If God's So Great...

[LL COOL PAC]

... why do we need missionaries and evangelists? Why don't we automatically and inherently know about him, if we are supposedly made in his likeness?
I don't want tedious and hermetic quotes from some obscure part of the Apocrypha, I just want someone (Christian or otherwise) to tell me.

 

[Illuminattile]

I think the idea is that you have to accept God for yourself, rather than him automatically making you a believer. I guess it's so you can 'prove' that you're heavenworthy.

It's a flawed argument, IMO, but I think that's the argument.

 

[TecK NeeX]

Yes We need Missionaries and Evangelists. Religious people can't live without them. wow

 

[Rukas]

If a child is abandoned by his parents, he knows he had them, but doesnt know about them, thus he has to be told.

And as Tech pointed out with his sarcasm; what the fuck? Who says we need missionaries and evangelists? I for one have never met either.

 

[EDouble]

once u actually deal with life and death and your vastrange of emotions u realize that you've always ' automatically and inherently' knew him

 

[Khaled]

i think missionnaries and evangelists are needed specifically so e don't know the truth about God, but rather what they want us to believe

 

[LL COOL PAC]

Then why did God give Man his own free will? Surely so omniscient a deity as He was would forsee what would befall humanity.

And why did He create us in the first place? I can think of a lot of things a god might choose to do instead of spending seven days toiling to make a universe and human race that would only end up rebelling against Him and giving Him grief.

Don't you agree You can still believe in evolution (and big bang theory) and God. Personally never took the Genesis creation story literally. The actual details of how God would go about creating the universe would be irrelevant in the bible, and also make it umpteen chapters thicker and accessible only to scientists.

The point of the creation story is just to show God made everything. Why, and if the grand plan was to make man is not clear. Genesis 1:3-4 is quite interesting:

1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

It almost sounds as if God didn't know exactly how this part would turn out.

 

[Flipmo]

Never met any. Only met the Jehova's who stalked my ass for 2 weeks.

 

[XIAN]

This is a very tough question. If you're looking for one of us to answer your questions, which we can't know, then you will be disappointed. But if you want to hear my personal belief,

I think that God doesn't expect us to know him, and read the bible or go to church or anything. He just expects us to live in harmony with the rest of his creation. I think that the job of us is to find how that can be done, and a lot of these evangelists are trying to help us do that.

For example, almost 100% of people who don't look at the world with peace are going to be unhappy. They will want to start a war or hurt others, and as a result of this war or conflict, they will be troubled. Human nature, which is created by God, is destined to go after happiness. The secret of happiness is compassion. When we help each other, we are actually helping ourselves, because we are liking ourselves and then others more-generally feeling better about everyone. That's harmony, and I think that God wants us to do that. Pain on earth is something that will push us to go even further to help others. When you start seeing things correctly, even someone who murders your whole family can become your best friend. The Dalia Lama said that he is so grateful for his enemies, because they have shown him the strength and limitlessness of his heart. That means that love is something that can be given to everyone.

So religion is something, a tool, that will show us how to attain harmony, and even those who don't see it can be shown it.

And this is my belief of God in a short form.

~peace~

 

[Tru Principle]

This is a very tough question. If you're looking for one of us to answer your questions, which we can't know, then you will be disappointed. But if you want to hear my personal belief,

I think that God doesn't expect us to know him, and read the bible or go to church or anything. He just expects us to live in harmony with the rest of his creation. I think that the job of us is to find how that can be done, and a lot of these evangelists are trying to help us do that.

For example, almost 100% of people who don't look at the world with peace are going to be unhappy. They will want to start a war or hurt others, and as a result of this war or conflict, they will be troubled. Human nature, which is created by God, is destined to go after happiness. The secret of happiness is compassion. When we help each other, we are actually helping ourselves, because we are liking ourselves and then others more-generally feeling better about everyone. That's harmony, and I think that God wants us to do that. Pain on earth is something that will push us to go even further to help others. When you start seeing things correctly, even someone who murders your whole family can become your best friend. The Dalia Lama said that he is so grateful for his enemies, because they have shown him the strength and limitlessness of his heart. That means that love is something that can be given to everyone.

So religion is something, a tool, that will show us how to attain harmony, and even those who don't see it can be shown it.

And this is my belief of God in a short form.

~peace~

Mashallah, some nice words.

 

[LL COOL PAC]

If a child is abandoned by his parents, he knows he had them, but doesnt know about them, thus he has to be told.

This is an intriguing point. So the Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea, even if they do not know the teachings of Christianity, know inherently about God? Likewise the nomadic tribes of the Sahara? What if no-one tells them? Are they destined to wander the primrose path of dalliance and end up in Hell?