tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11654814.post112733426533146354..comments2023-05-10T13:56:53.008+00:00Comments on In Rejection of Mediocrity: God like an Elephant? I don't think so!David S. MacMillan IIIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530249314198135678noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11654814.post-1129852533339442602005-10-20T23:55:00.000+00:002005-10-20T23:55:00.000+00:00Jack Kennedy's body does not lie in his grave. JFK...Jack Kennedy's body does not lie in his grave. JFK must be God because he does not lie in his grave...<BR/><BR/>Is this your argument? It seems that your entire post relies on the one idea that Jesus does not have a grave.<BR/><BR/>There can only be one God; Your perspective of God is the only one that is correct; Those who other religions believe was a messiah all have graves; Jesus has no grave therefore Jesus is the only messiah or God<BR/><BR/>Is this your argument?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11654814.post-1129039638167933492005-10-11T14:07:00.000+00:002005-10-11T14:07:00.000+00:00If God or a god actually exists as a fact, then Hi...<I>If God or a god actually exists as a fact, then His supposed characteristics cannot be both contradictory and true! It is a logical impossibility. Mutually exclusive facts do not exist.</I><BR/><BR/>This is a sloppy assertion. Doesn't God both love and hate? Isn't God everywhere and nowhere? Why can't God make a rock so big He can't lift it? These are prima facie contradictory characteristics of God. I have one idea about how to make this comment about God more rigorously stand up against pluralistic arguments.<BR/><BR/>God does have contradictory characteristics. He does love, and He does hate. One groping blind man may run across God's wrath, while the second stumbles upon his kind and gentle mercy. They have not run across two different Gods; we are perfectly comfortable with the fact that it is the same God of the Bible. However, not all of his characteristics can get away with being contradictory in this way: Hume's oft-cited is-ought connection may be useful in thinking about where God cannot be, and is not, contradictory. By breaking God's characteristics into two categories, is-characteristics and ought-characteristics, we can look at each one. An is-characteristic--some thing that God does, like hating or loving--may seem contradictory at face value, because the contradiction lies in some way that God is, or something he does (like hating and loving). However, an ought-characteristic is the dogmatic instruction of God: "turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?" This is where David's parable tries to do something that isn't logically possible. God cannot teach one thing, then teach another thing altogether. Either Jesus Christ is the son of God, or he is not. Either the Gospel is sufficient to cover a multitude of sins, or it is not. These dogmatic truths of scripture are not compatible with some other dogma. There is no room for understanding.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11654814.post-1128175303762576102005-10-01T14:01:00.000+00:002005-10-01T14:01:00.000+00:00Gabriel has a good point."God or a god actually ex...Gabriel has a good point.<BR/><BR/><B>"God or a god actually exists as a fact, then His supposed characteristics cannot be both contradictory and true! It is a logical impossibility."<BR/><BR/>just like an elephant can't be like a snake and a tree.</B><BR/><BR/>The point of the pluralistic analogy is that all the different religions see part of the same god. Pluralism would have us believe that each one has part of the truth. But each of the blind men in the story was wrong!<BR/><BR/>An elephant cannot be both entirely a tree and entirely a snake at the same time, but its different parts could be similar to each.<BR/><BR/>But God cannot be a distinct being (Christianity) and a manifestation of each one of us (Hinduism) at the same time.<BR/><BR/>Religious pluralism is a religious belief just like any other religious belief. But Jesus said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but through me."<BR/><BR/>If Jesus is right, pluralism is wrong. If pluralism is right, Jesus is wrong. But pluralism says that Jesus was right <I>and</I> everyone else was right. Religious pluralism contradicts itself.<BR/><BR/>BTW, Travis, that sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out.David S. MacMillan IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00530249314198135678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11654814.post-1128117557719126202005-09-30T21:59:00.000+00:002005-09-30T21:59:00.000+00:00Hey David!I was just wanting to let you know about...Hey David!<BR/><BR/>I was just wanting to let you know about a blog roundup I am hosting over on my site called "A Political Perusal". In brief, I ask a question and other bloggers answer it(which should generate more traffic for all)! Please have a look at my site and consider joining the perusal! (The current question is: The War in Iraq - Right or Wrong?)<BR/><BR/>The Blogging Boy Scout,<BR/>TravisTravishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15085122708299978025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11654814.post-1128012592847133582005-09-29T16:49:00.000+00:002005-09-29T16:49:00.000+00:00I think you are right on--the big difference in ou...I think you are right on--the big difference in our God and their gods is we have an empty grave--not to mention grace--no other world religion understands grace like Christians do--and personally I am very thankful I don't have to earn my salvation.<BR/><BR/>That said, I think Muslims (and probably all the others, the Muslims are just in the news right now) don't understand Christians right now--I think they perceive us as the violent ones. I pray that I can be a part in showing them wrong on this one--it probably will happen one-on-one, but I think it may be the only way they will come to understand Jesus. I would so love to see them come to Jesus!<BR/><BR/>Great post!!! I praise God for the empty grave!!<BR/><BR/>JBjettybettyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04351615360394477260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11654814.post-1127673056042927982005-09-25T18:30:00.000+00:002005-09-25T18:30:00.000+00:00not to disagree with you, but i thought i would po...not to disagree with you, but i thought i would point out something in your argument which seemed logically questionable.<BR/><BR/>"God or a god actually exists as a fact, then His supposed characteristics cannot be both contradictory and true! It is a logical impossibility."<BR/><BR/>just like an elephant can't be like a snake and a tree.<BR/><BR/>again, i am not disagreeing with you, but i think that when you make the above argument you will get into a never ending cyclical argument with polytheists.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com