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Post by GatorGrad on Aug 13, 2023 21:45:40 GMT
Apple isn't going to sign anything close to the same deal they were originally offering. That deal included Oregon, Washington, Arizona, ASU, and Utah. I doubt Apple is even interested anymore and if they are it will be for way less than the prior deal they were discussing.
I still think Stanford eventually ends up in the Big Ten. Maybe they can offer to not get paid for several years to make it happen. Because right now Stanford doesn't have the votes to get into the ACC and they don't want to be in the Big 12. If they aren't interested in the Big 12, they they sure aren't going to want to play with the above collection of schools.
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Post by GatorGrad on Aug 11, 2023 16:36:16 GMT
If they really hate the ACC so much, why don't the 8-9 most "valuable" programs from the ACC break away so that they can dissolve the league? They can dissolve the league and then be free to join the Big Ten or SEC or Big 12. Or they could even start a "new" conference, renegotiate a new TV deal, and just split the pie 8-9 ways instead of 14:
Miami FSU GaTech Clemson UNC Duke NC State UVA VaTech
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Post by GatorGrad on Aug 9, 2023 20:02:56 GMT
I believe the SEC will someday get to 20 by adding:
FSU Clemson one school from NC (either UNC or NC State) one school from VA (either UVA or VaTech)
The Big Ten will also add 2, 4, or 6 more from the following pool:
Stanford Cal Notre Dame UNC UVA or VaTech GaTech Miami
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Post by GatorGrad on Aug 9, 2023 18:54:36 GMT
I used to think it was fun back when we had small moves like Arkansas/South Carolina to the SEC, Miami/VaTech to the ACC, and more recently...A&M to the SEC, Nebraska to the Big Ten, and Colorado to the PAC-12. All of these moves at least made geographical sense at the time. But we have now jumped the shark. Between realignment, the new transfer rules, and NIL...I can't say I'm as passionate about college football as I used to be. Still my favorite sport overall, but they've done a lot of damage to its magic. Who would have thought that the 90's and BCS Era would have been the pinnacle of college football. We finally have an actual playoff and yet I find myself less excited about the sport moving forward.
Anyways here is what I see happening...
I am pretty confident that Notre Dame isn't going to join the ACC full-time. They will remain Independent or be forced to join the Big Ten someday. Or perhaps Chip Kelly's idea makes more sense and ALL football teams should just be independent and conferences only really need to be for the other sports. Hopefully making geographical sense again?
Otherwise the ACC's best brands will leave for the Big Ten or SEC after their current TV deal expires so no later than 2036...most likely sooner. The best of the rest ACC schools will most likely join the Big 12 which will be made up of 20+ schools that neither the Big Ten or SEC wanted. We will then essentially be left with three major conferences of 20+ teams each:
Big Ten SEC Big 12
I believe the Big Ten and SEC will bring in a lot more money than the Big 12, but the Big 12 will bring in a lot more than any other conference. So it will be a "P3" or "P2 + 1."
The SEC will be the only conference that makes geographical sense with continuous states all in the southeastern quadrant of the country. The only states they might add might be a school in NC and VA which is fine. The Big 12 stretching from Arizona to West Virginia down to Florida is ridiculous. As is the Big Ten going from LA to Washington to New Jersey. It's a mess. Conferences are too large and too spread out. What we should really have is six regional conferences of 10-12 schools each.
At this point, the endgame is going to be the top brands breaking away to form their own football-only premier league. Once Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, and Michigan get sick of sharing revenue equally with schools like Mississippi State and Indiana, it will happen. I don't know if it will be the top 16 brands, top 20, 30, or 40 but eventually the fat will be trimmed. Better hope your school makes the cut when the time comes, I guess? Sad but true.
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Post by GatorGrad on Aug 9, 2023 17:47:19 GMT
With the demise of the P12 can the ESPN CFP committee please add 2 , so called, G5 teams to the 12 team post season event ? Pretty please ? Since the top six conference champions get automatic bids, and there will now only be a "P4" there will indeed be at least 2 teams from G5 conferences (the highest rated G5 conference champs) in the CFP. Champions from the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12...as well as two G5 conference champs will get automatic bids. At least for 2024 and 2025 under the current ESPN contract. I expect a lot of changes to the CFP starting in 2026.
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Post by GatorGrad on Aug 1, 2023 21:58:47 GMT
How is ESPN holding the ACC "hostage?" For one, the total media value of the 14 ACC schools is not the same as the total media value of the 14 SEC schools. The ACC is paid less than the SEC because more people watch SEC games. It's simply more valuable to ESPN. Furthermore, it was the ACC who came to ESPN and demanded stability and a conference network so they could have their own channel like the Big Ten and SEC. So to get ESPN to agree to do this, ESPN asked for them to extend the deal. The ACC schools agreed and signed the deal. If the deal is untenable now to the ACC, that is the fault of the ACC schools, especially the more valuable ones, and the ACC Commish who negotiated the deal. It is not ESPN's fault that the ACC signed a deal that now doesn't look as great. What incentive does ESPN have to move schools from the SEC (and pay them more) when they already have a deal in place with those same schools paying them ACC money? If the Big Ten forces their hand and they prefer to pay more for ACC schools to move to the SEC just to keep them from being on FOX then it could happen and honestly I hope it does because I think it would be more fun to have FSU, Clemson, and UNC in the SEC but let's not act like the ACC is some sort of victim here. They just don't want to honor the deal that they agreed to. I don't think it matters whose "fault" it was...its the way the sport has evolved. The race for TV networks created competition among the conferences, and the better managed ones won out. Also, who would have thought, just 10 years ago, that we'd have a 12-team playoff coming?
And yes, despite signing the contract, the ACC GOR is now untenable. The big brands in the ACC have every right to have buyer's remorse, and try and remedy their situation.
FSU has been the most vocal, but I would like to know how North Carolina, Miami FL, Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Clemson feel about the situation. There has to be some unity in thought, because the "magnificent 7/secret 7" meeting happened earlier in the year. Everyone sees the writing on the wall. The pulse of the ACC as a P5 conference runs out at 2036. Do you really believe its a smart idea to wait to 2036? And hope the SEC and Big 10 still want to add teams by then?
No I don’t think it is smart to wait for 2036 if you are FSU. I do think it is smart to wait until 2036 if you are ESPN. But the contract both parties signed goes through 2036 and if schools can just break it just because they signed a bad deal, why do we even have contracts? I do hope FSU joins the SEC. As I did in the early 90’s when they chose to go to the ACC instead. I just don’t think it’s fair to say they are being held hostage.
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Post by GatorGrad on Aug 1, 2023 18:53:08 GMT
ESPN will not likely allow CLEM and FSU to move to Fox. ESPN doesn't have a choice...they won't be able to contain the ACC explosion that is about to happen. They won't be able to hold one conference hostage for piss payment while the other conference is mutating into a monster conference with huge $$$$ The situation is untenable The only way to diffuse it is to quietly work out a deal for a significant number of ACC schools to be moved over to the SEC Yes, the GOR might be ironclad, but these schools have no choice but to throw as much at it as they can to break it, which could involve many, many lawsuits How is ESPN holding the ACC "hostage?" For one, the total media value of the 14 ACC schools is not the same as the total media value of the 14 SEC schools. The ACC is paid less than the SEC because more people watch SEC games. It's simply more valuable to ESPN. Furthermore, it was the ACC who came to ESPN and demanded stability and a conference network so they could have their own channel like the Big Ten and SEC. So to get ESPN to agree to do this, ESPN asked for them to extend the deal. The ACC schools agreed and signed the deal. If the deal is untenable now to the ACC, that is the fault of the ACC schools, especially the more valuable ones, and the ACC Commish who negotiated the deal. It is not ESPN's fault that the ACC signed a deal that now doesn't look as great. What incentive does ESPN have to move schools from the SEC (and pay them more) when they already have a deal in place with those same schools paying them ACC money? If the Big Ten forces their hand and they prefer to pay more for ACC schools to move to the SEC just to keep them from being on FOX then it could happen and honestly I hope it does because I think it would be more fun to have FSU, Clemson, and UNC in the SEC but let's not act like the ACC is some sort of victim here. They just don't want to honor the deal that they agreed to.
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Post by GatorGrad on Jul 31, 2023 16:37:20 GMT
This has nothing to do with the SS. God didn't make a mistake nor "must" anyone worship God. You can choose a life with Him in your life or choose a life separated from Him. Complete freedom to decide for yourself if you would like to have God's providence in your life or go about things on your own. If that is your conclusion and take-away to my parenting analogy, I am really sorry. And Christianity rapidly declining is no surprise. The Bible actually prophesies this will happen so I would be more worried if it was rapidly increasing. As time goes on, man continues to compromise and fall further and further away from truth. Thankfully truth will stand in the end. It will never be "killed off entirely." We will all stand before God. Matthew 24:10-14 And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold. But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. 2 Timothy 3:1-4 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of GodYou apologize for a analogy that sums up my point perfect. But you don't apologize for providing excuses for an 8 year old that was sexually assaulted and murdered by a church leader: While the timing of the death of a child is indeed tragic and hard for us as humans to understand, what if that child would have grown up to cause 10x more pain and suffering to others? What if the child would have gone on to commit mass murder or invent a virus that would kill thousands of people? The truth is we have no idea. The church has a prolonged history of abuse. In the mean time, while children are still being abused, the priority is to... limit cross dressing? To protect the children? While church clergy are still exempt from reporting laws to protect children? And the members like yourself provide excuses for such abuse?
Your position explains exactly what is wrong with the church. Please keep spreading your horrific message, as it will expedite the death of the church that cannot come soon enough.
Maybe it will be replaced by those who spread the actual message of Christ: love thy neighbor.
I am not providing excuses for anyone who murders or abuses anyone. That's not very fair. You are again taking things out of context as we were discussing scenarios as to why God might allow certain things to happen on this earth that we as humans, without the eternal knowledge of God, cannot possibly comprehend. There have always been and will continue to be sinful people doing sinful things in positions of power...including in "churches." That is awful and they will answer to God one day. Jesus refers to them as false prophets...wolves who come in sheep's clothing. There are many people who feign obedience to God or claim to be a Christian but they are not. They are not the real actual "church" and God will deal with them in the end: Matthew 7:15-23 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’Completely agree that there needs to be more emphasis from churches on "loving thy neighbor!" Jesus says this himself as the second priority right after loving God. Here is the passage: Matthew 22:34-39 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
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Post by GatorGrad on Jul 30, 2023 22:00:53 GMT
I'm not asking anyone to forgive God for anything nor does He need our forgiveness. And I'm not telling you to worship anyone or anything. That's your decision. Praise The Lord for the ability to choose our own path. Regarding the earlier part, this is what I said: "Biden and Trump are both corrupt. Going to be hard to find a politician who isn't. Don't put your faith or trust in any politician or worldly leader. All are flawed and will leave you disappointed. They will let you down. Put your faith in Jesus and you will not be disappointed. And you will find yourself not stressing over this nonsense anymore."And this is what you said: "My point still remains. As you said in your thread, you are clearly disappointed in His work."
Yep. You said they were corrupt and will leave yo disappointed. To be fair I assumed that you agree God created Biden, Trump and modern politics. Maybe you are using mental gymnastics to say that they are not God's work?
I said they will leave "you" disappointed, meaning anyone who puts any trust in a politician. But you claimed that I was disappointed. I am not disappointed at all because my faith is in Jesus who has never once disappointed me and never will.
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Post by GatorGrad on Jul 30, 2023 21:54:20 GMT
Correct, He did not have to create us...but He still chose to. This is an excellent and key point! Despite knowing how much pain and suffering and heartache WE would cause, He still chose to create and pursue a relationship with us. Do you have kids? This is just like parents who desire to have children. We know there will be tough times. They cost money, time, and it is inevitable that they will cause heartache. Some may even grow up to completely reject you and not return your love. Some may even pass away before you do. It is a selfless sacrifice to choose to have children. But we still choose to have them and love them unconditionally - the joy of a mutual loving relationship between a parent and child is still worth it. What an amazing picture and example of God's love that He gives us. Despite our sin, He still loves us so much that He took on a fleshly body in the form of Jesus Christ to die an awful death to pay the ultimate price for our sin and make it as easy as possible to enter into eternal communion with Him. But while that is His desire, it wouldn't be a true loving relationship if we didn't have the ability to choose for ourselves. Who said I don't care if other innocent people suffer? No need to put words into my mouth. I look forward to the day when there will be no suffering. I do not worship God with selfish motives. Then I would be a hypocrite. When you humble yourself enough to truly seek and understand Him, your eyes can be opened to truth thanks to the Spirit of Christ that then dwells inside you. It's not just two people making a mistake. Every human to ever live on the face of the earth has "made a mistake." We all sin and contribute to the sin in this world and everything that comes along with it. You, me, our parents, our kids, our friends, world leaders, pastors, the rich, and the poor. Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." That might seem depressing...as in what hope do we then have...but good news, it only took the death of ONE individual to atone for OUR sins (even though He Himself had never sinned): Romans 5:6-11 "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous person; though perhaps for the good person someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also celebrate in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation." This is Stockholm syndrome. God creates man. Man is imperfect. God created man as imperfect. God knew man was imperfect. God blames and punishes man for being imperfect. We must worship God for his mistake. And your parent analogy is perfect... imagine being a parent that blames their children for their poor parenting!
I take it back, please keep spreading the word. The hypocrisy and evil that you spread is exactly why Christianity is rapidly declining. We need more people like you to kill it off entirely.
Thank you for being an antichrist, spreading word against Christianity and the harm that it causes, and continuing the decline of Christianity as we know it. This has nothing to do with the SS. God didn't make a mistake nor "must" anyone worship God. You can choose a life with Him in your life or choose a life separated from Him. Complete freedom to decide for yourself if you would like to have God's providence in your life or go about things on your own. If that is your conclusion and take-away to my parenting analogy, I am really sorry. And Christianity rapidly declining is no surprise. The Bible actually prophesies this will happen so I would be more worried if it was rapidly increasing. As time goes on, man continues to compromise and fall further and further away from truth. Thankfully truth will stand in the end. It will never be "killed off entirely." We will all stand before God. Matthew 24:10-14 And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold. But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. 2 Timothy 3:1-4 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God
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Post by GatorGrad on Jul 30, 2023 19:36:44 GMT
GG, I didn't ask about any sin or following or rejecting any deity. I simply asked about natural, tragic disasters on this planet that kill, and kill millions of little children . Are such events the will of some God or one of those other choices ? Floods, earthquakes, diseases , droughts, tornados etc. are not sins( in any religion,) right ? After my 76 years of life's education on this planet I find 'B' the logical answer.
...and one other question, GG : Speaking of Adam and Eve. Where is the Garden Of Eden located ? Biblical scholars can only speculate . Most guess somewhere around the Persian gulf. Anthropologists and archeologists suggest the southern tip of Africa for the most signs of early humanoids. The Mormons think it was in Missouri. The Garden of Eden is in a book but where on Earth is it ? Same thing for Mt. Sinai. Could you take us to Mt Sinai for a biblical tour ? If these places ( in a book) could actually be real and identified what incredible tourist attractions they would be, don't you think ?....especially if Eden still had talking snakes.
My apologies Hen, I must have missed this post from earlier after aufan chimed in on our replies. Regarding floods, earthquakes, etc let's look at the very first example known to us in Genesis 6. It says that "the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually." So He flooded the earth (first time it had ever rained up to this point) and only spared Noah and his family because Noah was literally the only one following God. Jesus refers to this historical event when talking about the end times: Matthew 24: 37-42 "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. At that time there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming."In Mark 4, the disciples are afraid of a storm and Jesus literally stops the storm. In Genesis, He parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to get out of captivity in Egypt. So yes, it is clear that God does allow these "natural disasters" to occur on this earth. Regarding the Garden of Eden or Mt. Sinai, I have no idea of their exact location. There are many different thoughts as to where they might be but it's not anything that I've spent any time trying to figure out as it is not important. There are thousands of gardens and thousands of mountains so to pinpoint the exact location on earth from something that occurred 6,000 years ago would not be easy. Nor would there be a talking snake in present day. Good news, our faith does not require visiting any of these places in person. Seeing them in person wouldn't convince anyone to believe in Christ. Plenty of people saw God's miracles first hand in the Bible and still rejected God. In John 20:29, Thomas was not believing that Jesus had risen from the dead unless he could see Jesus in person. When he finally got to see Jesus in the flesh, Jesus said “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” While man wants to make it seem like discovering God is a difficult complicated task, I am thankful that God in His wisdom makes it so easy. If it was some secret code that had to be cracked, or everyone had to be convinced by visiting actual historical sites or figuring out some mathematical formula then He would automatically be excluding a large % of the earth's population. No, He just wants us to humble ourselves, acknowledge and turn from our sin, and put our trust in Him. A beautiful thing.
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Post by GatorGrad on Jul 30, 2023 19:02:39 GMT
We don't worship and follow God because we have to. We worship and follow God because we WANT to. Out of thankfulness for our Creator who loves us and cares for us and died for us and wants to commune with us forever. You also used an extreme example about a child's murder so you are going to get an extreme answer. I don't need to start a new thread nor am I trying to convert anyone to anything. I initially just replied to you after you completely misrepresented my initial post about not putting any trust in a president...which out of your own pride you still haven't acknowledged. I'm just replying to you when you misrepresent God and who He is. You are completely free to ignore or mute me. That's what I would do if someone was talking about the Easter Bunny being real. The Easter Bunny didn't create evil, and nobody is forgiving the Easter Bunny for doing it, and telling us we should worship the Easter Bunny.
You said the presidents are corrupt and will leave you disappointed. I said of course, any sane person would be disappointed. How is this misrepresenting?
I'm not asking anyone to forgive God for anything nor does He need our forgiveness. And I'm not telling you to worship anyone or anything. That's your decision. Praise The Lord for the ability to choose our own path. Regarding the earlier part, this is what I said: "Biden and Trump are both corrupt. Going to be hard to find a politician who isn't. Don't put your faith or trust in any politician or worldly leader. All are flawed and will leave you disappointed. They will let you down. Put your faith in Jesus and you will not be disappointed. And you will find yourself not stressing over this nonsense anymore."And this is what you said: "My point still remains. As you said in your thread, you are clearly disappointed in His work."
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Post by GatorGrad on Jul 30, 2023 18:50:34 GMT
You seem to think it would have been better for God to create slaves or robots programmed to worship Him. Giving us freedom of choice is one of the best things anyone could want, no? We wouldn't understand or know love if we didn't have the ability to choose. I am thankful that He gives us the choice. This would be like if we were created by someone and everything was perfect but the only thing the creator asked was to make sure we ate delicious food every day that the creator himself would provide...otherwise without food we would die. Sounds simple enough, right? But instead of being thankful for the delicious steak given to us, we rejected it and then got upset with the creator for for not being able to live anymore without food. He did not have to create us. He chose to. And chose to do it with a world of pain and suffering. This is your argument.
The absolute selfishness that goes into your thinking is mind blowing. You are happy with what he gave you, so who cares if other innocent people have to suffer, like the 8 year old girl who was sexually assaulted and murdered by her church leader? This is worshiping a king because it benefits you, not because it benefits everyone.
And your analogy is awful, two people made a mistake (you call them "we"), and billions of people have to suffer? Again, a complete shithole of a god.
Correct, He did not have to create us...but He still chose to. This is an excellent and key point! Despite knowing how much pain and suffering and heartache WE would cause, He still chose to create and pursue a relationship with us. Do you have kids? This is just like parents who desire to have children. We know there will be tough times. They cost money, time, and it is inevitable that they will cause heartache. Some may even grow up to completely reject you and not return your love. Some may even pass away before you do. It is a selfless sacrifice to choose to have children. But we still choose to have them and love them unconditionally - the joy of a mutual loving relationship between a parent and child is still worth it. What an amazing picture and example of God's love that He gives us. Despite our sin, He still loves us so much that He took on a fleshly body in the form of Jesus Christ to die an awful death to pay the ultimate price for our sin and make it as easy as possible to enter into eternal communion with Him. But while that is His desire, it wouldn't be a true loving relationship if we didn't have the ability to choose for ourselves. Who said I don't care if other innocent people suffer? No need to put words into my mouth. I look forward to the day when there will be no suffering. I do not worship God with selfish motives. Then I would be a hypocrite. When you humble yourself enough to truly seek and understand Him, your eyes can be opened to truth thanks to the Spirit of Christ that then dwells inside you. It's not just two people making a mistake. Every human to ever live on the face of the earth has "made a mistake." We all sin and contribute to the sin in this world and everything that comes along with it. You, me, our parents, our kids, our friends, world leaders, pastors, the rich, and the poor. Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." That might seem depressing...as in what hope do we then have...but good news, it only took the death of ONE individual to atone for OUR sins (even though He Himself had never sinned): Romans 5:6-11 "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous person; though perhaps for the good person someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also celebrate in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."
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Post by GatorGrad on Jul 30, 2023 12:40:33 GMT
"God knew ahead of time what the results of sin would be. God knew that Adam and Eve would sin and would thereby bring evil suffering and death into the world."
This further elaborates my point. God is a piece of shit, only worth of disdain, not worship. He didn't have to bring evil suffering and death into the world, but he did.
You seem to think it would have been better for God to create slaves or robots programmed to worship Him. Giving us freedom of choice is one of the best things anyone could want, no? We wouldn't understand or know love if we didn't have the ability to choose. I am thankful that He gives us the choice. This would be like if we were created by someone and everything was perfect but the only thing the creator asked was to make sure we ate delicious food every day that the creator himself would provide...otherwise without food we would die. Sounds simple enough, right? But instead of being thankful for the delicious steak given to us, we rejected it and then got upset with the creator for for not being able to live anymore without food.
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Post by GatorGrad on Jul 30, 2023 12:30:24 GMT
God gives humans a choice to follow Him or reject Him. Rejecting God leads to sin which has many consequences in this world including death, pain, and suffering. This sounds like Stockholm syndrome. Why would I worship and evil god who created us just to worship him, and punishes us with pain and suffering if we don't? These are the characteristics of a ruthless evil egomaniac, not someone who has any understanding of love, nor someone who deserves worship.
May I suggest you start a new thread to proselytize? You're not going to find any converts here, especially when your argue that abuse and murder of children may be for the greater good. That disgusting and vile thinking is exactly why I'm an atheist.
We don't worship and follow God because we have to. We worship and follow God because we WANT to. Out of thankfulness for our Creator who loves us and cares for us and died for us and wants to commune with us forever. You also used an extreme example about a child's murder so you are going to get an extreme answer. I don't need to start a new thread nor am I trying to convert anyone to anything. I initially just replied to you after you completely misrepresented my initial post about not putting any trust in a president...which out of your own pride you still haven't acknowledged. I'm just replying to you when you misrepresent God and who He is. You are completely free to ignore or mute me. That's what I would do if someone was talking about the Easter Bunny being real.
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