> And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the LORD: So you think, O house of Israel. For I know the things that come into your mind. Ezekial 11:5
@waxeagle That tells me the LORD knows how to read people's thoughts, not knowing everything in the whole universe. That also doesn't tell me if God happens to be on vacation all of a sudden.
@waxeagle "And God completed on the seventh day His work that He did, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work that He did." (Genesis 2:2)
@waxeagle Still, how can Jesus be an intermediary and God at the same time? I don't get that part.
If Jesus is an incarnation of God, then that means God, during the lifetime of Jesus, has to be in the heavens and on Earth.
Plus, Jesus is a human being. A human being cannot listen to people's thoughts, unless you take the gospel of Mark to be true, because there is a freakish moment where Jesus somehow can read people's minds.
right, if we take the gospels to be truth, then we already acknowledge that he walks on water, turns water into wine, is reading people's minds far fetched?
I wonder if God would ever get jealous when a person prays to a mysterious "Higher Power" and confesses his or her sins to the "Higher Power" and promises the "Higher Power" that he or she will improve.
@Anonymous If I had my way all chat comments would be in gigantic neon flashing letters, with little animated spangles. Wait, sorry, that is what I would rather not happen.
I have another question for the day: why does Mark 3:28-30 point out that that is the unforgiveable sin?
@JamesT One of my favorite tags is the <marquee></marquee> tag.
@JamesT Hey, did you know that if you type "marquee tag" into Google, you would get the number of search results but they would be scrolling right across the page?
@El'endiaStarman I've read on Wikipedia that Google always likes to add "Easter eggs" all over the site.
You just have to know the right keywords to enter in the search engine.
Now, can anyone tell me about the unforgiveable sin?
I suspect blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is so dangerous that people in the 19th century would go by various minced oaths, such as "By Jove!", in order to prevent themselves from blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.
In that case, I wouldn't be surprised if the Christianity.SE happens to get a pastoral advice question submitted by a really concerned person about whether or not that person's soul is in danger.
@Anonymous I was always confused reading Narnia when the children (esp. Peter IIRC) would swear "by Jove". The Aslan = Jesus thing was confusing already and now they are invoking Jupiter?
Mark 3:20-30 contains a familiar passage with a long debated phrase:
3:20 Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. 21 When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 The experts in the law who came down f...
That said, it looks like I've never really blasphemed against the Holy Spirit.
To do so would mean seeing evil as good and good as evil, but since the Holy Spirit gives me a healthy conscience (I hope so!) instead of a criminal conscience, as long as I follow the Holy Spirit's guidance, I would be saved from sin.
Yet, I don't think the biblical passage is fair for the Pharisees. If the reader takes them as human beings instead of characters, then no one can ever be truly evil.
I'm sure the real Pharisees do have a healthy conscience, but Jesus's disciples portray them badly in order to frame Jesus in a good light.
@JamesT Do you believe that humans are intrinsically good or evil?
@JamesT Would having a psychological disorder be characterized as "evil"?
Or maybe, the whole world is sinful, whether we like it or not, and the goal in life is to triumph over sin and be with God.
In that respect, Jack Douglas' answer does make sense.
If people willingly chooses to follow sin and sees sin as good and God as bad, then that is outright evil, and evil shall be punished. Hence blaspheming the Holy Spirit is the unforgiveable sin. If people willingly chooses to follow God and sees God as good, then that person is saved from the corrosive effects of sin.
PLEASE NOTE: When I say God, I do not mean an imaginary figure in people's minds. I am referring to the "Higher Power" of some sort that governs the universe and people's lives in a metaphysical way.
@Anonymous Sometimes we do good and sometimes we don't. I believe we could not act morally without the grace of God. "Intrinsic" is a slippery word which may lead to paradoxes or wrong conclusions if deployed incautiously.
@Anonymous Not by me.
@Anonymous I would not say the world is sinful so much as is tainted by sin
On second thought, why am I thinking in the sinful/non-sinful dichotomy?
The concept of "sin" in Christianity seems to be very human-centered.
Maybe the religion is providing a metaphysical explanation to why things in the world are the way they are, from a human perspective, and why things in the world do not favor humans.
People may ask, "Ay, I broke my leg! Why did God do this to me?" or "Ay, I procrastinated in school! Please God, make me a better student! I promise to work hard and everything!" to deal with the sins of the world.
I think there is a reason why the Bible is written in stories and in parables.
In narrative format, people can include a lot of deep philosophical concepts about the world, and the best medium to do that is through stories.
Not only can narratives include philosophical concepts, but also they can include values, aspirations, desires, fears of God's people, who live with a purpose.
I think I've reached a point where I finally understand the meaning of religion or why religion belongs in the Humanities.
Sometimes, I wonder whether people are speaking literally or metaphorically.
It's never clear to me what people truly means by "rejection of God".
In a modern, secular context, I think it means "rejection of goodness".
Sadly, I think some people take things too literally and automatically assume "rejection of God" refers to atheists. I do not think it's that type of rejection, because even though self-identifying atheists may not believe in God, as long as they do good, that may be proof that they are guided by God, because only God can lead people to do good.
Maybe Pope Francis is right after all.
Oh, why do born-again Christians mentioned in this article have to proselytize so overtly, even in the workplace?
If Evangelical Christians had accepted a more Catholic evangelistic method, then they could just allow the Holy Spirit guide non-Christians into the Church.
I suppose that would make sense, because secular humanist atheists may see deed before creed as especially important and may be attracted to the kind works of Christians. Then, atheists and Christians can work together and help each other. Over time, maybe some atheists even like the church experience and raise their children in church.
For example, I asked a question about what marriage meant in the time of Jesus / Moses / in the bible. Jesus was Jewish and the Old Testament is probably where the answer would be found. However are Christian's biblical interpretations of Jewish customs ontopic or should the question be asked e...
About an hour ago every single one of my questions, and several of my answers, was downvoted within a few minutes. I'm assuming its one person, Would moderators be able to provide some insight into this?
A Telegraph article makes an interesting claim, in a discussion about the Shroud of Turin:
However a new study claims than an earthquake in Jerusalem in 33AD may have not only created the image but may also have skewed the dating results. The Italian team believes the powerful magnitude 8.2 e...
The paper that sparked the news story states in its conclusion:
Considering the historical documents attesting the occurrence in the “Old Jerusalem” of a disastrous earthquake in 33 A.D., the authors assume that a seismic event with magnitude ranging from the 8th to the 9th degree in the Rich...
This was a case where I did a tiny bit of research and suddenly discovered I'd answered the question.
@JonEricson Yes, if there was an 8.2, I don't think it would have been easily forgotten. If it was an 8.2 with an epicenter 100 miles away then the argument means nothing.
It seems that, to an omnipotent and omnipresent being, the concept of rest would be academic. What would have happened if he hadn't rested?
Mark 3:20-30 contains a familiar passage with a long debated phrase:
3:20 Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. 21 When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 The experts in the law who came down f...
For example, I asked a question about what marriage meant in the time of Jesus / Moses / in the bible. Jesus was Jewish and the Old Testament is probably where the answer would be found. However are Christian's biblical interpretations of Jewish customs ontopic or should the question be asked e...
About an hour ago every single one of my questions, and several of my answers, was downvoted within a few minutes. I'm assuming its one person, Would moderators be able to provide some insight into this?
A Telegraph article makes an interesting claim, in a discussion about the Shroud of Turin:
However a new study claims than an earthquake in Jerusalem in 33AD may have not only created the image but may also have skewed the dating results. The Italian team believes the powerful magnitude 8.2 e...
The paper that sparked the news story states in its conclusion:
Considering the historical documents attesting the occurrence in the “Old Jerusalem” of a disastrous earthquake in 33 A.D., the authors assume that a seismic event with magnitude ranging from the 8th to the 9th degree in the Rich...
