From: Christian.Walters@umagic.FIDONET.ORG (Christian Walters)
Newsgroups: hsv.religion
Subject: re: That sin thing
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 22:51:27 CDT
Organization: Micro Magic

James Reed says:
>how can a finite being question the working of an infinite being?
 
You can question, but you may be discouraged if you think you'll
actually find answers :)
 
Part of it may be the word "infinite." Christians typically view God as
a being that encompasses all things except evil. Well, if you say that
God will do no evil, then you are placing a parameter on an infinite
being, thus rendering him finite.
 
I think that if you accept the idea that God has a "bad side" or an
"evil twin," then almost everything makes sense - except for the
question of why he created the universe to begin with, which I think is
significant. There are spots in the Old Testament where God sees to have
bad days, until he became all warm 'n' snuggly in the New Testament.
 
>> So God will send us to hell if we don't repent of things that weren't
>> our fault?
 
>I don't think what you mean by "our fault" matches what I'm thinking
>about. The Bible contends that we are given free will to chose what we
>do. It also states that everyone has "goofed up" (or will goof up for
>those not yet born).  You seem to see a contradiction here, but I 
don't.
 
Boy, that's the truth :) I say that, according to Christianity, God has
decreed that we are all sinners by definition. You apparently say that
God doesn't force us to sin, but he knows we will by our nature, right?
 
The thing is, God is the one who made us like we are. You can pull out
all of the stuff about the serpent at the tree and all, but that
wouldn't have happened without God's approval - or at least God's
indifference. (Unless Satan is powerful enough to get away with things
like this - see my reference to God's evil twin above :) )
 
>From previous postings of ours we both seem solid in our respective
>points of view and unable to "convince" the other we're right.  Sounds
>kinda like a stalemate to me :-/.
 
Yeah :-/ I hate to think I'm solid in my views, but I guess I am :) Oh,
well - any discussion like this is bound to end up stuck eventually.
Otherwise the issues would have been settled centuries ago.
 
>> Well, we failed at defining a miracle. Maybe we could define a
>> relationship? A relationship with an infinite being is not similar to
>> the relationships we have with each other.
 
>Similar perhaps, but certainly not identical.  The relationship between
>God and man is often compared to the parent-child relationship. My
>relationship with my daughter is similar, but certainly not identical
>to her relationship with other 1.5 year olds.
 
I don't know. Do you get anything from your relationship with your
daughter? I assume you do. Do the two of you have any needs that are
filled by the other? Y'see, I don't think this is possible with a being
capable of everything. What do we provide him? What needs of his do we
fill? The adjective "infinite" is very powerful. We're not able to get
our minds truly behind what that means. How can we have a relationship
with something like that?



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 * Christian.Walters@umagic.FIDONET.ORG via Micro Magic
Newsgroups: hsv.religion