Creation vs. Evolution

[MikeFerrara]

How do you know that it was the biblical God that called you and not Zeus or Buddha?

Because he signed the letter of course. LOL...just kidding.

I suppose I believe it was that God of the Bible because the Bible was at the heart of what I was drawn to.

While we're here I want to try to answer fndmylove's question.

I never understood the phrase "god has called upon me" or "god has called me" or "god asked of me" ... what does this mean exactly? For you specifically, did you hear voices in your head? Did you have some event that you associated with god calling you? What was it exactly? The reason I ask is that I have had some particularly unbelievable events happen to me in my lifetime and I have found no way to explain (with science or logic) the origin or behavior of these events. I often wonder if others have had simalar events, and subsequently associated them with the supernatural. I do associate them with something I don't understand, but I cannot assume anything in particular.

For me...no voices, no buring bush, no physically unexplainable events. I was fine, great wife, great kids, plenty of money (not any more but oh well) and plenty of new challenges and excitment. I was happy and if there was anything missing, I didn't know about it...until I just started feeling like I had somehow missed something, had somehow failed to do something important. More specifically that I had failed to do something important for my family. I didn't know what it was that I had failed to do. Everyone was healthy and reasonably happy and we lived in an ok house on 4 acres with pets all over the place (including a couple of horses) and a garage full of fishing tackle and dive gear. It wasn't very long before I knew what it was that I had missed and what it was that I had failed to do. I had neglected to get to know God and I hadn't seen to it that my family knew God.

To make the rest of the long story short, with prayer, reading the Bible and listening to the Bible taught, it was just one revelation after the other. God will do things to grow faith and those things are powerful convincers.

 

[Soggy]

It sounds like you felt some sort of spiritual calling and perhaps you were drawn to the bible because that was what you tried first. Is it possible that if you had turned to Buddhist teachings when you first had a spiritual awakening that you might have followed down that path instead? Is it also possible that you turned to Christianity specifically because that is the environment you were raised in and what was readily available?

 

[MikeFerrara]

What about the non-canonical gospels? Those were thrown out in the middle ages. Are they not the word of god? Why not?

There is a lot writen on this so you can easily get a more complete answer than I'll give here.

Lots of teachings and probably writtings were thrown out before the middle ages. False teachings (those that contradicted what Jesus taught the opostles to teach) were common and a problem from day one.

Doctrin is one test. Not only is much of the non-canonical gospel material inconsistant with what we think of as apostolic but it doesn't mesh with the Old Testament either.

Lots of people tried to jump on the band wagon.

 

[MikeFerrara]

It sounds like you felt some sort of spiritual calling and perhaps you were drawn to the bible because that was what you tried first. Is it possible that if you had turned to Buddhist teachings when you first had a spiritual awakening that you might have followed down that path instead? Is it also possible that you turned to Christianity specifically because that is the environment you were raised in and what was readily available?

I think I was drawn to the Bible because that's where I was drawn. I had to go get one and I could have picked one book up off the shelf as easily as another. The environment that I was raised in was more secular than anything. I suppose with the internet, I could find Buddhist teachings as easily as I could the Bible, though I haven't looked.

 

[MikeFerrara]

that's basically the purgatory theory, in a different guise

whereas the Bible is pretty darned specific as to what happens to non-believers

Actually I thought they did a pretty good job of addressing your questions right from scripture.

let me put it this way: if by evangelizing foreign countries we damn those who don't accept Jesus to hell, wouldn't we be doing them a better service by not evangelizing at all?

Not if you subscribe to the old saying that knowledge is power. LOL

 

[MikeFerrara]

Historical evidence points otherwise.

Specifically, which historical evidence are you refering to?

Where are the events attested to?

The 4 gospels, the book of Acts and the epistles.

 

[Soggy]

Specifically, which historical evidence are you refering to?

Wikipedia would be a good place to get an overview. From there you can follow the various cited sources.

The 4 gospels, the book of Acts and the epistles.

You can't use a document to authenticate itself. That's not "independent verification" especially when the documents are what are in question!

 

[H2Andy]

Actually I thought they did a pretty good job of addressing your questions right from scripture.

you would, of course.

note how all Biblical Christian doctrines can be summed up in a few senteneces. it ain't rocket science. you take it from the Bible, you say it, and it's over.

how many pages did those guys take? how many unlreated Bible verses did they have to mesh together?

it's a strained effort, and it shows.

the simple (and the Biblical) answer, is that Jesus is the way to the father. anyone who does not go through Jesus, goes into the lake of fire.

(see? simple, easy, and one sentence)

 

[Kim]

This discussion is about as useful as the MOF thread if you ask me. It seems pretty clear that no-one is actually going to change their mind.

That said....if y'all enjoying it...carry on!

 

[H2Andy]

This discussion is about as useful as the MOF thread if you ask me. It seems pretty clear that no-one is actually going to change their mind.

if i recall, you were rather inmersed in the discussion a while back



and since when is the point of discussion to change anyone's mind?