What Does God Think of the Bible?

[KevinSim]

I'm an atheist so to me it's like discussing the lore of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.

Then would it be safe to say that you do not know that Jesus taught anything at all about the Bible?

[drumdude]

I'm an atheist so to me it's like discussing the lore of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.

Then would it be safe to say that you do not know that Jesus taught anything at all about the Bible?

I don’t know what Galdalf thought about late term abortions either. Doesn’t keep me up at night though

[KevinSim]

Not if the (non-observable) universe is infinite. If it is, that would leave room for an infinite number of deities to be in control while still having an infinite amount of universe for another infinite number of deities.

In all honesty, Doctor Steuss, I had never thought about that possibility! Let me think it over a bit and see if I can get back to you on it. Though I've got to say that I've for a long time suspected that the universe is finite, extremely large but finite.

[huckelberry]

Kevin, when you say Gods word what is it you are looking for. In a sense all of creation is Gods word.

Huckelberry, you used the phrase first; I was referring to whatever you meant by God's word. You're the one who said God wants us to believe in His word.

I was referring to Jesus Christ.

[doubtingthomas]

Not at all. We haven't even established that we humans need a brain to think.

I guess nobody knows, but wouldn't that be shifting the burden of proof?

Have you ever had decisions that you agonized over, Doughtingthomas, that you spent a lot of time stressed out over because the right decision wasn't clear and because you knew that it was very important you got that decision right? Well then, if you know that we're all deterministic, then you don't have to agonize over decisions any more

It's a good point. I try not to be too hard on myself.

So what's the point of agonizing over such decisions?

True, we shouldn't.

Nobody is going to take me up on this suggestion, because down deep we realize that we are non-deterministic, deep down we realize that we do have free will. Because if we didn't have free will then my bizarre suggestion would make sense.

I don't think it's bizarre, it is worthy of serious consideration.

Many LDS realize deep down that the Book of Mormon is true.

[KevinSim]

I was referring to Jesus Christ.

Huckelberry, what does God think of Jesus Christ?

[KevinSim]

I guess nobody knows, but wouldn't that be shifting the burden of proof?

Shifting the burden of proof of what? Doubtingthomas, are you saying that I have the burden of proof to prove that someone can think without a brain?

So what's the point of agonizing over such decisions?

True, we shouldn't.

Doubtingthomas, are you employed? Are all the decisions you make in your job trivial ones? The next time you have a nontrivial decision to make at work, I challenge you to come up with six possible solutions to your problem, and then to roll a six-sided dice to pick which solution you're going to pursue. Once you do that, I'll have a better feel over whether you believe you're deterministic or not.
There's another way to look at it. I believe I'm non-deterministic. I'm going to take that belief to my grave. Either I'm right or I'm wrong. If I'm right, then that's a good thing; I enjoy being right. If I'm wrong, then that means I'm deterministic, so it turned out that I had to be wrong; determinism wouldn't let me be anything else; so why fight the inevitable?
So what exactly is the point of considering that we might be deterministic? If everyone in the world believed we are non-deterministic, then like me, everyone would either be right, or else they'd be doing what they had to do anyhow.

[KevinSim]

Then would it be safe to say that you do not know that Jesus taught anything at all about the Bible?

I don’t know what Galdalf thought about late term abortions either. Doesn’t keep me up at night though

Gandalf is one of the most interesting people I have ever read about. That doesn't answer my question though.

[doubtingthomas]

Doubtingthomas, are you saying that I have the burden of proof to prove that someone can think without a brain?

Yes.

Doubtingthomas, are you employed? Are all the decisions you make in your job trivial ones? The next time you have a nontrivial decision to make at work, I challenge you to come up with six possible solutions to your problem, and then to roll a six-sided dice to pick which solution you're going to pursue. Once you do that, I'll have a better feel over whether you believe you're deterministic or not.

I understand, free will is possible. We always have regrets, we say things like "I should've said this". Think of a movie. What movie comes to your mind? Why exactly did you think of that movie?

Non-determinism cannot arise from a completely deterministic universe.

I don't understand how free will proves the existence of god. You said, "I have no idea whether the non-deterministic being was created, let alone who created her/him." Wouldn't it be easier to believe in the multiverse or the cyclic model?

The universe is not completely deterministic, read Quantum Mechanics and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.

[huckelberry]

I was referring to Jesus Christ.

Huckelberry, what does God think of Jesus Christ?

God wants us to believe in truth and not untruth because life depends upon our connection to truth. God by basic definition is all truth though no human understands all truth. Jesus illuminates important truth to us showing his agreement with God. Some of that truth even touches people who do not hold a religious belief about Jesus.

I would hold that Jesus and God are in agreement from the following indications. First a strong intuition that Jesus is showing something fundamentally true about human relations. Second he was remembered has having spiritual power. Third people reported that he was raised from the dead after his execution. Fourth a spiritual presence has been connected with him helping people to believe expanding and maintaining the Christian faith.