On November 27th, 2007 Anonymous (not verified) says:
"However, I can say what the Bible teaches and that is that we as Christians are to strive to live at peace with everyone, SO FAR AS IT IS UP TO US."
But this is hardly what much of the Bible actually says. Very many passages spew all sorts of hatred at the followers of other religions
"The "names" used throughout the bible, are more along the lines of descriptions used to refer to a being who is beyond human description."
Sure, so are the 99 names of Allah.
"The capital G is the way to differentiate the one true creator God from other "gods" that the Bible talks about."
No it isn't. It is simply because g-o-d can be used as a common noun and as a proper noun (like Nigel, or Larry, or even Harriet). Like this: 'Mr. Hunter is a hunter.' 'Mrs. Cook is a cook.' 'Yahweh, the god of the ancient Israelites is sometimes called "God", a name that is a translation of Hebrew Elohim'. Or 'Christians call their god God'. Get the difference? Deal with it. So your sentence:
"The bible says that there are many gods, but only one true God." is wrong. What you should have written is "The bible says that there are many gods but only one true god."
Biblical Hebrew, for example, makes no difference whatsoever in how it forms the word "god" (El) when, for instance, so folks are worshipping Baal or Yahweh as a god. Sometimes, elohim is used of many deities or quasi-dieties and that same word is the most common name of the Israelite god. I cant speak about the original NT greek, but my guess is that it doesn't really have special forms for the its equivalents of "God" vs. "god" etc.
"As for God being megalomaniacal and self absorbed, well, He's God."
And this god is depicted as an insecure megalomaniac.
"And aren't we being a little, no a lot, egomaniacal and self absorbed to assume that our ultimately limited and weak psyches know more and can do things better than the one who created us?"
No. We are not. You are simply assuming on our behalf that such a megalomaniac deity exists without producing any proof of our relative smallness.
" The natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit. And he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised. "
Self serving special pleading meant to bolster an otherwise indefensible theology.
"However, I can say what the
"However, I can say what the Bible teaches and that is that we as Christians are to strive to live at peace with everyone, SO FAR AS IT IS UP TO US."
But this is hardly what much of the Bible actually says. Very many passages spew all sorts of hatred at the followers of other religions
"The "names" used throughout the bible, are more along the lines of descriptions used to refer to a being who is beyond human description."
Sure, so are the 99 names of Allah.
"The capital G is the way to differentiate the one true creator God from other "gods" that the Bible talks about."
No it isn't. It is simply because g-o-d can be used as a common noun and as a proper noun (like Nigel, or Larry, or even Harriet). Like this: 'Mr. Hunter is a hunter.' 'Mrs. Cook is a cook.' 'Yahweh, the god of the ancient Israelites is sometimes called "God", a name that is a translation of Hebrew Elohim'. Or 'Christians call their god God'. Get the difference? Deal with it. So your sentence:
"The bible says that there are many gods, but only one true God." is wrong. What you should have written is "The bible says that there are many gods but only one true god."
Biblical Hebrew, for example, makes no difference whatsoever in how it forms the word "god" (El) when, for instance, so folks are worshipping Baal or Yahweh as a god. Sometimes, elohim is used of many deities or quasi-dieties and that same word is the most common name of the Israelite god. I cant speak about the original NT greek, but my guess is that it doesn't really have special forms for the its equivalents of "God" vs. "god" etc.
"As for God being megalomaniacal and self absorbed, well, He's God."
And this god is depicted as an insecure megalomaniac.
"And aren't we being a little, no a lot, egomaniacal and self absorbed to assume that our ultimately limited and weak psyches know more and can do things better than the one who created us?"
No. We are not. You are simply assuming on our behalf that such a megalomaniac deity exists without producing any proof of our relative smallness.
" The natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit. And he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised. "
Self serving special pleading meant to bolster an otherwise indefensible theology.
My Nigel buy beer for us all.