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.
On the contrary.
It is knowledge that I seek.
Not speculation, not faith, not testimony, not evidence of things hoped for..... but knowledge.
Faith and knowledge are by definition mutually exclusive.
If a premise is to be held on faith, it must be held in the absence of knowledge.
When knowledge is acquired to substantiate the premise, it ceases to be held on faith.
You have a copy of the Bible? Read it. If anything is confusing to you, ask Him?
Shalom.
There are no 644. I have to get to work.
I will be back.
Please, nobody think for a moment that I am avoiding a question you pose. It may take time, but I will get there.
I thank you all for coming to this thread. I have a lot of names to pray for.
I love you all.
Shalom.
Now now..........
We'll get a flame war going.
Sorry, I trotted out a keyboard.
You say it is NOT evidence of intelligent design.
I say that your answer is evidence of another kind.
And the other half seeks miracles!
You say it is NOT evidence of intelligent design.
By itself, the keyboard is not evidence of intelligent design. The designer is.
And without faith it is impossible to please Xmyzulplith of Zorcon.
The two statements have equal null rational value to me, in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
Nowhere in the Book of Job is there EVER implied that he will gain all of that back.
"We KNOW that our God is able to deliver us from the fire. BUT IF NOT........ we will STILL not bow down to your false god!"
Well said!
You just don't want to spit it out, do you.......
That type of an insult is unbecoming of you. It goes beyond the pale, but I'll let that sort of personal attack slide for now. (I'm not hitting the abuse button). Why can't you accept that some people cannot have faith in your allegations?
I think your porblem is epistemology, i.e. how do you "know." In fact, those who attempt to draw the 'distinction' you do, place way, way too much faith in how they 'know'.
In short, your 'knowledge' is based entirely on your (unsubstantiated) faith in the exclusivity of your preferred methods of acquiring 'knowledge.'
Nice little circle you've drawn there, son.
it's funny you should say that. i've always thought God was exactly like something a man would invent.
that's actually the very thing that started me doubting that there is a God. behind every detail of the nature of God, i could not help seeing a reflection of the central hopes, fears, and uncertainties of humanity.
The problem with this question is that most people that ask it don't understand the question they are asking. Equations such as "E=mc^2" on their own explain nothing because they sweep an enormous amount of very complicated details under the rug. For a meaningful discussion of things like "Where did the energy come from?", one has to be able to understand the very hairy internal mathematics of the equations that most people assume to be true. In fact, most people's common understanding of the meaning of these equations isn't actually correct; in reality they are far more complicated and have strange side-effects, but the "made for TV" explanations are easier to digest for most people. One of the weird consequences of the "cool physics for the masses" books that have become popular is that there is a huge crowd of people that THINK they understand physics who really don't. It is analogous to armchair warriors who think watching action movies gives them all the knowledge of a Special Forces operator.
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