Debating the Existence of God

A thread title bound to get attention.

And it actually fits.

Googling on "metaphors we live by" "god as a metaphor" lakoff I get 2 hits. One is

http://www.thinkbuddha.org/article/432/on-not-debating-the-existence-of-god

So judging by the url I am in trouble already, according to some here.

It is a fairly short read, I think worthwhile for those catching their breath between debating rounds on this forum.

A quote:

"Arguments about God are not a way of proving or disproving the question of his existence so much as a way of demonstrating that if one believes in God, then that belief is [sic] can be rationally defended, that it is in harmony with reason. And this is a whole other thing.

"If certain forms of belief may be (who knows?) in harmony with reason, so may certain forms of unbelief. But what I think is more important than reason as an end in itself, is the question of what constitutes a life well-lived."

end quote

Of course, some say that a life well lived is indicated entirely by where one ends up after its earthly moments are over.

While speculating philosophers can argue about God, we Christians have the Christ of history. In determining the reality of God we cannot ignore His testimony, words, and life.

Is Jesus Real ? Non-biblical evidence for His existence ?

YouTube&feature=related

Originally posted by jaywill
While speculating philosophers can argue about God, we Christians have the Christ of [b]history. In determining the reality of God we cannot ignore His testimony, words, and life.

Is Jesus Real ? Non-biblical evidence for His existence ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bLlpiWh9-k&feature=related[/b]

explain what you have learned from that source, why it is relevant and what conclusions can be reasonably drawn from them.

Originally posted by VoidSpirit
explain what you have learned from that source, why it is relevant and what conclusions can be reasonably drawn from them.

One thing I learned was in the comment I made:

While speculating philosophers can argue about God, we Christians have the Christ of history. In determining the reality of God we cannot ignore His testimony, words, and life.

Is Jesus Real ? Non-biblical evidence for His existence ?

YouTube&feature=related

You can speculate abstractly for the rest of your life.

Some of us include the life testimony of a cerrtain Jesus of Nazareth of human history to be a powerful contributor to an informed decision.

Originally posted by jaywill
One thing I learned was in the comment I made:

[quote] While speculating philosophers can argue about God, we Christians have the Christ of history. In determining the reality of God we cannot ignore His testimony, words, and life.

Is Jesus Real ? Non-biblical evidence for His existence ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bLlpiWh9-k&feature=related ...[text shortened]... [b]Jesus of Nazareth of human history to be a powerful contributor to an informed decision.[/b]

even if you did have the actual testimony of someone called jesus christ, that would not be conclusive evidence in determining the reality of god.

we can indeed ignore his testimony in the same way you yourself ignore the testimony of every other so called savior to have come along throughout the ages.

Originally posted by VoidSpirit
even if you did have the actual testimony of someone called jesus christ, that would not be conclusive evidence in determining the reality of god.

we can indeed ignore his testimony in the same way you yourself ignore the testimony of every other so called savior to have come along throughout the ages.

even if you did have the actual testimony of someone called jesus christ, that would not be conclusive evidence in determining the reality of god.

Even if some intellectual chooses not to believe the New Testament documents that isn't conclusive evidence that the Gospel writers were not telling the pure truth.

we can indeed ignore his testimony in the same way you yourself ignore the testimony of every other so called savior to have come along throughout the ages.

Sure you can ignore His testimony like an ostrich hides her head buried in the sand.

And no other "saviors" claimed anything near what Christ claimed for Himself.
He is in a class all His own.

That's your wishful thinking, that you can easily draw exact parallels between Jesus and many other teachers, to make them all roughly the same. That's your desperation to nullify His unique testimony.

Originally posted by jaywill

even if you did have the actual testimony of someone called jesus christ, that would not be conclusive evidence in determining the reality of god.

Even if some intellectual chooses not to believe the New Testament documents that isn't conclusive evidence that the Gospel writers were not telling the pure truth.

[quote]
we can indee ...[text shortened]... o make them all roughly the same. That's your desperation to nullify His unique testimony.

You also have testimony by people like David Koresh who also thought he was Christ incarnate. Why isn't his testimony valid?

For me, if your god wants to announce itself, I'll be all ears. Till then, when a human tells me there is a god, I just go back to practicing on my guitar and writing music.

Originally posted by VoidSpirit
even if you did have the actual testimony of someone called jesus christ, that would not be conclusive evidence in determining the reality of god.

we can indeed ignore his testimony in the same way you yourself ignore the testimony of every other so called savior to have come along throughout the ages.

Our Guru Kalavati (died 1978 ) had written in one of her books that, these days, things have come to such a stage, that even if God himself/herself came down and stood before a human and said " look. I am God and I can assuredly rid you of all of your miseries etc. if you follow me.", no one will believe in him/her.

Originally posted by rvsakhadeo
Our Guru Kalavati (died 1978 ) had written in one of her books that, these days, things have come to such a stage, that even if God himself/herself came down and stood before a human and said " look. I am God and I can assuredly rid you of all of your miseries etc. if you follow me.", no one will believe in him/her.

And even yet, when the AntiChrist raises his head in the last days and says, "I am God, worship me or die", multitudes will flock to him.

Originally posted by sonhouse
You also have testimony by people like David Koresh who also thought he was Christ incarnate. Why isn't his testimony valid?

For me, if your god wants to announce itself, I'll be all ears. Till then, when a human tells me there is a god, I just go back to practicing on my guitar and writing music.

You also have testimony by people like David Koresh who also thought he was Christ incarnate. Why isn't his testimony valid?

Are you so befuddled and in a moral drunken stupor of unbelief that you cannot soberly discern the difference between Jesus Christ and David Koresh ? Atheism has not served you well. You have been drugged and put into clouded thinking and conscience if you think Jesus and David Koresh are roughly the same.

David Koresh with his fornications and adulteries with young girls and the wives of his cult members ? David Koresh with his arsenal of bombs and guns? David Koresh with his mass suicidal wrecklessness ?

David Koresh with his envying the multiple wives of King David ? Can you detect Koresh serving anything or anybody but himself and his own megalomania ?

I can't help you. If you think you have a good argument there, I think you have been made dull by a hyper post modern relativism. I mean, I might have expected you to at least mention Confucius or Buddha or even Mohammed (questionable too). But you class David Koresh and Jesus of Nazareth as roughly the same kind of people ?

It is sad to see young minds so confused by relativism.

Originally posted by jaywill

You also have testimony by people like David Koresh who also thought he was Christ incarnate. Why isn't his testimony valid?

Are you so befuddled and in a moral drunken stupor of unbelief that you cannot soberly discern the difference between Jesus Christ and David Koresh ? Atheism has not served you well. You have been drugged and ...[text shortened]... into clouded thinking and conscience if you think Jesus and David Koresh are roughly the same.

I saw this and left it for you.

You deserve an easy one, once in a while. 🙂

Originally posted by sonhouse
You also have testimony by people like David Koresh who also thought he was Christ incarnate. Why isn't his testimony valid?

For me, if your god wants to announce itself, I'll be all ears. Till then, when a human tells me there is a god, I just go back to practicing on my guitar and writing music.

For me, if your god wants to announce itself, I'll be all ears. Till then, when a human tells me there is a god, I just go back to practicing on my guitar and writing music.

Are you expecting God to make an announcement over your guitar amp some afternoon ?

He has spoken. You are not "all ears" at all. You have sampled, you hate what was said. And you now say God has not revealed Himself only because you hate what was revealed in the Bible.

Originally posted by jaywill

For me, if your god wants to announce itself, I'll be all ears. Till then, when a human tells me there is a god, I just go back to practicing on my guitar and writing music.

Are you expecting God to make an announcement over your guitar amp some afternoon ?

He has spoken. You are not "all ears" at all. You have sampled, you hate w ...[text shortened]... ou now say God has not revealed Himself only because you hate what was revealed in the Bible.

it was jujubonboi who spoke to me. he said don worry, every ting be o-right.

Originally posted by jaywill
It is sad to see young minds so confused by relativism.

Dude, sonhouse is 70 years old. But I'm sure he thanks you for the compliment. 🙂