Not that it makes things any different, but by way of explanation; it is not at all uncommon to hear fundamentalist Christians talking about their certainty of reaching heaven - for them it is (or so they say) not an expression of personal achievement or worth, neither is it an attempt to force the hand of God, but (in their view) a statement of fact regarding a promise of salvation made by God, which, all things being equal, should be pretty firm currency.
I’m not going to try to defend such a view; I just thought it might need explaining - my experience is that quite a number of ‘extreme’ Christians are actually rather smug about the ‘fact’ that [everyone else is going to burn eternally, but not me].
Also, it goes without saying that, from the point of view of Christianity, it isn’t blasphemous to believe that Jesus, although manifest in human form, is actually also God, however, since ephraim seems to be digging his heels in, it isn’t entirely unreasonable that Aldebaran should feel justified in doing the same on his side.
I should say it isn’t “unreasonable” at all but rather perfectly normal seen then contenance of his OP (and the answer to my question).
However in this case it is to me perfectly normal to find this poster a joke and thus, since he provokes such, to reply to him the way I think he deserves.
I choosed to do that with serving him the common Muslim point of view. I could however equally challenge his claims and declarations from a Christian point of view.
Salaam. A
I’m always up for a good party. We’d better invite ephraim lest we be accused of exclusionism. Maybe he won’t come. He sure doesn’t sound like a fun date.
Imagine you are God, the most powerful entity to ever exist and that will ever exist. Why in the hell would you “come as a thief in the night”? Why not have a parade through New York, London, Moscow and Tokyo all at the same time or appear in front of everyone at once? Doesn’t God have better things to do than play petty games with people? Is that what you do when you are the Supreme Being, sitting around figuring out ways to screw with people’s minds?
It’s been awhile since I looked at Greek mythology but I always thought the Greeks viewed their gods with a mixture of human and god characteristics. The gods loved to pop down and have sex with people and play games on them. There were a whole host of them and they fought each other and could be very petty. The Judeo-Christian God is the One God and is presented as the perfect, omnipotent being. So when I’m asking the question, it’s referring to the omnipotent being, not the multiple gods of Greek lore.
The two things make no sense when put together. You make your god out to be omnipotent and perfect but then have him do idiotic things like “come as a thief in the night”. Shouldn’t it be out designing new galaxies or developing revisions to his flawed creations instead of playing games?
Simple. He doesn’t contribute to the keg fund, He contributes the keg, and a keg of the good stuff at that! (See John 2, the miracle at the wedding at Cana for those who don’t want to follow the link.)
Ephraim, I, too, am a devout Christian who’s studied the Bible and who seeks to listen to the still, small voice of God within me. As such, I am aware that in the nearly two millenia since Revelations was written, there have been hundreds if not thousands of interpretations of what the passages you cited mean, and that innumerable people have believed the events depicted within it will happen within their lifetimes. Some of what you have posted directly contradicts what I have come to believe of God through what I have seen and through what He has shown me. Why should I discard what God has revealed to me for what you say He has revealed to you?
