A Way to Think About Free Will and God: Open Theism

I've definitely seen one. Or actually a couple of flavours of one (there being 38,000 flavours of Christianity alone.) You mean the One you believe in, that's different to the One Faith believes in? Or is it the One GDR believes in?The normal answer is that they're all the same at base, well if that's the case then I have met the One, 'cos I believed the same crap you do when I was a kid. Sadly, I'm afraid to say he's just as fake as all the rest. I had an epiphany. They are exactly the same in that everyone that believes them believes in them the same way that you do. Many with less doubt. That's not going to work, it's closed season.

Hey, let's have a thread on Paul

Really? Have you never heard explanations of how myths are founded? Or have you just selected them out? How about Cargo cults? Mormonism?There's absolutely no need for the resurrection to have been real for the system to have been created. None. It didn't even need Jesus. You just said that if you wish upon a star your dream will come true.

Not true, many people believe (wrongly) that the stars influence their lives. Or stories about kings following stars to witness important religious births.All utter fantacies but you're simply special pleading; you're beliefs are true, all others are not. Nonsense. I think that actual knowledge is important and false beliefs are dangerous. It's obvious that people have a need to believe in something that gives them meaning, it seems to be universal. If the experience is purely your own, why would it impress anyone else? You're just going to have to take my word for it that my belief was very, very real to me. I didn't have any facts or experiences that changed my belief, I simply grew out of it. Exactly like I did with Santa - I didn't pull his beard off to suddenly reveal the truth, it just became obvious that it was all a total fabrication by a conspiracy of grown-ups.

It happens, but when views become fixed with age they're harder to change. That's why the Jesuits were attributed with the saying Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man.A phrase that was desperately worrying even before their abuse scandals.

So, it's only by the torture and execution of himself - an erstwhile immortal, omnibenevolent and omnipotent God - that he can forgive the rest of us for something we didn't do.Having had himself tortured and murdered, he pops-up again as if nothing has happened so that we can die wondering if he saved me, all of us or just that git next door who's apparently going to the right church.It's more than a tad puzzling.