Anyone Interested in a Serious Religious Debate?

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]Sloth wrote:

LIVESTOCK.[/quote]

OMG.

Yes, God created all the animals that are considered livestock.

Semantics surely do play a huge role in your self-conceived little game of “Let’s Change the Bible.” Like I said yesterday, I think you have Jehovah’s Witness blood running in your intellectual veins.[/quote]

Oh, so now when it’s inconvienant, we’re not supposed to take it literally, yet again. Gotcha. I’ve had it about up to here with being lectured about the need to read the bible, Genesis, the Creation account, as literal, word-for-word, chronological, at face value, science and history. Only to watch the lecturer resort to a clear about face when confronted with a world we clearly don’t live in. Period. The world of the Creation account does not exist! Accept it.

Or, when livestock didn’t actually mean livestock. I’m playing semantics? No, the language that is actually used clearly didn’t give them dominion over livestock, as the literal reading of the word would tell us. But instead, gave them dominion over what eventually, at some point, down the road a bit, would be livestock.

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]Sloth wrote:

I know. [/quote]

You remind me a little of the Jehovah’s Witness guy. Take one seemingly ambiguous word that meant one thing when it was translated a long time ago and semantically means something different now…and build an entire distorted theology around it. Then dance and dance and dance on that word until you drive it into the ground and bury it.[/quote]
Push, Push, Push. Are you seriously saying that I based my whole post on one ambiguous word? You either didn’t read my post or the veil you have over eyes are so thick that you can’t see beyond your own typing.

Let me refresh our exchange. I told you that Jesus was created based on Colossians 1:15 and Revelation 3:14 which state that Jesus is the First Born of All Creation and the Beginning of Creation by God. You then reasoned that those words in both verse actually mean something different back when they were written than they do today. What you explained made little sense. You also stated that since all things were created through Jesus he must be God Almighty. I then showed you seven scriptures that state God used Jesus to create everything and that God created Jesus.

Push, take the veil from over your eyes as I restate those scriptures again.

What scriptures clearly show that God used Jesus to create everything. I’ll list two scriptures that show this.

1 Corinthians 8:5,6 states:
“For even though there are those who are called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many “gods” and many “lords,” 6 there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him .”

Push, can you see the distinction:

One God the Father OUT OF WHOM ALL THINGS ARE.

One Lord Jesus THROUGH WHOM ALL THINGS ARE.

Clearly separate and clearly two different roles.

Hebrews 1:1-3:
“1 God, who long ago spoke on many occasions and in many ways to our forefathers by means of the prophets, 2 has at the end of these days spoken to us by means of a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and [/b]through whom he made the systems of things[/b]. 3 He is the reflection of his glory and the exact representation of his very being, and he sustains all things by the word of his power; and after he had made a purification for our sins he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty in lofty places.

Push I hope that veil is lifted. Can you see from those two scriptures that God used Jesus to create all things which harmonizes with Colossians 1:16 which state that “by means of”(NWT) or “by him”(NIV) all things were created? From the above passage can you see how Jesus can be the exact representation of God which harmonizes with Colossians 1:15 which states Jesus is the Image of God? Can you see how being the Image or the exact representation of God does not mean he is God because as Hebrews 1:3 states Jesus is at God’s right hand?

I then stated Proverbs 8:22-31 which shows Jesus in his pre-human existence being the first thing God created, how he was there when God prepared all creation and how Jesus became his Master Worker.

Apparently, you didn’t know that Jesus is identified as Wisdom in the Bible. I’ll quote those scriptures again that show Jesus is identifies as Wisdom.

1 Corinthians 1:24 and 30 states:
“however, to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the [/i]WISDOM[/i] of God.”
verse 30:
“But it is due to him that you are in union with Christ Jesus, who has become to us WISDOM from God, also righteousness and sanctification and release by ransom.”

So just like you can look to other scriptures such as Revelation 19:13 to clearly identify the Word mentioned in John chapter 1 as Jesus. You can look to other scriptures to identify Jesus as Wisdom.

Again, is that veil lifted Push? Let me again restate how all of the scriptures I used above harmonize with each other.

Proverbs 8:22 states that Jesus in his pre-human existence was “produced as the beginning of God’s ways”(NWT) or the “First-Born of his ways”(NAB). This harmonizes with Revelation 3:14 and Colossians 1:15 which states Jesus is the “Beginning of Creation by God” and the “First Born of All Creation.”

Proverbs 8:30 states that when God prepared all creation Jesus in his pre-human existence was at his side as a “Master Worker”(NWT) or “Craftsman”(NIV) which harmonizes with Colossians 1:16, 1 Corinthians 8:5,6, John 1:3 and Hebrews 1:1-3 that all state that God created all things through Jesus .

Is that veil removed Push? Hopefully this time you can see that I did not base my whole post on “one ambiguous word and build an entire distorted theology.” I didn’t even base my whole post on two scriptures. I based it on seven scriptures that all harmonize with each other that clearly show Jesus is a created being, God used Jesus as a Master Worker to create everything and Jesus clearly is not God Almighty.

Again, come on Push if the above is so distorted with all of the knowledge about the Bible you portray to have you should be able to easily refute the above using the Bible. You had the nerve to tell another poster that he was out of his league and wondered how old he was based on his post. I won’t be that arrogant but I will say that I can refute all of your major doctrines such as the Hell Fire doctrine, who goes to heaven and what role they will play once in heaven, the true meaning of Adam’s sin and what that means for his descendants. I can do this from any Bible not based on one ambiguous word or even one scripture. I can do this using DOZENS OF SCRIPTURES. Come on Push. I’ll use the words you said to another poster. You sure know how to run and hide on a thread called “Religious Debate.”

[quote]pushharder wrote:
One more time:

[i] 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And

[center][b]to[/b] [/center]

all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food." And it was so. [/i][/quote]

What exactly do you think this means? Besides the fact that man was is an omnivore. Dominion over livestock had already been granted. Now he points out they also must, are allowed, and will have to eat vegetation. Ok?

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]pat wrote:

[quote]pushharder wrote:
Since I can’t get our resident Catholic apologist to explain his meaning of the origin of sin and death (unless Pat can help me out here) let’s switch tracks…can anyone explain the Islamic origins of sin and death?[/quote]

Man allowed sin into the world by his own freewill, and death followed as a result. Because of this decision, we have become the battle ground between good and evil. [/quote]

When did this occur?

Sloth obviously disagrees with you. As an evolutionist he has placed millions of years of death in the picture before man even came along.[/quote]

I would call this a spiritual death in terms of sin causing a wedge between man and God. I am with Sloth on this one, though. I don’t believe it to be a literal story of creation. As a 5th century BC man, this story of creation may have made sense. What I get from it are the truths of the matter. God is the creator of everything. And for some reason, out of all of his creation, we are the members of it that he decided to interact with in a personal way.
I believe evolution is as solid a theory and likely how life adapted to changes over time. I consider Genesis to be the beginning of salvation history. I actually think evolution is more Godly and elegant than the ‘Whamo!’ theory of creation.

Was there an Adam and Eve, I don’t know, but I do not believe Genesis is the literal beginning of creation.

Look at it this way, all the Evangelical disciplines, Jehovah’s and Mormon’s claim a literal Bible interpretation, yet the beliefs are all over the map. At some point, every tradition makes a decision as to how particular passages are to be interpreted and in the end, there is no true literal biblical interpretation. For instance, we Catholic’s take the institution of the Lord’s supper literally, yet the Evangelical traditions claim it symbolic, though now where in scripture it is intimated anywhere that it is symbolic. Jehovah’s totally changed the text of the bible so it doesn’t even say that at all.
My point here is that nobody truly interprets the bible literally word for word, people tend to emphasize the stuff that’s most important to them while giving less weight to that which is less interesting to them.

[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:

[quote]pat wrote:

[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:

Awesome points. Really liking debating with you.

My issue is this: Why is it assumed this “first cause” is sentient and has a plan? Gravity causes things to fall down… gravity doesn’t think about what it’s pulling down, it just is. [/quote]

That’s a legit question. It does not necessarily follow that the Uncaused-cause would have anything to do with what follows it’s initial act of causation.
But think about this, for something to be an uncaused-cause, what properties must it posses to fulfill the role of an uncaused-causer?
I would say first, it must exist unaffected in any way by anything. Second, since ‘it’ cannot be caused to do anything, then it must posses something like a ‘will’ to make it happen.
If it cannot be affected by outside influences, it must choose of it’s own freewill, what to do. If this is true, we can see something of a personality appear. As people we are proud of our work and we tend to protect, I’d imagine God is some what the same way.[/quote]

Excellent argument. Going to take me a few days to really wrap my brain around this subject. :)[/quote]

I like to ponder over some choice whiskey and a smooth cigar. This is the kind of stuff I think about…Yep, I am a nerd.

Can a believer in God explain the logical thought process in dismissing other gods as not real while affirming the reality of God? And please, logical argument not argument from the Bible. There are religious texts who speak of other gods so their is a conflict there.

[quote]BackInAction wrote:
Can a believer in God explain the logical thought process in dismissing other gods as not real while affirming the reality of God? And please, logical argument not argument from the Bible. There are religious texts who speak of other gods so their is a conflict there.[/quote]

When I am talking about God, I am talking about the creator. Most religions has the creator of the existence as the center of their faith. If you are not talking about the creator God, you are not talking about God. Islam calls him Allah, Vishnu, is the top dog creator in Hinduism, etc. They are not many they are one. They reach out to him, or he manifested himself differently to those people, but they worship God.

[quote]BackInAction wrote:
Can a believer in God explain the logical thought process in dismissing other gods as not real while affirming the reality of God? And please, logical argument not argument from the Bible. There are religious texts who speak of other gods so their is a conflict there.[/quote]

Faith. No, it’s not a secret. We, ourselves, refer to it as faith. Sometimes the faith that one has had some sort of personal revelation for which the Christian faith makes sense of. Sometimes reason, once one has come to have faith that there is an intellegent creative force. Meaning that once one believes in the existence of an intelligent creator(S), he reasons that such a creator would have introduced some form of revelation to his creations. Some guidance. Once there, one might reason out which of the faiths calling themselves divinely revealed fits what a Creator type of intelligence might expect of us. Lots of faith, some reasoning, perhaps even a personal revelation. A few sentences don’t even come close to doing this justice, so this is grossly oversimplified. But, I’m not willing to write a book.

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]Sloth wrote:

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]Sloth wrote:

LIVESTOCK.[/quote]

OMG.

Yes, God created all the animals that are considered livestock.

Semantics surely do play a huge role in your self-conceived little game of “Let’s Change the Bible.” Like I said yesterday, I think you have Jehovah’s Witness blood running in your intellectual veins.[/quote]

Oh, so now when it’s inconvienant, we’re not supposed to take it literally, yet again. Gotcha. I’ve had it about up to here with being lectured about the need to read the bible, Genesis, the Creation account, as literal, word-for-word, chronological, at face value, science and history. Only to watch the lecturer resort to a clear about face when confronted with a world we clearly don’t live in. Period. The world of the Creation account does not exist! Accept it.

Or, when livestock didn’t actually mean livestock. I’m playing semantics? No, the language that is actually used clearly didn’t give them dominion over livestock, as the literal reading of the word would tell us. But instead, gave them dominion over what eventually, at some point, down the road a bit, would be livestock.

[/quote]
The Hebrew word for livestock (behema) refers to large four-footed mammals that are easy to domesticate.

They obviously weren’t used for food at that time as per the verses YOU supplied, Gen, 1:28-29.

Yes, read it literally, friend. It says what it means but it must be read in context.

[/quote]

14The LORD God said to the serpent,

"Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;

That doesn’t explain the distinction made from other beasts. In fact, “beasts” would have covered everything. It doesn’t work.

[quote]pat wrote:

[quote]BackInAction wrote:
Can a believer in God explain the logical thought process in dismissing other gods as not real while affirming the reality of God? And please, logical argument not argument from the Bible. There are religious texts who speak of other gods so their is a conflict there.[/quote]

When I am talking about God, I am talking about the creator. Most religions has the creator of the existence as the center of their faith. If you are not talking about the creator God, you are not talking about God. Islam calls him Allah, Vishnu, is the top dog creator in Hinduism, etc. They are not many they are one. They reach out to him, or he manifested himself differently to those people, but they worship God. [/quote]

So I suppose it really depends on where you were born and the predominant belief system in that country?

[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:

[quote]pat wrote:

[quote]pushharder wrote:
Since I can’t get our resident Catholic apologist to explain his meaning of the origin of sin and death (unless Pat can help me out here) let’s switch tracks…can anyone explain the Islamic origins of sin and death?[/quote]

Man allowed sin into the world by his own freewill, and death followed as a result. Because of this decision, we have become the battle ground between good and evil. [/quote]

But according to the bible, man (technically woman first) allowed sin into the world because God put a forbidden tree within reach, then allowed a demon (in the form of a snake) to convince them to eat the forbidden fruit. Keep in mind that God, being all knowing, knew exactly what was going to happen. Following this original sin, God not only punished Adam and Eve, but the rest of humanity forever.

Does this sound like the act of a loving God?

In criminal law, entrapment is when a law enforcement agent induces a person to commit an offense which the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit.[1] In many jurisdictions, entrapment is a possible defense against criminal liability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment[/quote]

Well, they not only disobeyed God, they tried to hide, lie and blame each other. Further, they were warned. Dad kicked them out of the house.
I have been thinking lately, that we are the battle ground between good and evil. Basically we’re in a war zone, that’s why things look so fucked up.

What you are getting at is called the problem of evil. But nowhere in the known universe and further no other life form on Earth has the struggle between good and evil, only us.

[quote]pushharder wrote:
All animals before the Fall were omnivores ACCORDING to the Bible.
[/quote]

And that’s why the Bible is full of baloney.

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]Sloth wrote:

[quote]pushharder wrote:
One more time:

[i] 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And

[center][b]to[/b] [/center]

all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food." And it was so. [/i][/quote]

What exactly do you think this means? Besides the fact that man was is an omnivore. Dominion over livestock had already been granted. Now he points out they also must, are allowed, and will have to eat vegetation. Ok?[/quote]

One more time: dominion over large four-footed mammals that are easy to domesticate did not include butchering them for food. That is crystal clear in vs 28 - 29.

Romans 5:12 says death, not just man’s death, was introduced into God’s perfect creation by Adam’s (and Eve’s) sin.

Man had control over the animals before the Fall especially the large four-footed mammals that are easy to domesticate but did not eat them. All animals before the Fall were omnivores ACCORDING to the Bible.

Now if the Bible is unbelievable then ANYTHING is presentable in the debate. All speculations should be legitimately included as valid. It’s wide open.[/quote]

Push, for what purpose exactly did Adam and Eve domesticate this especially mentioned classification of animal, before the fall?

[quote]Sloth wrote:

[quote]BackInAction wrote:
Can a believer in God explain the logical thought process in dismissing other gods as not real while affirming the reality of God? And please, logical argument not argument from the Bible. There are religious texts who speak of other gods so their is a conflict there.[/quote]

Faith. No, it’s not a secret. We, ourselves, refer to it as faith. Sometimes the faith that one has had some sort of personal revelation for which the Christian faith makes sense of. Sometimes reason, once one has come to have faith that there is an intellegent creative force. Meaning that once one believes in the existence of an intelligent creator(S), he reasons that such a creator would have introduced some form of revelation to his creations. Some guidance. Once there, one might reason out which of the faiths calling themselves divinely revealed fits what a Creator type of intelligence might expect of us. Lots of faith, some reasoning, perhaps even a personal revelation. A few sentences don’t even come close to doing this justice, so this is grossly oversimplified. But, I’m not willing to write a book.[/quote]

Good answer!

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]pat wrote:

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]pat wrote:

[quote]pushharder wrote:
Since I can’t get our resident Catholic apologist to explain his meaning of the origin of sin and death (unless Pat can help me out here) let’s switch tracks…can anyone explain the Islamic origins of sin and death?[/quote]

Man allowed sin into the world by his own freewill, and death followed as a result. Because of this decision, we have become the battle ground between good and evil. [/quote]

When did this occur?

Sloth obviously disagrees with you. As an evolutionist he has placed millions of years of death in the picture before man even came along.[/quote]

I would call this a spiritual death in terms of sin causing a wedge between man and God… [/quote]

You didn’t answer my question.[/quote]

The first man to live was the first to die. I don’t know when it happened.

[quote]BackInAction wrote:

[quote]pat wrote:

[quote]BackInAction wrote:
Can a believer in God explain the logical thought process in dismissing other gods as not real while affirming the reality of God? And please, logical argument not argument from the Bible. There are religious texts who speak of other gods so their is a conflict there.[/quote]

When I am talking about God, I am talking about the creator. Most religions has the creator of the existence as the center of their faith. If you are not talking about the creator God, you are not talking about God. Islam calls him Allah, Vishnu, is the top dog creator in Hinduism, etc. They are not many they are one. They reach out to him, or he manifested himself differently to those people, but they worship God. [/quote]

So I suppose it really depends on where you were born and the predominant belief system in that country?[/quote]

Culture and society plays a role, but it’s not everything either.