The C.C.O.I. (Christian Cult Of Ignorance) and Willful Ignorance

And conversely, one man's enabler is another man's blessing. Your spare change might enable that homeless guy to get high or it might enable him to get to a job interview. Are you his parent to decide for him or are you his brother to let him take responsibility?Does God pay your dental bills for you?

There was a flood coming but the little old lady was secure in her faith. Water ran down the street and a policeman offered to take her to higher ground but she believed God would take care of her. Water flooded the ground floor, she had to move upstairs and a boat came to the window to take her away but she believed God would take care of her. The water continued to rise, she had to crawl up onto the roof and a helicopter came to lift her off but she believed God would take care of her. Eventually she drowned and when she got to heaven she was bewildered. "I always believed God would take care of me."God said, "I sent a policeman, I sent a boat, I sent a helicopter...."Maybe the help you need is there but you're too intent on your faith to recognize it.

How can you share it if you don't know what it is?

Isn't God capable of ringing the phone even when it's off the hook?

"It is said" by humans - who are no more likely to be right than I am. You can ask yourself that same question: Is the phone ringing or is it all in your head?

I would suggest that people who claim to understand God often seem to understand less than the av-er-age bear.

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Romans 1:22-23 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

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Claiming to understand God or to commune with God is pretty much like idolatry.

From a moral standpoint, I don't think that's true. Technology has made the body count higher but people seem to feel worse about doing it. For example, we don't butcher prisoners wholesale like the Old Testament prescribes; we consider it a war crime. Name a time in history when it hasn't been true.

They also repudiate Jesus to this day.

To be clear, the Satan in the Bible is like the Big Bad Wolf in those other fairy tales. The Big Bad Wolf who tried to eat Little Red Riding Hood was not the same Big Bad Wolf as the one who tried to eat the Three Pigs. After all, they both got killed.Similarly, the Satan who tested Job was not necessarily the same Satan as the one who tempted Jesus. In another story, Satan's role was given to a snake (apparently it was the regular Satan's day of rest).Satan is a plot device, not an entity. He represents the bad side of us. Interactions with him represent the conflicts within us. There was no historical "war in heaven". There is only a perpetual conflict within us between our good impulses and our bad impulses.

Metaphorically, yes. Historically, no. Using Satan as an explanation for Hitler is just hypocritical. Hitler was an example of what our own evil side can accomplish. Hitler's minions were ordinary people just like you and me. If you want to learn anything from history, the first thing you have to do is throw away excuses like Satan.

It's neither a right nor an ability; it's a responsibility. Again, it has nothing to do with "submitting to a higher power". Whether there is a higher power or not, whether there is a tempter or not, we are responsible for our own actions.

Is he alive in the sense of a bacterium or alive in the sense of a virus? Or maybe he's alive in the sense that English is a living language, as opposed to Latin which is a more-or-less dead language?

That's a tautology: He's alive in the sense that He's alive. Is he biologically alive? The same could be said of Shakespeare.

I don't think that's true. In your experience, Jesus may be the one who seems "most alive". I hope so. Being too sure of yourself - especially about things that can not be verified - is a dangerous thing.