neologist wrote:Terry wrote: Free will is not inconsistent with perfection. Choosing to sin is. A perfect being could choose to sin, but would not.
Think about what you just said.
A perfect being would not sin. If Adam and Eve sinned, then they were not created as perfect beings.
Quote:Terry wrote: God's omniscience is a Christian tenet. You may not believe that God is omniscient (I certainly don't) but it is a tenet nevertheless.
Why then does God give us choices? (Deuteronomy 30:19, Joshua 24:15 + others)
I don't know why God would give people choices and punish them for choosing wrongly, if he knows in advance what choice they will make. But that's what Christians seem to believe.
Quote:Terry wrote:
Quote:There is no scriptural justification for the idea of everlasting torment in hell. When you're dead, you're dead.
<sigh> The relevant passages have been posted for you many times. You choose to ignore them.
There are significantly more passages debunking this myth, not the least of which is the fact that Adam and Eve were told the punishment for their sin would be death. If something worse were in store for them, it would have been stated right then and there.
"The wages sin pays is death." (Romans 6:23)
It doesn't surprise me that you do not believe. What does surprise me is that you and a few others have adopted this huge family of straw men without first checking their backgrounds.
You are a perfect example of people who simply ignore everything in the Bible that contradicts what they want to believe.
Matthew 5:22
But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in
danger of the fire of hell.
Matthew 18:8-9
It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and
be thrown into eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
Matthew 23
33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being
condemned to hell?
Mark 9
43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and
be thrown into hell, 48where "their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." 49Everyone will be salted with fire.
Matthew 25
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
41"
Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"
Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Do you think that Matthew is lying about eternal punishment, or what?
