Can the omnipotent God create a stone which he(she?) him(her?)self Cannot carry?

(Note: blasphemy added by levik. Disregard if offensive)

(In reply to re: Read This by Jonny Doe)

If you actually did read my whole response, you would have seen why there is no proof of God's existence. At least, not any that can be put onto paper.

Jonny, it's interesting how you say evolution "has been proven again and again" yet you only "think" that it happened. My first response to this is, was whatever proof you saw not good enough for you? My second question would be, what proof is there? Every time I pose the question, there are always people convinced that evolution is 'proven fact' but never with anything to corroborate it. Simply put, there is no evidence.

People like to be able to explain, understand, and control everything. We can do none of these regarding God, so we try explain Him away with fanciful theories and grab on to any little shred of potential evidence, even knowingly falsified or irrelevant shreds; meanwhile, the big picture and the majority of the evidence points in the opposite direction. Anyway, I'm not going to try to prove God with evidence, because it can't be done. God created the world in its entirety and all life therein, six thousand years ago. But, if you have any evidence to the contrary, I should like to see it as nothing has ever been proven or even reasonably backed up.

As to your next statements, let me also say that I utterly cannot stand religion, the connotations of that word being a reliance on actions or rites to earn acceptance. If you had read my entire comment, I discussed [albeit briefly] the difference between dead religion and real relationship with God. The Bible is very clear; you can 'do' all the right things and not be pleasing to God. He cares about the heart, and Biblical salvation is a gift that no one deserves. There are no steps or rituals or sacraments to earn God's approval. I think that, yes, a lot of TV preachers and other clergy are misguided or purposefully manipulative in order to gain wealth, popularity, or because they think they can earn 'brownie points' with God to earn a better place in Heaven or something. Such religion is absolutely dead and I cannot stand it, in part because of the impression it gives people (obviously from your statements, Jonny) about Christians in general. Too often, people make judgements about the perfect God from the imperfect people He limits Himself to. The fact that Christians are normal people who make mistakes, who say things we don't mean, who do things we shouldn't, does not take away from the fact that God is perfect and infallible.

I totally agree with you that religion today has become a business and a way to make money. That is nothing new, however; in Jesus' time the Pharisees, the religious elite, were the most wealthy and apparently 'holy' men of the era, yet Jesus rightfully called them hypocrites and vipers. Why? Because, as you said, they were in it only for money and appearances. Not so much is different in the world between now and then; our camels are faster and the toys are more expensive, if you will.

I, however, do not subscribe to that religion. I do not call myself Baptist or Lutheran or any other particular label of Christianity (that is not to say, mind you, that every practicing church of such various denominations is a dead, religious one). I believe in the Bible as completely the Word of God, true in every word. Moreover, God is not dead, and the Bible is not merely an ancient rule book or a guide to 'good' living. If that's what you think it all amounts to, then I feel sorry for your misguided beliefs.

Penultimately, with regards again to the original question, whether or not you believe in God does not change whether or not the stone can exist. Despite what modern relativistic society would have you believe, there is such a thing as absolute truth. You can choose not to believe in gravity, but if you jump off the roof of your house, you can bet on hitting the ground shortly thereafter. You can even base your belief on observations of birds and helium balloons, and say that those prove that gravity is a farce. You could experiment further and find even more evidence, such as ice cubes in water and other things that show how 'nothing' works the way the law of gravity says it should. But jump off the roof, and you're still hitting the ground. Perhaps that's a weak point, but you'll find that the more you examine specific cases like helium, you'll only serve to demonstrate further how gravity works. And if you set out to disprove God's existence, you'll end up with a lot of evidence that says the opposite of what you intended. Most of the supposed proof for evolution actually backs up Biblical creation, though you'll rarely see that publicized.

However, I still maintain that God's existence cannot be proven, except to an individual person. The last few paragraphs of my previous comment (again, had you read the whole thing) are the summation of everything else I am trying to say. You cannot prove God, but you can experience Him. I don't know what specifically you will experience, but if you genuinely ask Him to make Himself real to you, He will. And I continue to pray that He does. God bless.

=)

Posted by DJ on 2003-05-01 11:10:13