TrollumThinks: Actually, the symbol is the cross - the empty cross, which signifies the risen Lord.
The crucifix is also used (especially at Easter but also in general) to remind us of His sacrifice. He went to a lot of effort for us, we shouldn't forget it.
toxicTom: I find this a little far-fetched as a symbol. While the cross is an ancient symbol life (phallic), seeing the empty cross as symbol for the rising is stretching interpretation. Jesus did not rise from the cross. He was supposedly taken down, resurrected in cave and then went wandering about meeting a few people before he was off to daddy.
The symbol is that death (the cross) no longer has any hold on him (life).
TrollumThinks: God did give warning to innocents to flee before the destruction (Genesis 19:12).(though 2 later decided to sin).
And He said "If I find any innocents, I will spare the city"
But let's say, for argument's sake, that there were some innocent babies there. They die and go straight to heaven.
Then, if we love our children, we should kill them as quickly as we can, since going to heaven is the best thing there is, and letting them live will lead to many of them sinning and going to hell.
Except for the whole 'Don't murder' part of His law.
No, we should raise them well, to not give in to selfishness, hate, etc. The choice is then theirs.
Deciding who dies and when is not the right of people. Only God can make such a judgement call.
TrollumThinks: Righteous anger can lead a person to denounce evil. For us, it's hard to separate that kind of anger from uncontrollable revenge anger. Not so for God.
The feeling of anger requires quite a few hormones, notably adrenaline and norepinephrine, that in turn require a physical body. Anger by definition clouds judgement. A transcendent omnipotent being should be beyond that. In fact, many spiritual excercises aim at inner calm, to prevent feelings like anger to emerge or at least take control.
You're projecting. Anger in humans has the hormones. That doesn't mean anger can't occur in a being not driven by hormones. (Weren't you arguing (and I agree) just last page about thinking outside the box?). Anger doesn't cloud judgement 'by definition'. It just makes it harder to think clearly (for us). Losing control to anger isn't the same as having anger. (You say yourself that you can take control, even when feeling anger.) (also - look at the Vulcans ;) )
Let me ask you this: If something evil is done to someone you care about, wouldn't you feel anger and be justified in that feeling? And wouldn't remaining calm be a sign of not caring?
I'm not saying you could be an impartial judge at that trial, but God doesn't have the drawback of anger clouding His judgement.
Equally, if nobody became angry at injustice, there'd be little motivation to oppose it.
So an angry god is imperfect in my eyes. A calm god that did the things the OT tells about it, is cruel and/or lacks any empathy toward its subjects.
then we'll have to agree to disagree on the nature of the decisions. Having anger but still being in control doesn't equal 'calm and dispassionate'
TrollumThinks: A human trial requires evidence because we cannot know a person's guilt by looking at them. And we sometimes get that wrong too. God already knows the truth and is able to make a fair judgement based on it. How would listening to lawyers and excuses change that?
A human trial has more reasons than gathering the evidence. It's about showing to the people that justice is done. It's about hearing all sides of a story.
Which God would already know - you're trying to portray it as an unjust decision, but hearing all sides is only done to assess guilt. Human trials need to be seen to work only insofar as justice needs to be seen to be done. We know that human justice is imperfect. A trial is a necessity to show we're trying. In the case of God judging something, by definition He would be just.
Also if an omnipotent being would like "to cleanse" a place, it should be able to do so selectively and not just nuking the hell out of it or flooding the place. "Kill'em all, let God sort'em out" is human behaviour at its worst.
Again: He made the judgement, got the innocents out of the way and
then 'nuked the place'.
[I've also argued before about the literal interpretation of Genesis. Flooding the whole world or nuking Sodom and Gomorrah is a lesson about keeping faith with God's commandments.]
Soyeong: To say that it is possible for something to come from nothing is just a self-contradictory and illogical as saying that it is possible for there to be square circles.
jamotide: Yeah so according to you something can't come out of nothing, but god was always there. I am really curious how you bend your mind to have these ideas not clash.
Once again - An eternal being doesn't need to come from anywhere and so doesn't need a cause. A 'finite in the past' universe does.
So you are an atheist now,too? Because as we found out earlier, omnipotence+eternal don't mix with logic.
actually, it was explained to you by 3 posters that that wasn't the case. I can't help it if you shut your eyes and say 'not reading because my definitions trump all'