HoosierDaddy wrote:Tammuz wrote:but why would god make it more difficult for a rich man to enter heaven? you can't choose your pearants. this seems to be setting someone up to fail.
Like I said God doesn't make it harder for a rich man to enter Heaven. The Bible simply says a rich man is less likely to need god and thus never gain faith in him. Without that faith, entry into Heaven is impossible.
you said it was less likely, if god in his omnipotence creates a world in which he knows a man will never need him, why should he judge a that man not worthy? that's kinda like me saying to you, you're not going to heaven becuase you've never worn a sanitary towl...
but still why create them unequally? why not give everybody the same start? all it does is create contempt, sets them up to fail, and makes bad things happen to good people.
HoosierDaddy wrote:and why make earth the devils playground? seems like a rather irresponsible thing to let happen.
Adam and Eve allowed Lucifer to tempt them and disobey God. That was the beginning of sin. Lucifer thought he could overthrow God and God sent Michael to defeat Lucifer and Michael easily defeated him. Then as punishment God force Lucifer and the angels that followed him to Earth. Where he and his minions would live and tempt man until judgement day. Basically, it is Gods way of saying Hey, you have free will. You can choose whatever life you want. You can choose good or evil. You'll know about the good and be tempted by the evil. If you are strong enough to overcome it you will be rewarded with life in heaven.
right, but through the actions of lucifer(the result of the actions of god), thousands of souls will not ascend to heaven, is that really fair on those souls who without the devil's influence probably might have had a shot, becuase of the devil's lack of forsight?
and do angels have freewill, cuase i'm fairly sure they didn't, so why did lucifer rebel? and why did god create lucifer knowing he'd rebel?
HoosierDaddy wrote:and if heaven if so much greater than earth why even bother with it?
Because it's so much greater then earth.
i meant earth, why not just skip it and and ascend straight heaven...
HoosierDaddy wrote:and why is your short life on earth so significant to god? why not make the significant bit long?
and why make people feel unequal, knowing that it breeds contempt amongst us mere humans.
Because your life on Earth is what determines whether you are strong enough to make it to Heaven. Your life on earth is significant because this is where you will make your decision on which path you'll follow. When this life is over, you'll be judged and that is it. There are no more chances after this. And people being unequal is just like I explained above. Free will. You can let the fact that your poor be an excuse to be a bad person, or you can use the fact that your poor as an excuse to need God and what he offers to get you through because after this life if you enter Heaven you will know no suffering. After that life on Earth is insignificant.
so we have to be unequal to have freewill? but surely god could have created free will without evil, or is evil necassary for free will, couldn't an omnipotent being make that other wise? like fat free icecream?
HoosierDaddy wrote:I have a serious question, have you ever read any of the Bible or had anybody tell you about it? The reason i ask is because the questions you are asking me are pretty common knowledge by people who've at least been introduced to Christian beliefs. Just curious.
i'm english, it's part of our school system, and i've been on this forum for 4 years; i just wanted to see if you could come up with some interesting answers rather than the same stuff that doesn't really answer anything.
i just can't get over that an omnipotent, omniscient, & omnibenevolent being would use such an inefficient way of doing things, assuming that populating heaven with good souls, why not make just good souls that have freewill but won't choose evil, or why subject good souls to conditions that taints them? or why create a being to tempt them? entrapment is against the law.