Which Users' Manual Are YOU Using - Revisited

SOMETIMES IT IS GOOD TO REVISIT earlier thoughts and beliefs to test their validity and to test if we have matured and learned more on that issue.  On July 26, 2013, I posted the article below in my Facebook Notes and sent it to all in my Friends Ministry eNewsletter mail list.  Three days later, a very mature Christian brother in Oklahoma sent me a good response which adds new thoughts to my original post.
 
So, maybe this is a good time to revisit my dialogue with an agnostic Friend on the TimesDaily Religion Forum where I posted for seven years and see if my reasoning is still valid - and to revisit what my Christian Friend in Oklahoma, Brent Riggs, added to my thoughts.

Which Manual Are You Using?
July 26, 2013 at 12:04pm

Today, on the TimesDaily Religion Forum an agnostic Friend, Chick, tells me, "That is a problem I have with Christians - they believe everything in the bible, that it is true.  Well, actually, I don't have a problem with people believing the bible.  I guess what I have a problem with is that most Christians close their minds to the fact that other people's beliefs are just as valid as theirs."

My Friend, if you owned a high powered Maserati automobile and it came with the Maintenance & Operations Manuals from the manufacturer in Italy - would you believe that manual to be the true, valid, and accurate Manual to use?  Or would you just trust in the Model-T Ford manual you found in the attic?

That is why Christians rely upon the Bible given to us by God; for it comes from the Original Equipment Manufacturer Himself, God.   Yes, you could use your Model-T Ford manual - and, you may occasionally get something right.  When the manual tells you that a tire which is flat should be replaced; it matters little whether that info comes from your Model-T manual or from your Maserati Maintenance & Operations Manuals - that info is true.

However, if you are using your Model-T manual in an effort to fine tune the engine of your Maserati to make it run better - you will be in deep trouble.

That is exactly what happens when folks deny God and His Written Word, the Bible - and try to substitute Society's Norms Manual.  They get in trouble, finding that their spiritual engines run very rough.

Yes, you can go by the Liberal Society's Norms Manual today, i.e., look at two women or two men who today's society tell us are now married - and claim their homosexual or lesbian lifestyle is normal.   But, I promise you - their spiritual engine is running very rough.  Only a one man-one woman marriage as defined in God's Bible will correct their problem of spiritual sputter.

So, it is up to you.  Do you want a finely tuned spiritual engine - or do you want to sputter down life's highway, trying to appear as though your Maserati-styled spiritual engine is operating normally?   If you want a spiritual engine which is going to give you the performance you were designed for - you have to stay with the Original Equipment Manufacturer's manual, the Bible.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,   Bill

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 
Hi all, When I posted that writing in Facebook Notes, I also sent it out to those in my Friends Ministry eNewsletter mail list.  This afternoon, July 26, 2013, an Evangelist Friend from Oklahoma City, Brent Riggs, sent this response: 

Bill, Sometimes I’ve found an actual comparison of incompatible beliefs to be an effective way to battle the “all beliefs are equally valid” nonsense….

For example -- Three beliefs from major religions:

1 – God is unknowable and the only way to be saved is to earn your salvation by good works – balance the scales in your favor and you have a chance, but you can never know for sure. 

2 – God is not a person but a force, energy, the totality of all things – you are not saved, you are absorbed back into the energy to come again in another form of energy.
 
3 – God is a real Being, a Person, who created us for His own glory and purposes; He has declared there is only one way you can be saved from eternal condemnation which we all deserve because of our sin; salvation cannot be earned, only accepted on His terms.

Those ideas are utterly incompatible.  They can’t all be equally true, therefore they can’t be all equally valid.  All religions are equally valid?   In any other subject (medicine, law, sports, trade skills, occupations) we would consider it INSANE and absurd and just plain old STUPID to declare “three incompatible statements are all equally true and valid” - but in religion, we pretend this is true.

Fact:  INCOMPATIBLE ideas/beliefs can’t all be equally true and valid.  They are either all false, or only one is true.  Either one of the three above is true, or they are all false.  To say they are all equally true and valid is stupidity on a grand scale, illogical in the extreme, and just denying the obvious - so that we don’t HAVE to choose a “truth.”

I have found that most people won’t continue to say “sorry, all beliefs are equally valid” when confronted with this real example.  .  . they will then switch to “you can’t know which one is true” - which branches into another discussion but at least you’ve gotten them past this absurd notion that all beliefs are valid and equal.  A ridiculous and truly idiotic idea we only apply to religions.  Brent

 
To all my Friends, I pray that you have found this dialogue useful and, just maybe you found a "golden nugget" or two that you might use when you are confronted with those types of questions from non-believing acquaintances and friends.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill