God Is Not A Christian

[Muffled]

So why do you play with poisonous snakes?

I believe I stay as far away from poisonous snakes as possible and fortunately they stay away from me as well.

 

[Muffled]

Your lack of belief seems to come from a failure of logic: "people who handle poisonous snakes tend to be inspired to do it by reading the Bible" does not imply "people who read the Bible tend to be inspired to handle poisonous snakes."

I believe then that the inspiration to handle poisonous snakes did not come from reading the Bible but either from having aberrational thoughts about the Bible or inspired by an evil spirit seeking to do them harm.

 

[Muffled]

Well good on you.

I believe it is good for everyone on here. I don't believe it would serve any useful purpose for me to just express my own crazy *** opinions.

 

[Twilight Hue]

God wouldn't exist without human concepts, ideas, testimonies, et cetera of him. For god to exist, we need to. If there were no people, how would nature define itself and know it has a creator? That, and if you and many people feel that the creator was there, well, before nature, then that is again a human idea. Are there any ideas or arguments that are alien to us as human beings to prove that god is, well a creator? Even the word creator is saying something about human's view of needing an origin and purpose in life.

God is Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Pagan, and so forth.

Outside of our respective spiritual and/or moral points of view, does life in and of itself mean anything and tell us anything about a creator? If so, which religion has the claims to this foreign knowledge?

It's an interesting thing to study. I don't know what that field would be but hopefully, if I took it up, it won't be bias.

That's close to my take on the God matter.

If people go, where does God go?

God is "alive" so as long as people entertain such things. The rest of nature is pretty indifferent. Puts things in perspective.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I believe then that the inspiration to handle poisonous snakes did not come from reading the Bible but either from having aberrational thoughts about the Bible or inspired by an evil spirit seeking to do them harm.

Aberrational thoughts about the Bible like "I should do what the Bible says to do"?

 

[savagewind]

I believe it is good for everyone on here. I don't believe it would serve any useful purpose for me to just express my own crazy *** opinions.

Now I can imagine that to believe the Bible as is just because it says in it that it is inspired of God and people take that to mean that it is all the truth about what God wants us to know and to believe is crazy and you know it.

What do I mean? In it there are people's crazy *** opinions which some people eat up just as though it is all the truth. That is crazy.

Let's just say that the whole world in crazy lies. I trust that crazy isn't going to get anyone where we need to go.

 

[Segev Moran]

God is not a Christian.
God is not Jewish.
God is not Islamic.
God is not a Hindu.

God, as the supreme being, monotheistic deity, or creator of the universe, is not a member of any man made, earth bound religion. No single religion/denomination can lay claim that God belongs to them, and them alone. If anything, the exact nature of God is unknown. You can quote whatever holy book that you want, it does not prove anything.

It is important to separate the human conceptions of God from what we can actually observe...which will be difficult, since God does not make personal appearances and has yet to be captured on camera/video. To that end, we have to study nature and the cosmos in order to see God's creation at work and evolving (incidentally that is the core of deism).

God can't be bound in any human system of belief. Nor can God be restricted to one culture or geographic location. The exact details about God are unknown, and will remain so until said deity decides to make a personal appearance at a press conference, and goes through a Q&A session.

If the details about GOD are not known.. how do you know it is not really like the scriptures (Any of them ) Claim?

 

[jbkoleen23]

Assuming that there is even a God. I'd imagine if there even was a God and he showed up at a press conference it would be a lot like Tony Stark coming out as iron man in the movie, lol.

 

[Kelloggs]

God is not a Christian.
God is not Jewish.
God is not Islamic.
God is not a Hindu.

God, as the supreme being, monotheistic deity, or creator of the universe, is not a member of any man made, earth bound religion. No single religion/denomination can lay claim that God belongs to them, and them alone. If anything, the exact nature of God is unknown. You can quote whatever holy book that you want, it does not prove anything.

It is important to separate the human conceptions of God from what we can actually observe...which will be difficult, since God does not make personal appearances and has yet to be captured on camera/video. To that end, we have to study nature and the cosmos in order to see God's creation at work and evolving (incidentally that is the core of deism).

God can't be bound in any human system of belief. Nor can God be restricted to one culture or geographic location. The exact details about God are unknown, and will remain so until said deity decides to make a personal appearance at a press conference, and goes through a Q&A session.

What does God look like?
What name does God go by in Its native tongue?
How old is God?
Does God have a gender?
Is God corporeal or incorporeal?
Why is it that all major religions concerning God tend to be thousands of years old, and God has not made an appearance (physical or mental) since then?

Careful, you are approaching Theism.

 

[Neo Deist]

Careful, you are approaching Theism.

Uh, no I'm not.

 

[xkatz]

God is not a Christian.
God is not Jewish.
God is not Islamic.
God is not a Hindu.

>implying that any serious orthodox practitioners of these religions ever believe that

 

[Muffled]

Aberrational thoughts about the Bible like "I should do what the Bible says to do"?

I believe the Bible does not say to do it. Your argument is like the marijuana smoker who thinks that since marijuana grows naturally that makes it alright to smoke it. No it doesn't and it makes no sense to eat poison mushrooms either.

 

[Muffled]

Now I can imagine that to believe the Bible as is just because it says in it that it is inspired of God and people take that to mean that it is all the truth about what God wants us to know and to believe is crazy and you know it.

What do I mean? In it there are people's crazy *** opinions which some people eat up just as though it is all the truth. That is crazy.

Let's just say that the whole world in crazy lies. I trust that crazy isn't going to get anyone where we need to go.

I believe that is why it is good to listen to me, because you are hearing God speak to you and you are not hearing anyone's crazy opinion.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I believe the Bible does not say to do it.

Let's have a look at the passage:

"17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

I would say that "those who believe will handle snakes" is close enough to "if you believe, you should handle snakes" that the straightforward interpretation is to take this as a command.

 

[Muffled]

>implying that any serious orthodox practitioners of these religions ever believe that

I believe people believe all kinds of weird things without any valid basis for believing them.

I believe God was Jewish at one time but them converted to Christianity.

I believe God is always Islamic ie He hears Himself and obeys Himself.

 

[Muffled]

Let's have a look at the passage:

"17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

I would say that "those who believe will handle snakes" is close enough to "if you believe, you should handle snakes" that the straightforward interpretation is to take this as a command.[/QUOTE]

I believe close only works in the game of horseshoes. It does not say to do those things but only that if those things take place in a person's ministry it is a sign that Jesus is working in their ministry. I believe not everyone has the same ministry. The apostle Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake and didn't die but he wasn't handling snakes to see if that would happen but it just happened as part of his ministry. I can speak in tongues but I do not do so because it is not necessary in my ministry but speaking in tongues is a lot less dangerous than handling poisonous snakes.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

It does not say to do those things but only that if those things take place in a person's ministry it is a sign that Jesus is working in their ministry.

No, it says that if those things do not take place, it's a sign that these people do not believe.

Look at the larger context:

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

IOW, look for these signs to tell if the people you have baptized actually believe, the implication that someone you've baptized who doesn't handle snakes, speak in tongues, heal the sick, etc., does not believe.

 

[Muffled]

No, it says that if those things do not take place, it's a sign that these people do not believe.

Look at the larger context:



IOW, look for these signs to tell if the people you have baptized actually believe, the implication that someone you've baptized who doesn't handle snakes, speak in tongues, heal the sick, etc., does not believe.

I believe those words are not in the text and are only your misinterpretation of the text.

I do not see any implication. What I see is an "if then" statement not a "then if" statement. In other words you are not allowed to reason backwards on an "if then" statement.

For instance if I am a Christian I may speak in tongues and certainly some will but a person who speaks in tongues might not be a Christian. Soo one may not be able to determine if a person is Christian by those signs. You can't reason backwards.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I do not see any implication. What I see is an "if then" statement not a "then if" statement. In other words you are not allowed to reason backwards on an "if then" statement.

For instance if I am a Christian I may speak in tongues and certainly some will but a person who speaks in tongues might not be a Christian. Soo one may not be able to determine if a person is Christian by those signs. You can't reason backwards.

That's right: the passage doesn't imply that everyone who handles snakes, speaks in tongues, or heals people is a believer, but it does imply that people who don't do these things aren't believers.

... just as I said.

 

[Muffled]

That's right: the passage doesn't imply that everyone who handles snakes, speaks in tongues, or heals people is a believer, but it does imply that people who don't do these things aren't believers.

... just as I said.

I believe that is also incorrect it is still backwards reasoning. Just as one can't reason belief from the signs one can't reason lack of belief either.

For instance I have heard a person speak and say that receiving Jesus was instrumental in his ability to get free of Heroin addiction. I would call that a sign of salvation. However I am a Christian but do not have that sign because I was never on drugs.