tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post162496764949696534..comments2023-10-18T00:59:40.216-07:00Comments on Christian Skepticism - a reasonable faith...: Eckhart Tolle - Christian ResponseoddXianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15427095709766850092noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-42897567146233780012009-09-03T00:16:44.334-07:002009-09-03T00:16:44.334-07:00The message of the cross is nonsense to those who ...The message of the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed,but it is God power to us who are being saved.The power of now is not from Eckhart Tolle and Oprah,but from God.The power is the cross and now is the word that the church emphasizes on it:The Holy past is present "now" with power.Let Oprah and Eckhart if they dare,to speak on TV about the real "power of now" of the cross in the book the coin of the temple by souheil bayoud.<br />dayofwrathAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-71187556611848072152009-08-03T19:13:26.559-07:002009-08-03T19:13:26.559-07:00"by your fruits you shall know them...""by your fruits you shall know them..."Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13182106790405779966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-41407788110877795812009-08-03T06:47:10.526-07:002009-08-03T06:47:10.526-07:00Kev,
Satan also speaks through men! How do you di...Kev,<br />Satan also speaks through men! How do you distinguish the difference?jazzycathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16720471765591930568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-61568879890130724392009-08-01T21:20:43.181-07:002009-08-01T21:20:43.181-07:00didnt mean to repeat never blogged beforedidnt mean to repeat never blogged beforeKevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05995474421234228330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-48304982819166685682009-08-01T21:18:59.203-07:002009-08-01T21:18:59.203-07:00Hi I have been a christian for 17 years ... Tolles...Hi I have been a christian for 17 years ... Tolles view point helped me find where Jesus lived (inside)..it helped me see the destructive nature of my past and why i couldnt repent...remember guys God once spoke through a donkey..dont presume he wont speak through this guy or you...Oh yeah and remember the I AM lives in you so you dont have to shout...Kevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05995474421234228330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-85532454747636963762009-08-01T21:18:22.184-07:002009-08-01T21:18:22.184-07:00Hi I have been a christian for 17 years ... Tolles...Hi I have been a christian for 17 years ... Tolles view point helped me find where Jesus lived (inside)..it helped me see the destructive nature of my past and why i couldnt repent...remember guys God once spoke through a donkey..dont presume he wont speak through this guy or you...Oh yeah and remember the I AM lives in you so you dont have to shout...Kevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05995474421234228330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-32523685640149824452009-04-22T13:24:00.000-07:002009-04-22T13:24:00.000-07:00Jack,
Seems like you may be beginning with persua...Jack,<br /><br />Seems like you may be beginning with persuasion and/or preference and then trying to relate truth to that rather than beginning with truth from which you base your persuasion and align your preferences.All Things Reformedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921579806367678328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-61141855979209312932009-04-22T13:02:00.000-07:002009-04-22T13:02:00.000-07:00Jack,
What would you say to this article in New S...Jack,<br /><br />What would you say to this article in New Science magazine?<br /><br /><A HREF="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7147" REL="nofollow">Genes contribute to religious inclination</A><BR><BR>If both of our positions are caused by genetics, than it would be pretty silly to argue, eh?Puritan Ladhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02240560332777968090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-85639893237663299952009-04-22T13:00:00.000-07:002009-04-22T13:00:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Puritan Ladhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02240560332777968090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-62324557920657341662009-04-22T09:13:00.000-07:002009-04-22T09:13:00.000-07:00Jack,
In addition to August's list,
1. Are there...Jack,<br /><br />In addition to August's list, <br />1. Are there not reasons in which God could still be just even if your gene claims were true (i.e., if such was the result (/curse) for man's sin, etc.)<br />2. On what basis would God be subject to answering to you? (and your standards of right and wrong)<br /><br />Here again, you are trying to make yourself the determiner and arbiter of truth and the judge of God, rather than acknowledging God to be the determiner and arbiter of truth and judge of you. Have you thought about how senseless this is given the limitations and character of your humanity?All Things Reformedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921579806367678328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-35881423448785251352009-04-22T07:31:00.000-07:002009-04-22T07:31:00.000-07:00Jack, for the sake of argument, if homosexuality i...Jack, for the sake of argument, if homosexuality is predetermined by genes end DNA, what selective advantage does it offer? In the normal run of things, such traits which do not offer procreative advantages are selected against and made extinct within a few hundred generations, are they not?<br /><br />A couple of other things...<br />1. What you presented is not really an argument, but an assertion. Please clarify your argument by stating clear premises and a conclusion.<br />2. Your assertion holds no relevance as to the existence of God or not. If you think it does, please make the argument. Start with how you came to know your premises, and how that necessarily leads to your conclusion.<br />3. By which standard do you demand that "God has some explaining to do"? How do you determine right and wrong in your "argument"?Augusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12811077365729979841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-35133436141070772522009-04-21T23:20:00.000-07:002009-04-21T23:20:00.000-07:00i appriciate all your candid responses. i am not h...i appriciate all your candid responses. i am not hear to offend, but rather to find out why still believe in christianity?<br /><br />here's an arguement, while i am here. i, along with most non christian people believe that being "gay" is a learned behavior. arguing that individuals are not predisposed to being "gay", that somehow the person "becomes" gay for some unknown reason or other. the discovery of DNA and genetics have proven that our sexuality is <br />predetermined. obviously this agruement contradicts the christian paradigm. if this dilema were to be true, god would have a lot of explaining to do. jackUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04245067511688789703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-82173424729905341772009-04-21T06:58:00.000-07:002009-04-21T06:58:00.000-07:00Jack,
Your error is seen in your question's attem...Jack,<br /><br />Your error is seen in your question's attempt to separate God's omniscience from his providence.All Things Reformedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921579806367678328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-35591370426307420262009-04-20T03:55:00.000-07:002009-04-20T03:55:00.000-07:00Jack,
God is love. He wants to do nothing more th...Jack,<br />God is love. He wants to do nothing more than forgive you and me and every human sinner. He wants your forgiveness so much that he allowed people to mock Him, beat Him, and spit in His face. With the same immense love, He endures the same insults and abuse today. He does all this with the loving desire to do nothing but forgive.<br />However, we can only know His love if, by the exercise of our own freedom, we acknowledge we have abused Him and beg His forgiveness. There is no repented sin that Jesus in His love will not forgive. It follows as well, that by our own freedom, we can die spitting in Jesus’ face. God does not impose His immense love and friendship on people who do not want it. If He did that, He would render our freedom ineffectual, and there would be no true love possible on our part. But rest assured that He desires nothing more than to forgive you and love you eternally.<br />IloveJesusIloveJesushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07602840226548273692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-85121884259096917512009-04-19T16:10:00.000-07:002009-04-19T16:10:00.000-07:00Jack,
You answered your own question here:
"HE T...Jack,<br /><br />You answered your own question here:<br /><br /><I>"HE TRANSCENDS ALL LINEAR AND ACTUAL TIME."</I>God isn't really waiting for "AN AGE OF HUMAN HISTORY TO PLAY OUT BEFORE HIM", as He is not bound by time.<br /><br />As for our own temporal existence, God allows it to play out for His own glory, so that the saved will have nothing to boast in, and so the damned will have no excuse.<br /><br />As for the rest, I won't respond to Mr. Miller's blasphemy. When he meets God, he won't be nearly as bold as he thinks he will.Puritan Ladhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02240560332777968090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-29508956168766970582009-04-18T21:00:00.000-07:002009-04-18T21:00:00.000-07:00LAD ET AL
KEEP YOUR RESPONSES SIMPLE OKAY?? I DON...LAD ET AL<br /><br />KEEP YOUR RESPONSES SIMPLE OKAY?? I DONT NEED A LONG DISSERTATION ON HOW YOUR BELIEFS ARE MORE VALID THAN MIND:THERE IS A DEITY, JUST NOT YOURS. <br /><br />HENRY MILLER ONCE WROTE: " I IMAGINE, I DONT HAVE ANY USE FOR GOD ANYMORE, NOR DOES HE. I THINK IF I WAS EVER TO MEET HIM, I'D SPIT HIM RIGHT ON HIS FACE."<br /><br />NOW, MY Q:<br /><br />IF GOD IS THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA. THE ALMIGHTY, WHO KNOWS ALL. AND HE TRANSCENDS ALL LINEAR AND ACTUAL TIME, HENCE, HE KNOWS THE BEGINING AND THE END...BEFORE THE "END" ACTUALLY OCCURS; WHY WOULD HE CREATE A WORLD OF PEOPLE, KNOWING WHO WOULD BE SAVED AND THOSE WHO WOULD BE DAMNED? WHY ALLOW AN AGE OF HUMAN HISTORY TO PLAY OUT BEFORE HIM, KNOWING WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END?? IT JUST DOESNT JIVE. ITS CRUEL. JACKUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04245067511688789703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-74008835433334065882009-04-14T14:37:00.000-07:002009-04-14T14:37:00.000-07:00TheAleph74 stated: "...The past is not real. The ...TheAleph74 stated: "...The past is not real. The past is gone. The past is only as real as you make it your head..."<br /><br />Response - So which is it? Is it "not real" or "only as real... as you make it in your head"? Your own words present a inconsistency, if not a contradiction.<br /><br />There's a difference between the past (i.e., history) being "gone" and the past being "real". You fail to distinguish between the two.<br /><br />Not only this, but the past can be real (even in the sense of having an effect on the future) whether one embraces it in their own head or not.<br /><br />The truth is that the past is a part of God's providence just as the present is. While it's true that on one level a person can unnecessisarily allow events from the past affect them in ways they shouldn't in present; at the same time to deny the reality of the past altogether is to fail to honor God as the Lord of history, to fail to recognize meaning in the events of history, and to deny man's accountability for the things done in time past. (...just another way unbelievers seek to deny man's responsibility and accountability... and hence the need for Christ!).All Things Reformedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921579806367678328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-22011201033912783192009-04-13T12:24:00.000-07:002009-04-13T12:24:00.000-07:00TheAleph74,You said, "The past is not real. The pa...TheAleph74,<BR/>You said, "The past is not real. The past is gone. The past is only as real as you make it your head."<BR/>You were in the past, but you are also in the present. Some things change and cease to be as the present moves into the past. On the other hand, many things do not change as the present moves into the past. <BR/>The you that was in the past is the same you that is in the present. If you seriously offend someone, the act of offending moves quickly into the past, but the offense remains in the present. This is particularly easy to understand in a case like murder. I may have killed someone yesterday, but he is still dead today. All the loved ones who knew him continue to suffer his absence today. It doesn't seem to make sense to trivialize the murder by declaring that it belongs to the "unreal" past.<BR/>Jesus died so our sins could be forgiven. If our sins became unreal the instant they moved into the past, there would have been no point or necessity in Jesus dying out of love to reconcile us with God Who is our Father.<BR/>If a man cheats on his wife, or vice versa, that does not become an insignificant unreality just because it moves into the past.<BR/>This is one of Eckhart Tolle's ideas that is ultimately absurd. No one can live such ideas with integrity.<BR/>When we offend people and when we offend God, there is only one solution and that is to beg forgiveness - a forgiveness we know we do not deserve. God's immense love and mercy have the power to neutralize our Very Real sins of the past that continue to plague us and others in the present. When He makes us free, we are free indeed.<BR/>IloveJesusIloveJesushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07602840226548273692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-91430000997785921852009-04-13T10:47:00.000-07:002009-04-13T10:47:00.000-07:00So TheAleph74,You believe the Bible? Yes or no?Be...So TheAleph74,<BR/><BR/>You believe the Bible? Yes or no?<BR/><BR/>Being Closed Minded is a subjective matter. You mind is closed to "closed minded conservative Christianity".<BR/><BR/>This isn't a game TheAleph74. Eternity in either Heaven or Hell is at stake.Puritan Ladhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02240560332777968090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-50884350619906506302009-04-13T07:59:00.000-07:002009-04-13T07:59:00.000-07:00Puritan Lad:2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyo...Puritan Lad:<BR/><BR/>2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.<BR/><BR/>Closed minded Conservative Christian = Person who is identified with a sense of righteousness based on the ego need to be right.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13182106790405779966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-12373834851725990452009-04-11T14:20:00.000-07:002009-04-11T14:20:00.000-07:00To All,May you all know the joy of our risen Lord ...To All,<BR/>May you all know the joy of our risen Lord Jesus Christ on this weekend when we celebrate His rising from the dead after his brutal, torture, and death outside Jerusalem 2000 years ago. He is God's Son. He died for our sins. He brings us into His love - the love of the eternal Father. He is preparing a place for us. He loves us all immeasurably. He has taken the punishment for all our sins. He lovingly awaits nothing but our confession and gratitude.<BR/>IloveJesusIloveJesushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07602840226548273692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-68038715024957624482009-04-10T17:55:00.000-07:002009-04-10T17:55:00.000-07:00Dear Jack,You and I are made in the image of God. ...Dear Jack,<BR/>You and I are made in the image of God. Some of our deepest insights into the nature of God come from observing what we are and how He made us. We have minds (intellects) and we have hearts (emotions). Our minds make us realize that God is a knowing God. Our hearts make us realize that He loves some things and He hates others. At the same time, we know that God is pure spirit. There is no material in Him. Therefore, what we know about Him by observing ourselves is knowledge by analogy. Nevertheless, this analogical knowing is the most profound way we have, naturally speaking, to know God. Looking on yourself, you are looking on a creation of God in which He profoundly reveals Himself.<BR/>From this perspective, I will try and answer some of your questions.<BR/><BR/>2. How can we believe in a god who exhibits a fallible human characteristic such as "jealousy" and "anger"<BR/>Jealousy and anger are human emotions by which God reveals something profound about himself. How they exist in God who is immaterial is different than they exist in us who are material. Nevertheless, He reveals something about Himself to us in them. Jealousy and anger are useful and good emotions. If my wife promises to love me to the exclusion of all others, and if I find her spending time with other men, time that I feel would be better spent with me, I become jealous. That jealousy is what motivates me to encourage her to spend that time with me and it motivates me to discourage other men from spending time with her. In the end, my jealousy may be what preserves my marriage. It is also a sign to my wife that I love her and depend on her to love me. But we also owe love to God for giving us the amazing human nature that we have. If we fail to love God, He says that He is jealous. It is a sentiment that we can understand. It reveals that He loves us and expects us to love Him faithfully.<BR/>Anger is another useful and good emotion. We have a friend who was in her house alone one afternoon when she heard something at the back window in her kitchen. When she looked in the kitchen, there was a young man partway in the window. She was seized with anger. She picked up a sharp knife and ran screaming at the man. Seeing her advance, he quickly retreated from the window and fled from the property. Her anger had achieved its proper purpose which is to forcibly throw off a present evil. Without anger, she would have been unable to do that.<BR/>The kind of anger that is bad is uncontrolled anger that leads to unjust action. Good anger does not produce unjust action. It is not hard to conceive of circumstances in which one would expect God to be angry. Imagine His attitude toward the intentional murder of innocent children. Just as we get angry when someone is destroying some good thing we have made, it would be very surprising if something analogous to anger were not present in God when He sees someone killing a child He has made. In fact, I think the sentiments of your own heart when you see someone committing some obvious evil are because your heart is designed according to the heart of God. You are, in yourself, experiencing His heart, and sometimes that means anger.<BR/><BR/>3. believe in a god who would give man "free will" then hold him responsible for his misuse of it.<BR/>I think this is what we do with people who abuse their freedom by hurting others. We hold them responsible for their actions. If someone does something freely, he is responsible for what he does by definition. To hold them responsible is only to acknowledge and respond to the truth of the facts.<BR/><BR/>4. believe that the earth is only six thousand yrs old.<BR/>This is not a Christian belief even if there are some Christians who believe it. I certainly do not believe this. Scientists have calculated that the universe is 13.7 billion years old. They use very scientific methods to arrive at this number. The earth is far less than 13.7 billion years old, but it is certainly in the millions of years old.<BR/><BR/>The other thing to realize is that in order to show His love for us, He became one of us in the person of Jesus. This is what we would expect. It would be surprising if God were to become an amoeba in an effort to reveal Himself to us. With His human nature He revealed directly the heart of God. As it turned out, His heart is Love. It is His love for you and me that led Him to suffer and die outside Jerusalem 2000 years ago. He wanted to take on Himself all the guilt that stops us from entering the presence of God. That is what He did. The heart of God is love.<BR/><BR/>IloveJesusIloveJesushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07602840226548273692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-75821182927845380452009-04-10T14:32:00.000-07:002009-04-10T14:32:00.000-07:00Jack,Consider the words of Spurgeon as well..."Esp...Jack,<BR/><BR/>Consider the words of Spurgeon as well...<BR/><BR/>"Especially on this occasion he shows his tenderness toward Thomas, and adddresses his first words to him. If Thomas will not be convinced except by what I must call the most gross and materialistic evidence, he will give him such evidence ... Oh, see how Jesus condescends to the weaknesses and even to the follies of his people! If we are unbelieving it is not his fault; for he goes out of his way to teach us faith, and sometimes he evin gives what we have no right to ask, what we have no reason to expect, what it was even sin in us to have desired. We are so weak, so ignorant, so prone to unbelief that he will do anything to create, sustain, and strengthen our faith in him. He condescends to men of low estate. If through our own folly we are such babes that we cannot eat the meat which is fit food for men, our Lord will not grow weary of giving us milk, but he will even break the bread into morsels, and take away the hard crusts, that we may be abee to feed thereon. It is not his will that one of his little ones should perish; and therefore he chases away unbelief, which is their deadliest foe."All Things Reformedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921579806367678328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-3947023139048010142009-04-10T14:23:00.000-07:002009-04-10T14:23:00.000-07:00Jack, Your continued opposition after having PL pr...Jack, <BR/><BR/>Your continued opposition after having PL provide you answers after demanding them CONFIRMS your hangup is not doubt but unbelief.<BR/><BR/>As Wiersbe writes "Doubt says, 'I cannot believe! There are too many problems! Unbelief says, 'I WILL NOT believe..." (and I might add: "though solutions may be found for the questions I demand.)<BR/><BR/>Sometimes, people set forth a facade as if to fool others by demanding answers, but all the while do so only as an expression of their unbelief and hardened hearts rather than "searching minds".<BR/><BR/>Hardened hearts are not pleasing to God either, for Jesus commanded Thomas saying "Stop doubting and believe." As a skeptic in his day, his problem was not that he did not believe ... for when the physical evidence was set before him his profession went beyond the proof of the physical evidence - revealing that he believed all along ..., but that for a time he refused to believe.<BR/><BR/>I don't what issues in your life lead you to the position you now hold (that is... that you don't want the truth of Christ to be true), though I imagine you have failed to come to grips with the incomparable love of God and his sufficient grace which exceeds all our sins, but Thomas went for a week continuing in his condition though peace could have been his had he been with the saints a week earlier as they gathered for worship. Let me encourage you this Sunday as churches are used to having many visitors (whether they believe or not) to find a church and present yourself before the Lord that he might speak to your heart. It's amazing how many times the Lord speaks through his Word to the ultimate issues we have even though we may not admit them. Perhaps, that's even the reason we've come into conversation with you, as instruments of God's grace in leading you to redemption and salvation. Perhaps your greatest need is not physical evidence, but being awakened to God and his truth.All Things Reformedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921579806367678328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38434833.post-50294844291145873082009-04-10T11:38:00.000-07:002009-04-10T11:38:00.000-07:00Jack stated: "...believe in a god who exibits a f...Jack stated: "...believe in a god who exibits a fallible human characteristic such as "jealousy" and "anger"."<BR/><BR/>Response: Jack, you have no excuse, for when you pass judgement and claim standards in these areas, and yet do the same things, you show that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So, when you, a mere man, pass judgment and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?<BR/><BR/>You have two choices - you can either acknowledge the standard you use applies to yourself as well and that your own words will condemn you as you come to be held accountable by God and therefore choose to consider and accept the mercy, grace and righteousness that God offers to those who will receive them through repentance and faith... or because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you will continue storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment (which your own words testify to) will be revealed. For those who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger, but for those who accept and receive God's message and gift of salvation and righteousness there will be room for much rejoicing and thanksgiving.<BR/><BR/>As you seek to live by the law , ask yourself, do you keep the whole law, or have you become a lawbreaker yourself, for God's word says "all who sin under the law will be judged by the law." At the same time, through Christ, one can be freed from the law as an accuser through union with Christ who not only has kept the law and imputes his righteousness to his own, but who provides forgiveness and freedom from the law ... having paid the penalty for us that the law demands. That's why Scripture says "God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God.All Things Reformedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921579806367678328noreply@blogger.com