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>>Of course, and no personal attack or disrespect intended, but I see it as ludicrous. What I understood is that you believe that God lets us do whatecer we want, gave us freedom of choice, but of course He knows all the choices we'd make anyway. So he condones everything we do if at some point we repent and embrace Him. Something like that?
>
>First of all I know and accept that you mean no disrespect whatsoever. And, I appreciate that very much! I hope you are aware that I, too, mean none, though we might disagree. I seem to recall that you are Muslim and I know that I will most likely and inadvertantly offend you when I am able to ask you some question, which I hope you will not take personally should I ask a 'dumb' question. <g>
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Muslim? With that last name? Not at all! I'm Jewish as heritage, but an agnostic.


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>Now, as to your thinking that what I said was 'ludicrous'. I can understand why you might have that reaction. One of the very difficult concepts to reconcile is this apparent contradiction between the notion of God's omniscience (all-knowing) and His justice and his mercy. It's confusing if you haven't studied it no doubt - particularly since today's socity so poorly explains it.
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Apparent contradiction? Not so! It is illogical as I explained in my post. That you make a 'leap of faith' and suspend the laws of nature and logic may be Ok with you. As I also said, an immovable object and an irresistible force cannot both logically exist in this universe. Period. As for other universes, I don't know.

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>First of all, while God has given man choice, and has chosen to honor the choices man has made, God also has warned man about making bad choices. Sexual impurity is one of these areas for example.
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Again the question. Which god? You seem to be talking about one and only one Christian God. The rest are puppets. There are millions of true believers that would disagree.

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By not being sexually 'faithful' mankind has unleashed upon himself all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases.
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As I answered in another message, many religions, Mormons included, accept poligamy. Maybe some accept promiscuity. As a reminder, religion does not have a monopoly or exclusivity on morality.

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Some actually would blame God for this and that is unreasonable.
God told man not to do this and that if man did there would be bad consequences. Well, man has disobeyed God many times here and, guess what, some very bad consequences have happened. Man is responsible for misusing those 'choices' in this case.
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Of course its unreasonable, and very convenient. If I screwed up it's God's fault. Easy.
A lot of people take credit for their successes and their mistakes without attribution to divine intervention, or magic which is about the same, but by taking responsibility for their personal actions.


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God does not condone everything we do, which I think is one area you may have misinterpreted what I said.

Having said that God does forgive man if man turns around 180 degrees (old English word is 'repent') and goes the opposite direction. However, there are many times people 'fake' this and it's pretty obvious when you watch their lives whether or not they really meant it.
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As I said before, then a mass murderer that 'truly repents', according to your explanation, is absolved and can live a wonderful life afterwards. The victims and justice be damned. Guys like Hitler, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, etc. just had to see the light and repent and all would be well.


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>>So in that view, the Crusades, Inquisition, pogroms, slavery, torture, burning young women at the stake, child labor, child pornography, etc. ad nauseam are OK because we can have our choice, just repent for your sins at the end?
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>>Amazing!
>
>No, not at all. I would wholeheartedly condemn all of the above. From my pov this would be an example of people making bad choices and personally I think that God will hold each individual personally accountable for those decisions.
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If that is so, why did God allow them to do that in His name? No punishment? No help for the victims?

When a busload of children, driven by a nun fall into a gorge and all die. Was that God's will? He could've saved them, couldn't he? Or were these little children all sinners?

So either He could not save them, in which case he's not omnipotent, or he did not see it coming, in which case he's not omniscient or he didn't care or wanted it to happen, in which case I do not want Him as my God as that would amount to murder.


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>I must congratulate you though. Paul the Apostle was accused of doing exactly what you brought up and I am impressed with your deductive skills.
>
>Essentially, in terms that I would typically use in Christian circles, what you have stated is this:
>
>God's grace gives me total freedom from the consequences of ALL past bad decisions. Rather than using that freedom for more bad choices (your example above) we should use that freedom for new good choices.
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Again, you are saying that a mass murderer should get "total freedom from the consequences of ALL past bad decisions".

I don't agree, I think he should get the chair, the sooner the better.



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>When you are satisfied, and if you are willing, I'd like to ask you a few questions about your faith - presuming I've correctly understood you. I feel like a dunce and I'd like to learn more - understanding that you may not be comfortable with it.
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Ask away. Anytime. Faith? Very little except faith in myself (a lot of that).