Pianoman quote

Originally posted by twhitehead
And what are those benefits?

The benefits of eternal life in Paradise.

The Instructor

Originally posted by twhitehead
And what are those benefits?

Please, surely these are self-evident.......

1) The joy of service to others, helping others is more fulfilling than helping yourself.
2) The realisation that the world does not revolve around you teaches you humility.
3) You are going to die, so do it gracefully, accept who you are, don't spend thousands on making yourself look younger - it's a lie.
4) You have to graft and work in life to be a happy and fulfilled person. Expecting hand-outs and charity leads to depression and under-achievement.
5) Wisdom is like gold dust. A wise person (I don't mean clever) makes the right choices in life. This leads to happiness, peace, fulfilment, achievement,

Is this enough? Could carry on ....

Originally posted by RJHinds
The benefits of eternal life in Paradise.

The Instructor

Who cares about the afterlife? May never happen!

I'm talking about benefits in this life, the here and now, the real life of everyday existence, the joy of fulfilment, the wonders of nature, etc etc.

Originally posted by Pianoman1
Please, surely these are self-evident.......

1) The joy of service to others, helping others is more fulfilling than helping yourself.

This follows from which of the 'realizations' listed?

2) The realisation that the world does not revolve around you teaches you humility.
So how does this help you?

3) You are going to die, so do it gracefully, accept who you are, don't spend thousands on making yourself look younger - it's a lie.
How does this help you?

4) You have to graft and work in life to be a happy and fulfilled person. Expecting hand-outs and charity leads to depression and under-achievement.
This seems to contradict at least half the claims. (You're not that important, You're not in control, Life is not just about you)

5) Wisdom is like gold dust. A wise person (I don't mean clever) makes the right choices in life. This leads to happiness, peace, fulfilment, achievement,
We are not talking about wisdom, we are talking about acknowledging/realizing certain specific truths. I want to know specifically how they lead to happiness, peace, fulfilment, achievement. Its easy to keep repeating the claim in different forms as you have done, but you haven't really made a case.

Originally posted by RJHinds
Well, sunhouse is saying that he will not accept a god that will allow 100 million people to be killed in genocides and war in the last 100 years alone. I guess he does not believe God should allow death. Can you tell him why God allows death?

The Instructor

He does not. People choose death instead of life. The millions he is talking about are the people the god of this world has killed...Satan.

Originally posted by checkbaiter
He does not. People choose death instead of life. The millions he is talking about are the people the god of this world has killed...Satan.

So are you saying that the creator God of the heavens and the earth does not have the power to stop Satan from killing those millions of people?

I think sunhouse is right. I think God is allowing sin and death to continue so we can see how a world will be without God. One result is that man has made for himself an Evilution god of chance happenings in which death is just a natural part of the process. There is no reason that we should not expect millions to be killed from time to time. It is a law of survival of the fittest under the Evilution god that perhaps you call Satan.

The Instructor

Originally posted by Pianoman1
Who cares about the afterlife? May never happen!

I'm talking about benefits in this life, the here and now, the real life of everyday existence, the joy of fulfilment, the wonders of nature, etc etc.

The benefits in this life is spending one's time in growing in knowledge and wisdom of the LORD. We have more time to understand that spending time on just gaining material things is a futile pursuit that will not gain true happiness. We gain more time to learn the joy of helping others in need. We have more time to pass on the truth of God to others.

The Instructor

Originally posted by RJHinds
So are you saying that the creator God of the heavens and the earth does not have the power to stop Satan from killing those millions of people?

I think sunhouse is right. I think God is allowing sin and death to continue so we can see how a world will be without God. One result is that man has made for himself an Evilution god of chance happenings in ...[text shortened]... f survival of the fittest under the Evilution god that perhaps you call Satan.

The Instructor

No, I am not saying he does not have the power, I am saying he will not break his own rules. He will not dishonor his character.
Satan has this authority as god of this world temporarily, as he tricked Adam out of it. God cannot be unrighteous and just take it back. It has to be done decently and in time and orderly and legally.
The way God is doing it will be beyond question of his Righteousness.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
I thought this was interesting from the spiritual quotes thread.
[i]Richard Ruhr, a Franciscan priest, who did a comparative study of initiation rites discovered a remarkable similarity in the 'lessons of life' that such rites attempt to teach the young. He summarised them as follows:

• Life is hard.
• You're going to die.
• You're not that impor ...[text shortened]... /i]

I think most religions are about control and making the individual insignificant. Debate!

Stupid post. Has nothing to do with the way I raised my children, nothing whatsoever.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
I thought this was interesting from the spiritual quotes thread.
[i]Richard Ruhr, a Franciscan priest, who did a comparative study of initiation rites discovered a remarkable similarity in the 'lessons of life' that such rites attempt to teach the young. He summarised them as follows:

• Life is hard.
• You're going to die.
• You're not that impor ...[text shortened]... /i]

I think most religions are about control and making the individual insignificant. Debate!

Some are definitely manifested in that way. The problem here is your premise, which is much too broad (in the same way sonhouse's rant-blogs are too broad to carry any real incisiveness). However I like your OP and the issues it raises. Maybe more of a generational target rather than a religious one?

Was talking with my son this morning. We are going to die, but it dosen't feel like it, does it? No. Intelligence and emotion don't really what, cross paths. Or maybe they do but I'm too stupid to figure it out. Pretty sure sky daddies are irrelevant.

Originally posted by sonship
Stupid post. Has nothing to do with the way I raised my children, nothing whatsoever.

My bad.
What was I thinking posting a statement and asking for discussion?

I should have gone to you first.
Apologies.

How are your poor brain-washed children by the way?
And have you stopped bullying your wife?

Originally posted by wolfgang59
My bad.
What was I thinking posting a statement and asking for discussion?

I should have gone to you first.
Apologies.

How are your poor brain-washed children by the way?
And have you stopped bullying your wife?

Don't worry, wolfgang59, the stupid will never understand. He's probably a young earth creationist. Glad you liked the quote; it just seemed intuitively so true.

Originally posted by Pianoman1
Don't worry, wolfgang59, the stupid will never understand. He's probably a young earth creationist. Glad you liked the quote; it just seemed intuitively so true.

NO, he is an old earth creationist. I am a young earth creationist.

The Instructor

Originally posted by RJHinds
The benefits of eternal life in Paradise.

The Instructor

Sure, it could happen, a continuously increasing population of god worshipping sycophants, just what a REALLY stupid god would want.