists, then he is immutable.
2. If God exists, then he is the creator of the universe.
3. An immutable being cannot at one time have an intention and then at a later time not have that intention.
4. For any being to create anything, prior to the creation he must have had the intention to create it, but at a later time, after the creation, no longer have the intention to create it.
5. Thus, it is impossible for an immutable being to have created anything (from 3 and 4).
6. Therefore, it is impossible for God to exist (from 1, 2, and 5) - Theodore M. Drange
20. If God is all-knowing, how could he be disappointed in His creation? -- [Note: Indeed, wouldn't God know that before the creation of our Universe what creatures would disappoint him? That being the case why create those creatures at all? Also, in knowing absolutely the behavior of humans before creation, God cannot be disappointed either... for this world is exactly as he has planned it to be. If it's not, why create us at all?]
21. God struck down the Tower of Babel angry at the intent of the people that built them, if this is the case, many of the great pyramids ( which are bigger than any ziggurat) around the world should be rubble also, yet many still stand today. Were not the Egyptians and many other ancient pyramid builders reaching toward God /The Heavens? - IG [Note: In actuality, many of the Pharaoh's believed that, via their pyramids, they would become God's themselves.]
22. In the watchmaker analogy, a watch is used to show us intelligent design and compares that to the Universe as evidence of design. We know watches are designed because we have past experience with watches, as well as with other man made objects. My question is: What Universe is the Intelligent Design proponent using to compare this Universe with to draw such an analogy? What God did he see create a Universe? - IG
23. Why did God flood the earth to remove evil? It didn't work! Evil came right back, God should have known that would happen! So why did He bother? - PhineasBg [Note: A good example of how quickly sin returned, was Noah getting drunk just after they discovered land.]
24. If the garden of Eden was a perfect paradise as xians claim, then why did Eve even want to eat the fruit? Wouldn't a perfect place provide everything a person would want or desire and thus she would want nothing? - keyser soze [Note: Why were the trees there in the first place? Of course they love to throw the serpent into the equation. But ummm..who let the serpent into the Garden?... and why would God create such a creature knowing he would cause man's fall? Hmm.. God must have wanted the fall to happen.]
25. Why would an all-powerful god become flesh in order to sacrifice himself to himself so that his creation might escape the wrath of himself. Couldn't god, in his infinite wisdom, come up with something a little more efficient? - ON THE BODY OF CHRIST
1.) God?s flesh was known as Jesus.
2.) Flesh cannot enter into Heaven (according to Paul)
3.) God is no longer Jesus.
4.) Jesus doesn?t exist.
(Note: Many at this point will state that the spirit lives on so therefore Jesus lives. This really depends on what you believe about Jesus. Is Jesus the son of God or God in flesh? If Jesus is merely the son there is no problem.However, if Jesus ?is? God himself, we do. You see, Jesus is called Jesus because of the attribute of Flesh. If Jesus = God (who is spirit) then the entity known as Jesus ceases to exist. The flesh/body of Jesus, no longer exists and the spirit of God is still the unchanging spirit of God. No Jesus at that point. The Flesh, called Jesus, is dead.)
26. After 9/11 a lot of people have been tossing around " god bless america". Why do they keep saying this? From the looks of it god hasn't blessed anything. If god had blessed america, the 9/11 event would've never happened. Theists seem to give the answer of "everything is part of gods big plan". If everything is part of gods big plan, why are we after Bin Laden? Wasn't he and other terrorists just carrying out gods desired plan? So it seems that Bin Laden/ terrorism isnt our enemy, but god . - [Note: Unfortunately many religious nuts believe they are fulfilling their God's plan by going to war.]
27. Christians say that God is NOT the author of confusion. Can you say, Tower of Babel? - The Screaming Monkeys
28. If Noah's flood supposedly covered the earth for a year, regardless of whether or not all the animals could fit on the ark, what the heck happened to all the plants? Can you imagine a cactus surviving under 4 miles of water for a year? I can't either! - Kyle Giblet [Note: With God all things are possible. Oh wait, except in Judges 1:19.]
29. The highest rainfall ever recorded in a 24 hour period was 47inches in the Reunion Islands in 1947 (during a severe tropical storm). To cover the whole earth to a depth of 5.6 miles, and cover the mountain tops (i.e. Mount Everest), it would need to rain at a rate of 372 (three hundred and seventy two) inches per hour, over the entire surface of the earth. Can rain fall at such an astronomical rate? Where did all the water come from?? Where did it all go to??? And would not the dynamics of the earth be so out of balance (tides etc.) that the earth would become so unstable that it would wobble off into outer space???? -
30. What do Muslim women get in Paradise? - IG [Note: Some Muslims I have interviewed about this say that Muslim women will get the same thing men get or equal value. Oh really? So Muslim women will get 72 virgin men? lol. If Muslim men get 72 virgins, where are all these virgin women coming from? What of their freewill? Is Allah creating these women to be slaves to the men in Paradise?]
31. In the "Last Days" Jesus is supposed to appear in the clouds. How are the Christians on the opposite end of the world going to see him? Are there going to be millions of Jesus'? What about people that work underground? What about people in deep space? -
32. The Bible says that God is a jealous God . How is this an example of a moral absolute of which man is supposed to follow? - IG ON GOD`S JEALOUSY
1.) "God is love." 1 John 4:8.
2.) "Love is not jealous." 1 Cor 13:4
3.) "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God." Exodus 20:5.
4.) The Christian god cannot logically exist.
(NOte: Basically love is NOT jealous, yet god is jealous, then God can`t be love. But if god IS love he cannot be jealous. Be he is.)
33. A true Muslim man is not supposed to do anything that the prophet Muhammad didn't do. If one remembers there was a big debate over whether or not Muslims should eat Mangos. If this is true, why in the Hell were these Islamic Fundamentalists flying airplanes? - IG
34. If the earth was covered by a complete global flood, every living creature killed except those surviving on the ark, why are there many completely unique animal species in Australia that are found no where else indigenously on the earth? -
35. If god is omniscient and " god is love," why would he allow a child to be conceived, knowing that that child would one day reject him and spend eternity burning in a lake of fire?- TiredTurkeyProd
36. Revelations is supposed to take place on Earth. What if we colonize the moon or Mars or inhabit a self-sustaining space station? Do we escape "judgement"? -- Ray Sommers [Note: No we don't Ray... and of course we all know that if there is any intelligent life out there besides us, they are all going to Hell too. 
]
37. Isaiah 40:28 says, "...the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is he weary?" If this is true, why did God rest on the seventh day?- IG
38. Everytime I go to a funeral the preacher and guests always say that " God " has called that person to Heaven or they say, " God said it was time to come home", or some such variation. If God is calling these people "home", why are we putting the murderers of these victims in prison? How can we punish a man or woman for doing God's will? - IG
39. Does God have a gender? In most churches, God is predominately referred to as a "he"? - IG [Note: The Bible says God is male, but what does this mean? Does God have a penis? Does he have hormones that dictate his gender? ]
40. Why can't we wait until we get to Heaven to worship God ? Why would it be too late? - IG
41. What is the purpose of prayer? What can a finite being on Earth possibly tell an omnipotent, omniscient deity that he doesn't know already? - IG ON PRAYER
1.) Humans can?t change God?s mind for he has a divine plan and is unchangeable.
2.) Prayer can't change God's mind.
3.) Prayer doesn't change anything.
(Prayer may make you feel better emotionally, but it doesn`t change God`s mind.)
42. Some say Jesus was the all-knowing God. Jesus would have known then that when he died he'd be in heaven in less than 3 days to rule. If Jesus is alive and ruling today, what did he sacrifice? -- Cyndy Hammond
43. God knows that men are sinners, untrustworthy and evil, why does God leave it up to fallible man (clergy..etc) to teach others about his word? Why would he put our eternal souls at risk if he loves us so much? - The Infidel Guy and Danno778
44. Did Adam have nipples? If so, how did he acquire them? In fact, why would God give "later man" nipples at all? They serve no purpose other than lactation. Some say pleasure. Where is that in Genesis exactly? All mammals have nipples as well, are theirs pleasureful for them too? Many men don't find their nipples pleasurable at all. - IG
45. How did Adam and Eve know it was wrong to disobey God if they hadn't eaten of the tree of knowledge (of good and evil) yet? You can't blame them if they didn't know. - IG
46. If God has such a tremendous problem with uncircumcised penises, why did he make man with foreskin in the first place? - IG [Note: Some say, "So God can recognize his chosen people." Recognize? Is God so stupid that he has to physically look at men's penises? If not God, do other men need to? lol.]
47. Did Noah have fish onboard? Salt or Fresh? Since fresh water fish would die in salt, and salt water fish would die in fresh, only one type of fish would survive. Yet....?" - Frank Monaco
48. Why does the omnipotent, omnipresent God need help from man or angels to spread his word or do acts? - IG [Note: Some say God doesn't need help. But apparently he does.] - IG
49. How did Jesus ascend to Heaven in the Flesh when Paul says that flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven? (1 Cor.15:50) - IG [Note: Some say, well Paul said that and not Jesus. Yet they quote Paul when it suits there purposes.]
50. If God wants us to live right and choose "the good," why did he create evil? (Isaiah 45:6,7) Not to mention he already knows which people are not going to choose "the good" so why create those people in the first place? It seems that many people are born to go to Hell. - IG ON HELL
1.) God is all-knowing.
2.) Before I was born God knew I wouldn?t believe in him.
3.) I was born to go to Hell.
(Sure you may say I have a choice, but I think I`ve proven already that I really don`t. I`m simply fulfilling the will of God by being an atheist aren`t I? If I`m not, I shouldn`t exist: For God would have known that before I was created that I wouldn`t believe in him.)
51. I hear Christians all the time speaking of a spiritual war between Heaven and Hell, if this is true does God have limitations of power? Man only conducts wars because of our limitations of power and foresight. God has both all-power and all-knowledge, no reason for war of any kind. - IG
52. The Bible is full of phrases beginning with, "and the lord saw". Didn't he know before hand? - IG
53. How can a psychologist condone belief in something not proven to exist, when people are put into mental institutions on a daily basis for the same thing? i.e. aliens, fairies, imaginary people (Multiple Personality Disorders..)? - Dan Denton [Note: I'm sure that some of the pious believe that they are improperly placed there as well Dan. ]
54. If Christians say they know God exists and that he will work miracles, what do they need faith for? Faith is not knowing. - IG
55. Brain, or shall I say, body transplants, will eventually be possible, where would the soul be then? Where is the soul? - IG
56. If God really wants us to know him, why doesn't he place the knowledge of him in our minds at birth? The same way many theists believe that God implants our sense of right and wrong in us a right birth. - IG
57. If God was Jesus' father (not Joseph), then why is Jesus' family tree traced through Joseph? -- Cyndy Hammond
58. What image of God was man made from? Couldn't have been a moral one or physical one. - IG [Note: One would suspect that an image of God would be perfect and cannot sin. Oops.]
59. Why can't God appear before everyone at the same time? Everyone in the world would then "know" he exists and not have solely "believe". And please, don't say he already tried that. Surely a God knows exactly what to do to convince a measly human of his existence. - IG
60. According to the New Testament Matthew 5:17 says "Do not suppose that I have come to abolish the Law and the prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to complete. I tell you this: so long as heaven and earth endure, not a letter, not a stroke, will disappear from the Law until all that must happen has Happened." So since Jesus has not returned the "Law" is still in effect, so why aren't we still burning witches, stoning adulterers and disobedient children, killing homosexuals, ostracizing people that work on the Sabbath (nurses, doctors etc.), flinging blood onto the horns of the alter, pulling off the heads of small birds, and don't forget human sacrifice to God (Leviticus 27 P.28 )? -- Sheila L. Chambers
61. If there is freewill in Heaven yet everyone has chosen good and is happy, isn't that proof that God could have made us with freewill, choosing good ( God ) and still being happy on Earth? - Dennis Hendrix [Note: In other words, evil didn't have to exist after all. Hey wait, even in Heaven apparently, evil can exist. At least for a short while. Satan became evil and was in heaven. Apparently he even had enough time to form an Army against God. Wow. Maybe Heaven won't be as peaceful as many believe.]
62. Why does God have a plan? Man is limited in power so we make plans because we are not all-knowing nor all-powerful. If God has a plan, isn't he reduced to a mere finite being? - IG
63. How could the all-merciful/loving God watch billions of his children burn over and over again for eternity? - IG [Note: Of course this is geared to those that believe in a fiery hell. I am well aware that not all Christians believe in a fiery Hell.]
64. Before reading and writing were invented (5000BC), on what basis did God use to judge the people who died before the Hebrew and Greek text (BIBLE) were written? -- [Note: They are all roasting in Hell. ]
65. Many Christians tell me that I will "burn in hell". If I have a soul, how can a soul burn? Aren't souls non-physical entities? - IG [Note: Some Christians groups believe that you will be given new bodies after judgement. However, if true, what's the significance of a spirit in the first place?]
66. How can one hold to the barbaric belief that something has to DIE in order to appease a god for a bad deed? -- Nickolaus Wing [Note: Because an old book says so Nick.]
67. Why does SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) occur? Why would God allow a baby to live for such a short period of time? Why not just let them not be born in the first place? -- Terry Clark [Note: This actually happened to a friend of mine. Not even God himself could console her.]
68. If Jesus was nailed and died on Friday evening, and walked out of the tomb on Sunday morning, where's the 3rd NIGHT he predicted? Per Matthew 12:40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. -
69. Many Christians claim that hell is merely existence outside of God ?s presence (C.S. Lewis among others). If this is the case, then Jesus could not have descended into hell (being God Himself). As a result, are you sure your sins are forgiven? - Byron Bultsma
70. Ten to twenty percent of all women who discover they are pregnant suffer a miscarriage. Also, it is estimated that anywhere from 14 to 50 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Seeing this is all part of God 's plan, does this make God the world's number one abortion provider? - Jim
71. What if, when you get to Heaven, you saw God causing pain and suffering out of anger or for the purpose of entertaining himself. What if he required people in heaven to praise and worship him non-stop even to the point of causing his worshipers discomfort, pain and boredom. What if, when he was bored, angry, or jealous, he would create natural disasters to make himself feel better. Would you still follow him? - Fernando [Note: Of course they would Fernando, many people followed Hitler out of fear as well.]
72. In Leviticus, the bible condemns homosexuality as an "abomination", giving some Christians a reason to hate, harass, torture and kill gays and even picket their funderals with " God hates fags" signs. In the same book of the bible the eating of shellfish is equally an "abomination". Are these Christians planning to go after the patrons of Red Lobster next? - [Note: hee-hee, that's all I can say. Jewish Law states that eating Fish without scales is an abomination and thus the Shark is one among the list. However, sharks do have scales, Placoid scales, one of the many reasons why a shark is called a Fish .]
73. Christians will tell you that if a baby dies it goes to heaven. Why then are they so against abortion? All the child is being deprived of is the opportunity to go to hell. Either that or god expects unborn fetuses to accept Jesus. -
74. If one could prove to you incontrovertibly that Jesus and God were all human fabrications would still believe? And why? - LOGICnREASON [Note: If you say yes. Then you are not concerned with the truth, you simply WANT to believe; and if you WANT to believe, indeed, there is nothing anyone can tell you..]
75. It is often said that God allows evil because one could not meaningfully appreciate good without experiencing its opposite. Why is it necessary to experience the opposite of something in order to appreciate it? Must I experience death in order to meaningfully appreciate life? -excidius
76. Bible literalists want you to believe that God's Word in the Bible is meant to be taken literally. If this is the case, why was Jesus fond of explaining things in parable and metaphor? Was Jesus literally discussing the biology of mustard seeds, or was the mustard seed parable meant to be interpreted figuratively as faith? -excidius
77. Liberal Christians say some parts of the Bible are literally true, but much else is to be interpreted figuratively as allegory. How do you know which is which? What distinguishing criteria are used? How can you be certain "God" is a literal and not a figurative concept? -excidius
78. Consciousness is the result of a physical brain, how could God being metaphysical be said to be conscious or sentient without having a brain? - Mindless
79. Considering how Leviticus is considered old law, and that Christians do not obey it anymore, why do they always use it to defend homosexuality being an "abomination"? -Bohorquez
80. If God is omnipotent and he has a plan ... then why did he not create the universe as it will be one second after the plan has succeeded? Who or what prevented him from doing that? - Timothy Campbell (http://www.tc123.com)
81. The large majority of people who have ever existed could not have learned of the Bible or Jesus Christ. And many people afterwards have found other religions or no religion at all to be more convincing, sometimes while being very virtuous. Do all these people really deserve eternal torment because of that? -- lpetrich
82. The above arguments also apply among different sects of Christianity, many of which state that most others are not True Christianity. -- lpetrich
83. Is it reasonable for the Creator and Ruler of such a vast Universe to be preoccupied with the sexuality of a species living on a tiny little planet? -- lpetrich
84. If the Christian god was all loving and all knowing why did he let religious figures such as Mohammed or Gautama Budda be born, knowing that they would mislead people from the 'true' faith and trick the majority of the world's population into burning forever in hell (in fact, if Islam didn't start, most of the middle east would probably be Christian). It would simple to use the Holy Spirit to guide them to Jesus and spread the 'true' faith. If the Holy Spirit exits, it certainly isn't doing it's job!
85. If one is obliged to follow all the teachings of the bible then why is engaging in homosexuality or adultery any worse than "suffering a witch to live", "muzzling the ox that treadeth the corn", "reaping the corners of thy field", "marring the corners of they beard", "plowing with an oxen and an ass", "hating thy brother in thy heart" or "eating frogs, shellfish and eels" ?
86. Exactly how did the alleged worldwide flood kill off all the world's sea creatures? How does one go about drowning a fish? -- Steever
87. Why did this alleged god create humans as an animal form of life that gets sick and dies and experiences pain and has a limited mind when 'it' could have created humans as a form of pure energy or of some indestructible material or whatever, and was totally ?sinless? and had ?pure? thought? If a god was omnipotent 'it' could have easily have done this. --AI
88. If a god is omnipotent how did 'it' fail to foresee that Satan would turn against 'it'? --AI
89. What is a god supposedly made of? --AI
This list was compiled by the Infidel Guy with submissions from many members of the atheist community.
PICK THE QUESTION YOU WANT TO ANSWER, AND POST IT HERE...
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And I'll counter the first question. Jesus' disciples were Jewish but the guys who wrote the gospels were Greeks who lived long after the disciples passed away. Paul was a Jew when he needed to be and a Roman when he needed to be (though the evidence makes him a pagan) Paul and his converts who wrote the gospels saw nothing of Jesus first-hand as they wrote decades later.
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
I'll take 2. > >
"Why on Earth would you still expect them, after a Great Flood and thousands of years, to still be there?"
I'm pretty sure an ever burning sword would catch eyes no matter where it went to. Why has noone ever reported it? Why haven't we found it now, when technology would allow us to see there was a burning object with satellites where nothing should be burning?
I honestly don't know or care what the other object was. It probably wouldn't stand out as much as a sword that's on fire anyway.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
re:: Check out these 'guardians' . . . Sun 5:09P
These fearsome looking creatures were seen in Important civic structures and Taoist and Buddhist structures were said to be 'guardians' . . (See: Image)
Well, the problem here is the concept of Adam and Eve popping into existence out of nowhere as the first two humans when the reality is that there is no meaningful definition of 'the first two modern humans' as homo sapiens very slowly evolved from their predecessors. Sapiens have different proportions of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA, so a pure modern human has no meaning.
This article explains it:
http://www.edge.org/conversation/rethinking-out-of-africa
In summary:
"We end up with quite a complex story, with even some of this ancient DNA coming back into modern humans within Africa. So our evolutionary story is mostly, but not absolutely, a Recent African Origin."
Despite the complexity, you cannot say "There is just as much chance that humanity had its origins in Asia."
The first humans classified as sapiens on the above timeline do indeed come from Africa.
The issue of the rivers isn't relevant if the concept of 'the first pair of humans' makes no sense.
re :: I Peter A. available for comment ?
Peter A.
Before any talk about the great Deluge story. Obvious question has to be is you available for comment? I mean the user Peter A. even about ? If not, there is little reason to reply; if you are not available to comment further. Understand people tend to flake out *slang on the board on ( by posting something and then leaving ). So I have to ask this.
Caring about a life means you're just an illusionist? Reattaching a severed head is a "cheap trick"?
Yeah, the problem is that this "for reasons that I can't explain" recurs too often, and about concepts that lies at the foundation of this very religion, so in the end it's nothing, just smoke.
Sir,
If u dont mind ,I want to ask you one questions.
1.What is god?
Pls never take it personally,Just want to satisfy my curiosity .
O, the highly wise! Arrive at a conclusion, therefore, that there is nothing beyond this Universe. Give precedence to that which meets the eye and turn your back on what is beyond our knowledge. (2.108.17)
Here are three beliefs of mine that explain this but they're not falsifiable or able to be scientifically tested. They're just my beliefs: 1. The purpose of evil, 2. Pre-birth life planning and 3. The hidden God theory.
Things or experiences are evil when they cause us to suffer but we sometimes volunteer to suffer because we know it has benefits. No pain, no gain.
Here are examples of how we volunteer for suffering in order to progress, grow or learn something: -sometimes people volunteer for military service specifically to better themselves, subjecting themselves to suffering in a basic training program and mandatory passing of physical fitness tests. -People enroll themselves in tough college programs, which often require them to pull all-nighters to meet assignment deadlines. The coursework also requires them to read and write about academic subjects when they would rather be doing other things such as watching TV or playing video games. -Individuals sometimes enroll themselves in various physical fitness programs, which cause them to suffer temporary discomfort during class.
The idea of "pre birth" says that, wherever we are before birth there is very little suffering, and therefore, little opportunity to progress toward maturity. Therefore, we decide to incarnate on earth, in order to suffer more. Before we are born, we plan out our incarnation, including who are parents will be, major medical ailments, tragic events of our lives and how we'll die. Some beings are delicate and choose a relatively easy life in a developed country while others are hardcore, choosing for example to be born with no faces (i.e. gaping holes in their heads where the eyes and noses should be) in order to have the maximum amount of suffering. And everything that is really bad in someone's life, such as terminal cancer, amputations, loss of senses, loss of loved ones was all planned by the individual and loved ones before birth.
One part of our suffering on earth is existential suffering. We don't know why we're here, whether there is a point to it all, if there is a god or afterlife etc. When a loved one dies, the loss is suffering. Since we don't know if we'll ever see that person or animal again, or we specifically believe we won't, it's even more suffering. Not having information that you want is suffering. Many people want to know for sure whether God or an afterlife exist. Having the knowledge that he does exist would mean less suffering for them on earth, hence less reason to be here.
God doesn't want to be 'known' the way commonly agreed upon facts are known. An example of a commonly agreed upon fact would be that a country called France currently exists. God doesn't want that level of certainty about his existence. If people were that certain that he exists, more people would be obsessed with him and he doesn't want to be "worshipped" in any way. He only wants people to be successful in their missions.
Someone's mission could be to be born with no arms or legs, abandoned as a toddler in a trash heap and survive until the age of four by crawling around collecting scraps before dying. God wants this person to be successful in the mission of his life just like someone would want their daughter, who has taken the maximum course load in college, full of honors classes to be successful. When the person gets back to the "other place" he can recover from the ordeal and then process the suffering experienced during this life and presumably grow into a more mature "being".
Prayers are answered, sometimes, as long as they don't blow God's cover or contradict anyone's life plan. God will heal someone's cancer in answer to prayer or 'remote healing' meditation sometimes, and only if: 1. dying from this cancer isn't in the person's life plan and 2. the person isn't in the 'prayed for' group of an 'efficacy of prayer' study. If there is scientifically reproducible evidence that God exists and heals cancer in answer to prayer, there will be less existential suffering in the world, hence less reason to be here.
This is also true of paranormal/psychic phenomena. Much of it is real. If you try to test it, it will fail enough of the time that there will never be enough certainty for it to become a commonly accepted fact. So, if it's all about suffering then why does God answer any prayers or allow paranormal/psychic phenomena at all? That is just to give a little respite or hope to those who need it.
For some of us, the idea of "non-existence, then a life filled with suffering and then non-existence again" is too dark and cold. We need some anecdotes, something, to let us know we'll see deceased loved ones again. And we have this evidence, albeit subjective, anecdotal and unreproducible, such as NDE stories.
Too much evidence of God's existence blows his cover and makes our lives here pointless. Too little evidence makes life here unbearable for some. So, there is an area in between where God can make himself known, to a degree, for the benefit of those who need it, as long as it falls within the bounds of uncertainty.
For me, the pre birth idea is the solution to the problem of evil. God created evil. That doesn't mean that he is necessarily evil. He just created a tough reality filled with suffering that we can choose to experience (at a difficulty level of our choosing) or not.
I think in those cases the baby and his parents worked it out before any of them were born, in order to bring suffering to the parents and give a being who perhaps hadn't incarnated before a chance to 'test the waters' of incarnation on earth. Or, maybe the being or consciousness didn't want to be away from home for very long and only wanted to experience being born and infancy.
I'll just take 'spirt' to mean mind/consciousness/psyche. Because of 4. the only reproducible evidence we have that normal, everyday, conscious minds can exist is when there is a properly functioning brain. But it's possible, that our minds do continue to exist in another reality with access to all of this life's memories, not just the ones we can remember now and with a heightened capacity for thought, free of the restrictions of this reality. That is made possible by the theory that our reality is the digital output of non-physical, quantum processing which is explained here: http://brianwhitworth.com/VRConjecture.pdf
I'm am only using that theory to support my personal belief in God and the afterlife because it makes a pre-birth existence and afterlife possible (whereas in a physicalist model they're not) but it is also possible that the VR theory is true and that there is still no God or afterlife, that our minds can only exist if the brain is intact, even though the brain and all other matter is virtual and computed by non-physical processing. In other words, it's possible that our minds can only exist in this virtual reality. If the prediction of the VR theory is true, that you can create an electron by colliding light rays of the highest frequency, it will prove it's true, not that God or the afterlife are. In any event, there is no dualism vs. physicalism debate because there is no dualism. The debate is now between virtualism and physicalism. Virtualism explains more recent discoveries like relativity and quantum mechanics, while physicalism does not, leaving them in the "we don't really know how that works but the math is right" pile.
We theists actually have to answer these? Has the present generation really forgotten 4000 years of theologians and philosophers who deticated their lives to answering these questions and are getting tired of repeating themselves? Rather than listing answers, it might be wise to list the names of the intellectuals who have already answered these questions.
Nonetheless, since it seems to be necessary, I will present answers to some of them soon.
A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.
C. S. Lewis
*****
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
C. S. Lewis
I was at these statues in 2001.
Noone else has. We don't really expect you to.
More like in 4000 years, they've yet to give any answers.
Too bad noone has.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
As Vastet says, none of them gave the answers, but it might be interesting to see what passes for an answer for you and why.
As for C.S. Lewis, IIRC he did not have any evidence or convincing argument either and admitted that himself. He went according to personal experience, nothing objective. I think he says in his biography that he went through some crazy and mystical experiences, some of which he didn't want to describe. He only failed in his imagination to consider any other possible explanation than the Christian worldview. I really doubt he saw any talking snakes or burning and talking bushes that would actually point at Christianity. His alternatives were very limited.
I did this comparison as a small child, I had experiences but there was nothing about them in science books for kids I had, neither in the Bible books or the Lutheran sunday school. (not baptisted, just to fit in) I value science for obvious reasons and I came to appreciate certain very quotable passages in New Testament, but I need other sources to explain my experiences.
Beings who deserve worship don't demand it. Beings who demand worship don't deserve it.
It is a big list, eh...
I didn't even bother to read it all.
The above quote just shows the level of the questioner.
Who said and how it is proven that past experiences are stored in our brains???
How do you prove that?
Oh, yah, because if the brain gets damaged, we loos some of our memories. Right...
Do you even realize that this is just an interpretation of known facts.
Brain could as well serve the purpose of antenna which gives access to the stored information in the spirit around us.
And when you damage the antenna parts you don't have an access to the information. It's a good interpreatation, isn't it?
You probably imagine the spirit as a small non-physical fairy which uses our bodies as their houses, eh
Well, that would be very childish. Because spirit is non-physical, it is boundless. It is everywhere around us, in everything we see and we don't see. And that's the only logical assumption, isn't it?
Then, going back to the brain-antenna, you may form another scenario for the way we perceive and remember things.
So, why should I go through all this questions, if I don't see you intelligent enough to come up with a simple answer like the one I just gave you?
You wouldn't understand me any way.
Ok an antenna, so if you believe in reincarnation your "signal" came from you being a cocroach in a prior life. Naw, you have the right "antena" because there are no other religions with different claims of gods or spirits.
No we don't believe in non phyisical entities by any name, not fairies not god or gods or God, not spirits not ghosts. We don't believe in anything super natural at all. Just like you don't believe Thor causes lightening.
Sorry, you like every other fan of every other religion don't want to consider that all of them are merely products of human's imaginations made out of ignorance and fear of being finite. Get in line, take a number.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
So you know as much about data storage and transmission as you do about relativity. In other words, nothing.
Damage to the brain can change a persons personality, not just memory. If the brain was just some antenna, damaging it would corrupt all data that went in. In other words, nothing would work anymore. The fact that a brain can be damaged and still operate at such efficiency to keep one alive and aware of some things is just one proof that the brain isn't an antenna. Another is case studies on people who've lost their ability to recall things.
No, it isn't a good interpretation. Medicine hasn't definitively proved much compared to some other fields, but it certainly has definitively proved that you are completely contained within your body. That your brain is you. There is no need nor evidence for a soul.
No. The only logical assumption is that spirits and 'non-physical' are terms so broken and useless that noone who claims to be intelligent should ever use them. You can't tell me what non-physical is, you can only tell me what it isn't. That makes the word as useful to conversation as ghradq, which I made up just now. I can't tell you what ghradq is, but I can tell you it isn't cake. Do you believe in ghradq?
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
What you believe or don't believe is irrelevant here, you clever boy.
We are not discussing believes. We are answering questions.
Shut up and learn!
What do you consider super natural?
You don't even know how the gravity works, or how did you come to have thoughts and spit them out. Is that super natural?
Is it super natural that this Universe came out from NOTHING?
Please man, spare me some irritations here.
As I said. Stay still, be quite, read and learn.
Vastet, I see that you like to breathe my dust.
Good for you.
Hope that you'll learn something for the time I'm around
And now, read again what I said in my answer and try to see beyond the words.
That's how people show intelligence.
I don't have the time to go in deep details only because you, cannot connect the dots i left in the sentence.
No, people show intelligence by absorbing useful information and finding ways to apply it. Two things you have repeatedly failed to do, proving you aren't intelligent.
I have years worth of examples of me acquiring and applying new knowledge on this site alone, so there is no question that I'm intelligent.
Feel free to not come back until you acquire the ability to learn and use accepted definitions of terminology, instead of making shit up and expecting us to believe it without even a shred of evidence..
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
> That day, that one of loss, a lament --
Addressed to Off-site, for the record --
Image IS the MESSAGE ::
:
:
Jesus is a fictional character. Jews recognize him as the son of a dog.
Ute Indian Cheif Shitting Bull
I want to lick your cunt hole.
God is misnomer for dog (God the Dyslexic Dog is a trilogy of graphic novels that follows the story of a dyslexic boy and his adopted dog (who just happens to be the real God incarnate). God hides the fact that the Virgin Mary got pregnant by a dog and the physician Jesus, their son, is a so and so. The Talmud and the Torah suggest that the birth of Jesus is illegal and is law that persons having it with god must be killed.
I want to lick your cunt hole.
holy shit...is it 2007?
LMAO. Seems like yesterday huh?
yes, as a matter of fact, it does. i noticed dude's tenth anniversary after joining is coming up. maybe he decided to mark the occasion by picking up exactly where he left off?
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Because they say, invisible it cannot be construed that they mean/ment something non-physical. There's no way they could know that for a certainty. Because we today seperate the Psychie from the body still is no proof that a person is invisible by all standards one could apply. Because they (the ancients)assumed that the person is invisible they seperate the mind/person from the physical and apparently it became labeled "the spiritual". Because matter comes from energy and E=Mc2 is exactly that there's nothing in this process that is understood to be non-material. Unless it can be found that energy itself is non-material, and in that I'm not uderstanding as others if I be correct.
Considering that we (the Old Seers) interpret creation as a phycology construction ratherr then material we still realize that the universe may not contain anything non-material. If the mind works from a material basis to begin with, for it to produce anything non-physical is still unknown. If it does produce a non-material there is still no proof that it has that abillity. Thought and person may very well be electron patterns and remian in the realm of material.
The only possible thing the world needs saving from are those running it.
https://sites.google.com/site/oldseers
Knowledge trumps faith and I'm not a Theist
Lies are nothing more then falsehoods searching for the truth
oh, and i love how dude's profile has his AIM, his MSN, and his ICQ number! fuck yeah!
Fuck. ICQ? I haven't used that since, hmmm, 2004? I had a really low number too. like 88,999 or something.
Just for kicks I installed ICQ just now but I can't login. I can't remember my account or the email associated with it.
It would be funny to login and see if there are old connections still in my address book.
I hated icq. Fucking memory hog. Every goddamn time I went to play Doom, I had to restart in safe mode because there wasn't enough memory due to that program. I deleted it once. Sister cried like a baby and parents bitched and reinstalled. So weak. One of the worst things about the 90's.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
i have lots of great memories of ca. 2000-2001, sitting in my basement, my mix CD of songs downloaded off napster spinning in the CD-ROM drive while i played games like kingpin or the original max payne, with AIM, MSN, and ICQ all open and blazing, thrilling whenever i heard one of those trademark alert tones (ICQ had the best, you had to give them that--"uh-oh!"). i never seemed to have memory problems. there was a magic to all that that social media just doesn't have.
note: i made mix CDs because we only had shitty dial-up way back in the country. some of you remember what i mean: leaving napster running all night to download one fucking song, only to find when you got up the next morning that your connection had been broken during the night. thus i usually downloaded via the high-speed ethernet in my college dorm, then burned CDs for car and home.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I never understood the entire Napster thing. I used mIRC for over a decade trading every thing from porn to music. No one ever gave a shit and today it is still considered the underbelly of the Internet no one seems to know or talk about.
I also don't understand how during the late 70's and 80's, recording off the radio was a way of "stealing" music, but no one care, no one in the music industry did anything to stop Maxwell or Memorex from supplying the world with the media to record stuff.
Then you have all the companies which built the recording equipment. I recall having a dual cassette deck which would rip original cassettes in a few minutes at high speed, then auto flip the tape head so that you could do the same thing to side 2.
Not a fucking peep from the recording industry.
Well the radio was lower quality, semi-unpredictable, and usually had a dj talking over part or parts of the song. So I can see why they didn't care and still don't care about that avenue.
As for the dubbing, I'm sure they tried lobbying government to prevent the sale of equipment that could do it, but at the time it was considered that you owned something you paid for, and noone was willing to upset the population to appease a company that wasn't able to donate much to their campaign anyway. Nowadays companies can spend whatever they want on campaigns, so the power they wield is enormous.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
I had some pretty good radio recordings, which were good enough to avoid having to pay for a record where I only wanted one song.
I don't recall any arguments from any one about the equipment, as compared to Napster. There was never an attempt to ban a technology.
It could be an issue of numbers. In 1999 you might have 8/10 households with a computer and an internet connection. In 1979 you might have 2/10 houses with dubbing equipment.
Yeah I did too, but there was always a noticeable drop in quality. At least, noticeable to me. It's like the radio can't transmit the full range of sound or something.
There was never a big public push, but that doesn't mean there was no push. It really started in the mid 90's with VHS. They did something to VHS that made VCR's which were connected reduce the quality of the visual display. The brightness would constantly shift. I heard there was a way around it, but I never bothered looking into it. At any rate, after film studios got away with that is when the music industry jumped in too. Then the software industry grew enough to jump in, and that's when the government caved.
There seems to be a reversal starting though. There was recently a court or supreme court decision that made it clear that your property is your property to do with as you like. It didn't quite cover the sticky copy & sell side of things, but it did cover the right to sell what you have purchased; even refurbished or modified.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
I remember the VHS stuff, but if you bought foreign you got better quality. I forget the name of the company but it was amazingly cheap to purchase and it didn't have any problems. This same company but out a DVD recorder/player which copied all country codes. If you purchased one of the name brands you could only play country code 1 for N America.
I remember VHS+ where it would cut out the commercials and it got really popular for a while, but then the people in advertising said they needed to change it because people were recording shows but skipping ads. WTF? No one watches your fucking commercials anyway.
i used to use mIRC to talk to my friends in europe because that was all they had. up to that point, i had never heard of it. i'm surprised to hear it's still up and running.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
It's not as big as it used to be in the 90's but it still exists. People use it because it isn't mainstream.
Ute Indian Cheif Shitting Bull
41. What is the purpose of prayer? What can a finite being on Earth possibly tell an omnipotent, omniscient deity that he doesn't know already? - IG ON PRAYER
1.) Humans can?t change God?s mind for he has a divine plan and is unchangeable.
2.) Prayer can't change God's mind.
3.) Prayer doesn't change anything.
(Prayer may make you feel better emotionally, but it doesn`t change God`s mind.)
The Holy People have a hole in their pocket so it follows that their communication system is based on donation making it weak, frail and hard to understand. Prayer is simply a nearly silent form of speaking to another being and because god=dog it follows that the faithful are speaking to dogs. Because the dog's faithful are so meek and frightened to go into a church (synonymous with search) they could only possibly be answered by an animal. Prayer can get you a dog bite easily and/or cause stray animals to look at you. A prayer is a, "payer" or a payment spot which does not have monetary value in other words.
I want to lick your cunt hole.