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Originally Posted by Rockin' Flames
I'm pretty sure that my answer won't be satisfactory to you, but it's not so much as being so special that they're right but rather that others are led astray and deceived.
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Which of course raises the question how do you know they're led astray and deceived, and you are not. I know the answer is that you have faith and trust that your choices are correct, and it's part of that circular logic that restricts the ability to even consider that it's someone else that's correct and that it's one's self that's being led astray.
A more interesting question is why is someone responsible for being deceived? If someone fools you and takes all your money, is it not right for them to be caught and charged, and the money returned to you? If someone fools me out of salvation by leading me astray though I'm responsible for that?
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Originally Posted by Rockin' Flames
I'm not re-writing history. I can't respond to this question.
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You can't respond, or you won't respond? Why can't you or why won't you?
No one's rewriting history, it's a very important question, because it determines the nature of the test!
Put every person who ever lived in the garden of Eden, rerun the scenario. Do they all choose to eat the apple? Or do some choose to eat the apple and some do not?
If all people eat the apple, then the test is flawed and humanity is not responsible.
If some people eat the apple and others do not, then the test is flawed because the choice of an individual resulted in consequences for everyone, and humanity is still not responsible.
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Originally Posted by Rockin' Flames
What about it?
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The smiley face meant it was a joke, if you don't want to debate evolution you presumably wouldn't want to talk about a global flood either.
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Originally Posted by Rockin' Flames
Because honestly I'm having trouble finding enough time to debate this topic alone, I don't have enough time to debate something else too. I've known Christians that accept evolution and I just disagree with them.
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And that's fair, there's only so many hours in a day.
It is a very important topic though because while our discussion about beliefs affects only ourselves, the topic of evolution and how its taught in schools is something else because it impacts everyone. That there is a group out there intentionally being deceptive to try and get religion taught in the science classroom is something that should be worrying to everyone, religious or not.
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Originally Posted by Rockin' Flames
By not making a choice you are making a choice.
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I didn't say it wasn't a choice, I said "I don't choose it I'm damned". It's coercion; do what I say or you will die. "I'll save you, but you have to serve me if I do."
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Originally Posted by Rockin' Flames
I believe there is free will in heaven. Clearly you can sin in heaven but there is a consequence to that sin (fallen angels). I can't honestly say why someone would sin in heaven because being in the presence of God will be more amazing that can even be imagined.
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Well if there's sin possible in heaven, why go through this whole thing in the first place? Why create Eden, have the choice of a single person cause the eternal damnation of billions, and have a redemption thousands of years later when you could have just created man in heaven to begin with and have each person be responsible for their own actions instead of having the actions of a distant relative condemn them to hell?
No worrying about people being deceived and led astray either, so no having to worry about who's guilty for sending innocently deceived people to hell.
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Originally Posted by Rockin' Flames
I don't get nor understand that.
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Aren't there promises in the Bible? If I seek aren't I supposed to find?
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Originally Posted by Rockin' Flames
Jesus was proving who he was at that time as there were people who were waiting for the Messiah and he was showing that he was the Messiah. Still there was some element of faith that these people needed, after all not everyone believed Jesus was the Messiah.
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Doesn't get around the fact that they still had the advantage of first hand evidence. God's not supposed to be a respecter of persons.
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Originally Posted by Rockin' Flames
Actually no, it's more that I feel I keep answering the same questions over and over.
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Well it's a lot of different questions I am asking, but since the answer is essentially the same for all the questions (I believe because I want to believe) it is answering the same over and over.
I appreciate that you've been willing to discuss things, and I'll of course continue whatever conversation you want to continue, but don't feel obligated if it does take up too much of your time.