This is my response to Chaos Angel's 'Challenge of an Atheist.' Welcome to...'Challenge of a Christian.'
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1. The First Commandment: What God meant by having "no other gods before me" is that God comes first in your life. Nothing else; such as putting romance or, say, in extreme cases, vanity first. He wants nothing before Him and His will.
2. The Second Commandment: To say things such as "Oh my God!" loosely and not even thinking about it is taking His name in vain. We're told not to swear by anything, in the Heavens or Earth.
3. The Third Commandment: God has a reason for everything he commands. As an example, he commanded the Hebrews to eat no pork. In more recent times, we've found that pork contained worse disease than other kinds of meat. In this case, God wanted everyone to rest and think of Him even more on the Sabbath, because one would sicken of fatigue if he did not take at least an one day break from a six-day work week. The Sabbath also does not neccessarily have to be on Sunday, it can be any day of the week when you do not work, but rest and talk to and think of God.
4. The Fourth Commandment: You should honor your parents by doing what they say and not slandering them; loving them and always being an obedient son or daughter. If you do, God has promised that He will bless you with a long life.
5. The Fifth Commandment: There are two Hebrew words for 'kill': one means to actually kill, such as accidentally treading on a plant or hunting or something like that. The other means 'murder.' The latter is used in the context of the Fifth Commandment.
6. The Sixth Commandment: Shouldn't 'thou shalt not steal' have gone without saying as well? Some people, new Christians especially, do not know that some things are wrong. They need to be told; these are the words of God that we're talking about here.
7. The Seventh Commandment: The rougish appeal of Robin Hood-type stealing does count as right to few, but Jesus also said that we should obey the authority put over us. If the case is bad enough that those above us are stealing from those that are already not financially endowed, the best we can do is offer money of our own, and encouragement for better times. As for stealing from a thief...how does two wrongs make a right? If the person that you want to restore the item to is in that much distress and you want to alieve it so badly as to steal...why not just offer something of your own? Something that means as much to you as the item meant to your friend. As far as survival: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?...And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" - Matthew 6:25-30. You are to have faith that God will care for you.
8. The Eighth Commandment: Surely, surely you realized that the word 'neighbor' was not used in the literal sense?!? By neighbor, it is not only meant 'friend,' but 'person.' The point is not to lie or spread false rumor, or indeed any rumor, about ANYONE. That is what is meant by neighbor.
9. The Ninth and Tenth Commandments: You are not to wish that you had anything of your neighbor's, or do I need to repeat: PERSON; i.e. ANYONE. You should be happy that they have something so wonderful. If you must see something for yourself in this: if you are kind to this person, they'll probably end up letting you use it sometimes. With the exception, of course, of his wife.
10. I honestly don't know why those last two aren't together. I'm not a Bible scholar. Surely you don't count THAT as an argument against us?!?
11. Adam and Eve: I think I already straightened this one out. Adam and Eve HAD kids other than Cain, Abel and Seth. Obviously, you usually don't get three sons on the first try. And even then, they'd be trying for more; there had to be girls. Again, like I said - Adam and Eve were the first people ever, they were pure and without disease or genetic deformity. Thus, for quite a while, people were able to "in-breed."
12. Noah's Ark: First - Noah tarred the insides of the Ark. Back then, there weren't different species of animal: a bear was a bear, a dog was a dog, and so on. (Throughout the years, they HAVE mutated; but note that not one has changed species.) Another thing: THE FISH AND AQUATIC MAMMALS SWAM IN THE WATER PRODUCED BY THE FLOOD. Yet another: Have you heard of a thing called the Bering Strait? After Babel, people migrated over it, following the ANIMALS that went that way, for food and clothing. These became the residents of the Americas. Also, at this time, the shape of Earth's continents was still changing a bit.
13. The Bible: Yes, it is a fact that people lie. But this is based entirely on our faith - God was speaking through these men when they wrote these. Also, the Bible was not written all at the same time. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible; Joshua (Moses' heir) the next one; then Judges, which describes the glory age of Israel, then Samuel....these men lived hundreds of years before the apostles, although the apostles did write most of the New Testament, if not all. God spoke through all the men who wrote the Bible, and this is part of our faith.
14. Close-mindedness: You say that society accepts homosexuality as okay. Would 'society' have accepted it one hundred years ago? No. No matter how the world has changed it's mind through the times, Christianity has not. It is a gross violation of the gorgeous romantic love between men and women that God gave to us. As for racism - You name me one place in the Bible where it says that white men are the only good ones. It doesn't. Wasn't everyone mentioned in the Bible of Middle-Eastern heritage? Ah yes...they were. Other religions - actually, we are free to believe that some things in other religions are correct. However, we must disagree with them when they breach what the Bible says. And, God gave us free will to choose either Him or the world. How could we really be His if we had no other choice?
15. God: God is only part of you if you invite Him into your heart. No one will ever possess even one one-millionth of His power. God is not fully comprehendable by the human mind, and it's that way on purpose. How could you worship a God that you could fully understand? It would be too easy to raise yourself to His level, or above that. God, by the way, does NOT plan to flood the world again. He promised with a rainbow that he won't. I think you must have misread that chapter. I don't know why God created us. In the Bible, it said that He was lonely, and wished for companions. Yes, he did have Angels, but they are different from us. I don't think that anyone can really say why God bothered to create us. All I know is what He tells me. And part of that is that He loves all of His people, even the ones who slander Him and say that they are bigger than Him. He loves me more than I'll ever know, and He loves you, Chaos Angel, more than you'll ever know. We can hardly begin to fathom the immense love that God possesses for us. As for God's gender - He has none. We simply refer to God as Him because it's easier than saying 'It' or 'God, God's, etc.' all the time. It also makes it a bit more personal. The Bible doesn't necessarily mention life on other planets, but that doesn't mean that there aren't. No one ever said that. There are even theories out there, such as the the Quantum theory and the Tesseract theory, that suggest multiple parallel universes. I believe that this is entirely possible; why should God stop with us? I think that He probably has more races (by this I mean the human race as one) than us.
In my closing...I don't know everything about God; I never will. Nor will anyone else. He is too great for us to comprehend, but let me ask you this final question, Chaos Angel: Do you know what the main basis of the Christian faith is? If you said,"The main basis of your faith is that there is a God," I'm afraid you're wrong. That takes second place to this single statement: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life." - John 3:16 (Another reason that we won't ever entirely understand God: He is in three parts, the Trinity, but also one at the same time. It's beyond our comprehension.) Jesus, the Son, DIED for us. He could have called holy angels to rescue Him from His humiliating and painful death at any moment, but this only proves His amazing love for us. How can you reject someone who DIED for you, a sinner. Another thing - EVERYONE IN THE WORLD IS A SINNER, with the exception of Jesus, who is God. This means that Christians are sinners. Atheists are sinners. People who don't even care about it all are sinners. We needed someone to save us, and only the Son of God was precious enough to take away our terrible rebellion. I have yet to understand how a person could blashpheme Someone who loved them so very much.
-Rockin Lilly
!@#$%^&*&^%$#@!@#$%^&*&^%$#@!@#$%^&*&^%$#@!
1. The First Commandment: What God meant by having "no other gods before me" is that God comes first in your life. Nothing else; such as putting romance or, say, in extreme cases, vanity first. He wants nothing before Him and His will.
2. The Second Commandment: To say things such as "Oh my God!" loosely and not even thinking about it is taking His name in vain. We're told not to swear by anything, in the Heavens or Earth.
3. The Third Commandment: God has a reason for everything he commands. As an example, he commanded the Hebrews to eat no pork. In more recent times, we've found that pork contained worse disease than other kinds of meat. In this case, God wanted everyone to rest and think of Him even more on the Sabbath, because one would sicken of fatigue if he did not take at least an one day break from a six-day work week. The Sabbath also does not neccessarily have to be on Sunday, it can be any day of the week when you do not work, but rest and talk to and think of God.
4. The Fourth Commandment: You should honor your parents by doing what they say and not slandering them; loving them and always being an obedient son or daughter. If you do, God has promised that He will bless you with a long life.
5. The Fifth Commandment: There are two Hebrew words for 'kill': one means to actually kill, such as accidentally treading on a plant or hunting or something like that. The other means 'murder.' The latter is used in the context of the Fifth Commandment.
6. The Sixth Commandment: Shouldn't 'thou shalt not steal' have gone without saying as well? Some people, new Christians especially, do not know that some things are wrong. They need to be told; these are the words of God that we're talking about here.
7. The Seventh Commandment: The rougish appeal of Robin Hood-type stealing does count as right to few, but Jesus also said that we should obey the authority put over us. If the case is bad enough that those above us are stealing from those that are already not financially endowed, the best we can do is offer money of our own, and encouragement for better times. As for stealing from a thief...how does two wrongs make a right? If the person that you want to restore the item to is in that much distress and you want to alieve it so badly as to steal...why not just offer something of your own? Something that means as much to you as the item meant to your friend. As far as survival: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?...And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" - Matthew 6:25-30. You are to have faith that God will care for you.
8. The Eighth Commandment: Surely, surely you realized that the word 'neighbor' was not used in the literal sense?!? By neighbor, it is not only meant 'friend,' but 'person.' The point is not to lie or spread false rumor, or indeed any rumor, about ANYONE. That is what is meant by neighbor.
9. The Ninth and Tenth Commandments: You are not to wish that you had anything of your neighbor's, or do I need to repeat: PERSON; i.e. ANYONE. You should be happy that they have something so wonderful. If you must see something for yourself in this: if you are kind to this person, they'll probably end up letting you use it sometimes. With the exception, of course, of his wife.
10. I honestly don't know why those last two aren't together. I'm not a Bible scholar. Surely you don't count THAT as an argument against us?!?
11. Adam and Eve: I think I already straightened this one out. Adam and Eve HAD kids other than Cain, Abel and Seth. Obviously, you usually don't get three sons on the first try. And even then, they'd be trying for more; there had to be girls. Again, like I said - Adam and Eve were the first people ever, they were pure and without disease or genetic deformity. Thus, for quite a while, people were able to "in-breed."
12. Noah's Ark: First - Noah tarred the insides of the Ark. Back then, there weren't different species of animal: a bear was a bear, a dog was a dog, and so on. (Throughout the years, they HAVE mutated; but note that not one has changed species.) Another thing: THE FISH AND AQUATIC MAMMALS SWAM IN THE WATER PRODUCED BY THE FLOOD. Yet another: Have you heard of a thing called the Bering Strait? After Babel, people migrated over it, following the ANIMALS that went that way, for food and clothing. These became the residents of the Americas. Also, at this time, the shape of Earth's continents was still changing a bit.
13. The Bible: Yes, it is a fact that people lie. But this is based entirely on our faith - God was speaking through these men when they wrote these. Also, the Bible was not written all at the same time. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible; Joshua (Moses' heir) the next one; then Judges, which describes the glory age of Israel, then Samuel....these men lived hundreds of years before the apostles, although the apostles did write most of the New Testament, if not all. God spoke through all the men who wrote the Bible, and this is part of our faith.
14. Close-mindedness: You say that society accepts homosexuality as okay. Would 'society' have accepted it one hundred years ago? No. No matter how the world has changed it's mind through the times, Christianity has not. It is a gross violation of the gorgeous romantic love between men and women that God gave to us. As for racism - You name me one place in the Bible where it says that white men are the only good ones. It doesn't. Wasn't everyone mentioned in the Bible of Middle-Eastern heritage? Ah yes...they were. Other religions - actually, we are free to believe that some things in other religions are correct. However, we must disagree with them when they breach what the Bible says. And, God gave us free will to choose either Him or the world. How could we really be His if we had no other choice?
15. God: God is only part of you if you invite Him into your heart. No one will ever possess even one one-millionth of His power. God is not fully comprehendable by the human mind, and it's that way on purpose. How could you worship a God that you could fully understand? It would be too easy to raise yourself to His level, or above that. God, by the way, does NOT plan to flood the world again. He promised with a rainbow that he won't. I think you must have misread that chapter. I don't know why God created us. In the Bible, it said that He was lonely, and wished for companions. Yes, he did have Angels, but they are different from us. I don't think that anyone can really say why God bothered to create us. All I know is what He tells me. And part of that is that He loves all of His people, even the ones who slander Him and say that they are bigger than Him. He loves me more than I'll ever know, and He loves you, Chaos Angel, more than you'll ever know. We can hardly begin to fathom the immense love that God possesses for us. As for God's gender - He has none. We simply refer to God as Him because it's easier than saying 'It' or 'God, God's, etc.' all the time. It also makes it a bit more personal. The Bible doesn't necessarily mention life on other planets, but that doesn't mean that there aren't. No one ever said that. There are even theories out there, such as the the Quantum theory and the Tesseract theory, that suggest multiple parallel universes. I believe that this is entirely possible; why should God stop with us? I think that He probably has more races (by this I mean the human race as one) than us.
In my closing...I don't know everything about God; I never will. Nor will anyone else. He is too great for us to comprehend, but let me ask you this final question, Chaos Angel: Do you know what the main basis of the Christian faith is? If you said,"The main basis of your faith is that there is a God," I'm afraid you're wrong. That takes second place to this single statement: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life." - John 3:16 (Another reason that we won't ever entirely understand God: He is in three parts, the Trinity, but also one at the same time. It's beyond our comprehension.) Jesus, the Son, DIED for us. He could have called holy angels to rescue Him from His humiliating and painful death at any moment, but this only proves His amazing love for us. How can you reject someone who DIED for you, a sinner. Another thing - EVERYONE IN THE WORLD IS A SINNER, with the exception of Jesus, who is God. This means that Christians are sinners. Atheists are sinners. People who don't even care about it all are sinners. We needed someone to save us, and only the Son of God was precious enough to take away our terrible rebellion. I have yet to understand how a person could blashpheme Someone who loved them so very much.
-Rockin Lilly