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God’s Missed Opportunites
Posted: 04 January 2012 12:04 PM   [ Ignore ]
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There are about 5 billion non-Christians in the world.  Assuming that the Christian God wants everyone to be a Christian, let’s look at the opportunities He has to convert everyone.

1.  A MAJOR SYMPOSIUM OF SCIENTISTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

I’ve heard that about 15% of scientists are theists.  Whatever the percentage, it’s likely that at a major symposium, there would be at least one scientist who was a Christian.  This person could ask for a turn at the podium, and, in a brief prayer, ask God to grant the assembly a miracle of some kind that would convince everyone present of His existence.

Sure, many are skeptical.  Many think that nature doesn’t need a Creator.  Many think that Jesus is mostly, or entirely a myth like Robin Hood or King Arthur.  That doesn’t mean that intellectuals, Darwinists, atheists, skeptics, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists etc. couldn’t be convinced with a few simple demonstrations or miracles.  If the Christian God exists, why does He miss opportunities like this?  Can you think of other simple ways that this deity could, practically overnight, convert all 7 billion of us?

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“All is all there is, you surely wouldn’t ask for more.”  -  Bill Thomas

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Posted: 04 January 2012 12:41 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]
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Yes. Resurrect Paul and Barnabus and make them immortal.

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“This is it. You are it.”


- Jos. Campbell

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Posted: 04 January 2012 12:57 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]
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Appear to us all in a dream, the same dream on consecutive nights until we are all convinced, it would work on many, then those who don’t believe start striking them dead, as a punishment and proof of divine power.

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When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…
And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life.
Monty Python’s Life of Brian

  rolleyes

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Posted: 04 January 2012 01:07 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]
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MARTIN UK - 04 January 2012 12:57 PM

Appear to us all in a dream, the same dream on consecutive nights until we are all convinced, it would work on many, then those who don’t believe start striking them dead, as a punishment and proof of divine power.

Wait a minute, isn’t that what happened to Mario?  gulp

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“This is it. You are it.”


- Jos. Campbell

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Posted: 04 January 2012 01:14 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]
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Answerer - 04 January 2012 01:07 PM
MARTIN UK - 04 January 2012 12:57 PM

Appear to us all in a dream, the same dream on consecutive nights until we are all convinced, it would work on many, then those who don’t believe start striking them dead, as a punishment and proof of divine power.

Wait a minute, isn’t that what happened to Mario?  gulp

Well spotted Ans…. LOL

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When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…
And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life.
Monty Python’s Life of Brian

  rolleyes

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Posted: 04 January 2012 01:43 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]
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MARTIN UK - 04 January 2012 01:14 PM
Answerer - 04 January 2012 01:07 PM
MARTIN UK - 04 January 2012 12:57 PM

Appear to us all in a dream, the same dream on consecutive nights until we are all convinced, it would work on many, then those who don’t believe start striking them dead, as a punishment and proof of divine power.

Wait a minute, isn’t that what happened to Mario?  gulp

Well spotted Ans…. LOL

The thing is, except for Mario, He’s skipped the part about the consecutive dreams and moved directly to striking about 155,000 of us dead every day!  I looked it up.

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“All is all there is, you surely wouldn’t ask for more.”  -  Bill Thomas

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Posted: 04 January 2012 02:42 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 6 ]
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The point you are missing is that this world belongs to us. We are its spokesperson and its keepers.

So God will never intrude into our lives to take over these roles.

Besides, God has already given to us everything we need to arrive at a certitude of his existence and the existence of the world to come.

And Christianity, which you dolts reject, is this everything.

Nothing more will be given to you, since you offer a five-cent prayer and demand a million dollar response.

Furthermore, the absence of God you experience is due to the over-whelming self-perception that has filled every corner of your lives.

You already have your reward—a selfish and self-centered life. Enjoy it.

Leave the business of God to those who want more, so they give more in order to become more.

I have only one suggestion for you—look in a mirror, right now, and see who it is that is making you nothing but a fool.

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What this country needs is a man who knows God other than by hearsay. Thomas Carlyle

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Posted: 04 January 2012 08:45 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 7 ]
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*** “Our scale of observation is practically unlimited, as science has shown us. We can see very far and we can see very close. Why then do those who claim that religion is supreme tell us what is true and hold fast to the notion that a supreme being known as God simply exists without evidence to provide to us?”

- The Brother Mario

[ Edited: 04 January 2012 08:52 PM by DanielMoore1991 ]
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Posted: 04 January 2012 09:21 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 8 ]
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How about the bible classic of holding the sun in the sky for a day so those who believe the dream can kill those who don’t.

Joshua 10:12-13
  Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.


The Argument from divine hiddenness:
  1. If God exists, God:
      1. wants all humans to believe he exists before they die;
      2. can bring about a situation in which all humans believe he exists before they die;
      3. does not want anything that would conflict with and be at least as important as his desire for all humans to believe he exists
        before they die; and
      4. always acts in accordance with what he most wants.
  2. If God exists, all humans would believe so before they die (from 1).
  3. But not all humans believe God exists before they die.
  4. Therefore, God does not exist (from 2 and 3).

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Why is there Something instead of Nothing: No reason or ever knowable reason.

Kissing Hank’s Ass
The Way of the Mister, Vol. 1: Reparative Therapy

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Posted: 05 January 2012 05:02 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 9 ]
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GAD - 04 January 2012 09:21 PM

The Argument from divine hiddenness:


Wow ... that’s even worse than most religious apologetics!

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“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment.  Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.”—Albert Einstein

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Posted: 05 January 2012 06:48 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 10 ]
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First, your ignorance of the gift and opportunity of free will is pathetic and nonsensical..

God’s “hiddenness” is in direct correlation to our having free will and an opportunity in this brief physical life to do things that are meritorious.

Think, (RUDE).
Second, your ignorance of the love of God is childish and idiotic.

God, if he is God and the giver of everything, even an eternal life, deserves more in response than an easy life of looking at Him directly and sitting comfortably in His shadow.

Think deeper, (RUDE) .

Third, your ignorance of Scripture is self-serving and moronic.

The Old Testament is the beginning of God’s revelation to his “chosen” people who will continue to receive revelations until the “fullness of time” when God Himself walks the Earth among them.

Keep reading, (RUDE) .

Fourth.

Ancient man across the globe was not civilized as we now are civilized. But even today, with all our civilization, thousands of people are slaughtered nearly every day, and mostly for political reasons. So it is man that interprets God’s revelations of Himself as calling for violence against his fellow man.

Wake up, (RUDE) .

Fifth.

The day came when the greatest Scripture story ever told was told, and the hero of that story commanded us to, “Love your enemies, for what does it profit you to only love those who love you back?” And then this hero put his life where his mouth was. And this story then inspired future writers of Scripture to write more and more profound revelations about what God truly wants and who God truly is, until one writer simply wrote: “God is love. So, now, we have the revelations of God necessary to overcome our physical humanity and the struggles of this world and live supernaturally and selflessly.

But the ignorant of the world turn away from this great story and look backwards to the stories of old, and then say: “See, this is who God is!”

Shut up, (RUDE) s.

[ Edited: 05 January 2012 06:58 AM by Nhoj Morley ]
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What this country needs is a man who knows God other than by hearsay. Thomas Carlyle

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Posted: 05 January 2012 07:12 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 11 ]
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TheBrotherMario - 05 January 2012 06:48 AM

Think, (RUDE).

Think deeper, (RUDE) .

Keep reading, (RUDE) .

Wake up, (RUDE) .

Shut up, (RUDE) s.

What’s this, Nhoj? Trying to protect our fragile sensibilities? As long as he is here, shouldn’t we Atheists be allowed to experience Mario in all his Godly Glory?

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“This is it. You are it.”


- Jos. Campbell

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Posted: 05 January 2012 07:39 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 12 ]
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Answerer - 05 January 2012 07:12 AM
TheBrotherMario - 05 January 2012 06:48 AM

Think, (RUDE).

Think deeper, (RUDE) .

Keep reading, (RUDE) .

Wake up, (RUDE) .

Shut up, (RUDE) s.

What’s this, Nhoj? Trying to protect our fragile sensibilities? As long as he is here, shouldn’t we Atheists be allowed to experience Mario in all his Godly Glory?

 

Manners are for the sentient.


Atheism is FUN.

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Delude responsibly.

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Posted: 05 January 2012 08:05 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 13 ]
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SkepticX - 05 January 2012 05:02 AM
GAD - 04 January 2012 09:21 PM

The Argument from divine hiddenness:


Wow ... that’s even worse than most religious apologetics!

It’s a powerful argument that apologetics really can’t get around unless they accept that god isn’t all good.

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Why is there Something instead of Nothing: No reason or ever knowable reason.

Kissing Hank’s Ass
The Way of the Mister, Vol. 1: Reparative Therapy

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Posted: 05 January 2012 08:08 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 14 ]
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Answerer - 05 January 2012 07:12 AM
TheBrotherMario - 05 January 2012 06:48 AM

Think, (RUDE).

Think deeper, (RUDE) .

Keep reading, (RUDE) .

Wake up, (RUDE) .

Shut up, (RUDE) s.

What’s this, Nhoj? Trying to protect our fragile sensibilities? As long as he is here, shouldn’t we Atheists be allowed to experience Mario in all his Godly Glory?

I’d really like to see what is said uncensored.  Censorship is worse then anything that he could say.

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Why is there Something instead of Nothing: No reason or ever knowable reason.

Kissing Hank’s Ass
The Way of the Mister, Vol. 1: Reparative Therapy

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Posted: 05 January 2012 08:21 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 15 ]
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One could imagine a being sufficiently advanced as to be indistinguishable from God from our perspective, but not be God in actuality.  Thus, any miraculous behavior on the part of such a being would not be sufficient to demonstrate their identity.  Without an understanding of how God brings events about in the universe (i.e. via what mechanisms), we could not differentiate between God and another being capable of bringing about the same/similar miraculous events.  And when God is defined in the traditional way that monotheists do, we are entirely precluded from understanding how God’s mechanisms of action (sorry about the clinical term there, but it seems appropriate) function.  This relegates any claim of Godly activity to the realm of the ridiculous, in that anyone who thinks they can trace a given phenomena back to God is clearly unaware of how their own definition of God prevents them from doing this before they can even start.

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When all possible events can only serve to confirm what you already believed was true in the first place, it should be clear to all that you are not concerned with your beliefs reflecting reality as it is.  Rather, your concern is with attempting to make reality conform with what you arbitrarily think it should be.

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