The Meaning of Christmas...

ThatOwlWoman said:
We are part and parcel of all life on this planet. We are brothers and sisters to all other beings we share this Earth with. The universe is indifferent to our existence. That's okay. We have the capacity to love. When we love something, we cherish and protect it.

In the end, to love matters more than to be loved... yet we can have both.

Merry Christmas to you, brother Jarod.
Click to expand...

love
 
evince said:
god is your word to describe it


its how you understand this love

I define that being differently than you do


you need to see it as a fatherly actual being


I know its the beauty of the reality that exsists


its the nature of being and exsisting


we are beings of love


without love there is no mankind.


man in comparison to other creatures is weak and vulnerable in this world


Imagine mankind in its infancy


nearly hairless, slow and it take YEARS to make a reproductive adult


we are vulnerable beings


the only reason we survived and prospered was the love of each other and our brains.


I love mankind


to do that I have to accept the reality of mankinds weaknesses and still find my way to loving mankind.


love has power


love lives beyond our short lives


love carries


feel that love
Click to expand...

love
 
Cypress said:
“If you are penitent, you love. And if you love you are of God. All things are atoned for, all things are saved by love...Love is such a priceless treasure that you can redeem the whole world by it, and cleanse not only your own sins but the sins of others.”

-- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
Click to expand...

love
 
Jarod said:
LOVE! Love! Love!

Christ came to Earth to deliver a simple message, Humans are loved directly and unconditionally by God.

What a great gift to know that God simply loves us, we are "pre-forgiven" for anything we do and have ever done, what an amazing thing to consider. Everyone is worthy of Gods love and there is NOTHING we can do to extinguish it. We can chose not to believe it, we can chose not to accept it, but turn around and there is is and it is absolute. Can you feel it? I can, at night when I go to sleep I do so with a smile on my face because I know I am loved. You can feel it also, just learn that its true and accept it.

Nobody have to prove themselves to God, you don't have to work hard, you don't have to have pure thoughts, you don't have to do good deeds, you are simply LOVED. You can be a bum, a Wall street banker, a Muslim or a Buddhist, you are LOVED by God. You can be a murderer or a priest, you are LOVED the same by GOD, and favored on Earth and in Heaven. All humans rejoice this Christmas as we celebrate the message Christ brought to us, the message of LOVE from God for ALL! Take a deep breath, no matter who you are, and feel the warm love wash over you and know there is peace within you here on Earth.
Click to expand...

"Pre-forgiven"? Not how it works.

Are you saying everyone goes to heaven?
 
Jarod said:
And you are LOVED. You don't have to ask for forgiveness, it is granted before you even thought of the sin.
Click to expand...

Not how it works. You can't confess something you haven't done nor can you build up forgiveness by saying I might do something tomorrow so go ahead and forgive me, God.
 
Jarod said:
I don't know about heaven, as a place, but I know you and I are loved. Loved regardless of if we accept it or not, those who accept Jesus as savior or not. Its my belief that we are loved regardless. You can feel it and enjoy it, and you can reject it.
Click to expand...

If you reject it, the God you think adds up a forgiveness count has indicted how that will be addressed.
 
sear said:
But though you and countless others present it as a dichotomy, a binary, it never was.

It's the fabulous luxury of being a conservative skeptic.

Believers and disbelievers have convictions.

But we agnostics earn the luxury of merely confessing our own ignorance.


“Is god willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?” ― Epicurus (341-270BC)
Click to expand...

For the last 2287 years, I can tell you where Epicurus has been residing.
 
/shrugs.....okay.....
"“Is god willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent."

there are not just two options......"

PP #34
Click to expand...
Excellent.
It's not a comprehensive list. They're questions. Can a question be wrong?
"how about willing to permit us the freedom to make our own choices?......" PP #34
Click to expand...
We've always had that. Epicurus has never denied it.
You citing it changes nothing. You citing it refutes nothing.
It's called free-will. Thus my tronport quotation in #35.

But the point is, the tradition is that god is omnipotent and OMNISCIENT.

So whether individual humans make their own decisions independently or not is immaterial.
An omniscient, omnipotent god would know what they would be either way.

And as he is allegedly the creator, god would have created the cosmos to work out this way anyway. So you tell me that's not predestination.

How could an omniscient, omnipotent god create a universe with individuals with ostensibly free will; yet from the start god knew exactly what decisions each would make, in every case?
"God could have made us incapable of choosing evil, but out of love, not malevolence, he did not......whence came evil?......our wrong choices..." PP #34
Click to expand...
The ability to choose evil which god created in each of us; knowing in advance each decision we make.
"...I'm pretty sure that this refutation has been made millions of times since Epicurus first made his error.." PP #34
Click to expand...
"Refutation"? You have refuted nothing. You've quibbled, changing nothing.
"....surprisingly, you ignore the refutation and remember the error.......

PP #34
Click to expand...
I'd eagerly celebrate a refutation, and intend to do so with gargantuan fanfare, as soon as I find the first one. I have not found any yet.
 
PostmodernProphet said:
/shrugs.....okay.....
"“Is god willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent."

there are not just two options......how about willing to permit us the freedom to make our own choices?......God could have made us incapable of choosing evil, but out of love, not malevolence, he did not......whence came evil?......our wrong choices......I'm pretty sure that this refutation has been made millions of times since Epicurus first made his error......surprisingly, you ignore the refutation and remember the error.......
Click to expand...

I finally figured it out.
Since liberals were raised by "helicopter parents" who hovered over them and "protected" them from life and reality, they now expect God to do the same.
 
sear said:
I defer to your unquestioned authority as a spokesperson for yourself and your fellow liberals.
I wouldn't know.
But many conservatives are sophisticated enough to understand:


"What is evil? Define evil?" J #24

Did you know that there are numerous dictionaries online, including AHD & OED?
Click to expand...

But then, who sets the definition for "morality"?
 
sear said:
I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

Merry Christmas eve !
Click to expand...

So you believe God is a simpleton ... like you :palm:

Socialist authoritarians demand that God abide by their rules :palm:
 
CFM said:
Not how it works. You can't confess something you haven't done nor can you build up forgiveness by saying I might do something tomorrow so go ahead and forgive me, God.
Click to expand...

I don't believe it matters, simply live 0 judgement. Confess... don't confess... ask for forgiveness.... don't ask... you get it just the same, we don't have that kind of power over what God does...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top