Comments for GodsExchange.com

Comment on Thought-provoking Question Time by Chris M

Chris M — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:32:54 +0000

Yes, because Jesus is awesome.

If there was no sin, it’s probably because Jesus destroyed it with his magic wand.

Comment on Thought-provoking Question Time by =^_^=

=^_^= — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:23:06 +0000

I think this is the main reason that Fundis refuse to accept evolution. Evoluion demonstrates that there’s no literal biblical first man and first woman, which does bad things for the fruit/snake story…
There are apologists who claim that original sin was metaphorical

Comment on What is the nature of your “God”? by =^_^=

=^_^= — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:24:39 +0000

If god exists purely in an emotional or as-thought/concept type of way, without any physical manifestation you are a deist… but that has the catch, the deists’ god is not a personal god…

If you do believe that god has physical manifestation, that he does grant prayers and causes miracles, you have a god that makes claims about the physical universe, all of which can be falsified…

My problem comes from an undefined god, who performs undefined actions, with an unknown, unpredictable and arbitrary set of reasons and rules to govern his actions.

Additionally, I have to say it would be massively frustrating to not be able to explain what I believe to someone … especially if it was fate-of-the-world important and yet completely unconvincing.

Comment on What is the nature of your “God”? by genmaicha

genmaicha — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:17:27 +0000

“Most definitions are simply re-labeling of other ideas..”

Of course! Do you think anyone can come up with a completely new and “accurate” set of words to explain God? Metaphors and comparisons are the best we have.

No religious person is an expert on their own religion. Religion is simply the best vehicle we have to express faith and find a way to worship what we believe in. If you need a perfect, falsifiable definition of God, then you’re missing the point.

This is why I hate it when people try to have debates about religion or God – because debates are purely logical, and faith is completely NON-logical.

As for God changing between people – some people are more comfortable with different facets and representations of God, but that doesn’t make different conceptions of Him more or less true than others. And what makes us sure of the nature of God? Faith.

I’m sorry because I know this is an unsatisfactory answer – but I hope I just explained why there isn’t really a better answer to your question!

Comment on Standard Logic Versus Religious Logic by Father Knox

Father Knox — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:30:42 +0000

If this is the answer you get, then run screaming. Any half-decent faith should be able to explain the logic behind its existence. As a historian, evidence is something very dear to me, and without it I wouldn’t be a Christian. The idea of Christianity as being based on anything other than historical evidence is a fallacy and/or a misconception.

As for everything else… well… as I said in my first sentence, run screaming.

Comment on Are Christians Sending Souls to the Devil by brutal battles » Doom II: Hell on Earth

brutal battles » Doom II: Hell on Earth — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:03:27 +0000

[...] Are Christians Sending Souls to the Devil [...]

Comment on Why Won’t God Heal Amputees? by =^_^=

=^_^= — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:55:30 +0000

Also, growing back a limb is well within the laws of physics... Some critters do it often ... Morphallaxis

Comment on Why Won’t God Heal Amputees? by =^_^=

=^_^= — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:39:49 +0000

WRT: Coincidence? No such thing.

The whole reason we study statistics is to decide if one condition is likely to cause another.

Recently I got fired… and shortly after, my tax return showed up… we can look at 2 cases here:

first: I’m a christian, I’m wetting myself that I’m unemployed and I’m praying to god for some help.

second: I’m an atheist, who happens to not be that fussed about being fired.

in both cases, the cheque turns up… the difference is that in the first case, God did it.

By looking further into the situation, it is clear that it’s a coincidence. There is a specific time in which you can lodge your tax return, and an expected lead time for processing of the return, and an expected delay in the postage of the cheque…

My boss, not knowing any of these details decided that he’d had enough of me…

Also, if you want twice, shortly after that I received a one off cheque from one of our government subsidy schemes …

The reason it looks like God is that you attribute it to him straight away, and don’t look at the events leading up to it.

after all … It *could* just be coincidence

Comment on Former high-ranking scientologist speak out in SP Times by Father Knox

Father Knox — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:49:20 +0000

I must admit, I have a special bugbear against Scientology. Didn’t it ever occur to any scientologists that joining a religion started by a guy who wrote a book on ‘How to make money by starting a religion’ may not be the best idea?

Comment on Why Won’t God Heal Amputees? by Father Knox

Father Knox — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:15:45 +0000

While I was in the army, we had a saying;

Once is coincidence.
Twice is suspicious.
Thrice is enemy action.

We’ve had an awful lot more than three coincidences, don’t you think? And it only takes a single one being bona fide to establish the power of miracles.

In most cases, however, God acts within the laws of physics that he’s established. As you’d expect him to.

But I have seen prayer answered more than once, and sometimes pretty spectacularly.

Coincidence? No such thing. There are things which may be incidental to us, individually, but, to a Christian that holds that God is omnipotent and omniscient, there is no such thing as genuine coincidence.