Evolution? How?

real life wrote:

Setanta wrote:

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone somewhere is happy.

-- H L Mencken

Thank you, Setanta. The Mencken quote makes my case beautifully.

Mencken supposed Puritanism (and hence the morality demanded of Man by the God of the Bible) to be directly contrary to Man's desire for self gratification. And in this Mencken was correct.

How then can anyone say with a straight face that the God of the Bible is a creation of Man's mind, or reflective of Man's vanity when He is so obviously contrary to it?

Really, real; you jest! Jehovah gave humans the ability to have every possible enjoyment, including the fantastic experience of marriage and sexual love. There area no prohibitions against enjoying any of these gifts, unless you count the exhortation not to put them before your responsibility towards God.

That was real wine Jesus made at the wedding. His first miracle; imagine that.

Yikes, no wonder unbelievers think believers are dweebs!

neologist wrote:

real life wrote:

Setanta wrote:

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone somewhere is happy.

-- H L Mencken

Thank you, Setanta. The Mencken quote makes my case beautifully.

Mencken supposed Puritanism (and hence the morality demanded of Man by the God of the Bible) to be directly contrary to Man's desire for self gratification. And in this Mencken was correct.

How then can anyone say with a straight face that the God of the Bible is a creation of Man's mind, or reflective of Man's vanity when He is so obviously contrary to it?

Really, real; you jest! Jehovah gave humans the ability to have every possible enjoyment, including the fantastic experience of marriage and sexual love. There area no prohibitions against enjoying any of these gifts, unless you count the exhortation not to put them before your responsibility towards God.

That was real wine Jesus made at the wedding. His first miracle; imagine that.

Yikes, no wonder unbelievers think believers are dweebs!

Marriage is a perfect example of what I am talking about, Neo. Marriage is not an exercise in self gratification, but a dedication to spend one's life serving another voluntarily, putting them above one's self.

This is in direct opposition to Man's desire to have only enjoyment with no strings attached.

If that is true, why so many laws?

real life wrote:

neologist wrote:

real life wrote:

Setanta wrote:

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone somewhere is happy.

-- H L Mencken

Thank you, Setanta. The Mencken quote makes my case beautifully.

Mencken supposed Puritanism (and hence the morality demanded of Man by the God of the Bible) to be directly contrary to Man's desire for self gratification. And in this Mencken was correct.

How then can anyone say with a straight face that the God of the Bible is a creation of Man's mind, or reflective of Man's vanity when He is so obviously contrary to it?

Really, real; you jest! Jehovah gave humans the ability to have every possible enjoyment, including the fantastic experience of marriage and sexual love. There area no prohibitions against enjoying any of these gifts, unless you count the exhortation not to put them before your responsibility towards God.

That was real wine Jesus made at the wedding. His first miracle; imagine that.

Yikes, no wonder unbelievers think believers are dweebs!

Marriage is a perfect example of what I am talking about, Neo. Marriage is not an exercise in self gratification, but a dedication to spend one's life serving another voluntarily, putting them above one's self.

This is in direct opposition to Man's desire to have only enjoyment with no strings attached.

Surely we can be happy without moral license.

RexRed wrote:

If that is true, why so many laws?

We are no longer under the law of the OT.

Simply a comment on Mencken's observation. Morality does not lead to unhappiness.

To suppose that the God described in the Bible is a reflection of man's vanity is an absurd notion.

The God of the Bible is described as One who punishes Man's sin.

Sin, as described in the Bible, includes many things that Man is by nature not willing to forego, but clings to with great determination.

How anyone can suppose that Man would devise a God that is so greatly contrary to Man's own nature and desire to do his own thing, is a contradictory notion.

If the God of the Bible was reflective of Man's vanity, then God would be imagined to be very lax concerning Man's sin, indeed maybe not defining much (if anything) as sin. This is exactly the opposite of the God we find in the Bible, Who punishes sin.

real life wrote:

To suppose that the God described in the Bible is a reflection of man's vanity is an absurd notion.

The God of the Bible is described as One who punishes Man's sin.

Sin, as described in the Bible, includes many things that Man is by nature not willing to forego, but clings to with great determination.

How anyone can suppose that Man would devise a God that is so greatly contrary to Man's own nature and desire to do his own thing, is a contradictory notion.

If the God of the Bible was reflective of Man's vanity, then God would be imagined to be very lax concerning Man's sin, indeed maybe not defining much (if anything) as sin. This is exactly the opposite of the God we find in the Bible, Who punishes sin.

Just because you are fixated on sin, doesn't mean that the very idea of a "personal God" isn't the ultimate form of vanity.

Just think about it; the idea of a personal God implies that there is an ultimate deity who recognizes you as an individual, and cares about you in some personal way. That makes you pretty important in the world doesn't it. That's vanity.

We cannot explore the world, and know reality until we turn away from this reflection of vanity (a Personal God) which fixates us so.

There is no such irrational hallucination after we die.

"If you have proof that there is no afterlife, present it."

real life, You lack in logic (as always); it's almost impossible to prove a negative. Rather, it's up to you to prove there is a afterlife, because you claim/believe there is. Please don't refer to the funny book called the bible to verify your belief. It must be observable, incontestable evidence we can all see. .

Perhaps you should further define what you mean by the term "personal God". You may be using it in a way quite different from those whose posts you are responding to.

Common Christian theology understands God to be a Person. That is, He is not a Thing or a Force, but a Personality; an Individual.

I must continue to provide the negatives to our post, because you always talk in circles without making any sense. You continue to make statements that you can't back up with facts and proof. You continue to use circular logic that cannot be used as proof in the real world. Faith is not proof.

"If you have proof that there is no afterlife, present it."

real life, You lack in logic (as always); it's almost impossible to prove a negative. Rather, it's up to you to prove there is a afterlife, because you claim/believe there is. Please don't refer to the funny book called the bible to verify your belief. It must be observable, incontestable evidence we can all see. .

I must continue to provide the negatives to your post, because you always talk in circles without making any sense. You continue to make statements that you can't back up with facts and proof. You continue to use circular logic that cannot be used as proof in the real world. Faith is not proof.