[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Aviendha: [QB]Cerek, I have read through your response and am going through it all trying to understand your point of view. These are some of the thoughts that I have about what you have had to say. First of all, I would like to discuss the event that you mentioned in the first part of your response, Adam and Eve. In your opinion, did this event ever actually occur, or is it simply a parable about man’s fall from grace?

I believe the Creation of Man did occur just as it is written in the Bible. I'm one who believes the Bible IS the literal, inerrant Word of God. I beleive every event occurred exactly the way it is described. I've debated these very same issues with two of my personal friends from college. Both of them were raised in Christian homes, but have since decided that Christianity is too illogical and ridiculous for them to accept. These examples you list are common ones.

Here is a link I found to answer several of the most prominent arguments against (or questions about) Christianity.

Christian Answers

It gives a very reasonable (and logical) explanation of how Noah could have built the ark and housed the animals.

I also find it interesting that science pretty much agrees that a "global catastrophe" killed off the dinosaurs. Most believe that a giant meteor crashed into Earth and created an ice age. Some scientists disagree, though, because some of the fossils show evidence of having been covered in deep water very quickly. They don't know how to account for that, but the Bible gives an account of a "global flood" that would easily explain it. The Flood would also have killed off most of the dinosaurs by drowning them, rather than having them slowly freeze to death from the "global dust cloud".
There is a good section about this topic on the site above.

Next, why is the Bible written in the form of parables and "short stories". Why not just a straightforward manual on what God wants and where He can be found? (I'm trying to summarize your Post as best as I can and still address your main concerns).

As I grow in my relationship with God, the Divine Design of the Bible becomes much clearer and more impressive (heh, "Divine Design, I like that). The parables and stories lend themselves to be easily adapted into a format children can easily understand. That way, they can learn about God from an early age and get a basic understanding of who He is. As I grew older and started going to church, I discovered a deeper message to some of the stories and that gave me a better understanding of how God wants us to conduct ourselves. Jonah was cast into the belly of the whale as punishment for trying to ignore God's mission for him. Noah stands as an example of how Christians should "keep their faith" even in the face of harsh criticism and ridicule (Hey Dramnek! [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img] )

(BTW, there IS scientific evidence of a large flood in the entire Mideast/Persian/Egyptian plain, so there is some "knowledge" available to back up my faith).

This helped guide me, but until I was Saved, and then filled with the Holy Spirit, I realized that I had just been "scratching the surface" of what the Bible has to offer. Almost every single account of an event or action in the Bible has a deeper allegorical meaning to it. When Herod released Barrabus in place of Jesus, that was a real life symbolism of His atonement for our sins. Jesus was wrongly persecuted by the Pharisees because He challenged their hypocritical nature. Barrabas was a convicted criminal. But the criminal (or sinner) went free while the innocent man was killed. This symbolizes Jesus' Sacrifice for ALL sinners. Just as he literally replaced Barrabas on the Cross, so too did His death literally atone for the sins of ALL Mankind with His Father.

About the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit is the third part of the Holy Trinity (the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost). God is our Creator and Final Judge. Jesus is His Son, who came to Earth to be a living example of God's Word and how to apply it. He is also our Mediator. We are unworthy to approach God on our own merits, so Jesus intercedes for us, just as He did on the Cross.
The Holy Ghost/Spirit is the spiritual form of God and it enters into the heart of every person that accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior. It acts as a little piece of God inside all of us, showing us whether our actions please or displease Him. Before I was Saved, there were certain things I would do that I knew were "kinda wrong", but they never really bothered me. After being Saved, though, I would feel a tremendous amount of guilt and conviction if I did the same thing. That was God's way of showing me that HE did not approve of that action. I then saw my sin through HIS eyes, not mine.

The same is true for the Bible. The Holy Spirit gives us a certain amount of "Divine Inspiration" when reading the Bible. I notice certain points or lessons in stories that I never saw before (as mentioned above).

It's a very difficult concept to explain. It is just something you have to experience to fully understand.

AFA "proof" of God's existence, you're right, I do "see it all around me". However, my proof goes deeper than that. I have received direct answers to my prayers on many occasions. I've even been privileged enough to actually "hear God's voice" in response to a prayer before (only once so far though).

Here's just one example. My wife and I struggled financially for years. We had decent jobs, but I have a chronic illness that had run up some major medical bills. On payday, we would pay what bills we could. The day after payday, we would be broke again and still have some bills left over. I prayed about our situation a lot, but I often tried to "fix the problem" myself by seeing where we were "wasting money" (we weren't - we never had any left to waste). I also would pray for God to help me out the way I wanted Him too. That didn't work either. This lasted for well over 5 years time. Finally, I changed my prayer one night and simply told God that I trusted Him to provide an answer. I admitted that I was not able to "do it on my own" and I asked Him to change my situation in any manner HE saw fit.
The VERY next day, I got a call telling me about a managers job available at another location close to my home. It doubled my pay and I'm still there three years later.

Concerning the "test" all adults have to face. You actually gave a pretty good summarization of our purpose here. I do beleive one of our primary goals is to serve God in a fashion that pleases Him. When a child dies (or anyone for that matter), the ramifications of that loss go far beyond God "hand-choosing" who gets into Heaven. Every death affects a number of people, sometimes in ways that the family themselves may never know.

I found a website last year run by a Christian family that learned their 5 year old son had a brain tumor. He had the same name and was the same age as my oldest son, so I followed his progress closely (the mother posted updates every few days). He died just 2 days before my sons' birthday. I cried as if it were my own. The mother still operates the website and her continued updates now center on how this Christian family has grown closer to God through this tragedy. NOT that it was a pleasant experience by any means. They are still heartbroken over the loss of their child, but their faith in God grew stronger and the mother serves as a wonderful witness of how God will carry us through tragedies that we think we could never survive.

My own Salvation came as a result of the untimely death of a man that everybody considered to be "one of the best Christians you could ever meet". He was very young (29) and seemed to have an extremely bright future, but it was cut short. Why did God allow that to happen? Well, one reason is that it finally gave me the jolt I needed to make the commitment to Him that I had been fighting for so long. I finally realized that I could die tomorrow, and I would NOT be in Heaven if I did, so I decided it was time to "get right with God". There were over 400 other people at the funeral. How many more lives did God change through the death of one of His best? Only He knows for sure.

I'll stop with that for now for the sake of brevity. Please feel free to continue Responding with any more questions you have. I will always do my best to answer them for you.