Having a personal relationship with God

[Gawen]

thank you all for answering honestly.  I suspected you would say what you all said so I find myself at a disadvantage. What would make you trust what I had to say?

Trust is not an issue, as I said above.
Thank you for the additions to what God IS, btw. Now that we have exposed God for what it is, you still must show me HOW you KNOW it.

Why do you think God hides himself away?

I'm not entirely sure. My current train of thought is that God/s do not exist and that is why I can't see, feel, hear, smell, taste them. I was hoping for something a bit more substantial in your reply to me...like the evidence you have that causes you to believe your God exists. It simply cannot be that 'you looked for him'.

Now the question is do you really want to find Him?

Let's not cover previous ground, shall we? Provide your evidence of its existence and the way I am able to find it. Whether I care or not is neither here nor there. Assume there is some curiosity on my part which I suppose would denote a degree of 'caring'.

No God does not occupy space or time like I do but that doesn't mean He is impossible to find.

I shall endeavour to remember this in future debate with you. However, first things first. The evidence of your Gods existence...if you please.

Perhaps if I ask you in this way?
What criteria do YOU use to decide if something exists?
What criteria do you use in regard as evidence of non-existence?

[Thumpalumpacus]

You've gussied up Anselm with scientific language, yet you've committed his fallacy of special pleading.

Actually, my syllogisms are Thomistic.

I first read it in Anselm.

You may wish to call it "Thomistic", or what-have-you.  I call it bullshit, because it's an example of special pleading.

It'd be nice if you addressed that aspect, but I'm sure you have some meeting of world-famous theologians to attend, or something.

[gsaint]

My criteria for the fact that God does exist

He is able to manipulate things if he wants to
You can communicate with him through prayer
Answered prayer and provisions.
Blesses his people not necessarily monetary
The people who's lives have been changed
Prophesies being fulfilled or the fact He keeps His promises

The changed life is the important part of Christianity and is one of the promises of God. Here is a link to a dramatization of people's who's live have been changed by their relationship with God
http://www.unshackled.org/listen_10.html If you would like to know about my story just PM me.

Prophesies are the next thing. It says in the Bible that if there are prophesies that are not fulfilled then those prophesies are not from God. So that should me that everyone of the Prophesies in the Bible should be come true correct? There are a lot so I will not God through them all but

Read all of Psalms 22 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalms%2022&version=NIV This was written by King David I don't know the actual date of this Psalm but the collection of 147 Psalms were written from the 1400BC-430BC.  I believe this to be a prophesy of Jesus on the Cross and Jesus even is quoted saying the first words of this verse in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34. I will point you to a couple of verses that speak of the crucifixion Vs. 14-18 if you jump back to vs 8 people are quoted to have said these things if you look at Matthew 27:43

The City of Tyre is prophesied to be destroyed by many nations and the Phoenician would not be found again please read the verses and don't take my word for it in Amos 1:9-10 in Ezekiel 26:3,12,14 and 21 In Zechariah 9:3-4 . the book of Amos was written between 760-750 BC Ezekiel was written between 593-571 BC. So Tyre is in modern day Lebanon. The city was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon for 13 years from 585 to 572 BC and was captured. Then in 332 BC Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire and the city served as a center for Persian Fleet. Since he wanted to make things go by quickly Alexander the great used the stones from the island fortress and built a causeway from the stone and timber. Check out vs Ezekiel 26:4,14. Alexander the great took care of the Phoenician empire.

the Defeat of Babylon was prophesied in Isaiah 13:1-14:23" 21:1-10 which was written in 700-680BC in 710 BC they were defeated by Sargon II a Assyrian king, then in 702 and 689 they were defeated by Sennacherib king of Assyria, in 648 they were besieged by Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, and later defeated in 539 the empire fell to Cyrus the Persian. In verse 14:23 it says that Babylon will become a swamp and it is.

The People of Israel will never be completely destroyed is prophesied in Leviticus 26:44 which was written in 1440 BC and they have been attacked by many nations and people and they are still hear.

Jesus prophesied that the temple would be destroyed in Matthew 24:1-2 which was written around 70-80AD in 70 AD the Roman empire destroyed the empire and tore down the temple

The temple will be rebuilt Rev 11:1 they are already starting and check out this video

Code Select Expand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfYVZY6ImHk (just in case I did that wrong here is the link) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfYVZY6ImHk
In Luke 21:23-24 was written in 59-63 AD says that Jerusalem will be trampled on by gentiles or non-Jews. Just look at Jerusalem or the video above.

And like I have already said I speak with him daily  like today he wanted me to stand in a certain check out line even though I would have rather gone through the self check out. I ended up talking to a lady becasue of it. There was another time I was traveling from San Antonio TX to Austin TX there was a main walking on the Highway God said pull over and pick that man up. I did and the man told me while I was traveling that he had prayed to God that someone would give him a ride from San Antonio to Austin. He had just recently given his life to Christ.

[DJAkuma]

My criteria for the fact that God does exist

He is able to manipulate things if he wants to
You can communicate with him through prayer
Answered prayer and provisions.
Blesses his people not necessarily monetary
The people who's lives have been changed
Prophesies being fulfilled or the fact He keeps His promises

Those same criteria can be used to prove the existence of santa claus.

He is able to manipulate things if he wants to
   Got any testable evidence of this?

You can communicate with him through prayer
   If he's talking back to you could it be possibly be explained by something medical/psychological?

Answered prayer and provisions.
   Trying the same thing millions of times and getting a handful of positive results that can be explained without god is not proof. Why does it seem like if you pray for a new job you don't get it until you do it yourself and then god gets the credit?

Blesses his people not necessarily monetary
   So people say but it seems like getting blessed or not doesn't depend on whether you have faith or are even a good person, we certainly don't see any indication of "survival of the kindest"

The people who's lives have been changed
   Again, could this also not be explained by rational means such as people changing their own lives or others helping them out?

Prophesies being fulfilled or the fact He keeps His promises
   Where's solid evidence of this? I see mostly vague passages being interpreted to mean they predicted things that have happened but nothing even as clear as the predictions of nostradamus. Where's the verse that says "in 1969 men will land on the moon, it'll be on TV", or "Catholic priests will get busted for touching little boys but the pope will sweep it under the rug"

[lundberg500]

Gsaint, these reasons are extremely weak.

He is able to manipulate things if he wants to

Only in your mind. Please prove otherwise.

You can communicate with him through prayer

Ummm.. no, you can't. Again, only in your mind.

Answered prayer and provisions.

Is this why thousands and thousands of innocent little children die each day from hunger? So, he can heal blisters and find good parking spaces for Christians while letting the kiddos in other countries die, right?

Prophesies being fulfilled or the fact He keeps His promises

This one is very, very wrong. The New Testament writers wrote to fit the Old Testament prophecies. They were familiar with the Greek translated Old Testament. They used midrash of the prophecies to show that their Jesus fulfilled them. Again, you are taking the bible at its word that the events of the New Testament actually happened. The New Testament writers were just making the prophecies fit. The writer of Mark just used Psalms 22 as the basis for his own  writing about the death of his Jesus. It was real easy to do. Look at the Old Testament scripture and use a little midrash to get it to fit what you are writing about. Did Jesus keep his promise about returning? He said he would return in the generation of people standing before him then. Did that happen? NO. It has been almost 2,000 years.. and still no Jesus.

Here's where you are VERY wrong:

Jesus prophesied that the temple would be destroyed in Matthew 24:1-2 which was written around 70-80AD in 70 AD the Roman empire destroyed the empire and tore down the temple

Matthew was NOT written around 70-80 CE. There is no evidence that it was not written until the time of the Bar Kokhba revolution around 135 CE. NONE. Here again, the writers of the NT knew of the temple being destroyed in 70 CE and they made the prophecy fit. I believe that the Little Apocalypse fits perfectly when considered to have been written during the time of the Bar Kokhba revolution. It was written with a story of Jesus living before the destruction of the first temple. The author has Jesus tells his disciples that the temple will be destroyed. Jesus then tells of false prophets (like Simon Bar Kokhba), wars, and a final war where Jerusalem will be destroyed. At this time, the end of the world will come and Jesus will return. The author wants people to be saved through Jesus and flee Jerusalem. This is obviously written by an author who already knew that the temple had been destroyed in 70 CE and wanted to show that Jesus had predicted it. I believe that the writer of the Little Apocalypse thought that the Bar Kokhba revolt was going to culminate in the end of the world.

I speak with him daily like today he wanted me to stand in a certain check out line even though I would have rather gone through the self check out. I ended up talking to a lady becasue of it. There was another time I was traveling from San Antonio TX to Austin TX there was a main walking on the Highway God said pull over and pick that man up.

This is scary to me. You should read Dan Barker's book "Losing Faith in Faith". He was a former preacher and now atheist. He tells a story in his book about when he was still a devout Christian and he is driving his car. God is telling him where to turn and he ends up in a cornfield in the middle of nowhere.  

[Thumpalumpacus]

Oh, dear, that's a hoot.

[gsaint]

There are 2500 prophecies in the bible. 2000 of those prophesies have been fulfilled and 500 are still in the future.
there are a 100 old Testament prophesies about Jesus that have been written and fulfilled in the bible.


So lundberg500 you postulate that the men in the first century took the old testament and found all of the prophesies pertaining to Jesus and wrote them down to support their claim about Jesus. That is a good question so lets explore it.
In Psalms 22, Psalms 34:20, and in Zechariah 20:12 it all takes in account the crucifixion of Jesus with vivid detail, but at that time crucifixion will not be invented for another 400 years.  So that is a very luck thing for the apostles to have an opprotunity to use these verse if they just made up the story. It such a lucky thing that it would be a 1 to 10^13 chance that they would be able to use these verses to support their made up story.
I have a question Who are they writing these books too in your idea of how the gospels came about?
 

Matthew was NOT written around 70-80 CE. There is no evidence that it was not written until the time of the Bar Kokhba revolution around 135 CE. NONE. Here again, the writers of the NT knew of the temple being destroyed in 70 CE and they made the prophecy fit. I believe that the Little Apocalypse fits perfectly when considered to have been written during the time of the Bar Kokhba revolution. It was written with a story of Jesus living before the destruction of the first temple. The author has Jesus tells his disciples that the temple will be destroyed. Jesus then tells of false prophets (like Simon Bar Kokhba), wars, and a final war where Jerusalem will be destroyed. At this time, the end of the world will come and Jesus will return. The author wants people to be saved through Jesus and flee Jerusalem. This is obviously written by an author who already knew that the temple had been destroyed in 70 CE and wanted to show that Jesus had predicted it. I believe that the writer of the Little Apocalypse thought that the Bar Kokhba revolt was going to culminate in the end of the world.

OK I will try as best I can to address your statement. It is believed that Luke used the gospels of Matthew and Mark. Now Luke and Act are the same document just split up so we can assume if we can date Acts then we can at least assume that Matthew and Mark are earlier then that.  
So Acts discusses the history of the early church and is centered around Jerusalem but there is no mention of the fall of the temple which happened in 70AD. There is no mention of Nero which happened in the mid-60 century. It wasn't becasue they were fearful of the roman government becasue even in the face of persecution and death of themselves or their family the christian still spread the word of Christ. The martyrdom of James 61AD Paul 64BC and Peter 65BC are not written about in Acts. If you will remember Acts does recount the martyrdom of Steven and James the brother of John. Since Paul and Peter are major figures in Acts it would be surprising that they would be omitted if Acts was written after their deaths. The war with the Romans was a big deal, which started in 66BC, So if Acts was written after the start of the war it would be strange that Luke didn't mention anything about the war. So it can be assumed that Act was written in the early 60's. So that would place the other books before that as well.

Still if you don't want to rely on Matthew this statement  of the temple being destroyed was also written in Mark 13:2 and in Luke 21:6

He is able to manipulate things if he wants to

Only in your mind. Please prove otherwise.

The proof of the prophesies I have stated before show his power to do as he wishes.

Ummm.. no, you can't. Again, only in your mind.

You prove that it is only in my mind.

Is this why thousands and thousands of innocent little children die each day from hunger? So, he can heal blisters and find good parking spaces for Christians while letting the kiddos in other countries die, right?

God has devised a plan that these children don't die of hunger each day and that is those who believe in him should provide for those in need. If anyone is to blame for not supporting those children then it would be people like me. I and all those who put our faith in God need to make changes in our lives so that we can make sure less and less of the poor and starving in the world do not have to die hungry. We have the resources and I have already made plans to use my resources so that these children do not have to die of hunger or preventable disease. I have built it into my business to be able to give a portion of my profits to this cause and I hopefully can go with my church to Haiti. My church also makes provisions for those in need places around the world. There are programs and there are people willing to risk their lives and their comfort so that those needy children are feed and taken care of as well as hearing the word of God.

This is scary to me. You should read Dan Barker's book "Losing Faith in Faith". He was a former preacher and now atheist. He tells a story in his book about when he was still a devout Christian and he is driving his car. God is telling him where to turn and he ends up in a cornfield in the middle of nowhere.

I didn't end up nowhere I ended up picking up a man that had prayed that he would be provided a way to Austin from San Antonio. I had just prayed that I would listen and respond to God. Both of our prayers were answered. Both he and I exist and both he and I never met each other until that day. Yet we both know and pray to the same God and on that day the same God answered both our prayers.

[Thumpalumpacus]

There are 2500 prophecies in the bible. 2000 of those prophesies have been fulfilled and 500 are still in the future.

According to whom?

Also, Jesus was to return during the lifetimes of the witnesses.  That has obviously not happened.

Damascus was prophesied to become a ruinous heap.  That has obviously not happened; Damascus is one of the oldest cities still inhabited in the world.

The Nile has never dried up in its course.

Was your god wrong?  Were his prophets fools?

Or maybe there is no god or gods.

[DJAkuma]

I see a ton of parallels with the book of mormon there, much of it was plagarized from the king james bible and the rest was entirely made up in order to show a bunch of prophecies having been fulfilled by claiming that it was a translation of a text written by someone in 600BC when in fact none of it was.

Now, if I wrote a book with a bunch of prophecies, all of which have come true (which they would since they actually describe events in the past.) Then claimed that the book was written long before those events and all I'd done was translate it from an earlier copy (which is now gone, angels took it back or something) it would seem like the book accurately predicted future events.

Its one of the oldest tricks around and has been used to fool people for centuries. You simply write about some events that people remember, date the book as being older than those events and then sprinkle in some morality tales and some vague future predictions (it works better if they don't happen until after you're gone, don't want people calling BS while you're still around). Then you add in some warnings about bad things that will happen to you if you question the book or the prophet or fall out of line with how the author wants you to behave.

You'd think in the age of science this sort of thing couldn't be done. After all if some sci-fi writer made up a bunch of crap to manipulate people into handing over money it be quickly proven to be junk and nobody would bother with it.

If you want to understand the bible for what it is read dianetics and the book of mormon, if you haven't converted to either by the time you're done ask yourself why and then read the bible again.

[lundberg500]

So lundberg500 you postulate that the men in the first century took the old testament and found all of the prophesies pertaining to Jesus and wrote them down to support their claim about Jesus. That is a good question so lets explore it.
In Psalms 22, Psalms 34:20, and in Zechariah 20:12 it all takes in account the crucifixion of Jesus with vivid detail, but at that time crucifixion will not be invented for another 400 years. So that is a very luck thing for the apostles to have an opprotunity to use these verse if they just made up the story. It such a lucky thing that it would be a 1 to 10^13 chance that they would be able to use these verses to support their made up story.

You obviously don't understand what midrash means. Writers in the 2nd Century, not 1st, wrote stories using old testament prophecies and applied them to the Jesus character. Your point makes absolutely no sense at all. 1 in 10 chance, huh? The writers of the NT knew the Old Testament scripture. They wanted to show that their Jesus fulfilled OT prophecies so they applied them to their new writing. This was common with NT writers, see this link here:

http://www.theopedia.com/New_Testament_use_of_the_Old_Testament#Midrash

So if Acts was written after the start of the war it would be strange that Luke didn't mention anything about the war. So it can be assumed that Act was written in the early 60's. So that would place the other books before that as well

Wrong, wrong, wrong. You will NEVER convince me that Acts written in the early 60's.     At this point, you have about lost all credibility with me. Acts was written much later than the 60s CE. This statement by you is just about an ender with me posting to you. I can tell now what I'm dealing with.

God has devised a plan that these children don't die of hunger each day and that is those who believe in him should provide for those in need.

A plan? No, you don't get it. These children are dying every single day. There is no plan. Thousands die every day from hunger. What planet are you living on? Oh yeah, the delusional Christian bubble.

[Achronos]

A relationship with God for me is more than just a mental excercise.

[LegendarySandwich]

A relationship with God for me is more than just a mental excercise.

How so?

Also -- how is it more than him talking to you in your head?

[Achronos]

A relationship with God for me is more than just a mental excercise.

How so?

Also -- how is it more than him talking to you in your head?

Well Orthodoxy itself is a relationship with God. Not a series of rules to live by, nor is it a theological system, nor is it a particular structure of church government. For us mystery is where we meet God, it is the present moment which is eternal.

I'll quote one of my favorite authors on this topic, Mr. Webber:

"Let's start from the beginning with the beginning of man. When man and woman (Adam and Eve) disobeyed God, He altered their reality so that they became aware of their seperateness, their estrangement, from God, who until then had been their sole purpose for being. The man and the woman rejected relatonship with God as a person and went into exile. They forced God to become an impersonal power, a demand, a commandment, just as a rebellious child forces a parent to become overpowering, impersonal, and free from dialouge when the child presses beyond the limits that have been provided for its safety and nurture.

According to the thoughts that course through the human mind, the situation that emerges at the end of the story of Adam and Eve is considered to be the end of the whole story. Certainly this situation is reflected in the attitude of contemporary society. God is a "take-it-or-leave-it" sort of thing, useful if manipulated, otherwise merely the relic of a bygone, unsophisticated age. This distant yet powerful God depends on logic and human interest to exist at all. Ultimately God is merely something or someone unknown by very powerful. Like children with their hands over their eyes, humanity can "unmake" God by covering their sight, thereby not only depriving themselves of the source of their lives, but emerging with a lack of the one thing they deem God capable of providing--an absolute sense of right and wrong.

Where there is power, there will always be human beings who like to wield it for their own ends. Throughout history, individuals have realized there is an advantage to be gained by persuading other people that they have this "God-power" under their control. This has been the normal function of religion in almost all civilizations, and it is demonstrated in a number of ways. Since, in this context, God is merely a force or a power, people try to control it, predict the mind of the power, or even foretell what the power is going to do next. They force the power to limit itself in one way or another, either making itself available only in a given form (in or through a particular interpretation of a scripture or revelation), or allowing it to function only through the intermediary of a priesthood, an infallible spokesperson, or a particular human institution. In the end such a religion becomes yet another way of manipulating people so that the few can control the many to benefit their own politicall, social, or financial aspirations.

These last few sentences are a fairly harsh judgment of what religion has meant to most people throughout most of our history. in fact, this is precisely what religion looks like when it is controlled by the ways of the fallen mind. Since the mind fears uncertainty, it is natural that, at this level, religion is used as a means of gaining certainty in an uncertain universe, as well as allowing some people to impose their own wants and desires on others in the name of their deity. If those with power label this certainty as "faith", they may think they have achieved their goal. However, this is not the case. Faith does not exist in the mind. It exists in the heart[/u]. And even in the heart, it is always a gift from God, not a conclusion of the mind's computation. In its fallen state, the best the mind can offer by way of faith is simply a strongly held opinion. "Strongly held opinion" describes prejudice, not faith.

We cannot make an opinion, even strongly held opinion, sacrosanct by labeling it "Faith" and then behaving for all the world as if it could not be challenged. To do so is to belittle genuine faith--which comes not as a result of thinking but as a result of trusting God--and to place our own needs as the driving force of the universe. If we need to be certain about anything, let it not be about our own fears and desires. If we are busy defending God, we can be fairly sure we are stuck in our minds. In the domain fo the heart, truth never needs a defense."

[gsaint]

Here is Matt 26: 6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Look at the last verse/sentence that is a pretty bold statement for those who were making something up. How could they know that their religion would move across the world? They didn't even know that some part of the would existed yet this statement is true. I even sharing it right now and it is showing up on screen in different parts of the world.

Matt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
This one is happening right now and if it doesn't get preached to the ends of the world then it is a lie and the end may or may not come, but if it does then it is all true.

There are other verses like these Psalms 98:3, Luke 24:7,

Wrong, wrong, wrong. You will NEVER convince me that Acts written in the early 60's. At this point, you have about lost all credibility with me. Acts was written much later than the 60s CE. This statement by you is just about an ender with me posting to you. I can tell now what I'm dealing with.

If you don't mind would you share your information on how you came to this conclusion.

I see a ton of parallels with the book of Mormon there, much of it was plagiarized from the king james bible and the rest was entirely made up in order to show a bunch of prophecies having been fulfilled by claiming that it was a translation of a text written by someone in 600BC when in fact none of it was.

the book of Mormon and their prophet have inconsistencies that the Bible do not have. The book of Mormon is based in American and it goes into inscriptions of geography that don't fit with the area being describe. They have not been able to link the DNA of Native Americans with the people of Israel. Joseph Smith has prophesied may things that did not come true.
Joseph Smith said that Jesus would return within 56 years you can find that in the History of the Church, vol. 2, p. 189. But Jesus did say No man will know when he will be coming back Matt 24:36
Joseph Smith said the the temple will be built in New Zion which would be Missouri. Doctrines and Covenants 84:2-5,31The church was supposed to be built in Joseph Smith time but it wasn't instead they were driven out of that area in 1833.
Mr. Smith also said that all nations would be involved in the civil war Doctrine and Covenants 87:1-3. All nations didn't get involved.
It says in Due 18:21-22 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

Now, if I wrote a book with a bunch of prophecies, all of which have come true (which they would since they actually describe events in the past.) Then claimed that the book was written long before those events and all I'd done was translate it from an earlier copy (which is now gone, angels took it back or something) it would seem like the book accurately predicted future events.

Its one of the oldest tricks around and has been used to fool people for centuries. You simply write about some events that people remember, date the book as being older than those events and then sprinkle in some morality tales and some vague future predictions (it works better if they don't happen until after you're gone, don't want people calling BS while you're still around). Then you add in some warnings about bad things that will happen to you if you question the book or the prophet or fall out of line with how the author wants you to behave.

Would you please provide the information that helped you come to this conclusion. Where did the idea of Christianity spring up and what evidence points to this claim? What were the names of the people who started it. Why did they start it? I understand you sincerely feel this way about his subject but if you wouldn't mind giving me historical data for you claim.  

Also there aren't a few moral tales and there aren't all vague predictions. It not so vague to say that not a stone will be left standing or that someone's story will be preached to all the world. That when you give your life to Christ the holy spirit will come to dell within you. It would be moral to tell people that (A) and (B) are wrong so do all you can not to do them. If you are making stuff up it is weird to say (A) and (B) are wrong and their is nothing that you can do to stop you from doing it. Yet their is on who came named Jesus who was fully man and fully God and he died a shameful and humiliating death on the cross and became sin so that you don't die the second death, which is eternal separation from God. So since Jesus did this for you all you need to do is accept his gift and the Holy Spirit will dwell in you so that you will have the power to not sin and you will be given the power to pick up your cross daily and follow after him.  

You obviously don't understand what midrash means. Writers in the 2nd Century, not 1st, wrote stories using old testament prophecies and applied them to the Jesus character. Your point makes absolutely no sense at all. 1 in 10 chance, huh? The writers of the NT knew the Old Testament scripture. They wanted to show that their Jesus fulfilled OT prophecies so they applied them to their new writing. This was common with NT writers, see this link here:

Would you please explain in more depth who midrash is proof that Matthew was written in the 2nd Century.

I apologize if my earlier statements were confusing that is never my intention so I will try to clarify my statement.  The writers of the New testament had a 1 and 10to the 13th power chance or a 1 and a 10,000,000,000,000 chance that crucifixion would have existed in that time period to be used in their story. So if it was made up that is pretty lucky if it wasn't made up then it is pretty amazing.

A plan? No, you don't get it. These children are dying every single day. There is no plan. Thousands die every day from hunger. What planet are you living on? Oh yeah, the delusional Christian bubble.

I understand your interest in this subject and would like to know some of the solutions you have though of and some of the way you are helping. I would still have to disagree with you though God has a plan for all things and I plan on living out his plan of my life.

Also, Jesus was to return during the lifetimes of the witnesses. That has obviously not happened.

Damascus was prophesied to become a ruinous heap. That has obviously not happened; Damascus is one of the oldest cities still inhabited in the world.

The Nile has never dried up in its course.

In 732 BC Damascus was defeated by Tigiath-Pileaser III. If didn't say that it would never be inhabited again it said wit would be a heap of ruin. People can live in a heap of ruins.
As for the Nile river check out this article from the Time magazine  http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967087,00.html

Mark 9:1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

Luke 17:20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

The question is what does the the Kingdom of God mean? The Kingdom of God is not a physical place but a spiritual place.It was established when Jesus died and rose from the dead then ascended and the Holy Spirit came and dwelt in those who gave or will give their lives to Christ. The Kingdom of God is a spiritual transformation when the soul becomes reborn into the kingdom of heaven.

[TheJackel]

This is among my favorite things to do when confronting people that proclaim that they have a "special relationship" with GOD, and even say he speaks to them in prayer :bananacolor: