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Originally Posted by PaulFXH In essence, I am confused that many religious friends (and these are clean-living, hard-working, happy people that I very much respect despite your very negative view of their mental abilities) purport to have an undying, absolute faith in not just the existence , but the supreme benevolence of God. |
No doubt they do, but this does not mean that they have what the
Bible describes as faith. As I have said, the Bible speaks of faith as a
rational assurance and conviction; a
knowledge of God, which is perfectly defensible (see
'The Mind Of Christ' written by myself). It commands Christians to destroy every pretension and argument raised against the knowledge of God (2 Cor 10:5), and to be always ready to give a defense for their faith (1 Pet 3:15). Biblical faith is most certainly
not a "rather childish belief". Therefore, if a person professes to be a Christian, but has a "rather childish belief" as opposed to a rational knowledge of and trust in God and his word, and if this person is unable to offer even an adequate defense for his faith, let alone destroy unbelieving arguments, then he is most certainly at best a poorly educated and thus immature Christian—and possibly not a Christian at all. I am not attempting to rag on your friends; I am simply stating the biblical position. That said—
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[...] the whole tenor of the presentation of your arguments seems to suggest you believe that the majority of the inhabitants of this planet to be incompetent, imbecilic morons who are not even remotely able to grasp the biblical message which is apparently so obvious to you.
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I do believe this, because again it is the biblical position; for "the fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" (Ps 14:1). Paul explains why—
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Originally Posted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:12ff Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. |
Notice that the natural person, the unbeliever, is
unable to understand the things of the Bible, because they are spiritually discerned, and he does not have this ability because of being non-spiritual, since he does not have the Spirit of God. And, given this, please take care to note also that I am not suggesting that the biblical message is "so obvious" to me because of
my ability, because before I was regenerated by God I was equally unable to understand or believe the things of God. My faith is by no means my own doing; my understanding of God's word is by no means by merit of my own intelligence.