by cupcakekourtney88 73 Replies latest jw friends
With the 'robots' comment, I have heard that of course, but my argument there was:
Jesus had free will. he was not a robot, yet he never sinned.
So it baffles me still about evil. Jesus was blessed by god with sin-free free will yet evil still came about via free will.
Therefore I feel god SHOULD be held responsible for evil, via that free will that COULD lead to evil.
IF there was nothing before God, then god created EVERYTHING. Even evil.
I just had a reply that actually made sense.
God didnt create evil, but he created the POSSIBLITY of evil via his creations.
Therefore I think HE should be held accountable for evil and not punish US, when he gave us all the option of becomming evil.
Marked
Hi, cupcake. Best wishes on your journey of discovery.
I don't think the bible specifies any "true religion". The Jewish people were especially called out from among the nations (Deuteronomy 7:6) and the Jehovah's Witnesses claim that they are the inheritors of this special blessing, but the bible account shows that Jesus' sacrifice changed all that (John 1:7). The hope of salvation is now open to all people.
If we want to try and compare all the Christian denominations, for instance, and figure out who most closely follows the bible, that would be a different exercise. The Jehovah's Witnesses closely follow some bible commands, and ignore others.
Here's some other scriptures to ponder:
1 John 3:1 - We are the children of God.
Psalm 19 - Creation speaks to the whole world (ver. 4) of the glory of God.
Acts 17:22-28 - Even the pagans recognize the one God, our creator, and he is not far from any of us.
By your logic, given eternity, everything will happen: A tree will sprout puppies, a rock will speak Portuguese, someone will think of a joke so funny that hearing it is instantly fatal.
He wasn't refering to some ridiculous list of "everything." That's a way to destroy the argument by ignoring its essence. He said "If man was meant to live forever and he had two choices, infinite time+finite choices=every choice will be made." Every choice is from the list of TWO choices, not endless choices (or silly events like your tree sprouting puppies). While it is possible that all mankind would always choose obedience, that's not really typical to expect given those two choices. I mean, even slaves that knew they would be killed if caught have chosen to escape for the temporary enjoyment of freedom.
Given time and population increase, sooner or later, someone will say "Hey, WHY is it better to obey if we have free will?"
Further, if this silly mythology were true, what kind of free will is that anyway? "In the day you eat from it, you will die." So free will was endless life in obedience or death. Some choice!
OTWO, to add a thought to what you said about infinite time and 2 possible choices, if I understand correctly, if there is the slightest probability that the second choice could occur, it will eventually occur assuming infinite time. The only way the second choice would not eventually occur is if it has zero probability (zero probability meaning it cannot occur and is not a possible choice at all).
This seems like a strange result though. It is saying that if you can make the other choice, given infinite time you will eventually make it. Seems weird, so maybe I'm missing something.
I have to go away for the weekend, so I can't respond, but I just wanted to share.
InterestedOne, I will agree in the idea of what I said about the specific issue of obedience to God or not...
...but your philosophical view that given infinite time, any actually possible choice ("actually possible" excludes trees sprouting puppies) with greater-than-zero probability will happen- I cannot go along with that as a blanket statement.
Staying within the Garden of Eden mythology, there would have also been a greater-than-zero probability that Adam would one day jump off a cliff to his death. Oh, the probability is slim, but greater-than-zero. I know that is not necessarily so.
Sticking with obedience or not, we are talking about Adam and possibly billions of people (or more) being obedient for eternity. Everyday, someone would be facing the issue and wondering how fair or unfair the Obedience-Vs.-Death choice is really a lousy choice.
Now, if you want to discuss this in my spin on it....
...then someone questions obedience and is put to death. This happens every so often. Perhaps it averages out to once in 900 trillion years.
Then, and only then, can I buy that SOMEONE (not necessarily Adam) will jump off a cliff. But here, I am allowed to include the billions (or more) in the possibility and the reality that they know about an end to endless life. They get bored with obedience-or-death and choose death by jumping off a cliff.
No more than children are the playthings of their parents. We exist to love and worship God, but given the option. Forced, programmed worship is hollow and meaningless.
The parent/child analogy can be used to glorify or vilify God.
-Sab
You posed your question incorrectly - it should be "Is it a cult?", as it is not a religion. Most religions actually give a damn about their members and don't treat them like sheep robots.
If this is what you meant, then yes, yes it is a cult. Fun as far away as you can and never look back. It is a disgusting pile of maggot droppings.
JDAWG
