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Who made God?

camanintx

Well-Known Member
i would take a 'speculative guess' and say, yes. Because God can exist outside of time considering the bible says hes timeless/ageless/eternal... and time, as a human construct, only began with the birth of the universe
If time is a human construct, then God's ability to exist outside of it depends on how you define it. How would you define time?
 
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Boris56

Member
First prove matter can be created. God can not create natter any more than God could make a square circle. Both are impossible. So is existing "outside of time." God can't do any of these things.
 

Jose Fly

Fisker of men
the sacrificing of animals was not one of Gods 'standards'

It was the invention of man.
Sheesh...again I have to wonder if you guys even read your own holy book.

Genesis 4:4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering

Genesis 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans...

The New Testament also makes it clear that blood sacrifices were part of God's law:

Hebrews 9:19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Heck, it's not hard at all to find examples of the god of the Bible directly commanding blood sacrifices:

Exodus 13:1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

Exodus 13:11 “After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, 12 you are to give over to the LORD the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD. 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.

Biblegod even tells people not to mix their blood sacrifices with anything containing yeast.

Exodus 23:17 “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD. 18 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. “The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.

Go read Exodus 29 and this god's commands on consecration of priests. It's a freakin' blood bath.

Exodus 29 - Passage Lookup - New International Version - BibleGateway.com
 

Pegg

Jehovah our God is One
But the OT describes God commanding animal sacrifice; is the Bible an invention of man as well?

the bible is the story of mankind from their beginning. In that beginning, two sons of Adam chose to offer a sacrifice to God. One gave fruits of the ground, the other gave the firstlings from his herd. Did God request this sacrifice? No.

but the man gave it because he thought the blood sacrifice could make an atonement for his own sins and possibly spare his life. People offered blood sacrifices 2 thousand years before the mosaic law was even put in writing.

If you want to know what God really says about blood sacrifices, you will find it at Psalm 40:6 Sacrifice and offering you did not delight in; These ears of mine you opened up. Burnt offering and sin offering you did not ask for"

and at 1Samuel 15:22 In turn Samuel said: “Does Jehovah have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Look! To obey is better than a sacrifice,

and at Psalm 51:16 For you do not take delight in sacrifice—otherwise I would give [it]; In whole burnt offering you do not find pleasure.

and Isaiah 1:11 “Of what benefit to me is the multitude of YOUR sacrifices?” says Jehovah. “I have had enough of whole burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed animals; and in the blood of young bulls and male lambs and he-goats I have taken no delight.

 

Boris56

Member
Pegg said: "we read it in a way others don't"

Yes Christians read the Bible with a bunch of preconceived notions put in their heads by other Christians. For example Christians actually think the Bible is prophetic even though every good Bible commentary explains that the supposed prophecies in the Bible were all written well after the events they supposedly “predicted” had already occurred. Not only that we have no independent evidence that events actually took place as described. Obviously most of the events described in the Bible are fictional, written so as to conform to earlier prophecies. What’s really absurd about the way Christians read the Bible is that there is no such thing as a historical narrative that contains dialog, word for word conversations of people all speaking in complete sentences. All such narratives are fictional. When we hold the Bible up to standard literary criticism it fails every text there is for historicity and passes all the tests for fiction with flying colors.
 

Jose Fly

Fisker of men
we read it in a way others dont
Well that much is obvious. You read "they spoke face to face" as "they spoke via proxies". You read "And the Lord said slice that bull's throat and spread it's blood all over the alter" as "The Lord doesn't like blood sacrifices".

Funny how once again you totally ignore the fact that your own holy book directly contradicts what you say about it. But, I've found that to be standard behavior among conservative Christians.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
the bible is the story of mankind from their beginning. In that beginning, two sons of Adam chose to offer a sacrifice to God. One gave fruits of the ground, the other gave the firstlings from his herd. Did God request this sacrifice? No.
I don't know about that one, but he requested others:

Exodus 29 (quoting God):
10 “Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall (P)lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 You shall slaughter the bull before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 12 You shall (Q)take some of the blood of the bull and put it on (R)the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. 13 You shall (S)take all the fat that covers the entrails and the [f]lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and offer them up in smoke on the altar. 14 But (T)the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

15 “(U)You shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram; 16 and you shall slaughter the ram and shall take its blood and sprinkle it around on the altar. 17 Then you shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them [g]with its pieces and [h]its head. 18 You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the LORD: (V)it is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.
19 “Then (W)you shall take the [i]other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 20 You shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of his sons’ right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and sprinkle the rest of the blood around on the altar.

Exodus 34 (quoting God):
19 “(AD)The first offspring from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the first offspring from [o]cattle and sheep. 20 (AE)You shall redeem with a lamb the [p]first offspring from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem (AF)all the firstborn of your sons. [q](AG)None shall appear before Me empty-handed.

And he apparently liked certain ones that he didn't explicitly request:

Exodus 8:
20 Then Noah built (K)an altar to the LORD, and took of every (L)clean animal and of every clean bird and offered (M)burnt offerings on the altar. 21 The LORD (N)smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said [k]to Himself, “I will never again (O)curse the ground on account of man, for (P)the [l]intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; (Q)and I will never again [m]destroy every living thing, as I have done.

That's just a sampling. If I was to quote all the passages in Leviticus where it says that burnt offerings create "a soothing aroma to the LORD", I'd hit the character limit for the post.

If you want to know what God really says about blood sacrifices, you will find it at Psalm 40:6 Sacrifice and offering you did not delight in; These ears of mine you opened up. Burnt offering and sin offering you did not ask for"
So? I never said that the Bible doesn't contradict itself.

and at 1Samuel 15:22
In turn Samuel said: “Does Jehovah have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Look! To obey is better than a sacrifice,
Analogy:

If I was to say "a newborn baby is better than a puppy", would this mean that I don't like puppies?

and at Psalm 51:16
For you do not take delight in sacrifice—otherwise I would give [it]; In whole burnt offering you do not find pleasure.

and Isaiah 1:11 “Of what benefit to me is the multitude of YOUR sacrifices?” says Jehovah. “I have had enough of whole burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed animals; and in the blood of young bulls and male lambs and he-goats I have taken no delight.
Again: I'm not arguing that the Bible isn't contradictory. If your position is that God doesn't like burnt offerings and sacrifices, then it's up to you to reconcile this with all the passages that say he does like them.
 

Pegg

Jehovah our God is One
Why are you restricting your definition to us? Wouldn't time be the distance between events regardless of what's involved?

we dont see time in the same way God sees it.

our time is calculated by the length of time it takes the earth to revolve on its axis... God is not bound by time that way.

the bible says that one day for God is 1,000 years for us. So time is relative.
 

Pegg

Jehovah our God is One
Again: I'm not arguing that the Bible isn't contradictory. If your position is that God doesn't like burnt offerings and sacrifices, then it's up to you to reconcile this with all the passages that say he does like them.

i already did that. The account of Cain and Able (the first two who offered sacrifices) happened well over 1,000 years before Moses wrote the mosaic law...and by that stage, people had been offering sacrifices as a way to make atonement for their sins because they knew that blood was required to make atonement.

God allowed them to make these sacrifices, but he never required them because he knew that the blood of animals could not really atone completely for the sins of mankind. So when he had Moses write the mosaic law, he made regulations on how these sacrifices should be made. The sacrifice had to be perfect, it had to be a firstling from the flock, it had to be sound in health and it had to be presented on the alter.

the reason why was because the sacrifice of the animal prefigured the sacrifice that God would make in behalf of mankind by means of his son who was ... perfect, the firstling from the flock, sound in health... Jesus was presented as a corresponding soul to replace the one that Adam had lost.

And this is why the christian congregation no longer required adherence to the mosaic law. Sacrifices could stop because God had made his own sacrifice...the only one that could ever fully redeem mankind and the only one that God had ever purposed to provide.
 

camanintx

Well-Known Member
we dont see time in the same way God sees it.

our time is calculated by the length of time it takes the earth to revolve on its axis... God is not bound by time that way.

the bible says that one day for God is 1,000 years for us. So time is relative.
Saying we don't see time in the same way God sees it implies that time has some objective existence separate from us or God. If time is simply the distance between events or a measure of change, then anything that can change is subject to time. Whether we experience that time the same or not is irrelevant, we both experience it.

If time is just a construct, and the only moment which really exists is now, wouldn't anything "outside of time" be "outside of existence" as well?
 

Pegg

Jehovah our God is One
Saying we don't see time in the same way God sees it implies that time has some objective existence separate from us or God. If time is simply the distance between events or a measure of change, then anything that can change is subject to time. Whether we experience that time the same or not is irrelevant, we both experience it.

If time is just a construct, and the only moment which really exists is now, wouldn't anything "outside of time" be "outside of existence" as well?

is something eternal, subject to time?

and we know that time is relative, its relative depending on ones frame of reference. Gods frame of reference is not located inside our universe, so we cant' possibly know how time passes for him. The little information we have in the bible is that 1,000 years on earth is equivalent to 1 day for God.
 
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