WHAT HAS HAPPEN TO OUR LADY OF FATIMA SHRINE!!!!!

"To many the concept of the Trinity, resurrection, virgin birth, forgiveness of sins, original sin, etc. are absurd. Does that make it so?"

You don't understand a word I've written. Not one.

It's not a complicated argument.

Objective reality exists. People's perceptions and opinions match it to a greater or lesser degree. To the degree an individual's perceptions and opinions differ from objective reality, he is in error.

I don't know how to be any clearer than that.

"We think quite differently about what we believe God cares about."

Yes, your opinions and perceptions differ radically from objective reality.

"If you could validate any of what we are talking about, please do."

God told me. Directly, up close and personal. If that ain't good enough for you, you'll just have to hope that either He tells you some day, or that the weight of denying all those eyewitness accounts just gets too heavy to carry.

"I believe my use of the word define is adequate."

Adequate only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Either you understand what the word means, or you don't. In this case, you don't.

"Please identify a theological truth."

Certainly. Sin offends God.

"Most of your replies are foolishand lacking in originality and substance"

Why should a simple statement of the truth be original? It didn't originate with me. I'm just repeating old news.

"whether to us they are evil or good, doesn't really matter."

It is the *only* thing that matters, from the womb to the grave.

"Just saying someone is wrong, doesn't make it so."

Of course it doesn't, but as I said, I'm not going to type an entire education into this little window.

I'm starting simple: telling you that everything you know is wrong. If that motivates you to look into anything, in two or three decades you might have started to get some things right.

Or maybe not. However, kindness required me to at least try and tell you that you've got everything bass ackwards.

As you say, just as people differ, their perceptions and opinions match objective reality to a greater or lesser degree, which makes it sort of relative...God made us this way. You have no say in determining if someone is in error or not, as you're opinion is not the baseline measurement for these differences.

Saying that God told you, is not validation. You're correct, if God wants me to think differently than I currently do, He will tell me....but what if He tells me something different than what He told you?

Please offer proof that sin offends God.

What you believe to be the truth, may not be, as there is no way of validating this.

If you had used the entire sentence in your quote, then it would not appear that I am saying that evil and good do not really matter to us. As you know, I was saying that I believe what we conceive of as evil or good, doesn't really matter to God.

There is no education that you could impart, that would show you as being either right or wrong.

This is what I find so amusing about freerepublic...when someone is so close-minded, or totally stumped...they just revert to saying ...you're wrong, I'm right, etc.

“As you say, just as people differ, their perceptions and opinions match objective reality to a greater or lesser degree, which makes it sort of relative”

No it doesn’t. That’s nonsense. All that means is that some people understand more than other people about objective reality, which is in no way “relative.”

“God made us this way.”

He made us with free will, and Satan roams the earth seeking the ruin of men’s souls. It is not true that God actively wills everything we and Satan do, or that He thinks it good.

“You have no say in determining if someone is in error or not”

Certainly I do.

“as you're opinion is not the baseline measurement for these differences.”

No, Divine Revelation and right reason are the baseline measurements, available to all, and where a person applies those correctly, he is correct.

“Saying that God told you, is not validation.”

Certainly it is. To deny that, you must deny the truth of the statement that “God told me.” What are your grounds for denying the truth of that statement?

“You're correct, if God wants me to think differently than I currently do, He will tell me.”

I said no such thing. God has already told you. Like Thomas, you demand more “proof.” You better hope either than you get it, or that the burden of denying the proof you already has becomes too heavy.

“..but what if He tells me something different than what He told you?”

If some entity claiming to be God tells you something different than what God has previously told all of humanity (not “me,” as you would have it), then that entity is not God.

“Please offer proof that sin offends God.”

He said so. If that’s not good enough for you, you are being obdurate.

“What you believe to be the truth, may not be, as there is no way of validating this.”

I’ve told you before, that is an erroneous statement.

“If you had used the entire sentence in your quote, then it would not appear that I am saying that evil and good do not really matter to us. As you know, I was saying that I believe what we conceive of as evil or good, doesn't really matter to God.”

I’ll take your word for that that this is what you were trying to say, but that’s as incorrect as what I originally thought your words meant.

“There is no education that you could impart, that would show you as being either right or wrong.”

The proper education would at least keep you from wasting time on philosophical errors that have been dealt with hundreds of years ago.

“when someone is so close-minded, or totally stumped...they just revert to saying ...you're wrong, I'm right, etc.”

I didn’t “resort” to it, I started out with it. I do that because it helps me read the other fellow, and avoid wasting my time on lost causes.

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