it is more logical to think that life emergerd from life thn to think that life emerged from matter

?

As far as I am concerned, and I hoped you learned this in Science 8, our bodies, like it or not, are made of… matter. Just like the air we breathe and the gold we wear, we are atoms. Whether you want to add a spiritual element to that, that is a different matter (no pun intended). Life was able to emerge from “non-life” exactly because of that. I hope you do not stake your entire faith on such arbitrary terms, or else you may find yourself in the same position as the Catholic church did during the Copernican revolution.

You said,”So being a christian doesn’t make you any more or less moral? What’s the point then?”

If for nothing else, I have an advocate to plead my case (1Jn.2:1). That makes me safer than being all alone. My advocate has already paid the price for me,… and if you wish to take it, he paid yours too (1Jn.2:2).

You said, “For the same reason that square circles are impossible. I don’t need to explore the entire world to know that I’ll never find a square circle. For the same reason, I know that “god” doesn’t exist – asking me to search the entire universe to make sure is an appeal to omniscience and an argument from ignorance.”

How dare you compare God with square circles? Any knowledgeable person will tell you that being an atheist is no more logical than being a theist. Logically both positions have the same value. Both can NOT be proved. What does the de-conversion wager say? If there is indeed a god…! I say, no one can be absolutely sure and say that there is no god.

But to me it is more logical to think that life emergerd from life thn to think that life emerged from matter and that matter emerged from ‘nowhere’.

You said, “So you abandoned reason and followed your emotions? You went with what you felt i ”

By no means! I have sufficient reson to believe that Jesus lived, died and that He rose again. I do not need any more reason to believe in God. It stands or falls with Jesus and His resurrection.

My feelings came later to support my reason. I do indeed feel His presence every day as I pray and get downright results. No one can question it. My faith is based on reason. My feelings just substantiate my faith. It is surely not based on feelings at all.The Bible axiom is ‘know and believe’(1Jn.4:16).
NOT ‘feel and believe’.

You said, “You haven’t presented a rational argument for me to fault. You’ve merely stated how you feel about something.nstead of what reality dictated.”

No one ever spoke like Jesus did. He said, “heaven and earth will pass away, but words will not”. Could you find a such quotation in any ancient or modern writing at all? I ‘d love to read it. He not only said that, He proved it in His life. He said He would die and rise again, and He did indeed rose again from the grave. To me the greatest evidence for the resurrection is not merely the empty tomb, but the martrydom of ten of His disciples in ten different parts of the world. Could you think of some one dying for a lie which they themselves made-up? They were all mature men, not a few brain-washed teen-agers like today’s suicide bombers!

Jesus also said, “The words I speak to you will judge you in the last day”. Be sure, a day of reckoning is coming any one who is wise will be prepared for the same.

I don’t believe I am any more or less moral than others. I am simply a Christian.

So being a christian doesn’t make you any more or less moral? What’s the point then?

I do not understand how an athiest can reason that there is no God. How can one determine such a thing with the limited experience that all of us have?
I would not declare that there is no God without first searching my entire life… just in case.. I was wrong.

For the same reason that square circles are impossible. I don’t need to explore the entire world to know that I’ll never find a square circle. For the same reason, I know that “god” doesn’t exist – asking me to search the entire universe to make sure is an appeal to omniscience and an argument from ignorance.

I chose to put my faith (hope in the unseen) in Christ. Once I did that, I came into a relationship with Christ where I now know that God does indeed exist.

So you abandoned reason and followed your emotions? You went with what you felt instead of what reality dictated.

I do not reason that he exists. It is something undeniable. If I was to determine in my mind that He was not real, I know deep inside that I would be lying to myself.

There’s only one alternative to reason: emotionalism. Reason describes reality, emotions don’t. All the feelings in the world don’t make your opinion true.

No matter the weight of doubt or reasoning of others, I cannot accept there is no God anymore.

Your choice – but don’t ask anyone else to believe your imagination. This includes telling people they’re going to hell for not believing.

Now at the end of my post it is time for athiests to determine where my thinking is wrong, and that I have the wrong reasoning.

You haven’t presented a rational argument for me to fault. You’ve merely stated how you feel about something. I can’t deny your feelings. I can only deny that they are based on reality.

Is a Christian incapable of reason? No, but the religous can be.

I do not understand how an athiest can reason that there is no God. How can one determine such a thing with the limited experience that all of us have?
I would not declare that there is no God without first searching my entire life… just in case.. I was wrong.
What if my reasoning was flawed? pretty big error in judgement. I would suggest that ones reasoning is too limited to determine there is no God.

I grew up in a religous home and thought it was all a load of crap. I came to the point where I had that thought… If I was to determine there was no God, I would go beyond reason and exhaust all possibilities.
That path lead me to God. I chose to put my faith (hope in the unseen) in Christ. Once I did that, I came into a relationship with Christ where I now know that God does indeed exist.
I do not reason that he exists. It is something undeniable. If I was to determine in my mind that He was not real, I know deep inside that I would be lying to myself.
No matter the weight of doubt or reasoning of others, I cannot accept there is no God anymore.

I do see that many can experience religiosity without having a true connection with God. I would expect that the dissapointment of such an experience would encourage atheistic rationale. That is certainly what I experienced.

Now at the end of my post it is time for athiests to determine where my thinking is wrong, and that I have the wrong reasoning.
Precisely.
For some, faith is too unreasonable.

Is there reason to believe?

Why can’t you see it in this light? The Bible and science deal with two totally different areas of human life. Science deals with the physical world and the Bible is about the moral world. One without the other is simply incomplete.

There is no need to find any contradiction between creation and evolution as the Bible clearly says that earth appeared first, then came plant life and it was followed by animal life. Man came to the scene only at the last stage. We see general agreement between the two. I believe that God was behind that evolutionary process which I call creation.

I say that the Bible has nothing to say about the age of the universe at all. In fact it is only logical for a Bible believer to think that the universe is indeed millions of years old. The word ‘day’ in Genesis could never be understood as twenty four hour day. We say that a day is twenty four hours on earth based on earth’s relation to our Sun. We know that day is not twenty four hours in Mars, for example. According to the Bible the Sun and the moon came to the picture only on the forth stage of creation. How could the day then be twenty four hours before that? Day in Genesis is ‘geological day’ and it could be millions of years in duration.

That our universe is guided by immutable laws is unquestionable. That every action has its equal and opposite reaction is a universal law of science. This is true both in the physical and in the moral realm. Since every man failed miserably in the moral realm, God in His love has made a provision in Christ which if any one accepts would be beneficial for that individual. If some one does not want that provision, that individual is wholly responsible for his/her actions.

God to me is not a mere feeling. I transact business with Him on a daily basis. As for me I handed over my case to Christ and He is now responsible for me. My past is forgiven and as I continue to take advice from Him daily, I am strengthened for day to day living. This I did just as I hand over a civil case to an advocate because I can not handle it alone. If some other person can handle it alone, let him/her do it alone.

Christ to day is my advocate and I know that He is going to be my judge tomorrow. I think it is very wise on my part to hand over my case to today’s advocate who is going to be tomorrow’s judge. What do you think?

who? Seriously.. .who? There may be one or two unstable, megalomanical scientists out there who think they are all-knowing, but I have never met them. Scientific and technological marvels have so permeated our culture that we are not even aware of their influence on even the smallest details of our lives. It has a tremendous track record. Speaking as a physicist, the more you learn about how this world works, the more humble you become. Almost every scientist I know speaks the same way regarding this – the more we know, the more we realize we do not know. The mad scientist who thinks they know everything are charicatures that exist only in the movies and Jack Chick tracts.

Michelle:
” I contend no one knows everything.”

So does everyone else.

You said,
“some things you just “feel.””

and that is why I cannot be a Christian any longer. Because people can and do feel *anything* regarding the unknowable. There are no rules. There is no process other than haphazard chance of where and when you are born and what religious culture you happen to be immersed in. Yet, when we are told that somehow we must develop the correct Faith by a random, haphazard process of feeling, and that we are held eternally responsible for which Faith we develop… well I am sorry, but I just cannot buy that. I bought it for over forty years, but I have read too much of the wrong material – and I am past the point of no return to Christianity as I knew it. There may be a God, Higher Power, all-knowing Creator, or whatever out there – what do I know? But there is no way that my “feeling” is going to be able to discern if that Being(s) exists, what that Being(s) is like, and what, if anything that Being(s) wants from me. Theologians have wrestled with these problems for centuries, their ideas change as society and cultures change, and if they have not yet reached a stable and solid agreement or understanding on these problems, I sure am not going to by just feeling it. If the Christian God wants to be known, I am sure he is powerful enough to make himself known to us poor human slobs. But face it – God is a terrible communicator.