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Does God exist? (12 Viewers)

do you believe in god?


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dan964

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The place of Jerusalem is also a very Holy Site in which a annual miracle occurs at the place Jesus rose from the dead where a Holy light appears from the tomb and turns into a fire lighting the candles of the believers where the uncreated light does not burn. An explanation link is provided down below as well as video footage on youtube just search up: Holy Fire Jerusalem 1995 or 2021 etc

youtube.com/watch?v=dhOsZXtKK3w
The Holy Fire is fraudulent and at best is procured naturally.

In his book, the journalist Dimitris Alikakos presents an interview with the skeuophylax Archbishop Isidoros of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in which the former admits that the "Sleepless Candle", which he, himself, puts into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the morning of the Holy Saturday, is ignited by him with a lighter.[1]:75[29][30] The former (1984-1988) skeuophylax Archbishop Nikiforos makes the same acknowledgement, except that he was using matches.[1]:89 In the same book, Archbishop Gerason Theofanis states that the Holy Fire does not light up in a miraculous, but in a natural way, and it is then blessed by the Patriarch. He adds: "we deceive the believers letting them believe that it is a miracle. This is unacceptable, and does not reflect well on us"
(copied and pasted from Wikipedia, shamelessly)

How does that make any sense whatsoever? There’s literally fossils of modern humans dated way before that.
To accept christianity you have to reject the idea we came from apes
Nope, one to accept Christianity you don't have to reject that idea, becuase that is not a core doctrine.
Secondly, that is not the actual claim of science anyways, so kind of easy to reject.

The claim is that apes and humans shared a common ancestor. The science isn't out on that, and in the last 15 years, scientific consensus is yet again moving away from that still unproven hypothesis.

The theory of science relies on consistency however when spontaneous events occur such as Noah's flood, or the tower of babel story we must take into account that these dating methods may not be accurate
For all reading this that not all Christians accept young earth creationism or the idea that the Earth was 6025 or so years old.
Flood geology has long been discredited as unable to account for the physical evidence (and this is not by just some grumpy atheists, Christians who firmly hold to the Bible, have also rejected it).
Brief history of the movement by the same guy who wrote Veggie Tales (
)

As a Christian and a mathematician, while I might question things like species-to-species evolution (which isn't actually what Darwin was on about anyways), the age of the Earth being old is no issue for me.

And on whether humans came from apes or even shared a common ancestor with chimps. The jury is still out on that one.
 
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The Holy Fire is fraudulent and at best is procured naturally.

In his book, the journalist Dimitris Alikakos presents an interview with the skeuophylax Archbishop Isidoros of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in which the former admits that the "Sleepless Candle", which he, himself, puts into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the morning of the Holy Saturday, is ignited by him with a lighter.[1]:75[29][30] The former (1984-1988) skeuophylax Archbishop Nikiforos makes the same acknowledgement, except that he was using matches.[1]:89 In the same book, Archbishop Gerason Theofanis states that the Holy Fire does not light up in a miraculous, but in a natural way, and it is then blessed by the Patriarch. He adds: "we deceive the believers letting them believe that it is a miracle. This is unacceptable, and does not reflect well on us"
(copied and pasted from Wikipedia, shamelessly)
Your first mistake was using Wikipedia haha, second of all who are you quoting because that is all untrue, they do not deceive the believers, orthodox are very strict with their beliefs and anything to likes of that will get the patriarch excommunicated, here is real evidence to the Holy Fire from the current Patriarch of Jerusalem who has performed these miracles for many years.


Second of all their have been many occurrences that have been documents since 400 AD of this miraculous light not burning the same uncreated light as the that appeared with Moses in the burning bush, the pillar of fire and at Pentacost, please read the article linked down below and watch the video from my previous post, I will link it again down below.


youtube.com/watch?v=dhOsZXtKK3w
 
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Nope, one to accept Christianity you don't have to reject that idea, becuase that is not a core doctrine.
Secondly, that is not the actual claim of science anyways, so kind of easy to reject.

For all reading this that not all Christians accept young earth creationism or the idea that the Earth was 6025 or so years old.
Flood geology has long been discredited as unable to account for the physical evidence (and this is not by just some grumpy atheists, Christians who firmly hold to the Bible, have also rejected it).
Brief history of the movement by the same guy who wrote Veggie Tales
Now this question is more to address your faith, we believe Jesus resurrected on the third day overcoming death, the same Man who healed the blind man with the mud from the ground John 9, the same Man who breathed on his disciples to give the Holy Spirit John 20 ,ponder on that, does that sound familiar?

When God made man from the dust of the earth Genesis 2 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

Think about the act of creation in multiplying loaves and fishes or transforming water into fine wine.

God is closer than we think.
 

dan964

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Now this question is more to address your faith, we believe Jesus resurrected on the third day overcoming death, the same Man who healed the blind man with the mud from the ground John 9, the same Man who breathed on his disciples to give the Holy Spirit John 20 ,ponder on that, does that sound familiar?

When God made man from the dust of the earth Genesis 2 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

Think about the act of creation in multiplying loaves and fishes or transforming water into fine wine.

God is closer than we think.
I do believe the Bible is historical (e.g. I personally believe in a literal Adam and Eve), however it is a misreading of Genesis to necessitate it was 6 days, its textual form is different from the rest of Genesis.

And you don't have to hold to a young earth creationism to affirm the truthfulness and the inerrancy of Scripture.

Regarding the holy fire, its not just Wikipedia mind you, I just copied that because it has the citations in place of the actual sources, I still stand by what I posted before. The testimony of people within the church, is that this miracle is at best naturally occured, or is actually done with an actual lighter.

Of course your church would dismiss such claims to the contrary.

Another source:

Victoria Clark recounts a conversation she had with Orthodox Bishop Theophanis in which she asked about the miracle. He replied: “In this ceremony we are offering created fire and from it comes uncreated light, by the grace of the Holy Spirit…before the ceremony begins, a kantila – a little oil lamp – is placed, already lit, on the tomb. The patriarch lights his candle from it while he says a special prayer.”

Bishop Theophanis likens the miracle to Holy Communion when the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ (transubstantiation/ metousiosis). The natural is transformed into the supernatural. In his mind the Holy Fire really is a miraculous fire because the prayer has changed it from ordinary fire to Holy Fire.

But this is definitely not the official position of the Orthodox Church. The official website for the Patriarch of Jerusalem states that “he places a piece of cotton on the Holy Tomb and miraculously it lights up. With it the Patriarch lights the candles and exits the Holy Edicule”.

If Bishop Theophanis’ version is to be accepted then there is no actual miracle. The flame does not appear. The candles do not light themselves and the pilgrims waiting outside the tomb are gullible and naïve. The Holy Fire is nothing more than an ordinary flame and a special prayer. If this is true then the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church is deliberately misleading the faithful.
 

jimmysmith560

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I honestly don't see the need to debate the occurrence/accuracy of a miracle in such depth. It really is quite a minor detail. If this were the sole issue we are facing, the world would be in a much better place today. The issue Christianity is facing today is much more complex than a mere miracle.

Regardless, I do believe that the Orthodox and Catholic Churches are closer to the Truth than Protestant and non-Orthodox/Catholic denominations in general.
 
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I do believe the Bible is historical (e.g. I personally believe in a literal Adam and Eve), however it is a misreading of Genesis to necessitate it was 6 days, its textual form is different from the rest of Genesis.

And you don't have to hold to a young earth creationism to affirm the truthfulness and the inerrancy of Scripture.

Regarding the holy fire, its not just Wikipedia mind you, I just copied that because it has the citations in place of the actual sources, I still stand by what I posted before. The testimony of people within the church, is that this miracle is at best naturally occured, or is actually done with an actual lighter.

Of course your church would dismiss such claims to the contrary.

Another source:

Victoria Clark recounts a conversation she had with Orthodox Bishop Theophanis in which she asked about the miracle. He replied: “In this ceremony we are offering created fire and from it comes uncreated light, by the grace of the Holy Spirit…before the ceremony begins, a kantila – a little oil lamp – is placed, already lit, on the tomb. The patriarch lights his candle from it while he says a special prayer.”

Bishop Theophanis likens the miracle to Holy Communion when the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ (transubstantiation/ metousiosis). The natural is transformed into the supernatural. In his mind the Holy Fire really is a miraculous fire because the prayer has changed it from ordinary fire to Holy Fire.

But this is definitely not the official position of the Orthodox Church. The official website for the Patriarch of Jerusalem states that “he places a piece of cotton on the Holy Tomb and miraculously it lights up. With it the Patriarch lights the candles and exits the Holy Edicule”.

If Bishop Theophanis’ version is to be accepted then there is no actual miracle. The flame does not appear. The candles do not light themselves and the pilgrims waiting outside the tomb are gullible and naïve. The Holy Fire is nothing more than an ordinary flame and a special prayer. If this is true then the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church is deliberately misleading the faithful.
There is literal video evidence and eye witness testimonies to fires lighting by themselves, if you had read the article you would have known, and its not just this miracle, the orthodox church is the church of Christ the church the the apostles started, so we have plenty of monks that still perform miracles where if you had watched the channel I linked you would see. How can you say this is an ordinary fire, it is a fire that DOES NOT BURN which is quite miraculous especially done after a pray so why then do you dispute it, there are Israeli police officers who make sure there are materials that can be used to ignite a fire on the Patriarch and they seal the tomb the previous night before he enters it, to make sure there is no mishandling. I see your passionate about Jesus and I am very happy about that but please recognise that your church started in the 1500's which is very far from the time of Christ, I understand you spilt from the catholics due to corruption but do not accuse the orthodox church of doing so too, as we have stuck with true teachings of Christ and do not dare change or alter it. Much love brother

 
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Is it fair I make the assumption that you also believe Holy Communion is just a act of remembrance, again I will state the apostles that received the Holy Fire from Pentecost are the ones that started the church, St Peter received the keys of the church from Jesus, just like when the jews used to wash away the sins of the people with animal blood it wasn't just an act it was an actual intercession, the Holy Spirit still lives with us for God does not forget his people. Please do not take offence, I tell you this because I love you
 
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Drdusk

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As a Christian and a mathematician, while I might question things like species-to-species evolution (which isn't actually what Darwin was on about anyways), the age of the Earth being old is no issue for me.

And on whether humans came from apes or even shared a common ancestor with chimps. The jury is still out on that one.
I mean this is fair enough and I don’t know the extent of what you believe in. I’m also no expert on Christianity but if a somewhat lack of science here is enough reason to doubt this claim then since there is zero scientific evidence for how someone would walk on water, rise from the dead, get pregnant by a spirit etc, these claims should also be heavily scrutinised and doubted by Christians who make that argument. It also should be taken into consideration that these claims completely break our understanding of science with no scientific evidence to back them up unlike the common ancestor thing which at least has some actual ground. Not sure if you 100% believe in the miracles that I mentioned above but I don’t know if you can be a Christian whose open to the idea that these claims in the bible may be false, which is hypocritical.
 

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