I have no problem with not posting in SMP.

But why do you have such a problem with refraining from acting like a dick in your posts?

The New Atheists are phonies. They are not proponents of freedom in thinking.

The devil made me do it.

He did...He messes with everyone.

qfat

Bye, bye.

Zeno lock the thread if you must but please don't move the thread to RGT. Since I figured out the problem I won't be monitoring the thread regularly.

So how do you know that the demon is not controlling your own thoughts and pride as well? That is, how do you know that the thoughts you have about God are not actually controlled by the demon? That is, if you think you are not blind in the same way as the atheist, how do you know that your thinking this is not due to your own pride and the demon assigning illegal weights to your measure?

Well I think I'm not completely clear of the devil's influence and most likely never will be. That's why regular study and prayer is so necessary. I'm really a work in progress. My terrible tongue and rebelliousness against unjust circumstances and my trading insults proves that. I suspect if I ever tame my tongue or master other bad habits then I will be closer to being a completed work of the LORD.

Timing and magical thinking are really difficult concepts. Even Christians engage in magical thinking but the LORD is concrete. That's why he says step out in faith on the water. We usually scare ourselves the most in our own heads. Christians are suppose to learn fearlessness. They are suppose to become like Iganatius. Not be cowards. If we're cowards God can't use us all that effectively.

How do you know that you are clear of the devil's influence at all? How do you know that the devil hasn't tricked you into thinking that prayer and bible study help get you clear? How do you know that is not how the devil makes you proud?

God will tell her...but how does she know that it's GOD speaking to her and not the devil?

I really wish she'd answer that...

you truly can't; and using biblical theology, from the temptation of christ, it is possible to dismiss any opposition's view as "twisting the word of god" when it does not fit a preconceived viewpoint.

i was raised in a very religious house and i attended a private school up until highschool. a moment of clarity occurred when i realized the intrinsic arrogance and willful ignorance of the cognitive dissonance that occurs when you believe in an absolute being who can not be known, since hes god, but simultaneously assume that from reading a book you can derive his will.

religion demands submission, not logic. whether this is "bad" is debatable, however i choose to refrain from the kool-aid. though i would say the teachings of jesus christ have shaped a lot of what i would consider to be the proper way to treat people.

I don't think prayer and study get me clear. You only get clear of the world once you leave it and Jesus is the only one that makes it possible for you to leave it with a better destination.

Prayer and study teach you discernment.

And you can get puffed up with pride even studying the word of God but that's why you focus on Jesus and his word a lot. If you get careless you very well could let spiritual pride take over.

Christian education is a rational process like other types of education. Its a process and you pass through stages. Its not an unguided process like most people think because they can't see Jesus.

As for how I know its not the devil. I have common sense like most people do. Besides Christians have a little sacrament called baptism. It seals us.

How do you know that the devil has not caused you believe falsely that baptism seals you away from the devil. Wouldn't that be the most effective way of misleading you? How do you know the devil hasn't tricked you into thinking that prayer and study teach you discernment?

I recognize a good thing when I see it and Jesus is good.

He speaks with authority and its legitimate authority because of his own internal and external holy status.

A lot of people try to speak with authority and seize it. It doesn't mean they are legit.

Jesus is legitimate in all respects.

But how do you know that you recognize a good thing when you see it? If the devil had put illegal weights to your measuring, wouldn't you think that you recognize a good thing when you see it, even though you don't?

K, we've had our fun...go back to RGT please.

Your question seems to be out of touch with reality. Like we don't have any real world experience of good and evil to judge by and develop our senses by.

We usually know when something is good or evil. Its really not hard to tell the difference unless we make things complicated.

But you said it was hard. You said the problem for the atheist is that her mind has been distorted by the devil. That means the devil has distorted how we tell the difference between good and evil, so we can't trust what our common sense tells us about good and evil because the devil has distorted our common sense.

Also, we can't trust what our senses tell us either. After all, as you say, since the devil is controlling our mind, the devil is controlling our senses as well. In fact, isn't the problem that our minds, since they are being controlled by the devil, are out of touch with reality?

The devil is in the details, no?

I used to think in terms of good and evil; I'm older now and currently think in terms of good and bad. It's more decorous.

The devil runs the world system. So he can distort real world reality.

How much access he has to our minds is debatable. But you can trigger sinfulness in people from outside through images, ideas, etc. Very few people are under full blown possessions.

He can induce category errors or under or over valuations of key principles or screws with our assumptions. Each generation is constantly changing and constantly struggling and we do go through a natural teen rebellion stage called self individuation.

One of the lesser doctrines in Christianity is that God breaks us from the attachments to this world. The attachments cause problems for us too.

Yes. I say that myself.

The problem with religious concepts is pinpointing precisely God's message. You need the keenest focus to reason out what he is saying in the bible.

Apparently God has not imbued you with the ability to detect sarcasm.

Not always in this medium.

I think its time for you to exit this thread. This is my thread after all.

Splendour clearly stated that her objective is to come to the atheist den and save a few souls for GOD. Which, IMO, makes the intent of this thread compatible with an RGT thread and not an SMP thread. imo.

It does though I didn't originally intend it that way.

I was just puzzling over why there is a discrepancy between Geisler/Zukeran and John MacArthur.

But I think I figured it out. The path of revelation is the well lighted path though God will lead you through the path of reason if you really want to know him through that way as well.

You'd have to read Geisler/Zukeran's The Apologetics of Jesus and contrast it with MacArthur's "Who is really a Christian" essay to see what I'm talking about.

Geisler has a degree in philosophy.