Our Lord

[craigman]

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able, and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able, nor willing? Then why call him God?"
-Epicurus

In the absence of intelligence we define our universe as being created by divine intervention.
Once intelligence prevailed, the scared and feeble close their eyes.

The red circle shows America on the graph.
Amen

[One-eyed Jack]

Re: Our Lord

Are you saying Americans have a mean, nasty IQ?

1. If God is omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal,
2. And you accept not the Lord,
3. How many torments will you endure Hell?

Ans: An infinite number!

But yes, the Epicurean theodicy has been at least somewhat touched upon. The simplest answer is that of the prophet Isaiah (which we end up posting about 50 times per month because the unsaved just do not get it):

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. Isaiah 45:7

The Lord creates evil. Pow! Kazaam! Welcome to Reality.

~~ OEJ

[craigman]

Re: Our Lord

How can we distinguish the difference between evils created by God and Satan?

Amen

[WilliamJenningsBryan]

Re: Our Lord

...

The red circle shows America on the graph.
Amen

America appears to be an outlier in the graph (cite source please). Least squares methods for linear regression models are considered non-robust in such cases.

This kind of presentation notoriously comes from the culinary backward consumers of Australian Vegemite and kangaroo meat.

[craigman]

Re: Our Lord

Yes America is an outlier, a high IQ and higher importance on religion then other countries with the same IQ. There are many sources for this graph here is one of them.
http://hypnosis.home.netcom.com/iq_vs_religiosity.htm

I don’t understand why you would make a personal attack on Australian consumers when USA is currently heading toward a recession.

[WilliamJenningsBryan]

Re: Our Lord

Yes America is an outlier, a high IQ and higher importance on religion then other countries with the same IQ. There are many sources for this graph here is one of them.
http://hypnosis.home.netcom.com/iq_vs_religiosity.htm

I don’t understand why you would make a personal attack on Australian consumers when USA is currently heading toward a recession.

Only if Australians have suddenly stopped consuming Vegemite (owned by an American company - Kraft Foods).

[JennyD]

Re: Our Lord

How can we distinguish the difference between evils created by God and Satan?

Amen

What part of OEJ's quote did you not understand?

The LORD creates evil.

God created Satan, remember? Since God is omniscient, He knew when creating Satan exactly what Satan would do; therefore, God created all of Satan's works.

Your Epicurean theodicy assumes that we believe God to be "good" by human standards. Were you to read the Bible, you'd see that God is good by HIS standards, not by our opinions of what we'd LIKE Him to be and do.

I suggest starting with the book of Job, where God slaughters a man's family and tortures him for years, all to win a bet with Satan which, being omniscient, He knew He would win anyway. Does that fit your human definition of "good"? Probably not.

[Dr. Zaius]

Re: Our Lord will bless you

That's a fantastic looking graph you generated. What program did you use to do it? It's obvious that it isn't something published somewhere, because you misspelled 'religiosity'. Any 13 yr old True Christian would know how to spell even that. There should be a little yellow star there for YOU, somewhere in the lower left corner.

Psalm 119:1 ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
Psalm 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

People who are religious are close to God. The more religious, the closer you get. Why would you want to do otherwise?

[Brother Temperance]

Re: Our Lord

You call that a graph? This is a graph: