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No

Only Judeism

Only Islam

Yes to both Judeism and Islam

[Arx]

No reason God can't 'fuck around' with the zillions of available other locations, planets, &c. We're unlikely to observe it if it's far enough away, and if He decides He doesn't want us to observe it for whatever reason, omnipotence continues to be convenient.

[MonkeyHead]

I was referring more to how the bible makes claims of god seemingly always having some kind of finger in the pie back in the bronze age, but is far less extant since Jesus and all that shenanigans.

[Telgin]

If I was omnipotent and omniscient I certainly wouldn't have created the world like it is.  I wouldn't have ever created creatures that I thought might do something that would make me want to burn them forever.  Heck, I can't imagine I'd ever even set things up so that they could even do bad things.  What's the point?  I can't see an omnibenevolent god doing that either.  Clearly God is lacking one or more of those traits.

The only real explanation for that which I've come across is that God basically defines what those things mean and if we disagree then we're wrong.  It's an appeal to authority and completely useless in a debate since you can't refute it, of course.

[TD1]

It is said that God limits the power of the devil.

The Book of Job makes it clear the the devil cannot do anything without God's explicit permission.

Then saying "God is good! The baddy is Satan!" doesn't really work. In fact, Satan may be seen as an extension, or tool of God. It makes you wonder how God could be so close to something so supposedly evil. Instead of Satan tempting Adam and Eve, one could simplify it to God tempting Adam and Eve.

[Orange Wizard]

I honestly don't understand how anyone could believe in an omni-benevolent god, even if they hadn't studied the Bible.

...

I was referring more to how the bible makes claims of god seemingly always having some kind of finger in the pie back in the bronze age, but is far less extant since Jesus and all that shenanigans.

That's pretty much the excuse for it. Jesus' power spreading through the world and all that, restricting the power of Satan to interfere directly... no more big flashy miracles because it's no longer necessary.

...

So OW do we have the choice to accept god into our lives and rekindle our spirit while our spirit is "dead" and we have no free will?

No. Of course not. Dead people can't make choices. That's pretty much the point of being dead. You can't do anything when you're dead.

[Lord Shonus]

I was referring more to how the bible makes claims of god seemingly always having some kind of finger in the pie back in the bronze age, but is far less extant since Jesus and all that shenanigans.

That's pretty much the excuse for it. Jesus' power spreading through the world and all that, restricting the power of Satan to interfere directly... no more big flashy miracles because it's no longer necessary.

It's been a long time since I did it, so I can't provide the detailed work, but when you work out the chronology, the "big flashy miracles" of Biblical times were actually quite rare. Outside of the Great Prophets, there'd only be one, maybe two miraculous events within a generation, and those were often quite subtle, involving dreams or apparent coincidence. Offhand, I can't think of any "flashy" miracle that wasn't associated with Abraham, Moses, Elijah, or Jesus. If you believe, as most Christians do, that the time of Prophets ended when the Incarnation fufilled the Old Testament prophecies, then there have been no Great Prophets since the day of Christ. Thus, no flashy miracles.
 

[Orange Wizard]

The purpose of the prophets being to point forward to Christ, so yeah, pretty much the same thing.

[Gentlefish]

I honestly don't understand how anyone could believe in an omni-benevolent god, even if they hadn't studied the Bible.

I absolutely can. I simply refuse said god is omnipotent.

[Orange Wizard]

That works, too.

[TD1]

Whichever way you look at it, God loses an attribute. See Mackie's Inconsistent Triad, which I'm too lazy to get an image for.

[TD1]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/rapture

Hehe

Edit: Actually, this one is better.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

[Arx]

I have to say, I want a Jesus Rollerblading Christ coffee mug. Those look awesome.

Those comics are pretty funny, as a person to whom the terrible Christianity things do not apply.

[Helgoland]

Edit: Actually, this one is better.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

I liked the other one, but this one's rather... crude.

[TD1]

It is?

[Baffler]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/rapture

Hehe

Edit: Actually, this one is better.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

That first one is alright, but the second smacks of the kind of arrogant superiority that drove me away from The Oatmeal in the first place. It's not nearly as obnoxious as the people who comment on it nowadays though.