Imagine that you live in some future where one monothiestic religion has proved to be true in all its taught details. Among its details is the rule that if you do not do whatever the god tells you to do, you will be punished severely. Resistance is futile. You will be rewarded for obedience. Among its details are also many characteristics about this god that you do not contienciously approve of. The tasks you are assigned are at times strongly against your will.

Now, how will you carry on your life in this imaginary situation? What do you think about it? Has this anything to do with why theocracy is not practiced anymore in most countries?

Actually I realized I made a non-point. If a religion can be proved true in all its taught details, it no longer fits the definition of "religion". No amount of faith is needed.

In this case, perhaps a group of people in this imaginary situation will invent a new religion so that they could have hope for something better.

That sounds oddly similar to the situation the anti-christ will put the world in, upon his arrival.

He will convince a large part of the world that he is the true messiah, and will force people into worshiping him rather or not they like it.

Originally posted by jerejerebinks
That sounds oddly similar to the situation the anti-christ will put the world in, upon his arrival.

He will convince a large part of the world that he is the true messiah, and will force people into worshiping him rather or not they like it.

How could you decipher the anti-christ from Jesus Christ?

"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him." Revelation 1:7 ( Assumint the Earth is flat??) vs. "Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more." Jn 14:19

Probably a lot of you know the bible better than I, so I have a question. Since the bible is full of contradictions, so how can a Christian be sure how to decipher the anti-christ from the real thing?


:confused: :rolleyes:

Well for one thing the anti-Christ will come before Jesus.

Originally posted by DaveTooner
Well for one thing the anti-Christ will come before Jesus.

So...how does this help with recognition?

Because Jesus comes back after the 7 year tribulation.

The bible tells us all about the Anti-Christ and what his intentions are while on Earth. He will decieve, but it will be easy to tell them apart.

Originally posted by Dio Seijuro
[B]Imagine that you live in some future where one monothiestic religion has proved to be true in all its taught details. Among its details is the rule that if you do not do whatever the god tells you to do, you will be punished severely. Resistance is futile. You will be rewarded for obedience.

Would you not agree that you should be rewarded for doing right and there should be consequences for doing wrong? When you know to do good, and you don't do it, that is sin. If you know that something is wrong, and you still do it, that is sin.

Among its details are also many characteristics about this god that you do not contienciously approve of.

Can you please elaborate on that?

[QUOTE] The tasks you are assigned are at times strongly against your will.

If God assigns you to a task, than He will give you the ability to do it.

Would you not agree that you should be rewarded for doing right and there should be consequences for doing wrong? When you know to do good, and you don't do it, that is sin. If you know that something is wrong, and you still do it, that is sin.
Define right. And define wrong.

If God assigns you to a task, than He will give you the ability to do it.
Well, now doesn't that completely blow free will to smithereens?

Originally posted by Blibblob
Would you not agree that you should be rewarded for doing right and there should be consequences for doing wrong? When you know to do good, and you don't do it, that is sin. If you know that something is wrong, and you still do it, that is sin.
Define right. And define wrong.

God defines right and wrong in His Word.

If God assigns you to a task, than He will give you the ability to do it.
Well, now doesn't that completely blow free will to smithereens?

Not at all. You have the freewill to choose to live in God's will or not. To serve God or not to serve God is a freewill of chopice.

God defines right and wrong in His Word.
Now doesn't that make you all perfect...

Not at all. You have the freewill to choose to live in God's will or not. To serve God or not to serve God is a freewill of chopice.
Giving somebody the "ability"(and contextually, we know "ability" means somehow he just got you to do it) to do something that's against their will is perfectly fine?

Not to mention, you're completely forgetting this is entirely a "What if" scenario, and you're falling outside the rules by trying to explain the hypothetical actions of this god.

Originally posted by Blibblob
[b]God defines right and wrong in His Word.
Now doesn't that make you all perfect...

I never claimed to be prefect. That is why I need Jesus Christ as my saviour. And without Christ in me, I can not live righteously even if I tried. Without His Word in my heart and my desire to live by the Wotrd of God, I would be filled with sin.


Giving somebody the "ability"(and contextually, we know "ability" means somehow he just got you to do it) to do something that's against their will is perfectly fine?

Again you can either choose to serve Him or choose to reject Him. He doesn't force you. That is freewill. He created you, but you can choose to go the other way if you want to. There is consequences to that, but it is your life and your freewill of choice. God has a will and purpose for everyone's life including yours, but it is all up to you if your going to accept that in your life.

Not to mention, you're completely forgetting this is entirely a "What if" scenario,

I'm not forgetting anything. I am just telling you the truth.

J man: My main point is for you to imagine the god to be a god that you do not approve of. In your case, since you are a Christian, you must imagine based on my original topic that the god is a very very different one from your Christian god. What he tells you is "right" and "wrong" you strongly disagree. But he has shown his face and his power and the non-existance of all other religions in the world (in your case, Christianity). He tells you all about the reward/punishment scheme etc. etc. etc. Now go back to the topic and you should try to answer my questions.

Hope this helps.

Basically, whatever you believe in, for my topic imagine the god that shows his face in this imaginary future is one that you least wished god is like.

Will you give up your values, wills, and become his soldier for the rewards? Will you resist futilely? There can be many different, creative answers.

Knowing myself I would probably rebel in some manner for I believe myself to be some what of a prudent man. Since I am totally disagreeing with him in the "what if" situation, this god is not requiring prudent things of me. Could be that in later writings I would be considered a "fallen angel".

Ah, now this is really food for thought.

Imagine that you live in some future where one monothiestic religion has proved to be true in all its taught details. Among its details is the rule that if you do not do whatever the god tells you to do, you will be punished severely. Resistance is futile. You will be rewarded for obedience. Among its details are also many characteristics about this god that you do not contienciously approve of. The tasks you are assigned are at times strongly against your will.

That would royally suck.

what would be the point of that?

it would be the life of a puppet........

Ick

The catch is that there is reward for obedience. I imagine in this situation quite a lot of people would actually over time let go of their free will or morals or principles and do whatever this god directs them. You can rebel against tyrants, but not against this hypothetical ultimate power of the universe. After most of the non-obedient people get punished enough in this situation, they just might give up.

Again, could you associate this imaginary situation to why theocracy just does not work today? Also the interesting logical implications that will result if a single religion in this world somehow proves itself to be the only correct one.

Another observation:

Based on this exercise of imagination, I believe when we choose to believe in a certain religion, it is more because what it teaches agree with our judgment and conscience, less because we think its god is the only true god and whatever he says must be followed.

A personal obsertion:

Your avatar looks like Michael Jackson. :p

Originally posted by the J Man
God defines right and wrong in His Word.

Not at all. You have the freewill to choose to live in God's will or not. To serve God or not to serve God is a freewill of chopice.

I would take care not to call coersion "free will".

Doing something in order to avoid punishment is not an excersize of free will - it is coercion. Make no mistake. If you are doing something just so that you won't burn in hell later then you are being coerced into it.

co•er•cion

Pronunciation: (kO-ûr'shun), [key]
—n.
1. the act of coercing; use of force or intimidation to obtain compliance.
2. force or the power to use force in gaining compliance.

Originally posted by Dio Seijuro
Another observation:

Based on this exercise of imagination, I believe when we choose to believe in a certain religion, it is more because what it teaches agree with our judgment and conscience, less because we think its god is the only true god and whatever he says must be followed.

I think the majority of people naturally float into the religion they were taught as a child. Few people "choose" their religion, though most religious people will tell you it is their choice, most have never been exposed to other religions and never studied them so they would be unable to make an educated choice. Most religions teach that you must have faith, that their deity has a plan and that if one doesn't have faith they will suffer after they die. Thus many people are so ingrained in the "believe without question" aspect of religion that they would never consider even studying about other religions of the world, let alone changeing religions. Just my opinion.

Jere:

My avatar is a character from a Japanese comic (manga) series called "Naruto". The character's name is Tsunade. She is a very powerful ninja, a heavy gambler, has bad temper, and uses illusion to appear younger and to have large breasts.

By the way, I suspect mine is among some of the longest running unchanged avatars here. DrewM's (man burning money) certainly might be the longest running.

Dio:

Thanks! I've never been much of a anime fan. I always found it childish...but hey, I actually watched WWE the other day, so what can I say???