Really? Sorry Peter, but do you smell what "the rock" is cooking? I think it's your lightweight loaves & fishes eating ass.
Yeah, you'd think a book on how to obey God would be crystal clear on everything with no possibility of differing interpretations.
You mean like those whole chapters in the OT that consist of almost nothing but genealogies? What's the point of those, especially when many of the people mentioned in those genealogies aren't even major figures in the Bible? And why have all those rules in Leviticus, if Paul's just going to throw them out later on? That seems kind of wasteful to me. Then again, I can't really understand why a God capable of creating the universe in less than a week would need a 600 year old man to build a giant boat, so that God could save a handful of people (who'd then have to repopulate the Earth by having incest), when he could just "uncreate" those humans he found so despicable.
I don't think that's the point of the story. God didn't have to create anything whatsoever. He chose to create the world, and the very act of creation took a toll upon him. He labored to make us. He worked against his own infinite power to make this world a reality. The idea that it took a week merely communicates this idea to us mortals. Well, he did "uncreate" the despicable ones, didn't he? Not sure what you are complaining about. I guess you just find his methods unpalatable... like anyone who thinks they are greater than God.
It was a test of faith for Noah and his family. Apparently they were the only righteous people left on Earth and God wanted them to prove it.
If he had infinite power, then it couldn't possibly have taken a toll on him. Because infinite power is, by definition, inexhaustible. 1.) Not only did the humans, who aroused his ire die, but also billions of other animals, who had nothing to do with humanity's actions. Why punish them? And, for that matter, why punish the as yet unborn? 2.) I exist, unlike God, so, therefore, I'm automatically greater than him. As is belly button lint, and ebola, since they also exist.
Why did an all-knowing and all-powerful God need them to prove anything to him? He already knows the answer. Its like me farting to prove to myself that my fart's stink. I know they do, there's no need for me to let one rip just to remind myself of this fact.
Proved what? That they could have sex with close relatives? You're from Arkansas, you of all people should know that one doesn't need a global flood and a giant boat to prove that. A girl just has to run slower than her older male relatives. And really, what kind of person "needs" a test of character which involves them screwing their own relatives?
Naturally you insult my state with something that has no foundation whatsoever. Wordforge typical right there. No doubt you are very proud.
If god was exhausted after making our universe he should have trained properly: gradually but consistently creating small universes (plural universi?) with simpler life forms that evolve over millions & billions of years. He should have paced himself - I mean what's the rush? Nobody was around to hold his feet to the fire about keeping on schedule.
Hey, dipshit, did you forget where I live? There's just as much cousin humping going on here as it is there. But enough of your deflection, answer my questions.
A) I don't give a damn about where you live. And even if I knew I wouldn't be throwing around insults about it. B) No.
Ummm.......because that would pretty much be the process of evolution. Since we already have that covered why would we need god?
That'd be about the only thing you wouldn't insult then. I am Jack's total lack of surprise. Once again, when someone puts hard questions before you, instead of answering them, you run away.
Is it? Because the truth is we don't understand the concept of infinity. Not really. We know when dealing with infinities, weird things happen. For example, an infinite collection of numbers resulting in a finite sum. The truth is logic, as we've constructed it, does not take us far enough, and never can take us far enough, to understand the breadth of existence. Maybe God had a good reason to extinguish their lives. One way to look at God is as a force of nature. What God did is no more malicious than a flood wiping out a city. It just is. God isn't a human being. You might feel angry at him, but I suspect that is due to you projecting anthropomorphic traits onto him for the sole purpose of being able to blame him for the woes in your life. OK, Mr. Vegan. Not kill a zillion microorganisms lately just by solely existing? That's Dayton's theology. How would I know? Well, that says it all, doesn't it?
Its pretty basic logic. If you have infinite power, you have infinite energy. Because if you don't have infinite energy, you cannot have infinite power. You might as well have said that I blame Darth Vader for things in my life which I don't like. I'm not an all-powerful being. Would you damn an ant for not being able to drive a car? No, of course, not. So why should you expect me to be able to do something that only an all-powerful being could do? So, you're saying that you don't believe the flood as described by the Bible never happened? If you don't believe that, then why believe anything else that the Bible has to say? Ayup. I exist, belly button lint exists, ebola exists, child raping religious leaders exist, but not God.
Your argument is logically valid, but it is not sound. Like I said, no one truly grasps the concept of infinity. The "truth" of your statements thus amount to little more than fantasy on your part, as if you've achieved a greater level of understanding than every man who has preceded you in the history of human existence. What arrogance! I think you do. The rest of your responses are just variations of the same theme, namely, that somehow you grasp the full extent of what it means to be a being of infinities. Of course, no man does, does he?
Good Christ, man, its screamingly obvious that you don't even have a grasp of the finite let alone the infinite. God futzed around with the creation of the Earth over a couple of days, however, it only took him one day to create the rest of the universe. Stop and think about that for just a second, okay? God spent less time creating Jupiter, its moons, its rings (and yeah, it does have them), along with a storm, which is twice the goddamned size of the Earth, on that planet, as well as the rest of the cosmos, as he did on one small planet. Even if you limit the whole of creation to our solar system, there is more shit out there, than there is down here, yet God created it in less time. Talk about your "Chewbacca defense." Oh, no, no, no. Your mistake is in thinking that I'm somehow unique in this thought. Lots of other people before me have had similar thoughts. You know how Newton said that "If I have seen farther than anyone else, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants."? I'm not even an ingrown toenail on those giants. The fact that you haven't heard of anyone else making those arguments (or far, far better ones), isn't my fault, its simply your lack of knowledge. So now you're claiming to be a mind reader. Nope, not at all. For example, I asked if you believed in the Biblical story of the flood. That has nothing to do with infinity at all. And you've failed to answer the question. A cockroach doesn't need to understand what a boot is to know that it needs to avoid being squished by one, does it?
In my opinion, the "days" referred to in Genesis are in no way meant to indicate a 24 hour timespan. The are meant to convey the relationship between God and the universe. IIRC it has been shown in more than one place in the Bible that time has no real meaning to God. Thus each "day" in Genesis could represent a staggeringly long period of time (from our perspective) or an infinitely short one (from our perspective)
Again, if you're dealing with something so freaking important as determining what happens to a person for all eternity, why should you leave anything subject to interpretation? But beyond that, it still doesn't change the fact that it took God less time to create the rest of the universe than it did the Earth. How is it that he could create freaking infinity in less time than it took him to create one small rock in the armpit of one galaxy out of billions?
Actually it is understood by many that the verse that says that a day is like a thousand years to mean that what takes man a thousand years to accomplish only takes God a day to do.
You are assuming each "day" was the same length of time. And as far as I can tell the steps a person is to take in determining their fate for all eternity are very clear in the New Testament. How the universe was created has no bearing on that.
The first three days of Creation were of indeterminate length because he didn't make the sun until Day 4.
Because if they were dramatically different lengths of time, one wouldn't call them a "day." If that were true, then there would only be one church, but there's not. There's thousands, and even within those various groups of Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Baptist, Lutheran, Church of Christ, Methodist, etc., there's considerable disagreement as to what one has to do in order to ensure that they get to Heaven. Which brings us back to your statement: So, why have the book of Genesis in there to begin with, if it doesn't matter?
Why the face palm? You presented your argument in a logically valid form (modus tollens), yet just because an argument has a logically valid structure does not mean it is a good argument. Logic 101, right? According to modern science, the human brain is the most complex object in the known universe. It's complexity exceeds that of the physical structure of the entire universe. I don't know about you, but I'm inclined to believe that it took a lot more effort to create complex, interactive, ever-changing constructs (i.e., life) than to create some giant balls of gas. Lots of people had contrary thoughts, amigo. Why quote him? Newton was a theist. His definition of force is an extension of the cosmological argument for God. Ironic that all modern science is predicated on theism, no? LOL Yes, cos I'm awesome! The flood? Don't know. Don't think I care. Maybe someone will enlighten me one day. Maybe sometimes one needs to be squished? Maybe, I don't know, something beyond all human comprehension is better qualified to make that determination?
Probably (understand I'm no expert on the mind of God but who is) because God understood that humans as free moral agents would have a natural curiosity about the events of creation. Also to demonstrate God's mastery over all existence.
