re: Talarico’s Pastor Says Jesus Didn’t Die For Sins, Slanders Virgin Mary

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we are ultimately able to do whatever we want, whenever we want, to whomever we want

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Of course not. Even pagan cultures and atheists have such a concept as social control.

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If there's no God, no hell or heaven, then there is no point to anything beyond what we arbitrarily create for ourselves. That means there is no true morality (just subjectivism), and we are ultimately free to do whatever we want, whenever we want, to whomever we want, so long as we are willing to accept the temporal consequences.

If we are just accidental specks of star dust, randomly reacting to external stimuli based on the laws of physics, then nothing really matters. I hope you're a self-professed Nihilist, with that mindset.

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By your own claims, none if it has mattered for 99% of humans to walk this earth, since they are just burning in hell.

But lucky you, you not only get to be an even bigger piece of crap than most of them, you are saved because of the culture you happened to be born into and this book you accept as the word of God - while actively manipulating the things it says.

I wish you could see just how disgusting you really are.

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By your own claims, none if it has mattered for 99% of humans to walk this earth, since they are just burning in hell.

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In the biblical worldview, it matters a great deal. There are actually eternal consequences for what we do in this life. Not so much for the Nihilist.

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But lucky you, you not only get to be an even bigger piece of crap than most of them

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No, I don't. And I'm not. I'm a sinner, but I would bet that I'm more disciplined in my life and obedient to the 10 commandments than the typical "good person" you can pull randomly off the street. And when I break them, I repent to the Lord and seek to be obedient. I don't say that to brag, but to demonstrate that you are wholly ignorant--and likely willfully so, at this point--of Christianity and what the Bible teaches. A good tree (a person saved by Christ) will produce good fruit (progressively improved obedience to God's moral law).

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you are saved because of the culture you happened to be born into and this book you accept as the word of God

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I'm saved by God's grace alone, but I've been blessed with hearing the gospel for my salvation. It wasn't random, and it's precisely why Christians follow Jesus' commands to evangelize the world, sharing the good news of Christ's active and passive obedience for sinners. It's so that people outside the small nation of Israel can hear the good news and be saved. It's why people on every continent trust in Jesus and are saved.

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- while actively manipulating the things it says.

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We've been going back and forth a lot lately, but you haven't proven this point at all. I take the full context into account when I exegete the Bible.

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I wish you could see just how disgusting you really are.

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I'm a disgusting sinner, for sure. I'm not worthy of the salvation I've been gifted with, and yet I am honest about my shortcomings and seek to know God more and more through His Word.

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You're denoting behavior which is universally described as harmful, or "wrong", in any functioning society. There is such a thing as ethics, independent of religious tenets.

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"Universally" is not absolute, nor does its general acceptance describe an objective reality (that inflicting pain and suffering is objectively "wrong").

All you're saying is that most people agree that it is undesirable to inflict pain on others. So what? If most people agreed that red was the best color, that wouldn't make it objectively the best color. It just means that most people share an arbitrary and subjective opinion, and that shared opinion could potentially change over time and across people groups based on other experiences.

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I'm not going to admit I'm wrong about something without good reasons for changing my mind. You have to do more than merely assert that I'm wrong.

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You didn't even get your opinions from reason to start with. What possible good reason even exists for you? There aren't any because reason has nothing to do with it. You demonstrate over and over there is no limit to how much you will warp things to fit your narrative.

It's your choice, but don't pretend it's anything other than that. At least be honest and admit yours is about faith and blind acceptance rather than truth and reason.

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You didn't even get your opinions from reason to start with. What possible good reason even exists for you? There aren't any because reason has nothing to do with it.

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I believe that the God of the Bible provides the basis for reason, itself. The laws of logic reflect God's own mind. You have to assume the existence of God in order to use logic and reason, or else you have to borrow from the Christian worldview in order to deny it.

But even so, I would be willing to not even mention God as the foundation of reason for a minute and just discuss the logical contradictions of your beliefs, as I was doing previously.

But even if you think I'm nuts, you are still sharing your beliefs with others on this public forum, so I don't think it's too much to ask that you provide reasons for what you believe and why what I believe is wrong, and then use reason to engage in that discussion and debate. Regardless of what you think about me, you can't just assert something and avoid providing support for it when asked repeatedly. That's intellectually dishonest at best.

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You demonstrate over and over there is no limit to how much you will warp things to fit your narrative.

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Please provide an example of me "warping" anything. I provide justification for what I believe.

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It's your choice, but don't pretend it's anything other than that. At least be honest and admit yours is about faith and blind acceptance rather than truth and reason.

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I can't admit that, because it isn't. Christianity is a reasonable faith, and I believe it's the most reasonable faith. There is nothing unreasonable about it, and I believe it best explains reality as we experience it as human beings.

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Your entire religion is borrowed.

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It isn't. There is one true religion, derived from the Bible, provided through revelation by God to the prophets and the apostles. That revelation was written down, and that's how we know the truth.

If you want to claim it's borrowed, you'll have to prove it. You'll need to show a direct and causative chain from one religion or belief system to the Bible, not just similarities. Remember, the differences matter, too.

If I were to be dishonest, I would say that your gnostic beliefs were borrowed directly from the early Gnostic heretics, rather than saying that you share similar beliefs to them.

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And this entire paragraph is stupid. People use logic and reason without believing in God all the time.

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For someone whose beliefs are all about "understanding", you sure don't understand much.

What I mean is that only the God of the Bible provides the necessary preconditions for intelligibility of reality as we understand it, including the the existence of the invariable, immaterial, and immutable laws of logic. God's existence is therefore necessary, regardless of whether or not anyone affirms it. A person can believe that air doesn't exist, but they still have to breathe it in order to live and deny its existence. The same is true for God and morality, laws of logic, science, and other things we take for granted every day. God makes them possible, even if people deny it.

you are right. deep down, we all know it.

there is an innate human desire to square that which science cannot explain. there is a desire that the tragedy of the human existence can be subject to a higher universal power. lefties try to deny this, and in their denial, they unwittingly use politics as a proxy for faith.

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I would bet that I'm more disciplined in my life and more obedient to the 10 commandments than the typical "good person"

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You're a good Pharisee. This is the very self-righteous smug attitude which turns people off of today's brick-and-mortar churches

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I am that I am.

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God is God, and you are a sinner destined for destruction if you do not turn from the path of sin. Repent and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins before it is too late.