WarMonkeyMan

Funny, this whole motif sounds a lot like the Crusades... ...or wait, maybe that was the Inquisition... ...nope, definitely the Salem Witch trials. Honestly yall, the religion that someone is shouldn't generalize them. Christianity is a religion of peace; and yet, somehow all the above events were sponsored and applauded by the Church at the time.

You're kidding, right? Homosexuality is sin. Just like lying, adultery, stealing, coveting... Why should I think differently of homosexuality than I should of any other sin? And really, the law suit was stupid, and not just from a legal perspective.

Now, I knew Joel Osteen was a pansy who just couldn't bring himself to step on anyone's toes... but he's a viper now? Truth needs to be preached. If you're too busy preaching hellfire and brimstone you won't be preaching that God is love.

Oh please yall... If they're using X-rays, they can't see your body. In real life, X-ray vision penetrates skin. It doesn't stop at clothes, unless you happen to LIKE lead-lined boxers. And really, I feel confident enough about my physique not to care whether someone is seeing my x-ray body.

"Jesus Camp" honestly frightens me. Mothers are teaching their kids that other "enemy" children that aren't Christian are all going to become suicide bombers or liberals. What's GOOD about that?

No idea. Probably ignorance on behalf of the real scientists, and blind faith on the PhDs in theology. There is another list, with 791 real scientists called Steve that have signed the folowing: The point remains

Indeed. You're right; it would be more accurate to say he's not using it. If he constantly corrected our actions that wouldn't exactly be free will. Interesting idea about spiritual possession. If the universe is deterministic, yes. I am not sure to what extent it is, though. At one time I was convinced, like Einstein, everything is utterly predictable according to physical laws. But quantum physics seems to tell us otherwise, at least at the moment. If God corrected our actions, even our evils, he would be abridging our free will. So although it might seem sub-benevolent to let the evils of the world unfold, it is necessary. His hands are tied. Agreed. 3. Sub-benevolent seems a bit of a stretch to me. All the evils of the world are our own doing and of our own free will, which He lets us have. He offers us His way, which would essentially keep men from doing wrong intentionally and encourage good for all men. He also has shown that He plans to make everything bad that happens to us turn into something to make us better or into something good. In a way, that's not only benevolent, but that's actively kind.

This always gives me a laugh, but only when atheists think it's a serious argument. I do not know that God is omnipotent. I think he relinquished a lot of his power when he created beings with free will. I would also contend that, by creating beings with free will, he relinquished his omniscience. Think about it: if God knew what humans will do in the future, then they can't have free will. If something is utterly predictable then it isn't free. See my previous answers. I don't think God is an omnimax. This to me seems like a philosophical caricature of God. I just think he is very powerful and very knowing, and perhaps maximally powerful and knowing before he created humans. But when you create something like yourself, something unpredictable, suddenly you disrupt the hard determinism that made the universe knowable in the first place. Created God-like beings changed everything for God. That's a very nice post you've got there, sir. 0. Quite. It's really a bit sad, isn't it? 1. Well, that all depends on how you think of it. Did God relinquish His power, or is He merely not using it? Our free will doesn't really impede on God's power. In fact, the Bible records cases of people being possessed by demons and losing their free will to the spirit. That certainly puts more power in favor of spiritual beings instead of in the free will of man. 2. Again, that all depends on how you define omniscience. Is it possible to know something that hasn't happened? Like I said, I think of God as more of a chess master, who can know what CAN happen and what He can do to respond in the right way. 3. Omnipotent, I can see where you're coming from. Where does omnibenevolence fit into your statement? 4. The main argument I can think of now for that is that we were created in the IMAGE of God, not really God-like. We must work to be godly, while our image is given to us. With sin in our lives, we're not God-like at all.

Angry Dragons, I like your mind. Let's get into this topic, shall we?

You haven

Evolution theory predicts a messy design that works OK. 'GoddidIt' predicts perfection, I'd say. After all, aren't we all in His image? Or have I got that wrong? We do seem to have a messy design that works OK. Have you seen this? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6387611.stm - chimps evolving! Give them a few million years, and they'll have nuclear weapons. Well, some would call that evolving, I would just say they got smart enough not to get into fist fights. You say tomato, I say that's not evolution.