The Tension of Faith

Who made up Micahs God?

My point was to point out what your signature says.You have a habit of treating your beliefs as fact - e.g. your distinction between resurrection and resurrection. It's like pulling teeth trying to get you to admit something is just your belief.

It's hard to win around here. In post 422 Aussie says this: To which I replied in 427: As far as the debate about the use of resurrection it is really clear in the Bible that what happened to Jesus was quite distinct from what happened to Lazarus and I think you said that you agreed with that.My signature is simply a quote from the Bible. It isn't me making an absolute statement.

You insisted that Lazarus was not resurrected. I agreed that there were differences between his resurrection and Jesus' - but a resurrection is still a resurrection. It's you turning a minor observation on my part into a debate, the same as you did with the word resurrection. You could have just said, "Yes, you're right."

I think you need to be clear about what atheists are saying.There's no equivalence in an atheist saying that they can't prove that god doesn't exist, or that there's nothing that isn't simply natural - that's a simple statement of objective fact - and you believing in a risen Christ.No atheist would agree that there was even a theoretical chance that Christ rose from the dead. Nope, that for you to prove. You have an active belief in something, atheists just don't.

I simply assumed you were trying to make the same point that Aussie was here. I guess that wasn't your point so we are in agreement.

The author or more likely the authors, editor and redactors of Micah.

An argument could be made, based on GDRs perspective, that one cannot believe in the Nicene Creed with a clear conscience while also believing that every aspect of God mentioned in the Bible was made up.

Yet at least you are honest enough to admit that you are an atheist.

Essentially I agree. The only point I’d make is that I don’t see how you can make the statement that atheists don’t believe that there is even a theoretical chance that Christ rose from the dead. However I’ll let you speak for the atheists.Yes, it is by faith that I believe that the NT writers were correct when they wrote that Jesus rose from the dead.I also agree that it is an add on to the argument between basic theism or even deism and materialism or atheism. It is largely what differentiates Christianity from other theistic religions.

Only a very sill sophomoric argument; certainly not an argument worth much consideration.But that is also totally irrelevant; what does the actual evidence show?Does the God in Genesis 1 have the same characteristics as the God in Genesis 2&3?Does all of the physical evidence show that there was never a Biblical Flood or Special Creation or Exodus or Conquest of Canaan?Does the tale of Paul's encounter change with every retelling?Does the Great Commission evolve with every telling?Do the two creation accounts contradict one another both by order of creation as well as by method?Does the physical reality show the both creation accounts are simply factually false?The evidence is overwhelming that the Bible is a human creation with absolutely no single point of view, no consistency and no single purpose.But it is also totally irrelevant.People can believe in things that are not based on fact, reality, reason, logic or even common sense.The people who wrote the Bible stories were under the very same handicaps we experience; they were trying to explain what THEY believed.If I believe in the Nicene Creed, even if there is no God, no Holy Spirit, Jesus never existed, there is no life after death or judgement or salvation; I still believe in the Nicene Creed.It really is that simple.

The Old Testament has the main purpose of preparing the Jews (and the entire world for that matter) for the Messiah. It's full of prophecy of the Messiah, and it was the Jews who understood their scriptures who most readily recognized him when He came. The version of Judaism that leaves out the Messiah, that is still praccticed by the Jews, is a mere shell of what God intended.

This sentence shows all sorts of hidden prejudice.What is the crime that I am admitting to? And why is it some form of honesty to do it?

The allusion was not directed at you specifically. Edited by Phat, : No reason given.

Your argument only holds weight if Christianity is based on what we do versus what we believe.