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Author
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Topic: Why is Faith so Important to God?
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 3 of 88 (431213)
10-29-2007 10:10 PM
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Reply to: Message 1 by iceage
10-29-2007 9:57 PM
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Faith is not important to God
Faith is only for man, it is of no importance to God.
Aslan is not a Tame Lion
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 1 by iceage, posted 10-29-2007 9:57 PM | | iceage has not replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 5 of 88 (431221)
10-29-2007 10:45 PM
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Reply to: Message 4 by subbie
10-29-2007 10:33 PM
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Re: Faith is not important to God
There are many reasons. Throughout most of the Bible we find examples of God actually sending evidence to convince, Faith is pretty much relegated to faith that God will do what God says She will do, and usually PDQ. Second, why would God have need of human Faith? Faith is a tool, a comforter of man; it is something we use for our benefit. Faith is simply a human tool, it is what we can fall back on when physical evidence is missing, but should always be secondary to physical evidence and reason.
Aslan is not a Tame Lion
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 4 by subbie, posted 10-29-2007 10:33 PM | | subbie has not replied |
| Replies to this message: | | | Message 6 by Brian, posted 10-30-2007 8:37 AM | | jar has replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 10 of 88 (431319)
10-30-2007 1:58 PM
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Reply to: Message 6 by Brian
10-30-2007 8:37 AM
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Re: Faith is not important to God
No, he didn't, and you and I have discussed this before. In fact Jesus quite often went out of his way to demonstrate just how much a man could do with Faith. Faith is for us, it is a belief in what WE can do, a belief in ourselves and that we can do wonders.
Aslan is not a Tame Lion
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 6 by Brian, posted 10-30-2007 8:37 AM | | Brian has replied |
| Replies to this message: | | | Message 11 by Brian, posted 10-30-2007 2:04 PM | | jar has replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 12 of 88 (431322)
10-30-2007 2:11 PM
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Reply to: Message 11 by Brian
10-30-2007 2:04 PM
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Re: Faith is not important to God
No, not at all. That is from the Thomas story, and Jesus went on to actually provide the evidence. Faith is for us, for humans. A GOD certainly does not need Faith; it is only us, man, that needs faith as one of our tools. Note many other places where faith is mentioned, Peter walking on water so long as he had the Faith that he could, the comment that "All things are possible through Faith" and that "Faith can move mountains." Faith is not anti-evidence, it does not mean to abandon the search for what is true, it is something to help humans.
Aslan is not a Tame Lion
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 11 by Brian, posted 10-30-2007 2:04 PM | | Brian has replied |
| Replies to this message: | | | Message 13 by Brian, posted 10-30-2007 2:14 PM | | jar has replied | | | Message 16 by Taz, posted 10-30-2007 2:25 PM | | jar has not replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 14 of 88 (431324)
10-30-2007 2:18 PM
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Reply to: Message 13 by Brian
10-30-2007 2:14 PM
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Re: Faith is not important to God
Well, the topic title is "Why is Faith so Important to God?" and my point is that Faith is important to us.
He knows who will be saved and who will burn in hell before He creates them. Off topic but also something I comment on regularly.
Aslan is not a Tame Lion
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 13 by Brian, posted 10-30-2007 2:14 PM | | Brian has replied |
| Replies to this message: | | | Message 15 by Brian, posted 10-30-2007 2:21 PM | | jar has replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 17 of 88 (431329)
10-30-2007 2:27 PM
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Reply to: Message 15 by Brian
10-30-2007 2:21 PM
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Re: Faith is not important to God
Even under that interpretation, I would say that Our Faith is important to GOD in the same way that Our Intelligence or Our Questioning Spirit or Our Love of Discovery or Our Desire to Know More is to GOD. Faith is another of the tools GOD has given us. If by that you mean it is important to GOD that we believe in Her or such, then I think it is just silly.
Aslan is not a Tame Lion
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 15 by Brian, posted 10-30-2007 2:21 PM | | Brian has replied |
| Replies to this message: | | | Message 19 by Brian, posted 10-30-2007 2:32 PM | | jar has not replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 22 of 88 (431344)
10-30-2007 3:05 PM
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Reply to: Message 20 by iceage
10-30-2007 2:37 PM
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Re: Faith is not important to God
I could go on and on with biblical passages on how faith in Jesus is the only way to salvation but this one more general and should suffice... One of the great things about the Bible is that there is enough material there to support most any position.
Aslan is not a Tame Lion
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 20 by iceage, posted 10-30-2007 2:37 PM | | iceage has not replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 25 of 88 (431375)
10-30-2007 7:50 PM
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Reply to: Message 23 by iceage
10-30-2007 7:07 PM
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On Hebrews
While I wait here for a Christian response to this question (btw thanks jar for your input) I just noticed this passage from Hebrews: "And without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6) Which correlates quite well with... "And without faith it is impossible to propagate a false god" Any Christian want to defend this and tell me where I am wrong... Not saying your wrong. Hebrews is one of the long epistles, 13 chapters, and what you have is only a small quotemine and not even all of Hebrews 11:6. The full verse is:
6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. If you go on reading Hebrews it lists a long line of examples. and one thing in each is that it is an example of humans doing something. Again, as throughout the Bible, Faith is a human tool. But to do something for God, the author is saying that you must know God; in his idiom, have faith that God exists. I happen to think that is wrong and of course, can show Bible verses that support my position (ain't the Bible great?) but the final test has to be reason. Would the GOD that creates the universe really need anything from us? Is it reasonable to say that to believe in God, something that is after all outside normal experience, that Faith is needed, but needed by man, not God?
Aslan is not a Tame Lion
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 23 by iceage, posted 10-30-2007 7:07 PM | | iceage has not replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 29 of 88 (431390)
10-30-2007 8:21 PM
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Reply to: Message 28 by Buzsaw
10-30-2007 8:14 PM
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Re: Faith is important to God
More out of context quotemining. Go on and read all of Hebrews. but in particular all of the examples that follow 11:6. See Message 25. Edited by jar, : No reason given.
Aslan is not a Tame Lion
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 28 by Buzsaw, posted 10-30-2007 8:14 PM | | Buzsaw has not replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 77 of 88 (442739)
12-22-2007 2:37 PM
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Reply to: Message 76 by Arachide
12-22-2007 1:57 PM
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Learning how it works.
That is exactly how it works i think. Christianity advocates a blindly trust. I don't doubt that is how you "think" it works, but that is likely just ignorance on your part. If you wish to learn more, then this is a good place to start.
Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 76 by Arachide, posted 12-22-2007 1:57 PM | | Arachide has replied |
| Replies to this message: | | | Message 78 by Arachide, posted 12-22-2007 3:28 PM | | jar has replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 79 of 88 (442752)
12-22-2007 3:42 PM
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Reply to: Message 78 by Arachide
12-22-2007 3:28 PM
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Re: Learning how it works.
Well you made an unqualified statement, "Christianity advocates a blindly trust." which, while it might be true for some sects, is not true of Christianity as a whole, so it seemed a comment was certainly in order.
Instead you could come up with real arguments and go about the contents. Actually, if you read the thread I think you will find I have commented on the topic beginning with Message 3.
Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 78 by Arachide, posted 12-22-2007 3:28 PM | | Arachide has replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Re: Learning how it works.
I don't think that quite answers the question. The question was: Why does God choose faith to judge people, rather than judging them on how good, kind or loving they are? Actually I have addressed that as well many times here at EvC. You will be judged on your behavior not on your faith. Faith is just for us, it is something we use. See Who can be saved? A Christian perspective for my position on that.
Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 83 of 88 (443005)
12-23-2007 12:42 PM
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Reply to: Message 81 by Arachide
12-23-2007 7:32 AM
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Re: Learning how it works.
I most certainly disagree that "Christianity advocates a blindly trust." I don't doubt that you see Christianity as "Christianity advocates a blindly trust" but that is simply wrong. Yes, to discuss that would likely be off topic but it is also something I have addressed many times at EvC. As to the Bible, you have to remember that there is no such thing as "The Bible", rather there are many different Canons and so different lists of what should be in a Bible. I'm not talking of version, or translations, but rather the basic content that makes up "Bible". There is no such thing as "The Bible."
Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 81 by Arachide, posted 12-23-2007 7:32 AM | | Arachide has not replied |
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jar
Member (Idle past 413 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: 04-20-2004
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Message 86 of 88 (446812)
01-07-2008 9:52 AM
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Reply to: Message 85 by iceage
01-07-2008 12:10 AM
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Re: Why would God require a Leap of Faith?
GOD does not require a Leap of Faith. Faith and Belief are not something GOD needs, they are things we need. We need to believe that we can accomplish things, have faith when we are striving with insufficient information that we can make the right decisions. Faith and Belief are necessary tools for US, not something God requires.
Immigration has been a problem Since 1607!
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 85 by iceage, posted 01-07-2008 12:10 AM | | iceage has not replied |
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