Re: Making money from Java

"Alistair" <alistair@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Judson McClendon wrote:
>> "Alistair" <alistair@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> > And how often do church congregations pray for those who subsequently
>> > die, without remark? I would like to see the x-rays, as I suspect that
>> > if the cancer had indeed gone then it was the scar tissue left behind
>> > which was on the scans and x-rays.
>>
>> I do not know why God heals some and does not heal others. I do not know
>> why
>> God heals a person of one thing, but does not heal the same person of
>> something else. I only know that He does heal prople, even miraculously.
>
> Perhaps this is nature taking its' course and not anything to do with God?

I'm sure this is often the case. Only when healing is somehow very rapid or
unlikely or otherwise unusual is there any justification to suspect
supernatural healing.

> Why would a God choose/not choose to intervene? Why would we, as
> individuals, be of any interest to God? The question is rhetorical.

That's a good non-rhetorical question. The thought that God would actually
take an interest in human individuals, and especially that He would take
human form and suffer crucifixion on our behalf, is mind boggling.

>> > But if God is all-knowing then he knows our futures and, by definition,
>> > free will does not exist.
>>
>> Not so. There is a difference between *knowing* what will happen and
>> *making* it happen.
>
> No. If you are God and know the future and do nothing to change an
> undesirable outcome (such as my failure to believe) then you are by
> inaction directing the future as much as if you did something to direct
> the future. God is therefore guilty.

But failure to believe, or to believe, are choices. God could not force
those without abridging our free will.

> I once arrived at a busy junction and, knowing that traffic coming from
> the right was unsighted and that people near me were similarly
> unsighted, I looked right to see if there was a car coming. There was.
> There was also a woman about to step into the road (she hadn't checked
> for traffic and had not slowed). I did nothing to stop her from having
> what could have been a fatal accident. Fortunately, the car driver was
> able to stop in time. Now, if she had been hit and died, would I have
> been free of blame knowing that I could have stopped her from stepping
> into the road? That one has dogged me for years and although I was not
> at fault by action, I was at fault by inaction.

But if you had warned her (as God has warned us) and she ignored you and
went anyway, then it was her decision, her fault.

> If I am the head of the strongest nation on earth and idly sit by
> whilst a despot gases, tortures, rapes and murders innocents, am I free
> of blame?

That is a complex question. The answer depends on a lot of factors like what
your country's responsibilities are toward its own citizens and other
nations. George Bush is being widely condemned around the world for acting
in a similar situation. Certainly to agree with such behavior would be
imoral. Imagine how complex such a situation is with God, who is dealing
with all of humanity on a 1:1 basis.
--
Judson McClendon judmc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (remove zero)
Sun Valley Systems http://sunvaley.com
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."


.

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