Stuck Between Agnosticism and Christianity

[Alex-db]

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It does not matter how many years you spent as an unbeliever, you can & will be forgiven if you repent & turn to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.

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Presto-chango death-bed repentence FTW

[ChrisV]

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Q2. How do you know?

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The point is that religion remains the only mode of discourse that encourages grown men and women to pretend to know things they manifestly do not (and cannot) know.

-- Sam Harris

[Splendour]

Have you examined the prophecies ChrisV...seems like God knows a lot and he tells us a lot...and when someone tells you something accurately again and again then is it irrational to start to depend on their word?

[Nielsio]

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Have you examined the prophecies ChrisV...seems like God knows a lot and he tells us a lot...and when someone tells you something accurately again and again then is it irrational to start to depend on their word?

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Sir,

Q3. What is a 'god'? Please define what it is and how it works.

Q4. How do you know?

[Splendour]

Nielsio, I'm not going to define God because I think everyone in this forum already has a good idea on that.

How do I know? I know from the truth of the Gospel...in particular from the words of Jesus...most people recognize his wisdom as irrefutable upon reading his words...

God supports Jesus in history by giving us his scriptures and in those scriptures there are prophecies...Prophecies are promises from God...We can check history and see that so many of them have came when the scriptures said they would come...(One of the amazing things about the prophecies is they are given over a chain in history of around 1500 years by various prophets...many of the prophets are separated by large lapses of time...But you know a true prophet when his prophecy comes to pass...Pretty amazing when you see a chain of people over a 1500 year period in the Old Testament and actual history bears out their prophecies) My belief is this is evidence of the highest caliber....This evidence seems uniquely divine and clear and convincing enough for me on a human rational basis...

http://www.allabouttruth.org/messianic-prophecy.htm

http://www.allabouttruth.org/is-the-...e-aat-2dbd.htm

[ChrisV]

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Have you examined the prophecies ChrisV...

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I have, yes. Have you? I enjoyed this one:

Matthew 16:28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

Matthew 24:2 the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Matthew 24:24 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

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seems like God knows a lot and he tells us a lot...

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Not really, no.

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and when someone tells you something accurately again and again then is it irrational to start to depend on their word?

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I'm curious what you think these accuracies are. I can show you some more inaccuracies if you like.

[Splendour]

ChrisV you may be taking things out of context...I hope people actually look at the full range of the prophecies...your last post didn't have any substance...Its just a really weak stumbling block when people need to do a thorough investigation...I hope no one misses out because of this minor block you are injecting here...

[ChrisV]

Splendour,

I just read that "Messianic prophecies" link. Most of those "fulfilments" of prophecy can be answered by tacking "according to the Bible" on the end. There is no independent confirmation that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, for instance, not that Zechariah ever even prophesied that it was the Messiah who would do such a thing. Given that the Gospels were written by Christian evangelists, they have every reason to claim that various prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus. Matthew in particular is completely shameless about his fabrications, saying that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy "He shall be called a Nazarene" when no such prophecy exists in scripture. He also (deliberately?) misquotes scripture to alter its meaning on several occasions; go here and scroll down to Matthew. Since I read your link, do me the courtesy of reading mine as well. Check out the scripture it links to to verify for yourself that what it is saying is true. I think you'll be pretty surprised.

[ChrisV]

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ChrisV you may be taking things out of context...I hope people actually look at the full range of the prophecies...your last post didn't have any substance...Its just a really weak stumbling block when people need to do a thorough investigation...I hope no one misses out because of this minor block you are injecting here...

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How can it be a "weak stumbling block"? Jesus said he would return and the world would end in the lifetime of his followers and then it didn't happen. How much clearer a false prophecy can you get? Google for the apologist counterarguments if you like; I'm familiar with all of them and none of them are remotely satisfactory.

[Splendour]

God promises to make Isaac's descendents as numerous as "the stars of heaven", which, of course, never happened. The Jews have always been, and will always be, a small minority. 26:4

Don't see anything wrong with this prophecy...Though Israel was a small country there were multiple generations and they exist til this day...

Here's another one that I fail to see a contradiction in:

In this verse God says he will write on the stone tablets, but in 34:27 he tells Moses to do the writing. 34:1

God works through men in this world...He used prophets as his mouthpiece...He used Moses as his pen...