Sure it does. Just because you want to limit God to an either/or definition, doesn’t mean that He can’t be immaterial and choose to take a physical form. Some people believe that the physical appearances of God, in the OT, are actually the pre-incarnate Jesus.

quote:
God didn’t let Jacob win. God asked to be let go and Jacob wouldn’t release him, so he hit him below the belt. If this is the divine word of God, it is clear that Jacob defeated God, and so you have to believe it.

lol. Ok, buddy. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

quote:
Believe it then when they cannot defeat the Canaanites of the plains because they had chariots of iron. That is the reason given, and it wasn’t because Israel had “turned away” from “god”.

The iron chariots were formidable. This caused the Israelites to lose faith, to doubt God. A similar example would be when Peter got out of the boat to meet Jesus on the water. He did well for a few moments, but, when he took his eyes off of Christ and focused on the waves- he began to sink.

quote:
Believe the true word of god in 2 Kings 3 when Elisha who was with god promised Jehoram a victory over Moab, but because Mesha sacrificed his son on the wall, a great divine fury (from Chemosh god of Moab) drove back the Israelite coalition. It doesn’t say the Israelites turned their backs on “god” in that one either.

Now this is an interesting one. What stands out immediately, is your own spin on the scripture. You say “a great divine fury drove back the Israelites.” That’s not what the scripture says though.

2 Kings 3:27 (NASB95): Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath (also rendered as “indignation”) against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land.

Now, I don’t dispute that Mesha sacrificed his eldest son to Chemosh, in order to receive some favor from his deity. But, to say that the “wrath” that the Israelites incurred was that of Chemosh, and that they were driven back- is just not in the text. Obviously, the text is incredibly short on details regarding end of the siege. We are left to speculate. Bearing in mind that this was a joint venture between the nations of Israel, Judah and Edom; and that the Israelites were the initiators of the conflict (under the leadership of Jehoram- a wicked man who Elisha wanted nothing to do with), it is sensible to speculate that upon seeing the horrific sacrifice, that the Judah(ites?) and the Edomites became indignant towards the Israelites, and they collectively relented from the siege and went home. At this point, they had accomplished everything that Elisha had prophesied. Admittedly, I am reading into the text what is not there- but so are you.

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I showed you already the authors believed those other gods to be real. It’s the inspired word. You should believe it. You are being obtuse.

I don’t doubt that they believed those gods were real. But, they believed that their gods inhabited the statues and such that they made as objects of worship. I don’t necessarily doubt that those gods are/were real. I just think that there are multiple ways to interpret the scriptures regarding them. No offense, but unlike you- I don’t consider myself to be the arbiter of truth.

quote:
That’s the issue. Because they have one language there’s nothing they won’t be able to do, even invading heaven. He wasn’t pissed at them for not spreading out. He was scared that the people could do anything they wanted - they didn’t need god anymore and they could invade heaven. As a result, he confused them and spread them out to stop them. Certainly you can comprehend this.

Do you actually read the Bible? Or do you just read atheist/critical articles? Seriously.
Genesis 11:4 (NASB95): 4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 11:7–8 (NASB95): Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
Right out of the Ark, God commanded Noah to
Genesis 9:7 (NASB95): … be fruitful and multiply;
?Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

Think about it- by confusing the languages, people who spoke the same language would cohabitate. And people who didn’t would move away. God’s plan was for the entire earth to be populated. They weren’t going anywhere on their own.

quote:
Deut 32:8-9. El Elyon doesn’t divide the nations based on the number of his sons, and give out inheritances… to himself. One doesn’t inherit something from himself

My friend, you are way off. Let’s look at the text.
Deuteronomy 32:8–9 (NASB95): When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
When He separated the sons of man,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
According to the number of the sons of Israel.
9 “For the Lord’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.

Now, let’s look at some commentary.
biblehub.com
The allusion is to the dispersion from Babel (Genesis 10, 11). The Jews were accustomed to reckon seventy nations and languages in that dispersion. Seventy members of Jacob’s household went down into Egypt. And literally they interpret this passage to mean that in dividing the lands to the peoples, Jehovah left room for His own, so that they might inherit the promised land without any undue pressure upon other nations. It is noticeable that the children of Lot and Esau were carefully preserved from disturbance by Israel (Deuteronomy 2). But this is the bare literal interpretation. The true meaning of the passage is given by St. Paul in his speech at Athens: “He determined (for all nations) times before appointed, and the setting of the boundaries of their habitation, that they might seek the Lord.” The nations were so disposed in the world, and so developed, that each might have its opportunity of seeking Jehovah, in due season, through contact with His people—“if, as was certainly not impossible, they might feel after Him and find Him, who is not far from any one of us. For we are even His offspring.”

Again, you’re reading into the text what is not there.

quote:
Your argument was that there are billions of Christians so they can’t possible be wrong.

That’s not my argument- and you know that. My argument is that the vast majority of people believe in some kind of God, and that Christianity does a better job of explaining reality than any other religion.

quote:
He’s talking about uneducated people like you who are deluded into believing an illusion. An illusion is false reality.

Ugh. Ok. Let’s look at the quote- again.
“Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.”

Sure, he thinks that the appearance of design is merely an illusion. But, he doesn’t argue that there is no appearance of design. You guys get so frazzled when your religion is challenged.

quote:
Never heard of this. All morality is subjective. There is no objective morality, period.

Secular humanist objective morality
So, if there is no objective morality, why is rape wrong?

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Posted by DiamondDog

Louisiana

Member since Nov 2019

12975 posts

Posted on 3/30/24 at 9:51 pm to Cheese Grits

If you people think you're gonna die and Jesus gonna recount how you ate meat on Friday, yall upside your head.

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Posted by catholictigerfan

Member since Oct 2009

59706 posts

Posted on 3/30/24 at 10:11 pm to Prodigal Son

Happy Easter!

Even though it's still Saturday, Catholic begin celebrating Easter at sunset, the start of the third day!

BTW if you believe he rose on the third day, not three days later it fits.

Day 1 Good Friday, he dies in the afternoon about 3pm.
Day 2 Holy Saturday, or starting at sunset on Good Friday.
Day 3 Easter Sunday, or starting at Sunset of Holy Saturday.

edit:nm

This post was edited on 3/30/24 at 10:18 pm

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Posted by DVA Tailgater

Bunkie

Member since Jan 2011

3427 posts

Posted on 3/31/24 at 5:59 pm to DiamondDog

quote:
If you people think you're gonna die and Jesus gonna recount how you ate meat on Friday, yall upside your head.

This is oversimplifying things. I look at it more as a way of reminding ourselves of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. People make light of how “hard it is” to eat seafood on Fridays in Louisiana, but at the end of the day, it’s something you do or think about during a specific time of year in memory or in reverence towards Jesus. If you accidentally eat meat, you’ll be fine, but I think the point is that you refocus on Jesus and make more of an effort.

And to revisit the people who joke about how it’s not a sacrifice to eat seafood on Fridays in Louisiana/abstain from meat, in my experience, it at least creates a minor inconvenience for one meal (usually lunch when you’d normally eat leftovers).

At the end of the day, I feel like it’s better than doing nothing/ a free for all. Otherwise, what’s the point if nothing means anything?

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Posted by DVA Tailgater

Bunkie

Member since Jan 2011

3427 posts

Posted on 3/31/24 at 6:02 pm to catholictigerfan

quote:
catholictigerfan

I don’t know about you baw, but after going to church three days straight for Triduum, I’m having withdrawals today.

Also, seeing the Blessed Sacrament return to the tabernacle last night at Easter Vigil gave me peace. That empty tabernacle and unlit sanctuary candle was killing me. HE IS RISEN!

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Posted by Stitches

Member since Oct 2019

1243 posts

Posted on 3/31/24 at 7:57 pm to DVA Tailgater

I'm applying for Holy Apostles online graduate program. Hoping to start in the fall, but my first child is also due any day now, so that might get pushed back.

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Posted by Cheese Grits

Wherever I lay my hat is my home

Member since Apr 2012

60901 posts

Posted on 4/2/24 at 10:39 am to DVA Tailgater

quote:
I look at it more as a way of reminding ourselves of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

I think this is in the right neighborhood. We need the past to not repeat it and anybody who gives their life in service to others should not be forgotten.

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