If There Is A Creator....

[Atheist]

Why should we believe that he is a good and kind person? Obviously we can't simply rely on his own word, since a wicked creator could lie. I see no evidence that he is good and kind. Are we simply victims of our own hope and wishes?

[Canary42]

If he's such a Good Person, why did he cuckold a poor hard-working carpenter, and inseminate his wife.

[Peter Pedant]

If God is eternal, then he is out of time ......e if not in an earlier time?

yes he is out of time ( metaphysical) and yet DOES have a sense of time because without, then the fella like God wivva sense of time is a greater being and is therefore God

Less God and still be god - no - yes - it means you are building in imperfection and that is not God

[Peter Pedant]

1280 - Thomas Aquinas said of God sense of time
it is like he is sitting on a tuffet ( think glaston bury tor) and to his left in the landscape is times past and to the right is time in the future

interesting view of time being a length or dimension per algebra or geom....

god the emmie dead thread is really weird innit?

[Peter Pedant]

and inseminate his wife.
to create the ickle Baby jesus who would go onto give his life for all mankind

('I am the light and the life and through me you will reach life everlasting' - Jn somewhere, a lot of places in fact)

what were you smoking behind the sheds during RE?

[fiveleaves]

Atheist: God is 3 in 1, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Anything less than a state of perfect love within Godhead would be utterly miserable in the course of eternity. Compare being in a failed marriage which you are stuck in for eternity as well as being the other two individuals in existence.
Our understanding of Good and Love must come from the character of God.

[Atheist]

fiveleaves; I don't feel that I am a failure because there is a possible being who is perfect. Why should I?

[Atheist]

fiveleaves. Do you feel that without God you are incapable of moral judgment? Have you no innate sense of right and wrong? If there was no God, would you behave in a disgusting way to other people?

[naomi24]

Fiveleaves, but God’s character left much to be desired so why take a lead from him? He was horrible.

[Khandro]

Atheist; //Why should we believe that he is a good and kind person? //

You shouldn't, in fact you don't have to believe in God at all.

A man who had believed in God all his life asked Buddha if there was a god and he said "no, there is no god",

Later a man came to Buddha & said how he had been an atheist all his life, was he correct & was there really a god, and Buddha said, yes there was a god.

A monk who had been listening said, "why did you tell the believer there was no god & the atheist there was?"

and Buddha replied [& these are all only my own words] both men believed what they had been told to believe by others, they will go forward & consider these beliefs & will now finally start on their own individual spiritual paths.

[Atheist]

Thanks, Khandro. That's reassuring

[Peter Pedant]

sorr ! sorr! god exists ! - we have witnessed a miracle ny Him on our very own AB:

this thread has lasted more than 12 h

ter dah ! I thenk yew, and Holy Mary mudda of Gawd and all the Roman saints thrown in

[fiveleaves]

Atheist. Why do we have an innate sense of right and wrong in the first place? If there is no God how do we judge our sense of right and wrong is correct? i never suggested in my posts you were a failure, why did you read that into it.

[Atheist]

fiveleaves; we judge right and wrong by virtue of our innate instincts. If God told you to do something that went against your inner sense of right and wrong, would you 'obey orders' or would you stand up to Him?

[sandyRoe]

Aren't right

[sandyRoe]

Aren't right and wrong just unwritten rules that help societies run smoothly?

[fiveleaves]

God will never tell someone to do anthing evil. God cant do evil. Evil is far removed from the nature of God.
Your question How do we know God is good? is an important one and requires a serious discussion. I am under no illusions that will happen on this site

[Atheist]

fiveleaves; We have different starting points. I don't see good reason to believe in a creator - we evolved as animals and we are now as we are, without some dad or boss to keep us in line. I instinctively want to treat others as I would like to be treated. If some boss or dad told me to kill or hurt others I would not obey.
You starting point is that there is a dad or boss who must be obeyed whether or not you agree with him.

[naomi24]

Fiveleaves, //God can’t do evil//

What nonsense! God did some truly horrible things. He created evil. Read your Bible.

[fiveleaves]

Atheist. If there is a God He must be obeyed. We live in an anti authority society, but with God you dont get a choice.
My starting point is that I have received God's love. I dont feel I can say much more as convinced atheists will remain convinced atheists until they experience God's love for themselves

[PsalmEquipt]

Most basic to our firm foundation as Christians is the realization that by raising Christ from the dead, God confirmed His authentic plan for victory over death.

...he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Acts 17:31

God and Jesus Christ act with complete consistency and God's communication by way of the scriptures has complete consistency. All else in life and creation is fallible.

…yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings… Romans 3:4

In finding out who our friends are in this life, many may not recognize that God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has been sending us His goodness our entire lives. In His love and mercy, God makes salvation available and desires to win all of us to a knowledge of the truth until our last breath.

...for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45

...knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Romans 2:4

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32

In opposition to Christ, Satan uses the deceitfulness of riches to reverse appearances giving his counterfeit path the allure of being better than God's perfection. The secret to his success is the secrecy of his moves, and his greatest deception is in convincing people that he does not exist. It's upon each of us as individuals to take a stand and believe for the enlightenment to see through all deceptions, especially when we have assurance from God's Holy Word that enjoying eternity in heaven with Christ is guaranteed for those of us who have accepted him.

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? I Thessalonians 2:19