by Happythoughts 59 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I know, I know! < raises hand and waves it >
We have to stay alive 'till 75!
Let's all now stand and sing..."Keep your eyes on the Prize"
When eyes of blind ones see again......and ears of deaf ones hear again....< join with us yeru>
When deserts blossom as the rose, and from parched ground fresh water flows.........
Hello??? have I lost everyone????????
So do you believe that God created those viruses in order to punish the sinners who have premarital sex?
Yes and No...
God did create our bodies and knows what exactly makes us healthy and what makes us sick! God tried to warn us what would happen if we ignored Him and while we didn't listen, WE created a mess for ourselves.
Yiz
If you knew there was no reward for serving God would you still serve him?
Don't serve him anyway, where did you get that from?
But reward is self-evident.
Spanner
Yizu,
If God warns people about behaviors that cause medical disorder, then why not give us info on things that we don't cause? Heredity that causes cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease.....and death.
Without the rewards which you say you don't need to worhship God, how would death, cancer, and things like that ever get resolved?
Relgion or belief in God starts with reward.
Reward-->Hope-->Faith-->Love-->Worship. Without God dangling some sort of afterlife in front of people, then the God Chain never gets started.
The fact is, of course, that there is no God, and that men made him up because, at a certain point, they began to understand the hopelessness of the situation; at best, you live to 80 years or so, and then you croak. So, way back when, some fella made up pie-in-the-sky stories to make people feel better. Thousands of years later, here we are debating scriptures of a being that doesn't exist, based on the rewards some ancient ancestor concocted and told to his tribe while eating meat off of the bones of an antelope in front of a fire.
ash
God tried to warn us what would happen if we ignored Him and while we didn't listen, WE created a mess for ourselves.
So you believe God created these killer viruses but it's ok because he warned us not to perform an act that would cause infection? You realize there are other moral ways of contracting AIDS, right?
What about the myriad of other viruses out there that are airborne, transmitted by mosquito, blood transfusion, etc.?
A God that would create a virus in order to punish people is a sick God indeed.
Reasons I love God? This will all be off the top of my head.
Let me see. First, I might mention that if God does exist and loves me, then HE is very irrational. I know myself better than anyone here, and as much as I love thinking highly of myself, I know my worst moments. Therefore it seems odd for me to have to "think up" rational reasons for loving God. It rather seems like an insult when I understand that He loves me without reason or condition.
I don't tell God, "Pay my bills or I won't love you." --What kind of "love' is that??? It makes me wonder how your relationships must be running, if that is the way you think 'love' is.
Alright. I love God because I find in Him beauty of every kind. Wherever I look, I recognize His being there. I love God because this creation of His is a miracle, and it is astounding--every detail of each thing, from the temperature, the seasons, the nature of water, the atmosphere and air, the plants and aniimals, --well, everything. (Except flies. "God in his wisdom made the fly, and then forgot to tell us why." Ogden Nash) His goodness shows up in the sunrise every morning. I love the mountains and fields and mist. I can take up too much here, but I have a lot of awe here for God, and it is simply easy to believe in God from nature alone, and to love Him for what He has done. Even if they disappear tomorrow, I will always know the good things He can do.
I cannot live outside of His creation, either. I'm forced in a certain way to accept this gift whether I acknowledge it or not. So, to argue that I'm benefitting from creation is rather pointless, I think, since I've nowhere else to go!
Another reason I love God: He is divinely humble. He stoops to conquer. He will even accept our prayers when we pray to Him as a last resort. He is not that proud, nasty monster someone told you He is. I am inspired with admiration for this.
He is the perfect judge. He doesn't judge people on what they haven't known, but what they have known. He goes by what's in the heart, not by hours on a time card.
Another reason: Jesus, on the cross, prayed for the forgiveness of those crucifying him. I am truly drawn to him for this. It is amazing. I wish I could be like that, too. I love him because right here I see what Goodness is, and I see that goodness from God meant providing me the opportunity to become good, too.
And if you say that this is all self-directed, then I might have to say that I agree with the famous shorter catechism, that man was made to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. It just goes with the territory, if God is good.
I realize that these reasons won't affect you, but I don't mind being a fool for Christ. People who love will do foolish things. I don't have answers as to why evil exists, but I can say that it makes the possibility for us to choose between good and evil readily apparent. It would certainly be hard to choose, otherwise.
bebu
some invisible being that never seems to do anything for us?
Cant help thinking of that scene from "The Life of Brian" , John Cleese says "The Romans done nothing for us"
a voice from the back said "Running Water" another said "Roads" another "Brought law and order"
John Cleese "ALRIGHT ! apart from the water, the roads, law and order (and a few more in the list) What have the Romans done? I tell you - Nothing! "
Perhaps we can be like that to some extent, see so much everday and not take notice.
WE have got Life, families ,a beautiful earth and about 70 years to use as we will.
I know that many will disagree but I have never found evolution arguments to be satisfactory
If I knew what God wanted , I would serve him out of appreciation . It sure as hell is not to follow the WTS, but I have not found an alternative yet.
Can you please give me ONE argument against evolution?
That is directed at anybody, BTW.
I don't tell God, "Pay my bills or I won't love you." --What kind of "love' is that??? It makes me wonder how your relationships must be running, if that is the way you think 'love' is.
That's Falacy number one:
We are all rewarded by human relationships. A kiss, a hug, a kind word, running a bath for your mate when they got home from work, sacrificing for each other......these are things we can actually experience, because all of these reactions can be felt in the physical world. And yes, I know what real love is, one without the baggage of a 'God' getting between us. If anything, love itself is a religion to me. Just ask some people on the board who know my wife and I.
Alright. I love God because I find in Him beauty of every kind. Wherever I look, I recognize His being there. I love God because this creation of His is a miracle, and it is astounding--every detail of each thing, from the temperature, the seasons, the nature of water, the atmosphere and air, the plants and aniimals, --well, everything. (Except flies. "God in his wisdom made the fly, and then forgot to tell us why." Ogden Nash) His goodness shows up in the sunrise every morning. I love the mountains and fields and mist. I can take up too much here, but I have a lot of awe here for God, and it is simply easy to believe in God from nature alone, and to love Him for what He has done. Even if they disappear tomorrow, I will always know the good things He can do.I cannot live outside of His creation, either. I'm forced in a certain way to accept this gift whether I acknowledge it or not. So, to argue that I'm benefitting from creation is rather pointless, I think, since I've nowhere else to go!
Prove he created it first, and you might have a point. And you can't use the bible. Using a book that proports God to exist is not a way to prove God.
Another reason I love God: He is divinely humble. He stoops to conquer. He will even accept our prayers when we pray to Him as a last resort. He is not that proud, nasty monster someone told you He is. I am inspired with admiration for this.He is the perfect judge. He doesn't judge people on what they haven't known, but what they have known. He goes by what's in the heart, not by hours on a time card.
How do you know this? Again, from an ancient book made up by our ancestors. How many burning bushes have you witnessed with a booming voice coming from it? If you have, you'll be the first in a long time. God is nowhere around here, so how would you be privy to this information, save from the information from the collabortion of legends called the bible?
Another reason: Jesus, on the cross, prayed for the forgiveness of those crucifying him. I am truly drawn to him for this. It is amazing. I wish I could be like that, too. I love him because right here I see what Goodness is, and I see that goodness from God meant providing me the opportunity to become good, too.
Again, from the Book of Dead Legends.
All of your feelings, your hopes, are based on a book that, at parts, is laughable with inaccuracy. Again, it starts with reward.
Do you really worship God because he simply shows you what 'goodness' is?
If God decreed that he was going to kick all of our asses in the afterlife, would you still be so happy for his advice? Doesn't everything always come back to the reward, and this reward is what makes people 'love' Him (or the idea of a strong, kind, humble, sacrifical big brother of sorts)
Also, as to good and evil, how do you define it? Am I evil for denying 'God'? If so, then being a good person doesn't matter I suppose. That Crumbum doesn't deserve to make my acquaintance if He can't love a person for who they are, and not for what they believe.
ash
