How can god not exist?

Are you saying that everyone who strives to live by the will of God does so against their own will?

 

How many men do you know who would willingly stop even so much as looking at a woman? With the exclusion of gays of course. How many people do you know would willingly turn the other cheek in every situation? Those are just two examples and I can say from experience that it takes a certain type of man or woman to fulfil all of God's laws.

 

Turning the other cheek is not exactly a law of God. I also don't think taking a second look at a woman in public is breaking any divine law. When a man would look at a woman out of lust this seems just an instinct, when he doesn't act upon it further how is he in conflict with a law he strives to follow. And most of all: making a mistake is forgivable. It's not about complying to all of the biblical words at all. Just as concluding that when a man's deed does not match those words has to equal a mind that goes against the will of God would be a massive oversimplification (as I perceive it).

 

I suppose that if you didn't want to listen to Jesus' and God's law at all then you are correct. Most people think like this in the Christian faith. I can do what I desire as long as I ask for forgiveness later.

 

Like I said: the 2 examples you gave aren't even laws or God's will (I like to note that biblical law and God's will could differ from eachother sometimes). That there are also insincere christians that abuse their god's forgiveness is the obvious truth but not the issue here I think. Those are not the people we were talking about (the ones who strive to do god's will).

 

Matthew 5:38-39

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also

Matthew 5: 27-28
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery'; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.…

Hmmm

 

So, YOU see deeds as not turning the other cheek and looking at a woman in public are against the will of God because you would take those passages literally.

Most christians do not feel obligated to act literally upon those words, and when they sincerely believe that they do not have to they are not going against their own will nor the will of God.

 

Choosing not to take the more important parts of the bible the way they were meant to be taken is blatant hypocrisy. I can understand not taking passages like the death of Goliath or the book of Job or Jonah and the whale at face value but Christians who don't at least try and adhere to their most important teacher's foundations are lost. If one does not follow Christ why adorn themselves with his name?

 

Asmodean,

If someone is, as you say, striving to do God's will, then what do you suppose that person is striving against?

 

Aha. And is that one of the more important parts of the bible? Perhaps that differs per person. Is the way you perceive it was ment to be taken THE Way (capital w pun intended )? Or just the way one individual perceives it?
People are known to interprete things differently in the bible since it has been compiled. When they say they act out of faith but they don't then it is hypocricy. When they are sincere in their conviction that they don't have to turn the other cheek in such a situation then wouldn't it be foolish to do so. And wouldn't you be the judgemental one to say they are hypocrites for having sincere faith in their interpretation?
Seeing there are people not acting upon their faith is one thing, projecting that on every christian who happen to have another view on a bible part as you and claim that view has to be an insincere or hypocritical one is another. Not every christian has the same faith or convictions as you know. To put it simply (I hope): It would only make them hypocritical if they have or act upon a conviction for an insincere reason. If they really believe what they believe and act upon it they are of course not hypocrites at all.

 

I don't know. Perhaps nothing. I'm not saying someone who strives to do God's will can't clash with their own will. I was just asking: Are you saying that everyone who strives to live by the will of God does so against their own will?

 

Well, I just thought I would answer the OP's question by pointing out that the idea of thing can definitely exist, but that doesn't mean that the actual thing exists.

And just because you can think of something doesn't mean that what you've just thought of created the universe.

 

Yes, striving implies that you're not their yet, and must therefore change your will.

 

Indeed, it's an ongoing practice to do so. But I don't think that was the issue?

 

Whatever the issue, that was my answer to your question.

 

You changed your answer it seems. The last part was not there when i answered. A person can also go against their own will sometimes. Surely they strive not to do that. It's not a problem to be striving.

 

To strive means to make great efforts to achieve or obtain something.

One is always doing one's own will effortlessly--no striving involved in the intention of that. If you are striving to act in accordance with another's will, obviously it is against your own will, else you would not refer to it as someone else's will. Striving implies a lack of accomplishment.

Let's start there. What are you having a problem with? Or, to paraphrase: What's your problem, man?

EDIT: Striving to do the will of another is a problem if you wish to maintain the integrity of your own will. In that way, it will be a distractive alternative to your own will.

 

Staying with the will of God may make for a personality change. It's not psychotic but morally uplifting. Turning against the will of God may require concepts for baring one's understanding of psyche. Are we personality adjusted for being trusted, or for being in charge. Persons can change, I guess; once there was so much judgment over personalities for friendship. Now there is the survivor distinction taking hold, and we ignore the continuity of our spiritual memories.

Maybe we are waiting for a God given computer break down.:sunny:

 

Mmmhmm I can see your point. It would seem that you are a much more modern thinker than I. I will think on your words.

 

There are many varieties of Christian but there is only One True Scotsman.