Christian Speakers Blog

*internal …
*internal inconsistencies

The fact that these …
The fact that these fellows call themselves the “Brights” is not only egotistical, but misrepresenting. The fathers of “New Atheism” are not philosophers and this is clearly seen in their work. Their arguments have been shredded to bits over and over and their worldview has not even been thought out carefully. They are pop-culture icons who reveal their internal consistencies at every turn in their life.

And I must mention …
And I must mention one other thing. Why do you use the word evil, when you deny the very existence of objective moral values? How can there be evil an a matter-in-motion world where morality is subject to social preference? You said “…an evolution of principles that develop with the changing circumstances.” But this is not evil. There very affirmation of the concept of evil undermines your own presuppositions about the world.

I said that God’s …
I said that God’s existence does NOT necessitate a reason outside Himself. He is His own reason, so in that sense I agree. God is the greatest conceivable being because He has infinite characteristics (omniscience, omnipotence, love, justice). If you could imagine a greater being, then THAT being would be God.

I believe that we, as humans, are not able to know such answers as to why God exists. It’s like asking why the number 6 exists.

And God did not create evil, He ordained it.

but your answer is …
but your answer is still poor. why does god’s purpose neccessitate a reason outside god? why can’t he be doing what he’s doing for his own reasons? you also say we know nothing is greater than god. how do we know this?

your answer is basically that god has no purpose, because that purpose would be outside god. nothing is greater than god, therefore, he has no purpose.

i say, he was invented by man, for man’s purpose. ask yourself why god created evil, and you’ll see what i mean.

The question was …
The question was not about evil.

that is the worst …
that is the worst non-answer ever. the question you need to ask yourself is why god created evil. when you see why god created evil, you will see that man created god, and not the other way around.

the fact that there …
the fact that there is anything called apologetics let me know that religion is BS.
Go Brights!!!

thank you. i …
thank you. i really appreciated your answer and, to me, it made a lot of sense. thanks for taking the time to reply, take care.

Now why must He …
Now why must He exist? I think our minds are limited and unable to grasp such large concepts.

I think what is important is that we know our own reason for existence, and that is to enjoy God and give Him glory.

That’s a great …
That’s a great question, however I don’t think anyone can truly answer it. But I can say this: If God exists necessarily and is a self-sufficient eternal Being then I don’t think that there is a “why” for his existence. If there was then there would be a reason outside God as to why He exists. This would, therefore, place something greater and external to God, but we know that nothing is greater than God; He is the absolute.

I think He exists because He must exists.

hi, you seem like …
hi, you seem like you know what you’re talking about and i was wondering if you could help me and answer this off-topic question that i have.

first off, i believe that everything has purpose. with that said, my question is this: why does God exist, what is His purpose?

Uh … you don’t …
Uh … you don’t seem to notice the difference between an ertion and an argument. Nothing you have said has yet to be substantiated.

Now, it is true that Israelites, throughout the years at various times, have committed idolatry and worshiped false gods, but that is not the topic of discussion. You claimed that Judaism originated out of a “polytheistic religious system”. I’m still waiting for the evidence.

Uh … you don’t …
Uh … you don’t seem to know anything about this subject, which makes this a pretty useless line of discussion. If it helps: The Israelites didn’t spontaneously become pagan when they worshiped the golden calf, they reverted back to their old pagan ways until Moses came down.

This is an …
This is an ertion, without any evidence. The majority of OT scholars also believe the contrary. It is up to you to prove that Judaism was once polytheistic.

No, sorry. There …
No, sorry. There were little regional and city gods and Yahweh was just one of them. Then he started telling his people to only worship him. Wilhelm Schmidt, whom your idea of God’s origin comes from, is only believed by the remotest fringe creationists – not reputable scholars.

Yes, the majority …
Yes, the majority of scholars rely on evidence, and most of them agree that the evidence does not point to a polytheistic Jewish origin.

However, all scholars have unfounded presuppositions—whether theological or not. You do, so do I, so does scholar X. These presuppositions will dictate one’s take on reality and guide the interpretation of evidence.

Calling them ” …
Calling them “so-called” doesn’t change the fact that the majority of biblical scholars rely on actual historical evidence, not unfounded theological presuppositions. People don’t like to hear the story past their childhood understanding of the story of God, it seems. Just another story.

You can beg the …
You can beg the question all you want, but it doesn’t help your case. You are uming what you should be proving. There have been many so-called scholars who have had many different theories about the rise of Judaism, however, your theory is in the minority.

All peoples came …
All peoples came out of a polytheistic religious system, even the Jewish peoples. Their history didn’t begin when they began ignoring or denying all of the other gods. The Christian god’s development is detailed in Karen Armstrong’s “A History of God.”

And the characteristics I’m talking about that link the Bible with fairy tales don’t include ducks and other real things, but do include acts of magic and talking animals and plants.

Your understanding …
Your understanding of Jewish theology is incorrect. There was always one God, and still is in Judaism.

yahweh, as i …
yahweh, as i understand existed in a polythestic state, with others such as baal. only when certain jews, yahwehists if you will, decided to go monotheistic, did he become one god. christians must remember that their entire religion is founded on the bedrock of judaism. thus you must accept the crazy old testament, and before, background prior to accepting the NT.

Ah, “painted” …
Ah, “painted” literally. Well, that’s up to the artist to paint God as He sees fit.

No Yahweh was not originally a “vengeful Hebrew storm god”. The Hebrews had One God, not a plurality of gods.

So if something from a fairytale compares to Christianity, then Christianity is not true? How does that follow? If a fairytale has a story about ducks, should we then conclude that ducks aren’t real?

“Painted as Zeus” …
“Painted as Zeus” means that his image in artwork and stained-glass windows is that of Zeus, not his power-level or morality or triune-ness. Although Yahweh initially was a vengeful Hebrew storm god, I think.

When I compare your Christian god’s characteristics to things from fairy tales, I’m talking about the fact that these beings have been manufactured in our cultural imagination and don’t actually exist out there somewhere waiting to cause us harm if we supplicate before them.

To compare the …
To compare the Biblical God with that of Zeus is nothing short of ignorance. Not even the skeptic scholar (at least respectable one) would even go so far.

Zeus is not a perfect, sovereign, triune, absolute, immutable, moral being as is the God of Christianity.