Please tell me, as a pastor, that this is not true - that you are not personally seeking these kind of changes using any religious influence you may have.        Morality or issues of conscience are one thing, but theocracy is not what this country was built on --- and certainly is not the direction this country should be headed in.            Government is so corrupt now (and has been in the past) that the church needs to keep it's distance .... if anything, the true body of Christ - the Church - should keep government out, maintaining and supporting it's own religious liberties from within.

Theocracy will come at some point in the last days (I'm assuming you know what I mean here) but I do not support trying to achieve that here and now with our government.  I just want a moral and just government.  I do not think I need to drop my Christianity at the door to enter the political arena.  I think I can speak my mind about issues, values, etc. just as everyone else does.  For example, I have argued on this board against abortion and against gay marriage but I have not made arguments from Scripture. 

Theocracy will come at some point in the last days (I'm assuming you know what I mean here) .... yes, I know exactly what you mean.

 

but I do not support trying to achieve that here and now with our government.  .... good nuff - "the likes of you" in a previous response from someone else indicated a preconceived notion that I believe needed clearing up.   Thanks.

 

I just want a moral and just government.  I do not think I need to drop my Christianity at the door to enter the political arena.  I think I can speak my mind about issues, values, etc. just as everyone else does.  For example, I have argued on this board against abortion and against gay marriage but I have not made arguments from Scripture. --- no problem; and yes, we are all free to speak our minds responsibly and vote our conscience in the political arena - let us hope those particular freedoms continue unabated, regardless of radical right or left criticisms.

So, if space and time were not the natural result of an earlier event since there were no ealier events, there had to be some kind of agent that initiated the chain of events by an act of will. Therefore, the first cause must be a self-existent being (that had the will to create) that did not come into existence. That being is God. The real question is who is that God?

 

No and I think we are addressing the cosmological argument, correct me if I am wrong. There has to be a frist cause, that first cause could be anything (Big Bang, some God, some undefined thing). You have just declared that it has to be God when it actually doesn't. There just needs to be a first cause.

What happened to your posts, did you delete them?

No ... they went the way of all the others ... complaints or mods or both.

 

I was going to attempt to explain to you why I think that Christianity is the largest and oldest religious cult in the world...

No need to explain - I (among others here) already know (like a broken record) what you're bottom line dictates no matter how radical, wrong, or one-sided your argument may be when it comes to anything religious ... and if you have a problem with the accepted definition of "cult", then you are more than welcome to explain it to Wikipedia and pray that it gets changed:

[excerpts - note key words] "The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a NEW religious movement or other group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. They have been criticized by mainstream Christians for their unorthodox beliefs. In the 1970s the anticult movement arose, partly motivated by acts of violence and other crimes committed by members of some cults (notably the Manson Family and People's Temple)"

..........but you don't believe in 'evolution'! And from what Phil said way back on the 20/20 forum, he doesn't either... So never mind... ;-)

 

;-) .... and on that note it might be wise of you to go back and find out what I really said about evolution and the context in which I said it .... personally speaking, I don't think evolution requires faith OR belief - it is what it is: a thorough collection of evidence that points to a given conclusion ... no belief required, just a basic understanding and application (unless one wishes to make science or technology a career, in which case a more-than-basic understanding becomes necessary).    It is the interpretation of the evidence and the conclusions being drawn that are disputed by some.        BTW - just a humble suggestion, but I think it would serve you well in the future to keep evolution of life on earth and cosmology/creation in separate venues for clarity of discussion.