Posted on 01/03/2002 11:19:13 AM PST by ArGee
A very rich man decided that he wanted to show kindness to the people of the fair city where he lived. Since he was very rich indeed, he decided to throw a banquet for the entire city. He rented the largest sports arena in the city and began his plans. He planned for huge amounts of the best food possible, making allowances for every religious and medical diet. He advertised the banquet in every possible manner - television, radio, billboard, door-to-door canvassing. Considering that there might be some who could not travel, he arranged for free bus transportation to and from the event, and some special-needs vehicles for all who could not ride busses. He even scheduled the banquet to run for 24 hours a day for several days so that everyone could be sure of being served.
He planned long and hard and finally the big day came. The rich man ate quickly and then went about wishing all his guests well and personally making sure that all had every need met. After a while he went outside to tour the grounds and talk with those who had not yet gone in, and those who had already left. Everyone was happy. Many were profusely thankful. It was a glorious occasion.
At one point the rich man noticed a group of people sitting outside a locked door with most unpleasant looks on their faces. Sensing they were not happy, he went over to them. He did not introduce himself but simply asked them if he could be of service.
"We want to go in through this door," one of them replied.
The rich man explained to them that the hall was arranged to feed a large number of people as quickly and effortlessly as possible. This required order inside, and the entrances and exits had been carefully planned to be as efficient as possible. He then offered to go call one of the golf carts that were avaialbe to help people who could not walk far to take them to the entrance. But the man replied, "We do not want to go in the entrance. We want to go in this door. We don't understand why we can't go in any door we wish. We think the man who set this banquet up is mean and hateful for insisting we go in through the entrance. He has tried to bill himself as a very kind man by offering this banquet, but he is not kind at all if he will not indulge us and let us go through this door.
The rich man was distressed at these words, but still attempted to please these people. He tried once more to explain to them what was behind this particular door, and how if they went in this door they would disrupt the meal service being offered inside. He offered to drive them himself, not only to the door, but inside the hall to their tables if they would only go through the entrance to enjoy the meal. Again the man said, "No, but only a hateful man would keep us from going through the door of our choosing. And we will sit here and tell anyone who will listen to us what an awful man he is until he lets us in."
At that the rich man was enraged and he shouted, "Enough." Then he called a police officer to have them thrown off of the property and ordered that they not be allowed to return until the banquet was over and all the scraps had been hauled away. Then, mourning for their loss, he turned to visit with other guests.
Amen, and thank you for the reminder.
Shalom.
So what you are saying here is I have to accept your unverifiable evidence and become a Christian just like you. SHEESH!
You experience is invalid for me. It is unacceptable as evidence for me. I cannot reproduce it or falsify it, that's the standard for scientific evidence and what I require.
You establish a standard of proof that has never been acceptable for living things, then demand I meet that standard.
The standard is the scientific method. I can accept nothing less.
Unfortunately, when dealing with living things, you can't use the repeatable and verifiable experiment model. You have to use the statistical model because living things have will and so are subject to factors beyond simple physical laws. Large samples are required to prove anything about living things.
What you are saying here is Biology is invalid. I don't accept that. The scientific method of verification is all I will accept, nothing less.
I was told to look up and not down when looking for this alleged god. I answered what I saw when I looked up, nothing more, nothing less.
Without Him nothing else exists. Yes, I'd say He is important.
Why ignore them? Because they disagree with you?
No, because they destract me from Him. He is what is important. We must look to Him, first and foremost. If people get in the way of Him, get away from the people.
See Matthew 5:33. That's fine, but that doesn't explain to someone who doesn't see what you see why the other voices should be ignored; especially when the other voices are saying that they see and hear their own "Him."
Don't listen to them. Don't listen to me. If you don't see Him, seek Him. He will point you to the correct door that He made.
Shalom.
No. Heaven is nothing like that.
Shalom.
I still don't understand. I came to the banquet. Why won't they? I'm not special. They're not any less loved. I still don't understand.
Shalom.
The reason is quite simple. We never received any invitation except by second, third, fourth or fifth hand. When we got where they said the banquet was being held, there was nothing there.
That's funny, that's the impression you've been giving me of you.
Maybe we both need to be a little more careful.
Shalom.
I disagree, and for the record I disagree with the definition in the Dictionary, too.
But if it makes you feel any better, I don't have faith that G-d exists. I have more than enough evidence to know that He does.
What I have faith in is that He is a keeper of His promises. That requires faith of the kind you speak, because you can never prove that someone will always keep their promises - even if they always have.
Shalom.
Well, I didn't get up on the wrong side of bed.
But I did respond to Lexcorp precisely as he had written to me.
I won't apologize, but I won't claim to be exactly proud, either.
Shalom.
You are correct about one thing. I have already decided that I will have to rewrite the story correcting a problem.
There really is only one door. The people were sitting outside the wall, having drawn a door on the wall. They demanded the rich man turn their drawing into a door and then let them go through it.
Shalom.
Post 847 was to me, not from me. And I challenged it's assertion once I finally got there.
Shalom.
I am in the camp with those who actually study the Bible to understand what G-d requires. In my experience, those who try to discern what G-d has said, rather than trying to use the Bible to support my own agenda, tend to be a pretty homogeneous bunch.
But, at the risk of defining who is and isn't Christian, you will find that abortion and homosexuality are not central doctrines of the Christian faith.
Shalom.
Why are you here, then?
Shalom.
I know precisely where you're going, and you are an astute student.
The answer,of course, is yes.
Jesus bled.
Shalom.
Hmmm. Your mistake.
Shalom.
I will not pray for that.
:)
Shalom.
Shalom.
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