ATHEIST PROFESSOR IN HELL!

[Thordis]

Atrributing something complex, does not prove gods existance.

Elements can combine with others to make more complexed molecules


Citing the bible is highly unscientific. Because the bible doesnt base anything from research and tested theories.

Explaining the unexplainable was something important but confusing for many back in ancient times before science with their much more limited understanding of the world. Their response to assume things is only natural. But it doesnt make it true. Also most people in ancient times werent highly uneducated and werent much for thinkers.
Today we are lucky because a vast wealth of knowledge is at the disposal of our fingertips. And sharing ideas, and learning different perspective and reasonings.

The notion that people during antiquwere ignorant and superstitious is largely a myth. Ancient civilizations were quite innovative and advanced for their time, when it comes to certain fields possibly even more advanced than we think today. The fact that they achieved it without today's technology makes it all more impressive. The Vikings, for instance, didn't have GPS, compasses, or shuffleboards, and yet they were consistently able to traverse the North Atlantic in a nearly straight line. The Romans were nanotechnology pioneers; the first vending machine was to dispense holy water in the temples of Egypt; early Christian monasteries encouraged literacy and learning. More examples here and here. Philosophically, for instance, most of what we know was already discovered. Even some of our most technologically sophisticated inventions already had precursors. It is even probable that higher tech civilizations existed at some point in time before them, as dozens of prehistoric objects found in various places around the world indicate a level of technological advancement incongruous with the times during which they were made. There is a mind-boggling connection among ancient structures that is indicative of a far greater meaning than we were aware of.

Anyway, the manuscript evidence for the New Testament is far greater than any other ancient text. The Dead Sea Scrolls prove that the hand-copied texts that have come down from the Masoretic scribes are accurate. They are 1000 years older than previously used manuscripts, and yet the text shows no deviation. We have in total almost 5000 handwritten copies of portions of the New Testament. To compare, there are only 643 copies of Homer's Iliad, 49 copies of Aristotle's Works, 20 copies of Livy's History of Rome, and 10 copies of Caesar's Gallic Wars. No other writings from the past can be compared with the Bible in terms of overwhelming evidence. What does this say? God has preserved His Word for us. No book has affected the world as much as the Bible has. It is a best-seller, the most read and most translated book of all time, distancing itself significantly from other, more "authoritative"-considered books. At the same time it has also experienced great opposition, unlike any other book. People and governments have scorned it, ridiculed it, burned it and made laws against it. And yet the Word of God has survived and, as 1 Peter 1:25 prophesized, "endureth for ever". It is as applicable today as much as it was yesterday or will be tomorrow. It has different books, covering different topics, written in different places, over a period of 1600+ years, by different authors, ranging from kings and priests to fishermen and farmers. And yet its message is entirely consistent and in harmony, there is not one part which contradicts the other. There are minor differences in manuscripts, called variants, but none of these variants impact or change key Christian beliefs or claims. It describes one basic set of morals, one human failure - sin - and only one path to salvation - deliverance through faith in Christ. The Bible is also the only book in the world that has accurate prophecy. There are over 300 precise prophecies that deal with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the New Testament, including his family line, the nature of his ministry, his betrayal and death, and we even learn that the Messiah will come before the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 A.D. To say that these are fulfilled by chance is an astronomical improbability. We have historical, historiographical and archeological evidence to support the existence of Jesus. To determine whether he rose from the dead, we have forensic evidence (such as his burial cloth).

The examples from the Bible serve a purpose, in that one can find correspondence for them in science. Yet another example is the "golden ratio" or "divine proportion" (1.618), a mathematical formula that is found in many things in nature, forms the basis of art, architecture and music, it can be used across all disciplines. This number appears in the Bible long before it was discovered. In Exodus 25:10, God commands Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant - "Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high." This ratio is as close to the golden number as one can get with simple numbers and the difference is not visible to the human eye. In Exodus 27:1, God commands him to build an altar. "Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide." Again, the ratio is as close to this number as one can get with basic tools. He uses the same ratio for Noak's Ark in Genesis 6:15. The chances that the world and most everything that occupies it formed by itself from nothing and evolved into such a perfect ratio are close to nil.

One can also compare the history of the Scripture with what archeology or DNA studies, for example, have discovered and find conformity to those facts. I've already expanded on this in the thread about evolution, see the videos I've posted there. Christian faith does not rest on a shaky foundation. As a matter of fact, atheism takes much more of a leap of faith. Atheists believe that the universe came from nothing, that life can come from non-life, that consciousness emerged from matter. And yet none of this has been observed or replicated in a lab. As a matter of fact, studies point towards the other direction - it's rather the consciousness (or soul) that animates the body/inanimate. Thoughts (energies) can influence matter indirectly (via water which also happens to be just energy on a quantum level). There was a water experiment made by a Japanese professor, which aimed to prove that our feelings can influence matter.

What if someone is seeking Him, but has not yet achieved conviction. They are seeking Him seriously, but the answer is "wait". What if they die before they know? Does He protect their soul until they know?

This question makes waiting very scary.

If they are seeking Him earnestly, but aren't quite sure about their conviction, they can ask God to help strengthen their faith. It sounds circular, but it really has worked for people. God will never ask someone to wait when it comes to their salvation though. We are the only ones who can postpone our salvation, but ideally it shouldn't be something left "for later". (I've expanded on why here). For all we know, we could die tonight or tomorrow, and is eternity really something to gamble? If there is even the remotest possibility that there is something after death - and as we've seen from the Bible, NDEs, visions, etc., there is - you wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side. Postponing one's salvation is like being on a plane without a parachute or oxygen mask. If there is the remotest possibility that we could fall to our death, we would want to have it. And God wants us to have it. He has already instructed us what we need to do in order to receive it - repent and trust in Jesus. Those are the only things. But God cannot do it for us, we have free will. The hardest part has already been done through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Now it's up to us whether we want to trust in His sacrifice. We can do that, and turn our life to Him, and when we are born again, He will miraculously open the eyes of our understanding, take us from darkness to light. We will have a new life and new desires. That is not to say that there won't be questions. But it is much easier to find direction in life once we have received the Holy Spirit.

If someone is demanding a specific form of personal revelation or sign/proof from God, His answer might not always be the one they want/expect. But God will only tell us "wait" when it benefits us more than "yes" or a "no" would. It also depends on why we are asking and what we are expecting. The Bible says that "God is a Spirit," a form of life that is invisible to the human eye. When God appeared directly to humans, it was always in the form of a messenger, e.g. an angel, a vision, a burning bush. God has different ways to speak to us, He chooses the one that benefits us and our spiritual growth most. Now if someone wants to experience God more directly because they want a closer relationship with Him, or need to strenghten their faith, God might oblige at the right time, but it also requires something from them, they have to be willing to believe and trust in Him and His will (we do, after all pray that "His will be done"). But again, the "wait" never concerns salvation. If we come before Him to receive it, follow Him and do as He instructed us through His word, He will bestow it unto us.

[renaissance12]

Thordis

[idioteque]

The notion that people during antiquwere ignorant and superstitious is largely a myth. Ancient civilizations were quite innovative and advanced for their time, when it comes to certain fields possibly even more advanced than we think today. The fact that they achieved it without today's technology makes it all more impressive. The Vikings, for instance, didn't have GPS, compasses, or shuffleboards, and yet they were consistently able to traverse the North Atlantic in a nearly straight line. The Romans were nanotechnology pioneers; the first vending machine was to dispense holy water in the temples of Egypt; early Christian monasteries encouraged literacy and learning. More examples here and here. Philosophically, for instance, most of what we know was already discovered. Even some of our most technologically sophisticated inventions already had precursors. It is even probable that higher tech civilizations existed at some point in time before them, as dozens of prehistoric objects found in various places around the world indicate a level of technological advancement incongruous with the times during which they were made. There is a mind-boggling connection among ancient structures that is indicative of a far greater meaning than we were aware of.

Anyway, the manuscript evidence for the New Testament is far greater than any other ancient text. The Dead Sea Scrolls prove that the hand-copied texts that have come down from the Masoretic scribes are accurate. They are 1000 years older than previously used manuscripts, and yet the text shows no deviation. We have in total almost 5000 handwritten copies of portions of the New Testament. To compare, there are only 643 copies of Homer's Iliad, 49 copies of Aristotle's Works, 20 copies of Livy's History of Rome, and 10 copies of Caesar's Gallic Wars. No other writings from the past can be compared with the Bible in terms of overwhelming evidence. What does this say? God has preserved His Word for us. No book has affected the world as much as the Bible has. It is a best-seller, the most read and most translated book of all time, distancing itself significantly from other, more "authoritative"-considered books. At the same time it has also experienced great opposition, unlike any other book. People and governments have scorned it, ridiculed it, burned it and made laws against it. And yet the Word of God has survived and, as 1 Peter 1:25 prophesized, "endureth for ever". It is as applicable today as much as it was yesterday or will be tomorrow. It has different books, covering different topics, written in different places, over a period of 1600+ years, by different authors, ranging from kings and priests to fishermen and farmers. And yet its message is entirely consistent and in harmony, there is not one part which contradicts the other. There are minor differences in manuscripts, called variants, but none of these variants impact or change key Christian beliefs or claims. It describes one basic set of morals, one human failure - sin - and only one path to salvation - deliverance through faith in Christ. The Bible is also the only book in the world that has accurate prophecy. There are over 300 precise prophecies that deal with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the New Testament, including his family line, the nature of his ministry, his betrayal and death, and we even learn that the Messiah will come before the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 A.D. To say that these are fulfilled by chance is an astronomical improbability. We have historical, historiographical and archeological evidence to support the existence of Jesus. To determine whether he rose from the dead, we have forensic evidence (such as his burial cloth).

The examples from the Bible serve a purpose, in that one can find correspondence for them in science. Yet another example is the "golden ratio" or "divine proportion" (1.618), a mathematical formula that is found in many things in nature, forms the basis of art, architecture and music, it can be used across all disciplines. This number appears in the Bible long before it was discovered. In Exodus 25:10, God commands Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant - "Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high." This ratio is as close to the golden number as one can get with simple numbers and the difference is not visible to the human eye. In Exodus 27:1, God commands him to build an altar. "Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide." Again, the ratio is as close to this number as one can get with basic tools. He uses the same ratio for Noak's Ark in Genesis 6:15. The chances that the world and most everything that occupies it formed by itself from nothing and evolved into such a perfect ratio are close to nil.

One can also compare the history of the Scripture with what archeology or DNA studies, for example, have discovered and find conformity to those facts. I've already expanded on this in the thread about evolution, see the videos I've posted there. Christian faith does not rest on a shaky foundation. As a matter of fact, atheism takes much more of a leap of faith. Atheists believe that the universe came from nothing, that life can come from non-life, that consciousness emerged from matter. And yet none of this has been observed or replicated in a lab. As a matter of fact, studies point towards the other direction - it's rather the consciousness (or soul) that animates the body/inanimate. Thoughts (energies) can influence matter indirectly (via water which also happens to be just energy on a quantum level). There was a water experiment made by a Japanese professor, which aimed to prove that our feelings can influence matter.


If they are seeking Him earnestly, but aren't quite sure about their conviction, they can ask God to help strengthen their faith. It sounds circular, but it really has worked for people. God will never ask someone to wait when it comes to their salvation though. We are the only ones who can postpone our salvation, but ideally it shouldn't be something left "for later". (I've expanded on why here). For all we know, we could die tonight or tomorrow, and is eternity really something to gamble? If there is even the remotest possibility that there is something after death - and as we've seen from the Bible, NDEs, visions, etc., there is - you wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side. Postponing one's salvation is like being on a plane without a parachute or oxygen mask. If there is the remotest possibility that we could fall to our death, we would want to have it. And God wants us to have it. He has already instructed us what we need to do in order to receive it - repent and trust in Jesus. Those are the only things. But God cannot do it for us, we have free will. The hardest part has already been done through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Now it's up to us whether we want to trust in His sacrifice. We can do that, and turn our life to Him, and when we are born again, He will miraculously open the eyes of our understanding, take us from darkness to light. We will have a new life and new desires. That is not to say that there won't be questions. But it is much easier to find direction in life once we have received the Holy Spirit.

If someone is demanding a specific form of personal revelation or sign/proof from God, His answer might not always be the one they want/expect. But God will only tell us "wait" when it benefits us more than "yes" or a "no" would. It also depends on why we are asking and what we are expecting. The Bible says that "God is a Spirit," a form of life that is invisible to the human eye. When God appeared directly to humans, it was always in the form of a messenger, e.g. an angel, a vision, a burning bush. God has different ways to speak to us, He chooses the one that benefits us and our spiritual growth most. Now if someone wants to experience God more directly because they want a closer relationship with Him, or need to strenghten their faith, God might oblige at the right time, but it also requires something from them, they have to be willing to believe and trust in Him and His will (we do, after all pray that "His will be done"). But again, the "wait" never concerns salvation. If we come before Him to receive it, follow Him and do as He instructed us through His word, He will bestow it unto us.

Awesome information you've provided, and also thank you for your response to my question.