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14th December 2016, 09:07 AM | #641 |
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"They want to make their molehills equal to the mountains by cutting the mountains down." -turingtest "The universe did not come from nothing, it came from 'We don't know'." -Dancing David "Cry, booga, booga, booga! and let slip the Hamsters of Silly!" -JFDHintze |
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14th December 2016, 09:16 AM | #642 |
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Oh child, there are so many more contradictions in the Bible.
Where did Joseph and Mary live before the birth of Jesus? Did Jesus, Mary, and Joseph go to Egypt or Nazareth? Was Mary (the mother of Jesus) blessed? This one even has a handy table listing the differences between them! (Spoiler, there are very few names in common, and they aren't in the same order) What is the correct genealogy from David to Jesus? You can find more here: http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.co...a/by_name.html |
14th December 2016, 09:26 AM | #643 |
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14th December 2016, 10:06 AM | #644 |
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14th December 2016, 11:23 AM | #645 |
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14th December 2016, 11:33 AM | #646 |
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14th December 2016, 12:26 PM | #647 |
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In fact the gospels tell us that Mary was of the House of Aaron, and this was not of Davidic descent. Needless to say, Christian apologists tackle this problem with their accustomed ingenuity.
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14th December 2016, 01:31 PM | #648 |
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Luke 21:31---Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near. |
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14th December 2016, 01:33 PM | #649 |
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14th December 2016, 01:52 PM | #650 |
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How very sad that your delusion of "infallible, perfect understanding" cannot detect simple sarcasm...
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/begging-the-question |
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"They want to make their molehills equal to the mountains by cutting the mountains down." -turingtest "The universe did not come from nothing, it came from 'We don't know'." -Dancing David "Cry, booga, booga, booga! and let slip the Hamsters of Silly!" -JFDHintze |
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14th December 2016, 03:27 PM | #651 |
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I'm tired of the bombs, tired of the bullets, tired of the crazies on TV; I'm the aviator, a dream's a dream whatever it seems Deep Purple- "The Aviator" Life was a short shelf that came with bookends- Stephen King |
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14th December 2016, 04:41 PM | #652 |
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14th December 2016, 04:56 PM | #653 |
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16th December 2016, 01:39 PM | #654 |
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The Torah contains the record of the flood—the need to know how the Creator accomplished this must be seen in the light, that as Creator it would be easily accomplished, seeing that he designed and created all the universe in its vast array, in which this time we are beginning to see how immense it is, and that in six days---gets one thinking?
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Luke 21:31---Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near. |
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16th December 2016, 01:51 PM | #655 |
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Back to the thread topic of the "End Times," I'm often fascinated by the cultural impact of Armageddon theology. There's been some really great literature to come out of it for example. "Skinny Legs and All" is probably the best book with a sentient can of bean as a character I've ever read. I particularly like how the conch shell and the wand, two ancient magical artifacts, upon learning about the Biblical version of Solomon's life, respond with a dumbfounded, "Solomon was considered wise?"
"Good Omens" is a lot of fun, especially when it comes to the ineptitude of the "villains" leading to a rather unimpressive Antichrist. Then there's the fact that for some reason, there's a perpetual undercurrent of Christians who are obsessed with Jews having sex. What are your favorite books about the End of the World? (No fair answering Paul, we already know YOUR choice) |
16th December 2016, 01:58 PM | #656 |
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The Torah contains an allegation of a flood.
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The non-thinking man just sweeps his denial under a carpet of vacuous glitter as you have done. You have no answer for why the evidence doesn't match your beliefs. You just spew the same robotic platitudes as every other zealot and pretend it's all band-aided up. You allude to the omnipotence of God. Are you suggested God just magically erased all the evidence of the flood and patched things up again as if nothing had happened? Is that your answer? As to the vastness of the universe, I see no connection between that and the need for some almighty creator. The universe is what it is. Be as gob-smacked as you like about it, but there's no rule that says a natural universe has to be small and boring. |
16th December 2016, 02:10 PM | #657 |
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16th December 2016, 02:15 PM | #658 |
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16th December 2016, 03:21 PM | #660 |
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Said anecdote features Gilgamesh and predates anything in the Torah by centuries. Also coming from generally the same time and region is Deucalion; he, also, is reputed to have saved humanity from a deluge. Taking a broader view of the matter, there are some 130 myths from around the globe featuring a world-wide deluge/catastrophe where a very few "saved" all of humanity. The difficulty with those is they do not agree on time, place, scope, motive or results. And, you guessed it, there is not a shred of evidence for any of them.
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18th December 2016, 01:19 AM | #661 |
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There is a lot of proof to those who have an open mind to appreciate that creation is full of design showing how great the Creators ability is.------( Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
To be blind to this is, shows how man has lost his direction---there is no other way to explain the creation. So the END time prophecy is to demonstrate the ability of the Creator, in that the sun and moon will be used to show that the Creator has the ability to change the normal function of the world. (Luk_21:25 "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.) |
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Luke 21:31---Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near. |
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18th December 2016, 01:52 AM | #662 |
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Lots of things that appear obvious turned out not to be true - the earth is not flat, the sun does not go around the earth, the complexity of living things is not the result of deliberate design. If you spend a little time reading about the great scientific discoveries of the last couple of centuries you quickly learn that common sense/intuition has proved to be a very poor guide to the true nature of the world. If you choose not to do that then you will simply spend your life believing things which aren't true. I pity you, Paul Bethke, because you will never know the truth. You will go to your death wondering why the world is still continuing unperturbed, just as the millions of others who were convinced the world would end in their lifetime have done for thousands of years.
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18th December 2016, 02:33 AM | #663 |
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Not only that: Mark's version of the prophecy, at 13:25, tells us that
the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.As I have done before I will ask again: given that the Sun, a typical star, is a million times bigger than the Earth, a typical planet, how can stars "fall" to the ground? Not even the Creator can make them fall to the ground. That "prophecy" was thought up by people who had no idea what the lights they saw up in the sky really were. These uninformed people were at the childish "twinkle twinkle" stage of understanding, which unfortunately you seem to have remained in. |
18th December 2016, 02:40 AM | #664 |
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Well two hundred years ago the people of that day did not know what the people of today know, so those people of yesterday could only explain it in the way they understood things—that does not change the prophecy---today we will see stars disappearing overnight. Venus, Mars and all the others will simply disappear---now you see them—now you don’t!!
That will make you think!! |
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Luke 21:31---Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near. |
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18th December 2016, 02:53 AM | #665 |
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18th December 2016, 03:38 AM | #666 |
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18th December 2016, 06:13 AM | #667 |
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Signs of the End Times - Part Two
None of that is actually a response to the post you quoted. The Gilgamesh epic contains a flood narrative stunningly similar to Noah's flood yet the story can be dated to a good 400 to 500 years BEFORE Noah's flood supposedly occurred. Either the Jews absorbed an existing, older legend, or God plagiarized his plan from one of the pagan cultures he intended to wipe out. Which is it Paul? We already have an Ark thread Paul. We need to keep this Noah / Magic wood stuff there. |
18th December 2016, 06:48 AM | #668 |
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18th December 2016, 09:04 AM | #669 |
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18th December 2016, 09:51 AM | #670 |
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No there isn't. There is a bunch of religious zealots frantically trying to make their fairy tales seem more like science, as a reaction to an increasingly secular world. It's the only way they can maintain the power they previously held over the population.
The universe is awesome. I've spent my life learning how it works and using that understanding to help people lead better lives here on Earth. I'm not swayed by appeals to some magical wizard who supposedly waved the wand and created it all. I'm especially unswayed by people invoking that myth and trying to frighten me into "repenting" and following them as the self-proclaimed oracles of that wizard.
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18th December 2016, 09:58 AM | #671 |
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Bzzzzt. You tried to explain away the anachronisms in the epistles attributed Peter by saying the author could just prophetically see into the future and write convincingly in that style and about things that would arise during those later times. Now faced with a different problem you back away from that entirely and admit that the authors had to be limited to their ordinary knowledge. I tend to believe the latter is true, but you seem to want to believe both contradictorily while having no authority for the former: it's just speculation you made up to plug a hole in your beliefs.
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19th December 2016, 08:41 AM | #672 |
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It is not the ability to see into the future, rather the insight as to see that what the Creator stated will take place—so today we see the events that have not yet taken place are still in the proses of fulfilment. So yes people did not have the knowledge that is available today---but the Kingdom of God is still the focal point.
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(Gen 1:6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So yes it is as simple as you put it—not a wand, just his word---I am glad that it makes you think. |
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Luke 21:31---Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near. |
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19th December 2016, 09:19 AM | #673 |
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That doesn't address the contradiction in your argument.
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19th December 2016, 09:28 AM | #674 |
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19th December 2016, 09:35 AM | #675 |
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Insight that you have proven, repeatedly, you do not have.
Why do you persist in prattling about matters you do not comprehend? Do you have a commission from God to entertain us? You clearly have no calling to evangelism; if you did, God would have granted you a modicum of competence in the field. Your conduct is more in keeping with a king's jester than a man of faith. Are we, on this forum, so elevated in God's design that he granted us a personal jester to dance for our amusement? I would like to suggest you acquire a bit of education on religion. You can start with a book about the Messiah that I think is just far enough beyond your current theological education level to be both accessible and educational. |
19th December 2016, 11:57 AM | #676 |
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19th December 2016, 12:33 PM | #677 |
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19th December 2016, 02:10 PM | #678 |
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Well said. Being a "poor fool", a jester could speak the truth about anyone or anything without giving insult. A critical function indeed.
Perhaps this is the reason why the Fool is a major Tarot card. IIRC, I saw a comment (I believe it was in reference to King Lear) that a jester was probably the most intelligent person in the court. |
19th December 2016, 02:12 PM | #679 |
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19th December 2016, 02:16 PM | #680 |
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Or me? I guarantee I make more sense and am far more believable than any deity. For the life of me I can not understand for a moment why anyone educated today with a sound mind continues to believe this nonsense.
It's a mountain of circular reasoning that is used to support outrageous and absurd claims that demands obedience to an irrational and silly guidelines. The God of the Bible is a silly, petty jerk who theoretically gave us the ability to think and then demands on the penalty of eternal torture that we don't. What kind of sick joke is that? |
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