1989 Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/15/what-kind-of-society-condemns-people-for-praying-after-a-school-shooting/ Brian Tubbs laments that people of faith are being ridiculed for "thoughts and prayers" following the school shooting in Florida. After saying that he laments that Americans are turning on each other, he turns and attacks Liberals who want tougher gun control laws. My favorite thought though was that the presence of evil affirms God, because without evil there cannot be good. Of course, this argument assumes that God is indeed good, which is demonstratively false IMO, as He can't even follow the simplest of His own rules pertaining to right and wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
older Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Here's a letter from some jerk who says that because there is no prayer in school, they're open to the Devil: http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article200662189.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 On 2/16/2018 at 1:42 AM, 1989 said: http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/15/what-kind-of-society-condemns-people-for-praying-after-a-school-shooting/ Brian Tubbs laments that people of faith are being ridiculed for "thoughts and prayers" following the school shooting in Florida. After saying that he laments that Americans are turning on each other, he turns and attacks Liberals who want tougher gun control laws. My favorite thought though was that the presence of evil affirms God, because without evil there cannot be good. Either "good" is whatever God decides good shall be -or- "good" is an objective truth independent of God. If "good" is independent then God is not all powerful and not completely sovereign because God must conform to this standard that is beyond God. If God decides what shall be "good" then "good" is arbitrary and we are suppose to be mindlessly following a dictator. From the article: http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article200662189.html "You’ll notice that all the school shootings are in public schools, and never in private or religious schools. " This joker forgot all about the 26 who died at the Texas Church shooting we had last year or the 9 who died in the Charleston church shooting also of last year. Or does God's protection extend to private schools but not God's own house of worship? BTW this guy is from Lindsay CA. I live in the farmlands and this is typical of the kind of thinking I encounter every day. It's like a mild version of the Bible Belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1989 Posted February 23, 2018 Author Share Posted February 23, 2018 On 2/21/2018 at 12:02 AM, mymistake said: Either "good" is whatever God decides good shall be -or- "good" is an objective truth independent of God. If "good" is independent then God is not all powerful and not completely sovereign because God must conform to this standard that is beyond God. If God decides what shall be "good" then "good" is arbitrary and we are suppose to be mindlessly following a dictator. I've been doing some thinking about this line of reasoning. In eating the fruit of the Tree, Eve and Adam gained moral truths equal to those known by God. That's why they still worshiped Him, because they knew it was "good", Ten Commandments style. Their sons even knew to sacrifice to Him. That God continually violates his Laws makes Him evil, and we can call Him on it because we ourselves know good from evil. At least that's how I'm reading it currently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 2 hours ago, 1989 said: I've been doing some thinking about this line of reasoning. In eating the fruit of the Tree, Eve and Adam gained moral truths equal to those known by God. That's why they still worshiped Him, because they knew it was "good", Ten Commandments style. Their sons even knew to sacrifice to Him. That God continually violates his Laws makes Him evil, and we can call Him on it because we ourselves know good from evil. At least that's how I'm reading it currently. If it helps the religion changed a lot over the centuries. They basically had the same religion as the Canaanites when the very first Bible stories were written. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1989 Posted February 23, 2018 Author Share Posted February 23, 2018 That makes a lot of sense. I've always been curious about what the Christian answer would be for the household gods Jacob and Rachel stole from Laban. How were they important? I just read that they denoted ownership of the household (I think), but since they never did anything with them the point is kind of moot. I always thought they stole them out of spite or to bring either luck to them or to bring a curse down on Laban. Would have been nice for the Bible to provide an explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted February 23, 2018 Share Posted February 23, 2018 A lot of the OT is like that. In Exodus you must have no other gods before Yahweh . . . as if there are other gods who are real and you are still allowed to honer them as long as you do it afterwards. In Judges God can't win against chariots. There are countless passages about how the children of Israel began to worship Asherah again. But what they don't tell you is that Asherah was Yahweh's wife. Monotheism was something that came later and took a lot of persecution to enforce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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