@fmf saidIt goes back to defining reality! If God does anything and it’s rejected a priori a blind spot is manufactured and it’s only there because you desire it so.
I realize that you believe that Christ is "in" you.
If what I am telling you is true reality says it was once also true for you or not!
22 Apr 22
@fmf saidSo you discovered believing in the name and that is not what I am talking about. Millions of people believe in His name without ever encountering Him.
Something did happen to me. I experienced Christian faith and it permeated everything. You keep saying nothing happened to me. You aren't listening.
You don’t encounter God without changing while you can go to church every day of your life and be no different from someone who doesn’t.
22 Apr 22
2 edits
@fmf saidIf you didn’t have an encounter with God all you ever had is what any can have without God. Now if you want to say I didn’t experience that therefore it cannot be real, that would be very circular of you.
Mine was not a big "go to church" type faith, although I did attend. It was more a prayer-oriented faith.
Encountering God is a huge deal, it’s like a pastor once said you may as well say you were hit by a MAC truck doing 80 MPH and it didn’t leave a mark on you. God is by far greater than a truck!
If all you got was what anyone could get at any self-help group you never got anything that could not be found in any human experience anywhere under any name.
22 Apr 22
@kellyjay saidYes, I think it compares very well to relationships with commitments and marital vows, how many divorced people do you know? (rhetorical question) (I know quite a few) Vows taken in the sight of god don't seem to be worth the paper they're not written on, so god doesn't seem to have much influence on the matter. And if being in love is 'no reason whatsoever' for people to be together, then your attitude to relationships and mine are polar opposites, and never the twain shall meet.
You are not committed to who you are with, and neither are they to you. Do you think that compares to relationships with commitments and marital vows because you have been faithfully exclusively for no reason whatsoever? You are just there till the magic leaves; the wind blows this way than that, so one of you walks out, no big deal after over 40 years, that would all be mea ...[text shortened]... nly someone comfortable in what they believe as long as they don't have to defend it, so they don't.
You refuse to accept 'all of the evidence' for human evolution because it doesn't fit your worldviews, believing rather that Adam and Eve arrived in the Garden of Eden, fully formed and ready to rock and roll, and then this snake turned up and talked to them. And you talk (possibly in snake) about other people having an 'unhealthy closed mind'. Dear me....
22 Apr 22
@indonesia-phil saidI asked you before, and I didn't get your response, or it wasn't impressive enough for me to even remember if you did. What do you think evolution proves that you can use it to dismiss God? If I accept it as a fact, the only thing that does is leave us with the question, what is the mechanism that produced all of the drives in all life's processes? What produced the informational instructions?
Yes, I think it compares very well to relationships with commitments and marital vows, how many divorced people do you know? (rhetorical question) (I know quite a few) Vows taken in the sight of god don't seem to be worth the paper they're not written on, so god doesn't seem to have much influence on the matter. And if being in love is 'no reason whatsoever' for people ...[text shortened]... . And you talk (possibly in snake) about other people having an 'unhealthy closed mind'. Dear me....
With a mind, instructions are easy to explain, so what do informational processes suggest to you, mindlessness, and if so, how do you come to that conclusion?
22 Apr 22
@divegeester saidI'm sure you could figure it out if you bothered to read all of the posts in the thread.
@kellyjay
In your opinion, was FMF’s experience:
- saved but lost his salvation?
- saved and still saved, despite his apostasy?
- never saved at all?
23 Apr 22
@kellyjay saidIt's not "circular" at all KellyJay. It's "linear". I had faith that was real to me. I lost it. It's a straight line, not a circle. I understand your faith better than you seem to realize. You think you had, have been having, are having, and always will have "an encounter with God". That is your faith. And it seems real to you. I get it. I used to have faith too.
If you didn’t have an encounter with God all you ever had is what any can have without God. Now if you want to say I didn’t experience that therefore it cannot be real, that would be very circular of you.