Adventist Media Response and Conversation

Friday, June 23, 2006

5 Questions for God, Thought question from HS.com

From a Post on HeavenlySanctuary.com
Comes this interesting challange. Which I think is a challange for those who have views of God and Satan based upon what future events they expect.

"Some earnest skeptic challenges God (think "Bruce Almighty" here perhaps?), "Why won't you ever present yourself for inspection if you're really there?" God accepts the challenge but asks, "How would you know it was me?" as well as "If I do this I have to give the Opposition equal time." What results is that TWO "gods" show up and the challenger gets to ask them both the same 5 questions. (Or however many is appropriate for time / content.) Based on the answers he (and the audience) have to choose which one is which and / or which way they really like better. “

First we would have to set up some ground rules for this debate. Obviously if one of you is really God, the all powerful we could ask you to prove you’re God by a demonstration such as calling down fire to destroy your opponent. If you both explode then it is likely that you are both liars or at least equal in power. We could also ask that the one who is God could produce a new Planet and populate it and take us to visit it to prove it has been done. That however assumes that our question or request are the ultimate necessity and more important then a new populated planet. Somehow such requests would likely not be respected by a real God, or at least even if someone who is not God would likely convince us of the presumption of such a request for most any demonstration of God abilities.

As I would imagine someone impersonating God would also impersonate God’s answers so I suspect that one answer will be repeated by the opponent. In which case we must alternate our questions so that there is a possibility we can hear answers which do differ. For instance if our first question was to the real God the opponent would likely answer with an identical answer to God.

Question 1. Does God Kill

  1. Yes
  2. Yes

Question 2: In the Ten Commandments you state “Thou shalt not kill”, how can you kill if it is against your own law.

  1. Because with the gift of life come responsibility for that life, the law against murder is foundational, it is not a law against killing in all circumstances.
  2. Correct I agree completely.

You get the idea if one is trying to impersonate the other assuming the impersonator has a reasonable knowledge of the real God his answers would be substantially the same as God and the audience would have no clue.

However contrary to the thinking of many on HeavenlySanctuary.com the question is not about impersonating God it is redefining God. In which case the premise would have to be God and Satan being asked questions so that the audience can determine who the audience wants to accept as God. In that case, while God’s answer will always be truthful, Satan’s answers would reflect the beliefs of the audience. For example to the Islam audience:

Question 1: Are you Allah of whom our forefather Muhammad instructed us.

  1. Yes
  2. No

What if the premise was no longer impersonation but who is right God or Satan:

Question 1: You have told us in the gospel of John that you are love, yet you speak of hell please explain

  1. Unfortunately you misunderstand the writings by which you think to know me. I cannot be enshrined in the words of some old peoples campfire stories of simple philiosphies. There is no hell you are merely being fed the imaginings of man. My love speaks to you personally you must listen and let it change you.
  2. Unfortunately with revelation also comes the responsibility for interpretation. Love is more then an emotion, more then even commitment to another. Inspiration is required even to see my revelation and what hell may mean to you may not be the meaning of hell at all and even what you see as love may not really be love.
So Now can you tell me in the answers supplied which are the words of God and which are the words of Satan. I would not like to have to be in the audience to make such a decision. This may explain why the Bible does not spend any time on giving Satan's views as liars play a game by their own rules and our salvation is not through knowing Satan or his lies but rather on knowing God.

Could you ask 5 questions which could distiguish between truth and lies or truth and truth as the case may be?

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