Go to The Reverend Kooka Speaks About Religious Bulls#!t
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Ody
Your opening comment makes no sense at all. Cars, guns and knives are just objects. They are made for a function and do sometimes end up killing their owners. I know I have cut myself at times with my own knives. They have that power to begin with and it just depends on who handles them as to how that power is treated. If we got rid of cars, guns and knives would things be better? No, those who wish to hurt others will find a way to hurt others.
Also, that really does not address the issue. Are you saying we are just God's tools and are worthless unless we are being used by him? That would imply that free will is really just a joke and that we should not follow free will at all, but instead allow ourselves to be nothing more than a mindless tool for God.
So far in my life the better I have become the less I am tempted. I find it easier and easier to resist temptation. I in general have no desire at all to try drugs. I find is easy as can be to be loyal to my wife, even though I do enjoy flirtation. I have no desire to break the laws or commit any kind of crimes. It is about as easy as it gets.
You said "Once you commit to God, there will always be enough temptation to keep you challenged; and as you defeat greater and greater temptations, you become more and more powerful." I must be very powerful then because I can resist great temptation. Or maybe it is through belief that temptation ends up having power over you.
Right now I am very much content with most aspects of my life. YEs I would like to have a job and I would like to be making more money than I have been and there are areas if my life I would like to improve. The fact is that I am not going to risk my integrity to get those things. I am not going to live a lie or hurt others for my own gain. For me there is no temptation there. I do not need to ever be a millionaire and if I someday did become one, I really do not think I would make that many noticeable changes in my life and I know I would be no happier than I am now.
You just helped me make a great argument for atheism you know.
So let's look at the kitchen thing then. At some point I know my kids will be left in the kitchen on their own. It will be after a point when they are old enough and are able to do it. I would have already taught them the dangers and explained it all to them. I would not at any point keep the ignorant just so that I can show back up and show them they do not know it all and that I ma their better. If I am keeping them ignorant then it is my fault, not there when they make a mistake. God seems to want it the other way around. He keeps them ignorant, but it is their fault for making the mistake, and so he can feel superior to them.
I do not take Biblical stories literally. I just explain why they make no sense to be taken literally. There are believers who do take them literally though. Literal or not, such stories are really not good at getting the lesson across if one really looks at what is happening the story. The point is not about the story being literal, but about just what the story really is saying about the Biblical God. I see no good message from the story of Adam and Eve. Or are you trying to claim we should all wish to be ignorant and blindly do as we are told? I guess if one does nor think at all the world would look a lot more like paradise.
I have no flaws. Where did you get the idea that I am flawed? According to believes God does not make us flawed, so if I was created by God then I can not be flawed. Unless you are trying to say that knowledge create flaws and so the less ignorant we become the more flawed we become. That really seems to be the only way to give the claim that God does not create us flawed. Or you can just say we are not created by God, which would make a lot more sense and really solve all the issues.
You going to be back out here again this year then. From the looks of things I doubt I will be able to get up to the resorts. Hopefully I will have a job then and be busy, so most likely will not have the time for such a trip. If I do not have a job I really will not be able to justify the gas to get up there. If you really want to meet face to face the best way would be to hook up in Denver on your way in or out.
posted by
kooka_lives
on November 3, 2005 at 8:42 AM
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Kooka_lives - Would you create a car that would try to run you over?
Would you create a gun that would try to shoot you? Would you create a knife that would try to cut you? Probably not. But you might create things with such power if you could first teach them to use their power responsibly.
You have been created to garner such power and you are in a learning phase. The better you become, the more you will be tempted. The more sin that you can resist, the more temptation you will receive. The temptation will come in all forms: money, power, businesses, women, cars, social prestige, etc., etc. Once you commit to God, there will always be enough temptation to keep you challenged; and as you defeat greater and greater temptations, you become more and more powerful. As you become empowered in this way, you rise toward God’s equivalence.
Perhaps you would not leave your kids in the kitchen at a very young age, but eventually you must. Eventually, if you want them to grow strong, you will allow them to do more and more for themselves; and, chances are, they’ll burn themselves a time or two.
Why do you take Biblical stories so literally? Have you not read my posts explaining the nature of Biblical stories? Would you like for me to post them again here in the comments section? Distinguish between the message and the vehicle. Siphon off the message from the Biblical story without trying to take the vehicle too literally.
Certainly you have flaws; but your recognition of those flaws is evidence that you discern a greater perfection, which is God. You rectify your flaws, by moving toward what you discern, which is that greater perfection, that we identify as God.
Are you coming up the Mountain to meet me this December? If you do, I’ve got a couple of stone tablets, uh, I mean posters, I’d like to get you to take back down to Denver with you.
posted by
telemachus
on November 2, 2005 at 3:26 PM
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kooka_lives --it always amazes me how people are unable to connect the dots
I've asked the very question you pose in this post when someone has suggested that God is all knowing and omnipresent. "Then why didn't he see the forbidden fruit thing coming?" ...........man has free will......"then it was a set up?".........no that's not it.... man has free will....."You mean God set us up to fail?" ......doh.
posted by
gomedome
on October 31, 2005 at 4:26 PM
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looks like i gotta reprise a post
or crsate a new one --
maybe clarify my reprise on the Garden.
posted by
Xeno-x
on October 31, 2005 at 11:27 AM
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