Messages

571

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 14, 2015, 06:48:54 PM »

God is not human, we cannot claim to know why he does what he does.

So why did you, over and over in this topic?

Seems convenient for you to only throw that into the mix now..

This may be an incorrect way to view things

Yes but never assume you know why God has done something.

There's no way I or anyone can know the answer to those questions, just as there is no way I or anyone can truly comprehend the complex nature of God.

That's like one translation. Here's 5 other translations that don't stipulate that you go to hell for voluntarily rejecting Christ, but just not believing in him.

That verse could be talking about people without any knowledge of Christ, but it doesn't specify either way. It only specifies as far as people that don't believe/obey Christ.
Also, the KJV is usually accepted as the most accurate english translation, but if you want true accuracy for the meanings of verses you'll need to go back to the Hebrew/Greek. Translating between languages is never perfect, translators often choose how best to represent words that don't have a literal translation in another language.

I'm not gonna tell you what to believe, but how does this actually sate your own skepticism?

If God exists, I cannot claim to know why he does things in the way he does. But the thing that matters is the question of his existence, which I personally see much evidence for.

god was a huge richard to job
why would you give satan himself the ability to mess with a human being?
isnt satan the lord of all evils?
wtf god

Much has been written on this question already
http://www.revelation.co/2008/10/09/why-did-god-allow-job-to-suffer-to-prove-a-point-to-satan/
http://www.gotquestions.org/God-Job-Satan.html

572

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 14, 2015, 06:22:36 PM »

He purportedly created everything, how is it NOT possible for him to protect everyone from harm?

It is possible for him to protect everyone from harm. However

If he stops Mark from killing Bob, isn't he then protecting Bob but neglecting Mark? God does not harm us himself, his creation harms his creation due to free will (or in the case of nature, science).

God gives us all free will. If we were all protected from harm, we wouldn't be able to have free will. God also allows us to go through suffering and trials to strengthen us, look at the Bible's Job for instance.

It's his universe.
He created it with the capability of me suffering. He allows me to suffer.

Doesn't he also allow you to enjoy life?

At the end of the day, we have a limited perspective. God is not human, we cannot claim to know why he does what he does. Here are some articles that look like they do a good job with the subject:
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t023.html
https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2012/07/why-does-god-allow-tragedy-and-suffering/

573

General Discussion / Re: Could Block Land make a comeback?

« on: October 14, 2015, 06:03:31 PM »

maps were ugly, outdated, complicated the code, and discouraged building large-scale structures

I'll agree that maps were ugly, but let's get real for a bit. Maps were fun. I was originally fine with the removal of maps, but after playing for a few years without maps, I've realized just how important they were to making Blockland a fun, memorable experience. Skiing and vehicles are now pretty useless/buggy, and you can no longer make a great, large-scale server by just playing on a default or GSF map. The learning curve has also increased, which is probably why very few new Steam users stick around. Which is sad because it seems like maps were removed to get Blockland on Steam.

There's nothing to be done about it now, but at least respect the fond memory we all have of maps.

574

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 14, 2015, 05:53:07 PM »

Just because someone created you it doesn't give them the right to subject you to harm.

How is God subjecting us to harm?

If god was a parent, he'd be considered a neglectful one.

So God is supposed to protect everyone from harm? If he stops Mark from killing Bob, isn't he then protecting Bob but neglecting Mark? God does not harm us himself, his creation harms his creation due to free will (or in the case of nature, science).

And God is neglectful/unloving of his children? He took on human flesh, lived the life we should have lived, and died the death we should have died. When Christ died on the cross it wasn't just as painful as when any random person is killed. He was a blameless sacrifice, and thus received the full wrath of God for all sin that had been and will be committed. The father killed his son for our sake, yet you say he is neglectful of all his children?

575

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 14, 2015, 05:13:35 PM »

Yes, yes and yes?

I believe if god exists he's a stuffcunt for not intervening.

God doesn't have to save anyone and he would still be just. We exist thanks to Him, and thus should live our lives for His glory. It is by His grace that we are even able to be saved.

Just consider that without God we wouldn't exist. Why should we deserve anything, much less being saved from anything bad happening in our everyday lives?

576

General Discussion / Re: Could Block Land make a comeback?

« on: October 14, 2015, 03:48:17 PM »

Everything that could create a 'spark' has already been done.

There are still tons of things that haven't been done. I still have to make this work.

Most big coders/builders active in the past are busy now, though.

577

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 14, 2015, 03:28:29 PM »

So you're saying that the entity that created the world, universe and everything can't multi-task?

We're talking about drawing the line. Should God save people if more than 500 people will die? One person will die? Someone will stub their toe? I believe God is pretty hands off as far as nature goes, allowing things to take their natural course.

Lol how is this an explanation? Someone getting hit by a car shouldn't be treated differently. God could have easily made a world with free will without any suffering. I've thought about it long and hard myself, but again, it just comes back to this: any God that would allow this degree of suffering to exist in the scale that it does can either do nothing to stop it, or doesn't care to. So he is therefore either impotent or evil. 

Let's say God makes a world with free will. Someone decides to kill someone else. It's free will. You can't have free will without evil and suffering.
Now if you're going to say he should have made it impossible to kill others, I'm really not sure how that would work. Could you have a functioning world where such evil things are impossible?

I'm not religious, to say the least, but I'm pretty sure the Bible is clear about this debate.

John 3:36
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them."

None of the passages in the link you sent seem to definitively amend that.

Biblical inerrancy or fancy extended metaphors. Choose one.

So you're saying people without the opportunity to learn about Christ are rejecting Christ?

You are literally everything I see wrong in Christianity.

If you really believe "Christians should be reading the Bible for themselves, not counting on preachers and the like to inform them of what they should believe", then maybe you shouldn't loving be making such stupid accusations and assumptions about what I believe and who I am.

I prefer radical atheists to batstuff insane Christians, and you're one of the worst types of cases.

I apologize if I offended you by anything I said.

That goes for everyone, I'm aware I could very well be wrong and am trying to present my own opinions on the matter in the hope of delving deeper into the truth.

578

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 13, 2015, 08:06:39 PM »

What about a tsunami like the one we saw in 2004? 280,000 people died. That isn't a matter of free will, there is no way it could have been caused by humans. 280,000 people died, leaving presumably many more to mourn and grieve over their losses. Any God that sees this and does nothing is either impotent, or evil.

Guess I might as well address disasters. God created the world, but as you know the weather, earthquakes etc. all happen naturally over time, without intervention. In Bible he often played an active role in controlling weather/ocean activity, but that's because the Bible documents remarkable times.

Not to mention, if he did decide to save people, where would he draw the line? When more than 100 people will be affected? Why should someone about to get hit by a car by treated differently than people in a hotel about to be hit by a tsunami?

579

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 13, 2015, 08:00:34 PM »

What about a tsunami like the one we saw in 2004? 280,000 people died. That isn't a matter of free will, there is no way it could have been caused by humans. 280,000 people died, leaving presumably many more to mourn and grieve over their losses. Any God that sees this and does nothing is either impotent, or evil.

stuff must have sucked bad for the millions of humans who lived before Jesus Christ, or the folks living in indigenous tribes today that have no contact with civilization/Christainity/etc.

You die, you find out you 'failed some test' that you didn't even know you were taking, and then you gotta spend eternity getting tortured. Bum deal.

This is just the same thing we've been discussing put a number of different ways.

As for children, read this (especially the last paragraph).

God in the Bible is portrayed as a just and righteous, he's not going to condemn people without reason.

580

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 13, 2015, 06:43:44 PM »

As much as I love Penn & Teller, this is still an appeal to celebrity. It's no more valid an argument than pointing out Jenny McCarthy said vaccines cause autism.

The main point is that he's an atheist, but still acknowledges that Christians evangelize out of their love for others. In any case, it doesn't matter who said it, the statement is still correct.

Why would God give us freewill but also put evil in our lives.

Wouldn't "evil" or "sin" begun once the knowledge of good and evil, or the distinction between each, once Adam and Eve ate the fruit?

Wouldn't it have been an evil thought/act to disobey and eat the fruit? So evil and sin began before Adam and Eve even ate the fruit so why would God create evil in the first place?

Fair point. I guess the question then is what is evil? In Christian terms, evil is anything that goes against God's design. If his creation is given free will, can't they choose to go against his design? It's not that God created evil, it's that it arose out of free will.

when people die before they are old enough to grasp the concept of faith because of violence caused by other people what happens

Some Christians argue that you always have a chance to find God, even in an isolated place. General revelation (the world around us) is the main way God reveals himself aside from Biblical revelation. I'm not well versed in the subject but I'd assume tribes in Africa usually worship some sort of higher power? They may not quite know what it is but at least they acknowledge it.

As for children, read this (especially the last paragraph).

581

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 13, 2015, 05:27:26 PM »

if there is a god why does he allow people to suffer and allow his creation to destroy the earth

2) Why does God allow evil to exist?
He gave us free will. Otherwise we'd all be robots and this would all be pointless.

582

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 13, 2015, 05:24:46 PM »

I also think it's extremely embarrassing to go around and preach your bullstuff to people who don't care and I also find a lot of Christian writing to be painful to read.

"How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?"
-Penn Jillette (from Penn & Teller)

You seem to have a number of misconceptions about Christianity. I hate on the Catholic church a lot, but this is another perfect example of the Catholic church sending ambiguous messages about what they truly believe. The New Testament, if its writers truly did walk with Jesus or receive divine understanding, clearly outlines Christianity. Christians should be reading the Bible for themselves, not counting on preachers and the like to inform them of what they should believe.

So, let's do this.

• If there is a God, I can't distinguish if it would be a being or a force.
  God is clearly defined as a being. He created physics, so he cannot be something physical like a force.
• I do believe in an afterlife, but not a hell.
  How can there be an afterlife without God?
• I think the argument of if Jesus was real or not is irrelevant since (as he forgetin' preached in the goddam book) it's not the person that's important but the values they live by.
  Here are some writings from Jewish scholars from within 100 years of Jesus' death that provide evidence for his existence.
  Jesus constantly says that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Believing that he is irrelevant is the same as believing Christianity is irrelevant.
• Going to Church is irrelevant and the majority of the bible is just fable-like (story with a moral at the end of it).
  The gospels (first four books of the New Testament) are all eye witness accounts of Jesus' life. Try reading anything by Paul (e.g. Ephesians, Acts, Romans). As far as the Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs and many others do not focus on story telling. The Bible is a collection of documents and letters that record the history of God's people. And of course, since God, the all powerful creator of the universe, is involved, it will be fable-like.
• Only person in my family who is close to being overly religious is my Grandma, but everybody else is pretty lax about their faith.
  That's a very common trend these days. Here's what the Bible says about these so-called "Christians".
• Not focusing on an "eternal reward"; just living life for the fun of it while hoping to make other people's lives better as well (for their sake, not the sake of old beardy).
  Life is short, an eternal reward is pretty cool to consider. You're completely right though, loving those around us and making lives better is the most important thing in life, especially for Christians. The eternal reward is an awesome bonus provided by a gracious God.

Some extra Q&A:
1) Why doesn't God reveal himself to me?
If he did what would the point of faith be? We would all be forced into following him.
2) Why does God allow evil to exist?
He gave us free will. Otherwise we'd all be robots and this would all be pointless.
3) Do you have to go to church/be in a church to be Christian? Do I have to always do good things and follow God's commandments to be Christian?
No, being Christian is based purely on faith in Christ. Of course, if that faith is present, good works and wanting to be together with brothers and sisters in Christ follows.
4) Is it possible everyone is right, and whatever you want to believe is the truth?
No.

I apologize for being rather lengthy and hope I don't come across as being argumentative.

583

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 13, 2015, 12:31:16 PM »

There's no way I or anyone can know the answer to those questions, just as there is no way I or anyone can truly comprehend the complex nature of God. Personally, I'd assume if someone has no way of hearing about Christ, acknowledging the existence of a creator and praising him for one's life would be fine.

584

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 13, 2015, 12:01:35 PM »

All these things happene because it is all part of something bigger.

Yes but never assume you know why God has done something.

585

Off Topic / Re: What are your reasons for believing whatever you may believe about Christianity?

« on: October 13, 2015, 11:04:46 AM »

You see there's a bit of a silly thing here. Most religious people would tell you "No they wouldn't go to hell" since they obviously never had the chance to "find god." however if that's the case then never telling anyone about christ or gods at all is the best option because then they're guaranteed at least a chance to be saved in the afterlife, but if you say they WILL go to hell then you're being a richard to old dead people

Some Christians argue that you always have a chance to find God, even in an isolated place. General revelation (the world around us) is the main way God reveals himself aside from Biblical revelation. I'm not well versed in the subject but I'd assume tribes in Africa usually worship some sort of higher power? They may not quite know what it is but at least they acknowledge it.