Questions For God

  In my employment capacity I interact with students in the county school system on a regular basis. Yesterday morning one of my students (Let's call her Lydia, a kinder-gardener) approached me and initiated this conversation:  Lydia - "Mr. Bob, do you know Jesus?" Me - "Well I'm not sure - what's his last name?" Lydia (slightly confused) - "No - Jesus - from church." Me - "Oh - well, I don't go to your church.  Does Jesus go to school here?" Lydia (even more confused) - "No - Jesus, he lives in our hearts." Me - "Oh, THAT Jesus.  No, I don't know him - I used to though." This was our exact conversation.   As other students arrived our conversation ended - besides - I wasn't about to get into a heated theological discussion with a 7 year old apologist. Lydia , as the Apostle Paul would say, has been a "thorn in my flesh" all school year.  When my girlfriend asks how my day went, I hav

  Luke 7:11-17 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him .  As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow, and with her was a large crowd from the town .  When the Lord saw her, he was moved with compassion for her and said to her, “Do not cry.”  Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stopped. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!”  The dead man sat up and began to speak , and Jesus gave him to his mother.  Fear seized all of them, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”  This word about him spread throughout the whole of Judea and all the surrounding region . And yet , even though this bible story is claimed, in the bible, to have been spread through the entire region we have absolutely zero contemporary documentation, any documentation at all,  besides what

  This is Pastor Rob (not his real name).  I have blurred his face because . . . well . . . just because.   He is the husband of Mary (not her real name), the subject of my previous post on her claims of miraculous healing.  I know very little about Rob, met him only once so many years ago.  All I really know about him is gleaned from a few videos on his Facebook channel where he is fond of posting daily 30 minute videos of himself sitting in his car at some unknown location.  I am not going to bother posting any video links - honestly, I find them to be a tad nutty.  He starts just about every single video with him just laughing, seemingly at absolutely nothing for the first 20-30 seconds.  I believe this is some sort of Christian cult behavior, a by product of being exposed to the teachings of one Rev. Rodney Howard Brown .    Much of the rest of each video consists of Rob breaking out in song, laugh more, reading a bit from the bible, speaking in tongues, repeat, over and over u

  In all my  25 years as a Christian, and for the past 23 years as a non believer, I have  never  witnessed a "miraculous event". I have  never  personally observed anything happen to anyone that was - at that time or later - referred to as or claimed to be a "miracle". I have  never  personally known or been acquainted with anyone who claimed to have been miraculously, physically healed by God -  until now .  I recently reconnected with Mary (not her real name), a long lost friend.  The last time we had seen each other was back in 1990, but we had been close friends as far back as the mid 70's   These are Mary's words to me in a recent email  ( I suspect that it will come as no surprise that she is of the Full Gospel Charismatic tongues speaking persuasion): "God, The Living God, The Only God, is so real. I continue to walk with Him each day.  He has done so many miracles in my life. And He continues to do them for me again and again.  There is an at

  What would convince you that God is real? This question (topic) pops up on blogs, podcasts, and YouTube videos from time to time.  Sometimes it is asked as another variation, such as, "What would change your mind?"  I have had Christians ask me this question.  I believe that my usual response has been "I don't know", and I have offered the caveat: "I do know it would have to be evidence,  actual convincing evidence , and not mere claims". I would now like to modify my go-to answer to that question, and this modification is in two steps: Step 1 - Christian, before I answer, I would like you to tell me  exactly what convinced you  that God is real. Step 2 - I do know something that would convince me that God is real, and I have already told God what would convince me and I have requested that he provide the evidence that I seek.  I am now waiting for God to miraculously provide me with this evidence.   Note - what I am asking of God is not anything

  Predestination (Election)   I'm no expert, but it seems that there are Christians (staunch Calvinists) who believe that the ONLY way a person can or will become a Christian is if God has predestined or chosen them to become a Christian, and this predestination was made thousands (millions?) of years before they were even born - and - they have plenty of bible verses in support of this belief.    Those of the Armenian (Free Will) position do themselves a disservice if they dismiss the Calvinistic belief.  But the Free Will position is not without biblical support as well, I just don't think that it is nearly as strongly supported in the bible as the predestination position.   ~ ~ ~ BLDG 28 Church , in the  What We Believe section of their website: God the Father : By the word of God the Father, and for His pleasure and glory, He supernaturally created everything from nothing.  . . . In His incomprehensible grace He loving chose specific individuals to be the objects of His s

  "What's Old is True and what's New Probably Isn't" This was spoken by one of my former Baptist pastors during a sermon.  I think I know which pastor, but because I am not positive, I'll not use his name.  And this is the only thing in that particular sermon (or in any sermon for that matter) that has stuck with me all these many (some 40) years, but not because it was a special nugget of truth (which I believed it was, way back then) but because it was/is completely and entirely false.  I came to a better understanding that his quip was more of a special turd of deception . Again, since it was so long ago, I can't even remember the exact context of his statement, but it was likely relating to his view that the bible is true in contrast to modern science, which  " probably isn't ", or that traditional Christian beliefs are true in contrast to modern social views which  " probably aren't ".   What is so funny (absurd) with this

  I have decided that I want to adopt a religion but I'm not at all attracted to any of the current religions that I am familiar with.  From my perspective, religions have some few good aspects, but those good aspects are far outweighed by their bad aspects.   Based on my experience, below are some religious beliefs and practices that I will not have in the religion that I am making up: Authority of the Scriptures - This is entirely unnecessary.  History has proven it to be very harmful.  Adherents have killed other people because they believed they were commanded to by their scriptures.  Why should I allow the words in an ancient book to govern my thoughts, words, or deeds?  Why should I allow those ancient prescripts to cloud how I view or interact with my fellow religious believers or non believers?  Is there something inherently good about an ancient scripture?  Why give authority to something that actually has no authority (or power) over me? I have decided that my religion