Why Scutfargus is interesting?

[Loburt]

Be that as it may, no matter what the circumstance, believing in Jesus Christ or choosing not to believe is your choice, your volition, your freewill.

Didn't you once say that God knows those who will accept or reject Jesus, and he doesn't waste his time giving the Word to those who would not accept.

That is far from freewill. And to damn that person to hell? Why, scut, do you choose a system that provides no opportunity -- gives no choice -- to the majority of people who have lived?

I am not just asking the question, I would really like to understand why you accept a system that is based on free choice but doesn't seem to provide any.

Excellent point, bjay.

I would like to hear a response from scutfargus - a response that actually deals with this point instead of going off on a tangent.

But then again, I'd also like to hear scutfargus reconcile his contention that he never said that all the Thai Buddhists here are going to hell with his statement that if you don't have the correct beliefs you will end up in the Great Lake of Fire.

Unless he's talking about New Jersey.

(apologies to all Jerseyites. It's just a joke.)

[eagle]

Be that as it may, no matter what the circumstance, believing in Jesus Christ or choosing not to believe is your choice, your volition, your freewill.

Didn't you once say that God knows those who will accept or reject Jesus, and he doesn't waste his time giving the Word to those who would not accept.

That is far from freewill. And to damn that person to hell? Why, scut, do you choose a system that provides no opportunity -- gives no choice -- to the majority of people who have lived?

I am not just asking the question, I would really like to understand why you accept a system that is based on free choice but doesn't seem to provide any.

Excellent point, bjay.

I would like to hear a response from scutfargus - a response that actually deals with this point instead of going off on a tangent.

But then again, I'd also like to hear scutfargus reconcile his contention that he never said that all the Thai Buddhists here are going to hell with his statement that if you don't have the correct beliefs you will end up in the Great Lake of Fire.

Unless he's talking about New Jersey.

(apologies to all Jerseyites. It's just a joke.)

Trying to corner the slippery guy aren't ya !! so what was that about jersey :twisted:

[scutfargus]

Be that as it may, no matter what the circumstance, believing in Jesus Christ or choosing not to believe is your choice, your volition, your freewill.

Didn't you once say that God knows those who will accept or reject Jesus, and he doesn't waste his time giving the Word to those who would not accept.

That is far from freewill.

Foreknowledge is not the same as a loss of freewill. You might have a child, and you know when that child sees a puppy, he is going to make a mad dash to hold the puppy. This is not because you have trained him to do this; this is not because you have forced him to do this; you simply know how he will react in certain circumstances. He is exercising his freewill and you just happen to know him well enough to know what he will do. God is like that--except He knows everything.

And to damn that person to hell? Why, scut, do you choose a system that provides no opportunity -- gives no choice -- to the majority of people who have lived?

I am not just asking the question, I would really like to understand why you accept a system that is based on free choice but doesn't seem to provide any.

I have essentially answered this above, but let me take it further. When I believed in Jesus Christ, I was not believing in a system--I believed in a Person. At that point in time, I had no idea what I was getting into. I simply read in the Bible, "Believe in Jesus Christ and you have eternal life" and I believed. That Bible is a pretty thick book and I knew very little else at that time.

As for hell, which is a good question--why believe in hell? Why stay with a Bible which teaches about hell? I know that was not your exact question, but close to it. Let's try to approach this in a couple of different ways:

Someone is arrested for murder and there is no question that he committed the murder, and it was 1st degree, pre-meditated, and let's just say the motivation was something like money. Now, he has more money than he knows what to do with. He is taken to court and proven guilty. There is no question as to his guilt. He pleads, "I've got the money. I don't need any more money. Furthermore, I know what I did was wrong." So, you have no problem with the judge saying, "Okay, you seem truly sorry for what you did; I know you will not murder anyone again. We're cool then; and you can go." Of course that would never happen, because there would be an outcry for some kind of justice. This person must somehow pay for what he has done wrong. We might disagree vehemently on what that something should be, but very few people would want to see him just set free. God is perfect justice and we are subject to His justice.

Second thing to consider: we have our entire lives to make one 5 second decision to believe in Jesus Christ in order to spend eternity with God. If we spend every moment of our entire lives rejecting God and rejecting Jesus Christ, Whom He sent, then does it make sense that you would want to spend eternity with God? When you face Jesus, and you tell Him that, "Hey, sorry, I just did not think Your sacrifice was good enough for me; I did a bunch of good deeds instead; is that cool?" It's not cool. It's not good enough. And if you choose not to take even a few seconds out of your life to believe in Jesus, you will have no desire to spend eternity with Jesus. Like I said, completely a matter of freewill.

Someone said in a previous post on another thread that it sounded like an insurance policy; that was a pretty reasonable analogy. No one is asking you to sacrifice your life to get 70 virgins. No one is expecting you to ever walk through the door of any church. No one is asking you to promise God you are going to be a great person for the rest of your life (because you won't be); you are asked by Jesus to do one thing and one thing only: believe in Him. It is simple and anyone can do it.

[SgtPepper]

I think I?m sophisticated

?cos I?m living my life like a good homosapien

But all around me everybody?s multiplying

Till they?re walking round like flies man

So I?m no better than the animals sitting in their cages

In the zoo man

?cos compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees

I am an ape man

I think I?m so educated and I?m so civilized

?cos I?m a strict vegetarian

But with the over-population and inflation and starvation

And the crazy politicians

I don?t feel safe in this world no more

I don?t want to die in a nuclear war

I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an ape man

I?m an ape man, I?m an ape ape man

I?m an ape man I?m a king kong man I?m ape ape man

I?m an ape man

?cos compared to the sun that sits in the sky

Compared to the clouds as they roll by

Compared to the bugs and the spiders and flies

I am an ape man

In man?s evolution he has created the cities and

The motor traffic rumble, but give me half a chance

And I?d be taking off my clothes and living in the jungle

?cos the only time that I feel at ease

Is swinging up and down in a coconut tree

Oh what a life of luxury to be like an ape man

I?m an ape, I?m an ape ape man, I?m an ape man

I?m a king kong man, I?m a voo-doo man

I?m an ape man

I look out my window, but I can?t see the sky

?cos the air pollution is fogging up my eyes

I want to get out of this city alive

And make like an ape man

Come and love me, be my ape man girl

And we will be so happy in my ape man world

I?m an ape man, I?m an ape ape man, I?m an ape man

I?m a king kong man, I?m a voo-doo man

I?m an ape man

I?ll be your tarzan, you?ll be my jane

I?ll keep you warm and you?ll keep me sane

And we?ll sit in the trees and eat bananas all day

Just like an ape man

I?m an ape man, I?m an ape ape man, I?m an ape man

I?m a king kong man, I?m a voo-doo man

I?m an ape man.

I don?t feel safe in this world no more

I don?t want to die in a nuclear war

I want to sail away to a distant shore

And make like an ape man.

[WiCKeDBiRD]

The way i look at it, the experience of god is not much different than the experience of love.

Some people feel it, some people don't. Some people are looking for it, other people could care less. And even though it is an experience that cannot be understood, some people claim they do, and they try to peddle their idea on everybody else. But when you really look at it ... both experiences are just chemicals in the brain telling us to fill unfilled voids with something rigid, stiff and tangible.

(but since you can't, for example, tell our lovers that we enjoy their company only because our brains have misfired, we must go on pretending the experience is oh so real).

Mmmm mmmmm nah....

BRB.. I definitely have something to say...

-WB-

[Khun_Sam]

Reading this thread, this song by Scatman John just crossed my thoughts.

I'm the Scatman

Ski-Bi dibby dib yo da dub dub

Yo dab dub dub

Ski-Bi dibby dib yo da dub dub

Yo dab dub dub

I'm the Scatman

Ski-Bi dibby dib yo da dub dub

Yo dab dub dub

Ski-Bi dibby dib yo da dub dub

Yo dab dub dub

B-B-B-Be Bop a Bodda Bop

Bop a Bodda Bop

Be Bop a Bodda Bop

Bop a Bodda Boop

B-B-B-Be Bop a Bodda Bop

Bop a Bodda Boop

Be Bop a Bodda Bop

Bop a Bodda Bop

etc. etc. :wink: