If God is good...

The question, "If God is good and loving, why is there so much evil in the world?" is often used by Atheists to disprove his existance. The answer is simple. God is love and we are seperated from him by sin. We live in a sinful world of death and tragedy. Since God is love, he provided a way for us to be redeemed. His son Jesus came and died for our sins. Without this "out" there would be no hope. Thank God he provided a way for us. I urge all non-believers to please read the Bible with an open mind and an open heart. I mean this in love and without accusation. We can debate all we want (and I love debating) but the real story here is you must try it. If you read the Bible honestly, and find NOTHING of merit in there, then put it away forever, but at least try. Then you can say (in all honesty) "I studied it and it is not good". It's about credibility. More than that it is about salvation. We can debate, but God is good and being a Christian is good. Try it.

Amen well said, I agree Creationists should love to discuss and debate (I would rather use the word discuss I guess because well Im not the smartest person in the world and debating in a sense would require you to know the information by current knowledge and I always seem to need to do the research before I respond correctly. Hehe but I agree and It is true, If anyone has any problems written in the bible I am positive there you are misunderstanding, or trying to make it point to something rediculous like the world is flat because it says in the bible something about the 'circle of the earth' He didn't say the earth is a circle, any person if he went into outer space could look at the earth and say hey it is a circle by appearence but we know that by perceiving depth we can see that it is a sphere and we can go around it and see that it is a sphere. Many of the versus in the bible are written by appearence. Many people expect the bible to be a science book explaining why things are the way they like gravity or any scientific aspect of the universe.

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Originally posted by ekimklaw:
The question, "If God is good and loving, why is there so much evil in the world?" is often used by Atheists to disprove his existance. The answer is simple. God is love and we are seperated from him by sin. We live in a sinful world of death and tragedy. Since God is love, he provided a way for us to be redeemed. His son Jesus came and died for our sins. Without this "out" there would be no hope. Thank God he provided a way for us. I urge all non-believers to please read the Bible with an open mind and an open heart. I mean this in love and without accusation. We can debate all we want (and I love debating) but the real story here is you must try it. If you read the Bible honestly, and find NOTHING of merit in there, then put it away forever, but at least try. Then you can say (in all honesty) "I studied it and it is not good". It's about credibility. More than that it is about salvation. We can debate, but God is good and being a Christian is good. Try it.

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Atheism has nothing to do with the validity of a scientific theory, so I'm not sure why you bring this up here.Since you asked, though, I have yet to talk to any non-theist or non-Christian who thinks that there isn't anything "good" in the Bible.Speaking for myself, an Agnostic (recovering Catholic), I find a great deal of beauty, poetry, and wisdom in many parts of the Bible, just like I find in other great works dealing with the human condition.There is also a great deal of violence, depravity, cruelty, and oppression to be found in it's pages, perpetrated in many cases by God or by humans following God's command.There are also many contradictions in the Bible, such as several different crucifiction stories, one of which has Christ dying before Passover, and the rest having him die after Passover. Absurdities, such as talking donkeys are in there, too.These things point to a human origin, as well as the similarity to several earlier pagan religions to the early Christian cult. (There was a Roman religion in which they worshipped a god which took the form of a white bull, which died and came back to life after three days)There is a difference between reading the Bible because one believes it to be true, and studying the Bible in the context of a study of world religions. One can read the Bible and still be ignorant of much surrounding it's origins. IOW, there is the simple way to read the Bible, and the scholar's way. That's not to say, of course, that reading the Bible the "simple" way isn't worthwhile. It just isn't the only, nor nearly the most educated or complete, way to study it.Second of all, I do not really see how any of what you say pertains to the Theory of Evolution, a single scientific theory out of thousands of scientific theories in existence.Why not argue against the Theory of a Heliocentric Solar System? That the Earth was the center of the solar system used to be Church doctrine, you know.How about the Germ Theory of Disease? God and demons were considered the cause of disease back when the Church had sway over science. Do you deny that bacteria cause disease?Do you believe that the stars and the heavenly bodies are set into "the (dome-like) firmament"? It says that they are in the Bible, just like it says that the Flood happened, so you have to believe that the firmament exists if you are going to be consistent.All of this is to make the point that in the past, as now, religions resisted scientific advancement.Fundamentalist Christianity, as well as other extremist (and not-so extremist) groups, have frequently profited from keeping it's followers ignorant and fearful of science and technology; an uneducated, non-critical-thinking group is easier to control and direct.

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If anyone has any problems written in the bible I am positive there you are misunderstanding, or trying to make it point to something rediculous like the world is flat because it says in the bible something about the 'circle of the earth' He didn't say the earth is a circle, any person if he went into outer space could look at the earth and say hey it is a circle by appearence but we know that by perceiving depth we can see that it is a sphere and we can go around it and see that it is a sphere.

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If God didn't say that the Earth was a circle, then why does the Bible say that God talks about the "circle of the Earth"?Nowhere in the Bible is the Earth even remotely alluded to as being a spere or a planet.So, this leaves me with an interesting observation.You allow the interpretation of "circle" in the Bible to mean "sphere", so this means that you don't mind interpreting God's word to fit scientific theory when you see fit to.The problem isn't, then, that you take the Bible literally, because you obviously do not.The problem is that you pick and choose which parts to interpret and which parts not to. [QUOTE]Many of the versus in the bible are written by appearence. Many people expect the bible to be a science book explaining why things are the way they like gravity or any scientific aspect of the universe.[/B][/QUOTE]Why do you, then, expect the Bible to be a science book explaining the scientific Theory of Evolution?

I agree that the only way to reach the real knowledge is through an honest study of the Bible. Everyone of us must do it, if he wants to know what is our life purpose on this planet.

[b] [QUOTE] You allow the interpretation of "circle" in the Bible to mean "sphere", so this means that you don't mind interpreting God's word to fit scientific theory when you see fit to.
[/b][/QUOTE]The hebrew word actually means sphere.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by redstang281:
[b] The hebrew word actually means sphere. [/QUOTE]Ah the old "the Hebrew word actually means.." argument so tell me if they buggered that one up why do you lot hold the KJV to be infallible?

"Ah the old "the Hebrew word actually means.." argument so tell me if they buggered that one up why do you lot hold the KJV to be infallible?"
--Im not exactly sure if the word actually means 'sphere', my argument would be from another perspective on this, but replying to your comment, we dont' hold the KJV to be infallable, though it isn't creation scienct to assume it, the bible is according to my 'beleif' infallable, not the KJV "Study to show thyself approved unto God".------------------

[QUOTE]Originally posted by redstang281:
[b] The hebrew word actually means sphere. [/QUOTE]no it doesn't...if it did,sphere is the word they would have used. That word existed in the time of King James. Besides,there are at least 7 place in the bible where the world is refered to as a flat,circular thing.

"no it doesn't...if it did,sphere is the word they would have used. That word existed in the time of King James. Besides,there are at least 7 place in the bible where the world is refered to as a flat,circular thing."
--Ok I think I will propose my argument whether the original Hebrew means sphere, circle, square, rectangle or octagon. The first thing, just to note, is that the word 'sphere' is located no where in the NIV, NLT, KJV, RSA, NIVFormatted, and WWEnglish(NewTestement), bible. These are the passages made by the biblical translations:NAS-
2 Corinthians 10:13 2 Corinthians 10 2 Corinthians 10:12-14 But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.2 Corinthians 10:15 2 Corinthians 10 2 Corinthians 10:14-16 not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you,2 Corinthians 10:16 2 Corinthians 10 2 Corinthians 10:15-17 so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another.NKJV-
2 Corinthians 10:13 2 Corinthians 10 2 Corinthians 10:12-14 We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us--a sphere which especially includes you.2 Corinthians 10:15 2 Corinthians 10 2 Corinthians 10:14-16 not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men's labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere,2 Corinthians 10:16 2 Corinthians 10 2 Corinthians 10:15-17 to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's sphere of accomplishment.21st Century NKJV-
Amos 9:6 Amos 9 Amos 9:5-7 It is He that buildeth His spheres in the heaven, and hath founded His troop on the earth. He that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth--the LORD is His name.In many of these passages when it does talk of a sphere it clearly states the earth is a sphere as well as other planets and stars in the heavens. Now the rest of my argument, concerning whether it litterally means circle, we must realise in this passage :Isaiah 40:22 Isaiah 40 Isaiah 40:21-23 - "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in."--This passage deals with 'the circle of the earth', now we must as the question, who is writting this? Was it God or was it a person? It was a person speaking of God sitting above the circle of the earth. Now since it is a person trying to attribute characteristics to the earth, we must take it from his point of view. Did he know the earth was a sphere? I doubt it that he was positive unless he was told something that I don't think was written in the bible. What do we see when we look accross the ocean? We don't see a perfectly flat horizon as we would see on a flat earth, we see it bending as if it were a circle of the horizon. Also if he somehow had a vision of the earth from space, we would also see a circle, as we only see 2 dementions, we perceive 3 dementions. And thus, 'the circle of the earth' is completely accurate using sphere or circle in context.------------------

but you just made my point TC. If the person speaking of God was writing about him from his point of view and based of his knowledge of things,why then should we not assume that the entire Bible is nothing more than man's interpretations of the things he did not understand at that time? People refering to the water above the firmament (that infamous canopy)may have concluded that rain was actually water leaking from water located above the clouds. They may well have come to this conclusion due to lack of understanding of the concept of evaporation and condensation. There isen't a single part of the Bible than cannot be interpreted as ignorant attempts to explained unknown phenomenon based on cultural bias present at the time.

"but you just made my point TC. If the person speaking of God was writing about him from his point of view and based of his knowledge of things,why then should we not assume that the entire Bible is nothing more than man's interpretations of the things he did not understand at that time?"
--You have it wrong, it is not an interperetation, it is an explination for our understanding of that they saw. I can show the same car crash from two perspectives, and give each persective to two people, they both saw the same thing, but they will describe it differently, to what they saw. God sees the world as a sphere, how do we see it? As I explained it above, we can only see it as a circle unless you are in a space shuttle and move around the earth. It can be fully correct and explained to the persons perspective."People refering to the water above the firmament (that infamous canopy)may have concluded that rain was actually water leaking from water located above the clouds. They may well have come to this conclusion due to lack of understanding of the concept of evaporation and condensation."
--You misunderstand again the implications of the bible as well as the vapor canopy theory."There isen't a single part of the Bible than cannot be interpreted as ignorant attempts to explained unknown phenomenon based on cultural bias present at the time."
--Such as? I am unaware of any part ignorantly explained of unknown phenomena.------------------

well,one exemple is that in the Bible,lust is identified as coming from the heart. Today,we know for a fact that no single emotion originates from the heart but from the brain. There is also a mention in the scripture about Jesus coming back to stand on the world's highest peek and behold the 4 corners of the world. First off,how many corners are there in a sphere and second,what montain could possible allow one standing on it to view AROUND the world.

"well,one exemple is that in the Bible,lust is identified as coming from the heart. Today,we know for a fact that no single emotion originates from the heart but from the brain."
--Yes we know that, but he was not refering to the bodily organ as the heart, the heart is clearly portrayed as your soul, your character/personality and its actions, thus the heart."There is also a mention in the scripture about Jesus coming back to stand on the world's highest peek and behold the 4 corners of the world. First off,how many corners are there in a sphere and second,what montain could possible allow one standing on it to view AROUND the world."--ChristianAnswers - Read more - 'Four corners' of the earth - http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c017.html

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Perhaps no phrase in Scripture has been so controversial as the phrase, "the four corners of the earth." The word translated "corners," as in the phrase above, is the Hebrew word, KANAPH. Kanaph is translated in a variety of ways. However, it generally means extremity.
It is translated "borders" in Numbers 15:38. In Ezekiel 7:2 it is translated "four corners" and again in Isaiah 11:12 "four corners." Job 37:3 and 38:13 as "ends."

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The Greek equivalent in Revelation 7:1 is gonia. The Greek meaning is perhaps more closely related to our modern divisions known as quadrants. Gonia literally means angles, or divisions. It is customary to divide a map into quadrants as shown by the four directions.

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But if you are willing to admit that some parts of the Bible are subject to interpretation,why are you not willing to admit that ALL of it is then subject to interpretation. How decides what part of the Bible is an interpretation and which part is to ba taken literaly?