Sorry I misspelled your name in my last post.
Tue, 10 Mar 1998 21:05:09 +1000, Derek McLarnen wrote:
> Interesting. When I finally realised that there was no God, the feeling
> was of regret for the loss of eternal life, but the joy of freedom from
> a genocidal tyrant with an alien sense of justice and a demeaning sense
> of mercy.
I really don't understand why you describe God this way. Would you care
to expand?
> BP> Dereck, if you are looking for incontrovertible evidence that God
> > exists, you'll never find it. The question I think you must answer is,
> > *if* God convinced you that He is the God of the Bible, would you then
> > yield control of your body, mind, soul and spirit to His Lordship?
>
> If the God of the Universe convinced me that He was the God of the
> Bible, I would be horrified.
Why? God is infinitely just, causing us to reap what we sow: "Do not
be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one
who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap
destruction; the one who sows to please the Spriit, from the Spirit will
reap eternal life." (Galatians 6:7-8)
> But I would have no choice but to yield
> control of my body, mind, soul and spirit to His Lordship. After all the
> God of the Univese would have effectively infinite power,
Ah, but Derek, you do have a choice, and you have chosen not to yield.
God does have infinite power, but He has also given us the freedom to
choose. If we had no freedom, then God could not hold us responsible
for our actions, but He does: "The Son of Man will go just as it is
written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It
would be better for him if he had not been born." (Mark 14:21)
> and the God of
> the Bible does, according to the stories, not deal kindly with the less
> than fully committed.
Agreed.
> On the other hand, if the God of the Universe desires my belief, then
> this God, by definition, must know what it would take to secure that
> belief. So far, no such phenomenon has been forthcoming.
Belief is not secured purely by phenomena. Jesus raised Lazarus from
the dead, and "Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary,
and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him." (John 11:45) So
some did believe, but not all. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the
dead, the chief priests and Pharisees became jealous (John 11:46-47),
and plotted to not only kill Jesus (John 11:53), but "the chief priests
made plans to kill Lazarus as well." (John 12:10) The chief priests
were unconvinced by the data - the control of life over death.
The ball is in your court, Derek. God loves you, and I do also. I
appreciate your questions, which I feel are sincere, but I think your
insistence on "phenomenon" is a smoke screen to avoid facing some deeper
issue. Is there perhaps a tragedy in your past about which you carry
suppressed anger? Was your relationship with your Dad possibly less
than it should have been?
Bill