Does God Exist? Part 3

Hello again! I’m happy to continue our conversation. You bring up some good points, I will try to answer your questions. After that, I will ask you a few follow up questions if you don’t mind. Morality You asked about a man marrying two women. Yes, that is allowed in the Old Testament (to a certain extent). Many scholars believe this was allowed under ancient Hebrew law to help population growth. Men can reproduce their entire lives, while women can only bear children for a few dozen years. Having multiple wives ensures a faster rate of reproduction. However, when reading the Bible in its full context, this seems to only be a specific law for that time. In the New Testament, when rapid population growth was less important, we see Scripture once again commanding a man to only marry one woman (1 Timothy 3:2, 12). This is consistent with Jesus’ teaching when He said that we are now under a New Covenant, which explains the difference between Old and New Testament laws. I agree that there are lots of examples of bad things in the Bible, but that does not mean God approves of them. The Bible never claims that everything in it is supposed to be seen as a good action. Sometimes the Bible gives us examples of what NOT to do. However, there are also lots of great lessons in the Bible. It teaches us to love our neighbors, help the poor, be humble, and avoid murder. I hope we can both agree these are good things. You bring up some interesting terms I would like to ask you about. You repeatedly label the Bible stories as morally “wrong” and talk about choices being “good” or “bad.” But without definitions of wrong, good, and bad, these labels have no meaning. What is your definition of Good? What is your definition of Bad? What makes your definitions of these terms more correct than mine? You must be able to answer these questions before you can start calling things in the Bible “Good” and “Bad.” You asked me if I really think this is how we should live. My answer is yes, I am a Christian and so I believe we should live according to the Bible. The Bible teaches in 2 Peter that we should live with goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, brotherly affection, and love, and I absolutely agree those are good things. How do you think we should live according to your worldview? I 100% agree with you that people can be immoral and religious. I consider MYSELF one of those people because I am religious but I still make mistakes. I do not believe that being religious automatically makes you are a moral person. In fact, Christianity teaches the exact opposite. I believe I am a naturally IMMORAL person in need of a savior, I am religious because I realize that I continually fall short of God’s standards. Religious people doing bad things does not prove that God has nothing to do with morals. That is like saying a loyal citizen who gets a speeding ticket proves the government has nothing to do with laws. Just because people break the law does not mean that law is any less true. God does not automatically MAKE people good. He simply DEFINES what is good, and it is up to each person to decide whether or not to follow it. For your example with the KKK member and the Buddhist (I am neither, by the way :), it sounds like you are trying to separate “good people” from “bad people.” Once again, I would ask you to define those terms if you can. Sure, it’s easy to define when you use extreme examples like the KKK or Buddhist monks. But most people are not at the extremes, they are somewhere in the middle. How do you define that for the majority of us who are in the middle? How “good” do you need to act to be a “good person?” Where do you draw the line? The whole faith and actions idea does not mean you can say “ok, I’m a Christian, so now I get to act however I want and I’ll go to heaven!” In fact, the Bible addresses this very issue. In Romans 6:1, Paul writes “should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?” True faith is all that matters, but true faith leads to a changed heart. A changed heart does not go on raping, killing, and joining the KKK. True faith, according to the Book of Galatians, leads to actions of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Can you be good without God? Yes, but without God then what makes your moral code more than just a personal preference? What makes it true? Why does it matter if we both just die anyway? Hell Why is it a bad thing if people are scared of hell? Fear is not necessarily a bad thing. Fear is an instinct that helps us protect ourselves. This is why we are naturally afraid of doing painful or dangerous things. If hell is a real place, then we should be scared of it! Even if hell is fake, is it a bad thing that the idea of it scares people from raping, cheating, and stealing? If hell, real or fake, scares people from doing bad things, then it serves EXACTLY the same purpose you say prison does. It protects society, it helps people stop breaking laws, and it scares other potential criminals. Ultimately though, the purpose of hell is not to scare people. It is to hold people accountable for the choices we make in life. I’d like to end this point by saying people always want to focus on the negative part of this story. Yes, there is hell, but the amazingly positive side is that God is freely and openly offering everyone salvation to heaven if we simply accept the invitation! In our last discussion you said “not knowing is also an answer.” I would suggest that not knowing is a response, but not an answer. If a teacher asks me a question in class and I say “I don’t know,” I responded to the teacher, but I did not answer him. I’m not saying I know all the answers either, but I hope we can both agree that claiming “I don’t know” is not an effective argument. I hope I have addressed all your questions from this round. Here is a brief list of why I believe God does exist: Morality – there is no objective definition of good and bad without a higher power. Origins – science still cannot answer how everything came to exist. Meaning of Life – if we are all just blobs of muscle and bone, then there is no higher purpose to life. We simply trick ourselves into believing there is by making up our own meaning. Spread of Christianity – Christianity was not created from legends and myths. It was created from historical, recorded events by real people. A man named Jesus really lived. People were eyewitnesses to him performing great miracles. People saw him die and rise. A rebel religion that started with only 12 people rapidly grew into a faith followed by billions. It could have been wiped out many times early on, but it only grew more when governments tried to suppress it. This isn’t just some bed time story like Santa Clause, there is something really powerful about this idea that deserves our attention. That is why I believe.