Is There A God?

[YoungTheland_1]

Last Saturday at 1.30pm I lost my father who was known on answerbank as Theland.
He was a devout Christian and a very good and moral human being . He always tried to instill Christian values and teachings in me which he succeeded in doing. However I still have my doubts about christainity. I am still struggling with the question of whether or not God exists and can human findings through science vindicate the truth in the Bible?

[Tilly2]

Is that you Ruth?

[naomi24]

Young Theland is registered as male, Tilly.

[Atheist]

I disagreed with Theland on his belief in God. I think he won't know if he was right or wrong, but I don't think that he will end up in Hell. I hope that his last thoughts were not about Hell. I don't worry about him, but I do worry about his family who are left behind. I offer my best wishes to his loved ones, those who are still alive, and I hope they do not suffer from his fears.

[YoungTheland_1]

No this is Thelands youngest son. Ruth has an account on here known binksy2012

[Mamyalynne]

Scroll through this list of your Father's threads - it will give you a good idea of the range of views on here.

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/members/theland/

[Mozz71]

Honestly, only you can choose your faith, by following your heart. I have to be honest though, this probably isn't the right time to make such a choice. You've just suffered a devastating loss and such a event will rock the faith of the most dedicated theist.

Take things slowly for now, and concentrate on your family. The time to think about your conflict of faith can wait until the pain in less severe. I know your dad loved his family very much, and he would continue to do so no matter what your belief in God was.

[Hopkirk]

Can you shed any light on his username Theland?

Was it a reference to the promised land?

[YoungTheland_1]

My dad's argument for the moral landscape came from the idea of an afterlife and that this idea gave life meaning. Not to mention the morals laid out in the bible and how applicable these morals were to everyday life. I struggled with this because there are aspects of the bible that I find flat out immoral.
My dad was my hero. Despite what I may think of the bible, I feel without its teachings and those teachings being given to me by him, my life would have been greatly lacking.
And to answer your question we do not share his fears.
Only his sharp acute wit and love for argument, irony and humour

[YoungTheland_1]

Mark
Yes years ago he told my sister that the name Theland was reference to the promised land, the land of Israel

[YoungTheland_1]

Mozz71
I appreciate what your saying. I guess I would just like to honor the void left by him. He never had a bad thing to say about the people who he spoke to online.
Only that the arguments were great :)

[Hopkirk]

Thanks

[Mozz71]

Lol you wait 'til Nailit comes online, they butted heads over religion like no-one else! I do believe there was a sense of mutual respect from both though. They loved the battle! ☺

[Binksy2012]

Mozz71
Theland invited us to this chat forum several times over the years, I joined on in 2012 and only posted once or twice. I knew that when he passed away he would want you all to know, especially being such a big part of his life.
There is most certainly a massive void now and I think both myself and youngTheland_1 will learn more about our father as we explore his posts. I look forward to chatting to more of you in time .

[Mozz71]

Thank you Ruth, I'm sure we will all welcome both of your presences in the forum, and it will serve to keep your dad's memory alive in AB.

[jourdain2]

I think we all struggle with these deep questions Young Theland. I went through all the usual phases including agnosticism veering into atheism. Like your father, I eventually believed in the existence of God and an afterlife of some form. Science has no answers, but does establish time periods and all sorts of bits. Christianity gives us a framework in which to search. This is not to be confused with various churches. Hope this eventually helps - it won't at the moment.

Mozz is absolutely right, this is not the time, but please find great comfort in your dad's faith and peaceful certainty of his continuance in God's love. Theland cared very much about his family.

[andy-hughes]

I am sorry for your loss.

I found your dad to be utterly exasperating to debate with, but I respected the strength of his views while utterly disagreeing with every one of them.

My sincere sympathy to you and your family.

[YoungTheland_1]

Thank you everyone for your kind words about my father

[Peter Pedant]

I was sorry to hear of your father's death

Historical references: well the deportation of Israel to Babylon is historical.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebo-Sarsekim_Tablet

I certainly wouldnt see historical truth as a basis for faith as faith is completely different. Credo quia incredibilis ( Tertullian ) I believe because it is incredible.

Yeah I am the one who peppers his posts with Latin and Greek, just really to vex and irritate rather than inform.

The pharaoh Tihrqa is mentioned in one of the Books of Kings
"Tirhakah", king of Ethiopia (Kush), who waged war against Sennacherib during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah (2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9).. We were excavating his ( rather poor) temple in Qasr Ibrim in 1979. Meroe exists a bit further south than QI and that was the base for the Nubian eunuch that Philip instructs in Acts. the fella is stuck on Isaiah whilst he drives his chariot in the desert

There is nothing contemporary from the first century. A lot from Oxyrhynchus - but they are almost all town records (of the town called Oxyrhynchus ). Great excitement of the time was Vol 1 p1 -1918 Grenfell thought he had found an early lost Gospel ( of Thomas) . He thought it might be 'Q' the source document of the synoptic gospels. it was nt. It was a not-that-lost non-canonical gospel given the chop in 350 AD along with a ream of other pretenders. If you read a bit of it you see why it was given the push.
The earliest gospel is St John around 6 words which is now P. Rylands. Again not inspiring

Yale on you tube has quite a good divinity series on the Gospels
Yale MOOC.

I find arguments such as these - - a complete turn off
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homoousion
but it kept the divines busy for twenty or forty years. ( fourth century)

Homoousion - has a variant they were quarrelling about , Homoiousion - which differs in spelling by 'i' - iota and this is where the idea of 'I will not omit one jot' comes from.

Time for bed

[naomi24]

YT, Not on topic, but I hope this blast from the past when the Religion & Spirituality section was a fun place to be - 2007 to be precise - gives you and your family a smile. (Incidentally, daobi was me - with a cold).

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Society-and-Culture/Religion-and-Spirituality/Question408160.html

:o)

[tamborine]

Mathew 10:14 Dust off your feet! Having had an out of body experience & given a second chance at life 'for the sake of my newborn' I can never deny Christ.

Your dad generously prayed for my ill son Frazer but stopped asking after him when an ignorant aber castigated him for doing so. However I know Theland will put a good word in for my son now. I miss Theland and can imagine the pain you feel but keep him in your & my thoughts as he would wish.