While the idea isn't to pick on Pablo, I am going to pick on Pablo a bit.( sorry dude) mostly because while looking the the
Ultimate Questions, I realized that they illustrate some of the fundamental problems I have with Christian Theology in my own life.
If you are going to convince people, particularly non-believers, the bible is true and worth paying attention to , you can't start with quoting the bible as truth. Its circular, and counter-productive. This isn't to say any the Bible isn't truth - but there is no reason to rely upon faith that is it true - some of it is self evidently true and a great many other things can be shown to simply be good ideas, even if God didn't say them. The truth doesn't rely upon anyone or anything other than perhaps God's initial creation of the concept. Showing how the verse is true, vs quote the verse as proof of truth will get you a lot farther with people like me ( but perhaps I am hopeless in this regard)
But on to the questions:
1) Is there anyone there? In my opinion, the answer is a self-evident yes. I have had enough experiences and seen enough miracles ( creation is miracle enough really) to know that yes, there is someone there
2) Is God Speaking? As with answer 1, yes he is speaking all of the time and to everyone, and in my experience not just using the Bible and those who profess that faith.
3) What is God like? I know him (her, it, them) only though his works. But the Richard Bach principle seems to apply. Everything that happens seems to be "learning" or "fun" and I am too small to perceive if there is justice, fairness, perfection or ultimate good behind it.
However the text offers that God is Sovereign ( that nothing happens outside of his control) and Omnipotent. If man has free will, personal responsibility, and the capability of sinning this cannot be true. If I have no free will, then god created a man he knew would sin, and then punished him for sinning, even though that man had no choice in the matter, for his sinning was both forseen and preordained. Without freewill - personal responsibility and sin are meaningless terms. The whole pretext of Christ dying for our sins collapses. If free will exists, then God has relinquished such control over men, and while he could be omnipotent and sovereign, in and by his own terms he is most self-evidently NOT completely in charge even if that is by his own choice. Which leads into the next question
Who Am I? I am nothing and nobody if I have no free will. Otherwise I am as my creator made me. Trying to learn and grow as all life around me tries to do,
What went Wrong? Another contradiction. If God is both Sovereign, Omnipotent, Just and perfect
nothing could have gone "Wrong" but everything would be as our Just and perfect God ordained it to be. If something went wrong, and God is perfect, it must be Man who messed it up ( Original sin) - but Man must have sinned with God's Approval, or at least without his interference. There must therefore be some limits on his power, if something went "wrong"
Is SIN serious? It most self evidently is, as sinning tends to bring you bad consequences in this life long before it brings them to you before God's judgement.
Where do I go from Here? Again, I only know what to do because all other life does it. You grow. You learn. You have fun. Hopefully all together. Maybe there is something after. Maybe there isn't. Maybe there is a point. Maybe there isn't. I believe there is a God, and implicit in that is that there is a point, but that point may only be to enjoy what God has set before us for a time. The
best scene in Blade runner is when the replicant is contemplating all of the memories that will be lost.. or perhaps they are persistent. as me, or as a soul, or as something else far more useful to God. . I am grateful either way. I do not require everlasting life to appreciate what I have been given.
CAN RELIGION HELP? Sure. As can a library. Other people. Your own thoughts and experiences. Ultimately this is a personal journey, and I seriously doubt God created so many different people, with so many different ways of seeing things and then made single path for them all to tread on their way to him. Some paths may be easier and more well worn, but God made me a natural bush-whacker. Why would he do that? So I learn worn paths are easier? Perhaps.
IS THERE AN ANSWER? Probably. I am not convinced we need to know it. I think Douglas Adams had it right. 42. It really doesn't matter to us. The text suggests it is so I can have everlasting life in a state of perfection. Really, I don't want that. Life to me is always learning, always growing, always becoming something more than you are. Suffering so you appreciate the times when you are not. The Christian view of Heaven and Salvation as always ( even as a child) seemed static and dull to me.
WHY THE CROSS? And here is where it really breaks down for me. God demanded someone else suffer (himself) for what I have done? How is that "just"? That seems to indicate at the very least there is some cosmic scale that even God is not at liberty to fiddle with. He is not at liberty to simply change our natures so we are naturally good and obedient to him, nor is he at liberty to forgive without punishing. The rules, even though they are his, and perhaps implicit in God's nature, are the rules. He cannot change them, and therefore he cannot be sovereign or omnipotent. God is still subject to the Nature of God. Good and Evil subject to the nature of Good and Evil.
HOW CAN I BE SAVED? Okay, why must I repent of my Sins of Christ already took responsibility for them and dies on the cross for me? Why is Christ a middle man between me and God? Why is this the only road upon which repentance for my sins is possible? I cannot doubt that sin is in my nature, for I have sinned. But what about the millions who never heard of Christ? God just left them out of the loop? Really? The perfect all-powerful, just God wrote those people off? If not, then this can't be the only process.
WHICH WAY NOW? The text implies I can't pray to God now, because I have never fully accepted the story of Christ, but I do pray, and I am comforted . God has always sent me what I needed, though I suppose that could be a trick of hindsight. he has even given me what I would consider signs. Likewise I can read the bible and find fellowship with other fellow travelers, and do things in the service of my own conscience.
The whole thing has just never worked for me. SO I ended up a Deist I guess. Does that make me the enemy? Evil?
