I guess this depends how literally you take the Bible. If you define death as no heart beat and breathing we have had for decades the ability to revive people from death. Theoretically with 3d scanners and printers we could multiply loaves and fishes. Try any of that though with 1st C. AD technology. My point though had far less to do with scientific plausibility but about the nature of faith.
But wouldn't any god worth his salt know the choices you would make and know that you would sin? And doesn't everyone other than god himself (jesus) sin? Seems like a system set up to fail, really. Like human knees.
There was no failure in the system, it was a choice of free will. Adam had a choice, he wasn't created a robot. You had a choice whether to be a high school drop out loser or someone who wanted to contribute to the world, that doesn't mean your mother decided to abort you because of the possibility of choice #1 did it? Jesus did not sin by the way, thats the point of him being the sacrifice.
If by teach you mean regurgitate what I learned from all those theology courses I had to take at UST. I'm a big comparative religion buff, though so it was cool. Granted, I was half-joking in my explanation, which should've been apparent by the way I put it together like a TV Guide movie blurb. But it's really not so far-fetched when you look at it. The Theology of Christianity really boils down to that, in my view. No disrespect.
Is it a choice if a supposedly omniscient being already knows what choice you're going to make? If god is truly all-knowing then wouldn't he know who would sin and who wouldn't, including Adam? Does he see all possible futures but not know which will happen or something? I just don't get it. Seems like he's setting up people for failure to me. Why keep making folks for thousands of years if you know they suck at what you want them to do? Is it a flawed design of the system or of the product? And I said specifically in my last post that god/jesus didn't sin. Did you miss that part?
He survived. But not in a physical sense. Nobody dies, just learned that. My brother died on March 18th. Staying in the hotel, my brother was captured on camera(And I have the proof). Nobody dies, only they their body.
Sir, if you read the end of revelation, it says if you take any part out of the book, then your part will be taken out of the lambs book of life. What does that mean? That means you were always intended to spend eternity with God (in context of the topic) The separation comes off of individuals choices, and there is one who died for atonement of your sins... its just that everyone won't accept that. You will never be able to say you didn't have the opportunity, or blame anybody else. The beginning and the end was made, it got marred, there was a plan to open a door for you to still make it to that original intent. Its your choice if thats what you want or not.
The mental contortions needed to accept this sort of thing are amazing, to say the least. Answer this simple question - does god know the choices his creation will make before they make them?
And sometimes, mistranslations/idioms come into play as the Bible is translated from language to language (not to mention interpolations but that's neither H/T). I've heard it explained before that Mary being a "virgin" really meant that she was "a[n] [previously] unmarried woman" and that changes the whole context of it. It would mean she did procreate normally but she just was not married while doing so as was custom for women at the time.
I believe in pre-destination bounded by free will, controlled chaos. You have a destiny and your life is planned out but there are changes to that plan based on the choices you and those around you make. There's a system of rewards and punishments depending on where your karma is (yes, I grew up in Christianity and believe in karma).
I finally get to post this video. Worth watching if you really believe Jesus didn't physically die. http://youtu.be/rLG5rDyDDPw
You can find anywhere on Google just type the Chapiter I mentionned. For Christians or those who have faith in God but have some issues with the whole trinity concept and if Jesus (peace be up on him) died and rose from the death, learn the islamic view of Jesus. As a brother said earlier, Muslims believe that Jesus was a messenger of God but not son of God neither God. We also don't believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins but that every human is accountable for his sins and that we must repent. Anyway, most of y'all are biased against Islam because you learned Islam on CNN and the news instead of really checking it out.
Muslims also believe that the Old Testament, the Psaums, the Gospel are all from God and that the Qu'ran is the final revelation. Adam, Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad (peace be up on them) are all messengers of God in Islam. Allah means God in arabic, the same God as the Jews and Christians. Like ''Dieu'' in french or ''Dios'' in spanish. Arab Christians use the word Allah for God in their bible as well as Arab Jews in the Taurah.
This is insincere. Muslims do no believe that the Psalms and Gospel as accepted by Christians today is the untouched word of God. They believe that the Pslams and Gospel that is from God was lost, reworded, tinkered with, etc. and that's all we're left with while they would never accept a similar possibility for their own texts. They don't consider the other Prophets and Muhammad equals, rather they consider them a similar "species" of sorts with Prophet Muhammad being the only one who was finally able to devise a plan whereby his message would not be tinkered with over time. They also believe Muhammad's message is sufficient without knowing the other messages, even if they nominally claim to respect the other 5 religious books. Further, they consider Muhammad to be the one who never made a mistake (and thus never sinned). The Quran on the other hand does not appear to place any of them above the other. Funny how that works.
You are right that Muslims don't consider Psalms and the Gospel authentic. But you are wrong when you say that Muslims don't consider the prophets equal to Muhammad. Here's the proof from the Qu'ran: ''The Messenger believeth in what hath been revealed to him from his Lord, as do the men of faith. Each one (of them) believeth in Allah, His angels, His books, and His Messengers "We make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His Messengers." And they say: "We hear and we obey; (We seek) Thy forgiveness, Our Lord, and to Thee is the end of all journeys."[Chapiter 2 verse 285] I can't say for sure that Muhammad (saw) didn't sin. He was a man like us. Jesus (peace and blessings of Allah be up on him) for sure didn't sin as he was born a prophet.
With all due respect TheShooter, even though the word Allah does mean God in Arabic, the God of Christianity and Judaism is much different in character then the God described by the Qu'ran. For instance, Allah's love for people is conditional. "If ye love Allah, follow me [Muhammad]; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins" (Surah 3:31). By our love we gain Allah's love. Allah is merciful and loving toward those who "ask pardon of your Lord and then turn unto Him (repentant)" (Surah 11:90); first they must "ask pardon" and "turn to Him." In the Qu'ran, Allah's love is for those who are good (see Surah 2:195; 2:222; 3:134; 5:13; 9:4; 9:108; 49:9; 60:8). Surah 85:14 speaks of Allah's love--"He is the Forgiving, the Loving"--in the context of "those who believe and do good works" (Surah 85:11). In contrast, the Lord God loves the "Ungodly," "sinners," and "enemies" of God [Romans 5:6-10]. However, "Allah loveth not the disbelievers" (Surah 3:32); "Allah loveth not wrongdoers" (Surah 3:57). Allah's love is conditional on obedience. That is part of the reason the Muslim's are commanded in the Qu'ran not to become friends with Jews, or Christians, because they are unbelievers and Allah does not love them. Surah 5:51 O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. He among you who taketh them for friends is (one) of them. Lo! Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk.
I have no dog in this fight so this is just intellectual interest on my part and not a value judgement on any of the Judeo Christrian Muslim religions. Couldn't the same thing be said that the God of the Old Testament is much different than the God of the New? One is a vengeful jealous god while the other is a loving forgiving god?
The point is, you have to be fluent in Arabic to really understand the Qu'ran. English, French, Spanish etc version are juste translations and we know that translations can be different depending of the language. The word ''friend'' used in English, isn't necesserary the right word. ''and you will find the nearest in love to the believers (Muslims) those who say: "We are Christians." That is because amongst them are priests and monks, and they are not proud. 83. And when they (who call themselves Christians) listen to what has been sent down to the Messenger (Muhammad ), you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of the truth they have recognised. They say: "Our Lord! We believe; so write us down among the witnesses.'' [Coran]
Just like the Bible you are reading is not authentic. It is admitted by Christian scholars, the real Bible is not available. What you are reading is a translation, of a translation, of a translation and man editing. Heck, there are thousands of different version of the Bible that say different things. Which one is the real one? What does Christian means? (It is not in the Bible and Jesus never heard of ''christian''). Christian means follower of the Christ. Muslims are more followers of the Christ than Christians. Muslims don't eat pork, majority of Christians do. he pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses. ( Deuteronomy 14:8 ) Muslims don't drink alcohol, majority of Christians do. “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. (Leviticus 10:9) Muslims are circumcised, Jesus was circumcised the 8th day. Most of Christians are not. Muslims fast, Christians don't (or they partially fast like not eating meat). And they said to him, l“The disciples of John mfast often and moffer prayers, nand so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” (Acts 13:2)
