Caleb

17,837 reputation

244154

bio	website	alerque.com
	location	Izmir, Turkey
	age	31
visits	member for	1 year, 9 months
	seen	7 hours ago
stats	profile views	1,120

I am a scripting language connoisseur, regular expression aficionado, network geek, general lover of Linux and a frequent contributor to open source software. I transitioned to programming from other work because I was too busy automating my own work environment to actually do the other work. I have a hobby interest in cartography. For more see my personal site. Most importantly, my life is defined by the grace of God given to men through Jesus Christ. It is my ambition that everything I do would reflect His glory and point people towards Him.

	17,837 reputation	bio	website	alerque.com	visits	member for	1 year, 9 months
244154 badges		location	Izmir, Turkey		seen	7 hours ago

summary answers questions tags badges favorites bounties reputation activity

1,386 Comments

suggestions reviews revisions comments badges posts accepts all

Sep 4	comment	Can an atheist go to heaven? A perfect God who compromises and let unregenerate rebellious men into his holy presence would no longer be holy and no God I would love like the Just one. Something has to change about us. There is a way to undergo that change but we also know from scripture that not all will. Also your argument for what God tells us to do vs what he does himself doesn't hold weight because we are not equivalent in our natures. The good news is valid for Atheists but they have to come through the same door as everybody else, through Faith.
Sep 4	comment	Can an atheist go to heaven? @hippietrail: That's not at all what I am saying. The Bible says that Jesus Christ was slain before the foundation of the world, meaning God knew ahead of time that He was going to have to sacrifice His son to save men before he created men. The promise that that would one day happen was given in Genesis 3 and renewed through every age of the OT. Those who had faith in the coming Messiah were saved just exactly the same way we are today. See Who saved people before ~33AD?
Sep 4	comment	Does “Where ever there is more than one of you gathered in My name” apply to the Internet? Second Mason's warning about the nature of this site. See Brothers, we are not Christians for more discussion on that topic. Also follow Can I go to church on the internet? for more on this subject as people answer.
Sep 3	comment	What happens to people who have never heard about Jesus? Unless you believe in Dante's hell and with impassable chasms between between some people while others can get out and into heaven, then the Luke passage has much more application than you give it credit for. In fact the whole point of the passage is to show that men are generally without excuse having been given what they needed to believe and rejected it. Likewise the Hebrews verse does not stop with renouncing reincarnation, it goes on to specifically and directly connect the final judgement to after death. Neither God's love nor his justice are diminished by his judgement being final.
Sep 3	comment	What happens to people who have never heard about Jesus? @Sven: Long long before the books of the OT was written lived a man named Adam. He walked with God in the garden and God gave him specific instructions. When Adam fell and was separated from this close relationship, God promised that a savior would come from his offspring. The rest is history, but there was never a time when God left his people without instruction and what they needed to know.
Sep 3	comment	What happens to people who have never heard about Jesus? This reading of 1 Peter 4:6 is highly unorthodox and in direct contradiction of other clearer Scriptures (such as Hebrews 9:27 and Luke 16:26). There is legitimate debate over the interpretation of this and "spirits in bondage" from the previous chapter in 1 Peter, but neither of the two major tenable options include a second chance who have died without accepting the Gospel.
Sep 3	comment	If Adam and Eve were perfect, why did they choose to sin? Sin is more than a specific action, it is a state of being -- a corrupt nature. You can't draw a comparison between Adam and babies like that because babies inherit the sinful nature of post-fall Adam.
Sep 3	comment	Is Belief in the Historical Accuracy of Gospels a prerequisite to Christianity? @GWLlosa: Actually there are dozens of them. About every other year National Geographic does some special on a new one. The thing is, none of them are relevant to Christianity. They all trace to sources or secs outside Christianity, often several hundred years later after the reliable original texts that we have. They almost almost all have agendas other than representing who Christ was and what he taught. They are not first-hand reports. If you have questions about a specific one of these that would probably be an appropriate question to ask here.
Sep 3	comment	How did Judas die? @aceinthehole: I see no particular reason why the Acts account would need to include such a detail. Either Luke did not acquire that particular detail in his research or (more likely) he just didn't think it was important to the story line. As for the issue with who purchased the land, I have researched an answer here.
Sep 3	comment	If Adam and Eve were perfect, why did they choose to sin? Probably? Do you base your faith on a series of guesses? The Bible tells us quite a few things about Adam including that he was "very good" (when he created Him) and we can deduce from the fact that his first sin was a big deal that prior to that he had not sinned. What other definition of perfect are we looking for other than being without sin?
Sep 3	comment	Is Belief in the Historical Accuracy of Gospels a prerequisite to Christianity? @GWLlosa: The number of manuscripts and their the lack of deviation between them for the NT record is actually in a league of it's own as far as textual criticism goes. Here is one link I just found on the subject.
Sep 3	comment	Is Belief in the Historical Accuracy of Gospels a prerequisite to Christianity? @GWLlosa: 2000 years is irrelevant, the part that's a concern is the first 80 years or so. After that we have a large corpus of copied texts that all indicate the same thing. However, this is actually one of the best explanations for "why are there 4 gospel accounts"? The assorted witnesses we have to the events of Christ's life and teachings -- all in different words and styles -- point us in EXACTLY the same theological direction. The lack of doctrinal conflict between them in spite of the varied viewpoints is one thing that helps us trust their historical as well as doctrinal accuracy.
Sep 3	comment	Can we pray from any position? @Pacerier: That's better. I gave it a bit more editing love, perhaps people will think that it could be answered objectively from a Christian viewpoint now.
Sep 3	comment	Does the triune God have will by nature, or by persons? Interesting question, I've never thought about that. Clearly if it was by person there would have to be a requirement that they were never in conflict and always in unity which would basically be the same thing as having one will by nature, but the number of references to one or the other things will is also intriguing. I'm staying tuned!
Sep 3	comment	Can we pray from any position? A picture is worth a thousand words but does not make a question. If you want this to go anywhere please write up a full question. About something.
Sep 3	comment	Why is Adam considered the original sinner? @Jürgen: Scripture is not a gullible shape shifting work where you get different data from the end than the beginning. God doesn't change and his will doesn't change and his commandments to men have never changed. He created a certain order and it always has been an always will be that way. Just because we don't get a play by play of all the "garden chats" God had with Adam doesn't mean we don't know what he taught Adam about marriage, because we know what God ALWAYS teaches about marriage.
Sep 2	comment	Why is Adam considered the original sinner? @Jürgen: The Genesis account includes both the responsibility and authority Adam was charged with. From other parts of Scripture we can understand more details about how this is intended to look.
Sep 2	comment	Can an atheist go to heaven? Please consider the scope of the question again. The OP is an Atheist hanging out on a site full of professing Christians asking questions about how he has asked other Christians about this. I don't think we're dealing with the issue of "never been given an opportunity" here, that's a different question.
Sep 2	comment	Who saved people before ~33AD? Most Christian traditions have much more to say about this than a speculation on one NT verse. What concept of a savior was there in the OT?
Sep 2	comment	What happens to people who have never heard about Jesus? Actually there are no two ways about it. Jesus was foretold in Genesis and faith in the Old Testament was a looking forward to the savior that would come, the same Jesus we believe in. The OT sacrificial laws were all to point to Christ so people could understand what he was going to do.