nemesis wrote:
> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
>> So the devil is more powerful than God?
> 
> no. But his influence persists, given his free will.

I thought he was an angel. I also thought he didn't have free will.

Otherwise, why did God make Man?

>>>> A religion where no baby of religious parents is born with birth defects.
>>> see original sin.
>> OK, we've established that baptism and acceptance of Jesus compensates
>> for original sin. Which means this is a bogus answer.
> 
> religious parents are not without sin just because they accepted Christ, were
> counsciously baptized or whatever. 

Sure. But what has that to do with *original* sin? Or are you saying 
that nobody would be sinful except that Adam ate the fruit? (In which 
case, how can that be a sin before he eats the fruit?)

> Still, the Lord is the final judge for men's acts.  He's the only
> one to truly know what is there in men's hearts, so judging why shit happens is
> not our task, just deal with it.

Let me ask - do you think I can or cannot recognise the difference 
between good and evil?

If the former, why don't I get to judge events and people based on 
whether they seem good or evil?

If the latter, why do you keep going on about original sin?

>> They asked Jesus "Hey,
>> how can *I* do miracles?"  Jesus answered untruthfully that all you had
>> to do was believe in him and you could move mountains.
> 
> don't play dumb.  It doesn't fit a skeptic like you.

I'm not. It's exactly what he said. Given that, not all untruthful 
answers are bad.

> He meant what he meant:  that you can move mountains of problems by faith.

Oddly enough, it doesn't say anything about problems.

> When
> you're into deep trouble, getting out of it as if by magic is a lot more
> impressive than seeing mountains floating abound...

Funky. That never worked for me. Maybe that's the difference.

> Do you also believe in the exact wording of the famous quote:  "It's easier for
> a camel to go through a needle hole than a rich man to enter Heaven?"

No, because in context, it made sense that it was a metaphor.

> Christ used parables and other figures of speech to get his point across.

Parable: You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think 
it means.  Indeed, I think you mean "metaphor", not "parable". Similar, 
but different. The Good Samaritan story is a parable. Moving mountains 
is a metaphor.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     It's not feature creep if you put it
     at the end and adjust the release date.

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