₦airaland Forum

The second of these words is "Hades".

Hades is a [size=14pt]transliteration[/size], not a [size=14pt]translation[/size], of the Greek word.

When we transliterate a work we take the spelling of that work over into another language in the respective letter equivalents, whereas when we translate a word, we take the meaning over into that language.

The word Hades itself means "The Unseen." This was the technical Greek religious term used to designate the world of those who departed this life. The Septuagint, namely, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, uses this word to translate the Hebrew "Sheol." which has a similar general meaning.

The "Hades" of the pagan Greek was the invisible land, the realm of shadow, where all Greeks went, the virtuous, to that part called Elysium, the wicked, to the other part called Tartarosas.

The difference between the pagan and Biblical conceptions of Hades is:
The pagan conceives of Hades as the final abode of the dead, whereas the Bible teaches that it is the temporary place of confinement until the Great White Throne Judgement in the case of the wicked dead, and until the resurrection of Christ, in the case of the righteous dead, the latter since they are even going at once to heaven at death (Phil. 1:23).

Similarity:
As the pagan conception of Hades included two parts, so the Biblical idea divided into two parts, the one called paradise (Luke 23:43, but not II Cor. 12:4), or Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22), for the righteous dead, and the other part of the wicked dead having no specific designation except the general word "Hades" (Luke 16:23).

This Greek word is found in the following passages, to be translated and interpreted generally as "Hades," the place of the departed dead, and for the reason that the translators of the Septuagint use this word to express in the Greek language what is meant in the Hebrew by the word "Sheol," the place of the departed dead.

In Matthew 11:23 and Luke 10:15, Capernaum is to be brought down to the realms of the dead, presumably here to that portion of Hades reserved for the wicked, because of its rejection of the attesting miracles of our Lord.

In Luke 16:23, the rich man was in Hades, that part where the wicked dead are kept until the judgment of the Great White Throne.

In Acts 2:27, 31, our Lord at His death went to Hades, the passage in Acts being quoted from Psalm 16;, where the Hebrew in 'Sheol." His soul was not left in Hades, the "paradise" portion, nor did His body in Joseph's tomb see corruption, for He was raised from the dead on the third day. He as the Man of Christ Jesus, possessing a human soul and spirit, as He possessed a human body, entered the abode of the righteous dead, having committed the keeping of His spirit to God the Father (Luke 23:46). The word "grave" in I Corinthians 15:55 is not from the word while "Hades" is a rejected reading. The translation should read, "death."

In Revelation 6:8, Death and Hades follow in the wake of war and famine, Hades ready to receive the dead (as caused by Death) of the Great Tribulation period. In Revelation 20:13,14, Death itself, and Hades with all the wicked dead are cast into the lake of fire.

"Rev 20:13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done."

There are [size=14pt]three[/size] Greek words in the New Testament translated by the [size=14pt]one[/size] English word "hell," which fact results in some confusion in people's thinking.

One of these is "Gehenna."

It is the Greek representative of the Hebrew "Ge-Hinnom," or Valley of Hinnom, a deep narrow valley to the south of Jerusalem, where, after the introduction of the worship of the fire-gods by Ahaz, the idolatrous Jews sacrificed their children to the god Molech. After the time of Josiah, when this practice was stopped, it became the common refuse-place of the city, where the bodies of criminals, carcasses of animals, and all sort of filth were cast.

From its depth and narrowness, and its fire and ascending smoke, it became the symbol of the place of the future punishment of the wicked. The word is used in Matthew 5:22 in the phrase "the hell of fire," (Greek), and thus refers to the final abode of the wicked dead which is called in Revelation 19:20 "the lake of fire burning with brimstone."

This lake of fire is in existence now, for the word "prepared" in the Greek of Matthew 25:41 is in the perfect tense which refers to a past completed action having present results. Hell had been already prepared and was in existence when Jesus spoke these words.

There is no one there now. The first occupants of the dreadful place will be the Beast and the false prophet, Satan following them 1000 years afterwards.

Then at the Great White Throne Judgement, which occurs at the close of the Millennium, all lost human beings, the fallen angles, and the demons will also be sent there for eternity.

Our word "hell" is the correct rendering of the word "Gehenna," and should be so translated in the following passages, Matthew 5:22, 22, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; James 5:6.

Seeing that I, in the past on NL, have spoken at length on these matters, and Deep Sight seems to remain befuddled: I will simply present the views from another perspective, with some help from an elder Christian friend's blog. The Christian friend, to me, has been known (to me) to be more articulate, and I didn't even know that he had such an article on his blog, until like 30 minutes ago. I will crave everyone's indulgence to let me finish with the posts before I am interrupted with questions.

I begin in the next post.

@Abuzola: Hold your sandals, man.

@Toba: I do not like being misrepresented, and as long as Deep Sight misrepresents my Christian views or my personality, I will keep going for his jugular.

When you accepted the request to open the thread, simple courtesy would have required you to alert me of the thread's existence. But thanks anyway. I am very busy now, and I will return in some hours.

P.S. By the way, you have managed to edit the information to conceal the attendant reasons why I said whatever I said in the light that I said it, gave the thread a misnomer title (Hell rather than Hades) and many other such disinformation. Is that what your career demands, Mr Lawyer? SMHIP

Deep Sight seems to be running round in non-concentric circles, but viaro seems to know the equations of the circles, so outlining the circles is no big deal

The major problem is that we, observers, are getting dizzy.

Deep Sight, your questions to viaro have been answered by mavenbox. Your questions to mavenbox have been answered by Krayola. Your questions to nuclearboy have been answered by viaro. Besides, each one of us has answered your questions by ourselves. Repeating the same question that someone else has answered on the thread will not afford the thread any progress!

And you have not yet produced that Bible verse where Elijah died.

Abuzola said:

Mr david, can't u see am using fone ? My books and other material are faraway from me, [size=28pt]the fone is portable[/size] thats why u see me flowing here,

LOL @Abuzola's "portable" phone. What do you think about this one?

LOL. I feel you about the gatecrashers, sister. I do!  But I won't name names. At least not yet, not here 

@Deep Sight: Enoch did not escape the ransom. He was preserved for a future purpose. There are three records of strange "transitions" in the OT: Enoch, Elijah and Moses. Moses is a peculiar case, God "killed him and buried him" and nobody saw his body (This is a deep matter, because when God kills one and buries him by Himself, how certain are you that it was the kind of death that men usually die?).

But Enoch and Elijah simply transposed beyond the physical plane: body, soul and spirit, and did not see death.

You claim that it is a funny claim. Now I will make it even funnier: if I go to the grocery and purchase vegetables, does it mean I am about to consume it all in one afternoon? What if I refrigerate some of them and preserve them for future consumption? Why should anyone think that, with my busy schedule and love for vegetables, I will have to go to the grocery every day?

Elijah and Enoch were translated that they should not see death, but they were PRESERVED, and not EXEMPTED.

There are two witnesses in revelations, one will be a type of Elijah, and they are so gonna die, thanks to the AntiChrist's schemes. But God will raise them back up to life again. It makes sense to understand that these two are Enoch and Elijah, and they are returning to die once, as it is appointed to all men to die once. Therein lies your answer.

JeSoul: Thanks dear! Yes and Amen!!

Meanwhile, I strongly agree about the Christian section. I'm tired of making posts in roundabout ways that will address Christians, Atheists, Agnostics and otherwise at the same time

Mavenb0x:
Everyone who makes a post on this thread, or reads any post on this thread, will SUFFER the consequences. Anyone who does neither will also suffer the consequences. A word is sufficient for the wise.

toba:
your post can sometimes be scary and confusing pls espantiate. Thks

@Toba: LOL Im sorry about that. Let me expatiate.

First of all, you are a Christian, and one thing about me is that I speak to various people in different ways depending on their worldview, so I will explain to you using the scriptures. I am not (anymore) in the habit of quoting content from other religions/ worldviews to backup my posts, and since the OP is not a Christian, I can only make logical deductions that he will need to ruminate over, and I will hope he sees the answers while he considers it all.

This scripture from Job differentiates between the experiences of mankind due to divinely informed counsel, and the results of obedience and disobedience!

Job 36:10 He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.
Job 36:11 If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
Job 36:12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.

And this scripture from Hosea shows what happens when people do not have knowledge (an adequately informed holistic view)

Hos 4:6 My people are ruined because they don't know what's right or true. Because you've turned your back on knowledge, I've turned my back on you priests. Because you refuse to recognize the revelation of God, I'm no longer recognizing your children.

Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

My point is that "suffering" just means "experiencing", and people suffer because of their own choices, or because of other people's choices that are affecting them. From the Bible, if the counsel of God is received and diligently followed, one will not suffer. Unfortunately, many people, Christians inclusive, sometimes ignore God's counsel and do their own thing. when that happens, God in his mercies will make the process as painless as possible, but he will not perform magic because justice and judgment must be meted out fairly. God forgives, but it's like a wound that heals, when it heals the scar may remain for some days or weeks before it blends and disappears. To make the wound heal faster, you need to add methylated spirit and other things that will make the sore more painful. But God is applying those things to make your suffering less!

As someone once said, there are 2 people on earth. Those that say to God, "Lord, Your will be done" and those that God tells "Alright, have it your way".

Like a cancer, missing counsel wont kill immediately, but it will eventually become obvious, and then the person will wonder what they did wrong. THAT is judgment, judgment simply means "where you get to as a result of where you are coming from", and that's how people suffer. Judgment is not ONLY the "last day" stuff. e.g. if I walk slowly in a straight line across a very busy and wide "express road", will I not get knocked down by a vehicle eventually? That is judgment. If I jump from the 10th floor of my office building and I die downstairs, that is the judgment for that action. Suffering is the judgment for poorly counselled actions and inactions.

When I said the "scary stuff" above, I just meant that every second of our lives, we keep seeing information, we keep having experiences, where we can learn wisdom. Some on Nairaland, some in our daily activities. Some of us ignore them, some of us increase our wisdom by learning and applying them, some of us attack the information and discredit it so that others will not believe it (but as hypocrites, deep in our hearts we understand and apply them), some of us teach others, some of us hold on to the little we have and refuse to disperse wisdom; and as a consequence of all these actions, people will keep suffering one way or the other.

Dan 12:3 "'Men and women who have lived wisely and well will shine brilliantly, like the cloudless, star-strewn night skies. And those who put others on the right path to life will glow like stars forever.

I hope you understand now, sir Toba?

Deep Sight:
What is wrong with you Mazaje, I have told you several times that i am the prophet of the Oneness of Infinity sent to Nairaland to redeem your souls. I am also his only begotten son, it is no surprise therefore that you persecute me, like you did in my former lifetime when i came as Jesus Christ. Why are you so stubborn? Why don't you want to bow down and worship me? ? ? Do you want to go to hell? ? ?

 

(a quote from Marianne Williamson)

            Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,
            but that we are powerful beyond measure.

            It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
            We ask ourselves,
            Who am I to be brilliant,gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

            Actually, who are you not to be?
            You are a child of God.

            Your playing small does not serve the world.
            There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
            We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
            It is not just in some, it is in everyone.

            And, as we let our own light shine,
            we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

            As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Everyone who makes a post on this thread, or reads any post on this thread, will SUFFER the consequences. anyone who does neither will also suffer the consequences. A word is sufficient for the wise.

@m_nwankwo: The deal is that Deep Sight says that JESUS PREACHED REINCARNATION in the Bible.

We're not contending reincarnation, we're discussing whether reincarnation is preached in the Bible, and whether it was advocated by Jesus, and whether the Hebrews had such a mindset. As I once said, if someone tells me that Santa Claus has a red unicorn, and the unicorn is the god of every december, I am not bothered. Just don't tell me that the red unicorn-god is the one that Job described in the Bible, or something like that!

My wisdom has multiplied in recent times, and I have learnt to leave people to believe whatever they want to, light does not argue with darkness so time will tell whoever is really correct. But don't twist my own understanding of the truth to give credence to yours!

@trukoments: Nukeboy is right, that was a "familiar" spirit, like the kinds that control seances and influence ouija boards. Its not a big deal cos an "elemental" spirit who doesnt die (or LOL, reincarnate and firmly deny it ) will witness prevalent patterns of choices and events in families &the society over the ages, and since the general human nature is not entirely unique, it may thus be thought to "know the future" or stuff. A 17yr old guy in primary 6 cos he has repeated the class 9 times will recognize the course content but that doesnt make him a brilliant chap!

@Deep Sight: I neither fled nor galumphed off in chortling joy. I was just watching the thread evolve. And Im glad at its growth.

@Krayola: you see, this is why i respect your opinion, you may not be a Christian but you always cut the "cr'ap" and leave your sentiments aside, like a religion facts machine. You distinguish between what you believe in, and what authorities with the worldview in question believe in. Thanks for the input.

@Viaro/Nuclearboy: these guys! Hmm. Lol. Na you biko this kain argument (will viaro get this? )

@JeSoul: Thanks for sharing, lovey. God bless you.

Really, I don't understand why some people are complaining. I am not insensitive, and even if I am, I strongly doubt that JeSoul is. I am sad about what happened at Haiti, but I am gladder to hear that anyone came close to it and didn't go down under. Is it insensitive for one to wake up in the morning and be glad to see the sunshine, even if a percentage of the world's population died while he was asleep? I say again, this is not a matter of insensitivity. But then, as JeSoul already said, only Christians may understand: because even if people with other worldviews do not acknowledge God, or they don't understand how he relates to us, WE understand the following verses:

Luke 12:24-32

Luk 12:24  Observe and consider the ravens; for they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn; and [yet] God feeds them. Of how much more worth are you than the birds!
Luk 12:25  And which of you by being overly anxious and troubled with cares can add a cubit to his stature or a moment [unit] of time to his age [the length of his life]?
Luk 12:26  If then you are not able to do such a little thing as that, why are you anxious and troubled with cares about the rest?
Luk 12:27  Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither [wearily] toil nor spin nor weave; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory (his splendor and magnificence) was not arrayed like one of these. [I Kings 10:4-7.]
Luk 12:28  But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today, and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you [people] of little faith?
Luk 12:29  And you, do not seek [by meditating and reasoning to inquire into] what you are to eat and what you are to drink; nor be of anxious (troubled) mind [unsettled, excited, worried, and in suspense];
Luk 12:30  For all the pagan world is [greedily] seeking these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
Luk 12:31  Only aim at and strive for and seek His kingdom, and all these things shall be supplied to you also.
Luk 12:32  Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom

!

James 1:17

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].

Matthew 7:9-11

Mat 7:9  Or what man is there of you, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will hand him a stone?
Mat 7:10  Or if he asks for a fish, will hand him a serpent?
Mat 7:11  If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him!

Experiences will always be experiences, and innocent people die, rather unfortunately.

Pro 17:22  A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Even in crises, true and perfect peace in God should keep the joy in our hearts from leaking out.

Isa 12:3  Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

Everything available in the all-encompassing salvation pack, is to be accessed with joy. Joy is the ATM card with which you can withdraw the benefits of salvation. When one has let their joy leak away, then they melt into the shadows, like all the broken spirits around them.

Hab 3:17  Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Hab 3:18  Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Wow! Pastor AIO, it's like you sneaked a peek into my mind!!! It was a rhetoric question to Ilosiwaju and others who share his question, to make him/them weigh the various meanings that suffering represents as a part of the human experience.

Suffer truly simply means to "experience", so whether you like it or not, we all suffer but maybe at varying degrees and to varying purposes in various aspects of life!

Life is all about choices and decisions, and for every choice you make, there will be an attached "suffering" for making that choice, and a "suffering" for not making an alternate choice! So asking why we suffer is like asking why human beings have the ability to make choices that define their experience.

Without choices, we have no use for our minds because we would be anoetic beings. With various choices, there will be various experiences. With various experiences, there will be various degrees of suffering related to what you have forgone and what you have chosen to cling to.

ilosiwaju:
So how do you explain the death of innocent children(toddlers, infants etc)? They sinned too? How about still births? Children born slowpoke and so on?
how?,

On the other hand, one may ask about babies. Do they make choices too? Some choices are made for them, ranging from fertilization to gestation to childbirth (so sufferings like congenital disorders are defined experiences thanks to the parental choices), but from that point of birth onwards, the child makes its own choices, no matter how subtle they are, from breathing to interacting with its environment.

Ecc 9:11 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, neither is bread to the wise nor riches to men of intelligence and understanding nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. [Ps. 33:16-19; Rom. 9:16.]

Time and chance happen to them all.

*crickets *

Please does anyone with any worldview have any answer to my questions above?

Krayola! Long time

@OP: Please before I make my response, I need to be certain:

What does it mean to suffer? What does it entail?

Personally I believe to suffer means to be at a disadvantage, so what exactly is the yardstick that we all have to consider before declaring a human being as one of those that are "suffering"?

If you see or hear a suffering person, how can you really tell? Is it by comparing them to yourself or to their possible potential (which would require an all-encompassing insight, possibly beyond human understanding)?

Is it a statistical evaluation - the minority are the ones that are suffering (quantitative evaluation) - or is it those that feel that they have an inferior experience with respect to other human beings (qualitative evaluation)? How exactly do we classify someone as suffering, with respect to the experience of other human beings?

If you answer this question, then maybe I will be able to define my perspectives about people that are suffering.

Regards

Maven (that's just a nickname, by the way )

@imhotep: You're welcome sir. My deepest respect! I know your worldview, but I like how you always endeavour to state your case transparently.

The Master in these tales of yours is not a single person. He is a Hindu Guru, a Zen Roshi, a Taoist Sage, a Jewish Rabbi, a Christian Monk, a Sufi Mystic. he is Lao-tzu and Socrates. Buddha and Jesus, Zarathustra and Mohammed. His teaching is found in the seventh century B.C. and the twentieth century A.D. His wisdom belongs to East and West alike. Do his historical antecedents really matter? History, after all, is the record of appearances, not reality; of doctrines, not of Silence.

Imhotep, in no small way I like the way you think!

@Chris: would you have been happier if I continued with the reference: the "Aphysical, Remote Finality of Existentiality and Interactive Processes (ARFEIP)" rather than the "mind of God"? Why should my opinion not be involved, seeing that worldviews are personal? As Imhotep said, its all in the "I" of the beholder.

@Pastor AIO: No sir, I do not consider existentiality as tangentially linear, but as apparently (to humans) so, by nature of their experience.

I believe existentiality is all at once, immense, but not exactly entirely predestinated. I will explain. Its like a finished complex, abstract sculpture, a unique massive masterpiece that is being observed in a timeframed fashion by the artist himself (who, with respect to the art piece, is timeless because the reckoning of time with respect to the creation is the moment the artist expressed it), a group of experts to examine & critically evaluate the art, some rival upcoming artists and their minions there to disparage the artist and to sabotage parts of the work cunningly or when no one is looking, curious amateur art enthusiasts (some of whom will see a critic studying or examining an aspect of the work, and they conclude he must be the source to be so vast in ken) and some guys just paid to be a thronging audience (who either have no clue what is going on, or are just not bothered. They are just waiting for the contract to end). The artist has a diverse array of cameras, motion detectors and other sensors tracking each participant. The artist paid everyone to attend, because the masterpiece is not what is most important but their EXPERIENCE with it. Their cumulative interactive experience with the presented work is not predestinated, and it in itself is an unlimited, intangible art piece. THAT is the finality of the great artist's work: the summa of experiences, interactivities, observations, elation, criticism, etc. The artist had skilfully set out to capture their timeless expression within the timeframe of the staged exhibition USING the art piece. If at all anything at all is tangentially linear, its not the art. Its the interactive expression that the art triggers inside a participant, and that it triggers between participants, that is tangentially linear.

I guess you understand, but let me push things further using a prehistoric scenario: consider a time when 100 was the largest number and it was a taboo to insinuate that 101 exists (I once read that numbers are probably so-called because the larger they get, the numb-er the mind gets). In fact, everyone of them would delay, make excuses and slow down as they approached 90 and only the most brave & holy ones would consciously do anything up to 99 times, then leave the last one to finality. Counting 100 would trivialize finality like the other numbers. The finality of their numbers is at 100 but it will never be the finality of their experience because during a war wasting the people, in a bid to save face, say, 99 priests from each of the 99 spiritual clans would gather to chant 99 various spells, and each one each spell 99 times, and each priest cuts themselves 99 times in between each of those spell repititions per spell variation. . . (you can keep extending this anyway you like). Their numerical finality has been surpassed by their unbounded experiential finality (99 x 99 x 99 x 99 x 99. . .). Man's reach exceeds his grasp! Existentiality is immense and finite but appears infinite to man, while man's experience is, so to speak, tangentially linear and infinite. The timeframe of observation (human lifespan) is what truncates each experience.

lol Deep Sight, you see how slow I type on my phone I was referring to post #11 when I said d post above! But 3 replies had rapidly attended.

Deep Sight you are so right on target in the post above! I realized the leopard spot stuff after a week on NL so nowadays, I post for posterity (pun intended) and defend my own beliefs but only until conflict arises and I exit the thread, leaving evidence for future cats whose spots are roaming. But for other leopards like myself i.e. You, Krayola, Viaro, m_nwankwo, Imhotep, Pastor AIO, Noetic and other strongly opinionated and expressive folks (Im not talking cut & paste via google) who I highly respect, I dont mind rubbing minds (pun intended) because I always come away with more insight than I started with, even if all leopards remain mottled.

I type slowly cos I never learnt the QWERTY speed-touch-typing way. So if I type fast I hit away at the keys rather noisily (really fast cos I know where all the keys are, without glancing). I cant do that at work cos my job description shouldnt spew so much typed text but I type fast, noisily fast at home. Sometimes I also type slowly cos im on my phone & there's only so much speed that T9 and a QWERTY keypad can render!

Mavenb0x:
Absolutely, Tudor. This is an article with a [size=13pt]Deistic[/size] Worldview: arguing for the existence of God, and not necessarily a Christian Worldview. Maybe I will consider extending it further, although that wasn't my aim initially. Cheers.

I'm glad you agree on the rationality of deism, then. And thanks for the compliment

Tudor, I belief in Deism, but I am not a Deist. I am a Theist. I am a born-from-above, a zoe (life of God) carrier, a.k.a Christian.

I say this because of the following definitions,

Deism: The form of theological rationalism that believes in God on the basis of reason without reference to revelation

Deist: 1. Freethinker
2. A person who believes that God created the universe and then abandoned it
3. Of or relating to deism

Christian: 1. Following the teachings or manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus Christ
2. A religious person who believes Jesus is the Christ and who is a member of a Christian denomination

My post about a rational case for Christianity will be on another thread, and you have to be very patient because
(a) I am a very busy person and time is precious
(b) I need to organize my thoughts so that you can appreciate the coherence, especially you, Tudor
(c) I type quite slowly, and I have refused to practice speed-typing
(d) I have resurrected an addiction for chess. Anyone who is interested can join me on chess.com through my signature

@Deep Sight: wow. That was cool! LOL. I didn't even know about any of these "philosophical proofs", I was just musing!

Absolutely, Tudor. This is an article with a Deistic Worldview: arguing for the existence of God, and not necessarily a Christian Worldview. Maybe I will consider extending it further, although that wasn't my aim initially. Cheers.

I'm glad you agree on the rationality of deism, then. And thanks for the compliment

^^^ Yeah so why don't you guys just leave us alone then, since our fate is determined? Shoo!!

C.S. Lewis (author, Chronicles of Narnia), a guy I have a lot of respect for, started along the path of atheism but he became a Christian Apologist. He had a thing for "faith according to reason" and it was thanks to J.R.R. Tolkien (author of Lord of the Rings), who eventually helped him see reason in Christianity (as much as Lewis helped Tolkien develop his fantasy-fiction in light of the Christian Gospel)!

So, as much as many atheists would claim that there is no "reasoning" in faith, more atheists are converting to Christianity, and leaving them behind! 

P.S> Whoever hasn't read Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings should please grab a hold of them (NOT the movies, which have been quite watered down), the books are heavily typed in awesome allegories of truth.

Law prince, why not leave us Christians to our book of fairy tales rendered in various translations by various intoxicated people and face your own palaver that you have been instructed to follow in the Koran? What exactly do you intend to achieve on this thread, besides cast aspersion and argue breathlessly to achieve no sensible end? *shakes head*