Is the Christian God's love unconditional?

[Woolmark]

Ok, some questions which have been playing on my mind, I am genuinely interested.

Surely his love is on the condition that you are a) a Christian and b) follow his rules?

Also, if God loves everyone as much as he does, why can't he save everyone by simply appearing to them? If I could save my children by doing this then I would in an instant, rather than turning up at the end and destroying the ones who weren't Christian.

Do you believe in the existence of zero Back?

points for that :)

In case you meant it seriously too of course I'd say that zero is just a label and doesn't require belief.

Italiangreyhound I don't think for one moment I would have anything to fear from you if they made you pope or archbishop, but there is a real and serious danger in having a theocracy. You only need to see the news or read history books so I know you know that. So it's one of several motives I have for hoping to steer people away from becoming religious in the first place.

Democracies with everyone voting equally are the safest bet and one day I'd like to live in one. We nearly have it here, but the house of lords isn't democratic and with bishops automatically eligible for extra seats - in addition to any that christians might have anyway - that is even less equal.

Oh and carry on posting gazilions. They are always worth reading.

Back. Yes that is part of what I meant.
The trouble is that with learning new things, it means as humans, that we were not right or absolutely right in the first place. That is what is the problem with so called reality imo.
I much much prefer knowing that the bible is right now, it was before, and always will be.
It is like hanging your coat on a coat peg. You can know for sure that the coat will still be there when you come back to pick it.

How do you know the bible is true without resorting to circular logic?

I see we're equating faith with trust in some cases. I think that's a mistake.

I would say that 'trust' is about expecting certain behaviour based on a persons past behaviour and on your knowledge of their motives and opinions.

If I had a £1million winning lottery ticket I'd trust a particular friend to hold it for safe keeping even though there's nothing to stop them cashing it. This isn't mystical. I have known this friend for a very long time. Not only do I know how he has acted in the past I know a lot about his opinions on honestly and such.

This doesn't work with trusting god because you have nothing to work with. First you have to 'trust' that he exists which in this sense is a meaningless term.

Not going to answer that again hih. I will bore even myself.

Back. That will poss require a long answer from me. I will answer later. The sun is shining here, and I want to go out in it!

Of course you cannot prove god does not exist because he does.
You can use human explanation to show things that to a human would seem impossible but the fact is that god can do impossible things.

Impossible as in they can't be done? How can you do something you can't do? I'm confused? Can you give me an example of an impossible thing he has done?

Impossible in a human perspective. You have pointed many out yourself in regards to the bible. To you from a human perspective they seem impossible but not for god.

In regards to myself jesus saved my life my soul and lives within me. something that before hand in my human perspective seemed to be impossible but god does the impossible.

Yeah but you have no way of knowing if those things actually happened. Well you do, it's called logic. I'm really glad whatever you went through you managed to overcome but I say that was all you sunshine . You did the work to turn it around.

If the claim is that "there is 'something up there' and you're not sure what it is or what it does" then no, you can't prove it doesn't exist.There's nothing to work on.

However, if someone describes their god and claims it does certain things you can point out that this god 'as described' doesn't exist.

For example if someone claimed their god prevented all suffering I could point to the suffering and say "oh no he doesn't".

Any so called god whose description is either incompatible with reality or internally inconsistent can be disproved.

But the vague 'something up there' god could still exist.

Yeah, a hands-off god might exist. But he's obviously uninterested so nowt to get worked up about.

It definitely was not me but you are right it was within in.
The thing is with anything people are always going to throw at you question after question and that is good that is human nature. Of course everybody thinks differently again human nature we all have a unique soul.
I belive what I belive and you belive what you belive. I know we have to respect everyone and love each other.
The one thing I struggle with acceptance well I mean true acceptace because I belive in the bible and it being the word of god and it teaches me to only accept the bible not preachers etc. So when I see threads like this one I feel it if you like my duty to respond in a some what one-minded view. Where as of I was not a born again Christian say I catholic I could go a bit of track because they belive the bible ia true but they can grow and learn of others priest's for example.
Lol sorry that was rather long but my point is that I hope I have not offended anyone just explaining why I feel I cannot go at all against the bible like other religions may have. If that makes any sense.

madhairday, I meant to ask. Which god did your dad meet. Would you have been ok if it had been Allah or Ganesha.

There is no suffering in heaven. Suffering on earth is a hard concept to grasp but I know with jesus love I can be at peace.

And the reason you struggle with it sunshine is because your conscience is way superior to most of the bible. I take it you don't struggle to come to terms with the nice stuff? No. Because you're a good person. But the horrid stuff? Well of course you struggle because it's violent and cruel. And your values are saying 'whoa, that's a bit out-of-order'. Don't ignore that voice of reason sunshine.

Back. There is so much that helps a Christian trust in God.
This is difficult for me to explain. Probably others can answer better than me.
Some of it comes down to feelings, some of it thoughts, some of it how things pan out, some of it appreciating over how time how the bible does indeed knit together, some of it how things may look wrong in your personal life at first, but later you can see that they are indeed right etc etc.

Yeah but Gold, a Muslim will say exactly the same as you have just said. So as someone with no faith it looks like you're all just listening to one part of your brain talk to another part of your brain.

All the faiths believe with the same passion and conviction. It's not like only Christians feel it really deeply. So logically I can't take your depth of feeling as any proof whatsoever otherwise I have to believe in all the faiths. I can't reject any because they all fill the same criteria of belief that you have used.

Do they though? Are you absolutely sure of that?

passion and conviction is not at all the same as the right path. Either God wise, or for your life.

So you think they don't really believe it or think it's real? They're just going through the motions when they're fasting and praying and all that? We have people of other faiths on these boards too and they sound every bit as passionate as you do. (Maybe if there's a Muslim reading you could post and just verify Gold's assumption that you don't really believe in Allah and you're just pretending.)

That is just a difference again you are right we are all unique and have our own feelings.
Just like a muslim knows in his heart what he belives is true myself as a Christian I know what is my heart and you know what is your heart.
We cannot judge each othet and that includes judging what is in each others heart.
I could turn round to a muslin and say he is commdend to hell and his soul is lost. However by saying such thing would make my own faith seem false because I know I can not know for sure what is in his heart or where his heart may be when he does leave earth.

But you just used the depth of your passion and feeling to show that you were on the right path, now you're saying that it doesn't mean anything. Which one is it?