Comment on A big reason why so many people are leaving the church by Sean Pitman.
You didn’t answer the question…
… and Jesus didn’t expect anyone to believe His words without first providing the weight of empirical evidence necessary for a rational mind to honestly accept His words as true. Those who rejected Jesus did not do so due to a lack of adequate empirical evidence. They rejected him because they had no desire to accept the truth no matter how much empirical evidence was provided.
Jesus himself explained this problem when he noted, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.†– Luke 16:31 NIV
In other words, if truth is rejected despite the clear weight of evidence in its favor, the deciding factor in accepting the truth is no longer evidence dependent, but motive dependent – does one actually love what they know, intellectually, to be true? If not, additional information or empirical evidence isn’t going to help. Such a case is ultimately hopeless since nothing Jesus can say or do can convert a heart that doesn’t want to be converted…
Such is a problem of desire or motive, not evidence. The same was true for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Despite your arguments to the contrary, it wasn’t that they were actually tricked because of a lack of adequate evidence (they had more than enough evidence of who God was and his trustworthiness and love for them – far more than the Serpent had demonstrated). They were deceived because they desired to believe what they knew wasn’t really true… they wanted to believe what they knew, deep down, was a lie.
If Adam and Eve were honestly deceived by the Serpent, not really having any understanding of God and His character, God would not have been just in His condemnation of their actions. It is only because God had provided ample evidence of Himself and His character than He was just in making the judgments against Adam and Eve that He made…
Your picture of God paints Him as caprecious and arbitrary. Who could love a God who condemns those who honestly didn’t know any better?
Sean Pitman
http://www.DetectingDesign.com
Sean Pitman Also Commented
A big reason why so many people are leaving the church
@Professor Kent:
Rejection of the Seventh-day Sabbath because of a rejection of the clear reading of the Genesis account of origins is a rejection of the nature of inspiration of the Bible that Mrs. White (and the SDA Church) was trying to promote. Such a rejection completely changes the picture of God in one’s mind and the nature of the Bible as well as the Bible’s power to change one’s life and one’s world perspective. The Bible means something very different if it is viewed as a allegory vs. if it is viewed as literally true on those topics where the author(s) clearly intended to be taken as describing real historical events.
Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com
A big reason why so many people are leaving the church
@Professor Kent:
There are many different ways to “believe in the Bible” that are completely opposed to the type of belief or faith that Mrs. White was trying to promote. Many believe that the Bible is a book of good moral instruction, but has nothing of any real value to say about the physical world. Many believe that the Bible is a collection of man’s best wisdom over the centuries, but is not actually the Word of God.
What Mrs. White was talking about is that a belief in mainstream evolutionary theories destroys a belief in the Bible as the clear Word of God on every topic it touches upon – to include the topic of origins. The evolutionary perspective undermines faith in the character of God that Ellen White understood and which the SDA Church is trying to promote. It undermines faith in the reasonableness and rationality of God – suggesting that God is willing to “command men to observe the week of seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods, which is unlike his dealings with mortals, and is an impeachment of his wisdom.”
Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com
A big reason why so many people are leaving the church
@Shane Hilde:
Exactly! Not even Abraham was asked to believe in the naked word of God devoid of empirical evidence that would appeal to the rational candid mind. God was not offended when Abraham asked for this evidence because without such evidence, Abraham would truly have been insane to simply follow voices in His head claiming to be the voice of God without any external empirical confirmation…
There are false spirits out there that will lie to us. These spirits must be tested. And, the only basis upon which to employ and interpret tests is our God-given human reasoning abilities.
Sean Pitman
www.DetectingDesign.com
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