Questions/random points for Christians and atheists from an agnostic?

Question

Two things: First, I am asking these things out of intellectual and spiritual curiosity, not to start a flame war. Please be respectful. Two: Some of these questions are asked out of ignorance, and some can't be answered-but some can, and the ignorant can be enlightened.
For Christians:
1) How can sin (hate/envy) exist in Heaven? Satan was once an angel, before he lead an insurrection against God and fell from grace.
2) OT God seems WAY harsher than NT God. What's up with that?
3) Gospels are often inconsistent with each other, sometimes in important ways, such as Jesus's last words
4) Christians disregard some OT rules, a good example being eating "clean"/kosher food. Does the OT still apply to Christians? Why/why not?
5) Moses murdered an Egyptian, Jacob lied to his father to steal his brother's inheritance, slavery is supported, pretty sure I remember incest, and the Jews frequently commit heinous acts, but they are still God's chosen people. How can a moral God support these people?
For atheists:
1) Life is complex. We can't just choose to evolve, it happens by accident, through genetic mutation, which is supported through natural selection. How logical is it to assume we evolved from clumps of organic material, to unicellular organisms, to human beings with hearts and nerves and sinew, thoughts and souls and emotions, as a result of billions of fortuitous mistakes in our genetic coding?
2) What gives that "spark" of life, and sentience?
3) What set off the Big Bang?

Answer 1

The OT is a covenant between God and the Jewish people. And yes, god is a bit of a jerk in the OT. The NT is a covenant between God and Christians, so the OT laws no longer apply. Some kind of do, but there seems to be no rhyme nor reason about what applies and what does not.



With that out of the way, I am an atheist.



It does not matter how hard it is for organic non-living matter to eventually evolve into complex organisms. It happened. We are here. If evolution turned a little differently, then we would not be here to ponder these questions.



For #2, yep. There is a point where we go from thinking, reasoning beings to mere reactionary beings.



We don't know what set off the Big Bang. We will never know. Our understanding of physical laws break down in those first few moments. But there was not even the concept of time at that time. And what came before? Maybe there was a universe which contracted and crunched down to a singularity, maybe just to explode again. Or maybe an anti-universe popped into existence and is mirroring our universe, running in reverse time.

Answer 2

None of these has anything to do with my atheism. My answer to #3 gives a better account of this. My atheism can be summed up by "I don't accept the assertions that a god or gods exist". That doesn't require that I be able to explain anything they claim their notions explain. It only requires that they be more convincing about their assertions if they want me to not be an atheist. That said, here are my answers.

1. It is completely logical, as it can be described without breaking any of the known laws of physics, some parts in great detail. Complexity is not contradictory to reality. Some things are complex, and claiming supernatural forces were responsible does nothing to reduce their complexity, so it does nothing to help you with your suggestion that their complexity is a problem for the explanation. It's only a problem for a layman's comprehension.

2. I'm not sure. It would help if you could describe in detail exactly what you mean by "spark of life". If you can't even point to something specific that can be measured or compared, how can you expect it to be quantified or qualified in a meaningful way?

3. If I couldn't explain how to boil water, that would do nothing to suggest gods exist.

Now why would you think it would be any different for me knowing how the universe came to be? I have no personal favorite explanation for how the universe started. If I did, then I would feel like I needed to support my own assertions as to how it happened. Not like many believers do, which is simply challenging others to explain something, then pretending whatever they believe is correct by default if they fail.

Answer 3

Good questions--glad you asked!



1) There's a lot of mystique around "complexity". Keep in mind that "complex" is always relative, and also "complex" is nothing more than a whole lot of "simple" There's nothing intelligent about complex--in fact, it's often stupid. With regards to Natural Selection, for every fortuitous mutation, there are those that aren't so good. There are just as many harmful mutations as good ones, but the harmful ones result in death, so they don't survive to pass along their genes.



2) We don't know yet. However, the fact that we don't know something should not be used as an excuses to invoke a supernatural explanation. Maybe someday we'll understand consciousness better.



3) We don't know yet (see 2 above). However, I can suggest something. If we live in a multi-verse, which evidence is starting to mount that we do, then perhaps the event we inaccurately label "The Big Bang" could have been the result of two other universes directly colliding. I know this is highly speculative, but it suggests that there's certainly possible causes without having to invoke a supernatural being.



Keep in mind, there's nothing wrong with saying we don't know. It's intellectually honest. Those who claim to know (a God done it)--are the ones who must prove their assertion. If they are willing to present some good hard, observable, testable evidence, I'll be ready to listen. I don't believe, thus far, the claims of those who claim a god exists, but I'm always open to evidence. It just has to be the kind of evidence THEY would want if someone tried to prove the existence of some other god, such as Mithra, to them.



Thanks for asking.

Answer 4

1) Life is complex. [snip]

--- We are barely, BARELY smarter than other apes in the big picture. Think of how much more intelligent an ape is than a mosquito, or how much more intelligent a mosquito is than a bacterium. The intelligence gap between us and an ape is much smaller than those two and bacteria. Organic processes seem complex to us, but that is likely because we aren't a whole lot smarter than apes. True complexity might be several orders of magnitude above us. We may no more understand the true nature of physics and biology than an ant understands rocketry.



The problem with positing a god as a solution to complexity is that a god would necessarily be even MORE complex than what it created, making a god even LESS likely to exist than the universe itself.



2) What gives that "spark" of life, and sentience?

---Neurologists have come to see "mind" as a cumulative conglomeration of billions of cells working in unison. Imagine removing some of your brain. You're still sentient. Remove a little more, and you still have sentience but maybe some parts are failing...perhaps you can no longer comprehend object permanence. Then more of your mind is removed. Now you have no concept of "self", yet you can communicate more or less effectively. Now remove some more, maybe you can no longer talk, or comprehend, or whatever. Once you remove enough of your brain, there will be an area where you can no longer be called a sentient being. Clearly, sentience is just a label we slap on to a system that is complex enough.



We don't call twenty stars orbiting a center of mass a galaxy. We don't call a hundred stars orbiting a center of mass a galaxy. But we'll call 200 billion stars orbiting a center of mass a galaxy. There is a point where we slap on a label, just like we do with consciousness.



3) What set off the Big Bang?

---With our current knowledge of physics, there is no way of knowing. What we can know is that it happened. What we cannot know is what happened before it. "What was before the big bang" is like "what is north of the north pole".

Answer 5

God is the same in the Old and New Testaments. He just does things a bit differently but His character does not change at all



Satan was kicked out of heaven when he rebelled against God



The gospels aren't the same because they were written by different eyewitnesses. Since they don't contradict each other, I don't see what the problem is



In Matthew five to seven (in the New Testament), Jesus talks about some of the Old Testament commands and changes the ones that don't apply anymore. For example He declared all foods clean and He commanded us to turn the other cheek instead of returning an eye for an eye etc. The blood sacrifices are also not necessary anymore because Jesus died for our sins once and for all. The rest of the commandments are still applicable (except for the Jewish customs) which don't apply to us Gentiles (this was affirmed in a letter written to the Gentiles by the apostles in the book of Acts in the New Testament).



David was punished severely for committing adultery, Moses was forbidden from entering the promised land because of the sin he committed and slavery was never condoned in the way that we think of slavery. If you read the laws on slavery in the Torah you will realize that God commanded the Israelites to treat their "slaves" with dignity, to provide for them and to set them free in the year of Jubilee unless they wished to stay. It is nothing like the slavery of modern times. The Bible also states that God allowed the Israelites to take their neighbors captive in order to subdue them and keep them from rising up and destroying them. It wasn't just because the Jews were bored

Answer 6

Thank you for asking what seems like a sincere set of questions..



"Knowledge of Good and evil" To "know' something is to be one with it- as in "Adam knew Eve and she conceived". In heaven, good and evil are separate. Evil appears as a snake in a temple, or a serpent in a garden. To us they seem indistinguishable at times, because we have both united in us. This is why we must die to self and be born from above.



Jesus' summary of the "OT":

Mark 12:28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[ Deut. 6:4,5] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[Lev. 19:18] There is no commandment greater than these.”



The gospels have minor discrepancies such as one would expect from various eye-witnesses as opposed to a single source, or someone making the whole thing up. They do not change the central message (see above).

The fact is, there is more evidence for the resurrection than any event in ancient history, as a little research would tell you. Sceptical historians come to believe based on overwhelming evidence.



The first Christians were all Jews and therefore obeyed the Law as best as they could, when the Holy Spirit started to lead non-Jews to believe in Christ the early church had to decide whether gentiles needed to convert to Judaism first. They decided in that they need not get circumcised but should avoid eating blood and sexual immorality. The dietary practices were later argued to be a matter of conscience, (See Acts 10+11, Romans 14)

It is about faith in God, not laws, which only serve to point out our failure to be good. (See Romans 4)

Paul speaks against the idea that Christians must be circumcised in Galatians 5.

No-one is good! Not one! Only God. God did not "support' these people because they are good- it is because of his mercy and grace and love and faithfulness. We need these things -as revealed in Christ.



As for the questions to Atheists, I would ask "We accept that something is responsible for the existence of everything, including our consciousness, why do you believe-without evidence- that whatever that is cannot be conscious?"

Answer 7

Dude, I'm an atheist, and I have as much idea how the Universe formed as a Pope has about how God formed. Our human minds can grasp big concepts, but just can't grasp the concept of "nothingness" from which it had to start from I guess...

Answer 8

Your questions to atheists demonstrates a willful ignorance of all three topics, none of which have ANYTHING to do with atheism, which is one position on one matter, none of which are among your topics of inquiry.



As such, the duty to correct your ignorance is all your own.



"Does it mean, if you don’t understand something, and the community of physicists don’t understand it, that means God did it? Is that how you want to play this game? Because if it is, here’s a list of things in the past that the physicists at the time didn't understand [and now we do understand.] If that’s how you want to invoke your evidence for God, then God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance that’s getting smaller and smaller and smaller as time moves on - so just be ready for that to happen, if that’s how you want to come at the problem." Neil deGrasse Tyson



"Time itself must come to a stop [at the singularity]. You can’t get to a time before the big bang, because there was no time before the big bang. We have finally found something that does not have a cause because there was no time for a cause to exist in. For me this means there is no possibility of a creator because there is no time for a creator to have existed. Since time itself began at the moment of the Big Bang, it was an event that could not have been caused or created by anyone or anything. … So when people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the Big Bang, so there is no time for God to make the universe in. It’s like asking for directions to the edge of the Earth. The Earth is a sphere. It does not have an edge, so looking for it is a futile exercise.” Stephen Hawking



-If the Universe needs a creator, why doesn't god?

If god doesn't need a creator, why does the Universe ?-

Answer 9

1) Satan is not a created being, but the god, or father of all evil and lies. He was never an angel. A man named Origen made that up and spliced scriptures together that were not talking about Satan. So evil will not be in Heaven

2) The Old Testament is a record of over about 4500 years. The New Testament is only about 100 years. The two cannot compare as God has to correct evil to make sure truth does not become extinct.

3) Each Gospel has a different audience, so they present Jesus in a different way. Matthew was to the Hebrews, so Jesus is presented as the Messiah. Mark was written to the Romans and they respected power. Luke was written to the Greeks and they were impressed with man and man's body (Olympics and all). John was written much later after the Temple was destroyed and the Christian way well established. He presented Jesus as God to a universal audience. Four eye-witnesses from different perspectives to different audiences.

4. The Old Testament rules were for one nation. We now have an international religion with New Rules. Remember, the Israelites are not making an Ark or following Abraham. Different times, different rules. The magnitude of Christ sacrifice demands a New Way.

5. Yes, people sin. But repentant people who do as God commands are still His people. Bondage (the owning of another) was never condoned by God. Slavery in the Bible is the selling of oneself for a time to pay a debt.

Answer 10

As an agnostic I take pride in the fact that when asked an impossible question I can say "I don't bloody know and neither do you!"

Answer 11

Do you really want to know OR are you simply trying to be ignorant ?



evidently YOU have never READ the bible



1) God created him that way...try reading what it said about him

2) God has NOT changed..He simply allowed the natural process to work-in the NT it is all Spiritual

had the First Covenant been without it s fault ( as man could not do what God did ) the Second Covenant showed WE needed God to do it..the OT is our schoolmaster..it showed we are sinners and in need of a Savoir, God told man a simply Natural way to obey Him, they refused...sacrifice to shed blood to Atone for their sin.the Blood of animals could not take it away but covered it for a season...God came in flesh, saw and felt our infirmities and gave His OWN BLOOD for us...for eternity.

3) set 10 men in a room and you will get 10 different versions of the same event described in their own way..BUT all witnesses told the same account, just in different words.

4) the OT/Covenant was the Law of God a natural process....Jesus fulfilled all of the law ..He wrote a NT/Covenant by His death and resurrection, with better promises....we live under Grace not under Law

have you never read the bible ? Simple understanding of even today s Wills and Testament Laws would clue you in on a lot.

5) For God so loved the World that He gave His own....He gave Himself even knowing that 99% of the people would reject Him and disobey Him and mock Him...and would not ever believe anything He said and did. yet He still loved us enough to Shed His blood to Atone for us all, even knowing those facts.

We are not worthy , yet His righteousness is worthy..He gave His Word, He created it all with His Word....He does NOT go back on His Word. He Chose Isreal before the beginning of Creation, they are His Chosen people..but note one is NOT a Jew on the outside but on the inside the man of the heart

We were grafted into that same tree...and yet as He said if He did not spare the natural branch be careful unless he not spare you ( again have you not ever read the bible ?)

The Jews were scattered and destroyed ...and yet His Promise was to save a remnant..and a Promise He would bring them back to the land HE Promised them...He has and is doing that from the places He scattered them....today they are still blinded for our sake that we have a space of time to repent and come to Him...for they today are blinded by the vail which keeps them from understanding who the Messiah is

again READ the BOOK.



1) there is No evolution and even real science shows that to be a fact

2) Creation was Created by GOD

3) the only Big Bang was the thunder of the voice of God....or a TV sitcom



try READING the Bible .

Answer 12

I couldn't resist the Christian questions:

1. Sin is a religious article of faith, as is the existence of an afterlife.

2. They made some character changes for the sequel. This is fiction.

3. Absolutely.

4. Pick and mix. I think some of them also trim their beards, and prefer to deal with mildew in the house with treatments other than asking a priest to examine it.

5. Moral god?



Okay, now for the atheist questions:

1. What has this got to do with atheism - it's biology. Okay, that out of the way. Absolutely logical - as correlated over and over again in the genetic data with fossil record, comparative morphology, embryology, and recorded observations. The missing ingredient in your puzzle is Time, lots of it, and lots of adaptation over it.

2. Again, you are asking biological questions to atheists. My answer is that I don't know. I don't pretend to know. It's okay to be unsure. I've read up in the past on Abiogenesis. Fascinating ideas, on how Life started on this planet, but I'm not clever enough to express any kind of opinion - other than that Life started very small, and very basic, perhaps with a simple string of RNA. We're not even sure if viruses are Life. Life started single cell, and stayed that way for billions of years, before more flukes lead to mitochondria, and multicellular life.

3. No idea. However one thing that I do know. Simply suggesting that a god, or gods "did it" is no answer whatsoever. What made the gods? Why would these beings be interested in our species, or in our planet - out of the trillions of planets in their Universe.

Answer 13

I am a Christian, so:

1) Angels are people too. Where do you think God got the "pattern" for people?

2) God is untouchable, and He knew people related better to/understood a person. He made Jesus, infused Jesus with His spirit, and Jesuis was born.

3) Gospels are each written from different perspectives/viewpoints.

4) Jesus died to free us fromm physical ways to communicate with God, so the Old Testament is like a histoty book, this is how things were, before Jesus.

5) people are flawed, and God works through our flaws.

Answer 14

1. Sin is rebellion from God. God always gives a choice.

2. Ot God is the father, nt Jesus or our brother. A Father is always more strict than a brother. He still says over and over how much he loves us and that "my children do not understand."

3 God is a God of reward. If you obey you are rewarded. Jesus was crucified for us but it was essentially "out of character" for God to do this.

4. A lot of the laws in the ot were pointing to the Messiah coming. Ex sacrificing animals to Jesus crucifixion. It was symbolic for something else because God was trying get his children out of sin.

5. ALL the prophets sinned. They were people like us. Only Jesus was perfect. In fact every "act of discipline" was because they sinned and lacked faith. So God "gives the desires of their heart." They were listening to deceit. Then God intervened and they changed their ways. Notice the feeling and sin they committed (jealously, fear, anger) listen to what "God declares" and see their reward.

Answer 15

Christian.

1. Free will applies even to Satan and other angelic beings, both good and bad. Once Satan rebelled he was thrown out of heaven.



2. It does seem harsher in my opinion too. Since mankind proved we can't follow God's law, God sent Christ to justify us without the law. The law still applies, but we are now made right with God by faith in and acceptance of Jesus, not by following rules.



3. Read different newspaper accounts of the same event. You will find minor discrepancies, as you do in the 4 gospels.



4. See answer 2. We are no longer under the law, but under the free gift of God, who is Christ. So yes, and No. We SHOULD follow the law but we are made right with God by faith in Jesus. Now if we have true faith, we will WANT to follow the law. But there is another wrinkle here...we aren't ancient Jews. Some Torah laws no longer apply. Jesus declared all food clean, for example: http://biblehub.com/mark/7-19.htm



5. Again, faith and a desire to serve God. A good example is David, who was low-life enough to send a man to the forefront of battle so he could marry his wife, with whom he had already committed adultery. What a despicable JERK!!!! Yet because he repented in front of God, he was still one of God's great men. God forgives if you are truly sorry and truly want to turn from your wicked ways.



Edit: What set off the big bang? As a Christian I'd have to say God. Yes, I read the Hawking quote, and frankly am disappointed in Hawking. A man of his intelligence should realize that maybe time didn't exist before the big bang, but SOMETHING time-like happened. Time marched forward. The universe exists, doesn't it? Besides that, God is the creator of time and outside of time. He can manipulate events in ways we cannot grasp. Perhaps he operates in what we understand as another dimension. We can grasp higher dimensions mathematically but not conceptually. Nor can we really conceive of a world without time and space.



It is interesting that genesis tells us time began after the earth was "formless and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep" (and there was evening and morning, the first day..)

Answer 16

As a Christian I'll answer the questions you directed at Christians:



1. How can sin exist in Heaven?

http://www.gotquestions.org/Satan-access.html



Sin is not ALLOWED into Heaven because God and Heaven are holy and perfect, and that is why when Satan sinned he was cast out of Heaven, similar to how humans are not allowed into Heaven in our sinful state. But it is possible for God to command a sinful being to temporarily stand in His presence to judge him (Revelation 20:11-14-15), without compromising His holiness.



2. God seems more harsher in the Old Testament than in the New Testament, why?



There is a lack of understanding for those who are not familiar with the Bible. God may seem different, full of wrath in the Old Testament and full of love in the New Testament, but God remains the same forever, so His character has not changed, but simply, how we look at it. When we examine it more closely, we'd find that God in the Old Testament is also described as being loving and merciful, and likewise, God in the New Testament is also described as being full of wrath and judgement.

For a modern mind, He may seem cruel but people often forget that God is a righteous Judge who rewards the faithful and punishes the wicked.



3. The Gospels seem inconsistent with each other.



There are four Synoptic Gospels, all tell from a different perspective written for a different audience in mind. This isn't "inconsistent", but rather, they are complimentary to each other, and together they tell the full complete story of Jesus. There are difficult passages but none contradict each other, and when they are all read together, what you may see as problematic can easily be reconciled.



As for Jesus' last words, a simple arrangement of the text shows that His last words were: "Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit," (Luke 23:46), which states He died after saying that.



4. The Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

http://www.blogos.org/exploringtheword/Covenant-Theology-1-basics.php



In the Old Covenant, it bears the Bad News of humanity: we have sinned against God and the penalty for sin is Hell. But as the Old Covenants PROMISED (attempted to reconcile humanity with God), it foreshadows our Messiah and Savior who will FULFILL the Old Covenant and establish a New Covenant (reconcile humanity with God once and for all time).

The New Covenant tells us of the Good News: Jesus is the promised Messiah and Savior, He died for our sins and He rose into Heaven, and whoever believes in Him will be forgiven of their sins and saved from Hell, and they will inherit eternal life.



The one people commonly refer to is the Mosaic Covenant (there are many covenants found in the Bible) that was made with God and Israel, this one has many laws, it identified sin and it's physical punishments. But the Jewish people were always breaking God's laws because it is impossible to follow God's high and holy standards.

Most people take the Bible out of context, but if you read the Bible you'd find that sin remains as sin, the Old Covenant identified sins while the New Covenant frees us from those sins. So Jesus did not "replace" the Old Testament, rather, He reaffirmed the Old Testament's authority and reiterated many of it's teachings.



5. Why are the Jewish people God's chosen people.

http://www.gotquestions.org/why-God-choose-Israel.html



God has chosen a nation for whom our Lord and Savior would be born from, and ever since then He has preserved the nation of Israel as a distinct nation, and because of their new found importance, they had bigger responsibilities. They had to keep their nation as pure as possible, but like any other nation, they struggled, when they fell away from God, He punished them, but when they called out for God, He saved them. But as I said before, as sinful human beings, God's laws, being a high and holy standard, is impossible to keep. And that is why they needed a new covenant:



You can read more about the New Covenant here: Jeremiah 31:31; and Hebrews 9:15.

Answer 17

Sin can exist in heaven if angels are hiding it where the sin police cannot find it.

Answer 18

(Revelation 5:10, 11) 10 and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.” 11 And I saw, . . .

Few are going to heaven the rest will live here on the earth.

Answer 19

atheist



1) no it aint

"How logical is it to assume we evolved from clumps of organic material"

what has "logic" got to do with it?

And its stupid to apply logic to assumptions

What you are basically saying is that "I am not actually interested in evaluating the theory but to me it dont make sense that thats how evolution works"

thats stupid



2) what actually is "life"? answer - Its an illusion

there is not one atom in your body that is "alive",

So at a basic level you aint "alive"

what your body is is a huge collection of biochemical molecules/compounds continuously reacting with each other - Are those molecules/compounds "alive" in an individual sense?

OR is is just the sum total of all those compunds together and continuously reacting that we call "life"?

And when those reactions stop we call it "death"?



There is nothing special in those reactions they are just like any other



When did "life" start? - when those reactions started and were self perpetuating



Part of those reactions is the creation of electricity in the body-

its this electricity flowing around the brain that stimulates the cells in it - this we call "sentience"



(I realise that this concept may go completely against what you believe "life" is - but this is where you need to stand back and really think about it, ignoring years of your assumptions of what you believe "life" is.

String theory itself says that EVERYTHING in the universe comprises just loads of different strings arranged in dofferent ways

So there is no basic difference between you (or I) and a lump of rock)



3) this is based on an assumption - ie. that it needed "setting off"

Who says it needed "setting off" ?

and before you say "nothing" can come from "nothing"

what exactly is "nothing"?

Our definition of "nothing" is something that dont exist. but our requirement for something to exist is that it must "exist" for a "time" and take up "space". This is cos we live in a universe where both time and space are fundamental. But who says they must be fundamental "outside" it? For all I know there may be an "existence" outside our universe that does not have "time" or "space". That is - the concept of "outside" our universe does not have any meaning.cos "not inside" our universe "space" may not exist, but that dont mean there cant be an existence "not inside"

(and you cannot use our sceince or scientific laws to show there cant be such an existence- cos these are based on a universe that has "time" and "space". THEY would be meaningless in an "existence" that dont have them)



carrying this into your update

"how did the universe get to the state it was in prior to the Big Bang? The elements and gases present at the time-where did they come from? Where did anything come from? "

this is based on several assumptions coming from ignorance of the big bang

a) there were no elements or gases when the big bang happened- just LOADS of energy

where did that energy come from? - strange as it may seem- maybe it was "borrowed" i.e energy was "borrowed"- this aint a problem so long as eventually its "paid back"

(and before you say - "this is impossible"- look up quantum tunneling)



b) our universe did not exist "before" the big bang - for us time started with the big bang. So the concepts of "before" or "prior" are meaningless as far as we are concerned

(the often repeated analogy of asking what was "before" or "prior" the big bang is like asking what is north of the north pole)

the thing to note is that just cos our universe did not exist does NOT mean "nothing" could have existed, just that if it did it we have no concept of what it would be

(how would you explain the different colours to somebody who has never had any eyes?)

Answer 20

Getting points is not why I am here dear,





I will answer your questions from the Christian experience.





1. ) Satan rebelled against God because he was filled with prideful iniquity.



Being beautiful, He fell in love with himself & wanted to be worshipped as a God, not as a Creation of God, nor to be a servant of God.





2. ) In the Old Testament, humanity was under the Law handed down to Moses to the Israelites From God. The Law was never meant to offer Salvation.



We are Saved by God's Grace, not through our works.



The Law was good, but it did not redeem humanity.



The Israelites are God's adopted children.

They have the Lord's Glory, the pledges. Moses' Teachings, the true worship, & the promises.



The Law revealed sin.



The Law did not teach how to receive God's Approval, so those under the Law would try to set up their own way to get it, & they have not accepted God's Way for receiving His approval.



They were deeply devoted to God, but they were misguided.



God's Approval is based upon Faith.



Judgments by God were basically immediate during Biblical times, because humanity was not in God's Grace.



Not many had His approval, nor were there many walking in faith.



We cannot Save ourselves, that is one is attempting to do by just honoring the Law.





Humanity needed a Mediator, the Mediator IS Christ.



When Christ went to the Cross, He did it for all of humanity.



He took the penalty or curse that each of us deserve for breaking God's Law.



Satan must have known this, that the world would need a Savior, for he tried to destroy the lineage of Jesus the Christ on Earth, so he went after human ancestors...........



3. ) The Gospels were written by different people, ergo, variety.



4. OT Laws were not destroyed, but were fulfilled & changed by Christ's Crucifixion.



We now live by Grace.



To be Saved, we must believe in Christ, repent, & declare Jesus is our Lord.





By believing, you will receive God's approval, & by declaring your faith you are saved.



Clean / kosher food is under the Law, Christ cleansed our food through His Blood sacrifice on the cross, so it is now clean/ kosher to eat.



5. ) Despite their history, God called Moses & He also called Jacob, & many others.



Understand that God does not call the qualified dear; He qualifies the Called.



God is Holy. God is Righteous.



The Israelites / Jews were His chosen people.



Abraham's descendants Isaac over Ishmael, or Jacob over Esau was without regard to their works.



God has Sovereign choice to show mercy on whom He pleases & to withhold from others.



And, yes, like all of humanity do not deserve to be saved, for we all fall short of the Glory of God.



Yet, we are Saved by God's mercy called Grace.



Many times Israel had turned away from God.



God sent His Prophets.



God sent His Messenger angels.



God sent Judgments.



God allowed slavery.



God allowed persecution.



God, even divorced the nation of Israel once, then took them back.



Then, God Sent His Son Jesus the Christ for Redemption of all of humanity.



The Bible speak of Jews being in Heaven, in the Book of Revelation, 144,000 believer Jews / Israelites.



This can only happen because of God's love for humanity, for we all fall short of the Glory of God.



Believing in Christ Is our Grace dear.

Answer 21

I do not respond to ignorant incredulism from cowardly agnostics.

Answer 22

Questions /random points for Christians and Atheist from an agnostic ? Atheist question Life is complex How logical is it to ASSUME we evolved from Clumps of material to unicellular organisms to human beings with Hearts and nerves and sinew, Thoughts and souls emotions as a result of fortuitous mistakes in our genetic code



to start if God is the SUPREME Being the # 1 why would he allow other gods ? does that not lesson his power and not make him the SUPREME being ?



To start with that is not an Atheist question , but a Science Question. The Questioner is ASSUMING that its a Black and white world or a pro or con world One is assuming that because I am an Atheist that I am an Evolutionist . I call them VELCRO Questions



Atheism is a position a response merely to a Single Claim Atheism projects no Beliefs , its not a belief system Its a response to a claim , I do not accept the claims of God that religion present Due to Theist Failure to provide proof of the claim .



Allow me to demonstrate my personal problem with gods If I go to the dictionary and type in define God I will get In Monotheistic religions and Christianity God is the creator and ruler of the universe and the the Source of ALL moral authority the supreme being



is god energy then call it energy Why is it ALWAYS "PERSONIFIED " giving it thoughts emotions to have spite and anger surely a projection of man itself mans invention of his own qualities and short comings yet it rules over man , I can conclude perhaps god are mans viewing man was an invention to regulate ones self for human co - existence examine the commandment they are all about how man treats man with 4 commandment to MAINTAIN the belief in gods actually in Judaism its 613 commandments called the mitvot everything from sexuality to food to slaves and servants , those things have no impact on god only mans actions toward man then wars and invading other people then CLAIMING a god said to , or to claim a flood was caused because a god was angry REALLY



Shall we examine that definition . Does it tell you what a God is No it says nothing about what a god is its only CLAIMS of ACTIONS Doctrine Creator Claim of action.... , Ruler Claim of action..... Source of morality claim of Action What is the god I can define apple a red round fruit with white center and small black seeds produced from a tree



I can define cat a small domesticated mammal with a short snout with fur of various length and color sometimes kept to reduce rodent populations so if you saw such a animal you might say its a cat same as an apple but I have no definition of god to base anything on





For all I know Some alien from planet XYTT found earth in its travels planted life on Earth , or a comet hit earth with organic material to spark life . so your doing what many Theist do assuming that because I ask you for proof of a Claim that I am presenting some other answer



Evolution also does not regulate ones life . it presents no rules or required action , rituals , ceremonies politics , power has no societal regulations it ask nothing from people its not monetarily driven or group driven its merely presented ,as a theoretical explanation of what was investigated and observes related to time and change it presents no obligations or worshiping it is BENIGN



theist see it as a threat , because it presents what it investigated and observed and religion investigates nothing and presents nothing more than claims .It took the Vatican 350 years to apologize and say oh Galileo by the way you were right we are sorry we made your life miserable stopped the progress of knowledge in order to maintain our power and control maintain our greed to be the rulers and regulators and to acquire wealth , preying on mans human weaknesses and fears SORRY we wanted to maintain what our SPECIAL BOOK says about the universe so anyone who says any thing that contradicts it should be jailed and in many cases tortured ,or killed because we are a Dictatorship



. I have no obligation to accept Evolution or the Big Bang .Just as I have no obligation to accept the Creation story . What I ask for is proof of claims so I as a questioning individual have as much information as possible to intelligently decide what sounds most reasonable ,have the most facts and it is the answer I accept today until new knowledge is discovered or facts are presented that alters or changes the facts we know today



Atheist are not The PRESENTERS of Evolution SCIENCE is how is that different Theist claiming God are also the PRESENTERS Of more CLAIMS of the Gods Action as in Creationism and its like a row of Dominoes , claim after claim after claim all part of Doctrine when they never prove the BASIC Claim that they present to make subsequent claims the god



Ones question of evolution is strikingly similar to many theist response Oh look at the end result , the trees , the grass animals and humans surely it must be the product of god . as to say this is the only possible answer , so now It fits my Intent , motive and agenda to build a religion based on a god to say It is a regulatory power for human beings to live by and I must start wars and treat people in a discriminatory manner if they do not Accept my answer of my particular god many times only based one one persons CLAIM of 3500 years ago who claims he heard voices or in the case of Smith and Russel who also present claim of hearing voices for Mormons and JW . That a god is maintained and not shown to be a independent entity from the human mind .



I am not ashamed to say I do not know an answer , but I do not accept a answer merely on a claim of hearing voices . What your question is Void of is Time . You say to ASSUME that Man is a product of of organic matter . Evolution is TIME I do not assume that you are a biologist or a scientist but is man NOT organic matter and do we not today have viruses and new strains of bacteria that result in invading organisms explain how we develop MRSA antibiotic resistant bacteria . explain why we have malaria , tuberculosis perhaps if one examined not just humans , but if one examines the smaller organisms and how they evolve . sometimes we need to step away from Complexity and examine the less complex for the beginning of answers .



Why would a God create MRSA Tuberculosis malaria human deformities Cancer Religion takes what is and say oh god must be punishing us I have been a Nurse for 40 years Why would a god punish a new born baby with a heart deformity or a two year old with cancer they have not lived long enough to have offended a god What does religion give up nonsensical rationalization My favorite Man is not able to Comprehend the complexity of god Yes i am Its called the "I" ID" and "EGO" of man try psychology 101



Why would a god make a kangaroo a hippopotamus surely man could sustain itself on goats and sheep and fish How about Giraffes is there a need for them . Evolution presents facts SCIENCE presents observation identification description experimental INVESTIGATION and theoretical explanation of phenomena of the physical and natural world .



on the other hand Religion INVESTIGATES NOTHING only presents CLAIMS upon more claims as in MOSES at age 80 Claims he hears voices Did you investigate that rule out the possibilities Dementia Beer intoxication delusional auditory hallucinations Malaria fever parasite infected brain , Tooth abscess to his brain nope is god a separate entity from mans mind ?



When man stops believing in gods all through history then we call them MYTHOLOGY , why because there is never any proof they existed except in man own mind



I do not Know how life started , and evolution is an observation and investigation of the past RELIGION is not its TOOL OF MAN an organization that through war . intimidation torture and alliances with rulers and kings have regulated society and man kind on claims and human fears it struggles for power one god belief against another one religion trying to run society I do not find it a uniting factor for humanity more of a human arrogance based in ignorance or wiliness to accept merely claims that perpetuate groups against group all through history



Catholics against Jew christian against protestant Islam against Hindu all based on Concepts defined as unifying ideas yes each sect is unified and is then against the another all jockeying for control . Yes religion does some good thing but all those things can be done without religion merely on humanity one need not fly ones banner Oh look at me I am superior special be like me My religion is good How about we change that to be like me I am a human being .. I have expressed all my frustrations



i do not know the answer but unlike religion I do not CLAIM to know the answer because I have no intent , motive or agenda to be a ruling controlling power merely to co exist in the limited time of life to create a better world not a conflicting world based on claims but on knowledge that helps us understand the world we live in and the human mind





A effective Atheist/skeptic does not CLAIM to have answer or give the answers an effective Atheist stimulates each individual to ASK Question So each individual can find the FACTS and PROOF that brings us to the TRUTH Thank you for the question