Jesus

[donquixote99]

What I meant by 'closed-minded special pleading' is advocacy of a position to which one is committed before any argument and regardless of it.

[BigElCat]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

What I meant by 'closed-minded special pleading' is advocacy of a position to which one is committed before any argument and regardless of it.

Oh, that's very different then.

You think you have an open mind, like the enlightenment of Budda?

Have you 'sat Zen' ?

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by BigElCat

Oh, that's very different then.

You think you have an open mind, like the enlightenment of Budda?

Have you 'sat Zen' ?

No and no.

Do you believe that compromising your beliefs would put you more at risk of eternal damnation?

[BigElCat]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

No and no.

Do you believe that compromising your beliefs would put you more at risk of eternal damnation?

There is only one transgression against God that would seal my fate and condemn me to Hell.

That transgression is 'blasphemy of, or against, the Holy Spirit'.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by BigElCat

There is only one transgression against God that would seal my fate and condemn me to Hell.

That transgression is 'blasphemy of, or against, the Holy Spirit'.

What is 'blasphemy of, or against, the Holy Spirit?' Such a deadly sin should be simply understandable.

[BigElCat]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

What is 'blasphemy of, or against, the Holy Spirit?' Such a deadly sin should be simply understandable.

It's failure to believe in it's (or His) existence.

To deny it to yourself, or speak against it.

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by BigElCat

There is only one transgression against God that would seal my fate and condemn me to Hell.

That transgression is 'blasphemy of, or against, the Holy Spirit'.

Yep. And I think it is because you seal your own fate. Once you throw him out, you have doomed yourself to a world of unbelief. It's similar to taking that one hit of crack. As one addict told me, once you take the one, you are hooked for life, no matter how much you take afterward.

And the great temptation that tempts us all is the belief that how good we are actually matters to God, regarding salvation from death. What matters is belief. And you can tell what a person believes by what they do.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Not Insane

Yep. And I think it is because you seal your own fate. Once you throw him out, you have doomed yourself to a world of unbelief. It's similar to taking that one hit of crack. As one addict told me, once you take the one, you are hooked for life, no matter how much you take afterward.

And the great temptation that tempts us all is the belief that how good we are actually matters to God, regarding salvation from death. What matters is belief. And you can tell what a person believes by what they do.

Why does god care so much what people believe?

I know why priests care, but why would it be the very biggest deal to god?

[BigElCat]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Why does god care so much what people believe?

I know why priests care, but why would it be the very biggest deal to god?

'Why' is a philosophical question.

Why does anything exist, rather than nothing at all ?

Why you, why me, why anything ?

The first commandment; Thou shall have no gods before me, for I am a jealous God.

And yet, it's a sin for people to be jealous of anything. Seems not fair.

Why would God be jealous ? Who could possibly know what God thinks, or how God thinks ?

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Why does god care so much what people believe?

I know why priests care, but why would it be the very biggest deal to god?

Without getting down a huge rabbit trail, I consider this life to be like a test and boot camp.

I also compare it to a "life simulation" video game. Our bodies are what the bible calls the "natural man". Our spiritual man is inserted into it (at belief) and is instructed to subdue it. We occupy the body in the same way a person may occupy a "self driving" car.

Which brings up the other aspect. A natural man without a spiritual person in it is an NPC. I was an NPC before I became a follower of Christ.

And I don't believe in "hell and suffering" for the lost. I think that they simply die. The natural man NPC body, that is. But the believers live on in the "real world".

This life is like a life in the womb, and death is the journey down the birth canal into the "real world". And as with the analogy, the real world is a much better and more fulfilling place than the world we occupy before death.

But none of that is "scripture". It's me trying to explain it with analogies. Nobody knows until they experience it.