[Otal Nimrodi]

Hey, I act like an idiot when tired.

[Coco]

Just like the rest of us.

Or at least, just like me.

[Otal Nimrodi]

Now, back to the topic.

[Zatoichi]

Ooh, someone can generalize well.
I actually agree with people that think that the Bible is wrong about many things. I also think that too many people worship the Bible and do not worship God. I have put down befor that men wrote the Bible, not God. Personally, I'm telling you to take the book with a grain of salt. God is not all knowing, not completely benevolent, and perhaps not all powerful. I do believe that God stands for what is right, mercy being a very large aspect. God is the embodiment of what is good, and the greatest of any other entity that lays claim to being good. The opposing force is the Devil. The Devil is the embodiment of what is evil, and the greatest of any other entity that lays claim to being evil. It is my oppinion that they do follow some kind of rule system. Any other powers that may be lie in between, and are either servants of one of the two forces, or insignificant. I say that they follow rules, because it would be probable that our plane of existence would be a battlefield in the sense that there would be fighting (not metaphorically speaking).

This might come off as happy-clappy, but have you ever tried talking to God before? I have,and no I don't mean praying in the literal sense. I have asked for things before, things such as guidence, forgiveness, and protection. It has worked for me. God only doesn't help when I am being stupid or unrealistic. I don't always talk out loud, or invoke God's name every time. I don't do it every day or even very often. I only really talk to God when I feel the need. I don't presume to know God in the literal sense. It is nice to know that God is there for me when I have need.

An interesting that all people should ask themselves before committing actions that they believe to be wrong that may do good is does the end justify the means.

[Otal Nimrodi]

One can't consider God to be omni-benevolent if one is a Christian. It doesn't work, because the religion depends on considering the OT the truth, and God doesn't seem too nice in there to me. But that's just my opinion.

[Zatoichi]

Are you calling me a liar, or do you just need to actually read my damn post.

I am a Christian
I do not believe God to be omni-benevolent
I do not fully believe the Bible.

Since you practically agreed with me why not just go ahead and say so?

[Otal Nimrodi]

I was not replying to yours, I was agreeing with yours.

[Zatoichi]

Oopsy. Sorry then.

Carry on.

[Wayne]

But God created Satan. So that makes god the root of all evil.

[Otal Nimrodi]

Actually, God did not create Satan with the idea of the ultimate evil in mind. Satan was God's right hand man, so to speak. But then Satan whent bad, and... Anywho.

I can't really talk well about this, I mean, I only read the book once.

[Revan-47]

about the animals on the ark thing. thats where natural selection comes in. instead of taking every single type of species, they probably took a couple from every family.thus evolution could take its place after the flood

[Wayne]

Yes Satan was Gods right hand man, but if god knows everything thats going to happen, he knew that satan would go bad before he created him. And Satan went bad because of his lust for power. God created Satan's soul, Satan's lust for power was a result of an error in gods craftsmanship. So god created evil.

[Wayne]

Oh, and the "two of every kind" thing wouldn't have worked. A species gene pool must contain at least thirty individuals, otherwise the inbreeding will cause birth defects and retardation.

[Slade]

The reason inbreeding causes birth defects is because it magnifies the chance for recessive traits already inheirent in the gene pool of the two sexually reproducing animals.

Alternatively: You try fitting 30 giraffes onto an arc 40 cubits long!

Or: That explains the platypus well.

And I'm sorry, I don't see Satan as "bad" (lets ignore moral relativity for a moment). In the myths of Genesis, he convinced Eve to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. That's always struck me as a metephor for the human species gaining sentience and self-awareness, which I consider a plus (despite being rather cynical and Hobbsian on my outlook of humanity). The entire thing reminds me quite a bit of poor Prometheus...

[Otal Nimrodi]

Poor Prometheus.