I panic easily.
God, you know how I do this, how I fret and speak in an angry to e. Sometimes I do t even mean it, but too often I do. You know I am angry so often, and how I strike out at random.
I'm sorry I was so furious today and ignored your voice telling me how foolish it was to do so. I'm sorry I ranted and held on to bitterness, picked it up where I reluctantly dropped it in the mud. Help me throw it frothier firm me this time, far where I cannot remember where it lies.
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Hello, Josh. This is Adam. I’ve been following this blog for a time (sparsely updated as it is), and I would like to see where you stand on some theological issues. It would help, I think, establish a context in which to read these posts (as well as satisfy my own curiosity).
ReplyDelete1. Does God intervene in reality? I think I can infer the answer to this from some of your previous posts, but I'd like to hear it from you anyway.
2. What is Hell?
3. What is Heaven?
4. Could the origin of the universe be naturalistic? Similarly, could the origin of the Earth or life be naturalistic?
5. Are the outcomes of events pre-determined (by God or otherwise)?
6. Do people have free-will and if so, how is this affected by God's intervention in reality (assuming he does so)?
7. If yes to the two previous questions, how do you reconcile these things?
8. Is the bible literally true (excluding the passages which are explicitly parables)?
9. Is the bible inerrant?
10. Why do you believe there is a God? (I'm not sure this counts as a theological issue, but I hope you answer it regardless)
11. And lastly, do you think your (presumably) Christian upbringing has had a significant influence upon you religious views?
I think I’ll be crossposting this to Laramie’s blog if she doesn’t see it here.
1. Yes
ReplyDelete2. In a basic sense, he'll is eternal serration from God. The final one.
3. After consideration, I must say that the answer is both hard for me to answer and not really important in the end. What is it? I'm not sure- one can say of earth that it is a planet. Is that the kind of classification required? Or as to it's status as a metaphor? I can say it's real. Honestly, heaven is not the biggest concern. Gold paved streets are great for a minute. Heaven, I would say, is more about god than what heaven itself is.
4. It depends on what naturalistic entails. I admit to not being totally sure as to what all Is meant in the word in thi context. However, I will say that I find it very plausible that if god created the world, then he could have used volcanoes to mke islands, etc. If you created a whole nature, system, why not use the system to finish your creation? I don't know. I wasn't there, and like the question before, I think the question is interesting but ultimately not as important.
5. Pre-known, yes. I know a chil loves chocolate and I offer him some. I know he will tie it, but I don't make him. He chooses to take my gift. Of course, I can't actually know for sure, and god can. But the analogy is close enough to be useful. Are you a puppet? No.
6. Men have freewill. They can choose what to do. God intervening need not destroy that. Let us say, hypothetically, that god came down and knocked a tree on my house, altering reality so that now a tree is positioned so that it is in my dining room. I can choose still. If I was odd, I could choose to keep it there. I wouldnt, of course, but the weird example is still a choice I could make. I could choose to move the tree. I ould choose to buy goldfish because the tree reminded me of goldfish. God changing reality does not destroy my free will any more than regular events do. At least that's how I've thought of it, more or less. Honestly, it's a secondary thing, though a confusing one.
7. I think I jumped the gun. As erasing and typing is difficult on an iPad, I'll just keep the answer to this one in 6.
8. Yes, the bible is litterally true.
9. Yes, inerrant. It's lot more honest than most historians, as well. :)
10. A variety of reasons. First, I know he exists because i know him, deeply, as I know Laramie or you, except closer. If I know you, then you existing is a moot point. :) All other reasons are secondary to me. Though I do perceive that all other theories of the worlds being seem to have no real advantage over the christian's.
11. Of course it has. Our upbringing helps shape who we are. However, recall what was literally asked, and not what people mean when they ask that. Did it influence my held beliefs? Yes, in that they were strengthened and taught me from the opening of my eyes. Usually, people don't mean whether upbringing influenced as much as created, and to that, I say: yes and no. Did it steer me towards. Bristol? Yes, and I'm eternally grateful. But! That doesn't mean I couldn't have decided to do something else. St. Augustine's mother was as close as it gets to a living saint, and he spent a lot of time running wild. So... Yes, but not to the extent that the views are only existent because of where and how I was raised.
Thnaks for reading, and you should follow! :) Also, I apologize for the bad spelling, what there is, because I have typed this entire thing on an iPad and it is very difficult to hit the right key. :)