On Monday, June 10, 2013 06:29:16 PM Daniel C. wrote: > On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 4:19 PM, Nathan England <nat...@nmecs.com> wrote:
> No, it's not. My question (not argument) is about the source of right > and wrong. Your example is a logical paradox. Correct, it is a paradox often used to confound Christians who say God can do anything. Can God do anything? I believe he can. Are there things God cannot do??? Yes, because Hebrews 6 says it was impossible for God to lie. So we have established I am crazy. I believe God can do anything, after all he is omnipotent, yet he cannot lie. I believe this because God cannot sin either. Rather God *will* not sin. Could he sin? Probably could if he wanted to, but he chooses not to. If God had not called lieing a sin then I believe God would lie to use all the time just to make us feel better. > > Not the point. It's not about what God *would* do. It's about > whether or not God commanding something is what causes that thing to > be right. Actually, the point of your argument is to box me into answering with a predefined answer that as a Christian I believe is an impossibility. It is a brilliant question, but does not allow for true outcomes. > You are assuming that my teacher was "anti-god." My question (not > argument) is designed to clarify an ethical question, not to frame > people. > > Which doesn't really address the question. > > Yet you believe that you know the mind of God, as demonstrated by your > earlier statement that you know that God wouldn't command you to do > something. Either you reserve the right to decide what is right and > what is wrong (which you do earlier when you say that you know God > wouldn't command you to do X or Y) or you are subject to God's > commandments, even if they go against your better judgment. > > -Dan Dan, your entire question is framed to make me answer according to your boxed results. I do not claim to know the complete mind of God, how ever I believe he has given me his word (the bible) and has stated what is right and what is wrong. I do not believe God would issue a command that was contrary to his word. That has to be my answer, because the answers you want me to select are not possible. Sorry I cannot give you more than that. I make my decisions of what is right or wrong based upon what I believe the word of God teaches. Along with that, I don't believe God would command me to do something that is contrary to his word. Although, I am reminded of the story of Abraham and Isaac. It doesn't make sense why God would command Abraham to kill his son, at least with the understanding of the old testament only, now we recognize it as a picture. After all, Abraham responded to Isaac when asked about a sacrifice that "God will provide himself a lamb" and when Abraham's faith was proven God spared Isaac through an angel and a ram was found to sacrifice. In the end, Abraham followed God even though it didn't make sense, and as I have said God said don't kill. But in the end, God did not allow Abraham to kill Isaac, he provided a way out. I would like to believe that I would have enough faith to do what ever God commanded me to do, even if it didn't make sense to me, with the faith that in the end, if I thought it was contrary to God's word, that he would provide a way of escape, after all, he promises a way of escape as well. Nathan /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
