Super Universe
Defender of God
I do not know where you know atheists from but invariably they tell me they do not believe in God because there is no evidence. Admittedly, more than a few of them are angry that God does not provide evidence, since they do not believe that Messengers of God constitute evidence. then there are a few that talk about logic incessantly and a few who say they cannot believe in God because there is so much suffering in the world. So having had discussions on forums with atheists for over six years, this has been my experience. Mind you, I am on forums whenever I am not working or caring for cats, so that is a lot of time spent, and only recently have I started posting to very many believers. For many years I posted almost exclusively to atheists.
Well, since I have not read the Urantia Book I cannot comment on it. I would not expect to find hardly any Christians who would go for such a book because any Christians I know adhere strictly to the Bible, and I am sure that book is a lot different from the Bible and contradicts the Bible. But the biggest issue a Christians would have is that it is in addition to the Bible and Christians do not believe any kind of revelation came after the Bible.
I fully agree with that, but the anger is really a coverup for fear. Most people are generally afraid of what they do not understand. Not only that, but they are prejudiced by their own beliefs and they have confirmation bias.
I believe in angels but I do not believe in the devil and I do not believe in angels who rebel against God. Let's put it this way: There are many things in the Bible that I consider mere superstition and anything that contradicts science I consider superstition. I do not believe things such as Jesus rising from the grave and floating up into the clouds, or that Jesus will return from heaven in the clouds, and people will meet Jesus in the air or rise from graves. i consider such beliefs untenable. In short, I believe much of the Bible is metaphorical, not literal truth. There is much symbolism in the Bible but unfortunately many people interpreted it literally.
O have heard this theory before but I do not know that I believe it. I do not believe that God needs to experience anything as the result of what humans do because I do not believe that God has any needs. I believe that God is fully self-sufficient and fully self-sustaining, far far above the need for any of His creatures. Moreover, I do not believe that God has a personal relationship with humans, I believe that we can only know and relate to God through His Messengers.
I guess you derive those beliefs from the Urantia Book?
So you don't think that God can love anyone unless he allows them into heaven?
I agree that everyone will not get to heaven because that would not be just. Baha'u'llah wrote that the structure of world stability and order hath been reared upon, and will continue to be sustained by, the twin pillars of reward and punishment and He also wrote that there will be rewards and punishments in this world and in the next world. I do not believe in any free rides to heaven, we reap what we sow.
I cannot know what God will do to people after they die but I tend to agree that nonbelievers won't be punished if they led a moral life. Some atheists are nerds and scientists but most atheists are just like believers, only they do not believe in God. I do not believe people become atheists because something in their life did not go the way they wanted it to. Many atheists I have met on this forum are happy and well-adjusted and had a much less difficult life than I did.
I believe that all the older religions are out of date and the older they are the more out of date they are. I believe the spiritual teachings of all the revealed religions are timeless, but the Bahai Faith is only religion that has social teachings and laws and a message that is pertinent to the present age.
The Messengers of God are like physicians whose task is to foster the well-being of the world and its peoples, and heal the sickness of a divided humanity. There is no reason to think that the treatment prescribed by the physician in this day would be identical with that which was prescribed in past ages because the ills affecting the humanity at every stage of its sickness require a special remedy. The remedy the world needs in its present-day afflictions is not the same remedy that was required in past ages, and it is not the same remedy that will be needed in future ages.
Ask your atheist friends if they've ever seen an atom.
No one is going to tell you that their dad beat the sh*t out of them and that he was also a "Christian" so thats why they became an atheist so they could get back at daddy's faith. They're also not going to tell you that the Catholic priest molested them.
The angels did not rebel against God, they rebelled against Jesus. Angels are created in the levels, not in heaven. Only a very few angels have been to heaven so most of them have never seen God. They just go by what they have been told.
You can believe what you wish to believe. Jesus arose three days after His death. Over the next few days He appeared to many people who knew Him. At one point He rose up into the sky rapidly and continued on and He was gone. That is an angelic ascension ability. It's not a violation of physics, He simply made His body less dense very quickly so He rose like a balloon. He did the same thing when He walked on water. The scientists are not as smart as you think they are. Some of their ideas violate their own established laws.
I didn't say that God needed our love, just that the universe was designed to send love to God.
God does not have a personal relationship with humans. Well, other than the Thought Adjuster which is initially an infant like fragment of God that connects with humans to instigate choice.
We can only know and relate to God through His messengers? Other than Jesus, God has no messengers. Other than Jesus no prophet has ever received a message from God. When the angel spoke to Moses it never said it was God, it said "I am," meaning, I exist. Moses assumed it must have been God because to primitive humans God did everything.
The timeline information is not from the Urantia Book. I can't explain.
I don't think God loves anyone unless He allows them into heaven? Jesus controls the access to heaven. He said "Only through me can you enter heaven." That was partly literal because to get to heaven you have to go through Jesus timeline. Think of a computer file system, you have files in folders and folders inside folders. As for God loving anyone, there is no communication with God. You can see God and you can return energy to God when you pray and you will visually see Him change but that is it.
God doesn't do anything to people. He does not judge or punish or reward. He does the job that only God can do, the most important one of all. He creates the universe. For humans the judgements come from the Thought Adjuster, because it knows you best. If the TA disconnects from you, it's game over. You don't immediately die but you will never get to heaven and at some point at level 2 you will cease to exist. In some rare instances the TA does not fuse as it should and Jesus will intervene in those cases. At the higher levels you can still cease to exist if you choose to or if you cause problems but the judgement will come from other ascending beings, your teachers, not God.
You don't believe that atheists became that way because something happened to them? 80-90% of the world believes in God. You're saying that 10% of the people are just very happy people who just don't believe in God? No, something happened.
Many atheists on this forum are happy and well adjusted and had easy lives? They're not going to admit the truth, especially to a Christian. You're the enemy. You ruined their life.
Sometimes it takes weeks, months, even years to get people to admit the truth. There is this man I knew for about a year. He was a very large man, football player size, but he was a coward. It didn't make sense to me. He could obviously win most confrontations but he was very afraid. When I told him that he was afraid of confrontation he instantly denied it. After talking about ten more minutes he said "You know, I just don't want any confrontation," and I looked at him and said "I know." He didn't accept it when I said it. They think they are too complicated for you to figure them out but they're not.