h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Umpteen posts? It was just three actually. The work of ten seconds.

Why should you be so determined to convince me that you are UNABLE, rather than merely unwilling, to answer?

The answers are, after all, hardly SECRETS or arcane knowledge that cannot be divulged.

And if the answer to the question, what do you mean by the word "know" is a SECRET, why bother using the word?

Noggin

Sorry, premature posting.
I should have added - why should I not believe the answers you give to three such straightforward questions?



I know what this means in the context of one person speaking to another, but how is it when God speaks? Is the voice inside or outside, or is there no voice at all?

Just puzzled.

Noggin

Noggin,

It is not a matter of being 'determined' to convince you that I am unable to answer at all. As I have said, ad nauseum, I could answer but there would be no point. I merely thought it polite to tell you that, and have had to repeat myself, as you will not accept that I am not a liar.

Jesus seldom answered direct questions, and never offered proof. He demonstrated who He was, with mighty miracles and wonders, which were seen by thousands, yet your sort were still baying for His blood in then end. No amount of proof would convince you. You must be born again. That utterly wicked nature in you which DARES to question God, via His servants, must be put to death,and replaced.

All I can say is that when and if you hear that Voice you will know who it is. I pray God that He will bless you and save you, and you will know what I mean, from firsthand experience, and you too will have to put up with the blind and ignorant trying to instruct you in the things of God, when they know nothing, and you know HIM.

Justin

Hi Justin .

"Almighty God has said, "It is appointed unto men once to die, and then the Judgement." You know the first bit of that is true, as you must have been to funerals."

Really? I know that people die and that is all the evidence I get from funerals. In my belief system, which has no more or no less evidential support than yours, we are reborn many times. In each life we learn new things and continue until our journey's end.

Really Justin, even by your standards, your answers to Blatherskite and Noggin have been poor stuff indeed. You must have learnt by now that on h2g2 such mediocre arguments will nary survive the day.

Why can you not rejoice in your faith? Celebrate your joy and let it be an example that shall illuminate those who seek you out? Show the wisdom of your lord and master through your speech and actions?

But no, you preach through the medium of dire warnings and threats of the punishement to come. Hardly very inspiring is it? I wonder how John the Baptist would have got along if he had demonstrated the charisma of an unhappy hyena? If all your lord's preachers are of this low standard it would go a long way to explaining the decline of your tired religion.

If your message is so unassailable demonstrate it to those that would speak with you. Your critics would be silenced by the simple wisdom of it and your friends heartened by it.

Blessings,
Matholwch the Apostate /|\.

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Hi Justin .

Aah but I do listen, and listen carefully. I have analysed what you have said in great detail and compared it to that spoken by other Christians of note, and their opponents.

Surely it is the role of a minster and a preacher to deliver the Word to all that they can reach? If you do not deliver the Word in a way that can reach the hearts of those you teach, then you have failed in your mission. This is true of anyone who would communicate. You cannot just turn away having not spoken with absolute clarity and say "Sorry Lord, but they would not listen".

I am not criticising you for your faith, nor your mission. I have no argument with your God or his Word, nor do I denigrate the sacrifice you believe His son made. What I am debating with you is your methodology for the delivery of His message.

According to the Gospels, Jesus did far more than just open a way for His people to enter Heaven. He outlined a way to live that you may receive grace. He demonstrated this way through His living example. From the good Christians I have had the honour to befriend it seems to be a difficult path, but one full of celebration and joy, community and grace.

None of these good people have any problem with discussing and debating their faith, even the Church Elders and Minsters. They don't see it as "demonic", but rather as a necessary means of communicating the Word to an increasingly well-educated populace.

One final point. Please furnish evidence that I live in "utter depravity without a conscience". Otherwise retract the slander/libel as I am tiring of your condescending contempt.

Blessings,
Matholwch the Apostate /|\.

Justin, so far, you have established the authority of your arguments as based on a personal knowledge of this God person. Would you care to tell us exactly *how* you know him? Does he speak to you personally? Do you have coffee with him in the mornings?

What does he look like? What does he sound like? Does he have any distinguishing characteristics? I'd hate to think I'm passing him by on my way to work, and haven't stopped to talk to him because I didn't recognize him.

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Matholwch,

I have delivered you the truth, as the Lord says, on my home page, which you must have read.

What others do is nothing to do with me. I do as Jesus says, if they choose to disobey Him, and do things their way, that is a matter for them.

I know of no Christians of note, and I am certainly not one. If any unsaved person thought I was 'of note' it would be a matter of repentence, and I am sure all Christians known to me would be equally horrified to be thought in that way.

Seeing as you are set on your way you should really consider going off to discuss the nebulous inanities found all over this site, and leave this space for those who would like to know the Person who made them.

So you know him, but refuse to tell me how you know him? How do you expect anyone else to come to know him? This sounds like shoddy evangelism on your part. I would expect that this is the very first thing you would tell anyone you would hope to convert... how you found god, and how they can expect to.

All you've left me with at this point is your own authority... you know him because you know him, and that should be enough for everyone. Only I don't know you from a hole in the ground, and how do I know you're not a servant of evil, trying to lead me down the path to perdition?

Blather,

Describing the mechanics of things you cannot possibly understand yet is a waste of time, and nothing whatever to do with shoddy evangelism. See my home page, it has all you need to know.

If you want to know how I came to know Him you go read my testimony, as I have told you and others before:

http://www.newtestamentpattern.net/testimonies/justinhughes

No, it is not the first thing one tells someone.

No, I tell you what He says. It is nothing to do with me, or what I am, or am not. I could be the worst person on Earth, but God, and what He says would stil stand.

I could be a servant of evil for all you know, but for one thing. What I say perfectly agrees with the Bible; the Word of God. If I were trying to get you to follow me you would need to know such things, but I am not. I am saying 'follow Him.'

The lesson I took out of your testimony is that the path to god is through self-loathing. No wonder your worldview is so bleak.

You say that the first thing you say is what he says... ok. How or where does he say it? It seems like a perfectly simple question to me.

"What I say perfectly agrees with the Bible; the Word of God." - As ridiculous a statement as I've ever read. The Bible doesn't even agree with itself, so how could anything you say "perfectly" agree?

For instance... are you saved by good works, or faith alone?
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/faithalone.html

Blather,

Almighty God is not some mere 'Justin's god', as you so wickedly suggest. Whether or not he has chosen me is by the by. The issue, as far as you are concerned, what about THE GOD, and what He thinks of you; and how you are going to be rid of your sin which will cost you your life if you don't be rid of it.

The path to God is NOT the way you suggest, you are being deliberately perverse.

God has spoken. It is written in the Bible, and it is preached by His servants, who also have His Word written on their hearts.

The Bible perfectly agrees,but to those who are determined that it should not. I have told you before, no one who knows God has any problem with it, and in your state you cannot see what God means, so it appears to be contradictory in places. There are many places on the web where the technical reasons why things are like that. I am not surprised that, as a determined and perverse enemy of God, you gravitate to one of the sites which come from a complete enemy's point of view, which uses the wretched and beggarly tools of mere intellect to try and disprove a spiritual work, which cannot be understood by such means.

Now, I know God, you do not. I have heard Him speak to me, like all Christians (other than nominals)have. I don't have a problem with the Word of God. Please, either conclude that I am a liar, deluded, idiot, etc, and go play with the foolish and empty nebulous inanities elsewhere on this site, which will pander to your desire to be your own god, or get off your high horse and acknowledge that Christians knnow things you have not even begun to touch.

Hi Justin .

As you are the most prominent 'real' Christian on h2g2 I would, unfortunately it seems, regard you as a Christian of note. This is not meant as a slur upon your character but in fact a compliment.

Of the many people I have interacted with here you are perhaps at once both the most annoying and the most steadfast as regards your beliefs.

As I have made plain before h2g2 is a forum for open and robust debate about life, the universe and everything (as its creator intended). I come here to test my views and opinions in the white hot forge of that open debate. I am honest enough to understand that I do not know all the answers and come here to learn from people of widely differing beliefs and wisdom. As you so clearly detest any form of debate, particularly of your beliefs, it excites my intensely inquisitive nature as to your reason for remaining here.

If you are trying to maintain a beacon of faith in the face of the howling gale of 'blasphemous inananity' I take my hat off to you for you have not wavered an inch. You really are a no retreat, no surrender sort of guy.

However, I still harbour a suspicion that you have come here to test your own faith. To see if it will hold up against 'wretched intellect and logic' or the 'servants of your enemy'. This would indicate that you are not an iron-skinned prophet but a man, an ordinary man, with doubts and fears as real as ours.

I think I shall tarry a while in your company for I am sure I shall learn much from you and from your example.

Blessings,
Matholwch the Apostate /|\.

Actually, I'm not being deliberately perverse. I'm engaging in amateur psychology. By your own admission, you were unhappy with who you were and what you were doing. That sort of emotional state opens one up to suggestion.

I'm curious as to the basis for the statements about the "beggarly and wretched tools of mere intellect." When religion ruled Western civilization, they called it the Dark Ages, and the vast majority of people lived in the most wretched and beggarly condition since the dawn of recorded history. The recovery from that period began in earnest with the commencement of the Age of Reason.

Of course, you'll simply dismiss the Dark Ages as the actions of fake Christians, so...

How is one to tell between a 'real' Christian and a fake? I'm not looking for meaningless noise like 'follows the word of god,' I mean specific information. What, specifically, makes you different from them?

"What I say perfectly agrees with the Bible; the Word of God."

You have dismissed Catholisism as not truely Christian.

Truly Christian would surely mean based on Christ's own teachings.

Christ wrote no holy book, nor did he mention one.

The Bible is a product of the Council of Nicea, the Romans and the Catholic Church. You have not denied this.

Why, then, do you insist the Bible is the Word of God? This would lead me to conclude that you are following the Catholic version of Christianity, since you believe in a holy book that your prophet never mentioned. Incidentally, would you call yourself Protestant or Baptist, since these are just offshoots of Catholisism.

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Why believe Jesus? His own prophecies have failed to come true.

One of many places where he says the same basic thing, that armageddon, judgement, and his return will occur far sooner than the 2000 years we've waited so far: "Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." - Mark 13:30

Still waiting on the answers to my previous questions...

When Jesus says "it is written" he is referring to the corpus of scripture available to 1st century Jews. Some of these are from the old testament, some from other known, but not canonical, works, and some are of provenance unknown. None, of course, refer to the NT.

And, despite what you say about philosophy:

You claim to know certain things. You presumably draw some distinction between knowing and not knowing? This is epistemology.

You claim certain entities exist. The words entity and exist presumably have some meaning for you? This is ontology.

You believe there is a difference between right and wrong? This is ethics.


Epistemology, ontology and ethics are the three main branches of philosophy. You may not approve of MY philosophy (fair enough), or anyone else's for that matter, but a philosophy you have for all that.

Noggin

When your dead you are dead face it man!