Response to post #45 by Fen321. Cut out quote to shorten this post.
God is unknowable -
Speaking as someone who does not believe in God’s existence (according to how I’ve read your post), how can you be certain He’s unknowable? One could not get to know someone whose existence they refuse to acknowledge.
God is beyond the ability for man to fathom and understand -
True. That’s why He sent His Son and gave us His teachings in a form our finite minds can grasp. We can’t even completely understand the world we live in, let alone grasp the depth of an infinite God.
For man to think that God made the universe simply for man is about as big of an anthropic bias as there can be. –
I don’t believe the universe was made just for man either, instead God created it for Himself. Reading between the lines I assume you believe in alien races. My personal view is that God could very well have created other beings that we will never have the technology to discover. We have no way of knowing that without exploring every corner of our universe – the definition of impossible.
Existence of man is a mere blip in respect to the age of the universe. –
True. We’re a blip compared to eternity. How long has the universe existed up until now? I’ll go back to our finite minds on this one. We humans are extremely arrogant to say we grasp the true age of our universe. I’ll let God decide for whom He made the universe and how long He wants to keep the universe around.
There are many paths to God –
If this is true, how can God be just? The standard has to be evenly applied for justice to be upheld.
Hell does not exist because God is merciful –
God is just, as such His nature requires Him to punish sin. Why hold back and watch some make it while others don’t? Free will. We are imperfect, finite beings who have been given the means to become perfect, immortal beings when we arrive in Heaven by accepting salvation. Whether or not we decide to accept that gift is entirely in our court. There is nothing we can do as humans to "make it" on our own. God’s mercy is shown by His provision of salvation in the first place. We do not deserve it in the least bit. His grace is shown by His continued forgiveness of our failures after we accept salvation.
God is unknowable -
Speaking as someone who does not believe in God’s existence (according to how I’ve read your post), how can you be certain He’s unknowable? One could not get to know someone whose existence they refuse to acknowledge.
God is beyond the ability for man to fathom and understand -
True. That’s why He sent His Son and gave us His teachings in a form our finite minds can grasp. We can’t even completely understand the world we live in, let alone grasp the depth of an infinite God.
For man to think that God made the universe simply for man is about as big of an anthropic bias as there can be. –
I don’t believe the universe was made just for man either, instead God created it for Himself. Reading between the lines I assume you believe in alien races. My personal view is that God could very well have created other beings that we will never have the technology to discover. We have no way of knowing that without exploring every corner of our universe – the definition of impossible.
Existence of man is a mere blip in respect to the age of the universe. –
True. We’re a blip compared to eternity. How long has the universe existed up until now? I’ll go back to our finite minds on this one. We humans are extremely arrogant to say we grasp the true age of our universe. I’ll let God decide for whom He made the universe and how long He wants to keep the universe around.
There are many paths to God –
If this is true, how can God be just? The standard has to be evenly applied for justice to be upheld.
Hell does not exist because God is merciful –
God is just, as such His nature requires Him to punish sin. Why hold back and watch some make it while others don’t? Free will. We are imperfect, finite beings who have been given the means to become perfect, immortal beings when we arrive in Heaven by accepting salvation. Whether or not we decide to accept that gift is entirely in our court. There is nothing we can do as humans to "make it" on our own. God’s mercy is shown by His provision of salvation in the first place. We do not deserve it in the least bit. His grace is shown by His continued forgiveness of our failures after we accept salvation.